nearby modi rules out ordinance seeking a change on ram ... · 2.01.2019 · dian prisoners. india,...

#70929

CMYK

wednesday, january 2, 2019 Delhi

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Prakash Raj announces

decision to contest

Lok Sabha election

page 5

Smriti says Sonia, Rahul

tried to “frame” Shah

in Sohrabuddin case

page 10

Kim says he is ready

to meet Trump but

warns of change of tack

page 12

Actor-writer Kader

Khan passes away

in Canada

page 18

OPPORTUNITIES A PAGE 2

DELHI METRO A 6 PAGES

Prime Minister NarendraModi on Tuesday made itclear that any decision onbringing an ordinance on theconstruction of a Ram temple in Ayodhya could be considered only after the judicial process got over.

In an interview to ANI, Mr.Modi also suggested that thejudicial process was beingslowed down because Congress lawyers were creating“obstacles” in the SupremeCourt. “We have said in ourBJP manifesto that a solutionwould be found to this issueunder the ambit of the Constitution,” he said, askedwhether the Mandir issuehad been put on the backburner.

Recently, there has been arenewed pitch within theparty as well as by its sisterorganisations in the SanghParivar for expediting theprocess of construction.

The Sangh Parivar organisations are unhappy over thedelay in resolving the matterand there are demands foran ordinance, similar to theone issued on triple talaq, tofacilitate construction. Thedemand has been madeeven by the BJP’s ally, ShivSena.

Asked whether the government could consider issuing an ordinance, thePrime Minister pointed outthat the matter was beforethe Supreme Court and possibly in the fi��nal stages. “Letthe judicial process be over.After it is over, whatever willbe our responsibility as thegovernment, we are ready tomake all eff��orts,” he said.

Hearing on January 4The matter will be heard bythe Supreme Court on January 4. Petitions have beenfi��led in the court for daytoday hearing.

The Prime Minister wasasked why the governmentcould not take the ordinanceroute for the temple when asimilar step was taken to bantriple talaq. Mr. Modi said,“The triple talaq ordinance

was brought after the Supreme Court verdict, in thelight of the Supreme Courtverdict.” He was referring tothe ruling in 2017, banningthe practice among Muslims.Subsequently, the government issued an ordinanceand brought a Bill in Parliament. The Bill has beenpassed by the Lok Sabha andnow is before the RajyaSabha.

“Nobody can deny thatthose sitting in the governments in the last 70 yearshave tried their best to stall asolution to this [Ayodhya] issue,” Mr. Modi said. He saidthe Congress should “notcreate obstacles” and shouldlet the judicial process takeits own course. “Don’t weighit in political terms,” he said.

Modi rules out ordinance on Ram temple for nowWe’ll take a call after the judicial process is completed, says Prime Minister

Asian News International

New Delhi

A REPORT CARD A PAGE 11

Guwahati woke up on thefi��rst morning of 2019 to apiece of news that SauravKumar Chaliha would haveapproved of: though thetraffi��c police had registered417 cases of drunken drivingthe previous night, theywere more impressed by themany citizens who “usedsober drivers to make thecelebrations safe.”

It was a candidate for‘Good News Day’, observedby Chaliha’s fan club onTuesday.

Publicity-shyChaliha, or SKC, one ofAssam’s most popular shortstory writers, led a dual life.Till he breathed his last onJune 25, 2011, very few knewthat his real name wasSurendra Nath Medhi, aPhysics faculty member atthe Assam EngineeringCollege. SKC was sopublicityshy that he did notreceive the Sahitya AkademiAward in 1974. The Akademihad the award sent to him.But his fan club hasdedicated the fi��rst day of theyear to his memory,celebrating it as ‘Good NewsDay’.

The SKC fan club has 21executive committeemembers and hundreds ofmembers across Assam andbeyond. Zebin Ahmed, alibrarian at the centuryoldCotton University in

Guwahati, is its president. “We began celebrating

January 1 as ‘Bhaal KhabarorDin’ (Good News Day) in2010 to mark one of hisfeelgood essays in anAssamese daily publishedon January 1, 1998. In thatpiece, he had underlinedthe importance of startingthe New Year with positivenews,” said Mahesh Deka,secretary of Saurav KumarChaliha Anuragi Samaj (SKCfan club). SKC’s writeupmay have been intended topromote one of his mostpopular stories, Bhal

Khabar, published thatyear. But the idea stirred hisfans enough to plan ameeting on New Year’s Dayevery year.

Mr. Deka said that hadSKC been alive, he wouldhave liked the traffi��c story,where the focus was moreon the citizen’s concern forroad safety than on thenumber of people bookedfor drunk driving.

Ritually, the fan clubmembers scan newspapersand television channels forinspiring news on January 1,avoiding, as SKC desired,the coverage on accidents,murders, violence, rapes, orcorruption.

On Tuesday, the fans readout a couple of his storiesand discussed some more.Actor Papori Medhi enacteda monologue based on hisstory Gharua Ghatana

(Domestic Incident).

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Where Jan. 1 is always‘Good News Day’

It is the day fans of Assamese writerS. K. Chaliha meet to share inspiring news

Feelgood factor: Papori Medhi enacting a monologue basedon one of Saurav Kumar Chaliha’s stories. * SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

RAHUL KARMAKAR

GUWAHATI

In a peace overture, Indiahas asked Islamabad to takeback dozens of Pakistani nationals who have completedjail terms here. The Indianrequest came in the contextof the exchange of the lists ofprisoners in both countrieson the fi��rst day of the newyear.

“India has also asked Pakistan to expedite responsein the cases of 80 Pakistanprisoners who have completed their sentences andawait repatriation for wantof nationality confi��rmationby Pakistan,” the Ministry ofExternal Aff��airs (MEA) saidin a statement after Indiahanded over a list of 249 civilian Pakistani prisoners and98 fi��shermen in its custody.

Pakistan shared lists of 54civilian prisoners and 483

fi��shermen in its jails, who itclaims are Indian.

Of the total number of Indian prisoners, Delhi hasasked Islamabad to release17 civilian prisoners and 369fi��shermen whose nationalityhas been confi��rmed. TheMEA said India had shared

details of the reconstitutedJoint Judicial Committee andof the medical professionalswho are expected to visit Pakistan to help the elderlyand mentally unsound Indian prisoners.

India, Pak. move towardsrelease of civilian prisonersExchange lists of convicts who have completed terms

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI

CONTINUED ON A PAGE 10

The 2019 Lok Sabha poll willbe a “public versuscoalition” contest, PrimeMinister Narendra Modisaid, ridiculing the allianceproposed by antiBJPparties. He dismissed claimsby some pundits that theBJP might not get more than180 seats, saying there werea similar “set of persons”who made such a predictionin 2014. He was sure that thepeople would vote the BJPto power again. A page 11

‘It will be publicvs coalition’

“Come back before sunrise,irrespective of the successor failure of the mission.”This was the message ofPrime Minister NarendraModi to the Army SpecialForces’ commandos whowent across the Line ofControl on September 28,2016, to carry out surgicalstrikes at terrorist camps inPakistanoccupied Kashmir.The date was changed twicefor the safety and security ofthe troops, he said. A PAGE 11

‘Come backbefore sunrise’

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Widespread participation: Thousands of women assembled under the aegis of the LeftDemocratic Front on Tuesday to create a human wall that stretched 620 km from Kasaragodto Thiruvananthapuram. A scene in Ernakulam. * H. VIBHU (REPORT ON PAGE 5)

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Seeking a change

The Uttar Pradesh police onTuesday said they had arrested another person wanted in the murder of inspector Subodh Kumar Singhduring the mob violence inBulandshahr last month.

The man, identifi��ed as Kalua alias Rajeev, is accused ofwielding an axe on the police offi��cer before he was shotdead with his service pistol,allegedly by another accused Prashant Natt.

Kalua was nabbed at a busstation late on Monday. Anaxe, allegedly used in thecrime, was recovered fromhim, a police offi��cer said.

“During questioning, ithas come to light that he wasthe one who attacked inspector Subodh KumarSingh with an axe, afterwhich the incident [murderous attack on the offi��cer]took place,” said SP (City)Atul Srivastava.

The police said that afterhis arrest, Natt informed

them that the inspector hadfi��rst been hit with a sharpaxe and assaulted withstones and sticks before hewas shot. The mob also triedto burn the offi��cer, the police said.

Senior Superintendent ofPolice (Bulandshahr) Prabhakar Chaudhary said it wasafter Kalua attacked the offi��cer with an axe on his headthat the mob had set uponhim.

Accused nabbed from bus station; axe used in crime recovered

special correspondent

LUCKNOW

Man who attacked U.P.police inspector arrested

CONTINUED ON A PAGE 10

Crowds force Delhi Metroto shut exit gatesNEW DELHI

Following heavy footfall in

the central Delhi area on

Tuesday owing to New Year

celebrations, the Delhi police

issued an advisory leading to

the closure of exit gates of

four major metro stations.

Police and metro offi��cials said

the gates were closed as a

crowd control measure.

DELHI METRO A PAGE 1DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

NEARBY

10yearold killed incelebratory fi��ring NEW DELHI

A 10yearold boy died when

a bullet hit him during

celebratory fi��ring in north

east Delhi’s New Usmanpur

on New Year’s Eve, police

said on Tuesday. Rihan Malik,

a student of Class III of a

private school, was attending

a birthday partycumNew

Year celebration when the

incident happened.

DELHI METRO A PAGE 1DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

https://t.me/TheHindu_Zone_official

https://t.me/SSC4Exams https://t.me/Banking4Exams https://t.me/UPSC4Exams

#70929

CM

YK

wednesday • january 2, 2019

With cutting-edgetechnologies likeArtificial Intelli-

gence (AI) and machinelearning becoming more andmore integral to businessoperations in the IT/ITESsector, the demand for pro-fessionals with evolved,tech-led skillsets will only in-crease in 2019.

Expertise in areas such asdata compliance and cyber-security will also be muchsought-after, given how crit-ical data privacy and inform-ation security have becomein the global businessdiscourse.

I also foresee organisa-tions collaborating with re-puted online learning plat-forms to undertakelarge-scale upskilling andreskilling of their in-housetalent.

This skills-centric ap-proach will benefit both em-ployers and employees;while recruiters will be ableto seamlessly address thegrowing demand for skillswithin their organisations,professionals can access sig-nificantly better career op-portunities by upgradingtheir existing skillsets. Withrapid technological advance-ment paving the way for ahigh-growth, high-value jobsecosystem, we can expectcontinuous learning, un-learning, and relearning tobecome the motto of thenew-age workforce.

The rise of AI

It’s official — Artificial Intelli-gence is here to stay. AI issoon to make its place in theHR industry.

The use of smart systemsis already beginning todrastically cut down on thetime-to-hire.

The use of algorithms anddata-driven insights alsohelps reduce biased hires bysolely focusing on candid-ates’ skills.

Offsite working stations

As organisations look for tal-ent beyond their homet-owns, the need to have re-

mote working options issurfacing. A secure techno-logical solution is imperat-ive. The rise of a culturallydiverse workforce has alsopropelled the need for tele-commuting options.

Thankfully, the use ofAugmented Reality andvideo-interviewing toolsprovides seamless solutionsto realise remote workingoptions.

Candidate experience

While the number of gradu-ates and qualified individu-als is on the rise, it has be-come equally difficult to findapplicants who identify withan organisation’s cultureand brand values.

According to a survey byKPMG, more than one-thirdof the applicants were ‘put-off ’ by the exhausting re-cruitment process.

But not for long! Compan-ies are now opting for amore interactive hiring pro-cess with personalised re-cruitment strategies to en-sure that their choice of

talent chooses them back,and not their competitor.

Hiring accuracy

2019 will witness the devel-opment of quality-based tal-ent pipelines which will fur-ther improve hiringaccuracy.

The use of AI and predict-ive analysis can further sim-plify the hiring process, bypicking candidates with skill-sets and achievements thatmatch the givenrequirement.

Atypical working

Atypical working seems to

be a trend that is set to con-tinue in 2019.

In 2018, we saw a massiverise of atypical workingpractices. On the employ-ment front, most strikingly,is the number of individualslooking to break free fromthe regular office ‘9 to 5’routine and engage in moreflexible working patternsthat better support their life-style. Smaller professionalservices organisations, suchas IT start-ups already em-brace this trend.

Redeployment

The integration of peopledevelopment, productivityincrease, and learning is go-ing to rule in 2019 as well;closely linked to this is ‘re-deployment’, which meanscontinuously developing theskillsets of people, so thatthey have competencies thatnot only meet the futureneeds of one’s own com-pany, but also of the marketas a whole.

(Zairus Master is chief ex-ecutive officer of shine.com)

These are features of the modern workplace that will evolve further in 2019

Zairus Master

The super six

<> The use of AI and

predictive analysis

can further

simplify the hiring

process, by picking

candidates with

skill-sets and

achievements that

match the given

requirement

among the courses on offer. Many à study has pointed

out that there is a huge short-age of jobs in core technolo-gies such as these, so whynot gift your employees acourse fee that would helpthem get a certification inany of these? It is probablydo away with the culture ofhanding out those gift vouch-ers that can be used in a life-style store. What do youthink?

Build your network

Ennui is the central aspect ofhuman existence. Eventu-ally, even the activities thatwe cherish the most will pallon us. So, there is always thepossibility that the fizz willbe missing from the once-ex-citing job. When you hit thisroad, start expanding yournetwork. Look for profes-sional groups where you canconnect with people whoprovide new career insightsor the resources to navigatethe course to a new career.For example, it may be goodidea to join one of the localchapters of NHRD, whereyou can connect with humanresource professionals.

Make a list of major con-ferences and workshops youwould like to attend this yearand ask your office to spon-sor those that are most likelyto add value to your work atoffice. To give an example, ifyou are a woman technolo-gist and want to connectwith like-minded people getyourself a pass for the GraceHopper Celebrations.

Continual learning

Certain messages have to bedriven through the year andthen the exercise has to becarried out, year in and yearout. Only then would em-ployees who have just joinedan organisation know andunderstand what it standsfor. There has to be pro-grammes through the year togenerate awareness aboutcertain issues.

The #MeToo movementwas a wake-up call for manycompanies to train their em-

The modern Gregoriancalendar has been aunifying factor for hu-

manity, especially in the areaof business. And, when thiscalendar is refreshed everyyear, the sense of a new be-ginning is felt globally. So,given its reach, particularlyin business, this is as much atime for corporate resolu-tions (for both localised andglobally-distributed teams)as it is for personal resolu-tions. Besides, can there be aNew Year celebrationwithout gifting?

So, corporates will do wellnow to offer their employeesgifts that will help them rein-vent themselves through theyear.

In the New Year list below,we are spelling out not onlywhat corporates can do fortheir employees, but alsowhat the employed can dofor themselves.

An 'upskilling’ gift

Today, it's often a choicebetween staying relevantand becoming redundant.Staying relevant entails up-skilling or reskilling. Up-skillkng is as much the re-sponsibility of a corporate asit is of the employee con-cerned. So, as an employer,why don't you gift them anonline course from any ofthe reputed certification pro-viders. A majority of theseservice providers are offer-ing discounts or running spe-cial offers for those enrollingin the New Year.

Udacity is offering a year-end 30% discount on its“nanodegree programs”. Abrief note about these pro-grammes that has been pos-ted on its website says thatthey help participants ac-quire “in-demand skills”

Edureka is offering a dis-count of 20% for those en-rolling for certification train-ing programmes, most ofwhich run for the duration ofa month.

Courses in Artificial Intel-ligence, Cloud, Python, De-vOps, BigData and RoboticProcess Automation are

ployees in POSH (Preventionof Sexual Harassment at theWorkplace) and to set up anInternal Complaints Com-mittee (ICC). This trainingshould be a continual exer-cise. Now, the digital worldmakes continual learningpossible.

A number of online toolshave come up to help organ-isations in creating an ethicalworkplace. These e-learningtools can be used any time ofthe day by employees, oncetheir employer has signed upfor it.

Rainmaker (rain-maker.co.in), for instance,promotes learning throughshort videos followed bysome exercises. Each “shortfilm” is 30 to 45 minutes longwith different modules forassociates as well as the man-ager. They also train com-

panies on how to carry out aPOSH audit. “ePOSH”, atechno-legal cloud platformby 1to1help, an employee as-sistance programme pro-vider, helps organisation ad-dress issues related to sexualharassment at workplace.

Let them volunteer

About 66% of millennials in2017 believed that compan-ies were more focused ontheir own agenda rather thanon well-being of the largersociety. In 2018, this statistic,as per the Deloitte MillennialSurvey 2018, grew by an-other 12%.

Another study byGoodera, a start-up thathelps companies managetheir CSR programmes,found that only 26% of cor-porates have a formal volun-teering policy. Employee-vo-lunteering can be a greatsource of employee engage-ment. Millennials want theirbusiness leaders to make apositive impact in society. Ifyour company does not havea formal volunteering pro-gramme, encourage employ-ees to volunteer, either indi-vidually or as a team. Givethem a paid time off fromwork, to volunteer.

The time is right for making those corporate resolutions Here is a list of things you can do to build your organisation's human resource

Liffy Thomas

ILLUSTRATION: SREEJITH RAVIKUMAR

<> If your company

does not have a

formal

volunteering

programme,

encourage your

employees to

volunteer, either

individually or as a

teamAs per a report titledThe Future of Jobs2018 by the World

Economic Forum (WEF),technologies such as AIand machine learning willdisplace around 75 mil-lion jobs by 2022 – andcreate around 133 millionnew jobs within the sametime frame. More import-antly, these newer jobswill pay more and offerbetter growth than thelow-value ones beingeliminated. That beingsaid, blue-collar jobs willcontinue to grow, as tech-nology has not yetevolved to a level whereit can replace the lastmile connectivity in deliv-ery jobs.

New-age skillsets

In order to benefit fromthe lucrative career op-portunities that this tech-

led shift will inevitablyusher in, the Indianworkforce will have tosignificantly expand itsexisting capabilities andequip itself with new-ageskillsets demanded by thejobs of tomorrow. Em-ployers need to under-take large-scale upskillingand reskilling of their ex-isting talent pools in or-der to meet the currentskills demands of themodern business land-scape.

Professionals, on theother hand, will have toequip themselves withnewer, in-demand skillson a regular basis. Con-stant learning, unlearn-ing, and relearning – thatwill be the only mantrawhich can ensure successin the digital-led, tech-driven world oftomorrow.

At present, the biggestchallenge facing Indian

jobseekers is the disparitybetween the demand andsupply of skills. Most newprofessionals joining theworkforce are armed withgeneric skills. The industrydemand, however, is forspecific skillsets andspecialisations.

Professionals equippedwith advanced communica-tion and cross-functionalskills are also much sought-after, but such talent too isin short supply.

This mismatch is addingto the growing problem thatjobseekers are facing. Thebusiness landscape in Indiais evolving at a pace thatthe academia is not able tomatch.

As a result, graduatesmiss out on crucial contem-porary skills that are vitalto the tech-centric jobs oftoday. Overcoming thismassive skills-gap will be nomean feat, but it is not im-possible.

The changing contours of the job market Zairus Master

Crash Lessons from the entry and

exit of CEOsAuthor: R.

GopalakrishnanPublisher: PenguinGreat leaders excel not just

because of their skills and in-telligence but also throughemotional competence, in-cluding empathy and self-awareness, which enablesthem to connect with others.The author explains thisthrough anecdotes and situ-ation-based analyses. Crashalso offers insights the authorhas gained while working witha variety of companies.

***Kumar Mangalam Birla:

10 Success SecretsAuthor: Drimi ChaudhuriPublisher: Jaico The biography traces the

rise of Kumar Mangalam, start-ing with the day he took overthe reins of the Aditya BirlaGroup, and weaves an accountof how he managed to re-en-gineer its culture.

***The 5 AM ClubAuthor: Robin SharmaPublisher: JaicoThe book is based on the re-

volutionary morning routinethat Robin Sharma introducedin his life, more than two dec-ades ago. The 5 AM Clubwalks you through a storyabout two struggling strangerswho meet an eccentric tycoonwho becomes their secretmentor.

***Get Better at Getting betterAuthor: Chandramouli

Venkatesan Publisher: PenguinTo achieve extraordinary

success, you need somethingother than core capabilitieslike analytical skills, peopleskills, conceptual and intuitiveskills.

The book shows how to un-lock one’s potential, at work.The author, who is CEO of Pi-dilite Industries, calls this the“Get Better Model” or GBM.

FROM THE BOOKSHELF



Four minors, aged between3 to 8, were among sevenpersons who died when atruck carrying cattlerammed into a hutment inUttar Pradesh’s Chandaulidistrict on New Year’s Day,police said.

The incident occurredaround 5.30 a.m. at Maldavillage in Chakia area around 20 km from the district headquarters of Chandauli town, Superintendentof Police Santosh KumarSingh said.

Seven personse have diedand one girl was injured.

She has been admitted to ahospital, the offi��cer said.

The deceased have beenidentifi��ed as Shyama (60),Ram Kishun (27), Suhagin(25) and four children Golu(3), Munni (4), Monu (5) andNisha (8), police said.

SHO suspendedThe SP has suspended theStation House Offi��cer of Iliapolice station and the incharge of Malda police outpost. The SHO of Chakia police station has been sent topolice lines and two constables, along with a Dial100team, have also been suspended.

Seven killed as truckrams hutment in U.P. Four children among dead in mishap

Press trust of india

Chandauli

Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Tuesdayhailed the victory of Congressbacked candidates inthe recently concluded panchayat polls in the State as atriumph of democracy anda clear vindication of his government’s policies.

He also congratulated thepeople of Punjab for ensuring a largely peaceful poll, inwhich 80.38% of the total12,787,395 eligible voters exercised their franchise.

Security forces hailedOf the 13,276 booths inwhich polling was held, repoll has been ordered in 14,Mr. Singh said in a statementhere, lauding the securityforces for maintaining lawand order during the elections “despite attempts bythe Opposition to triggertrouble”.

“Undeterred by the falsepropaganda unleashed bythe Opposition parties, including the Shiromani AkaliDal, against the Congress go

vernment, the voters cameout in large numbers without fear to cast their votes infavour of my party’s candidates,” he said.

“This shows that the disillusionment of the electoratewith the SAD and other parties, including the BJP andAAP, is complete,” the ChiefMinister said, adding the people of Punjab were no longer willing to be misled by“canards” being spread bythese parties.

“The victory of Congressbacked candidates is a triumph of democracy and avindication of my government’s policies,” he said.

Cong. claims victoryin panchayat polls Triumph of democracy: Amarinder


Chandigarh

Punjab Chief MinisterAmarinder Singh *

The Uttar Pradesh Cabineton Tuesday empowered theurban and rural civic bodiesto run temporary shelters totake care of stray cattle.

A policy decision to thiseff��ect was taken in a Cabinetmeeting chaired by ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanath, agovernment spokespersonsaid.

He said with the machines having taken over thetraditional methods of agriculture, the cattle ownersoften abandon their livestock, leading to problemslike damage to crops, traffi��cdisruptions and roadaccidents.

The new policy will enable departments concernedto work in coordinationwith each other and achievebetter results, he said.

The State’s Animal Husbandry Department too willhelp the civic bodies in theirendeavour, he said, addingthe government will striveto make these “gauvanshashray asthal”selfsustaining.

Earlier last week, theChief Minister had directedoffi��cials to make immediatearrangements for propercare of stray cows.

Yogi govt. to set upshelters for stray cattle Decision taken at Cabinet meeting


Lucknow

U.P. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. *

CMYK

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THE HINDU NOIDA/DELHI

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 2, 2019 3EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

DELHI Timings

Wednesday, Jan. 02

RISE 07:14 SET 17:36

RISE 03:41 SET 14:54

Thursday, Jan. 03

RISE 07:14 SET 17:37

RISE 04:38 SET 15:36

Friday, Jan. 04

RISE 07:15 SET 17:38

RISE 05:33 SET 16:20

Published by N. Ravi at Kasturi Buildings, 859 & 860, Anna Salai, Chennai-600002 and Printed by S. Ramanujam at

Regd. DL(ND)-11/6110/2006-07-08 ● RNI No. TNENG/2012/49940 ● ISSN 0971 - 751X ● Vol. 9 ● No. 2

Rajasthan Chief MinisterAshok Gehlot on Tuesday accused the previous Vasundhara Raje government of increasing the debt burden onthe State and asked how it increased by over ₹��1.7 lakhcrore in just fi��ve years. Thedebt burden on the State was₹��1.29 lakh crore when theBJP came to power in 2013,but it increased to ₹��3 lakhcrore in by 2018, he said.

“Our former [Congress]government had left a debtof ₹��1.29 lakh crore [in 2013].It was a debt of the last 3040

years, but it increased to ₹��3lakh crore in the last fi��veyears. The debt increased byclose to ₹��1.75 lakh crore.How did this happen,” askedMr. Gehlot.

The Chief Minister wasresponding to a question on

the fi��nancial challenges before his government after itannounced farm loan waiver, which will add a burdenof ₹��18,000 crore on the Stateexchequer.

Mr. Gehlot also demandedthat the NDA government atthe Centre waive farm loansacross the country like theCongress had done aftercoming to power recently inRajasthan, Madhya Pradeshand Chhattisgarh.

Farmers’ rallyHe also said a big rally offarmers will be organised inthe State soon to put pres

sure on the Narendra Modigovernment to waive loans.

He alleged that the BJPledNDA government at theCentre had waived bad loansworth ₹��3.5 lakh crore of select industrialists whenloans of farmers should havebeen the priority.

“The former UPA government [at the Centre] hadwaived farmers’ loans worth₹��72,000 crore and the Congress [governments] in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradeshand Chhattisgarh has alsoannounced to waive loans,”Mr. Gehlot told reportershere.

Debt burden went up by ₹��1.7 lakhcrore during Raje regime: GehlotRajasthan CM demands NDA government waive farm loans across the country

Press Trust of India

Jaipur

CM Ashok Gehlot. *



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NOIDA/DELHI THE HINDU

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 2, 20194EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

On the fi��rst day of the newyear, Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar made a surprisevisit to the State secretariatat Porvorim on Tuesday,where he was welcomed byministers, party MLAs, andBJP workers.

Mr. Parrikar (63) with anasogastrict tube runningfrom the nasal passage intothe stomach was accompanied by a team of medicalprofessionals and staff�� fromthe Chief Minister’s Offi��ce.

This is his fi��rst visit to thesecretariat since his returnfrom All India Institute ofMedical Sciences in NewDelhi on October 14, lastyear. This is also his secondpublic appearance in thelast few months. Lastmonth, the CM visited the

underconstruction thirdbridge on the Mandovi river.

Sadanand Shet Tanavade,general secretary of BJP, Goa,who was present, said the visit will boost the enthusiasmof the BJP cadre and the people of Goa. “This is a good development. Seeing our CM isencouraging for our cadre,”Mr. Tanavade told press per

sons. He later said Mr. Parrikar held a meeting with hisCabinet colleagues and offi��cials to review work.

Mr. Parrikar was diagnosed with advanced pancreatic cancer in Februarylast year. He is under treatment at his private residenceafter treatment in hospitalsin Mumbai, U.S. and Delhi.

The Opposition has beendemanding that he resign orhand over the charge of offi��ce to some Cabinet ministertill he recovers, insisting thathis operating from his private residence has led to thecollapse of theadministration.

Meanwhile, Dr. ShekharSalkar, chief of oncology department, ManipalGoa Hospital, lauded the CM.

“In Mr. Parrikar, we see astrong man with tremendouswillpower to win against thedeadly disease. In the fi��ghtagainst cancer, there can beonly one winner; it’s eitherthe patient or cancer. He hasset a good example for allcancer patients that theyhave to be positive in theirapproach,” Dr. Salkar, who isan offi��cebearer of the GoaCancer Society, said.

Parrikar’s visit to Secretariat surprises manyBJP sees his second public appearance in last few months as a morale booster Prakash Kamat

Panaji

Back in action: Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar at ameeting at the secretariat on Tuesday. * ATISH POMBURFEKAR

The State Cabinet in its fi��rstmeeting of the new year onTuesday decided to give government guarantee forloans worth ₹��325 crore to thecorporations set up for thebetterment of backwardcommunities and peoplewith disability.

The government will nowstand guarantee for loansworth ₹��50 crore to Sant Rohidas Leather Industries andCharmakar DevelopmentCorporation Limited, ₹��70crore to Maharashtra StateHandicapped Finance andDevelopment Corporation,₹��70 crore to Lokshahir AnnaBhau Sathe Development

Corporation Limited, and₹��135 crore to Mahatma PhuleBackward Class Development Corporation Limited.

“These corporations willbe able to avail of loansfrom various national corporations to implementschemes and lend money toentrepreneurs,” an offi��cialfrom the social justice department said. The nationalcorporations are the National Scheduled Castes Finance and DevelopmentCorporation, National SafaiKaramcharis Finance andDevelopment Corporation,and the National Handicapped Finance and Development corporation.

Chief Minister Devendra

Fadnavis had recently held ameeting with the department where directions wereissued to prepare a proposalunder which governmentguarantee will be extended.

Below poverty line Sant Rohidas corporationwas formed to implementschemes for the uplift ofCharmakars (dhor, chambhar, holar, mochi etc.) whoare below poverty line. Mahatma Phule corporationprovides fi��nancial assistancefor the economic development of the backward andother backward classeswhile Lokshahir Anna BhauSathe corporation was set upto raise the standard of living

of the Matang community.The Maharashtra State Handicapped corporation aimsto undertake economic development activities, including self employment, for thebenefi��t of people withdisability.

“Charmakars and Matangs are key constituents ofthe Scheduled Caste (SC)population in Maharashtra.While Mahars dominate thediscourse around the SCs,these two silent subcasteshave been important for theBJP and the Shiv Sena.These corporations can beused extensively to reachout to this population,” a senior BJP leader from the Cabinet said.

State Cabinet off��ers New Yearbonanza to backward classes Govt. guarantee for ₹��325crore loans to corporations set up for the communities

Alok Deshpande

Mumbai

Shiv Sena leader and Environment Minister RamdasKadam on Tuesday said hehad talks with the NationalistCongress Party (NCP) andthe Congress to win themayoral election in the Ahmednagar Municipal Corporation, but was ditched atthe last moment by the NCP.

Mr. Kadam said since theNCP supported the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Ahmednagar, even before theAssembly polls, the Sena hasa legitimate fear that the NCPwill take its place in casethey decide to withdraw

from the government. The alliance between the

BJP and the NCP at Ahmednagar seems to be the centrestage of political discourse.“This municipal corporationelection has once again proven that the NCP stands withthe BJP. The NCP has givenits support to the BJP beforethe Assembly elections inMaharashtra, and thereforewe fear that in case we withdraw from the government,the NCP will fi��ll in for us,” Mr.Kadam said.

The NCP said the Senashould better concentrate onrunning the governmentwith its ally, the BJP, instead

of criticising the NCP. “Weare capable of setting ourhouse in order. But the Senashould better focus on making its marriage with the BJPa success,” NCP spokesperson Nawab Malik said.

The minister claimed thatin a bid to keep the BJP outof power, he had spoken toNCP leader Ajit Pawar andCongress leader Radhakrishna VikhePatil aboutjoining hands for the Ahmednagar mayoral election.“We were trying to put theentire opposition together.But, they chose to go withthe BJP,” he said.

Mr. Kadam’s clarifi��cation

comes a day after Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavisclaimed that the BJP wantedto ally with the Sena and waswaiting for the request. “Wewaited till the last minute butthe Sena did not make anyrequest to us. And we didnot ask for the NCP’s support; they gave it on theirown. Therefore questionsshould be asked to the NCPand not us,” he had said.

NCP president Sharad Pawar on the other hand hassaid that action against all 18party corporators will be taken as despite clear instructions to not tie up with theBJP, they violated the order.

Alok deshpande

Mumbai

Ahmednagar eff��ect: NCP will join handswith BJP if Sena withdraws, says Kadam

Over 56,000 kilometres ofecologically sensitive areas(ESA) in the Western Ghatscould not be earmarked as‘nogo’ zones due to State governments’ ‘insensitivity’, aparliamentary committeehas said. The panel hasurged the Ministry of Environment, Forest and ClimateChange to constitute a committee to address the issuesand grievances of localpeople.

The recent monsoonfl��oods in Kerala and parts ofKarnataka should serve asalarm bells for the administrations in the States of Goa,Gujarat, Maharashtra, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, which have failed tomark ESA in the WesternGhats, the Committee on Government Assurances in theRajya Sabha has said.

The panel, which keepstrack of assurances given byministers on the fl��oor of the

Upper House, presented itslatest report on Monday. Thepanel had examined issuesregarding the categorisationof the Western Ghats as ESAas per the recommendationsof two committees led byMadhav Gadgil and K.Kasturirangan.

The report said, “Thecommittee has observed thatdespite three draft notifi��cations issued over four yearsfor earmarking ESA, the sixStates could not be broughton board for action. Resultantly, over 56,000 squarekm of ESA could not be ear

marked as ‘nogo’ zones forpolluting activities and deforestation, and largescaledeforestation, mining, andconstruction are continuingunabated, hurting the ecology of the Western Ghats.”

“Insensitivity towardsecology of the Western Ghatsis making the six States vulnerable to fl��oods and landslides,” the report said.

“The committee is of theview that implementation ofthe recommendations of theKasturirangan report is onlypossible with active supportof local population. It alsorequires consultation withthe State government at micro level to achieve the objectives of saving the Western Ghats,” the report said.

The panel examined 62assurances during its deliberations with various Stategovernments and other organisations, and had visitedPune, Mumbai, Chennai andBengaluru, before preparingits report.

Parliamentary committee irked by States’ insensitivity to Western Ghats Vikas Dhoot

Mumbai

The panel had examined issues regarding the categorisationof the Western Ghats as ecologically sensitive areas as per therecommendations of two committees. * FILE PHOTO



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SOUTH

Kerala Cabinet panel toresolve Church disputeTHIRUVANANTHAPURAM

A Kerala Cabinet committee,

headed by Industries Minister

E.P. Jayarajan, has been

constituted for resolving the

difference of opinion

between the Orthodox and

Jacobite factions in the

Malankara Church, an official

release said here on Tuesday.

There is an ongoing conflict

between the groups over the

administration of a few

parishes in the State.

The CongressJanata Dal(Secular) seatsharing for theLok Sabha polls may be fi��nalised as early as Januaryend,with former Prime MinisterH.D. Deve Gowda, who is also the JD(S) chief, hintingthat his party wants 10 or 11seats out of the 28 in Karnataka, or roughly onethird ofthe Lok Sabha seats.

Speaking at a press conference in New Delhi, he saidat the time of governmentformation in Karnataka inthe face of a hung Assembly,the Congress had promisedunconditional support.

“Since then they have gottwothird of the portfolios,which is diff��erent from when(Chief Minister) H.D. Kumaraswamy was in governmentwith the BJP, which had 79MLAs (with the Janata DalSecular — at 58 seats) but theministerial berths were almost equal. But since thisonethird formula is being

adopted, then it should betaken forward,” Mr. Gowdaargued.

His statement is signifi��cant in that sources hadbeen indicating that the Congress was willing to off��er only 6 or 7 seats to the JD(S) andMr. Gowda’s party was asking for more.

Attacks ModiHe also said that he hopedthat the arrangement wouldbe fi��nalised by the end ofJanuary.

Mr. Gowda also attackedthe Narendra Modi government’s stance on agrarian issues and the Prime Minister’s remarks on the farmloan waiver announced bythe Kumaraswamy government in a recent boothlevelinteraction with BJP workersfrom Karnataka.

“If he [Prime Minister] hasnot realised even after seeing the biggest demonstration in Maharashtra, wherehis party is in power, thenpeople will take note of his

callousness,” Mr. Gowdasaid.

Stating that no government had survived by neglecting farmers, Mr. Gowdasaid: “If political parties neglect the farming community, farmers will teach them alesson.”

‘₹��350 cr. paid to farmers’Hitting back at Mr. Modi

on his comment on poor implementation of Karnataka’sfarm loan waiver, Mr. Gowdasaid: “He made a sarcasticremark, making fun of theKarnataka government. Notless than 60,000 farmershave benefi��ted so far. About₹��350 crore has already beenpaid to them electronicallyinto their bank accounts.”

All eligible farmers wouldbe benefi��ted under thescheme, he said, and addedthat the JD(S)Congress coalition government was implementing the loan waiverscheme in a “transparent”manner.

Lok Sabha poll: Deve Gowdahints at seeking 10 or 11 seatsJanata Dal (Secular) chief says seatsharing may be fi��nalised by Januaryend


NEW DELHI <> Cong. had promised

unconditional

support during govt.

formation. Since

then they have got

twothird of the

portfolios, which is

diff��erent from when

H. D. Kumaraswamy

was in government

with the BJP.

H.D. Deve Gowda

JD (S) supremo

Lakhs of women assembledunder the aegis of the LeftDemocratic Front (LDF) onTuesday to create an almostunbroken human wall thatstretched for 620 km fromKasaragod in north Kerala toThiruvananthapuram in thesouth.

Perhaps, the only jarringgap in the wall of womenwas at Chettukundu in Kasaragode where persons suspected to be Bharatiya Janata Party workers unleashedviolence against those whotried to line up on the road.The police fi��red tear gasshells to subdue the mob.

Suspected BJP workers attacked police offi��cers, journalists, passersby and damaged vehicles. Lawenforcers diverted traffi��caway from the spot, whichcontinued to be a confl��ictzone late into the evening.

Women from all walks oflife participated in the programme which the LDF hadposited as a political counter to Hindu rightwing forces opposed to the entry ofwomen to Sabarimala.

Senior women, homemakers, women clad in hijabs, lawyers, transwomen,actors, artists, doctors,teachers, students, authors,civil servants, unskilled

workers, government employees, members of socialorganisations such as theKerala Pulayar Maha Sabhaand the Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana Yogam congregated alongside NationalHighways.

They stood shoulder toshoulder for 15 minutes after 4 p.m. to form a humanwall with few apparentcracks in the line.

The programme endedwith a joint pledge to harness the power of enlightenment principles to insulatesociety against revanchistforces that sought to pushKerala back to the dark agesof casteism and discriminatory religious practices.

NSS general secretary G.Sukumaran Nair, said thewall would transform Keralainto a “devil’s own” countryriven by social strife. TheNSS had opposed the wall.

SNDP general secretaryVellapally Natesan said thewall was a riposte to thosewho sought to turn Keralainto a “madhouse” of castebased discrimination.

In Kasaragod district, police opened fi��re in the air todisperse a violent crowd, allegedly of Sangh Parivarworkers, who hurled stonesat police personnel at Chettukundu under the Bekalpolice station limits.

Form wall across 620km stretch


Thiruvananthapuram

Women line up forgender equality

Political counter: Women forming a wall at Kulappulli, nearPalakkad, on Tuesday. * K.K. MUSTAFAH

Actor and activist PrakashRaj has announced his decision to enter electoralpolitics, saying that hewould contest the 2019 LokSabha election as an Independent candidate andthat he would announcehis constituencysubsequently.

Taking to Twitter just after midnight, he wrote:“HAPPY NEW YEAR TOEVERYONE... a new beginning... more responsibility... with UR support I willbe contesting in the coming parliament elections asan INDEPENDENT CANDIDATE. Details of the constituency soon. Ab ki Baar Janatha ki SARKAR#citizensvoice #justaskingin parliament too”.

May choose TelanganaIt is being speculated thathe might choose Telanganarather than Karnataka.

In the past, he had supported the TelanganaRashtra Samithi of K. Chandrashekar Rao.

Prakash Rajto contest LS election

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

BENGALURU

Following in the footsteps ofthe Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams, the governingboard of the Kanaka Durgatemple atop Indrakeeladriimposed a strict dress codefor devotees from January 1.

Executive Offi��cer Koteswaramma said the move wasaimed at preserving the culture and traditions of Hindureligion.

Members of the Indianwomen’s cricket team visited the temple recently inwestern dress and sparked a

controversy. Many peoplefelt it went against traditions.

For those unaware of therule, a special counter selling ‘amma’ saris at a nomi

nal price of ₹��100 has beenset up.

“All they need to do isdrape the sari over theirclothes and go for darshan,”Ms. Koteswaramma said.

The authorities also arranged a changing room adjacent to the sari counter.

Women are allowed towear saris and Punjabi suitswhile men have to wear onlypant and shirt, kurtapyjama, lungi or a traditionaldhoti.

Jeans, short skirts, trousers or bermudas are notallowed.

A.P. temple says ‘no’ to Western outfi��tsTo preserve traditions of Hindu religion: Executive Offi��cer


VIJAYAWADA

The sari store on theKankadurga templepremises. * CH. VIJAYA BHASKAR

A new chapter began in thehistory of sunrise State Andhra Pradesh with the inauguration of the temporarycampus for the High Courtat the CM’s camp offi��ce hereon Tuesday. Justice ChagariPraveen Kumar, seniormostJudge of the High Court ofAndhra Pradesh, tookcharge as the acting ChiefJustice.

The court had been established here consequent tothe bifurcation of the High

Court of Judicature at Hyderabad.

Supreme Court Judge N.V.Ramana inaugurated theHigh Court in the presenceof Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu and others.

Justice Ramana said theHigh Court had been established after a long time inVijayawada. The problemsof petitioners would be reduced as a result of themove. More than the establishment of the High Court,it was necessary to protectthe values it stood for.

Acting Chief Justicetakes oath in A.P.Staff Reporter

VIJAYAWADA

Kidnapped boy back with parents in TirupatiTIRUPATI

Sixteen-month-old Veeresh,

who was kidnapped from

Tirumala and taken to

Nanded in Maharashtra, was

restored to his parents by

Superintendent of Police

(Tirupati Urban) K.K.N.

Anburajan on Tuesday. The

abductor, 43-year-old

I. Vishwambar Goud,

admitted to having abducted

the boy with the intention of

adopting him, frustrated at

not getting married.

IN BRIEF

Four years and sevenmonths after it was carvedout as a separate State, Telangana got a High Courtfor itself with the swearingin of its fi��rst Chief JusticeThottathil B. Radhakrishnan and 12 other judgeshere on Tuesday. The CJwas sworn in by GovernorE.S.L. Narasimhan at theRaj Bhavan in the presenceof Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao.

TelanganaCJ, judgessworn in


HYDERABAD



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NATION

Rawat lays foundationstone of govt. hospital DEHRADUN

Uttarakhand Chief Minister

Trivendra Singh Rawat on

Tuesday laid the foundation

stone of a 136-bed

government hospital here, an

official statement said. PTI

IN BRIEF

CRPF Asst. Commandantdies in Khunti district RANCHI

An Assistant Commandant of

the CRPF has died in Khunti

district, police said on

Tuesday. “CRPFs Assistant

Commandant J. Jilani died of

unknown reasons on Monday.

We have sent the body for

post-mortem,” Deputy IGP

A.V. Homkar said. PTI

Four killed in 4-vehiclecollision in Jaisalmer JAIPUR

Four persons were killed and

six others injured in a four-

vehicle collision in Rajasthan’s

Jaisalmer district, police said

on Tuesday. The victims have

been identified as Rahul

Sharma, Rakesh Binawara,

Umesh Binawara and

Shahrukh Ali. PTI

Man arrested formarrying minor RISHIKESH

A 21-year-old man was

arrested for allegedly eloping

with a minor girl and marrying

her on the basis of forged

documents. The man

produced a fake certificate of

the girl’s age and married her

on Monday, Rishikesh Kotwali

police station in-charge

Ritesh Shah said. PTI

Body of Dalit womanfound near her houseBALLIA

The body of a 34-year-old

Dalit woman, with her throat

slit, was found near her home

in Kharuaan village on

Tuesday morning, police said.

The deceased has been

identified as Kusum Kali

Kaushal, SP Shriparna

Ganguly said. PTI

Weather WatchRainfall, temperature & air quality in select metros yesterday

Temperature Data: IMD, Pollution Data: CPCB, Map: INSAT/IMD (Taken at 18.00 Hrs)

Forecast for Wednesday: Cold wave conditions likely at isolatedpockets over Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh,east Madhya Pradesh, Vidarbha, central Maharashtra and Telan-gana. Dense fog likely at many/isolated places over PunjabHaryana, Chandigarh, Delhi, west Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan

city rain max min city rain max min

Agartala................. —.... 27.4.... 11.0 Kozhikode ............... —.... 33.4.... 22.8

Ahmedabad............ —.... 30.6...... 9.4 Kurnool ................... —.... 31.8.... 14.0

Aizwal ................... —.........—.........— Lucknow.................. —.... 22.7...... 5.3

Allahabad .............. —.... 24.2...... 5.8 Madurai................... —.... 31.0.... 21.0

Bengaluru .............. —.... 28.1.... 14.0 Mangaluru............... —.... 35.4.... 19.4

Bhopal................... —.... 28.4...... 7.0 Mumbai................... —.... 32.7.... 14.8

Bhubaneswar ......... —.... 27.9...... 9.5 Mysuru.................... —.... 28.2.... 14.4

Chandigarh ............ —.... 20.8...... 4.2 New Delhi ............... —.... 23.0...... 4.0

Chennai ................. —.... 28.1.... 19.7 Patna ...................... —.... 22.6...... 7.7

Coimbatore............ —.... 30.0.... 18.8 Port Blair ................ —.... 29.7.... 23.2

Dehradun............... —.... 21.5...... 5.0 Puducherry.............. —.... 28.5.... 16.0

Gangtok................. —.... 13.8...... 3.9 Pune ....................... —.... 30.1...... 7.6

Goa ....................... —.... 33.3.... 19.0 Raipur ..................... —.... 27.2...... 9.9

Guwahati ............... —.... 25.1...... 7.5 Ranchi..................... —.... 21.3...... 7.4

Hubballi................. —.... 28.0.... 14.0 Shillong................... —.... 16.0...... 5.8

Hyderabad ............. —.... 28.8...... 9.3 Shimla..................... —.... 12.3...... 5.2

Imphal................... —.... 21.8...... 0.2 Srinagar .................. —...... 5.2.....-4.2

Jaipur .................... —.... 24.5...... 6.1 Trivandrum ............. —.... 33.2.... 22.8

Kochi..................... —.... 32.0.... 23.2 Tiruchi .................... —.... 30.1.... 20.0

Kohima.................. —.... 15.2...... 3.6 Vijayawada .............. —.... 28.5.... 13.6

Kolkata.................. —.... 24.8.... 12.5 Visakhapatnam ......... —.... 27.0.... 16.0

(Rainfall data in mm; temperature in Celsius)

Pollutants in the air you are breathing Yesterday

CITIES SO2 NO2 CO PM2.5 PM10 CODE

In observation made at4.00 p.m., Patna, Biharrecorded an overall airquality index (AQI) scoreof 454 indicating anunhealthy level ofpollution. In contrast,Vijayawada recorded ahealthy AQI score of 77

Ahmedabad ...... 94 129 .24 ..242 .....— ....*

Bengaluru......... ..5 .42 .80 ..143 .150 ....*

Chennai ............ 26 .15 .58 ..257 .....— ....*

Delhi ................ 30 113 .87 ..446 .431 ....*

Hyderabad ........ ..7 106 .47 ..151 .146 ....*

Kolkata............. 21 124 .12 ..399 .318 ....*

Lucknow........... 49 .92 .15 ..428 .....— ....*

Mumbai ............ 26 .84 .92 ..166 .191 ....*

Pune................. ..— ...— 161 ..... — .....— ....—

Vishakhapatnam 39 130 .36 ..250 .255 ....*

Air Quality Code: * Poor * Moderate * Good (Readings indicate average AQI)

SO2: Sulphur Dioxide. Short-term exposure can harm the respiratory system,

making breathing difficult. It can affect visibility by reacting with other air

particles to form haze and stain culturally important objects such as statues

and monuments.

NO2: Nitrogen Dioxide. Aggravates respiratory illness, causes haze to form by

reacting with other air particles, causes acid rain, pollutes coastal waters.

CO: Carbon monoxide. High concentration in air reduces oxygen supply to

critical organs like the heart and brain. At very high levels, it can cause

dizziness, confusion, unconsciousness and even death.

PM2.5 & PM10: Particulate matter pollution can cause irritation of the eyes,

nose and throat, coughing, chest tightness and shortness of breath, reduced

lung function, irregular heartbeat, asthma attacks, heart attacks and

premature death in people with heart or lung disease

The ruling Trinamool Congress in West Bengal turned21 on Tuesday and used theoccasion to project partychief and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee as a possibleprime ministerial candidateof any grand Opposition alliance for the upcoming LokSabha polls.

The party also vowed towork to ensure a secular andprogressive India under theleadership of 63yearold Ms.Banerjee.

Describing 2019 as the“year of change”, seniorTMC MP Abhishek Banerjeesaid the party is “standing ata historic juncture where it

wants to play a vital role inNew Delhi in favour of theworking class”.

Good daysMr. Banerjee, the nephew ofthe TMC chief, said the yearwill bring good days (achchedin) in the country.

“The year of 2019 is a yearof change and struggle. Weshould fi��ght hard in order toensure that we are able to giftthe people of this country asecular and progressive India in New Delhi under theleadership of Mamata Banerjee,” he said in a video message on the TMC’s 21st Foundation Day.

“Our party has turned 21today. The number 21 as

sumes immense signifi��canceas it signifi��es struggle, youthfulness and change,” headded.

TMC was founded on January 1, 1998, by Mamata Banerjee, who was herself baptised into politics by theCongress. At present, theTMC has 34 of the 42 Lok

Sabha seats from WestBengal.

Ms. Banerjee congratulated party workers on theoccasion.

“The journey which began on January 1, 1998, hasbeen full of struggles, but wehave been steadfast in our resolve to fi��ght for the people#Trinamool21 ...We arethankful to MaaMatiManush for their constant support. And the workers whowork hard 365 days a yearfor the people. A big salute toyou,” she said.

Anti-BJP frontThe TMC, which has beeneyeing a wider politicalspace for the last few years,

has been at the forefront offorming an antiBJP Opposition alliance and convened arally of Opposition parties inKolkata on January 19.

Ms. Banerjee has beentouring the country and hasmet leaders of several parties in a bid to forge opposition unity to take on the BJP.

The TMC observed theday in the State in everyblock and subdivision and also at the panchayat level.The party fl��ag was hoisted atthe Trinamool Bhavan byparty general secretary Subrata Bakshi.

Blood donation camps,blanket distribution and cultural events were also heldacross the State.

TMC projects Mamata as PM candidate On 21st foundation day, party resolves to play vital role in New Delhi in a ‘year of change’


Kolkata

West Bengal CM MamataBanerjee * FILE PHOTO PTI

The Odisha Forest and Environment Department hasproposed to the State government to increase thecompensation for humandeaths caused in confl��ictwith animals from ₹��4 lakh to₹��5 lakh.

The department has alsodecided to procure specialvans to rescue wild animalsin distress.

“The department has proposed to increase the compensation amount for human deaths caused bywildlife from ₹��4 lakh to ₹��5lakh. We hope it would havea positive impact in the region aff��ected by manwildlife confl��icts,” said SandeepTripathi, Principal ChiefConservator of Forest (Wildlife), here on Tuesday.

The proposal has beensent to State government forapproval, Mr. Tripathi

added.Between 201112 and 2018

19, as many as 680 peopledied in wild animal attacks.Of these, 535 were killed byelephants. During the sameperiod, 6,417 houses weredamaged by elephant herds.

Special vehiclesThe forest department is inthe process of procuringfour special vehiclesequipped with a crane torescue elephants in distress.These vehicles would also

have a few veterinarians onboard to attend to the animals. The vehicles, eachcosting about ₹��25 lakh,would also be used to chasetuskers away from humanhabitations. The Odisha Forest and Environment Department has sought thehelp of its West Bengal counterpart in the procurementof these vehicles.

Since 201112, a total of548 jumbos have died in Odisha with the annual averageloss estimated at 70.

Odisha may hike relief fordeath in wildlife attack Compensation likely to go up from ₹��4 lakh to ₹��5 lakh

STAFF REPORTER

BHUBANESWAR

Over 530 people were killed by elephants in Odisha between2011-12 and 2018-19. * FILE PHOTO

The incident of ‘Vande Mataram’ not being sung on thethe fi��rst working day of January at Madhya Pradesh Secretariat came to light withthe Opposition BJP on Tuesday pointing fi��ngers at ChiefMinister Kamal Nath.

Singing of the nationalsong in the Mantralaya or Secretariat on the fi��rst workingday of every month has beenthe norm since the time oferstwhile Shivraj SinghChouhan government.

Madhya Pradesh GeneralAdministration DepartmentAdditional Chief SecretaryPrabhanshu Kamal couldnot be contacted despite repeated calls.

State unit BJP spokesmanRajneesh Agrawal tweetedthat the rendition of VandeMataram is organised by theGAD, a portfolio held by Mr.Nath.

“Has it been on his direction? He (Nath) has recently

said that he does not care forcriticism. Is there going to bea ban on ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’chant (sic),” Mr. Agrawaltweeted.

State Congress spokesman Bhupendra Guptasought to play down the incident, saying the Chief Minister is out of station. He saidthe rendition couldn’t takeplace as the new Chief Secretary took charge on Tuesday, implying that the offi��cials remained busy. “If itwas not sung today, it willtake place tomorrow or later.”

Vande Mataram not

sung at M.P. SecretariatBJP targets CM; Cong. plays it down


Bhopal

Madhya Pradesh CM KamalNath * PTI



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CMYK

NATION

First duty towards mycaste: Rajasthan ministerALWAR

Rajasthan Minister Mamta

Bhupesh has landed in a row

by saying her “first duty will

be to work for development

of people of my caste and

then towards the society.”

The Women and Child

Development Minister was

addressing a rally in Alwar. ANI

Controversial diktat forstudents in Gujarat AHMEDABAD

The BJP government in

Gujarat has asked schools to

ensure that students respond

with ‘Jai Hind’ or ‘Jai Bharat’

during roll call instead of the

customary ‘Yes Sir’, which it

feels will instill “a feeling of

patriotism“. The move has

drawn flak from the

Opposition, which said the

government should work

towards improving the

“quality of education.” PTI

‘India to welcome 69,944babies on New Year’s dayNEW DELHI

India would welcome as many

as 69,944 babies on New

Year's Day, the highest in the

world, the UNICEF said on

Tuesday. India would be

followed by China which

would welcome 44,940

babies, the United Nations

International Children's

Emergency Fund said in a

report. In Nigeria, 25,685

babies will be born, it added.PTI

Railway Ministry seeksaction against officer NEW DELHI

The Railway Ministry has

decided to take disciplinary

action against Union Minister

Jitendra Singh’s Officer on

Special Duty for casting

aspersions against Minister

Piyush Goyal in an article. The

Railway Board has asked the

Department of Personnel and

Training for the immediate

repatriation of Sanjiv Kumar, a

2005 batch officer of the

Indian Railway Personnel

Service, for “misconduct”. PTI

It is usually during the winter that a distinctly darklarge bird – the Cinereousvulture, with a blackedtipped pink beak – migratesfrom the mountainous regions of Europe and Asia towarmer places, includingIndia.

While earlier records ofthis migratory bird have revealed that it comes tonorthern parts of India upto Rajasthan, bird watchersand researchers were baffl��ed to fi��nd it in Hazaribagh,Jharkhand.

Shib Shankar Goswami, abird enthusiast, spotted thevulture in Hazaribagh onDecember 30. “I was doinga nature walk with a groupof bird enthusiasts, calledBird’s Buddy, when I spotted the vulture perched on atree. Interestingly, the Cinereous vulture (classifi��ed asNear Threatened under theIUCN Red List) was foundwith three other endangered species of vultures,”Mr. Goswami said.

“Initially, I could not believe a sight where four rarevultures were seen in one

frame, but the photographstaken at the spot revealedwhat can be a bird watcher’sdelight,” he added. According to him, the three othervultures in the frame werethe Himalyan Griff��on,Whiterumped vulture andthe Longbilled vulture.

Smitha Pankaj, DivisionalForest Offi��cer (HazaribagEast), confi��rmed the presence of the visitor from faroff�� countries to Jharkhand.“We have spotted the Cinerous vulture for the fi��rst timein the region,” the DFO said,adding that fi��ve species ofvultures, including the Himalayan Griff��on, were spotted in Hazaribagh recently.

Birdwatchers call it a rare sighting

Shiv Sahay Singh

Kolkata

The endangered cinereousvulture in Jharkhand.

* SHIB SHANKAR GOSWAMI

Cinereous vulture

seen in Jharkhand

Rescue personnel on Tuesday began pumping out water from the fl��ooded ratholecoal mine in Meghalaya’sEast Jaintia Hills district,where many miners arefeared dead after remainingtrapped since December 13.

The day saw the districtauthorities release an offi��cial list of 15 trapped miners,though one of the fi��ve whosurvived claimed that therewere 17 inside the 350 ftdeep mine.

R. Susngi, spokespersonfor the district administration, said the Odisha FireService personnel pumpedout water from an old shaftnear the main one that thetrapped miners had used todescend.

“After three hours ofpumping, the water level inthe old shaft was found tohave gone down by up to sixinches,” he said.

The Odisha Fire Servicewill continue dewatering onWednesday.

The multiple rescue agencies expect to determine thewater level after eight hoursof pumping.

Midway through Tues

day’s operation, the EastJaintia Hills district authorities released the names of 15trapped miners.

Offi��cials said they tooktime to verify the number,earlier believed to be 13.

Names identifi��edThey are Omor Ali, Mezamur Islam, Mominul Islam,Shirapat Ali, Mozid S.K., Raziul Islam, Abdul Kalam (allfrom West Garo Hills ofMeghalaya), ShalabasDkhar, Long Dkhar, NilamDkhar (all from East JaintiaHills), Amir Hussain, Monirul Islam, Chaher Islam, Md.Samsul Haque, and Assh Bahadur Limbu (all fromAssam).

Dewatering to continue today

special correspondent

GUWAHATI

Navy personnel setting upequipment at the site inKsan, Meghalaya. * REUTERS

Water being pumped

out of Meghalaya mine

The water quality of theGanga in 2018 has “improved over last year”, according to a written statement in the Rajya Sabha onMonday by junior Water Resources Minister SatyapalSingh.

The statement said “dissolved oxygen” levels hadimproved at 39 locations,and “biological oxygen demand” (BOD) levels and faecal coliform had decreasedat 42 and 47 locations respectively. These three parameters are a proxy forboth the presence of aquaticlife as well as microbes thatmay be harmful to these biota, and are conventionallyused to assess the quality ofthe river.

These improved stretchesof the river included placessuch as Rishikesh, the HarKiPauri Ghat at Haridwar;Ranighat in Kanpur; Tarighat in Ghazipur; Narora in Bulandshahr; Kachhla Ghat inBadaun, Aligarh; Buxar, Mokama and Munger — all in Bihar; Uluberia, Dakshinesh

war and Diamond Harbourin West Bengal.

Sewage treatment plantsThe government said ₹��5,100crore, of the ₹��20,000 croreallotted to clean the Ganga,had been spent under theNamami Gange Programmefrom 201415 to 201819.

Last year, ₹��1,725.86 crorehad been spent till December 26, taking the cumulative expenditure to ₹��5,187.37crore.

More than half the fundshad been directed towards

making new sewage treatment plants (STP) and effl��uent treatment plants(ETP), as well as making subpar plants work better. FromApril 2014 to March 2018, atotal of 145 projects weresanctioned at an estimatedcost of ₹��15,074.76 crore.

However, independentexperts have said the cleaning eff��orts were halfheartedand there was little eff��ort toensure that the river’s voluminous fl��ow in the upperstretches of Uttarakhand ismaintained downstream.

Cleaner stretches recorded across all riverine States

Jacob Koshy

NEW DELHI

Ganga water quality hasimproved, govt. tells RS

The International Advertising Association (IAA) willhost the IAA World Congressat Kochi from February 2022. The event, covering marketing, advertising and media, would be held at theGrand Hyatt Lulu International Convention Centre inthat city.

Pradeep Guha, chairman,steering committee, IAAWorld Congress, said: “Thisis being planned as the mostsignifi��cant event with talksby 35 speakers on marketing, advertising, communications, media and relatedtechnology areas across theglobe. We have also plannedthree evenings of great en

tertainment. And we havespecial rates for academicsand students so that theylearn from this great lineupof speakers.”

Srinivasan Swamy, chairman and world president,IAA, said: “The world congress is held every alternateyear. We are expecting about2,000 delegates from Indiaand around the world to attend.”

Reliance Industries Ltd.CMD Mukesh Ambani, Unilever CEO Paul Polman,Qualcomm CEO Steven Mollenkopf, nonexecutiveChairman of Infosys andformer Chairman of UIDAINandan Nilekani, CEO ofSoftbank Investment Advisors Rajeev Misra and Sri Sri

Ravi Shankar are scheduledto address the summit. Bollywood legend AmitabhBachchan will also speak, aswill social infl��uencer Deepika Padukone.

Some of the other speakers include tennis greatsAndre Agassi, Vijay Amritraj,Alibaba Group chief marketing offi��cer Chris Tung, Facebook vicepresident of global marketing solutionsCarolyn Everson. Cofounder of Skype Jonas Kjellberg,president and chief executive offi��cer of BBDO Worldwide Andrew Robertson andchief creative offi��cer of Ogilvy Worldwide Piyush Pandey are expected to participate. For details, log on towww.iaaworldcongress.org

Global advertising meet inKochi on February 20-22Special Correspondent

CHENNAI

The National Human RightsCommission (NHRC) onTuesday served notice onthe Ministry for Human Resource Development on thereported suicides of 49 students of the residential Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas( JNVs) over fi��ve years.

Taking suo motu cognisance of a media report that49 students had committed

suicide on JNV campusesfrom 2013 to 2017, the NHRCasked the Secretary of theMinistry for a report in sixweeks. It asked whethertrained counsellors wereavailable for students,whether there was dedicated staff�� to ensure studentswere not left alone andwhether there was emergency assistance, including ahotline.

According to the report,

half of the 49 students belonged to Dalit or tribal communities, and the majoritywere boys.

“Reportedly all, except seven, were suicides by hanging, and the bodies werefound either by classmatesor the school staff��. The JNVsare reported to be the Central government’s pacesetting schools for talented children from rural India,” theNHRC said.

NHRC seeks report on studentsuicides in Navodaya Vidyalayas‘Half of the 49 students belonged to tribal communities’

Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI

Despite restrictions placedby the city police, seven persons were killed and morethan 150 persons reportedlyinjured during New Year’sEve celebrations.

Huge crowds at the Marina and Elliot’s beach welcomed the New Year, exchanging highdecibelgreetings and bursting crackers. The police had madeelaborate arrangements, including diversions, to regulate traffi��c and ensuresmooth movement of publicvehicles, but the spillover ofpeople to the streets led tojams across the city.

Personnel deployedSecurity was beefed up from8 p.m. on Monday in the city,with the deployment of over

15,000 police personnel.Vehicle check points wereset up at 368 places in the city.

All fl��yovers were barricaded to prevent revellers fromindulging in bike races onNew Year’s Eve. Antibikeracing committees wereformed to nab people violat

ing the rules. But restrictions imposed

by the police were not eff��ective to prevent the revellersfrom indulging in excesseson the pretext of celebrations. Streets had unruly bikers vrooming and wheelingunchecked.

S. Sriram, a resident of

Nanganallur, said, “It waspast 11 p.m., and people ontwowheelers created a ruckus on the road, relentlesslysounding the horns andboisterously wishing everybody a happy New Year.”

“Though there were barricades along the road, bikersdrove dangerously betweenthe barricades,” said Ramalakshmi, a resident ofVelachery.

Following celebrationsnear the Marina beach atmidnight, Kamarajar roadand adjacent areas were jampacked with vehicles fornearly two hours.

“Several youths were seenon motorcycles, tripleridingwithout helmets and werewarned by the policemen onduty. In smaller lanes of Triplicane, long lines of vehicles were moving slowly,”

said Ramachandran, a resident of Triplicane.

Cases bookedAccording to the traffi��c police, as many as 263 caseswere booked for drunk driving and over 233 casesbooked for tripleriding ontwowheelers. Thirtythreecases were booked againstpersons who indulged inrash driving on New Year’sEve.

On New Year’s day in 2017,10 fatal accidents and 31 nonfatal accidents were reported. On New Year’s day in2018, eight fatal accidentsand 16 nonfatal accidentswere reported.

On the fi��rst day of 2019,the traffi��c police said 18 accidents were reported; ofthem, six were fatal accidents and 12 were nonfatal.

7 killed, 150 injured during NewYear’s Eve celebrations in ChennaiPolice made elaborate arrangements; over 500 cases booked for traffi��c violations

R. Sivaraman

CHENNAI

Pedestrians cross a jampacked Kamarajar Salai near Marina onNew Year’s Eve. * B. JOTHI RAMALINGAM * B. JOTHI RAMALINGAM

Mark Scialla, a U.S.basedfreelance journalist, whowas covering the Sterlite issue in Thoothukudi aftercoming to India on a touristvisa, was deported onTuesday.

Superintendent of PoliceMurali Rambha said he issued a ‘Leave India Notice’in his capacity as the Foreigner Registration Offi��cerof the district.

Leaves for Madurai According to police, the foreigner left for Madurai byroad around 7 p.m. Hewould be taking a fl��ight viaHyderabad and Doha to theU.S.

Mr. Scialla was given 48hours to leave the country.He checked out of the hotelsituated on the V.E. Road,which was under surveillance for the last two days.

On Sunday, Mr. Scialla,who has contributed to The

Guardian and Al Jazeera English, among other newsoutlets, was grilled by thepolice for several hours after he was found visiting villages around the Sterliteplant, where heavy securityhas been deployed following the antiSterliteagitation.

His original plan was tostay in Thoothukudi till January 3, while his visa is valid until January 21.

U.S. scribe covering Sterlite issue deported Scialla was given 48 hours to leave

Staff Reporter

Thoothukudi

Mark Scialla

₹��1.49 crore grant forPondicherry varsityPUDUCHERRY

The Department of

Biochemistry & Molecular

Biology of the School of Life

Sciences, Pondicherry

University has been

sanctioned ₹��1.49 crore as

grant by the Department of

Science and Technology. The

DSTFIST support is given to

internationally competitive

institutions into teaching and

research.

IN BRIEF



#70929




CMYK

A ND-NDE

EDITORIAL

Mohammed Ayoob

Increasing intimacy betweenSaudi Arabia, the socalled bastion of Islamic orthodoxy, and

Israel, the Jewish state carved outby the colonial powers in Arab Palestine, appears astonishing at fi��rstsight. The growing relationship,even if surreptitious, between thetwo states can be explained inlarge part with reference to the oldadage, “my enemy’s enemy is myfriend”.

Complex reasonsThe enemy is Iran, which bothcountries perceive as the primarythreat to their strategic interests inWest Asia. Saudi Arabia is engagedin a fi��erce competition with Iranfor infl��uence in the Persian Gulfand wider West Asia. Riyadhseems to be losing this competition as demonstrated by recentevents in Syria, Lebanon and Iraqas well as tiny Qatar’s defi��antattitude.

The reasons for Israel’s overtures towards Saudi Arabia aremore complex. A common frontagainst Iran is, of course, a majorfactor determining Israeli policy.Iran is a potential challenger to Israel’s nuclear monopoly in West

Asia and uses its infl��uence in theLevant to impede Israeli dominance of the region. But equallyimportant, the Israeli governmentbelieves that improved relationswith Riyadh will serve other majorgoals.

First, Saudi Arabia’s lead in establishing relations with Israel,even if covert, is likely to induceother Arab states, especially theoil rich monarchies of the Gulf, toopen their economies to Israeli investment and technical expertise,thus bringing Israel substantialeconomic benefi��ts. Israel’s successin achieving this objective is critically dependent upon developinga signifi��cant, even if unacknowledged, relationship with SaudiArabia.

Second, the Israeli governmentestimates that improved relationswith the Saudi regime, the “guardian” of Islam’s two holiest sites,will help resolve the IsraeliPalestinian confl��ict to Tel Aviv’s satisfaction. This means Israel continuingto control the entire territory between the River Jordan and the Mediterranean Sea without giving thePalestinians any civil or politicalrights. Israel feels that with Saudihelp, the status quo could be madeacceptable to other Arab and Muslim countries as well since severalof them, such as Egypt and Pakistan, are heavily dependent uponSaudi largesse.

Furthermore, Israel and SaudiArabia have a common interest inpreventing the democratisation of

Arab countries. Authoritarian governments in the Arab world allowIsrael to parade itself as the onlydemocracy in West Asia. SaudiArabia is mortally afraid of a democratic wave in the Arab worldsince it would further highlight thedespotic nature of its regime. Thisapprehension drove its oppositionto the democracy movements, especially in Egypt and Bahrain, during the shortlived Arab Spring.

U.S. nodThe SaudiIsraeli rapprochementhas been actively supported by theTrump administration. The UnitedStates is extremely interested inthe formation of a joint front between Saudi Arabia and Israelagainst Iran, America’s principaladversary in West Asia. JaredKushner, the U.S. President’s soninlaw and the administration’spoint man on West Asia, has developed a special relationship withSaudi Crown Prince MuhammadBin Salman (MBS) in order toachieve this and other ends. Hehad used his leverage with MBS to

prod the latter to accept Israel’spoint of view on the Palestine issue before the Jamal Khashoggimurder stalled the expansion ofthe SaudiIsraeli relationship.

The rapprochement betweenRiyadh and Tel Aviv was movingapace until October 2, 2018, whenKhashoggi, a Saudi dissident journalist, was murdered at the behestof the Saudi regime in the SaudiConsulate in Istanbul, Turkey. Senior offi��cials of the two governments, including Mossad headYossi Cohen, had clandestinelymet several times. On the Saudiside, former senior aide to theCrown Prince, Saud alQahtani,and former deputy intelligencechief, Major General Ahmed alAssiri, had played important roles inthe secret negotiations with Israel.

Khashoggi murderHowever, the Khashoggi murderhas thrown a spanner in the worksfor several reasons. First, the twoprincipal Saudi interlocutors havebeen dismissed from their crucialpositions in order to demonstrateto the international communitythat the Saudi regime is genuinelyinterested in bringing Khashoggi’smurderers to justice.

Second, MBS, who many believe ordered the killing, has beenthe focus of intense criticism, including by leading Senators andCongressmen in the U.S., following the brutal murder and dismemberment of Khashoggi’s body. He is also held responsible for

the Yemeni misadventure, whichhas left thousands of civilians deadand millions on the verge of starvation. He cannot, therefore, afford to take greater political risksat this moment by continuing theparleys with Israel.

This does not mean that theSaudiIsraeli relationship will return to the level of hostility thathad once existed between the twostates. Rapprochement has beenan ongoing process for close totwo decades. It was dramaticallyexpedited with the appointmentof MBS as Crown Prince and the defacto ruler of Saudi Arabia.

One can, therefore, concludethat their common hostility towards Iran and their close securityrelationship with the U.S. willeventually prompt Saudi Arabiaand Israel to resume their covertrelationship and eventually makeit public. However, their contactsare likely to remain frozen forsome time until the Khashoggimurder recedes from public memory. Yet the SaudiIsraeli rapprochement could be accelerated ifMBS, who has been the drivingforce behind the Saudi policy ofengagement with Israel, ascendsto the Saudi throne in the nearfuture.

Mohammed Ayoob is University

Distinguished Professor Emeritus of

International Relations, Michigan State

University and NonResident Senior

Fellow, Center for Global Policy,

Washington DC

Strange bedfellows in West Asia Tel Aviv believes that improved relations with Riyadh will serve many major strategic goals ��

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more letters online:

www.hindu.com/opinion/letters/

The spectacular victory of theGrand Alliance led by theAwami League (AL), headed

by incumbent Prime MinisterSheikh Hasina, in Bangladesh’s11th general election, has delighted her supporters. This election isalso a milestone for the coming ofage of a new generation which isavowedly aspirational and is tiredof the old political discourse thathad deeply divided politics in Bangladesh. They have voted for economic progress and a secularpolity.

The margin of victory hasshocked and dismayed the Opposition parties that had coalesced into the National Unity Front (NUF),a coalition at whose core is theBangladesh Nationalist Party(BNP), the AL’s bitter political rival. Former AL stalwart and famousjurist Kamal Hossain provided theleadership glue for the Oppositioncoalition. Nominally led by itsChairperson, former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, currently in jailfor corruption, the BNP’s guidingforce is U.K.based actingChairman Tarique Rahman, her controversial son who fl��ed from thecountry in 2008 and lives in exile.He is convicted of money laundering and conspiracy to murder.

Brute majorityThe AL has obtained a brute majority of 288 seats in a unicameralParliament which has 300 directlyelected seats and 50 seats reserved for women. The latter areelected by the electoral college ofdirectlyelected MPs, with proportional representation to partieselected to the Parliament.

Mr. Hossain’s monumental failure to deliver has left him and oth

er Opposition leaders hurling allegations that the elections were“farcical” and asking that newelections be held under a nonpartisan caretaker administration.The NUF managed to win just seven seats. The Election Commission, while taking note of someelectoral malpractices and promising investigation, has declaredthe results valid and rejected thedemand for new elections.

The margin of victory has lentsome traction to persistent allegations of electoral malpractices,hounding of the Opposition, largescale arrests of Opposition workers and intimidation of voters.Electionrelated violence on polling day claimed 17 lives. SeveralOpposition candidates withdrewfrom the fray, citing violent obstruction by AL workers, kidnapping of their election agents andvoters being obstructed from casting their votes. Yet internationalobservers have concluded that theelections were largely peaceful,fair and credible.

Though dogged by two consecutive controversial elections andincreasing perceptions of authoritarian behaviour, Ms. Hasina is setfor another fi��veyear term in offi��ce. She has an enviable record ofdelivering record economicgrowth. Bangladesh’s GDP grew ata rate of 7.6% in the last quarter,making it one of the fastest growing economies in the world.

A bipartisan consensus During the last decade of Ms. Hasina’s tenure as Prime Minister,highlevel BangladeshIndia engagement has intensifi��ed. There isan irrevocable and irreversible bipartisan political consensus in India for upgrading relations acrossa comprehensive interface of ties.India’s ‘neighbourhood policy’has focussed on Bangladesh,which has emerged as a key interlocutor in India’s ‘Act East Policy’and subregional groupings likeBIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiativefor MultiSectoral Technical and

Economic Cooperation) and theBBIN (Bangladesh, Bhutan, India,Nepal) Initiative. In Bangladeshtoo, a growing domestic politicalconsensus, overriding fractiouspolitics, has emerged in favour ofclose ties with India. Denial of support to Indian insurgent groups,with insurgent leaders handed over to India, has progressively builttrust and confi��dence between thetwo countries. Bangladesh is India’s largest trading partner inSouth Asia with an annual turnover of around $9 billion plus an estimated informal trade of around$89 billion, across the 4,100kmlong porous border. Cooperationin connectivity, energy, securityand intelligence matters has intensifi��ed. The Padma multipurposebridge and the AkhauraAgartalarail link will dramatically changeconnectivity within Bangladeshand with India. Waterways are alsobeing revived to reduce the cost oftrade.

Improvement in bilateral tieshas led to newer areas of cooperation such as cyberspace. Bangladesh has provided cyber connectivity between the internationalgateway at Cox’s Bazar to Agartalafor faster Internet connectivity inIndia’s northeastern States. Indiahas also become a partner in Bangladesh’s nuclear power programme, with the beginning ofconstruction at the Rooppur nu

clear power plant. India is poisedto export around 1100 MW of power to meet the energy defi��cit inBangladesh. Power projects totalling more than 3600 MW are underimplementation by Indian companies.

The adverse balance of tradehas been a bilateral issue. Theasymmetry in the economies of India and Bangladesh is the majorfactor. To enable more Bangladeshi exports to fl��ow into India,duty free entry was granted in 2011under the South Asian Free TradeArea. This has led to an increase inexports from Bangladesh fromaround $350 million to the currentlevel of around $900 million. Bangladeshi exports have plateauedbecause of demand constraints inIndia and also because of limiteditems in the Bangladeshi exportbasket. An SEZ in Bangladesh forIndian manufacturing companieshas been mooted and notifi��ed.When operational it will encourage Indian companies to manufacture there and export to India. Indian investment in Bangladesh hasreached $3 billion. In 2017, 13agreements worth around $10 billion were signed in the power andenergy sectors.

To off��set the economic asymmetry, India has granted Bangladeshgenerous lines of credit (LOCs) andgrants, with commitments reaching $8 billion. While LOCs mainlycover infrastructure and connectivity projects, grants fl��ow into social sector development. Capacitybuilding under the Indian Technical and Economic Cooperationprogramme is an important strandin bilateral ties and peopletopeople interaction. Bangladeshis areamong the largest groups of tourists into India. The visa regimehas been liberalised and over amillion visas are issued to Bangladeshi citizens annually.

With the rise of religious radicalism and terrorism, defence andsecurity issues will require greatercooperation. Bangladesh has taken strong and eff��ective steps

against those who have been inspired by the Islamic State and involved in terrorist strikes. Islamistorganisations have been breedinggrounds for religious radicals andextremist views. These forces willpose a considerable challenge forgovernance in Bangladesh in thefuture. With the massive loss, theNUF is likely to boycott the Parliament and take to street agitation,sullying Bangladesh’s reputationas a democracy.

Challenges aheadThere will be setbacks in IndiaBangladesh ties, like the currentRohingya issue, which has imposed a huge economic and security burden on Bangladesh. Bilaterally, the issue of the illegalmigration has already acquired ahigh profi��le in India with the publication of the draft National Register of Citizens in Assam. This willrequire deft handling of bilateralties. Sharing of river waters will remain a challenge, but not an insurmountable one.

China’s security and economicfootprint has grown in South Asiaand managing this will remain achallenge for both countries.While Bangladesh is overwhelmingly dependent on military hardware from China, India has provided a $500 million LOC forprocurement of defencerelatedgoods from India. This momentum must be maintained andintensifi��ed.

India has welcomed the election results and Prime Minister Narendra Modi was the fi��rst leader totelephone and congratulate Ms.Hasina. BangladeshIndia relationshave reached a stage of maturityand with further upgrading and integration of infrastructure, bilateral ties can be expected to growstronger in the future.

Pinak Ranjan Chakravarty, a

Distinguished Fellow at the Observer

Research Foundation, is a former

diplomat. He has served as High

Commissioner of India to Bangladesh

The bilateral transformationIndia and Bangladesh must seize the opportunity to further enhance connectivity and trade ties

Pinak Ranjan Chakravarty

AF

P

India and Hasina’s winThe landslide victory, inBangladesh, for the AwamiLeague augurs well forsustained growth in IndiaBangladesh relations(Editorial, “Hasina’striumph”, January 1). Onecannot forget the historicaccord signed betweenIndia and Bangladesh withregard to the exchange ofenclaves. Prime MinisterSheikh Hasina hasdisplayed no hatred towardRohingya refugees while, atthe same time, her zerotolerance towards terrorismon her country’s soil cannotbe missed. One hopes thatour friendship is marked bymore warmth, goodwill andabiding respect. N. Visveswaran,

Chennai

■ For India, Ms. Hasina’sresounding victory could beanother opportunity toaccomplish moreinfrastructure projects inBangladesh. In 1971, Indiahad a key role in theliberation of Bangladesh.Now it is India’s crucialpartner in making a mark ineconomic and political termsin the South Asian region.One hopes that the AwamiLeague will only strengthenthe bond between the twonations.Rohit R.,

Belagutti, Davanagere, Karnataka

The year aheadHow one hopes what thewriter wishes for us comestrue (Editorial page, “Diaryof the year to come”, January1) — that we have a wise,

benevolent set of selfl��essrulers who are true tothemselves and who are ableto make this country truly‘Sare jahan se accha’. A climate of hate andintolerance prevails all overthe country. The only thingthat seems to matter for theruling party is to grab power.Propelled by lurkingmegalomania, the leadershipis out to do this by usingeven the most despicablemeans. Look at what ishappening in Karnataka(“Ramesh Jarkiholi may soonquit Cong.” and “2 exKarnataka CMs continueTwitter war”, both January1). A couple of days ago, theViceChancellor of auniversity in Uttar Pradesh isalleged to have publicly

exhorted students to useviolence against theiradversaries. Peddlers of hate,rabble rousers anddemagogues appear to rulethe roost in contemporaryIndia, with the state readilycapitulating to them. Is therestill hope for ‘Sare jahan seaccha’? M. Jameel Ahmed,

Mysuru

Polymaths are rareIn the early days of thescientifi��c revolution,polymathy was the normrather than the exception(Editorial page, “Dead endsof specialisation”, January 1).Science, as well as art,fl��ourished by the synthesis ofknowledge cutting acrossdisciplines. The devaluation of

take the lead in breaking thechains of specialisation thathave shackled the crossdisciplinary orientation ofresearch.V.N. Mukundarajan,

Thiruvananthapuram

‘Achche din’The “silent” cartoon (OpEdpage, ‘Cartoonscape’,January 1), spoke volumesabout realities that cannot beexplained even with athousand words. The swipeat the failure of all the tallpromises made by the BJPgovernment to usher in‘Achche din’ under its rule offi��ve years was unmistakeableand thoughtprovoking.D. Sethuraman,

Chennai

polymathy appears to be adefensive response of socalled specialists andacademicians with a narrowvision who fear challenges totheir received scientifi��cwisdom once the winds ofcrossdisciplinary researchsweep across their scientifi��ccitadels. It is signifi��cant that mostNobel Prize winners haddeep as well as broadknowledge of specifi��c anddiff��erent disciplines. In fact,many of them had interestsin the arts as well. Thechallenges of the 21st centurydemand interdisciplinarycooperation because manysolutions exist at theintersections of diff��erentbranches of knowledge.Universities, the reservoirs oftalent and expertise, should

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Letters emailed to [email protected] must carry the full postal address and the full name or the name with initials.

Elizabeth Warren, Democratic Senator of Massa

chusetts, has announced her likely candidacy for

the 2020 U.S. presidential race. In her statement

she put racial and genderbased inequality front and

centre in her campaign agenda, as much as income in

equality faced by the middle class. For these ills of the

American economy, she blamed the excesses of under

regulated Wall Street corporations and billionaires with

the money muscle to bend political rules. Although Ms.

Warren, who won a second sixyear Senate term in No

vember, had declined to enter the 2016 general election

and challenge Hillary Clinton in the Democratic prim

ary, she made a name for herself as a toptier Democrat

by taking on President Donald Trump, describing him

as a “thinskinned racist bully”. However, she attracted

criticism for an unnecessary controversy over taking a

DNA test to establish her Native American heritage, af

ter Mr. Trump used racist epithets to provoke and

smear her ethnic antecedents. Notwithstanding that

blip, the former Harvard law professor, who hails from

a bluecollar background in Oklahoma, has repeatedly

underscored her credentials as a champion of multira

cial populism. Over the past year she has sharpened

her attack on Mr. Trump’s politics, arguing that he de

fl��ects attention from the impact of his divisive policies

on ordinary American families and instead blames

“other working people, people who are black, or

brown, people born somewhere else.”

Despite the considerable achievements of Ms. War

ren, who had not held public offi��ce before 2013, the ob

stacles ahead for her proposed presidential run are for

midable. First, the general expectation is that the fi��eld

for the Democratic nomination will widen considerably

over through 2019, given that more than three dozen

Democratic candidatesinthemaking are said to be

considering joining the race, several of them for the

fi��rst time. Some, such as Kamala Harris of California or

Cory Booker of New Jersey, could hold stronger appeal

with millennial voters and people of colour. Second, it

is hard to predict how Ms. Warren will fare against self

professed Democratic socialist candidate Bernie San

ders, or Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio, both econom

ic populists who could hypothetically cut into her share

of voters of a similar ideological persuasion. Finally, the

risk of pursuing a populist theme from the centreleft of

the political spectrum is that she would be an easy tar

get for Mr. Trump and conservatives, who are likely to

deride her as an outoftouch liberal academic and a

threat to free enterprise. Nevertheless, as a candidate

for the nation’s highest offi��ce, Ms. Warren’s ideological

moorings are set. It is not inconceivable that, given how

bitterly polarised the electorate is today, Ms. Warren’s

bold liberalism could off��er hope to millions of voters

dismayed at what Mr. Trump has done to their nation.

A Democratic hope?Elizabeth Warren makes the fi��rst move

towards a U.S. presidential bid

The fog of bad loans shrouding the banking sector

appears to be lifting after a long period of sus

tained stress. The Reserve Bank of India’s Finan

cial Stability Report reveals the fi��rst halfyearly decline

in the ratio of gross nonperforming assets (GNPA) to

advances since September 2015. The ratio across all

scheduled commercial banks has eased to 10.8% as of

endSeptember 2018, from 11.5% in March, with both

public sector and private sector lenders posting drops

in the key indicator of bad loans. A stress test for credit

risk at banks that models varying levels of macroeco

nomic performance shows that for the baseline as

sumption, the GNPA ratio would narrow to 10.3% by

March 2019. This prompted RBI Governor Shaktikanta

Das to prognosticate that the sector “appears to be on

course to recovery”. Still, stateowned banks continue

to have higher levels of bad loans than their private sec

tor peers and are projected to show slower improve

ments over the second half of the fi��scal. The GNPA ratio

for public sector banks (PSBs) is posited to only inch

lower to 14.6% by March, from 14.8% in September. One

reason is that PSBs have a disproportionately higher

share of bad loans from among large borrowers, who

accounted for almost 55% of loans advanced by all

banks as of September. The GNPA ratio for this category

at PSBs was 21.6%, compared with just 7% at private

banks.

Interestingly, the RBI’s Prompt Corrective Action

(PCA) framework, which attracted criticism including

from a government appointee on the central bank’s

board, has signifi��cantly helped lower contagion risk to

the banking system. A contagion analysis that assumes

there would be no sovereign guarantee provided for the

11 PSBs placed under the PCA curbs, in the event of a si

multaneous failure, projects that solvency losses due to

such failure have more than halved over the four quar

ters ended September: to ₹��34,200 crore (3.1% of total

Tier1 capital) from ₹��73,500 crore (6.8% of total Tier1

capital). Data on banking frauds are also a cause for

concern. Close to 95% of the frauds reported in the six

months ended September were creditrelated, with

PSBs again bearing the brunt of mala fi��de intent on the

part of borrowers. The RBI’s report has justifi��ably spot

lighted the urgent need to tighten the oversight frame

work for fi��nancial conglomerates in the wake of the

IL&FS meltdown, which continues to ripple across the

fi��nancial system, including at mutual funds and non

banking fi��nancial companies. As Mr. Das said in his fo

reword, “...the recent developments in NBFCs have un

derscored the need for greater prudence in risktaking.”

Regulators and policymakers need to work together to

insulate the economy from the risks of similar fi��ascos.

Signs of a turnaroundRegulatory vigil should not ease after the

halfyearly decline in banks’ gross NPA ratio



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A ND-NDE

OPED

Israel last night [ January 1] virtually rejected the SecurityCouncil’s unanimous resolution censuring it for last Saturday’s[December 28] attack on Beirut airport. It described the resolution as a refl��ection of the ‘moral, political and juridical bankruptcy of the world body’. The Israeli delegate’s response wasalso seen as an indication that Israel would defy the recommendation that reparations be paid to Lebanon for the damage done to planes and installations at Beirut airport. The Security Council earlier condemned Israel for its premediatedaction in violation of its obligation under the Charter and theceasefi��re resolution and considered that such acts of violenceendangered the maintenance of peace. Issuing a ‘solemnwarning’ to Israel that if such acts were repeated the Councilwould have to consider further steps to give eff��ect to its decisions, the Council also considered that Lebanon was entitledto appropriate redress for the destruction suff��ered, the responsibility for which has been acknowledged by Israel.

FIFTY YEARS AGO JANUARY 2, 1969

Israel rejects UN Council censure motion

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FROM ARCHIVES

The Madras Park Fair, opened much against popular wishesand in the teeth of united opposition of the City Fathers and asection of the Press, came to an unhappy termination lastnight ( January 1). Fireworks were widely advertised allthrough the City. People assembled in large numbers at 8 P.M.His Excellency the Governor was also present to witness thetamasha. At about 11 O’clock when the display of fi��reworks wasabout to close, one of the pots burst, scattering thick sparks allround. The fi��re engine shed was the fi��rst to catch. The petrolkept there for the use of the engine also caught fi��re. As the fi��reengine could not be easily brought out, the task of extinguishing the fi��re was rendered diffi��cult. A few buckets of watercould not suffi��ce. Fire engines were telephoned for. But beforetheir arrival the fi��re spread from stall to stall to the south. Ninebooths including the engineshed were ablaze, the metalwarestall, the Amrutanjan Depot, the Temperance booth, the confectioner’s shop, the Trash Bazaar, the lottery booth and thefruit and fl��ower bazaars.

A HUNDRED YEARS AGO JANUARY 2, 1919.

Park Fair Fire. Loss of Life and Property.

This year, Thailand and Saudi Arabia willjoin a growing club of nations introducingplain packaging of tobacco products. Theyare the fi��rst in the Asian and Arab regions,respectively, to adopt the tough measure inorder to curb tobacco consumption — from

September in Thailand, and May 1 in Saudi Arabia’s caseIn December 2012, Australia became the fi��rst country to

introduce plain packaging following the WHO FrameworkConvention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) guidelines. It has also been implemented in France and the United Kingdom(both 2016), Norway and Ireland (both 2017) and New Zealand and Hungary (both 2018). It will be implemented inUruguay (2019) and Slovenia (2020). The move is under process or being considered in 14 more countries.

Plain packaging standardises the appearance of tobaccoproducts. Other than brand and product names displayed ina standard colour and font style, it prohibits the use of logos,colours, brand images or promotional information. Besidesincreasing the eff��ectiveness of health warnings, the idea is toreduce the attractiveness of tobacco products, with noscope for using packaging to advertise and promoteconsumption.

Understandably, the tobacco industry was opposed toAustralia’s plain packaging initiative. But the ruling by theWorld Trade Organisation (WTO), in June 2018, favouringplain packaging, has struck a blow against the tobacco industry. The WTO panel, while rejecting the notion that Australia had unjustifi��ably infringed tobacco trademarks andviolated intellectual property rights, said the plain packaging law led to “improving public health by reducing use ofand exposure to tobacco products”.

With the legal hurdle to tobacco control being cleared,one is optimistic that countries, including India, which wereundecided, can take steps to introduce similar legislation. InIndia, tobacco is the cause of about one million deathsannually.

In April 2016, India increased the size of graphic pictorialwarnings, by 85%, on the packaging of tobacco products(both front and back). The percentage of users in India whothought of quitting because of such warning labels increased sharply to 62% (cigarette), 54% (bidi) and 46%(smokeless tobacco users), according to the Global Adult Tobacco Survey 20162017, when compared with the survey results of 20092010. Likewise, tobacco use among those aged1524 years showed a sixpercentage point reduction (18.4%in 200910 to 12.4% in 201617). The number of tobacco usersdropped by eight million.

Along with higher taxes and large pictorial warnings,plain packaging can serve as a tool to deter new users andprompt existing users to quit. Here is the proof: plain packaging along with other measures led to 0.55 percentagepoint reduction in smoking prevalence in Australia, translating into at least 1,18,000 fewer smokers.

The writer is the Science Editor of The Hindu

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SINGLE FILE

Boost to plainpackaging More countries are adopting thetough measure in order ��tocurb ��tobacco consumption ��R. Prasad

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Infl��ation targetingEconomics

This refers to an approach to monetary policy where theprimary mandate of a central bank is to manage the rate ofprice infl��ation in the wider economy. Economists who support infl��ation targeting believe that a stable infl��ation rate is essential to keep the economy fully employed while protectingthe value of the currency at the same time. Central banks withan explicit infl��ation targeting mandate usually have a targetrange of infl��ation. They try to keep infl��ation within the targetrange by adjusting the economy’s money supply. The policyof infl��ation targeting, which was fi��rst introduced in some European countries in the 1970s, became a popular approach inthe 1990s.

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CONCEPTUAL

After banter, Pant turns Paine’s ‘babysitter’

http://bit.ly/PainePantbanter

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MORE ON THE WEB 3

Days after fi��nalising the seatsharing arrangement in Biharfor the 2019 general election with allies Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Janata Dal (United), Union Minister of ConsumerAff��airs, Food and Public Distribution and Lok Janshakti Partypresident Ram Vilas Paswan takes stock of the electoral prospects of the National Democratic Alliance and of the proposedOpposition front to take on the NDA, and talks about his impending retirement. Excerpts:

■ You reached an

understanding for the 2019

Lok Sabha polls with the BJP

and the JD(U) after a tussle,

forcing your party to deliver

an ultimatum. What was the

sticking point?

Each party wants to fi��ght onmore seats but that does notmean that we had any diff��erences with the BJP or the JD(U). The word “ultimatum”was used by the media to refer to our talks, but we havealways maintained that it isan internal matter of the alliance. It has been eff��ectivelysettled and well ahead of theelections. We will fi��ght the2019 elections under the leadership of Narendra Modi. Ihad said it in 2013 and let merepeat it again, there is no vacancy at the top.

■ There’s an assumption

that the number of seats the

BJP has conceded in Bihar is

because of its waning

popularity.

That is not true. We never believe or indulge in bargaining. All we asked for was seven seats [of the 40 LokSabha seats in Bihar], thesame number we contestedin 2014. What created confusion were media reports of afourplusone formula [fourLok Sabha seats and one Rajya Sabha seat for the LJP].These reports were not contradicted by the BJP. This wascreating unrest among ourcadres, which is why my sonChirag said the issue neededto be settled at the earliest.

■ Many say that Bihar and

Uttar Pradesh hold the key

to the 2019 polls. So doesn’t

the Bahujan Samaj Party

Samajwadi Party in U.P. and

the CongressRashtriya

Janata Dal alliance in Bihar

worry you?

The BSPSP alliance will haveno impact on the NDA’s electoral prospects. I can giveyou in writing that Mayawatiand Akhilesh Yadav togetherwill get only fi��ve seats. My declaration is based on my analysis of the 2009 Lok Sabhaelections, when I lost the Hajipur constituency for onlythe second time in my career. [The LJP had snappedties with the Congress justbefore the elections to joinhands with Lalu Prasad’sRJD.] What was the reasonfor this loss? The Muslimvote. The Congress is alwaysthe fi��rst choice for a Muslimvoter. They vote for anyoneelse only if Congress is not inthe race. now as reports indicate the Congress is unlikelyto be part of the Mahagathbandhan, then the decisivevote of the Muslim minoritywill be divided. The SPBSPalliance is banking on threevote blocs — Muslims, Yadavand Dalits. Muslim votes willbe divided between themand the Congress, Yadavsalone can’t get themthrough. There are twostrands among Dalits too.One is Jatavs who blindly follow Mayawati and the otheris Paswan, Pasis and so on,who are with us. Also, bothparties will fi��ght on 40 seatseach, so what about other 40wannabe candidates fromtheir respective parties?Were they here for a charityshow? They will have to deal

with rebellion too. To top it,the Congress will fi��ght all the80 seats [in U.P.]. Even if theCongress cuts 1 lakh to50,000 votes in each constituency, then how will theBSPSP alliance stand?

In Bihar, there is no threatto the NDA. The Oppositionalliance keeps spreading rumours that they are talkingto Ram Vilas Paswan. I havenever spoken to Lalu Yadav.Three diseased people together can’t make a healthyindividual. There are alreadymurmurs within Manjhi’sparty ( Jitan Ram Manjhi’sHindustani Awam Morcha);Upendra Kushwaha (Rashtriya Lok Samata Party) is waiting with bated breath forpower; Sharad Yadav exitedthe JD(U) with much fanfare,now we don’t hear muchfrom him, do we? We willwin more than 35 seats in Bihar.

■ The Congress seems to be

cashing in on the Modi

government’s failure to

address growing

agricultural distress by

off��ering loan waivers. Will

this have an electoral

impact?

If a person is in pain, a painkiller can give him temporary relief, but the germs donot die. For the short term,loan waivers work well. Butwe need a longterm strategy.In Madhya Pradesh, for example, there is no doubt thatShivraj Singh Chouhan cameup with propoor policies.He started the practice of bonus per quintal of produce.There was a view that businessmen benefi��tted morefrom this policy because theywere bringing in producefrom other States to sell inMadhya Pradesh. I wasagainst the move and eventually the Central government decided to stop the bonus. It is obvious that thefarmer was disappointed.

■ Who do you blame for this

disappointment?

It is not a question of blaming anyone. Decisions are

made by experts, IAS offi��cers, intellectuals, they havetheir way of doing the arithmetic. A politician whocomes from a village or afarmer’s home will have a different outlook. When we calculate the minimum supportprice (MSP), we consider theinput costs alone and nevertake into account the cost ofthe land. The Prime Minister,BJP president Amit Shah,and the Agriculture Ministerhave to deliberate on the crisis. The politicians thinkthrough their heart and thebureaucracy works throughits head. It is a systemic failure, and we should thinkhow to change this system.

■ Do you think tall promises

like 2 crore jobs each year

made by Mr. Modi and Mr.

Shah will be their undoing?

Why blame Prime MinisterModi or Amit Shah, this Pandora’s box was opened in1991. Who was the FinanceMinister then? ManmohanSingh. Before liberalisation,there was a mixed economy.There were enough jobs inthe government sector. Youopened the fl��oodgates, and

now that the waters have entered, how will you stopthat? For 24 years, you didnot bother which way thecountry was going. Now in2014, when the Modi government took over, you are asking, where are the jobs?There were more government jobs earlier and thusmore security, now everything is privatised.

■ But Manmohan Singh did

not promise 2 crore jobs.

No, every government makespromises. Didn’t IndiraGandhi say “garibi hatao”?Did Congress implement it?If anyone is to be blamed, itis the Congress governmentwhich is to be blamed themost.

■ From being seen as anti

farmer, the Modi

government is also battling

the perception of being

antiDalit.

This is a wrong claim. Thebiggest example is the Scheduled Castes and ScheduledTribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, which waspassed during the RajivGandhi government and thattoo after relentless protestsby many of us in Parliament.Thirty years later someonewent to the Supreme Courtand got the law diluted. Eventhen no political leader reallytook a lead to protest againstit, neither me nor Mayawati.A purely organic and voluntary wave of protests startedon its own spurred by socialmedia. And one must remember that for the fi��rsttime 10 to 12 Dalit protestorswere killed in such a protest,more than the casualties during the Mandal agitations. Soobviously, there was pressure on all political parties toact.

We also took a toughstand, Chirag served an ultimatum to the BJP. The Modigovernment acting swiftly,

asked.

The Telangana Chief

Minister and Telangana

Rashtra Samithi chief, K.

Chandrashekar Rao has

been talking of a nonBJP,

nonCongress Federal Front.

Would you ever consider

joining that?

I will be where I have been. Ifyou ask me to play an astrologer, then I would say thatthe NDA will form the government. Once the elections are over, who will consider Rao as a leader? WillMamata Banerjee or Chandrababu Naidu work underhim? You can form any frontright now, but once the question of leadership arises,then everyone will run away.Janata Party, that was bornfrom the very womb of theEmergency, could not sustain itself in the face of personal ambitions and egos. Doyou think any other front willsurvive?

■ Will you contest the 2019

Lok Sabha polls?

No, I will not fi��ght the 2019polls. I have been contestingfrom Hajipur since 1977 and Ihave done a lot for the constituency. I had always thoughtthat once I complete 50years in politics I will take astep back. Now I have a sonwho is also in politics. If Icontinue to stand aroundhim, overshadowing him likea banyan tree, how will hegrow? I have seen other leaders who can’t help but compete with their sons too. I amnot like that.

Look at Lalu Yadav, he isremotecontrolling his partyfrom behind bars. I do notbelieve in that. There hasbeen a demand from the constituency that my wifeshould contest from the seatbut she too has refused theoff��er. We will have to take acall on who will replace mein Hajipur.

amended the Act to maintainthe status quo.

Now the people whocalled the Modi governmentantiDalit started accusinghim of being antiforward. InMadhya Pradesh, they [BJP]paid for it. It is easy to assignlabels, but my question is,which government has doneanything for Dalits andbackwards?

■ As an astute observer of

Indian politics, which

election in the past will you

compare the 2019 election

to, 1977 or 1996?

Whatever may be the results in 2019, one must remember that people havelearnt lessons from the past.The question is, what kind ofgovernment do you want?Do you want a threemonthgovernment? The Deve Gowda and I.K. Gujral governments were in power for lessthan a year each; V.P. Singhwas Prime Minister for 11months; and Chandra Shekhar was in power for sevenmonths.

Wherever there is a directfi��ght between the BJP andthe Congress, the Congressmanages to win. The recentAssembly elections in threeStates are examples, theremay have been factors suchas antiincumbency whichworked against the BJP.Though vote share betweenthe two was almost same,still the Congress managed topull through.

The prime diff��erence isthat in 1977 all the partieshad come together to fi��ghtunder one umbrella and thesymbol of the Janata Party.That situation does not existtoday. Now each party wantsto fi��ght on its own. Look atMayawati. She had demanded a high number of seats inMadhya Pradesh from theCongress and then went onto fi��ght on her own. Then shejoined hands with the Congress even without being

THE WEDNESDAY INTERVIEW | RAM VILAS PASWAN

‘We need a longterm strategy to address agricultural distress’ The Lok Janshakti Party leader on the story behind the NDA’s Bihar pact and the chances of a nonBJP, nonCongress federal front Sobhana K. Nair

<> You can form any

front right now, but

once the question of

leadership arises,

everyone will run

away

R.V

. M

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DATA POINT



#70929

CMYK

A ND-NDE




NEWS

FROM PAGE ONE

Mr. Srivastava said that Kalua attacked the offi��cerwhen he was trying to prevent the accused from cutting a tree with his axe tocreate a blockade on theroad.

While the police are stilllooking for others accusedin the murder case, some ofthe main accused in instigating the violence, Bajrang Dalactivist Yogesh Raj and theBJP youth wing’s ShikharAgarwal, are still absconding.

30 arrested so farAbout 30 persons have beenarrested so far. The policehad named 27 persons inthe FIR, while more than 70were unnamed. “There is

regular progress in thecase,” said Mr. Srivastava.

Mr. Singh was shot deadwhen a mob went on a rampage in Bulandshahr’s Syana area on December 3 afterrightwing groups allegedthat some cows had beenslaughtered, and broughtcarcasses to the police outpost in a tractor trolley.

He was shot near his lefteyebrow by a .32 bore weapon, the police had earliersaid on the basis of the autopsy report.

Mr. Singh had overseenthe investigation into thelynching of Mohammad Akhlaq in Dadri as the investigating offi��cer probing thecase from September 28,2015, to November 9, 2015.

Man who attacked U.P.inspector arrested

Separatists under the umbrella Joint Resistance Leadership ( JRL) plan to confront Islamic State (IS)supporters on Friday byholding a protest against theunfurling of an IS fl��ag at thepulpit of the Jamia Masjidhere last week.

All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, the Valley’s head priest whosefamily traditionally delivers asermon from the pulpit every Friday, on Monday registered a protest against themove “to usurp” the politically signifi��cant pulpit. Hemet JRL leaders Syed Ali Geelani and Yasin Malik to rallytheir support against the act.

During the meeting of theAwami Action Committee,chaired by the Mirwaiz, the

attempt by the alleged ISsupporters was termed as a“violation of the pulpit by abunch of goons”. The Mirwaiz, sources said, describedthe act as “a ploy” againstthe entire separatistleadership.

He is reported to have asserted at the meeting thatthe pulpit represented thereligious identity, social andpolitical aspirations of thepeople of Kashmir for thepast many decades and thatit would continue to do so,

no matter how many conspiracies were hatched by “miscreants backed by securityagencies”.

Joint protestThe Mirwaiz, who will chairanother meeting on Wednesday, called for a joint proteston January 4, and describedthe coming Friday as Youm-e-Taqadus (Day ofConsecration).

Supporting the Mirwaiz,Hurriyat faction chairmanMr. Geelani and JKLF chiefMr. Malik said, “These mischievous actions cannot betolerated and people shouldbe cautious and consciousabout such disrespectfulevents.” All three plan to off��er prayers together.

The JamaateIslami andtraders’ bodies, includingthe Kashmir Economic Alliance (KEA), condemned

the masked men’s bid to unfurl the IS fl��ag at the pulpit.

“The mosque is ourpride,” said KEA chairmanYasin Khan. “The desecration wouldn’t be tolerated.There’s a need to come upwith a collective strategy tofoil such nefarious designs,”he added.

According to the police, ithad killed at least 10 IS recruits, who switched sidesfrom the Hizbul Mujahideenor the TehreekulMujahideen in 2018.

“The IS ranks are negligible and its limited infl��uencewas confi��ned to urban pockets, especially Srinagar andPulwama,” said a senior police offi��cer, speaking on condition of anonymity. “It didinfl��uence educated and Internethooked youth like EsaFazili through online literature and videos,” he added.

Separatists to counter IS supporters Condemn attempt to unfurl IS fl��ag at Srinagar’s Jamia Masjid, calling it a ploy against the entire leadership

Peerzada Ashiq

Srinagar

Worrying trend: A protester showing an IS fl��ag during a clashwith security personnel in Srinagar, in this fi��le photo. * AFP

The Union Home Ministryhas approved a Uttar Pradesh government proposalto rename Allahabad asPrayagraj.

The decision comesdays ahead of the KumbhMela being organised inthe city, and over twomonths after the State Cabinet decided to rename it.

The Centre has agreedto the renaming of at least25 towns and villages nationwide in the past oneyear. The plan to renameFaizabad district as Ayodhya is yet to come in fromthe State government.

Centreapproves‘Prayagraj’


New Delhi

The 201st anniversary of theBhimaKoregaon battlepassed off�� without any incident as lakhs of Ambedkarites from across Maharashtra and India congregatednear the commemorativeBhimaKoregaon ‘Ranstambh’ (victory pillar) onTuesday under heavy security cover.

The Pune Rural Police andthe district administrationpulled out all the stops to ensure that the event passed off��without any incident.

Offi��cials estimated 8 to 10lakh visitors this year — perhaps the largest since theBhimaKoregaon RanstambhSeva Sangh, which organisesthe ceremony, was formed in2005 to keep alive the memory of this episode.

‘Absurd narrative’Bharipa Bahujan Mahasanghchief Prakash Ambedkar,grandson of Dr. BabasahebAmbedkar, was among thefi��rst Dalit leaders to lay awreath near the obelisk at

Perne. Speaking to reporters, Mr. Ambedkar said the‘Elgaar Parishad’ of December 31 last year was an attempt to bridge the rift between various communities.

“Instead, the investigationconducted by the Pune citypolice turned the objectiveof the Elgaar conclave up

side down. The State government targeted the men andwomen like retired judgesB.G. KolsePatil, P.B. Sawantand Harshali Potdar, whowere behind organising theconference, weaving an absurd narrative of ‘urban naxalism’,” he said.

Internet services were

suspended to prevent thespread of infl��ammatory messages. Drones and CCTVcameras were in place nearthe tomb of the MarathaKing Sambhaji and that ofGovind Ganpat Mahar inVadhu Budruk village — themajor fl��ashpoints of violencelast year.

BhimaKoregaon stays peacefulPolice arranged tight security for the 201st anniversary of battle in the village

Mark of respect: People visiting the victory pillar at BhimaKoregaon on Tuesday. * JIGNESH MISTRY

Shoumojit Banerjee

PUNE

The BJP on Tuesday accusedthe Congress, especiallyUPA chairperson SoniaGandhi and Congress president Rahul Gandhi, of having tried to “frame” BJP president Amit Shah in theSohrabuddin Sheikh casewhen the party was in power at the Centre.

Union Minister Smriti Irani said the case was an example of the “lengths towhich the Congress will goto destroy its political opponents”. She said Mr. Shah, aMinister in the Gujarat government of Narendra Modiin 2010, was harassed by theCBI at the behest of the Congress leadership that identifi��ed him and Mr. Modi as itsmain rivals. “Evidence wasmanufactured in an attemptto destroy Mr. Shah politically,” she said.

She accused Mr. Gandhiof supporting a terrorist, ina reference to his tweet onthe Sohrabuddin Sheikh

case verdict that “nobodykilled” him and he “justdied”. “The court admittedthat these cases were imposed on Mr. Shah for political reasons. Not just in theMumbai High Court but alsoin the Supreme Court, theCongress’s conspiracy gotdefeated,” Ms. Irani said.

All 22 accused in the200506 fake encounter killings of Sohrabuddin Shaikh,his wife Kausar Bi and aideTulsiram Prajapati were acquitted on December 21 by aspecial CBI court in Mumbaibecause of insuffi��cient evidence.

‘Cong. framed Shahin Sohrabuddin case’Evidence was manufactured: Smriti


NEW DELHI

Smriti Irani

All eyes will be on Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi atthe head of the SupremeCourt Bench which is scheduled to hear a series of politically sensitive cases, including the RamjanmabhoomiBabri Masjid titledispute appeals on January4, and a fl��ood of review petitions in the Sabarimala temple case.

In the Ayodhya matter,the CJIled Bench would fi��xthe date for hearing the appeals. It is to be seen whether the court would fi��x a dateafter the Lok Sabha electionor earlier. The case is considered a political hot potatowith many Hindutva leadersurging an early hearing anddecision from the court.

Sabarimala issueThe Sabarimala review petitions, meanwhile, go to thevery core of the majorityjudgment delivered by aConstitution Bench, strikingdown a law which bannedwomen of menstrual agefrom entering or praying atthe famed hill temple inKerala.

The petitions have challenged the authority of theSupreme Court to “reform”a religious practice out of existence on the basis of PILpetitions fi��led by third parties who are not coreligionists. In an exceptional move,a fi��vejudge Review Bench isset to hear the petitioners inopen court.

In another signifi��cantcase, scheduled for hearingon January 9, former Su

preme Court judge, JusticeH.S. Bedi, is expected to fi��lehis response to an objectionraised by the Gujarat government that he had “unilaterally” prepared the fi��nal report on 21 police encounterswhich occurred in the Statebetween 2003 and 2006when Mr. Narendra Modiwas Chief Minister.

The State governmenthad submitted before aBench led by Chief JusticeGogoi that Justice Bedi didnot share the views of theother members of the apexcourtappointed monitoringauthority before submittingthe fi��nal and 11th report onthe police encounters in theSupreme Court on January26, 2018.

Rumblings in CBI The Bench led by Chief Justice Gogoi is also expected topronounce its decision in apetition fi��led by exiled CBIDirector Alok Verma, whohas challenged his “overnight” divestment from thetop post at the country’s premier investigative agency.Mr. Verma has alleged politi

cal interference in the functioning of the CBI.

Meanwhile, the government may seek an earlyhearing of its eightpage“correction” application inwhich it has blamed the Supreme Court for “misinterpreting” the English tensesin its December 14 judgmentwhich said that the CAG hasprepared a report on the 36Rafale jets’ deal, which hasalready been examined bythe Parliamentary AccountsCommittee.

Activists’ murdersThe fi��rst week of Januarywould also see the CBI comeback to the Supreme CourtBench, led by Justice U.U. Lalit, with its response to thecourt’s suggestion to have asingle investigative agencyprobe the murders of journalist Gauri Lankesh, activists Narendra Dabholkarand Govind Pansare and littérateur M.M. Kalburgi.

The court had fl��agged thepossibility of a “commonthread” running through thefour killings, which whichhad sent shock waves acrossthe nation and were considered in some quarters aspart of a concerted eff��ort tosilence dissenting voices.

The fi��rst month of theyear may also see the Supreme Court Bench, led byJustice N.V. Ramana, beginits hearing of appeals fi��ledby the CBI and accused persons in the SNC Lavalin corruption case. The CBI hascontended that Kerala ChiefMinister Pinarayi Vijayanshould face trial in the corruption case.

Contentious Januaryawaits CJI GogoiSeries of politically sensitive cases are scheduled for hearing

Krishnadas Rajagopal

NEW DELHI

In the Ayodhya matter, theCJIled Bench would fi��x thedate for hearing the appeals.

As the Congress gets readyfor the big battle in 2019 totake on the BJP, the processit will follow to select candidates is likely to undergo amajor shift.

The party is increasinglyadopting a feedbackbasedsystem of shortlisting candidates through its internalapp Shakti, which allows ordinary workers to have a sayon who could be the winningcandidate from a particularconstituency.

“The feedback on the appwill certainly be one of theinputs, but can’t be the onlyfactor in deciding the candidate,” said a Congress functionary familiar with thefunctioning of the Shaktiapp.

The Congress seems to beenthused by its experiencein the recently concludedelections in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan where the app wasused to take feedback on the

chief ministerial candidate,get data about voting behaviour of every booth andweak spots for the party inpast elections.

“Party leaders were getting live data and feedback

from 15,000odd boothseach in M.P. and Rajasthanand around 10,000 in Chhattisgarh every day in the runup to the Assembly elections,” said the Congressfunctionary.

1,000 pointsBut contrary to reports,feedback is not sought fromthe nearly fi��ve crore workerswho are registered on theapp.

“Feedback is sought onlyfrom workers who have accumulated 1,000 pointsagainst their name,” says theCongress offi��cebearer.

Verifi��ed Congress workershave been given points andare graded according to theirengagement with the app.The data generated by theShakti app is directly moni

tored by Congress presidentRahul Gandhi since he hadrevamped the erstwhilecomputer department of theCongress into data analyticswing. And the performanceof this app is also being monitored by Mr. Gandhi himself.

Take for example, Karnataka, where the party is in acoalition government. Untilthe third week of December2018, there were 12.3 lakh registered users and as many40,000 workers were registered on a single day. Theseworkers were then mappedagainst the 54,206 booths inthe State. Data then showshow many booths are covered by Shakti workers. Ofthe total number of booths,43,542 or 80% booths in Karnataka are covered byShakti.

Cong. fl��exes ‘Shakti’ to decide candidatesInternal app helps in getting feedback from party workers on selection for 2019 Lok Sabha election

Team work: Congress president Rahul Gandhi with seniorleaders at the party headquarters in New Delhi.

Sandeep Phukan

New Delhi

A day after Bahujan SamajParty supremo Mayawati’sthreat to reconsider supportto the newlyelected Congress regime, RajasthanChief Minister Ashok Gehloton Tuesday said his government would examine thecases registered against Dalits who had participated inthe Bharat Bandh organisedon April 2 last year over thealleged dilution of the SC/STAct.

“The cases were lodgedagainst Dalit protesters...How many of them were actually guilty is a matter of investigation,” Mr. Gehlot told

reporters at the State Congress headquarters here. Hesaid those who were innocent were also booked sometimes, and added that no innocent person should beframed in a criminal case.

In an indication of the seriousness with which theCongress has treated Ms.Mayawati’s warning to theRajasthan and Madhya Pradesh governments, Mr. Gehlot said the BSP chief's demand was “natural”. “Shemay be right in her perspective... The [State] government will look into it and examine the cases,” he said.

Mr. Gehlot expressed gratitude to Ms. Mayawati for extending outside support tohis government. “I appreciate and thank Ms. Mayawati for giving the BSP’s support without the Congressformally asking for it,” hesaid. In Rajasthan, the Con

gress won 99 of the 199 seatsfor which elections wereheld, falling just short of amajority in the 200seatHouse. The BSP then off��eredoutside support of its sixMLAs.

Ms. Mayawati had warnedthat the BSP would reconsider its support to the Congress governments in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh ifthey did not act swiftly andwithdrew the cases registered against “innocent people” in connection with Bharat Bandh. Violent incidentstook place in several townsof the State during thebandh and one person diedin Alwar.

‘BSP chief ’s demand is natural’The govt. will look into cases registered against Dalit protesters, says Gehlot

Ashok Gehlot


Jaipur

Activists have welcomed thebilateral move, saying thiswill help long suff��ering prisoners in each other’s custody. Peace activist Jatin Desaiof PakistanIndia Peoples’sForum for Peace and Democracy reiterated thatboth countries in fact claimthat the exact number ofprisoners in each other’scustody is “a bit higher”than the offi��cial numbersshared.

Mr. Desai said the cases ofprisoners who have servedjail terms should be takenup at the earliest. “The process of nationality confi��rmation should be completedbefore the completion of the

jail term and the personsshould be immediately released as the jail term ends,”Mr. Desai said, urging bothcountries to grant consularaccess to prisoners.

The exchange of listscomes despite continuedmilitary tension, which has,however, not dampened humanitarian moves by bothsides. In December 2018,Pakistan sent back Indianprisoner Hamid Nehal Ansari who had completed bothregular and irregular prisonterms. India subsequentlyreleased Pakistani ImranWarsi, who was awaiting repatriation after serving a jailterm.

India, Pak. move aheadon prisoners’ release

Shrey Kumar Singh, centre, son of the slain offi��cer, at a pressconference held in New Delhi on December 30. * HIMANSHU VATS

Investigating agencies haveallegedly come across evidence indicating that theacquisition of 111 aircraftfor Air India and the erstwhile Indian Airlines, decided in 2004, had been atrates higher than the pricepaid around the same timeby some private airlines.

“It seems the aircraftsold to the then Indian Airlines and Air India was costlier as compared to thosebought by certain privateairliners,” an offi��cial said.

An FIR registered by theCBI, in which unknown offi��cials of the Civil AviationMinistry, Central government and Air India are being probed states that thedecision had been taken toget the aircraft for about₹��70,000 crore.

FIR fi��led inpurchase ofAI, IA planes

Devesh K. Pandey

NEW DELHI



#70929

CMYK




NEWS

Two days after the Army foiled a fresh attempt by Pakistan’s Border Action Team topush infi��ltrators through the Line of Control, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said onTuesday that India would make eff��orts tokeep up the pressure on Pakistan, but itwould be a mistake to expect that countryto mend its ways anytime soon.

Mr. Modi said that whether through surgical strikes or action at other levels, the government was working out various strategies to force Pakistan to check terrorism.

He said that while India favoured a dialogue and good friendly relations with itsneighbour, it was also wary of the fact thatPakistan was not going to stop promotingcrossborder terrorism soon.

Asked why crossborder attacks had notstopped despite the surgical strikes, hesaid, “Whatever strategy is to be adopted,how to do it, is ongoing at appropriate levels, has been happening ... It will be ahuge mistake to believe that Pakistan willmend its ways after a war. It will take a lot oftime for Pakistan to mend its ways.”

“India, whether under UPA or NDA government, has never opposed dialogue. Itis our consistent policy that we are in favour of dialogue. It is the consistent policyof the country, not Modi government orManmohan Singh government,” he said.

On his government’s China policy, hesaid India should be judged on the basis ofwhat it did in Doklam. He said nothing hadhappened with India since then that couldbe considered deceit.

Responding to the criticism of his foreign tours as being too many and off��eringmore photo opportunities rather thanyielding anything substantial, Mr. Modisaid his travel schedule had been more orless similar to that of his predecessors buthis visits were noticed more because he interacted with people, took decisions andmade India’s voice heard.

Surgical strikes“Come back before sunrise,irrespective of the successor failure of the mission.”This was the Prime Minister’s message to theArmy commandoswho crossed the LoCon September 28,2016 to carry outsurgical strikes.

He said thedate of the attackwas changedtwice for thesafety and security of thetroops.

As election year dawns, Modi gives a report card


New Delhi

‘Pak. won’t mendits ways soon’

The Lok Sabha election willbe a “public versus coalition” contest, Prime MinisterNarendra Modi said on Tuesday, while ridiculing the alliance proposed to beformed by antiBJP parties.

Mr. Modi dismissed claimsby some political punditsthat the BJP might not getmore than 180 of the 543seats, saying there were a similar “set of persons” whoechoed a similar narrativeeven in 2014.

“I believe this election isgoing to be a contest between those who fulfi��l andtake forward the aspirationsof the people and those whostop these aspirations. Thereis experience of 70 years.The public is the decider,”the Prime Minister said,

when asked if the 2019 election was heading towards aU.S. presidentialstyle campaign between Mr. Modi andCongress president RahulGandhi.

Asked if the electionwould be an “anybody butModi” contest as projectedby the Opposition parties, hesaid, “It is going to be janta[public] versus gathbandhan[coalition]. Modi is just a manifestation of public love andblessings,” he said.

“The public knows thatearlier it was decentralisedcorruption, those who sat inthe States, looted the States,those who were in theCentre, looted at theCentre... The people will decide whether or not theyshould ally with these forcesof corruption who are coming together,” he said.

Attacking the antiBJP parties, he said there was no unity among them in any way,nor any joint articulationabout what they would dofor the country.

On the allegation by Andhra Pradesh Chief Ministerand TDP leader N. Chandrababu Naidu that the eff��ortsbeing made by TelanganaChief Minister and TRS su

some expectations are notmet” and some allies feelthat they “could benefi��t byputting pressure” on the BJP.

Asked if there was anymove to make fi��lm starsturnedpoliticians Rajinikanth and Kamal Hassan tojoin the NDA and improvethe its footprint in South India, he said, “We are ready totake everyone along, thosewho want to come with us,those with whom we canwalk. It is linked to ourstrengthening the regionalaspirations.”

Rafale dealOn the Rafale deal, he saidthose levelling allegationsagainst him were actuallyweakening the security forces. He would continue to expedite the defence procurement process.

Asked why he was silenton the Congress accusationof favouring Anil Ambani,Mr. Modi replied, “This is not

an allegation against me personally, but an allegationagainst my government. Ifthere is any allegationagainst me personally, letthem dig who gave what,when and where and towhom.”

Taking aim on the “fi��rst family” of the Congress, hesaid that those who ran thecountry for four generationswere today facing charges offi��nancial irregularities andwere out on bail. Tonguefi��rmly in cheek, he responded to the remark that thoseaccused in the scams weretaking walks in Lodhi Garden, saying that those on bailhad freedom given by courtsto walk in the park.

Dubbing the loan waiversannounced by the Congressgovernments as a “politicalstunt”, he said a majority offarmers do not benefi��t fromthese “misleading” announcements as only a few ofthem take loans from banks.

premo K. ChandrashekarRao to form an alliance hadhis blessings, he said: “I amnot aware that some coalition is being made by KCR.”

Asked about Shiv Senachief Uddhav Thackeray’s attack on him when he echoedCongress president RahulGandhi in saying Chowkidarchor hai (guard is the thief ),he said that “sometimes,

PM says people will decide whether ornot to ally with the forces of corruption


New Delhi

Narendra Modi says the public is the decider. * AFP

‘It’s going to be a public versus coalition contest’

CBI and the judiciary wereparamount to his government, the Prime Ministersaid the Congress had noright to criticise the Centreon this score.

“The Congress has noright to speak on this issue.Against the PM and PMO, theNAC [National AdvisoryCouncil] was formed. Whatkind of empowerment of thePMO was this? Cabinet takessuch a big decision and a bigleader tears [into] that Cabinet decision at a press conference. What kind of respectis [this] for an institution,”he said.

Changes in CBI“When the CBI’s internalpersonal matter came tolight, they [CBI Director AlokVerma and his deputy Rakesh Asthana] were bothasked to go on leave legally.Because the institution is paramount for us,” the PM

said.“Recently, the Sohra

buddin judgment came. Justread that judgment. See howinstitutions were misused.The accusation on us is thatModi is not taking actionagainst these people. Andyou are saying this is vendetta. ED is doing its job professionally. From a foreigncountry, a razdaar [confi��dant] has been brought intocustody of India. Should notevery Indian be proud of it,”said the Prime Minister, referring to Christian Michel,the alleged middleman inthe ₹��3,600crore AgustaWestland VVIP chopper deal.

Modi says institutions are important to the government


New Delhi

Urjit Patel

‘Urjit was not made to leave’

Prime Minister NarendraModi on Tuesday said thatwhile triple talaq was a matter of gender equality, entryof women in Sabarimalawas related to tradition.

The Prime Minister saidthe ordinance against tripletalaq was brought keepingin mind gender equality andsocial justice and it shouldnot be seen as interferencein religious issues.

However, on the entry ofwomen of menstrual age inthe Sabarimala temple andprotests by Hindu groups,he said the issue related totradition.

“Most Islamic countrieshave banned triple talaq. Soit is not a matter of religionor faith. Even in Pakistan,triple talaq is banned. So itis an issue of gender equality, a matter of social justice.It is not an issue of faith. So

keep the two separate,” hesaid.

“There are some temples,which have their own traditions, where men can’t go.And men don’t go... In this,Sabrimala [issue], a womanjudge in the Supreme Courthas made certain observations. There is no need to attribute those to any politicalparty. As a woman, she hasmade some suggestions.There should be a debate onthat as well sometimes,” thePrime Minister said.

‘Sabarimala is a matter of tradition’


New Delhi

The PM said most Islamicnations had banned it.

‘Triple talaq an issueof gender equality’

NarendraModi: A rareinterview ofthe PrimeMinister ashis termheads to aclose * AP

In an interview with the news agency ANI, Prime Minister delves into his government’s initiatives and the controversies and criticisms

The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) on Tuesday reminded Prime Minister Narendra Modi of thethe BJP’s Palampur resolution on Ayodhya in 1989and its election manifestofor 2014 after the latter inan interview to ANI saidthat an ordinance to aidthe construction of a Ramtemple was possible onlyafter the legal process wasdealt with.

The RSS and its affi��liate,the Vishwa Hindu Parishad(VHP), have been pushingfor an ordinance on theconstruction of a Ram temple ahead of the conclusion of the case before theSupreme Court which doesnot appear close to a resolution.

In this situation the RSS,in a series of tweets put outby its joint general secretary Dattatreya Hosabele,termed Mr. Modi’s statement as “constructive” butalso hoped that the BJP’sown resolution on templeconstruction via talks or legal process could be done“within the term of thisgovernment”.

The VHP’s acting president, Alok Kumar, told TheHindu that the organisation’s top offi��cials would bemeeting on Wednesdaymorning and that he wouldbe addressing a press conference in the afternoon.

“We have to formulate aresponse after seekingviews from all,” Mr. Kumarsaid.

RSS remindsPM of templepromise

Nistula Hebbar

NEW DELHI

The Unique Identifi��cationAuthority of India (UIDAI)will record biometric data including the fi��ngerprints andiris scans of about 30 lakhapplicants who have soughtto be included in the National Register of Citizens (NRC)after having been excludedfrom the fi��nal draft published last year.

Almost 30 lakh out of the40 lakh people who foundtheir names missing hadfi��led claims to be includedduring the claims and objections round that ended onDecember 31.

A senior government offi��

cial said the UIDAI would obtain the biometrics when theapplicants appeared forhearings to be held by ClassIoffi��cers starting from Febru

ary 15. By the standard operating procedure (SOP) submitted by the Centre in theSupreme Court, “during thecourse of the hearings, theState government in collaboration with UIDAI will undertake the process of biometricenrolment of all the applicants of NRC. The biometricenrolment in respect of persons who are part of claimsand those persons objectedupon will be distinctive andseparate ID will begenerated.”

No claims by 10 lakh The fate of the 10 lakh applicants who had not fi��ledclaims was yet to be decided,

the offi��cial, who spoke oncondition of anonymity,said.

“This means that they donot have documents toprove that they came to India before March 1971, thecutoff�� date to be included inthe NRC,” said the offi��cial,adding that the 10 lakh people had been identifi��ed andthat their details were available with the authorities.

“Once the claims havebeen heard and the fi��nalNRC has been decided, onlythe eligible applicants will begiven the Aadhaar card. Theauthorities will have the biometrics of all the applicants,” said the offi��cial.

Final NRC to off��er Aadhaar benefi��tFingerprints and iris scans of about 30 lakh applicants will be collected

When the fi��nal NRC is out,applicants will get UID.

Vijaita Singh

New Delhi

The Congress on Tuesdaydescribed Prime MinisterNarendra Modi’s interviewto the news agency ANI asthat of a ‘defeatist’ Prime Minister that was full of rhetoric and did not mention thepromises made by him to thepeople before the 2014election.

Congress communicationchief Randeep Surjewalasaid the Prime Ministershould have spoken aboutthe suff��ering caused by demonetisation, GST, bankfrauds, failure to get backblack money, fragile security

situation and farmers’ woes.“Summary of Modiji’s

‘monologue’ interview — ‘I’,‘Me’, ‘Mine’, ‘Myself ’. Thecountry is suff��ering your ‘I’s

and ‘lies’,” Mr. Surjewalasaid at a press conference.

“The Prime Minister is sohelpless that he can’t evenanswer from where he is going to contest the next parliamentary election or whetherhe will contest at all. Thisshows a defeatist Prime Minister,” he added.

‘Fixed interview’Congress Deputy Leader inthe Rajya Sabha Anand Sharma said the people of thecountry could not be ‘fooled’through a ‘fi��xed interview’,and dared him to face Parliament and hold a pressconference.

“PM Modi did not spareour people of his penchantfor false promises, hollowclaims and propaganda evenon New Year’s day. The habitual peddler of untruths andlies has signalled a nasty narrative for the 2019 electioncampaign,” Mr. Sharma saidin a series of tweets.

“People cannot be fooledthrough a fi��xed interview.Have the courage to face usin Parliament or address apress conference. Having betrayed the people, do notbeg Lord Ram to save you.He did not ask you to lie inthe fi��rst place,” Mr. Sharmatweeted.

Full of ‘I’s and lies: Congress ‘PM’s interview had nothing on promises made by him to the people in 2014’

Randeep Singh Surjewala


NEW DELHI

“I am revealing for the fi��rsttime. He [RBI Governor UrjitPatel] was telling me about itfor six or seven months before his resignation. He gaveit even in writing. He wroteto me personally,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi said.

Stressing that institutions such as the



#70929

CMYK




WORLD

Bolsonaro sworn in asBrazil’s PresidentBRASÍLIA

Rightwing nationalist Jair

Bolsonaro, who has vowed to

crack down on political

corruption and violent crime

and ignite a moribund

economy with deregulation

and fi��scal discipline, was

sworn in as Brazil’s President

on Tuesday. He plans to

realign Brazil, moving away

from developing nation allies

and closer to the policies of

Western leaders. Reuters

ELSEWHERE

U.S. military apologisesfor ‘dropping bombs’ jokeWASHINGTON

The U.S. Strategic Command

apologised on Monday for a

joke in “bad taste” after

tweeting that it was ready to

drop something “much

bigger” than the traditional

Times Square crystal ball at

New Year. In a message

posted, and later deleted, on

Twitter, the military force

released a video in which B2

bombers drop bombs. AFP

Man rams car into crowdin Tokyo, injuring 9TOKYO

Nine people were injured,

one seriously, when a man

deliberately ploughed his car

into crowds celebrating New

Year’s Eve along a famous

Tokyo street, police and the

media said on Tuesday. With

an “intent to murder”, a man

identifi��ed as 21yearold

Kazuhiro Kusakabe drove a

small vehicle into Takeshita

Street in Tokyo’s Harajuku at

10 minutes past midnight, a

police spokesman said. AFP

Egypt could end termlimits for SisiCAIRO

Supporters of Egyptian

President Abdel Fattah alSisi

are calling for constitutional

changes that would allow

him to stay in power once his

second term ends in 2022. In

an editorial published on

Sunday, the staterun daily

Al-Akhbar voiced hope that

2019 would see “the start of

a belated political reform” to

secure Mr. Sisi’s future in

power. Reuters

Eta ektu barabari hoye gesse[this is a bit too much] — thisis how Awami League supporters reacted a day afterthe party swept 97% of seatsin the national Parliament inSunday’s general election.

Perhaps the Oppositionshould “have been given”5060 seats to make the election look credible, said someof them, declining to benamed.

The Awami League and itsallies won 288 of the 299seats contested, securing athird consecutive term inpower. Jatiya Oikya Front,the Opposition coalition ledby the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), got nineseats.

The Awami League chief,Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, blamed the Oppositionfor its debacle. She said theelection was free and fairand that the Oppositionfailed to put up a strong fi��ghtagainst the ruling party. Shealso said the people rejectedthem for their violent politics.

One-sided victory “At least 2030 seats, if not6070, would have been better for democracy, this is tooonesided. God knows whatlies ahead,” said Smruti S.Pattanaik, a research fellowat the Institute for DefenceStudies and Analyses, a NewDelhibased autonomousthink tank funded by the Government of India. An Oppositionless Parliament maynot be conducive for democracy, said Ms. Pattanaik, aBangladesh expert.

“Look at the Pakistan results. Even if it is managed bythe Army, there is an Opposition in Parliament and Prime

Minister Imran Khan willhave to address the checksand the balances in the system,” she said.

There is concern withinthe Awami League camp regarding the nature of the results. From ordinary activists to highprofi��le

professors who publicly support their favourite party,people privately acknowledged that they are “embarrassed” to talk to theirfriends within the BNP.

A senior journalist, who isan Awami League supporter,said the victory “could be

the beginning of a completeoneparty rule in Bangladesh”, which may not be“very exciting”.

Professor Imtiaz Ahmedof the International Relations department in DhakaUniversity said that the Awami League’s activists “mayhave panicked” after the early polling. “The massive turnout in the fi��rst three or fourhours probably have panicked them. Bangladesh hasabout 6065% block votes,divided between two political alliances. The rest 3035% matters as it may go inany way... now the large turnout may have panicked theAwami Leaguers and candidates went for an overkill,”said Mr. Ahmed. He feels theparty “this time” was committed to a fair election.

“But even without theoverkill, they would havewon it in any way ” said Mr.Ahmed.

’Worked hard’Saidul Islam, a staff�� of theelite Dhaka Club in the capital city, feels the same. “Afterall, the Awami League government worked hard thistime,” said Mr. Islam, a BNPsupporter. His mother, Manowara Begum, paralysedwaist down, told him so, heclaimed. “She said that theAwami League got electricityin their area in Lokkhipurdistrict and invested inroads, which has pleasedher,” said Mr. Islam.

He echoed Mr. Ahmed’sclaim that the Awami Leaguewould have won the contestany way. On Monday, in thepresence of 11 internationaljournalists and a host of foreign observers, Prime Minister Hasina explained thesame — why the party wouldhave won in any case.

This is too big a victory, sayAwami League supporters Analysts say an Opposition-less Parliament is not conducive for democracy

Suvojit Bagchi

Dhaka

North Korean leader KimJongun said on Tuesday heis ready to meet U.S. President Donald Trump any timeto achieve their commongoal of denuclearising theKorean Peninsula, butwarned he may have to takean alternative path if U.S.sanctions and pressureagainst the countrycontinued.

In his New Year address,Mr. Kim said denuclearisation is his “fi��rm will” andsuggested for the fi��rst timethat North Korea would nolonger produce nuclear weapons, but also urged Washington to take unspecifi��edcorresponding action tospeed up the stalled diplomatic process.

North Korea might be“compelled to explore a newpath” to defend its sovereignty if the U.S. “seeks toforce something upon us un

ilaterally... and remains unchanged in its sanctions andpressure,” Mr. Kim said in hisnationally televised address.

The comments are likelyto fuel growing scepticismover whether Pyongyang intends to give up the nuclearweapons programme.

There was no immediatereaction from the U.S. StateDepartment, but South Korea’s presidential offi��ce welcomed Mr. Kim’s speech,

saying it carried his “fi��rmwill” to advance relationswith Seoul and Washington.

‘Lasting peace’Mr. Kim and Mr. Trumpvowed to work towards denuclearisation and build“lasting and stable” peace attheir summit in Singapore inJune, but little progress hasbeen made since.

Pyongyang has demandedWashington lift sanctions

and declare an offi��cial end tothe 195053 Korean War inresponse to its initial, unilateral steps toward denuclearisation, including dismantling its only known nucleartesting site and a key missileengine facility.

Those measures were inline with its resolve to “nolonger make, use or spread”nuclear weapons, Mr. Kimsaid. Although Pyongyangdid not conduct nuclear ormissile tests last year, satellite images have pointed tocontinued activity at theNorth’s related facilities.

U.S. offi��cials say those initial steps were not confi��rmed and can be easily reversed, and have called forstrict sanctions enforcementon the impoverished country until full, verifi��able disarmament. Washington haltedsome largescale military exercises with Seoul to aid nuclear negotiations, but smaller drills continued.

N. Korea’s Kim warns of ‘new path’Says he’s ready to meet Trump; asks U.S. to speed up stalled diplomatic process

Friendly warning: North Korean leader Kim Jongundelivering a speech, in an undated image. * AP

Reuters

SEOUL

The Taliban discussed Afghanistan’s “postoccupation situation” with Iran intheir latest meeting, thegroup said on Tuesday, asTehran makes a more concerted and open push forpeace ahead of a possibleU.S. drawdown.

The remarks come afterIran confi��rmed on Mondaythat the Taliban had visitedTehran for a second roundof talks in just a few days.

The Taliban delegationdiscussed with Iran “thepostoccupation situation,restoration of peace and security in Afghanistan andthe region”, the militantssaid in a statement postedon social media and emailedto journalists.

Likely U.S. pulloutIt signals a growing confi��dence among the Talibanfor U.S. troops to pull out ofAfghanistan, after U.S. offi��cials last month told variousmedia outlets that PresidentDonald Trump had decidedto slash the number of bootson the ground.

There have been reportsin the past of talks betweenIran and the Taliban, butthey have typically been denied by Tehran.

Tehran’s peace push willbe viewed with concern byhawks in Washington, whofear that Mr. Trump’splanned withdrawal oftroops from Syria and Afghanistan will cede regionalinfl��uence to Iran.

The Taliban also met with

the U.S., Pakistan and SaudiArabia in the UAE earlier inDecember. But, the militants refused to meet a delegation from Afghanistan.

The group said on Saturday that its representativeswould not meet “with thoseof the Kabul administration” at the next meeting expected to be held in SaudiArabia later this month.

Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi willtravel to Afghanistan in thenext two weeks, the ForeignMinistry said.

Meanwhile, Taliban fi��ghters killed more than 20 Afghan security forces in simultaneous raids on aprovincial capital and district in northern Afghanistan, an offi��cial said on Tuesday, as the city braced forfurther violence.

Hundreds of militantswere outside SarePul city,which provincial Governor’sspokesman Zabihullah Amani said was at risk of fallingto the Taliban if reinforcements were not sent.

Taliban confi��rmsmeeting Iran offi��cials

‘Spoke on post-occupation situation’

Agence France-Presse

Kabul

Iran’s Deputy ForeignMinister Abbas Araghchi isto visit Afghanistan. * AP

The Presidents of China andthe U.S. have exchangedmessages vowing to boostcooperation despite a bruising trade war, on the 40thanniversary of the countries’ diplomatic relations,state media reported.

In the messages sent onTuesday, President Xi Jinping underlined the importance of working with theU.S. “to advance ChinaU.S.relations featuring coordination, cooperation and stability”, Xinhua reported.According to Xinhua, President Donald Trump praised

the last four decades of diplomacy between Chinaand the U.S., hailing his “solid friendship” with Mr. Xi.

Washington and Beijingimposed titfortat tariff��s onmore than $300 billionworth of goods in total twoway trade last year. However, since the two leadersagreed on a truce on the sidelines of the G20 summitmeeting in Buenos Aires,there have been small signsof progress. The two nationsestablished diplomatic relations on January 1, 1979,with the U.S. pledging tohave only nonoffi��cial tieswith Taiwan.

U.S., China vow toboost ‘cooperation’Trump hails ‘solid friendship’ with Xi


Beijing

A British police probe into atriple stabbing at a Manchester railway station onNew Year’s Eve which injured three people, is nowbeing treated as “a terroristinvestigation” the city’s topoffi��cer said on Tuesday.

Counterterrorism offi��cials have arrested a manwho remains in police custody, and are searching anaddress where he recentlylived in the northwesternEnglish city, Chief ConstableIan Hopkins said.

The suspect reportedlyshouted “Allah” during whatMr. Hopkins called a “horrif

ic attack” on three people,including a police offi��cer, atManchester Victoria stationon Monday evening.

‘Serious injuries’A man and a woman, bothin their 50s, are still beingtreated in hospital after sustaining “serious” injuries,while the offi��cer was alsostabbed in the shoulder, headded.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack,which happened around8.50 p.m. (2050 GMT) whenmany revellers in the citywould have been enjoyingNew Year’s Evecelebrations.

Probe initiated afterManchester attack3 injured in stabbing at railway station


Manchester

Israel’s centreleft opposition dramatically split onTuesday ahead of an April 9election, with leader AviGabbay announcing that hewould no longer partnerwith veteran politician TzipiLivni as she sat stonefacednext to him.

The announcementmeans the end of their Zionist Union alliance, which fi��nished with the second mostseats in the last general election in 2015 but which hassince tumbled in opinionpolls. The Zionist Union included Mr. Gabbay’s Labour

party and Ms. Livni’s Hatnuah. It won 24 out of 120seats in 2015, behind PrimeMinister Benjamin Netanyahu’s rightwing Likud, whichwon 30.

Since Mr. Gabbay took over as head of Labour in 2017,his partnership with Ms. Livni had been uneasy and it

was unclear if the alliancewould continue for theelection.

‘Doubts cleared’In a statement shortly afterMr. Gabbay’s announcement, Ms. Livni said it was“good that the doubts hadbeen cleared”, vowing to focus on winning the upcoming poll. Mr. Gabbay’s decision is the latest realignmentahead of the election andmore are expected.

Polls show that Mr. Netanyahu is likely to remainprime minister after theelections despite corruptionallegations against him.

Israel’s Opposition splitsahead of election in AprilLabour Party not to partner with Tzipi Livni’s Hatnuah


Jerusalem

Tzipi Livni. * REUTERS

The U.S. and Israel offi��cially quit the UN’s educational, scientifi��c and culturalagency (UNESCO) at thestroke of midnight, the culmination of a process triggered more than a year agoamid concerns that the organisation fosters antiIsrael bias.

The withdrawal is mainly procedural, yet serves anew blow to UNESCO, cofounded by the U.S. afterthe Second World War tofoster peace.

The Donald Trump administration fi��led its noticeto withdraw in October2017 and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu followed suit.

The withdrawals will notgreatly impact UNESCO fi��nancially, since it has beendealing with a fundingslash ever since 2011 whenboth Israel and the UnitedStates stopped paying duesafter Palestine was voted inas a member state of theorganisation.

U.S., Israeloffi��cially quit UNESCO

Associated Press

Paris

Russian rescuers on Tuesdaypulled a baby boy alive fromthe ruins of an apartmentblock that collapsed in a gasexplosion more than a dayearlier, killing at least sevenpeople and leaving dozensmissing.

“The rescuers heard crying. The baby was saved bybeing in a cradle and warmlywrapped up,” Chelyabinskregional Governor Boris Dubrovsky wrote on his Telegram channel.

The Emergencies Ministry said the child is a 10monthold boy.

Mother also survivesThe mother of the boy,named as Vanya, also survived the blast, RIA Novostinews agency reported, citing the emergency services.

The child is in an extremely grave conditionwith serious frostbite of hislimbs, a head injury andmultiple leg fractures and he

will be evacuated for treatment in Moscow, a HealthMinistry statement said.

Part of the 10storeyapartment building collapsed following a gas explosion on Monday morning inthe industrial city of Magnitogorsk, nearly 1,700 kmeast of Moscow in the Uralmountains.

The baby was found afterrescuers were forced to temporarily halt the search fordozens of missing people in

the rubble for fear that therest of the block could comedown. The child survivedtemperatures that fell overnight to around 27°C, TASSreported. The incident hasclaimed at least seven livesand only six survivors havebeen found.

The Sovietera appartment block was home toaround 1,100 people. Theblast completely destroyed35 fl��ats while 10 more weredamaged.

‘10-month-old boy is in an extremely grave condition’


Moscow

New Year tragedy: A rescuer with the child found in therubble of a collapsed apartment block in Russia. * REUTERS

Baby pulled alive in Russiafrom ruins of apartment block



#70929

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BUSINESSEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE



NIFTY 50

PRICE CHANGE

Adani Ports. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 389.00. . . . . . . . . 1.30

Asian Paints. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1371.55. . . . . . . . -1.50

Axis Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 627.30. . . . . . . . . 7.40

Bajaj Auto . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2726.65. . . . . . . . . 6.50

Bajaj Finserv. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6521.95. . . . . . . 45.00

Bajaj Finance . . . . . . . . . .. . . . 2656.85. . . . . . . 11.70

Bharti Airtel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319.50. . . . . . . . . 7.00

BPCL. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 367.20. . . . . . . . . 4.45

Cipla . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 523.05. . . . . . . . . 3.55

Coal India . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241.50. . . . . . . . . 0.75

Dr Reddys Lab . . . . . . . .. . . . 2607.05. . . . . . . . -9.45

Eicher Motors. . . . . . . . .. 23195.10. . . . . . . 36.75

GAIL (India). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 362.15. . . . . . . . . 1.85

Grasim Ind . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 833.50. . . . . . . . . 7.90

HCL Tech. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 959.85. . . . . . . . -4.50

HDFC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2009.00. . . . . . . 40.65

HDFC Bank. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2148.10. . . . . . . 26.40

Hero MotoCorp . . . . . .. . . . 3127.60. . . . . . . 23.35

Hindalco . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222.75. . . . . . . . -3.45

HPCL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256.70. . . . . . . . . 3.45

Hind Unilever . . . . . . . . .. . . . 1801.10. . . . . . -18.55

Indiabulls HFL . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 844.75. . . . . . . . -9.10

ICICI Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 363.75. . . . . . . . . 3.60

IndusInd Bank . . . . . . . .. . . . 1595.60. . . . . . . . -3.70

Bharti Infratel . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 262.25. . . . . . . . . 3.25

Infosys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 665.05. . . . . . . . . 6.10

Indian OilCorp . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 137.70. . . . . . . . . 0.65

ITC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 282.70. . . . . . . . . 1.05

JSW Steel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 303.95. . . . . . . . -2.80

Kotak Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1250.45. . . . . . . . -6.05

L&T . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1441.90. . . . . . . . . 4.35

M&M . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 773.35. . . . . . -30.50

Maurti Suzuki . . . . . . . . .. . . . 7476.80. . . . . . . 11.30

NTPC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148.70. . . . . . . . -0.35

ONGC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148.50. . . . . . . . -1.40

PowerGrid Corp . . . . .. . . . . . 200.00. . . . . . . . . 1.35

Reliance Ind . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1121.00. . . . . . . . -0.25

State Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299.60. . . . . . . . . 3.70

Sun Pharma . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 433.55. . . . . . . . . 3.05

Tata Motors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173.45. . . . . . . . . 0.75

Tata Steel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 515.75. . . . . . . . -5.30

TCS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1902.80. . . . . . . . . 9.75

Tech Mahindra . . . . . . .. . . . . . 719.10. . . . . . . . -4.05

Titan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 928.00. . . . . . . . -3.00

UltraTech Cement. .. . . . 4009.20. . . . . . . 18.25

UPL. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 753.50. . . . . . . . -4.75

Vedanta . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202.10. . . . . . . . -0.10

Wipro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 326.65. . . . . . . . -4.20

YES Bank. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184.25. . . . . . . . . 2.45

Zee Entertainment . . . . . . 480.25. . . . . . . . . 3.80

EXCHANGE RATES

Indicative direct rates in rupees a unitexcept yen at 4 p.m. on January 01

CURRENCY TT BUY TT SELL

US Dollar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 69.25. . . . . . . 69.57

Euro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 79.54. . . . . . . 79.94

British Pound. . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 88.21. . . . . . . 88.64

Japanese Yen (100) . .. . 63.14. . . . . . . 63.45

Chinese Yuan . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 10.07. . . . . . . 10.12

Swiss Franc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 70.42. . . . . . . 70.77

Singapore Dollar . . . . . . .. . 50.79. . . . . . . 51.05

Canadian Dollar. . . . . . . . .. . 50.96. . . . . . . 51.22

Malaysian Ringitt . . . . . .. . 16.75. . . . . . . 16.84

Source:Indian Bank

BULLION RATES CHENNAI

January 01 rates in rupees with pre-vious rates in parentheses

Retail Silver (1g) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41.5. . . . . . . (41.5)

22 ct gold (1 g) . .. . . . . . . . . . . . 3021. . . . . . (3017)

market watch

01-01-2019 % CHANGE

Sensex dddddddddddddddddddddd 36,255 ddddddddddddddd0.52

US Dollardddddddddddddddddddd 69.43 ddddddddddddddd0.49

Gold ddddddddddddddddddddddddddd 32,470 ddddddddddddddd0.62

The government’s collections from the Goods andServices Tax (GST) declinedfor the second month in arow to ₹��94,726 crore in December, offi��cial data released on Tuesday showed.

Collections declined fromthe ₹��97,637 crore in November, which was itself lowerthan the ₹��1,00,710 crore collected in October.

“The total gross GST revenue collected in the monthof December 2018 is ₹��94,726crore of which CGST is₹��16,442 crore, SGST is₹��22,459 crore, IGST is₹��47,936 crore… and cess is₹��7,888 crore,” the government said in a statement.“The total number of GSTR3B Returns fi��led for themonth of November up to

December 31, 2018 is 72.44lakh.”

‘A bit discouraging’“The slight dip in GST revenue collections as comparedto the last two months is a bitdiscouraging,” AbhishekJain, tax partner at EY, said.

“This may deter the go

vernment from rationalisingthe rate of goods left in the28% category like cement,auto parts, etc, in the shortterm,” Mr. Jain added.

The GST Council had in its31st meeting in Decembercut rates on 17 items and sixtypes of services, leaving justone common use item — ce

ment — in the 28% tax bracket. The new rates took eff��ectfrom January 1, 2019.

“While the December collections are lesser than October (where it exceeded ₹��1lakh crore) and November,overall average collection for201819 has shown markedimprovement over 201718,”Pratik Jain, partner and leader, indirect tax, PwC India,said.

“This, coupled with decent growth in income taxcollections, gives a clear indication that the tax base is expanding.”

Mr. Jain said the next couple of months may also seesimilar collections, whichmeans that the central government might want tocome up with a “more realistic” estimate of GST collections for next year.

GST collections down forsecond month in a rowAt ₹��94,726 cr. in December, it is lower than the ₹��97,637 cr. collected in November


NEW DELHI

Life Insurance Corporationof India MD Hemant Bhargava has been given the additional charge of the chairman after V.K. Sharmaretired on Monday. Mr.Bhargava took charge asMD in February 2017.

The Banks Board Bureauhas shortlisted eight candidates for the chairman’spost, and MD’s post. Theinterviews will be held onJanuary 4. Those called forinterviews include VipinAnand, K. Ganesh, MukeshKumar Gupta, M.R. Kumar,H. S. Shashi Kumar, Raj Kumar, T.C. Susheel Kumarand S. Nallakuttalam.

LIC MD tooffi��ciate aschairman


Mumbai

Hemant Bhargava

The Committee on GovernmentAssurances has questioned therationale behind banks beingasked to bear the cost of soiledand counterfeit notes, particularly during the demonetisationexercise of 2016.

In its report tabled in the Rajya Sabha on Monday, the committee said it did not understandthe rationale behind the policywherein the banks had beenasked to bear the losses arisingout from mutilated and counterfeit notes, when they had no rolein mutilating or circulatingcounterfeit notes, particularlyjust after demonetisation whenthey had the onerous task ofhandling huge cash fl��ow.

Doubling in numberThe number of soiled notesmore than doubled in 201718compared to the previous fi��nan

cial year. According to RBI data,27,678 million pieces of soilednotes were disposed of by banksin 201718 compared to 12,503million pieces in 201617. Over99% of the notes that were rendered invalid by demonetisationhad returned from circulation.

However, the number of counterfeit notes detected in 201718was lower at 5,22,738 pieces asagainst 7,62,072 in the previousyear. The committee also feltthat it was improper to penalisethe banks especially at a timewhen they had stretched their li

mits to support the governmentduring demonetisation processand has recommended that theDepartment of Economic Aff��airsshould consider relaxing noterefund rules in this regard.

A Navaneethakrishnan,Chairman, Committee on Government Assurances, presented the 72nd Report of the Committee to the Rajya Sabha.

The panel discussed the issuewith some public sector banksand representatives of the RBI,NABARD and Department ofEconomic Aff��airs and Ministryof Finance on its study visits toKolkata, Chennai andBengaluru.

The committee deals with theculling of assurances, examination of implementation of assurances, and dropping of assurances given by Ministers whilereplying to questions raised byMembers during the proceedings of the Rajya Sabha.

‘Banks unfairly charged for soiled notes’ Panel questions rationale behind move; says banks stretched to help Centre post note ban


Mumbai

Herculean task: Banks had the onerous task of handling huge cashfl��ow following the demonetisation exercise, says panel. * R.V.MOORTHY

Maruti Suzuki sold morethan 1.19 lakh passengervehicles (PVs) in the domestic market in December2018, an increase of 1% fromthe over 1.18 lakh units soldin the yearago month.

The company said whilethe sales of mini segmentcars (Alto and Wagon R) declined by 14% to 27,661 units,those of compact segmentcars (Swift, Celerio, Ignis,Baleno and Dzire) fell 3.8%to 51,334 units. However,the sales of mid size Ciazgrew 89.7% to 4,734 units.

Additionally, sales of utility vehicles rose almost 5% to20,225 units. Sales of vans,Omni and Eeco, rose 39% to15,850 units.

Maruti Suzuki also said itsexports declined 36.4% to6,859 units.

Honda Cars India posteda 4% growth in sales lastmonth to 13,139 units in thedomestic market. The company exported a total of 315units during the month. Rajesh Goel, senior vicepresident and director, sales andmarketing, Honda Cars India Ltd. said, “The marketcontinued to remain challenging in December.”

Yearend off��ersHowever, with lucrativeyearend off��ers on many ofour models and strong performance of new modelsAmaze and CRV, the company recorded 4% salesgrowth in December 2018.”

Rival Hyundai Motor India posted 4.8% increase indomestic sales to 42,093 units in December 2018. Thecompany’s national sales

head Vikas Jain said thecompany achieved its bestever domestic sales of5,50,002 units in 2018 onthe back of all new Santro,Grand i10, Elite i20, Vernaand Creta.

Stating that Decemberwas a challenging month forthe industry with mutedconsumer sentiment, TataMotors said its PV sales inthe domestic market recorded a growth of 0.6%, to14,260 units despite thesechallenges.

Sluggish periodMayank Pareek, president,PV business unit, Tata Motors Ltd., said, “In December 2018, we have strived tomaintain our growth trajectory during what was a rather sluggish period for theentire auto industry.”

On the other hand, Mahindra and Mahindra(M&M) said sales of PVs inthe domestic market declined 3% to 15,091 units.

Rajan Wadhera, president, automotive sector,M&M Ltd., said, “…in thedomestic market, challenges relating to tight liquidityand low buying sentimentcontinue the degrowth forDecember.”

M&M’s farm equipmentsector reported a 6% decline in tractor sales to17,404 units compared with18,488 units sold in the samemonth of the previous yeardue to a sudden drop in exports and belowthanexpected rabi crop sowingduring the month.

In the twowheeler segment, Royal Enfi��eld posteda decline of 14% in domesticsales to 56,026 units.

Poor consumer sentiment hurts sales


NEW DELHI / Mumbai

Auto sales remainmuted in December

Following a demand fromthe government for a debtrecast package for micro,small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), the ReserveBank of India (RBI) has relaxed the provisioningnorms for lenders for restructuring loans of up to ₹��25crore.

According to the guidelines released on Tuesday,the RBI has allowed onetime restructuring of existing loans to MSMEs that arein default but ‘standard’ ason January 1, 2019. Bankshave to make only 5% provisioning for restructuring theloans as compared to 1520%earlier.

The government has beenasking for such a package fora long time for the MSMEsector which was severely

hit due to demonetisationexercise and implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST).

Enabling environment“Considering the importance of MSMEs in the Indian economy, it is considered necessary at thisjuncture to take certain measures for creating an enabling environment for the

sector,” RBI said. The issueof restructuring of MSME accounts was discussed by theRBI board on November 19,2018 . The issue also fi��guredduring RBI’s recent interactions with the lenders.

“The above issue hasbeen examined in RBI and aview has been taken to facilitate meaningful restructuring of MSME accounts thathave become stressed,” RBIsaid.

The restructuring has tobe implemented by March31, 2020, the RBI said.

“A provision of 5%, in addition to the provisions already held, shall be made inrespect of accounts restructured under this scheme,”the RBI said, adding thateach bank or nonbankshould formulate a policy forthis scheme with the board’sapproval.

Reserve Bank relaxes debtrecast norms for MSMEsLoans of up to ₹��25 crore eligible for relaxation of provision


Mumbai

Aviation turbine fuel (ATF)prices have been cut for thesecond month in a row by arecord 14.7% for the monthof January 2019, accordingto a notifi��cation issued byIndian Oil Corporation andother Stateowned oil marketing companies.

Jet fuel will now cost₹��58,060.97 per kilolitre inDelhi, the benchmark market for the country, eff��ectiveJanuary 1. This represents a₹��9,990 per kilolitre price cutfrom the ₹��68,050.97 per kilolitre in December 2018. Jetfuel prices had been revisedon a monthly basis sinceMarch 2018. This is the second consecutive reductionin rates and the biggest single cut ever, the datashowed. In December, prices were cut by ₹��8,327.83 per

kilolitre, or 10.9%.With the two successive

cuts, jet fuel rates are nowlower than petrol and dieselprices on a per litre basis.

While ATF now costs₹��58.06 per litre, petrol costs₹��68.65 per litre and diesel₹��62.66 per litre in Delhi. Thetwo consecutive price reductions have brought ATFrates to their lowest levels ina year and will providemuchneeded relief to cashstrapped airlines.

(With PTI inputs)

Aviation fuel pricesslashed by 14.7%

It is now cheaper than petrol, diesel


NEW DELHI

*GETTYIM

AGES/ISTOCK

The government has notifi��ed new annual GST return forms, which are required to be fi��led bybusinesses registered under the Goods and ServicesTax (GST) regime by June30, 2019.

In the annual returnforms, businesses have toprovide consolidated details of sales, purchasesand input tax credit (ITC)benefi��ts accrued to themduring the fi��nancial year of201718.

The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs(CBIC) on December 31,2018, notifi��ed formGSTR9, GSTR9A andGSTR9C.

Separately, the government waived late fees fornonfi��lers of summary andfi��nal sales returns for theJuly 2017September 2018period.

Govt. notifi��esnew GSTreturn forms


New Delhi

Kotak Mahindra Bank MDUday Kotak on Tuesday saideven though nonbank lenders have received a breather since the crisis late lastyear, the sector is more “fragile” than it was a year ago.

“We need to carefullywatch the space going forward,” he added. Mr. Kotakhas been tasked to lead theeff��orts of saving the debtridden infra lender IL&FS.

“Hopefully, the NBFC sector which saw signifi��cantpressure in OctoberNovember last year is beginning tobreathe a little better now.

“However, I do believe thatthe sector is more fragilethan what it was one yearago,” Mr. Kotak said in an annual message to employeesat Kotak Mahindra Bank.

He attributed the stress inthe NBFC space to liquidityconcerns emanating out ofthe rise in interest rates asthe high growth in fi��nancialsavings postdemonetisationbegan to go back as currencyin circulation. IL&FS, whichhas a debt of over ₹��94,000crore, was the “fi��rst majordefault” and led to questionsover whether the nationwould have a “Lehmanlikemini crisis,” he said.

‘NBFC sector morefragile than a year ago’

Liquidity concerns led to stress: Kotak


Mumbai

The National CompanyLaw Tribunal (NCLT) allowed the Corporate Affairs Ministry to reopen thebooks of the crippledIL&FS Group and its subsidiaries for the past fi��veyears under Sec. 130 of theCompanies Act, to ascertain fi��nancialmismanagement.

For the fi��rst time, the government on December 21,2018, had invoked the powers under Sec 130 to reopen the books of a company. The government wantsto check the balancesheets of the group and itstwo listed subsidiaries.

‘Govt. canreopenIL&FS books’

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

MUMBAI



#70929

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IN BRIEF

Aurobindo recalls 80lots of BP drug from U.S.NEW DELHI

Aurobindo Pharma USA Inc.

is recalling 80 lots of tablets,

used for treatment of high

blood pressure and heart

failure from the U.S., due to

presence of impurity that

may cause cancer in humans,

the fi��rm said. The voluntary

recall of Amlodipine

Valsartan tablets USP,

Valsartan HCTZ tablets USP

and Valsartan tablets USP is

due to the detection of trace

amounts of impurity found in

the fi��nished product. PTI

Shilpa Medicare getsnod for cancer injection NEW DELHI

Shilpa Medicare said it had

received a USFDA approval

for Irinotecan HCL injection,

used for treating certain

kinds of cancers. It has

received approval for its

ANDA Irinotecan HCL

injection USP in the

strengths 40 mg/2mL and

100 mg/5mL (20mg/mL)

single dose vials, the fi��rm

said in a BSE fi��ling. Irinotecan

injection is used in the

treatment of patients with

metastatic carcinoma of the

colon or rectum, it added. PTI

Investor Clinic arm tobuild luxury homesNEW DELHI

Property brokerage Investor

Clinic’s group fi��rm Home and

Soul has bought a land parcel

in Jaypee’s township in

Greater Noida to develop a

luxury project with an

investment of over ₹��200

crore. “We have taken around

5,000 metres of land in

Jaypee group’s golfcentric

township. We will develop an

ultra luxury project, PAGE 3,

comprising 46 apartments,

villas and penthouses,” said

Home and Soul CEO Sakshi

Katyal. PTI

Tyre companies in India arelikely to invest ₹��20,000 crorein the next fi��ve years in capacity addition to meet thegrowing demand, accordingto credit rating agency ICRA.

“The tyre industry in India has witnessed large capacity additions in the lastdecade with a cumulativespend of ₹��27,800 crore; ofwhich 70% was spent in thelast six years.

“With tyre demand remaining favourable, supplyaddition in the industry is expected to remain high goingforward,” ICRA said in areport.

It said based on the announcements, tyre industrywas likely to see a capacityaddition of ₹��20,000 croreover the next fi��ve years.

Stating that the outlookfor the Indian tyre industrywould remain stable, ICRAsaid tyre demand wouldgrow by 79% over the nextfi��ve years supported by favourable outlook for thedomestic automotiveindustry.

“In FY2019, the domestictyre industry benefi��ted fromstrong growth in both original equipment (OE) and replacement segments.

Robust salesWhile there have been someheadwinds such as the fl��oods

in Kerala, tightened fi��nancing, insurancerelated regulatory changes impactingtwowheeler demand, risingfuel and interest costs, theyeartodate sales growthacross most segments havebeen robust leading tohealthy OE tyre demandgrowth,” ICRA said.

It said the replacementtyre demand, too, had recovered sharply in the last oneyear supported by posteffect of Goods and Service tax(GST), pickup in infrastructure activities and a healthy,consumptiondriven demand. “Specifi��cally, therewas a strong demand rebound in truck and bus segment (where replacementshare is high at 70%),” it said.

ICRA said tyre exportsfrom India have been steadily increasing in the last one

year with recovery in demand from overseas marketsand rising competitivenessof Indian makers, both interms of quality and pricing.

Imports dwindleOn the other hand, tyre imports had dwindled in thelast one year following thereimposition of antidumping duty (ADD) on import ofnew Chinese truck and busradial (TBR) tyres for a period of fi��ve years eff��ectivefrom September 18, 2017 andincrease in customs duty by500 bps to 15%, eff��ectiveApril 1, 2018.

“This has supported thedomestic TBR (truck and busradial) players as the largecapacities added in recentyears are now being eff��ectively utilised,” the ratingagency said.

‘Tyre industry may invest ₹��20,000 cr.’Capacity addition over the next 5 years will help manufacturers meet growing demand, says ICRA

On a roll: A favourable outlook for domestic automotiveindustry is expected to drive demand for tyres.


MUMBAI

Bank stocks were in demandon Tuesday after the government infused ₹��10,882 crorein four public sectorlenders.

Shares of UCO Banksoared 12.1% to close at₹��22.70 apiece on the BSE.Bank of Maharashtra gained3.83%, as did Central Bankof India (1.36%) and Syndicate Bank (1.27 %).

The government on Monday infused ₹��10,882 crore infour public sector banks, including UCO Bank and Syndicate Bank, as part of the₹��28,615crore capital infusion to be done in about halfa dozen public sectorlenders.

UCO Bank received

₹��3,074 crore in equity byway of preferential allotment on Monday, the banksaid in a regulatory fi��ling.

Besides, Bank of Maharashtra got ₹��4,498 crore,Syndicate Bank (₹��1,632crore) and Central Bank ofIndia (₹��1,678 crore).

Buying was also seen inother bank stocks, withBank of Baroda surging3.74%. So did United Bank ofIndia (3.61%), Bank Of India(2.21%), Punjab NationalBank (2.11%) and State Bankof India (1.25%). Analysts attributed the rise in bankingstocks to Reserve Bank of India Governor ShaktikantaDas’s statement that the sector is on “course to recovery” as the affl��icting nonperforming assets recede.

4 PSB stocks surge aftergovt. infuses ₹��10,882 cr.Shares of UCO Bank soar 12.1%

Press trust of India

New Delhi

As many as six companieswent on stream and sevenothers commenced civilworks in Sri City in 2018, according to a top offi�cial.

“We call it eventful, as itwitnessed an array of important events and developments such as groundbreaking ceremonies, plantinaugurations, visits of foreign diplomats, dignitaries,tours of business delegations, meetings and seminars,” said Ravindra Sannareddy, foundermanagingdirector, Sri City.

Expanding capacityDuring 2018, more than 20new customers entered intomemoranda of understanding with the Andhra Pradeshgovernment to invest about

₹��3,826 crore. Of these, sevenfi��rms commenced civilworks, six went on streamand a few others ramped upproduction capacity, hesaid.

Sri City, which is a ‘smart,integrated business city’, islocated about 70 km fromChennai. It has been attracting signifi��cant fresh invest

ments. Hero MotoCorp hascommitted to invest ₹��1,600crore while Alstom is planning to double the numberof production lines.

In the last 10 years, Sri City has attracted investmentsworth more than ₹��28,000crore.

Currently, it houses over180 companies from 27countries such as Pepsi, Kellogg’s, Isuzu, Mondelez, Alstom, Kobelco and Foxconn,among others.

Besides, it houses a Technical Skill Development Institute, Krea University andpostal fi��nancial services.

Separately, the Ministry ofCommerce and Industry hasnominated Mr. Sannareddyas a member of the committee constituted for reviewingthe Special Economic Zonepolicy in the country.

‘Six fi��rms went live at Sri City’ In 2018, new customers committed ₹��3,826 crore, says MD

N. Anand

CHENNAI

Ravindra Sannareddy

Recognising the rising importance of small tea growers (STG) in the supplychain, tea estates in NorthIndia are testing a projectcalled ‘Trinitea,’ which aimsat providing support to theSTG at the farm and marketlevel.

A MoU was signed between the Indian Tea Association (ITA) the apex bodyof North Indian tea producers and Solidaridad forjointly implementing thisproject, which aims at providing support to STGs inthe form of customised farmmanagement as well as access to real time information on climate, soil andmarkets, a senior ITA offi�cialsaid.

Solidaridad is a networkwhich works to promotesustainable production of 13commodities across nine regions globally.

Supplementing outputThe project is already beingrolled out in select ITAmember tea gardens whosupplement their outputthrough the STG crop.

This comes close on theheels of the three MoUssigned between ITA andSTG Associations in West

Bengal and Assam. A longterm partnership betweenthe formal traditional sectorand the informal STG sectoris necessary, Azam Monem,ITA’s outgoing chairman,had said, adding “this (theMoUs) would create bettervalue and acceptability inthe global and domesticmarket for teas producedacross the valuechain encompassing both the sectors” he said.

The STG sector’s share intotal Indian tea crop hasbeen rising steadily and nowconstitutes 47% of the totalproduction. Many large producers are sourcing greenleaf from STG and in the absence of testing facilities,outsourced green leaf frommultiple agents fail to comply with the permitted standards of pesticides and goodfarm practices.

“Although it is early tocomment on the Trinitea initiative, we are welcomingthis move,” Bijoy Chakraborty, president, Confederation of Indian Small TeaGrowers Association, toldThe Hindu.

The project would helpmonitor green leaf quality,establish traceability mechanisms and set up vendordevelopment for supply offarm inputs.

‘Project Trinitea to create better value’

Indrani Dutta

Kolkata

Reaching out: Small growers’ share in Indian tea crop nowconstitutes 47% of total production. * K.MURALI KUMAR

Small growers may gettea estates’ support



#70929

CMYK

A ND-NDE




SPORT

Rishabh Pant might be the“baby” of the Indian cricketteam but on New Year’sDay, the wicketkeepershowed that he is good withbabies, something that gotan instant thumbs up fromnone other than Australianskipper Tim Paine’s wife.

On Tuesday, Paine’s wifeBonnie put up a picture onher Instagram accountwhich had the 21yearoldPant holding her son duringan event at the AustralianPrime Minister Scott Morrison’s residence.

Bonnie, who herselfposed in the picture, captioned it ‘Best Babysitter’with a smiling Pant by herside.

The reference came afterPaine and Pant had a go ateach other during the Melbourne Test and the stump

microphone recorded theirenjoyable sledging.

While the Indian ’keeperwas batting, Paine referred

to his omission from theODI side.

“Big MS (Dhoni) is back inthe oneday squad too, we

might get him (Pant) downto the (Hobart) Hurricaneswe need a batter. Fancythat, Pantsy?

Extend your little Aussieholiday. Beautiful town Hobart too, I’ll get you a niceapartment on the waterfront. (I’ll) have him over fordinner. Can you babysit? I’lltake the wife to the moviesone night and you’ll look after the kids,” the Australiancaptain was heard saying onthe stump mic.

On the very next day,Pant was heard speaking toMayank Agarwal whenPaine came to the crease.“We got a special guest today. Have you ever heard ofa temporary captain, ever,Mayank?” Pant said.

However, the picture ofPant with Paine’s family isan indicator that the serieshas so far been played ingood spirits.


SYDNEY

Safe pair of hands: Rishabh Pant with Tim Paine’s wife andchildren. * COURTESY: BON PAINE INSTAGRAM ACCOUNT

Pant babysits Paine’s kids!

The change has been gathering pace,and now it is clear: India are pre

pared to win looking “ugly”, by grinding it out.

It is the triumph of pragmatism overromance, placing winning above thedictates of looking pretty. Attractive,wristy (often risky) batsmanship andfl��ighted, tantalising spin — the clichésabout Indian cricket — have made wayfor practical runmaking and sustainedfast bowling. It is a cultural revolution,no less.

It was an attitude anathema to Indians through generations of “goingdown fi��ghting attractively”, of showingfl��air and fl��ash that contributed little tothe result. But the oohs and aahs as abatsman played a beautiful cover driveusually spared him the condemnationswhen he threw it away in his 20s or 30s.

Those were the days when a fi��ghtingdraw was all that mattered. The Indianteam transited from perennial Testmatch losers to one capable of drawingmatches to one expected to win as theNo. 1 side in the world. But through itall, one theme dominated: it was important to look good. Flair and fl��ash, fl��amboyance, even a bit of ostentation wasrewarded with greater public acclaim.

Class and charm matteredSunil Gavaskar and Rahul Dravid mighthave been the bedrock of the batting intheir respective eras, but even thesemasters of defensive batsmanship werestylish, they had what the public called“class”.

Class was important. So was charm.A batsman like Dilip Vengsarkar, No. 1

player in the world, gutsy, hardhittingand with a wonderful record against thegreat Windies fast bowlers, was nevertaken to heart by the Indians. Heseemed too focused on his job, too intent on the essential task of scoringruns.

Years ago, I wrote that if Vengsarkarhad been born in England and DavidGower in India, they might have beenproperly recognised for their batsmanship. Vengsarkar was a “professional”,a besetting sin in Indian eyes, whileGower’s class and vulnerability madehim unbearably charming. An Indianexample was the great Gundappa Viswanath — poetry came with intimationsof death.

It was the same with bowling. The visual attraction and legends built aroundthe great spinners — Bhagwat Chandrasekhar, Bishan Bedi, Erapalli Prasannaand S. Venkatraghavan — were millstones around the necks of generationsthat followed.

Every succeeding left arm spinnerwas compared to Bedi and lost out inthe comparison. For years Indians never forgave Anil Kumble for lacking thepoetic vulnerability of Chandrasekhar,for not being an extravagant turner ofthe ball. World class did not automatically mean India class!

The Melbourne Test — the wonder isnot how India won in Adelaide and Melbourne but how they lost in Perth —seems to have completed the transition.A generation more intent on the “what”and less focused on the “how” describes both the players and the majority of their audience back home.

Refl��ection of societyCricket and society refl��ect each other.Flamboyance as a byproduct is acceptable, but as the main event will not beforgiven easily if it doesn’t lead to victory. K.L. Rahul’s struggle is both technical and historical.

Here’s an attractive batsman who isout of step with team philosophy.

Whether Cheteswara Pujara is a product of the new culture or the one whois driving it, he is certainly its fi��nestexemplar.

He made centuries in both the TestsIndia won, supremely unconcernedabout such mundane matters as strikerates and putting bowlers in their placewith dismissive, even arrogant batsmanship.

His role is clear — that it has taken Indian cricket so long to realise is probably due to the inevitable confusion thattransition gives rise to. The matter wasnot psychologically settled till Pujaraemerged as the hero of both the connoisseur as well as the onedimensionalfan who abhors complexity.

Pujara has been the unexpected starof the new India — but unexpected onlyin the eyes of those who haven’t beenfollowing the trend away from romanticism.

When Virat Kohli fi��rst led in Australiafour years ago, romance was still king.He led with fl��air, making two centuriesin a Test and throwing everything into achase that nearly won India the match.“So near and yet so far” — the staple ofheadlines on the sports pages not solong ago. Kohli became a hero to thegeneration espousing romance, but avillain to the pragmatists.

The captain had learnt his lesson. InRavi Shastri he has a manager whosecricket is at the other end of the scalefrom romantic. India should have wonmore than one Test in South Africa andEngland. They lacked the clarity ofmind they have displayed in Australia.

There must have been moments during the washed out prelunch sessionon the fi��nal day when all the argumentsfor not enforcing the follow on mighthave mocked Kohli. But in the end, itneeded only two wickets, and Indiacould not be denied.

India need only a draw in Sydneynow. Kohli has said he will go for a win.But the shutters will come down quickly this time. It is the new culture.

The transition from romance to pragmatism is completeIndia is prepared to win looking “ugly”, by grinding it out

BETWEEN WICKETSsuresh menon

The Australians do not seemto be getting their prioritiesright. In other words, isenough importance being given to Testmatch preparation? Or, are commercial interests hurting Australia’scricket at its very core?

Just consider this: PeterHandscomb was droppedfrom the team for the thirdTest at the MCG since theteammanagement felt allrounder Mitchell Marsh’sseam bowling could takesome load off�� the pacemen.

Handscomb, though, hasbeen retained in the squadfor the fourth Test in Sydney.And how does he prepare forthe Test? By blasting 70 off��35 deliveries for MelbourneStars against Sydney Sixersin the Big Bash League (BBL)!Not quite the ideal way to focus on a Test, particularly

when you are still part of thesquad.

Actually, Handscomb isnot to be blamed. It is thesystem that has been put inplace by Cricket Australia.These are days when Australia’s domestic First Classcompetition Sheffi��eld Shieldclashes with the BBL. And

this is not helping the side’sTest preparation.

Batting in Tests is a lotabout getting your mindtuned in to the demands ofthe longer format. When batsmen lose concentration andget out to forgettable strokesafter settling down, as theAussies did at the MCG, itshows a lack of mental discipline.

Indeed, some of thestroke selection by leadingAustralian batsmen in theongoing series has been disappointing. Application, thatability to focus for long periods, has been absent formost part.

In the past, Australian batsmen would hold theirground, play out spells andwin sessions. At the MCG inthe second innings, it tookPat Cummins to show themore accomplished batsmen what pride in the bag

gy green cap meant. It’s easyto blame the batting capitulations on the absence ofSteve Smith and David Warner. But then, the Australians are not playing India inthe subcontinent. They aremeeting Kohli’s men in familiar conditions, at home.

The infl��uence of limitedover cricket has increasinglyaff��ected Australia’s battingdepth in Tests and CricketAustralia is not helping theside’s cause by allowing theBig Bash (T20) to interruptthe Sheffi��eld Shield, Australia’s domestic fourdaytournament.

The BCCI does not mixthe IPL or Syed Mushtaq Ali(T20) competition with theRanji Trophy.

Truth to tell, if the Aussiesare indeed missing Smithand Warner even at home,then the side’s batting resources are very thin indeed.

Scheduling the Big Bash during a Test series hurting the side’s preparation

S. Dinakar

SYDNEY

Australia not getting priorities right

He has steel in his bones.Does not get fl��ustered by situations or the opposition.And scores with substanceover style.

Cheteshwar Pujara’s composure and solidity havebeen massive factors in Indiaretaining the BorderGavaskar Trophy.

Virat Kohli and his mennow eye a historic series triumph in the fourth Test atthe SCG.

The skipper will be seeking another infl��uential performance from Pujara.

His two hundreds in theseries so far — 123 in Adelaideand 106 at the MCG — havebeen matchwinning eff��orts.Pujara has blunted and subdued a very good Aussie attack.

Change in mindsetThe patient Pujara has evenmanaged to alter Kohli’smindset in the ongoing series. How things change!

In the 201415 series, Kohli, who had taken over captaincy after M.S. Dhoni announced a shock retirementfrom Tests in Melbourne, didnot include Pujara in the fi��nal Test at the SCG.

The reasoning was thatPujara, unable to force thepace at No. 3, was slowingdown the Indian innings.Kohli was keen on momentum, on keeping the scoreboard ticking along briskly.

After the Melbourne Testlast Sunday, Kohli said: “Nowwe have the bowling attackthat we can rely on to get us20 wickets and his [Pujara’s]role becomes even morecrucial.”

Kohli added, “If he can battime and hold one end, andall the other batsmen can batpositively around him, weget 350, touching 400, inconditions in Australia,which puts us in a great position to get a result.”

To his credit, Pujara hasworked on his batting. Lasttime around down under, hewas troubled by the extrabounce since he was crouch

ing too much in his stance.When the ball climbed, hewas unable to get on top ofthe ball and keep it down.

Now, Pujara is moreupright and relaxed in his

stance, in a much better position to play the lifting deliveries.

He is also able to essay thebackfooted strokes throughpoint or covers, so crucial on

the Australian pitches.This has been a series

where Pujara has batted intelligently, showing judgement around off��, defendingthe good deliveries, rotating

or down the ground. Anything on his legs, he can whip.And Pujara has picked runsoff�� the pull shot.

Pujara employs his feetagainst spinners, but has alsoused padplay tactfullyagainst the world class off��spinner Nathan Lyon in thisseries.

The 30yearold has 328runs at 54.66 from the threeTests of the series so far. Andin 67 Tests overall, he has5233 runs at 49.73.

Earlier in the year, Pujara’s unbeaten 132 in Southampton was an innings ofcharacter in testing conditions.

He rallied with the tail,even pulled out some bigshots towards the end. Kohlisaid Pujara had becomemore “fl��exible” in his approach. That’s true again.

Indians ponder over XIMeanwhile, the Indians hadan off��day at Sydney on Tuesday. The teammanagementhas to make a big call aheadof a Test that could become apart of India’s cricketing folk

lore. The surface at the SCGhas traditionally assisted thespinners from day four andthe Indians could wellstrengthen their attack withthe inclusion of a secondspinner in R. Ashwin in theeleven.

Ashwin is making good recovery from an abdominalmuscle strain and has beenbowling a lot in the nets.

If fi��t, Ashwin could comein for Rohit Sharma, who hasfl��own back to India for personal reasons.

Ashwin, along with physioPatrick Farhat and strengthand conditioning coachShankar Basu, came to theSCG on Tuesday and bowled.This was not an offi��cial fi��tness test but Ashwin was thelone Indian cricketer at theground.

The fact that both spinners, Ashwin and RavindraJadeja, who bowled capablyin Melbourne, can bat willensure that the batting is notweakened.

Gunning for glory at theSCG, India will need all itsbowling resources.

the strike and waiting for thebowler to err in length.

When the ball was overpitched, he has driven thesphere fi��rmly off�� the frontfoot between cover, midoff��

Cheteshwar Pujara — the man for all reasons and seasons His composure and solidity have been huge factors in India retaining the BorderGavaskar Trophy; Kohli will seek another infl��uential performance from him at SCG

S. Dinakar

Sydney

Striding tall: India has gained immensely, thanks to the technical adjustments Pujara has made. * MICHAEL DODGE/GETTY IMAGES

OZ CHALLENGE

2019 began memorably forRamkumar Ramanathan, ashe turned in a rousing performance to defeat Spain’sMarcel Granollers 46, 64,64 to enter the secondround of the Tata Open Maharashtra at the Balewadi Stadium here on Tuesday.

It was perhaps the righttonic the sparse but enthusiastic crowd needed afterSaketh Myneni pulled out ofthe day’s fi��rst match againstBenoit Paire with a foot injury. Ramkumar ensured fanswould go home happy.

The beginning of thematch was capricious, withthree breaks of serve in thefi��rst three games. It fi��nallysettled when Granollers heldfor 31. Ramkumar, who oflate has increasingly favoured a netrushing game,served as well as he could,

but couldn’t back it up withsome smart volleying tomake it a winning tactic. Granollers had the set 64.

Change of fortunesThe Indian took a break, perhaps to clear his thoughts,and came out for the secondset sporting a new Tshirt.With that changed his fortunes too. “I took the breakto slow things down,” he saidlater.

“I was broken very earlyand things were going toofast. So I sort of wanted toslow it down, regroup andtell myself to put in a lot offi��rst serves.”

The results were immediate. He won 15 of 18 fi��rstserve points and some ofthem with hitherto weakeraspects of his game, like thebackhand crosscourt.

Granollers, who is predominantly a baseliner, soughtto present Ramkumar withnewer problems to solve by

often charging towards thenet himself. But his opponent was up for it.

“I learnt that I shouldhave the right mix,” Ramkumar said.

“Even from the back ofthe court I was comfortable.I stayed with him and wentfor the shots whenever I hadthe chance and it worked.”

With Granollers serving at45, 1515, Ramkumar executed a great crosscourt passand went on to level at oneset apiece. In the decider,the Spaniard, serving at 12,tried to hurry Ramkumaragain, but failed. Down 1530, what was required was afi��rstrate shoelace volleyand an inchperfect approach shot, both of whichproved beyond him.

By then, Ramkumarseemed to have gotten underGranollers’ skin. The hold to52 was followed by a smallskirmish between the twowhich eventually required

the chair umpire’s intervention. It, however, did nothing to break the 24yearold’sconcentration as he rompedhome.

In doubles, the top seedsRohan Bopanna and DivijSharan were off�� to the bestpossible start, taking downRadu Albot and Malek Jaziri61, 62.

The results (fi��rst round): Singles: Ramkumar Ramanathan btMarcel Granollers (Esp) 4-6, 6-4,6-3; Simone Bolelli (Ita) bt DenisIstomin (Uzb) 6-4, 6-4; Ilya Ivash-ka (Blr) bt Hubert Hurkacz (Pol) 6-7(9), 6-2, 6-3; Ivo Karlovic (Cro)bt Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-4, 7-5;Jiri Vesely (Cze) bt Antoine Hoang(Fra) 4-6, 6-4, 6-4; Benoit Paire(Fra) bt Thiago Monteiro (Bra) 7-6(5), 6-3; Laslo Djere (Srb) bt ArjunKadhe 7-5, 7-6(6).

Doubles: Rohan Bopanna & DivijSharan bt Radu Albot (Mda) & Ma-lek Jaziri (Tun) 6-1, 6-2; LeanderPaes & Miguel Angel Rayes-Varela(Mex) bt David Marrerro (Esp) &Hans Podlipnik-Castillo (Chi) 6-3,6-4.

Rohan Bopanna & Divij Sharan get past Radu Albot & Malek Jaziri

Great start: Ramkumar Ramanathan rallied to take out Spain’s Marcel Granollers. * R. RAGU

Ramkumar fi��ghts to down Granollers

N. Sudarshan

PUNE

TATA OPEN

The InternationalCricket Council (ICC)has rated the MCGpitch used for the thirdIndiaAustralia Testmatch as “average”, avery similar rating tothe Perth track.

MCG pitch‘average’


Melbourne



#70929

CMYK

A ND-NDE




SPORT

SUDOKU

Solution to puzzle 12512 Solution to yesterday’s Sudoku

DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

Those who are immersed in bhakti will see God in everything around them, said Sarala Rajagopalan, in a discourse.Perumakkodai was born in the Chera royal family But, hewas not interested in the luxurious life of a king. He went tothe temple in Thiruvanjikkalam, and served the deity there.He would bathe early in the morning, apply sacred ash onhis forehead and then begin his service in the temple. If Perumakkodai chanced to see someone with sacred ash on hisforehead, he would see that person as Lord Siva Himself.

Chengoporaiyan was the king of Kodunkolur. He wantedto become a sanyasin. So, the ministers asked Perumakkodai to assume kingship. Perumakkodai was reluctant, because he was afraid that if he ascended the throne, he wouldbe unable to serve the Lord. But Lord Siva asked him to accept the position, and to serve his people. The Lord gavehim weapons, chariots and other things a king would need.Lord Siva also conferred on him the ability to know thethoughts of others. Because Perumakkkodai ruled the Cherakingdom, he came to be called Cheraman Perumal Nayanar.Because he was able to understand the needs of all livingthings, he was able to relieve them of suff��ering. One day,Cheraman Perumal Nayanar prayed at Thiruvanjikkalam,and then went around the streets of the town on his royalelephant. He saw a washerman, his body covered with lime,walking on the streets. To the king, whose mind was fi��lledwith thoughts of Lord Siva, it seemed as if the washerman’sbody was covered with sacred ash. Taking him to be a devotee of Lord Siva, the king alighted from the elephant. He offered his respects to the washerman. The latter said, “I am awasherman.” And the king replied, “And I am your servant.”Such was Cheraman Perumal Nayanar’s bhakti.

FAITH

Chera king’s devotion 3 Reporters tackling undeniable

adversities (9)

4 Being dismissed for what one

might be doing on

Thanksgiving Day? (7,3,4)

6 Release gangster and loafer

(5)

7 One besieged by frightfully

earnest pupils (8)

8 Scooter working after injection

of a little engine oil (8)

9 Calling a halt to emptying the

bath? (7,3,4)

15 Lush to imbibe endless feni

heartily in party (9)

16 Rushes from scoundrel

involved in affairs (8)

17 Harassed husband roared

angrily to stifl��e wife (8)

19 Restrains drunk son crossing

motorway (6)

20 Ridicules nationalist

interrupting wise men (6)

22 Girl going in to beat up a little

troublesome drunk (5)

12 Flings are ultimately

disgraceful for married

characters (5)

13 Lights up harmful explosive in

America (9)

14 Walk slowly and wearily to

stall (4,4,4)

18 Painkillers cured nastiest ache

(12)

21 One in recreation room playing

darts mostly! Boring guy (4,5)

23 Endless innuendo destroyed

marriage (5)

24 Grand old lady activist holds

sway (7)

25 Swimmer going west to check

reverse type of current (3,4)

26 Serious debates about Britain

exiting (6)

27 Braggarts caught in indecent

sites (8)

■ DOWN

1 Food and drink on ferry (6)

2 Very upset about sour smells

(6)

(set by Dr. X)

■ ACROSS

1 Southern head to call for strike

(8)

5 Jerk about to operate device

(6)

10 Trump’s latest drivel set off

demonstration (7)

11 Crow tackled by fl��ightless bird

around shade provided by

trees (7)

THE HINDU CROSSWORD 12513

vs Andhra 502 for seven decl. in154 overs (C.R. Gnaneshwar 65,Ricky Bhui 129, K.S. Bharat 178n.o.).At Kolkata: Delhi 240 & 301 in96.4 overs (Himmat Singh 51,Jonty Sidhu 42, Subodh Bhati62, Ashoke Dinda fi��ve for 88) vsBengal 220 & 18 for no loss in

three overs. At Indore: Madhya Pradesh 265 & 193 in 58.5overs (Rajat Patidar 54,Gurvinder Singh six for63) bt Himachal Pradesh 127 & 191 in 44.4overs (Pankaj Jaiswal44).Points: MP 6 (24), HP

0 (22).At Mohali: Kerala 121 & 223 in73.1 overs (Mohammed Azharuddeen 112, Mayank Markandefour for 56) lost to Punjab 217 &131 for no loss in 27.4 overs (Jiwanjot Singh 48 n.o., ShubmanGill 69 n.o.). Points: Punjab 7 (20), Kerala 0(20).

Group CAt Guwahati: Assam 128 & 245lost to Jammu & Kashmir 144 &231 for six in 69.3 overs (Shubham Khajuria 67, Parvez Rasool67). Points: J&K 6 (19), Assam 0(20).At Porvorim: Goa 244 & 199 forfi��ve in 49.3 overs (Sagun Kamat

96, Amit Verma 84 batting) vsRajasthan 513 for eight decl. in138 overs (Chetan Bist 63, Mahipal Lomror 89, Robin Bist 169n.o., Ashok Menaria 76, TajinderSingh 40).At Ranchi: Tripura 253 for nine &146 for two in 52 overs (BishalGhosh 61, Udiyan Bose 73 batting) vs Jharkhand 409 in 111.4overs (Kumar Deobrat 150, Md.Nazim 134, Neelambuj Vats fi��vefor 50).At Delhi: Odisha 177 & 65 forone in 28 overs vs Services 417for eight decl. in 141 overs (N.K.Singh 64, Ravi Chauhan 48, Rajat Paliwal 62, Vikas Hathwala115 n.o.).

PlateAt Jorhat: Bihar 440 for ninedecl. bt Mizoram 77 & 147 in62.2 overs (Taruwar Kohli 76,Samar Quadri four for 50, Ashutosh Aman fi��ve for 28). Points: Bihar 7 (34), Mizoram 0(1). At Dimapur: Arunachal Pradesh135 & 122 in 53.5 overs (AbrarKazi six for 22) lost to Nagaland377 for nine decl. Points: Nagaland 7 (15), Aruna-chal Pradesh 0 (3).At Bhubaneswar: Sikkim 219 &72 for two in 33 overs vs Meghalaya 826 for seven decl. in 171.4overs (R.R. Biswa 175, PunitBisht 343, Yogesh Nagar 148,Gurinder Singh 101 n.o.).

EliteGroup A

At Bengaluru: Karnataka 418 &113 for four in 34 overs (ManishPandey 57 batting) vs Chhattisgarh 283 in 89 overs (Amandeep Khare 45, Harpreet SinghBhatia 120, Ajay Mandal 41, Abhimanyu Mithun four for 64, Ronit More fi��ve for 48).At Pune: Maharashtra230 & 137 for six in 47overs (Naushad Shaikh40) vs Gujarat 545 foreight decl. in 130 overs(Kathan Patel 107,Chintan Gaja 53, Priyank Panchal 141, Manpreet Juneja 87, PiyushChawla 50 n.o.).At Delhi: Baroda 313 & 157 in 55overs (Krunal Pandya 104, AmitMishra seven for 50) bt Railways200 & 106 in 39.4 overs (Bhargav Bhatt fi��ve for 43).Points: Baroda 6 (20), Railways0 (7).At Nagpur: Vidarbha 511 btMumbai 252 in 78.5 overs (JayBista 64, Shubham Ranjane 52,Dhrumil Matkar 62 n.o., AkshayWakhare fi��ve for 85) & 114 in34.4 overs (Aditya Sarwate sixfor 48). Points: Vidarbha 7 (28), Mum-bai 0 (11).

Group BAt Vizianagaram: Hyderabad271 & 33 for no loss in 10 overs

RANJI TROPHY SCORES, DAY THREE

Delhi found an unlikely heroin No. 9 batsman SubodhBhati, whose maiden halfcentury, a breezy 53ball 62,facilitated his team to setBengal a stiff�� target in theRanji Trophy Group B matchat the Eden Gardens here onTuesday.

Resuming on 41 for two,Delhi benefi��ted from Bhatiand Himmat Singh’s usefulknocks to post 301 in its second innings and set the hosta target of 322 for a victory.

Bengal was 18 for no loss atclose on the penultimate day.

When Delhi lost its ninthwicket at 221, thanks toanother bighearted fi��vewicket haul by Bengal trumpcard Ashoke Dinda, thematch looked evenlypoisedin the fi��nal session.

However, Bhati (62 off�� 53,5x4, 6x6) and Kulwant Khejroliya (21 off�� 18, 3x4, 1x6)swung their arms fearlesslyto whip the Bengal bowlers atwill and switch the momentum in Delhi's favour in 10overs.

Earlier, overnight batsmenKunal Chandela and NitishRana added 24 runs beforebeing separated.

Himmat Singh (51 off�� 92,7x4) and Jonty Sidhu (42 off��90, 5x4, 1x6) batted sensiblyto gather 85 runs for the fi��fthwicket. Himmat cut anddrove, while Sidhu playedwith a straight bat to gathermost of their runs.

Poor shotHimmat fell to a poor shotoutside the off��stump. Sidhustepped out and wasstumped before tea.

Mukesh had Shivank Vashisth caught in the slips withthe new ball to end the latter’s 32run stand with Shivam Sharma (27).

Dinda, who hit the rightline and length to pick up thewickets of Hiten Dalal andAnuj Rawat overnight andRana in the morning, shouldered the maximum workload. He had Shivam lbwand Akash Sudan caught behind to complete his 26thfi��vefor and return match fi��gures of nine for 150.

Bhati, known for his batting exploits in club cricketand his 57ball 200 in Goanleague, upset the host’s plansby plundering runs at will off��bouncers. Bhati not only entertained the holiday crowd

by hammering six sixes between longon and longoff��but also protected Khejroliyato stretch Delhi’s lead beforebeing run out.The scores:

Delhi — 1st innings: 240.

Bengal — 1st innings: 220.

Delhi — 2nd innings: KunalChandela c Tiwary b Pramanik25, Hiten Dalal lbw b Dinda 11,Anuj Rawat c Tiwary b Dinda 10,Nitish Rana lbw b Dinda 17, Himmat Singh c Pan b Mukesh 51,Jonty Sidhu st Pan b Pramanik42, Shivam Sharma lbw b Dinda27, Shivank Vashisth c Majumder b Mukesh 9, Subodh Bhatirun out 62, Akash Sudan c Pan b

Dinda 8, Kulwant Khejroliya(not out) 21; Extras (b1, lb12,nb2, w3): 18; Total (in 96.4overs): 301.

Fall of wickets: 119, 231, 365,472, 5157, 6169, 7201, 8201, 9221.

Bengal bowling: Dinda 307885, Mukesh 23.48712, Pramanik 185452, Gani 111380, Tiwary 1070, Writtick123310, Majumder 1080.

Bengal — 2nd innings: AbhishekRaman (batting) 8, AbhimanyuEaswaran (batting) 6; Extras(b4): 4; Total (for no loss inthree overs): 18.

Delhi bowling: Khejroliya 20110, Bhati 1030.

Adventurous Bhati bolsters DelhiBengal, set a target of 322 for victory, fi��nishes the day on 18 for no loss

Y.B. Sarangi

KOLKATA

Bold is gold: No. 9 Subodh Bhati played fearless cricket to help himself to a halfcentury. * PTI

At the 2018 Australian Open,when the then 21yearoldHyeon Chung reached thelast four, he became theyoungest Grand Slam semifi��nalist since Marin Cilic in2010, also at Melbourne.

That Chung had beatenboth Alexander Zverev andNovak Djokovic en routemade the world sit up andtake notice.

Quietly confi��dentThe South Korean couldn’tbuild on the result, especiallyin the second half of the season, ravaged as he was by astring of injuries. But as hesteps into 2019 at the TataOpen Maharashtra, he wasquietly confi��dent.

“I had a really good start inMelbourne and I have so ma

ny good memories,” he saidon Tuesday.

“But it has been up anddown after that. There wereblisters on my feet. I have gotspecial insoles made for myshoes now and it has worked.I had a good preseason andhoping to play better thanlast year.”

Chung, along with USOpen women’s singles champion Naomi Osaka, is part ofa rising generation of Asianplayers who have followed inthe footsteps of Li Na and KeiNishikori. His rise can onlyadd to the popularity of thegame in the region Chungfelt.

“Tennis is not a big sportin South Korea. But after Ireached the semis it becamemore popular,” he said. “So Ithink it is coming up. Thereare lot of young Asian players

from Korea as well as China.They can be very good.”

Ripple eff��ectChung’s promise and futuresuccesses can have a rippleeff��ect on the men’s tour toowhich has been desperatelylooking for a breakthroughchampion.

The likes of Zverev, Russian Karen Kachanov andGreece’s Stefanos Tsitsipashave in the past year fuelledhopes of an imminentchange of guard. The 2017Next Generation ATP Finalswinner wanted to be part ofthat revolution.

“I hope I can be [part ofthe next generation]. They[Djokovic, Roger Federeretc.] are all great players. Iam just trying to learn morefrom them and keep fi��ghting.”Hyeon Chung...aiming high. * R. RAGU

‘I am hoping to play better than last year: Chung

N. Sudarshan

PUNE

The Korean wants to be part of the ‘next gen’ revolution

The Indian tennis playerswill have seven ITF juniortournaments at home, starting with the grade3 event inChandigarh from January 7.

The qualifying event willbe played on January 5 and6.

The other three tourna

ments are scheduled to beheld in Delhi from January14, Kolkata ( January 21), andIndore ( January 28). Theevents in Delhi and Kolkatawill be grade2, while theone in Indore will begrade5.

The juniors will havethree more events in Marchand April at Raipur, Dehra

dun and Madurai.However, there is only

one Challenger, scheduledto be played in Chennai fromFebruary 4, for the men inNational federation’s calendar.

The women, too, have asolitary event — a $25,000ITF tournament in Jodhpurfrom January 28.

Seven ITF events for juniorsSPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI

Abdul Razak, a former International attacker, feels thatKerala men’s team is on theright track to achieve a hattrick of titles and that histeam would warmup suffi��ciently. It takes on Karnatakain its fi��rst match in the 67thsenior National volleyballchampionships scheduled atthe Nehru Indoor Stadium

here from January 2 to 10. Host Tamil Nadu would

be eager to prove a point under the new coach MangalaJayapal. The ninetimechampion, if the coach is tobe believed, has a good mixof senior and junior players.

On the women’s side, itwill be diffi��cult to lookbeyond Indian Railways,which will be going for its11th straight title and 33rdoverall.Groupings: Men: A: Kerala, TN,Punjab, Karnataka; B: Railways,

Services, Haryana, AP; C: Gujarat, Jharkhand, J&K, Chhattisgarh, Telangana; D: Uttarakhand, Assam, West Bengal,Chandigarh & Odisha; E: Rajasthan, Bihar, Manipur, Goa &Delhi; F: HP, MP, Maharashtra,Puducherry, UP, Tripura.

Women: A: Railways, TN, WestBengal, Haryana; B: Kerala,Maharashtra, Karnataka, Telangana; C: AP, Rajasthan, Jharkhand, J&K; D: UP, Bihar, MP &HP; E: Gujarat, Punjab, Manipur, Uttarakhand; F: Delhi,Chandigarh, Puducherry,Chhattisgarh, Odisha.

Kerala well set for a hattrickNATL. VOLLEYBALL

K. Keerthivasan

Chennai

South Africa and Pakistanmust resolve selection headaches ahead of the second Test starting at Newlands on Thursday.

South Africa’s sixwicketwin in the fi��rst Test at Centurion was set up by thebowling of Duanne Olivier,who had match fi��gures of 11for 96.

Olivier got his chancebecause of an injury to Vernon Philander, who is fi��tagain and will “defi��nitelycome back” to play at hishome ground, according tocaptain Faf du Plessis.

Philander has taken 49wickets in nine Tests atNewlands at an average of16.55.

Despite his performanceat Centurion, Olivier is unlikely to be picked ahead ofKagiso Rabada, who fi��nished 2018 as the world’stopranked Test bowler, orDale Steyn, South Africa’salltime leadingwickettaker.

Nor is South Africa likelyto risk going into a Test atNewlands without spinnerKeshav Maharaj. Whichmeans Olivier will onlyplay at the expense of aspecialist batsman, withTheunis de Bruyn the mostlikely to make way.

Pakistan will also be welcoming back a fi��rstchoicefast bowler in MohammadAbbas, with captain Sarfraz Ahmed saying afterCenturion that Abbas hadfully recovered from ashoulder injury.

Also fi��t after missing thefi��rst Test is batsman HarisSohail, who seems certainto return.

Selectionheadachesfor SA andPakistan

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

CAPE TOWN



#70929

CMYK




SPORT

PBL: Star Sports 1 (SD & HD),6.45 p.m.Ranji Trophy: Star Sports 2(SD & HD), 9 a.m.Tata Open Maharashtra: SSSelect 2 (SD & HD), 2.40 p.m.NBA: Sony Ten 1 ESPN (SD &HD), 9 a.m.Hopman Cup: Sony Ten 2(SD & HD), 7.10 a.m. & 2.40p.m.

TV PICKS

IN BRIEF

del Potro pulls out ofAustralian OpenMELBOURNE

Argentina’s Juan Martin del

Potro said that he was still

recovering from a knee injury

and would not be able to

play at the Australian Open,

the first Grand Slam event of

the 2019 tennis season. “I

hope you have a great 2019.

Recovery is going great and I

will tell you later where I will

be making my comeback.

Unfortunately, it won’t

happen in Australia, I’ll miss

you @AustralianOpen, but

I’m happy with my progress?”

the World No. 5 tweeted on

Monday. “Happy New Year!

Enjoy!” IANS

Body fi��rst, ranking later,says NadalBRISBANE

Rafael Nadal insisted on

Tuesday that he is not

chasing the top ranking as he

prepares to make a comeback

from ankle surgery, with

taking care of his body a key

priority. “My goal is just to be

happy doing what I am doing

and be competitive all the

weeks that I am playing,” he

said. “I want to feel myself

competitive every week that I

am on court. So I will not

(chase) the No.1 because it’s

not my main goal.” AFP

Legion of Honour forFrench WC champions PARIS

The players in France’s

football team which last year

won the World Cup, on

Tuesday were awarded the

the Legion of Honour in the

new year’s honours list. The

23 players each received

France’s top medal. The

French team that won the

1998 World Cup also received

the Legion of Honour. AFP

In order to clarify rumoursthat the RWITC has cancelled several Mumbai racedays and so on, the stewards of the club have saidin a press release that theRWITC Ltd has decided tocancel only one race dayi.e. Thursday ( January 3).

Moreover, in view of thepresent fi��nancial crisiswhich the Club is passingthrough, the committee ofthe Club, at its meetingheld on December 30, tookthe decision not to cancelany further race day and tocontinue racing throughout the season 201819, pay75% of the advertisedstakes for the races to beheld in January 2019 andmake no reduction in advertised stakemoney ofsweepstake and gradedraces.

The decisions would bereviewed at the end of January.

RWITC’sclarifi��cation

Racing Correspondent

MUMBAI

No direct qualificationfor Lanka, BangladeshDUBAI

Sri Lanka and Bangladesh

failed to get direct

qualification for T20 World

Cup’s Super 12s owing to

their low rankings. The ICC

on Tuesday stated that

Pakistan, India, England,

Australia, South Africa, New

Zealand, West Indies and

Afghanistan will start their

campaign directly in the

Super 12s. Sri Lanka and

Bangladesh will have to

contend with the other six

qualifiers in the group stage

of the tournament, which will

be held from October 18 to

November 15, 2020. PTI

Dominating performance byDelhi’s Riya Tokas in the54kg category marked thesecond day of the third women’s National boxingchampionships here onTuesday.

Riya landed a fl��urry ofpunches in the fi��rst roundagainst her opponent V. Vinodhini from Tamil Nadu.She continued her attackingapproach in the next tworounds to register a unanimous 50 victory.

Sohini from Chandigarhwas in sublime form getting

the better of Sai Sree Reddyfrom Telangana in the 69 kgcategory.

The closest bout of theday was fought betweenBabita Bisht of Uttarakhandand Suman Khoda of Rajasthan in the 69kg category. Other results (fi��rst round):

69kg: Sohini (Cdg) bt Sai SreeReddy (TS); Babita Bisht (Utk)bt Suman Khoda (Raj).

60kg: Karnataka Bhavya (Kar)Som Maya Subba (Skm).

Bantamweight: Riya Chouhan(Pun) Poulomi Sarkar (Ben).

64kg: Sandhya (HP) bt SonalRasal; Gagandeep Kaur (Pun)bt Simran Mendon (Mah) 50.

Riya calls the shotsPress Trust of India

Ballari

Saina Nehwal got the loudestcheers on her fi��rst appearance in Season 4 of the Premier Badminton Leaguewhile P.V. Sindhu earned themaximum points and hammered out a 1115, 159, 155win in women’s singles in themost entertaining contest ofthe night. The latter was theinspiration in a resoundingvictory for Hyderabad Hunters against North EasternWarriors.

Hunters’ men’s singlesspecialists Lee Hyun Il andMark Cajlouw produced powerhouse performances tosnuff�� out the Warriors’ resistance. Lee won a TrumpMatch against TanongsakSaensomboonsuk; so didMark against Tian Houwei,putting the tie beyond Warriors’ reach.

Sindhu and Saina are considered the trumpcards ofIndian badminton from different generations. Thoughnot engaged in a TrumpMatch, it did not matter tothe fans at the Balewadi stadium whose rousing welcome set the stage for an in

teresting battle betweenform and experience andcurrent World No. 3 againstNo. 9. Sharp on court andswitching seamlessly bet

ween defence and off��ence,Saina broke into a clenchedfi��st celebration after winningthe opening game.

Playing true to her reputa

tion, Sindhu regained thestranglehold in the secondgame, focusing on tiring outSaina. India’s No. 1 shuttlerbanked on halfsmashes and

clever use of angles to pile onthe pressure and clinch thesecond game. Though Sainahad regained momentum,she had to play catch up inthe face of ruthless smashesfrom across the net as Sindhu cruised home. Huntersled 31 at this stage.

Lee prevails

South Koreas’ Lee faced off��against Thai Tanongsak in amatch between two lefthanders, fi��nding their own angles to sent the bird glidingacross the net. Both attempted to deceive the other usingwristy, deceptive shots. Theformer accumulated pointswith a hint of authority, onlyto face a hard time againstthe latter’s retrieving skills.The tie went to the decider,serving up a thrill for thefans watching the Koreanturning on the aggressionwhen it mattered most.

The results: Hyderabad Hunters bt North Eastern Warriors(Kim Sa Rang & Eom Hye Wonlost to Kim Ha Na & Lao MinChun 815, 1415; Lee Hyun Il(T) bt Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk 1015, 1513, 159; P.V.Sindhu bt Saina Nehwal 1115,159, 155; Mark Cajlouw bt TianHouwei(T) 1511, 1514).

Sindhu outlasts Saina in marathonThe former bounces back from a fi��rstgame loss, spearheads Hunters to victory

PBL

Hanging tough: P.V. Sindhu had the fi��nal say against Saina Nehwal. * SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

Nandakumar Marar

PUNE

Roger Federer took the honours in the muchanticipated mixed doubles clash withfellow great Serena Williamsin what the latter describedas the “match of her career”at the Hopman Cup here onTuesday.

In the biggest mixed doubles drawcard in the 31yearhistory of the tournament,in what is expected to be itsfi��nal edition, Federerteamed with Belinda Bencicto win 42, 43(53) underthe Fast4 format over Serena and Francis Taifoe andthe Group B tie forSwitzerland.

With 43 Grand Slam singles titles (Serena 23, Federer 20) and more than $200million in prize money between them, the two 37yearolds had welcomed thechance to face each otheron the court in an offi��cialmatch for the fi��rst time.

As it turned out, the tie

was decided by the mixeddoubles, after both Federerand Serena won their earliersingles matches.

Serena, who seemed tobe troubled by her rightshoulder during the matchbut said it wasn’t a concern,was disappointed her doubles experience didn’t givethe Americans the edge.

However, even a rare defeat couldn’t take the glossoff�� the experience of facingFederer for the fi��rst, and almost certainly the only,time. “I was so excited andliterally it was the match ofmy career,” she said.

Federer said he wasthrilled to play against oneof the few players with moreGrand Slam titles.

If Switzerland beatsGreece on Thursday, it willbe through to the fi��nal.The results: Group B: Switzerland bt USA 21 [Roger Federerbt Frances Tiafoe 64, 61; Belinda Bencic lost to Serena Williams 64, 46, 36; Bencic &Federer bt Serena & Tiafoe 42,43(53)].

Federer winsSerena showdownAmerican calls it match of her career

Clash of the titans: Federer said he was thrilled to playagainst Serena, who has more Grand Slam titles than him.The American has 23 to the Swiss maestro’s 20. * AP

HOPMAN CUP

Agence France Presse

PERTH

Jamie Vardy scored the Premier League’s fi��rst goal of2019 to earn Leicester a 10win at Everton in a lowquality match to begin the newyear on Tuesday.

In the second match ofthe day, Arsenal put behindits hammering at the handsof Liverpool with a authoritavie 41 dismantling of relegation threatened Fulham.

Granit Xhaka, AlexandreLacazette, Aaron Ramseyand PierreEmerick Aubameyang scored for theGunners.

In a goal that summed upthe home side’s sloppy display, Everton winger TheoWalcott misdirected a header from a clearance andteammate Michael Keanethen miscontrolled the ballto allow Ricardo Pereira toplay in Vardy.

The former England striker slotted a low fi��nish pastgoalkeeper Jordan Pickfordand celebrated his 58thminute goal with a somersault.

This was Leicester’s thirdwin in four games over thefestive period — the othervictories over Chelsea andManchester City were mixedin with a surprise home lossto Cardiff�� — and the team isnow fi��rmly in the top half ofthe standings.

Everton, though, has onlyone victory in eight gamessince the start of Decemberand there were constantgroans coming from thecrowd at Goodison Parkthroughout a game featuringa slew of basic mistakes fromboth teams.

The results: Everton 0 lost toLeicester 1 (Vardy 58); Arsenal4 (Xhaka 25, Lacazette 55,Ramsey 79, Aubameyang 83)bt Fulham 1 (Kamara 69).

Vardy scores Leicester winner

Arsenal bounces back with thrashing of Fulham

PREMIER LEAGUE

Associated Press

Liverpool

Cartwheeling hero: Jamie Vardy scored 2019’s fi��rst PremierLeague goal in Leicester’s win over Everton. * REUTERS



#70929

CMYK

A ND-NDE




LIFE

Drink and drive: freemilk for New Year’s eveJAIPUR

Several social welfare

organisations came together

to offer free milk to the

residents of Jaipur on New

Year’s eve. A poster with the

message Daaru peekar nahin,

doodh peekar karo navvarsh

ka swagat (Welcome the New

Year by sipping milk, not

liquor) announced the

initiative at prominent

junctions. IANS

IN BRIEF

NASA spacecraft zips past Ultima ThuleTAMPA

NASA spacecraft New

Horizons on Tuesday flew

past the most distant world

ever studied by humankind,

Ultima Thule, a frozen relic of

the early solar system that

could reveal how planets

formed. Scientists are waiting

for the images collected by

the spacecraft. AFP

Spacey’s request to skipcourt appearance deniedBOSTON

Actor Kevin Spacey must

appear in a Massachusetts

court on accusations that he

groped a young man in 2016,

a judge ruled on Monday. The

actor had requested to be

excused from attending an

arraignment because his

presence would “amplify the

negative publicity already

generated in connection with

this case.” AP

Kader Khan’s career in Hindicinema seemed split intotwo — the screenwriter andthe actor; further when itcame to acting, there werethe villains he played asagainst the comedians; and,in terms of the star eras,there was the Amitabh Bachchan phase that led later intothe Govinda years. Throughall the years, encompassinghundreds of fi��lms, Khan remained at the top of hisgame, specially as a writer.

He died on Monday at theage of 81.

Khan would be best remembered as the infl��uentialwriter who defi��ned entertainment in the 70s and the80s and guided fi��lmmakingof the time in his own way.So Amitabh Bachchan mayhave been the face of Prakash Mehra’s Sharaabi(1984) but look closely andthe fi��lm is sustained on thestreetside lingo and dialoguethat Khan wrote.

Khan was prolifi��c in hisoutput which traversed many genres — family, social,political, action, comedy,romance.

Rough childhoodBorn and raised in the midstof poverty in Kamathipura, alot of his early struggles, thedeprivation and pain, alsomade its way into the scenarios of fi��lms like Laawaris(1981) and Muqaddar Ka Sikandar (1978).

The graveyard scene inthe latter draws from hisown childhood when heused to run away to the cemetery to sit between thegraves and enact scenesfrom what he saw and experienced during the day anddeclaim random lines.

It was there that he was

spotted by theatrepersonAshraf Khan and steered towards the stage.

An engineer by training,who became a professor ofcivil engineering, Khan oftenclaimed that his fi��rst lovehad always been theatre. “Iused to teach the theory ofstructure, hydraulics,strength of material, RCCsteel, but my subjects whichI used to like were theatre,Stanislavsky, Maxim Gorky,Chekhov, Dostoevsky —these are my other teachers.So my life was split into two,”he said in an interview toConnie Haham, author ofthe biography Enchantmentof the Mind: Manmohan Desai’s Films.

Producer Ramesh Behl ofRose Movies approachedKhan to write a fi��lm and soNarendra Bedi’s Jawani Diwani (1972) marked his debut as a writer.

He claimed to have written the fi��lm in four hours fl��atand the shooting for it started within three days of himhaving wrapped it up, a re

cord of sorts. He got ₹��1500for the fi��lm, a royal sum considering he hadn’t earnedmore than ₹��500 before that.A few years later, the dialogue for Khel Khel Mein(1975) earned him ₹��10,000,he recollected in the Hahaminterview.

Master of patoisKhan’s words were witty, satirical, dramatic. His signature style was all about theuse of colloquial idiom,street patois and everydaylanguage and speech. Allstitched perfectly to the character. It was what endearedhim to fi��lmmaker Manmohan Desai.

According to the Hahaminterview, Desai gifted him aPanasonic TV, a gold bracelet and ₹��25,000 on hearingthe narration of Roti (1974)and increased his writing feefrom ₹��25,000 to ₹��1lakh.

Like SalimJaved, Khanwas a starwriter of thetimes. He was also a rare oneto have balanced himselfbetween the two big Bolly

wood camps — that of Desaiand Prakash Mehra. The listof hits for both includesAmar Akbar Anthony (1977),Dharam Veer (1977) and Coolie (1983) on the one handand Muqaddar Ka Sikandar(1978), Laawaris (1981) andSharaabi (1984) on theother.

Transcending geography He wasn’t just divided between the two. There was also a third force that came towork later.

He was much sought afterby the southern productionhouses such as Padmalaya —and fi��lmmakers like K. Raghavendra Rao, K. Bapaiah, Dasari Narayan Rao, D. RamaNaidu — to do the script anddialogue for the Hindi remakes of their fi��lms. Theseincluded Himmatwala(1983), Justice Choudhury(1983), Mawaali (1983), Tohfa (1984), Haisiyat (1984),Naya Kadam (1984), andSinghasan (1986).

He didn’t just translate theoriginal fi��lms into Hindi buttransposed them into a newnorth Indian setting, culture, context and language.

Khan’s innings in actingkicked off�� with Rajesh Khanna’s romantic courtroomdrama on bigamy Daag(1973), where he played anattorney.

A lot of the strength of hisperformances emanatedfrom the timbre of his voice,the easily identifi��able baritone.

In fact one of his fi��lms Benaam (1974) is all about thevoice. He is the title character but not present in thefi��lm, only heard. In his lateryears he formed a formidable comic pair with Govinda— be it the many ‘No.1’ fi��lms,specially Hero No. 1 (1997) orDulhe Raja (1998).

Kader Khan — the actorwho wrote the best lines Prolifi��c across genres, he transformed experience into unforgettable dialogue

Namrata Joshi

Mumbai

Kader Khan in a photo dated March 17, 2012. * AFP

Daring dive: Some of Italy’s braver souls continued a sevendecadeold New Year’s tradition on Tuesday, leaping off�� a bridge inRome into the chilly waters of the river Tiber in Rome. * AP

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New Year splash

The second edition of theParallel Literature Festival(PLF), which started lastyear as an answer to the Jaipur Literature Festival, willbe organised here from January 27 to 29 to provide aforum to distinguished personalities from the fi��elds ofliterature, art, culture andcinema. Speakers have beeninvited from 20 States aswell as from Sri Lanka andNepal.

Creativity will be showcased on the lush greenlawns, art galleries, studiotheatre and open air theatreof Jaipur’s cultural centre,Ravindra Manch, where thethreeday event will be held.The six stages to be set up atthe venue will be named after the writers and books ofthe Progressive Writers’Movement.

The PLF2019 has beendedicated to Urdu writer Razia Sajjad Zaheer, who wasborn in Ajmer, as the country celebrates her birth centenary year. The festival’schief convenor Ish MadhuTalwar said here on Tuesday that Ravindra Manchwould be named and decorated as “Razia Gram” tocommemorate the author.

‘Against corporatisation’Mr. Talwar, general secretary of the Rajasthan Progressive Writers’ Association, said the growing “litfest merchandise culture”,which aimed at corporatisation of literature and arts,was anathema to initiativeslike the PLF.

He said the PLF was opposed to the nexus amongthe tourism, hotel and publication industries forholding big literary events.

Parallel Lit Fest to begin on Jan. 27It is dedicated to Urdu writer Razia


Jaipur

A California toy companyhas sued Louis Vuitton tostop the French luxurygoods maker from interfering with its sales of ‘PooeyPuitton’, a slimefi��lled,poopshaped toy purse forchildren.

In a complaint fi��led onFriday in Los Angeles federalcourt, MGA EntertainmentInc said no reasonable consumer would mistake PooeyPuitton, which retails for$59.99, for costlier LouisVuitton handbags.

MGA called Pooey Puittona protected parody “designed to mock, criticise,and make fun of that wealthand celebrity” associatedwith Louis Vuitton productsand rejected what it called

Louis Vuitton’s claim of trademark infringement to anMGA customer.

Only a ‘parody’“The use of the Pooey nameand Pooey product in association with a product line of‘magical unicorn poop’ is intended to criticise or com

ment upon the rich and famous, the Louis Vuittonname, the LV marks, and ontheir conspicuous consumption,” the complaint said.The toy purse contains slimepowder.

Jim Fingeroth, a spokesman for Louis Vuitton, onMonday said the unit ofLVMH Moet Hennessy LouisVuitton SE had no commenton the complaint.

Many luxury goods makers fi��le lawsuits or threatenlitigation to stop companiesfrom piggybacking off�� theirnames and customer goodwill. MGA is seeking a courtdeclaration that Pooey Puitton does not infringe LouisVuitton’s intellectual property rights, and is protectedparody and fair use.

Makers of ‘Pooey Puitton’ fi��le lawsuit against Louis VuittonToy purse makers say it does not infringe on trademark

Reuters

Pooey Puitton purse

The spectacular fi��reworksshow on Sydney’s harbourthat rang in 2019 and dazzled spectators around theworld was picture perfect,except for one element — itgot the year wrong.

More than 1.5 million people packed the harbourfront of Australia’s largest city to watch the extravaganza, and noticed a signagebeamed onto one of the Sydney Harbour Bridge’s pylonshad the words “Happy NewYear 2018!”

Photos of the typo wereshared on social media sites.

“According to Sydney, it’sstill 2018, so I’m going backto bed,” one Twitter userquipped. Another wrote:“Oh will this horrible yearnever end.”

Organisers the City ofSydney, who invested huge

resources and time intoplanning one of the world’sfi��rst New Year’s parties, sawthe funny side of themistake.

“We just laughed about it,you know these things happen as we said, it takes 15months to organise an eventof this size and scale,” the fi��reworks’ executive producer Anna McInerney said.

Sydney gets the yearwrong at celebrationPicture with typo goes viral on Twitter


Sydney

The display with a typo, asshared on social media.

* REUTERS

Bachchan, Jeetendra, Govinda — action, emotion, comedy. Kader Khan wrote theentire spectrum of ‘fi��lmi’emotions in an extremelydurable writing career ofabout 30 years. A look atsome of his fi��lms:

Amar Akbar Anthony:“Aise toh aadmi life meindoich time bhaagta hai,Olympic ka race ho ya policeka case ho!” drawled Anthonybhai in typical Mumbaitapori lingo. Manmohan Desai’s favourite dialoguewriter, Khan endeared himselfto the director by using everyday language, coming upwith punchlines and doingso at a speed that matchedthe maker’s scorching pace.

Muqaddar Ka Sikan-dar: “Zinda hai who log jomaut se takrate hain. Murdose badtar hai woh log jomaut se ghabrate hain…Taqdeer tere kadmon meinhogi aur tu muqaddar kabadshah hoga…” With theselines, Kader Khan made itbig with Prakash Mehra aswell, writing dialogues thatwould transport AmitabhBachchan from a superstarto a megastar.

Himmatwala: “Tumhariloot maar ko khatam karke,tumhari zabardasti ki hukumat ko ujaadne wala, himmatwala,” screamed the hero. A misunderstanding withBachchan saw Khan move tothe south for a slew of fi��lms(many starring Jeetendra).Some of his scripts were criticised for their crass humourbut Khan clearly knew theaudience’s pulse as all ofthem were wildly popularwith the masses.

Agneepath: “Yeh chhefoot ka body ludkane ke liyechaar inch ka goli kam padgaya, maloom?” Probablyhis best script, Khan revealed in an interview thathe had recorded all the lineson a tape and given it toBachchan to help him un

derstand the voice modulation and delivery. The linesbecame cult classics andBachchan’s performancewon a National Award.

Coolie No. 1: “Duniyamera ghar hai, bus standmera adda hai, jab mannkare aa jaana, Raju meranaam hai aur pyar se logmujhe bulaate hain Coolienumber one”. Khan handledthe BachchanGovinda transition with aplomb. By now,his original hero was a paleshadow of himself but hewas still writing whistleinducing dialogues for the Hero No. 1.

********Comedy, villainy, con

sciencekeeping. Probablydue to Khan’s superprolifi��coutput, his landmark rolestend to get lost and hedoesn’t get enough credit forthe wide range of roles — many of which he wrote thelines for!

Inquilaab: Kader Khan’sstellar career as a menacing,conniving villain is epitomised by this character — anunscrupulous political leader who manipulates Amitabh Bachchan’s character.His measured movementsand deliberate dialogue delivery were an asset for this‘mastermind’ kind of roles.

Baap Numbri Beta DusNumbri: Kader Khan

stopped being a villain quiteemotionally when he saw hissons getting ridiculed andeven beaten up for his negative roles. He started doingcomic roles in the mid1980sand soon formed a partnership with Shakti Kapoor(who often called KaderKhan his guru). This fi��lm isone of their more hilariousoutings, where the comicduo called the shots!

Hum: In a double role,Kader Khan played an ArmyGeneral and a nautanki actor. The former was a ‘kadak’ soldier and had quite afew sharp lines about patriotism while the latter was bitof a fl��ake with silly lines bythe dozen. In the fi��lm, thelatter was called on to replace the former and Khanuncorked mayhem!

Angaar: An underdiscussed but complex role,where he played JahangirKhan, a benevolent don ruling over Mumbai. His egowas intertwined with his benevolence, his benevolenceat odds with his love for hissons and the love for hissons overshadowed by hisego. It was neither a villainous nor a heroic characterand Khan brought interesting dimensions to it.

(The writer has authoredfi��ve books, four of which areon Hindi cinema)

A fl��ashback of some of Kader Khan’s best roles, dialogues

Diptakirti Chaudhuri

Tribute in colour: Students of Gurukul Art School paint KaderKhan portraits in Mumbai on Tuesday. * EMMANUAL YOGINI

A man of many parts

Technology companies liketo promote artifi��cial intelligence’s potential for solvingsome of the world’s toughestproblems, like reducing automobile deaths and helpingdoctors diagnose diseases. Acompany started by threeformer Google employees ispitching AI as the answer to amore common problem: being happier at work.

The startup, Humu, isbased in Google’s hometown, and it builds on someof the peopleanalytics programs pioneered by the Internet giant, which has studied things like the traits thatdefi��ne great managers andhow to foster betterteamwork.

Humu wants to bring similar datadriven insights to

other companies. It digsthrough employee surveysusing artifi��cial intelligence toidentify one or two behavioural changes that are likely to make the biggest impacton elevating a work force’shappiness.

Timely nudgesThen it uses emails and textmessages to “nudge” individual employees into smallactions that advance the larger goal. At a company whereworkers feel that the way decisions are made is opaque,Humu might nudge a manager before a meeting to askthe members of her team forinput and to be prepared tochange her mind.

At the heart of Humu’s efforts is the company’s“nudge engine” (yes, it’s trademarked). It is based on

economist Richard Thaler’sNobel Prizewinning research into how people oftenmake decisions because ofwhat is easier rather thanwhat is in their best interest,and how a welltimed nudgecan prompt them to make

better choices. “Often wewant to be better people,”said Laszlo Bock, Humu’schief executive and Google’sformer leader of what thecompany calls people operations, or human resources.“We want to be the person

we hope we can be. But weneed to be reminded. Anudge can have a powerfulimpact if correctly deployedon how people behave andon human performance.”

Sanjiv Razdan, the chiefoperating offi��cer at Sweetgreen, a salad chain and oneof Humu’s customers, saidthat if nudges did not have atrack record at Google, hewould probably consider theconcept a bunch of “hocuspocus happiness nonsense.”

But after receiving nudgesfor a few months himself inemails, Mr. Razdan said thebitesize reminders made iteasy to take action rightaway.

In one instance, he said,he was prompted to askmembers of his team fortheir opinions on decisionshe was facing. NY TIMES

Can algorithms show the path to happiness?Startup uses artifi��cial intelligence to identify behavioural changes to improve employee satisfaction

Always learning: Laszlo Bock, who led many of Google’shumanresources analytics eff��orts. * NY TIMES/ PETER DASILVA

Daisuke Wakabayashi

Mountain View



nearby modi rules out ordinance seeking a change on ram ... · 2.01.2019 · dian prisoners. india,...

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