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Page 1: ˘ˇˆ˙˘˝˛˚˚˜ - The Pioneer...2019/04/14  · Dipa Sarkhel, wife of Arindum (Bapi) Sarkhel, Congress candidate of Paradip constituency, has been aggressively campaigning in

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Page 2: ˘ˇˆ˙˘˝˛˚˚˜ - The Pioneer...2019/04/14  · Dipa Sarkhel, wife of Arindum (Bapi) Sarkhel, Congress candidate of Paradip constituency, has been aggressively campaigning in

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Addressing an election rallyin Dharakote of Ganjam

district on Saturday, BJDpresident and Chief MinisterNaveen Patnaik repeated hisscathing attack on the BJP andthe Congress alleging that boththe national parties are tryingto “destroy peace” in thisdistrict.

Patnaik said that Ganjam isthe land of KabisamratUpendra Bhanja and its peopleare peace loving. But the BJPand the Congress are trying tocreate disturbances in variousways in the district.

He said, “The BJP and theCongress have givencandidatures to persons withcriminal antecedents.Criminals who are currently onbail have been given tickets byboth the parties,”

“But I will not let themdestroy peace in the district.Aska was Bijubabu’s Lok Sabhaconstituency. I started mypolitical career from Aska only,”Patnaik said and exhorted thepeople to cast their votes for theBJD candidates in the electionsin the Aska Lok Sabha seat andthe seven Assembly segmentscoming under it.

Earlier in the day, the BJDsupremo attended a public

meeting in Kandhamal tocampaign for his partycandidates, including LokSabha nominee AchyutaSamanta.

Highlighting the variouswelfare schemes undertaken byhis Government, Patnaik saidthat the Mission Shakti is hisfavourite scheme and the partyhas also given priority towomen and girls in its 2019election manifesto.

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BJP State spokespersonBiswajit Mohanty joined

the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) onSaturday.

He was inducted into theparty in the presence of BJDsupremo Naveen Patnaik atthe latter’s residence NaveenNiwas.

Mohanty, who recently quitthe saffron party, was a BJPticket aspirant to contest theAssembly polls from theCuttack-Barabati seat. Theparty, however, fielded formerMinister Samir Dey from theconstituency.

Mohanty blamed UnionMinister Dharmendta Pradhanfor allegedly trying to misleadthe people in the State .

Besides, BJP leader andlast-time party candidate forthe Athagarh Assemblyconstituency Biswasundar

Mishra joined the BJD at theNaveen Niwas on Friday.

Talking to this newspaper,Mishra said the BJP in Odishahas turned out as a businessforum with some so-calledeminent leaders beingresponsible for sale of partytickets to persons ofquestionable identity to contestpolls thereby ignoring the cadreleaders.

Mishra is expected to getan important berth in the BJDorganisation. His supportersare excited over his joiningBJD.

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BJD president NaveenPatnaik on Saturday

appointed MLA Bijay Kumar(Badal) Mohanty as Stategeneral secretary of the partyand entrusted him with thecharge of observer ofBhubaneswar organisingdistrict.

Similarly, Patnaikappointed Pramod KishoreJena and Sarada Prasanna Jenaas BJD State general secretariesand Debi Prasad Bhutia,Harsha Vardhan Singh Deo,Shashi Kumar Sahoo andDurga Prasad Samantray asState secretaries. Durga Prasadwas entrusted with the chargeof co-observer for theBhubaneswar-North Assembly

constituency.Besides, Sudhir Kumar Das

and Sushil Ray were namedBJD co-observer for KantamalAssembly constituency andBaleswar district, respectively.

Other functionariesappointed by Patnaik includeBhubanananda Das and GirishChandra Das as vice-presidents and Manoj KumarRout, Ashis Ghosh and ArunCharterjee as secretaries ofBaleswar district unit of theBJD.

Patnaik appointed MihirRanjan Parida as BYJD Statevice-president Lohit KumarMohanty as working presidentof BYJD Kendrapada district.The suspension order onformer Deogarh MLA SanjibKumar Pradhan was lifted bythe BJD supremo, informedBJD State general secretaryBijay Nayak.

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For the Padampur Assemblyseat, a triangular fight

between BJD, BJP andCongress is expected in thecoming polls, scheduled forApril 18.

The Padampur Assemblyconstituency comprises threeblocks such as Padampur,Paikmal and Jharbandh. In2014 election, Pradeep Purohitof BJP had won from the seatby defeating BJD’s BijayaranjanSingh Bariha, while Congresscandidate Dr Prakash Tripathywas in the third position.

Bariha had won the seatcontinuously for three termsfrom 1990 to 2000 and he wasdefeated from Satya Sahu ofCongress in 2004. But again

Bariha had won in 2009election and become the SC/STDevelopment

Minister in the NaveenPatnaik-led BJD Government.Now his strength is the pro-poor welfare schemes and

development worksundertaken by the BJDGovernment across theconstituency.

So far as BJP is concerned,sitting MLA Purohit has beenworking tirelessly for thepeople in the whole of theconstituency and has created aniche for him. On the otherhand, Satyabhusan Sahu hasbeen nominated by theCongress for the election. Sahuis a three-time MLA from1980 to 1989 and 2004 to 2009.Now, he is Bargarh districtCongress president having his

pocket votes.

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Acouple of days after formerBJP leader Dilip Ray

expressed gratitude to PrimeMinister Narendra Modi forexpediting the works for asuper speciality hospital and asecond bridge over Brahmaniriver in Rourkela, UnionMinister Jual Oram onSaturday urged Ray to return tothe saffron party.

Ray’s proposals have beenaccepted by PM Modi andsoon work will begin on thesecond bridge on Brahmaniriver and a super specialityhospital, Oram said.

Oram further said, “Afterreceiving payment details of thefunds allocated for theconcerned projects, Raythanked the PM for expeditingthe work.”

“As everything is clear now,I urge Ray to return and workfor the BJP,” said Oram.

Earlier on Thursday, Rayquoted PMO sources and

informed that Central PublicWorks Department (CPWD)would execute the upgradationof IGH to a super specialityhospital and the Centre hasalready sanctioned Rs 105.75crore in the first phase for theproject while SAIL wouldexecute the Brahmani bridgeproject.

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The wives of prominentcandidates in Paradip and

Jagatsinghpur Assemblyconstituencies have launcheddetermined campaigning.

In some cases, even beforeparties have made formalannouncement for ticket, thesewomen have launched anaggressive campaigning.

With less than two weeksto go for the twin elections inJagatsinghpur district on April29, the contestants’ wives havebeen on a campaign trail acrossconstituencies from morningtill late in the evening, sourcessaid.

Dipa Sarkhel, wife ofArindum (Bapi) Sarkhel,Congress candidate of Paradipconstituency, has beenaggressively campaigning in

the constituency. On Thursday,Dipa visited Ghodamara villageunder Gopiakuda panchayataccompanied by womensupporters and met votersdoor-to-door, urging them tocast votes in favour of herhusband.

“I will tour each villagespreading in Paradip assemblyconstituency,” Dipa said.

Sushreeta Swain, wife ofBJP aspirant Sampad Swain, inParadip is doing her best to winover voters, particularly womenin the constituency. In the lasttwo days, Sushreeta has visitedthe voters’ houses taking PRImembers, Zilla ParishadMember, Sarpanch, Samitimembers from Kujanga blockto muster support for herhusband.

In Jagatsinghpur, sittingMLA and Congress candidateChiranjib Biswal’s wife TejalBiswal accompanied by sister-in-law Anita Biswal, wife of MPRanjib Biswal, is canvassing forvotes. Tejal said, “I meet voters,particularly women at theirdoor step, and convinced them

to elect my husband.”Chiranjib’s engineer son

Sabjyot has also joined thecampaign trail taking a leavefrom his overseas job. Thejunior Biswal too has beenaccompanying his mothertouring independently differentvillages garnering votes for hisfather.

The women are addressingsmall meetings in wards,discussing their husbands’ orparties’ achievements andfuture plans. They have formedgroups of women partyworkers, sources informed.

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The Static Flying Squad,formed for the elections to

keep a check on illegal moneyand liquor, on Saturday seizedcash of �16.70 lakh from a carparked on the Kakatpur road inPuri district.

The car was parked on theroadside when the sleuths ofthe flying squad conducted asearch in it and recovered thecash.

Police seized theunaccounted cash and detaineda person, identified as PranayKumar Sahu, in thisconnection. Sahu is a residentof Jangabori village of Gopbock in the district. Policelaunched a probe to ascertainthe source of the money.

Besides, the poll flyingsquad seized �2.9 lakh fromtwo vehicles at two separateplaces in Baripada ofMayurbhanj district onSaturday and detained twopersons.

According to sources, theflying squad was conductingvehicle checks at Bonda Chhakunder the Chandua policestation and Gunjasahi underthe Sadar PS and interceptedthe two vehicles and found theunaccounted cash.

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The BJP, if voted to power,would provide a job or

self-employment opportunityto a member of each family ofthe State, informed BJP YuvaMorcha president TankadharTripathy at a Press meet here onSaturday.

Alleging that the BJDGovernment has failed toestablish industries and giveemployments to youths,Tripathy said the BJPGovernment would create a �3,500-crore ‘Skill Odisha Fund’and provide skill training to 20lakh youths in five years.Besides, a revolving fund of�3,000 crore would be createdto provide loans to youths upto � 3 lakh at 1-per cent interestrate, he said.

He said the StateGovernment providedemployment only to 26,450youths against 22.57 lakh jobaspirants found enrolled withthe Employment Exchangesduring the last 10 years.

Tripathy further informedthat an almunium park atAngul, a textile park atBhadrak, an international levelwarehouse and aninternational-level shipmanufacturing unit at Paradipand a bio aviation fuelmanufacturing unit in a tribals-dominated area would beestablished.

The capacity of the Paradipoil refinery would be enhancedfrom 15 MT to 25 MT perannum.

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Amutilated body of awoman was found on rail

tracks on the Khurda-Balangirrailway line near Karadagadiain Khordha district onSaturday.

However, the identity ofthe deceased was yet to beascertained.

Mystery deepened aroundthe death of the woman as apoison bottle, a vanity bag andher sandals were found near therail tracks.

Sources said that somelocals first spotted the bodyearly in the morning and calledup police. The cops began aninvestigation into the incident.

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Atriangular fight is expectedamong candidates of BJD,

Congress and BJP in MahangaAssembly seat. In the fray thistime are Pratap Jena (BJD),Debendra KumarSahu(Congress) and SaradaPrasad Pradhan (BJP).

In 2014 election, BJD’s Jenahad defeated Independentcandidate Pradhan by a marginof 27,874 votes. Congresscandidate Sheikh Matlub Alicame third with just 22,297votes.

The Mahanga constituencycomprises 37 panchayats ofMahanga block and 27panchayats of Nischitakoiliblock. The constituency hasbeen under the control of theBJD since 2000. While BJDcandidate Sarat Kumar Karwon this seat in 2000, BikramKeshari Barma of the sameparty won here in 2004. Pratapwon in 2009 and 2014 fromMahanga by big margins.

According to local political

analysts, the BJD looks wellorganised under the leadershipof Jena. The Minister is movingevery nook and corner of theconstituency. The voters of theconstituency are happy with thedevelopment work of BJDGovernment which includesconstruction of roads,electrification, street lightsconnection and properimplementation of PublicDistribution System. The moodof the voters indicates that theBJD is far ahead in comparisonto Congress and BJP onpopularity scale.

Jena said, "People ofMahanga have been supportingBJD and its leader NaveenPatnaik since 2000. Our partywill win the coming polls withconvincing majority."

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Amidst the election seasonand festivals like Chaitra

Navratri and Ram Navami, theState capital celebrated its 71stFoundation Day with muchgaiety on Saturday.

The Government offices,iconic buildings and keyjunctions of the city weredecked up and specialfunctions were organised tomark the day.

Governor Ganeshi Lalwished the denizens of

Bhubaneswar on the specialoccasion. Speaking on the

significance of the day, hesaid, “The State capital has

been built on rich traditionsand heritage. The place is theconflux of tradition andprogress.”

He exhorted theBhubaneswar people to makethe city a clean, beautiful andprosperous place.

Chief Minister NaveenPatnaik also extended hisgreeting to the city denizens.

Taking to microbloggingsite Twitter, he wrote in Odialanguage mentioningBhubaneswar as the city ofculture and temples where theinfrastructure has beendeveloped by taking everyoneon path of prosperity andmaintaining its rich heritageand culture.

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The Akhil Bharat HinduMahasabha released its

election manifesto with a slewof promises here on Friday.

The manifesto focuses ond e v e l o p m e n t - o r i e n t e dgovernance, progress offarming and farmers andcreation of job opportunitiesfor SC and ST people andwomen, informed MahasabhaState convenor Geeta Chayani.

Chayani lambasted theBJP-led Union Governmentfor supporting industrialistsand capitalists and for increasein poverty and farmer suicidecases.

She said the HinduMahasabha would play adecisive role in the ongoingelections as many of BJP andCongress leaders have joinedher outfit.

The Mahasabha hasfielded Sital Kinnar fromCuttack-Barabati Assemblyconstituency, JayaprakashSethi from Puri Lok Sabhaseat, Lalamohan Hansdafrom Keonjhar LS seat ,former BJP district presidentPitambar Sethi from BhadrakLS seat and Deepak KumarDas from Jagatsinghpur LSseat to fight polls.

Other candidates fieldedby the Mahasabha includeBidyadhar Pandab fromRengali Assembly segment,R aghunath Nayak f romKaranjia, Dinabandhu Karfrom Champua, SantoshSingh from Morada, MihirKumar Bhoi from Korei,Ishwar Chandra Pradhanfrom Dharmashala, SadhanaDas from Baleswar, Santosh

Kumar Sethi from Remunaand Prasanna Kumar Dasfrom Dhamnagar Assemblyconstituency.

Among others ,Mahasabha State vice-president Bhaskar ChandraMohanty, organisat ionminister ChinmayaMohapatra and secretariesSumant Swain and SantoshKumar Lenka were present.

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Page 3: ˘ˇˆ˙˘˝˛˚˚˜ - The Pioneer...2019/04/14  · Dipa Sarkhel, wife of Arindum (Bapi) Sarkhel, Congress candidate of Paradip constituency, has been aggressively campaigning in

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Afresh controversy brokeout with a French news-

paper report that industrialistAnil Ambani’s firm was grant-ed tax waiver worth 143.7 mil-lion Euros months after Indiaannounced the decision to buyRafale fighter jets. The Centremoved swiftly and termed it asa conjectural mischievousattempt to disinform and saidany connection with the Rafaleissue was totally inaccurate.

Neither the period of taxconcession nor subject matterof concession related to Rafaleprocurement, concluded in thepresent Government’stenure, it said. RelianceCommunications too deniedfavoritism but theCongress seized onthe matter to allegethat the tax waiver was due to“Modi kripa” as the PM actedas “middleman for the busi-nessman”.

The report published in theleading French newspaper “LeMonde” comes at a time whena political slugfest is on over the�59,000-crore Government-to-Government deal for 36 Rafalejets.

The Congress has repeat-edly alleged wrongdoing inthe contract and charged the

Government with promotingAnil’s group in offsets associ-ated with the deal withDassault, manufacturer of the

aircraft. The

Governmenthas all along denied thecharges.

Moreover, the latest newsreport comes months after for-mer French President FrancoisHollande claimed in an inter-view last year that hisGovernment did not have a“choice” in selecting RelianceDefence as an offset partner. Itwas during his tenure that thedeal was announced on April10, 2015 when Modi visited

France.The Le Monde

report published onSaturday said Anil’s

French-registeredtelecom company

Reliance AtlanticFlag France was

given tax waivers worth �143.7mn by local authorities, short-ly after the announcement tobuy 36 Rafale jets.

The report said Anil’s tele-com company was investigatedby French tax authorities andfound liable to pay �60 millionbetween 2007 and 2010. In anattempt to reach a settlement,Reliance had offered to pay �7.6million which was rejected by

the authorities and upon fur-ther investigation for the peri-od 2010 to 2012 an additionaltax of �91 mn was levied.

The total tax liability as perthe French newspaper was 151million Euros and six monthsafter the announcement byIndia to buy Rafale jets, theFrench tax authorities made asettlement with the companyfor 7.3 million Euros instead of151 million Euros.

Reacting to the article,the Defence Ministry said in astatement, “We have seenreports drawing conjecturalconnection between taxexemption to a private com-pany and procurement ofRafale f ighter jets byGovernment of India. Neitherthe period of the tax conces-sion nor the subject matter ofthe concession relate evenremotely to the Rafale pro-curement concluded duringthe tenure of the presentGovernment. Any connec-tions drawn between the taxissue and the Rafale matter aretotally inaccurate, tendentiousand a mischievous attempt todisinform.”

Reliance Communicationsbrushed aside any wrongdoingand said the tax dispute wassettled under legal frameworkwhich is available for all com-

panies operating in France. A spokesperson of Reliance

Communications said here thetax demands were “complete-ly unsustainable and illegal”and that the company deniedany favouritism or gain fromthe settlement. “During theperiod under consideration bythe French Tax Authorities2008-2012 i.e. nearly 10 yearsago, Flag France had an oper-ating loss of �20 crore (Euro 2.7million). French tax authoritieshad raised a tax demand of over�1,100 crore for the same peri-od,” the official said.

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New Delhi: In the wake ofreports that it granted huge taxwaiver to Anil Ambani’s Frenchfirm, the Franch Governmenton Saturday said a global set-tlement was reached betweenthe French tax authorities andthe Reliance subsidiary andthat it was not subject to anypolitical interference.

Detailed report on P4

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Biju Janata Dal (BJD) presi-dent and Chief Minister

Naveen Patnaik on Saturdaylaunched a scathing attack onthe BJP and challenged the saf-fron party to declare its ChiefMinisterial candidate for theState.

“Who is the BJP’s ChiefMinister candidate and fromwhich constituency its CM can-didate is contesting?” askedPatnaik while addressing anelection rally at Daspalla in

Nayagarh district.Patnaik further stated: “Is

the saffron party afraid toannounce its CM candidate?”

Rejecting the BJP’s double-engine formula to push growthin the State, Patnaik said, “It(double-engine) wouldn’t workhere.”

“When elections approach,the Delhi engine appears inOdisha and it disappears soonafter completion of the polls,” hesaid, slamming the BJP-led NDAGovernment at the Centre.

Later, responding to

Patnaik’s posers, BJP Odishain-charge Arun Singh said, “TheBJP Parliamentary Board woulddecide on the CM candidate.Party national president AmitShah has said an Odia-speakingperson will be the ChiefMinister.”

CUTTACK: Union MinisterDharmendra Pradhan onSaturday announced a majordecision on behalf of his partysaying that if the BJP comes topower in the State, theGovernment would provide aRe-1 subsidised ration packageto improve the nutritionalrequirement of the beneficiariesunder the National FoodSecurity Act (NFSA).

Addressing an election rallyat Choudwar, he said all bene-ficiaries would receive five kg ofrice, 500 grams of dal and 500grams of salt as a ration packageat the cost of Re 1 only.

Pradhan announced thatthe BJP would also enhance the

remuneration of AnganwadiWorkers and the pensionamounts given under differentsocial security schemes. He tooannounced that outstandingwomen students of colleges anduniversities would be providedwith mopeds under a SailabalaTwo-Wheeler scheme.

“In order to address the roadtraffic problems of Choudwar,Cuttack and Bhubaneswar, theBJP Government will undertakea metro project to link thesethree historic cities,” Pradhanalso announced.

He campaigned for BJPCuttack MP candidate PrakashMishra and Choudwar-CuttackMLA candidate NayanMohanty. PNS

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Most parts of the State arereeling under intense

heat wave conditions andwitnessing an alarming rise intemperature. Nine placesrecorded temperatures above40 degree Cels ius onSaturday.

Talcher was the hottest at43.1 degree while the tem-perature recorded atTitilagarh was 43 degree,Angul 42.7 degree, Balangir42 degree, Sonepur 40.8degree, Bhawanipatna 42.5degree, Jharsuguda 40.9degree, Sambalpur 40.1degree and Sundargarh 40degree, said the RegionalOffice of IMD here.

Besides, the mercury wasrecorded at 38.6 degree inCuttack, 39.5 degree inBhubaneswar, 38 degree inKeonjhar, 39 degree inMalkangiri and 39.9 degree inHirakud.

The IMD further said thetemperature would go upfurther by 2 to 3 degrees inthe remaining parts of theState in next three days up toApril 17.

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Page 4: ˘ˇˆ˙˘˝˛˚˚˜ - The Pioneer...2019/04/14  · Dipa Sarkhel, wife of Arindum (Bapi) Sarkhel, Congress candidate of Paradip constituency, has been aggressively campaigning in

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The Nilgiri Assembly con-stituency of Baleswar dis-

trict is likely to witness a tri-angular fight among three can-didates belonging to BJP,BJDand Congress.

Sukanta Nayak of BJP,Santosh Khatua of BJD andManoja Manjari Devi ofCongress are in the fray. Theinteresting part is neither of thetrio was in the party they arerepresenting this time in 2014.

Nayak, who is seekingmandate this time on BJP tick-et, was elected in 2014 on BJDticket. He joined the saffronparty ahead of nomination fil-ing apprehending that he may

be denied ticket by the BJD.Biswal from BJP had

unsuccessfully contested elec-tions last time against Nayakand after the latter joined theBJP, Bishwal joined the BJD.

Khatua , another promi-nent political face of Nilgiri ,who has a brigade of support-ers known as Santosh Sena, wasin the BJP. But he joined theBJD and is contesting the elec-tion on BJD ticket.

Manoj Manjari Devi,Maharani of Mardaraj royalfamily of Nilgiri, is a new facefielded by Congress.

All the three candidates arefacing oppositions from dissi-dents in own parties. A bigchunk of party cadres withinBJP while are opposing Nayak,similarly, a group of BJD is alsoreluctant to accept Khatua as itscandidate.

Manjari Devi, the Congresscandidate, is facing opposi-tion from her own party cadreslike Sarat Raj. Raj is districtpresident of Congress and wasone of key aspirants for Nilgiriseat.

Dissidence surfaced afterhe was denied ticket.

It may be further notedthat in last election, Nayak, whofought on BJD ticket, hadtrounced his nearest rivalBiswal of BJP by nearly 14,000votes. Neither Nayak norBiswal is now in their partieswhere they were in 2014. In2004 and 2009, the seat wasrepresented by Pratap Sarangi.In 2004 while Sarangi had wonon BJP ticket, in 2009 he foughtas an Independent candidateand won by a margin over3,000 votes over CPI(M) can-didate Pradipta Panda.

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The voters turnout was dis-mal in the first phase of

polling held on April 11for theBrahmapur Lok Sabha con-stituency and five Assemblysegments under it.

The poor turnout of thevoters is attributed to severalfactors. Drinking water scarci-ty, sanitation, High Courtbench, airport, liquor ban, doc-tors’ shortage, spurt in crimewere issues for the voters, forwhich they were reluctant tocast votes, feel the observershere.

According to informationavailable, 4,05,862 abstainedfrom polling and did not casttheir votes which constitute37.85 per cent of the total vot-ers. This is a clear indication ofpeople’s discontent towards

their representatives.The five Assembly con-

stituencies reportedly have atotal of 10,72,242 voters out ofwhich only 6,66,380 votersexercised their franchise onApril 11 polls.

Similarly, out of 2,25,042voters in Chhatrapur, only1,48,140 voters cast their votes,followed by 1,34,204 out of2,13,310 cast their votes inGopalpur, 1,18,845 out of2,10,937 cast their votes in

Brahmapur, 1,23,172 out of2,08,736 voters exercised fran-chise in Chikiti, 1,42,019 out of2,14,217 voters cast their votesin Digapahandi.

The polling for the AskaLok Sabha seat and sevenAssembly seats under it will beheld on April 18.

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The Begunia BhumiputraSwabhiman Manch would

organise a seven-day Padayatrain the Begunia-Bolgarh con-stituency from April 14 to urgevoters to vote for Congress can-didate Pradeep Kumar Sahu ashe is the only candidate field-ed from the locality, informedManch president BhikariCharan Sahu at a press meetheld at Bolgarh on Friday.

“We had earlier urged allpolitical parties to field candi-dates belonging to Begunia-Bolgarh area to uphold the self-respect of the constituency.Excepting the Congress, theBJD and the BJP have fieldedcandidates from outside the

constituency,” lamented Sahu.Sahu informed that a meet-

ing held earlier in the presenceof about 1,000 Manch workershas resolved that the Manchwould hold a Padayatra fromApril 14 for a week to createawareness among voters not toaccept outsiders and to vote forCongress candidate Sahu tosave the respect of the region.As many as 2,000 workers willbe involved in the Padyatra indifferent groups, he added.

Senior member ArjunGadabada, educationist

Godavarish Paikray, SachiPatnaik, Akhaya KumarRoutray and NarayanBaliarsingh were present,among others.

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Dreaded criminal SheikhNadeem was nabbed after

an encounter with police nearArjunpur under the Patkurapolice station of the district inthe wee hours of Saturday.

Nadeem sustained bulletinjuries in his left leg and wasshifted to the SCB MedicalCollege Hospital in Cuttackfrom the District HeadquartersHospital (DHH) here. Policealso seized a country-madegun and sharp weapons fromhim.

Sources said Nadeem hadgone to deliver arms to hisaides in Krishnandapur ofJagatsinghpur district when aspecial squad of the Patkura

police intercepted him nearArjunpur.

In an attempt to flee fromthe spot, Nadeem opened fireat the police officials. Thesquad fired back in retaliationin which Nadeen was hit on hisleft leg.

According to sources,Nadeen is wanted in morethan 14 cases in different policestations of Kendrapada,Cuttack, Jagatsinghpur andnearby districts.

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The investiture ceremony ofthe Sainik School

Bhubaneswar was held onSaturday in which 18 cadetstook oath shouldering differentresponsibilities for the newacademic session.

Chief guest Coast GuardAir Enclave BhubaneswarCommanding Officer DIGAtul Agarwal awarded ranks tothe school appointments inpresence of school PrincipalGroup Captain S DominicRayan and Vice-PrincipalWing Commander AmitabhRanjan and AdministrativeOfficer Commander NSanthosh Kumar.

Agarwal exhorted to thecadets to dream high and fol-low the path of truthfulness,

honesty, punctuality, dedica-tion, obedience, sincerity thatare missing among the newgeneration day by day. He alsoasked them to inculcate com-radeship, fellow feelingnessand extend honour to teachersand parents.

He appreciated the schoolfraternity as the institution hasbeen serving our nation since1962 as a nursery of officers forarmed forces. Senior MasterSujay Kumar Pradhan pro-posed a vote of thanks.

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Thousands ofManasikadharis (devotees)

witnessed the sacred GhataYatra (soul journey) of MaaBudhi Thakurani held here onthe festival’s 14th day on Friday.

The Maa Ghata moved ina procession from the tempo-rary Mandap at Deshi BeheraSahi to the Rajbati (palace) first.After a puja conducted byMahuri Raja Ashok KumarNarendra Dev, the Maa Ghatagain set out in the processionand moved through Big Bazaar,Chandrama Street, Balinki PetaStreet, Adua Street,Kathamentu Road andKedareshwar road to return tothe temporary Mandap.

Large numbers of womenthrong the temporary shelterand move in a queue to offerturmeric, Alata and flowers atthe Goddess’ feet everyevening.

Preparations have alreadybeen made for the famousLanda Besha procession and

108 Hanuman Besha proces-sion to be taken out fromBijipur and Gandhinagar,respectively, to the Goddess.

As per the schedule, themonth-long Thakuran Yatrawill conclude on April 29nights with return of theGoddess’ idol from the tem-porary shelter to the maintemple.

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It is good news for aspirantsseeking jobs under the

‘scrapped’ Rehabilitation Schemeas the State Government has losta case challenging a SAT orderfor giving jobs to the next kin ofthe deceased Government ser-vants.

According to a case,Baikuntha Jena of Puri had diednine years ago while working asa driver under the AgricultureDepartment. His son Rajendrahad applied to the Governmentto avail a Government job underthe ‘Rehabilitation Scheme.

After an inquiry, the Puridistrict Collector also sent a rec-ommendation to the competentauthority in Rajendra’s favour.Subsequently, family membersalso submitted an affidavit toavail the job for Rajendra.

Later in 2013, theGovernment Medical Boardconducted health checkup ofwidow of Baikuntah to knowwhether she was fit go get aGovernment job. However, theboard found her unfit. Later theauthority cancelled Rajendra’sapplication.

Following this, Rajendrafiled a case at the StateAdministrative Tribunalthrough councells PrahalladKumar Singh and AmiyaKumar Chhatoi seeking a jobunder the scheme. Listening tothe petitioner and theGovernment, the SAT direct-ed the latter to provide a job toRajendra within three months.

Challenging this SATorder, the AgricultureDepartment filed a writ peti-tion in the High Court. Abench comprising Chief JusticeKS Jhaveri and Justice KRMohapatra squashed d thewrit petition of theGovernment and upheld theSAT order.

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Polling parties for theC h o u d w a r - C u t t a c k

Assembly constituency andCuttack Parliamentary con-stituency who took the thirdand last round training weredeprived of voting throughballot paper as the materialcould not be supplied to themat the venue.

Since the DEO has fixedApril 22 for dispersal of thepolling parties to their respec-tive booths for third phaseelection on April 23, thesepersonnel alleged that therecould be less time for prepara-tion at the booths.

They demanded that theDEO, Cuttack arrange forpostal ballot these personneland give more time for thepolling parties to make prepa-rations.

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Campaigning has taken afeverish pitch at

Jharsuguda and Brajrajnagar

as cine stars have joined theshow for the BJD nominees.

Cine star Sunil Shetty andactress Mahima Chaudharyconducted road shows inJharsuguda, Brajrajnagar,Laikera and Bandhbahal.Separate meetings with hugegatherings for JharsugudaBJD MLA candidate NabaKisore Das and BrajrajnagarMLA candidate KishoreMohanty were also held

where the film stars addeddazzle.

On Friday, a road showwas held from H Katapani toJhanda Chowk via

BTM, Bombay Chowk,Beheramal, Bus stand andMangal Bazar Chowk wherelarge crowds turned up to wit-ness the cine stars.

Separate meetings werealso held for Naba andKishore.

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With days to go before theelections in Jharsuguda

constituency, Congress candi-date Mahendra Naik is facingsevere protest from the JaypurState Tribal HarijanCoordination Federation, a atribal association.

The group is openly oppos-ing the candidature of Naikwhile levelling serious allega-tions of money grabbing andforgery.

A mega meeting wasorganised on Wednesday atLaikera by association to chal-lenge Naik for using tribalcommunity to achieve person-al interests. Leaders from dif-ferent associations further wenton to add that Naik has declaredhimself to be the State presidentof Gondwana Gond Federation

without recognition of otherbranches of the group.

They added that he has alsoengaged in various corruptpractices.

Tribal and SC leaders saidthat Naik has not disclosed theaccounts of the subscriptioncollected for Bolangir branch ofthe association he claims to bepresiding over. Further, theleaders also accused Naik ofcreating another organisation inthe name and style of "WesternOdisha Advanced

Organisation" and levelled thecharge that he misutilised thefund by purchase of land andselling them in small plots inthe name of Western OdishaAdvance Union, alleged theassociation.

They claimed that manySC/ST individuals invested inthese plots failed to get bothownership of plots or a refundof their investment in them.Some have even demanded aCrime Branch enquiry againsthim for having misutilised pub-

lic money.In addition to the

announcement, the protestingorganisations also claimed thatthey have appraised the matterto the Chief Minister of Odishafor his intervention.

Meanwhile, Naik rubbishedthe allegations, saying it is aconspiracy by his opponents todefame him in his own com-munity. He added that his partyis fighting for providing ITDAblock status to Laikera andKirmira blocks.

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Gajapati Chief DistrictMedical Officer Gunurani

Patnaik has reportedly trans-ferred District HeadquartersHospital GynaecologyDepartment’s Dr UmashankarDalal as part of a disciplinaryaction taken in response to alle-gations that he was demandingand taking bribe from patients.

A group of about 20 localpeople lodged a complaintbefore the CDMO that DrDalal was taking money forproviding treatment for birthfrom all patients. Theydemanded that the doctor betransferred or else they wouldtake to the street soon.

The CDMO conducted aninquiry and transferred him toanother place.

Among others, SantoshKumar Patro, Grabiel Behera,Mohan Kumar Mahakud,Santosh Kumar Panda,Subhranshu Guru, M Trinathand Sudarshan Sahu met theCDMO.

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Page 5: ˘ˇˆ˙˘˝˛˚˚˜ - The Pioneer...2019/04/14  · Dipa Sarkhel, wife of Arindum (Bapi) Sarkhel, Congress candidate of Paradip constituency, has been aggressively campaigning in

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Union Finance MinisterArun Jaitley on Saturday

said the “Modi factor” waswrit large across the countryduring the first phase of elec-tions with leadership issueamong the Opposition partieslooking gloomier than expect-ed as “Gathbandhan” partnershitting out at each other andmulti-cornered contests in sev-eral States favoured the rulingBJP.

Pointing out that verbalbattles between the Left,Trinamool Congress and theCongress are becoming visibleincreasingly, Jaitley said, “Onthe leadership issue, the situa-tion looks gloomier than whatI had thought. The BSP leaderMayawati, the Trinamoolleader Mamata Banerjee leaveno stone unturned in runningdown the Congress President.”

“There is no leader, noGathbandhan, no CommonMinimum Programme and noreal issue. Not surprisinglythere are not many takers for a“failed campaign”. It is ‘Rent aCause’ Campaign,” Jaitley saidin a Facebook post.

Polling was held in 91 LokSabha constituencies spreadacross 18 states and two UnionTerritories on Thursday, mark-ing the beginning of the seven-phased general elections.

The Opposition is in dis-

array in many states, withalliances having not workedout, he said, adding that multi-cornered contests obviouslyfavour the BJP.

“To oust a popularGovernment, an extremelypopular Prime Minister, youneed some real issues, not fic-tional issues. The Oppositionwasted the past two years in arun-up to the polls “manufac-turing issues” which didn’texist,” Jaitley said in the posttitled ‘India’s Opposition is ona “Rent a Cause” Campaign’.

The minister said theOpposition’s false campaignon Rafale did not carry muchweight.

Loan waiver to industrial-ists was a lie, the EVM as aninstrument of rigging was a

bigger lie, he asserted.“The First Phase of voting

is over. The “Modi” factor waswrit large across the country.(BJP President) Amit Shah’schallenge to the BJP workers toprepare for a 50 per cent vot-ing target in the BJP strongholdstates even where there areopposition alliances seemscoming through,” Jaitley said.

Stating that the Oppositioncomes up with a new cause ona daily basis, Jaitley said oneday the Pulwama terror attackwas questioned as self-engi-neered, while the next dayBalakot strike was questionedas a non-existent operation.

“One day BJP is accused ofwhipping up war hysteria, theother day it is dubbed as proPakistan”, he said.

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Morning Post, a conserva-tive British newspaper,

raised a hefty sum of “26,000pounds” for the benefit ofGeneral Reginald Dyer — theman behind the dreadfulJallianwala Bagh massacre,according to a recently-releasedbook.

“It started with an article,titled ‘The Man Who SavedIndia’, which was written justdays after Dyer was removedfrom his post by the Britishauthorities in July, 1920,”according to the book,‘Jallianwala Bagh’.

“... There are thousands ofmen and women in Englandwho realise the truth — that thelives of their fellow-country-men in India hung upon thereadiness of General Dyer toact as he acted,” reads the arti-

cle. “It is to those men andwomen that we appeal, to dowhat is in them to redress thecallous and cynical wrongwhich has been done. GeneralDyer has been broken.”

The fund, according toauthor Kim Wagner, saw peo-ple from all over the Britishempire and from all walks oflife contributing to supportDyer, including “RudyardKipling, who gave 10 pounds”.

“When the fund eventual-ly closed, more than 26,000pounds had been raised, whichmeant that Dyer could retire incomfort and without financialconcerns,” he added.

Wagner pointed out somepseudonyms used by peoplewho contributed in the fund,saying it revealed something ofthe “mindset and politicsmobilised by the fund”.

‘One who remembers

1857’, ‘The Prince of a WhiteMan Slain’, ‘In gratitude toGen. Dyer, from anEnglishwoman who heard themob’, ‘A Widow who remem-bers reading, when a child, ofthe horrors of 1857’, ‘An OldAnglo-Indian,’, Wagner said.

Overwhelmed by all thelove coming his way, Dyerwrote a letter of thanks that wassubsequently published in theMorning Post.

“I am proud to think thatso many of my fellow-coun-

trymen and women approve ofmy conduct at Amritsar, and Iaccept the token of theirapproval in the spirit in which it is offered,” reads theletter.

India on Saturday marksthe centenary of the JallianwalaBagh massacre, when troops ofthe British Indian Army, underthe command of Dyer, firedindiscriminately at a crowdholding a peaceful meeting onApril 13, 1919, leaving hun-dreds of people dead.

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Andhra Pradesh ChiefMinister N Chandrababu

Naidu on Saturday claimedthat the Election Commissionhas lost its all credibility amongthe people of the nation as itfunctions on the instructions ofthe Prime Minister NarendraModi and his office.

Two days after AndhraPradesh voted to elect its newAssembly, Naidu on Saturdaymet the Chief ElectionCommissioner Sunil Arorawith a letter complaining thatthe poll body “miserably failedto live up to the spirit of theconstitutional duty” in theState.

Naidu claimed that 30 percent to 40 per cent of electronicvoting machines did not workduring polling for the LokSabha and Assembly electionsin Andhra Pradesh on April 11.“The Government of India isinterfering through the

Election Commission. We havecomplained against EVMs ear-lier also. Election Commissionis an autonomous body butthey are working at the instruc-tions of Modi,” Naidu said. Hewas speaking after his meetingwith Chief ElectionCommissioner Sunil Arora.

The Andhra Pradesh CMdemanded that the ElectionCommission should revert tothe system of recording votesthrough ballot papers and stopthe use of electronic votingmachines in polls. He saidthere are doubts regarding reli-ability of the EVMs.

“We demand the ElectionCommission of India forreverting to paper ballot systemimmediately to preserve thesanctity and protect the spiritof electoral process and democ-racy respectively,” Naidu said.

Raising questions on thepoll panel’s independence andimpartiality, Naidu said thatthe level playing field — an

essential attribute of democra-cy — “now stands disturbed”.‘The Government of India isinterfering through EC. Wehave complained against EVMsearlier also. EC is anautonomous body but they areworking at the instructions ofModi. Transfers of officers inAP is unjustified,” he said.

Naidu said officials inAndhra were being transferredin an arbitrary manner and theChief Secretary has beenreplaced by a person, who was

accused along with YSRCongress chief Jagan MohanReddy in a case.

He alleged that the pollpanel observer in the Statewas having links with RashtriyaSwayamsevak Sangh (RSS).

Recalling that all theOpposition parties haddemanded for 50 per centmatching of EVMs withVVPATs, Naidu said thatincreasing that number fromone to five by the SupremeCourt was “insufficient”.

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The poll-time surfacing of aset of “artists and intellec-

tuals” appealing to vote againstPrime Minister Narendra Modion Saturday invited sharp com-ments from Union Ministerand BJP leader Mukhtar AbbasNaqvi who claimed that Modiwas the “biggest victim ofpolitical intolerance”.

However, a separate set ofpro-Modi “artists and intellec-tuals” too have come outagainst the “artists and intel-lectuals”, mostly left-leaning ,appealing public to vote forModi.

Talking to reporters, Naqvisaid about five years ago alsosome “so-called intellectuals”had written to the US and theEuropean Union (EU) against

Modi.He further claimed that

some Congress leaders hadgone to Pakistan and sought help from the neigh-bouring country to removeModi.

Naqvi said even after Modiled the BJP to power, someactivists had written to thepresident, saying theConstitution was in dangerand claiming that there was anatmosphere of intolerance inthe country under the Modigovernment.

“Despite these conspira-cies, people’s faith in Modi hasincreased day by day. Despitethis negative propaganda, Modihas carried forward the coun-try’s progress and prosperitythrough his hard work and per-formance,” he added.

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As many as 251 candidatescontesting in the second

phase of Lok Sabha polls havedeclared criminal cases filedagainst themselves, including167 with serious criminal cases.

The National ElectionWatch and Association forDemocratic Reforms (ADR)has analysed self-sworn affi-davits of 1,590 candidates whoare contesting this time in thesecond phase of polling onApril 18.

While there are a total of1,644 candidates in fray, ofthem 54 candidates could notbe analysed due to unavail-ability of their properly scannedand complete affidavits.

The report shared by theADR said that among majorparties, 23 out of 53 candidatesfrom the Congress, 16 out of 51candidates from the BharatiyaJanata Party, 16 out of 80 can-didates from the BahujanSamaj Party, three out of 22candidates from the All IndiaAnna Dravida MunnetraKazhagam, 11 out of 24 candi-dates from the DravidaMunnetra Kazhagam and fourout of 11 candidates from theShiv Sena declared criminalcases against themselves.

It added that out of those,17 candidates from theCongress, 10 from the BJP, 10from the BSP, three from theAIADMK, seven from theDMK and one from the Senawere involved in serious crim-

inal cases.The analysis also showed

that three candidates declaredthey have been convicted incases against them while sixdeclared cases related to mur-der against themselves and 25candidates cases related toattempt to murder.

The statement added that8 candidates declared casesrelated to kidnapping while 10declared cases against themrelated to crime against womensuch as rape, assault or crimi-nal force to woman with intentto outrage her modesty, andhusband or relative of husbandof a woman subjecting her tocruelty.

A total of 15 candidatesalso declared cases related tohate speech against themselves.

While 423 candidatesdeclared assets worth over �1crore with most from theCongress (46) and the BJP(45), the average assets of can-didates from the Congress was�31.83 crore and those fromthe BJP was �21.59 crore.

There were 16 candidateswho declared zero assets.

Congress’ Kanniyakumaricandidate Vasanthakumar H.had the highest declared assets(over �417 crore), followed byits Purnia (Bihar) candidateUday Singh (over �341 crore)and Bangalore Rural candidateDK Suresh (over �338 crore).

Hindustan Janta Party’sSolapur (Maharashtra) candi-date Shrivenkateswar MahaSwamiji declared assets worthonly �9, while two independentcandidates from Tamil Nadu’sMayiladuthurai, Rajesh P. andRaja N., declared assets worth�100.

The analysis also showedthat there are 52 candidateswith assets worth more than �1 crore who have not declaredtheir income tax details.Among them are Independentcandidates from West Bengal’sRaiganj, Binoy Kumar Das,and Bangalore Central, CBKRama, who have declared assetsworth over �18 crore and �15crore respectively.

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The Congress on Saturdayreleased a list of 18 more

Lok Sabha poll candidates,which include six fromHaryana, nine from UttarPradesh and three fromMadhya Pradesh.

With this, the party hasreleased names of 404 candi-dates for the parliamentary

elections. In Haryana, the Congress

fielded ex-Union Minister andRajya Sabha MP Kumari Seljafrom Ambala, its state unitchief Ashok Tanwar from Sirsawhile sitting MP Deepender

Singh Hooda has been renom-inated from Rohtak.

The party also fieldedShruti Chaudhary fromBhiwani-Mahendragarh, AjaySingh Yadav from Gurgaonand Lalit Nagar fromFaridabad. In Uttar Pradesh,the Congress replaced its can-didate, Ramashankar Bhargava,from Mohanlalganj and field-ed RK Chaudhary instead.

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India and ASEAN haveresolved to strengthen ties by

deepening cooperation in themaritime sector and boostingconnectivity.

The two sides made theaffirmations at the 21stASEAN-India Senior Officials’Meeting (SOM) held here onApril 11-12, the Ministry ofExternal Affairs (MEA) said.

The meeting was co-chaired by Vijay Thakur Singh,

SOM Leader and Secretary(East), Ministry of ExternalAffairs, and Busaya Mathelin,SOM Leader and PermanentSecretary, Ministry of ForeignAffairs, Thailand.

The ASEAN-India SOMreviewed the strategic part-nership and its future direction.

It assessed the progress ofcooperation under all threepillars — political-security,economic and socio-cultural,the MEA said.

The SOM leaders alsoexchanged views on regionaland international issues ofinterest to ASEAN and India.

They agreed to deepenmaritime cooperation as decid-ed at the ASEAN-IndiaCommemorative Summit2018. In this context, they pro-posed to undertake a variety of

measures, including enhancedcooperation in the sub-sectorof Blue Economy, the MEAsaid. It was decided at themeeting to give an impetus toASEAN-India connectivity inall its forms.

The two sides also dis-cussed the ways and means tofurther deepen cooperation onfinancial matters as well asoverall strengthening of theASEAN Secretariat.

The two sides also vowedto step up cooperation in

renewable energy and hold anASEAN-India Conference onRenewable Energy in 2019.The Energy and ResourcesInstitute (TERI) and theASEAN Centre for Energy(ACE) would be the co-part-ners for this project.

The ASEAN-India part-nership is being implementedthrough the “Plan of Action(2016-20) to implement theASEAN-India Partnership forpeace, progress and sharedprosperity.

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Making its second arrest inthe IL&FS case, the

Serious Fraud InvestigationOffice (SFIO) on Saturdayarrested former IL&FSFinancial Services chiefRamesh C Bawa, officialsources said.

They said Bawa, who hadserved as managing directorand CEO, was arrested on thegrounds of abusing his powersat the company through fraud-ulent conduct. He also grant-ed loans to entities which werenot creditworthy and causedwrongful loss to the companyand its creditors, they added.

Earlier this month, theprobe agency arrested formerIL&FS vice chairman HariSankaran.

The sources said IL&FSFinancial Services Ltd had bor-rowings of around �17,500crore through debt instruments

and bank loans.Provident funds, pension

funds, gratuity funds, mutualfunds as well as public and pri-

vate sector banks are amongthe entities that have investedin these debt instruments.

The alleged financial irreg-ularities at IL&FS came to lightlast year after some group enti-ties defaulted on debt repay-ments. The government, whichsuperseded the company’sboard, is working on a resolu-tion plan. The SFIO is probingthe affairs of IL&FS and itsgroup entities.

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Observing that the globalfinancial crisis has exposed

several limitations of conven-tional and unconventionalmonetary policy tools, ReserveBank of India (RBI) GovernorShaktikanta Das on Friday saidmonetary economics in emerg-ing markets needs a rethink.

This includes challengingthe conventional wisdom ofmodern central banks to hikeor reduce their interest rates by25 basis points or multiplesthereof, Das said in a specialaddress delivered on the side-lines of the annual SpringMeetings of the InternationalMonetary Fund and WorldBank.

Highly appreciated by theaudience for his call for out-of-the-box thinking to addressmonetary policy challenges ofthe 21st century, Das said theunconventional monetary poli-cies of advanced economieshave resulted in “risks andspillovers” for the emergingmarkets.

In his speech titled ‘Global

Risks and Policy Challengesfacing Emerging MarketEconomies’, Das observed thatthe global financial crisis hasexposed several limitations ofconventional and unconven-tional monetary policy tools.

In despair, some haveturned to the heterodox evo-lution of ideas that are beingpracticed as modern monetarytheory, he noted. In the end,monetary policy must touchthe real economy, spur invest-ments, and maintain monetaryand financial stability, he assert-ed. The time has come to thinkout of the box, including bychallenging the conventionalwisdom, he told the packedauditorium.

Typically, modern centralbanks with interest rates astheir main instrument move inbaby steps — 25 basis points ormultiples thereof — andannounce a stance of tighten-ing, neutrality or accommoda-tion to guide the markets andthe public on the likely futurecourse of policy, he said.

“One thought that comesto my mind is that if the unit

of 25 basis points is not sacro-sanct and just a convention,monetary policy can be wellserved by calibrating the size ofthe policy rate to the dynam-ics of the situation and the sizeof the change itself can conveythe stance of policy,” the RBIGovernor said.

For instance, if easing ofmonetary policy is required butthe central bank prefers to becautious in its accommodation,a 10 basis points reduction inthe policy rate would perhapscommunicate the intent ofauthorities more clearly than

two separate moves — one onthe policy rate, wasting 15basis points of valuable rateaction to rounding off, and theother on the stance, which ina sense binds future policyaction to a pre-committeddirection, he said.

Likewise, in a situation inwhich the central bank prefersto be accommodative but notoverly so, it could announce acut in the policy rate by 35basis points if it has judged thatthe standard 25 basis points istoo little, but its multiple, thatis 50 basis points, is too much.

“This approach can also beuseful when the central bank ison a tightening mode andpotentially help avoid policyturnaround from forwardguidance via stance too far intothe future, which in a highlyvolatile global scenario, maynot even be a year,” Das said.

Stating that managementof global spillovers poses aformidable challenge to emerg-ing market economies, Dastold the audience that a trulyglobal financial safety netremains elusive as in this age ofmobile capital flows, conse-quences of their arrivals, sud-den stops and reversals are tobe borne nationally.

As a result, emerging mar-ket economies (EMEs) are typ-ically at the receiving endwhen global spillovers flareup, he said, adding that theyhave no recourse but to buildtheir own forex reserve buffers.

Paradoxically, the accu-mulation of reserves hasbecome stigmatised, includingwith labels such as “currencymanipulation”, he rued.

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An artificial intelligenceresearch laboratory

opened by Google in Ghana,the first of its kind in Africa,will take on challenges acrossthe continent, researchers say.

The US technology giantsaid the lab in the capital Accrawould address economic,political and environmentalissues.

“Africa has many chal-lenges where the use of AIcould be beneficial, sometimeseven more than in otherplaces,” Google’s head of AIAccra, Moustapha Cisse, toldAFP at the centre’s officialopening this week.

Similar research centreshave already opened in citiesaround the world includingTokyo, Zurich, New York andParis.

The new lab, Cisse said,would use AI to develop solu-tions in healthcare, educationand agriculture — such ashelping to diagnose certaintypes of crop disease.

Cisse, an expert fromSenegal, said he hoped spe-cialist engineers and AIresearchers would collaboratewith local organisations andpolicymakers.

Google is working withuniversities and start-ups inGhana, Nigeria, Kenya andSouth Africa to enhance AIdevelopment regionally, hesaid.

“We just need to ensurethat the right education andopportunities are in place,” hesaid.

“That is why Google issponsoring a lot of these youngpeople for their degrees... Tohelp develop a new generationof AI developers.”

Other tech companies,including Facebook, havelaunched initiatives in Africaand demographics are a keyfactor behind the drive.

Africa’s population is esti-mated to be 1.2 billion, 60 per-cent of them under the age of24.

By 2050, the UN estimatesthe population will double to2.4 billion. As online socialnetworks expand, that pre-sents a huge market for UStech giants to tap into.

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The global economy is like-ly to pull out of a brief

growth slump later this year —with a little help from theworld’s central banks and fromU.S. And Chinese trade nego-tiators.

Global finance leadersgathered from the spring meet-ings of the InternationalMonetary Fund and the WorldBank agree that the globaleconomy has lost momentumthis year. But they expectgrowth to pick up in the sec-ond half of 2019, as centralbankers ease up on interestrates.

Still, a trade standoffbetween the United States andChina threatens to dim theeconomic outlook.

“We must be mindful of anescalation of trade tensions,”Japanese Finance MinisterTaro Aso told reporters Friday.Japan holds the chairmanshipof the Group of 20 majoreconomies. The G-20 on Fridaysaid that world economicgrowth sputtered late last yearand early this year because ofheightened trade tensions, tur-bulent financial markets and

rising interest rates.The IMF cut its forecast for

global growth from 3.6% lastyear to 3.3% in 2019, the slow-est since the recession year2009, but it predicts growth will return to 3.6% in2020.

Haruhiko Kuroda, head ofthe Bank of Japan, toldreporters on Friday that the G-20 officials saw the IMF’srevised forecast as “highly like-ly” but said all the countrieswould need to do their part toboost growth.

Forecasters are worriedabout the U.S.-China tradeconflict. The world’s twobiggest economies have slappedtariffs on $350 billion worth ofeach other’s goods. They arebattling over U.S. Allegationsthat China deploys predatorytactics — including cybertheftand forcing foreign firms tohand over trade secrets -- in asharp-elbowed effort to chal-lenge American technologicaldominance.

Financial markets have ral-lied this year on hopes that thetwo countries will reach a set-tlement.

Changyong Rhee, direc-tor of the InternationalMonetary Fund’s Asia andPacific Department, said at abriefing Friday that marketscould falter if negotiators can’treach a deal after all.

Even a U.S.-China tradedeal could create new prob-lems, Rhee said.

If the Chinese agree totake in more imports from theUnited States, as widely expect-ed, those purchases could comeat the expense other countriesthat have been doing businesswith China. Rhee alsoexpressed concern that Chinawould give American compa-nies “preferential access,”undercutting other countriesand leading to “broader wor-ries” about the future of freetrade.

Rhee also said a U.S.-Chinatrade peace could prove “short-lived” if the two countries can’treach a long-term deal thatrequires Beijing to improveprotection of intellectual-prop-erty and make other econom-ic reforms.

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Realty firm Chintels Groupwill invest over Rs 300

crore over the next five years todevelop a housing project atDwarka Expressway inGurugram.

The company will devel-op 324 units in the secondphase of its housing project‘Chintels Serenity’.

Under the first phase, itconstructed 120 units at a costof �155 crore.

The completion deadlinefor the second phase is 2023-end.

Chintels India MDPrashant Solomon said theproject cost of the secondphase is � 307 crore.

“Despite the delays in theconstruction of Dwarka Expressway, the areais witnessing incrementaldemand over the years,”said Solomon, who is also

treasurer of industry bodyCREDAI.

Due to proximity to Delhiand Gurugram, the DwarkaExpressway area has a hugepotential and would evolve asthe next popular residential

and commercial hub in theNational Capital Region, hesaid.

Chintels has huge landbank in the DwarkaExpressway area. It has tied upwith realty players like Sobhaand ATS Group to develophousing projects in this area. With Sobha, it isdeveloping a 168-acre inte-grated township ‘InternationalCity’.

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Atwo-day meeting of 21stAsean-India Senior

Officials concluded here onFriday after they discussedways to impart impetus to connectivity anddeepen cooperation on finan-cial matters.

The meeting was co-chaired by Vijay Thakur Singh,Senior Officials’ MeetingLeader (SOM) and Secretary(East) in the External AffairsMinistry and Busaya Mathelin,SOM Leader and PermanentSecretary, Ministry of ForeignAffairs, Thailand.

India congratulatedThailand on its assuming theChairmanship of Asean for2019 and welcomed its role as

country coordinator of theAsean-India dialogue partern-ship for the period 2018-2021.

An MEA release said thatthe meeting reviewed theAsean-India strategic partner-

ship and its future direction.“They made their assess-

ment on the progress of coop-

eration under all three pillars -political-security, economicand socio-cultural.

The SOM leaders alsoexchanged views on regionaland international issues ofinterest,” it said.

The release said theyagreed to deepen maritimecooperation as decided at theAsean-India commemorativesummit 2018. In this context,they proposed to undertake avariety of measures, includingenhanced cooperation in blueeconomy.

“The meeting desired toimpart impetus to Asean-Indiaconnectivity, in all its forms. Italso welcomed the commis-sioning of the ERIA study onthe trilateral highway and itsextension to Lao PDR,

Cambodia and Vietnam aswell as the proposal on formation of digital villagesin the Asean countries, under digital connectivity.

“They also discussed waysand means to furtherdeepen cooperation on finan-cial matters,” the releasesaid.

The meeting decided toimpart urgency to cooperationin renewable energy and holda conference in 2019.

The release said thatAsean-India partnership isbeing implemented throughthe ‘Plan of Action (2016-20)’and is making good progressalong the 30 mechanisms toimplement cooperation in thedifferent sectors.

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Facebook, which is report-edly spending $1 billion on

producing original content,has announced that NetflixCEO Reed Hastings will notrejoin the company’s board asa director.

Peggy Alford, currentlysenior vice president of CoreMarkets for PayPal, will benominated to join the board ofdirectors, Facebook said on

Friday. Alford will become thefirst black woman to serve onFacebook’s board, reportsTechCrunch.

She has served as the ChiefFinancial Officer of the non-profit Chan ZuckerbergInitiative. “Peggy is one ofthose rare people who’s anexpert across many differentareas -- from business man-agement to finance operationsto product development,” saidFacebook CEO Mark

Zuckerberg.Peggy said she “looks for-

ward to working with Markand the other directors as thecompany builds new andinspiring ways to help peopleconnect and build community”.

The social network isworking on original program-ming for its Facebook Watchplatform. In December, over400 million people viewed atleast one video on FacebookWatch.

Kolkata: Major jewellers inthe country have appealed tothe Government for stan-dardisation in hallmarking ofgold, contending that multi-ple measures of purityinvolved in the process wascreating confusion in theindustry.

The All India Gem andJewellery Domestic Council(GJC) has urged the con-sumer affairs ministry forstandardisation in hallmarkingpurity across the country.

Vice-chairman of GJC,Shaankar Sen, said that vari-ous forms of purity like 14, 18and 22 carats are being usedfor the hallmarking process.

Citing an example, Sensaid that for gold bars andcoins, the purity required forhallmarking is 20 and 24carats, respectively.

This, he said, was creating

confusion in the jewelleryindustry, necessitating stan-dardisation.

Chairman of GJC,Anantha Padmanabhan, saidwhen the the model code ofconduct is in force, there is aneed for a standard operatingprocedure (SOP) regardingthe seizure of gold in transit,based on valid documents.

“We will meet the chiefelection commissioner anddiscuss the matter,” he toldreporters here on Saturday.

He also said the annualturnover of the gem and jew-ellery industry is around Rs 4lakh crore, which is expectedto double in the next couple ofyears. The GJC also launcheda sensitisation programme -‘Labham’ - for jewellers, pro-viding information on regu-latory compliance and bestbusiness practices. PTI

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Amuseum in the UK haslaunched an exhibition on

Jallianwala Bagh in collabora-tion with the Partition Museumin Amritsar to mark the cen-tenary of the British colonialera massacre.

‘Jallianwala Bagh 1919:Punjab Under Siege’ opened atManchester Museum in timefor Saturday’s 100th anniver-sary of the tragedy that affect-ed thousands.

The exhibition is conceivedas a “lived experience” creation,based on work with descen-dants and communities to col-lect stories related to theJallianwala Bagh massacre onApril 13, 1919.

“Revisiting the event, itscauses and aftermath, thenuanced exhibition exploreswhat we remember, how weremember it, and what wehave forgotten, in India andthe UK,” Manchester Museumsaid in a statement.

“Protestors had gathered tochallenge British rule beforethey were set upon by ColonelReginald Dyer and his troops.

Confined within an enclosedbarren ground calledJallianwala Bagh in the Indiancity of Amritsar, hundreds ofIndians were killed and thou-sands injured.

This was a definingmoment in the fight for Indianindependence and led to theeventual demise of the BritishEmpire in South Asia,” it adds.

The exhibition, supportedby the Jallianwala BaghCentenary CommemorationCommittee (JBCCC), com-prising prominent Indians andnon-resident Indians (NRIs),is aimed at raising awarenessaround the peaceful protest tomark Baisakhi, the divergentBritish and Indian inquiryfindings, and the ongoingsocial, political, and culturalresponse.

“It is an apt moment for the

British Government to offer anapology to India,” Manjit SinghGK, Patron-in-Chief of theJBCCC, said.

“Both Secretary of State forWar Sir Winston Churchilland former Prime Minister HH Asquith openly condemnedthe attack at the time, referringto it as monstrous and one ofthe worst outrages in the wholeof our history,” added VikramjitS Sahney, Patron of JBCC.

There have been wide-spread calls for a formal apol-ogy to mark the 100th anniver-sary of the massacre this week,with the UK government ear-lier indicating that it was“reflecting” on the demand.

British Prime MinisterTheresa May made a statementin the House of Commons ear-lier this week to say the UK“deeply regrets” the tragedy,which she described as a“shameful scar” on BritishIndian history.

The statement faced criti-cism for not going far enough,with the Opposition LabourParty leader Jeremy Corbyndemanding a “full, clear andunequivocal apology”.

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North Korean leader KimJong Un and US President

Donald Trump both backed onSaturday a possible third sum-mit between the two nations.

Kim said he would waituntil the end of the year “for theUS to make a courageous deci-sion” on another meeting, statemedia reported, after his mostrecent summit with Trump inVietnam broke down and bothsides left without agreement.Trump backed the suggestion,pointing to the pair’s “excellentrelationship”.

“I agree with Kim Jong Unof North Korea that our per-sonal relationship remainsvery good, perhaps the termexcellent would be even moreaccurate, and that a thirdSummit would be good in thatwe fully understand where we

each stand,” he said.Washington has blamed

the February deadlock on theNorth’s demands for sanc-tions relief in return for limit-ed nuclear disarmament, butPyongyang said it had wantedonly some of the measureseased. And Trump has hintedthat the punitive measurescould eventually come to anend. “North Korea has tremen-dous potential for extraordinarygrowth, economic success andriches under the leadership ofChairman Kim,” the American

president said in a tweet.“I look forward to the day,

which could be soon, whenNuclear Weapons andSanctions can be removed, andthen watching North Koreabecome one of the most suc-cessful nations of the World!”

In a speech to Pyongyang’srubber-stamp parliament onFriday, Kim said the Hanoimeeting had made him ques-tion whether Washington is“genuinely interested” inimproving its relations withPyongyang.

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Sudan’s new military leader hasresigned just a day after being

sworn in, as the country’s armyrulers insisted they would pavethe way for a civilianGovernment.

The head of Sudan’s new ruling militarycouncil, General Awad Ibn Ouf, announced hisdeparture on Friday after being sworn in lateThursday following the ouster of long-time pres-ident Omar al-Bashir.

His move came shortly after the council’spolitical chief Lieutenant General Omar Zainal-Abdin told Arab and African diplomats at ameeting broadcast on state television: “This isnot a military coup, but taking the side of thepeople.” Ouf ’s departure was an apparent signof confusion among the northest African coun-try’s new leaders after Thursday’s ousting of iron-fisted Bashir.

But there was jubilation at the news on thestreets of Khartoum. Tens of thousands of pro-testors had kept up a vigil at the army head-quarters in the Sudanese capital on Friday angri-

ly demanding that the militarymake way for a civilianGovernment.

“I hereby announce my res-ignation as head of theTransitional Military Council,”Ibn Ouf said in an address to thenation, announcing he had

chosen General Abdel Fattah al-BurhanAbdulrahman to replace him.

He said he trusted in Abdulrahman’s “expe-rience and suitability I trust to bring this shipto a safe shore”. The Sudanese ProfessionalsAssociation which has spearheaded the nation-wide protest campaign hailed Ibn Ouf ’s depar-ture as “a victory of the people’s will”.

The demonstrations against Bashir’s 30-yearrule first erupted in December, triggered by atripling of the bread prices in one of the world’smost impoverished countries.

But vast crowds have been thronging out-side the army headquarters since Saturday inunprecedented scenes.

Many were preparing to defy a night-timecurfew for the second time, denouncing IbnOuf ’s leadership as a military coup.

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US President Donald Trumphas said he is seriously

considering funnellingdetained illegal migrants intothe self-declared sanctuarycities that oppose his toughimmigration policies.

Trump’s announcement onTwitter reversed a previousWhite House assurance thatthe idea - criticised as politicalretribution against cities led byopposition Democrats - hadbeen dropped.

“Due to the fact thatDemocrats are unwilling tochange our very dangerousimmigration laws, we areindeed, as reported, givingstrong considerations to plac-ing Illegal Immigrants inSanctuary Cities,” Trump saidon Friday.

“The Radical Left alwaysseems to have an OpenBorders, Open Arms policy—so this should make them veryhappy!” he tweeted.

The Washington Post ear-lier revealed the proposal,

which would mark a newflashpoint in the ever growingpolitical divide over immigra-tion.

Trump has staked his pres-idency on his insistence that theUnited States is being overrunby migrants and asylum seek-ers.

But opponents, mostly inthe Democratic Party, say hispush for building more wallson the Mexican border and hisalmost daily denunciations ofmigrants as dangerous crimi-nals incites racial hatred.

In comments to reporterslater, Trump said that he want-ed Congress, where the Houseof Representatives is controlled

by Democrats, to tighten visasand streamline the deportationprocess.

Otherwise, he warned, he’llorder migrants to be dumpedon the sanctuary cities. “If theydon’t agree we might as well dowhat they say they want....We’ll bring them to sanctuarycity areas and let that particu-lar area take care of it,” he said.“We can give them an unlim-ited supply.”

Sanctuary cities are placeswhere local authorities— usu-ally Democratic-run — haverefused to hand over undocu-mented immigrants for depor-tation.

Citing homeland security

officials and leaked emails, thePost said White House officialsfirst broached the plan inNovember, asking severalagencies whether members ofa caravan of migrants could bearrested at the border and thenbussed “to small- and mid-sized sanctuary cities”.

The White House told theImmigration and CustomsEnforcement agency (ICE)that the plan was intended toalleviate a shortage of detentionspace, but would also send amessage to Democrats, thePost said.

The suggested policy waspushed back within ICE, witha top official saying it was rifewith concerns and noting“there are PR risks as well”.

After the White Housepressed the issue again earlierthis year, ICE rebuffed it as“inappropriate.”

The Post said a WhiteHouse official and aspokesman for the Departmentof Homeland Security said theproposal was no longer underconsideration.

Washington: The decision toseek the extradition of JulianAssange marked a dramaticnew approach to the founder ofWikiLeaks by the U.S.Government, a shift that wassignalled in the early days ofthe Trump administration.

President Barack Obama’sJustice Department had exten-sive internal debates aboutwhether to charge Assangeamid concerns the case mightnot hold up in court and wouldbe viewed as an attack on jour-nalism by an administrationalready taking heat for leakprosecutions.

But senior Trump admin-istration officials seemed tomake clear early on that theyheld a different view, diallingup the rhetoric on the anti-secrecy organisation shortlyafter it made damaging disclo-sures about the CIA’s cyberes-pionage tools. AP

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At least eight persons,including two children,

were killed in a flash flood innorthwest Pakistan, officialssaid.

The incident happenedwhen a vehicle carrying themwas heading to a weddingparty and it drowned in Wanatehsil of South WaziristanDistrict bordering Afghanistanon Saturday, according to dis-trict administration officials.

Six children remain miss-ing and a search operation isunderway to find them, theofficials said.

The rescue team retrievedsix bodies of women and twochildren. Pakistan Army anddistrict administration offi-cials are continuing a searchfor the missing individuals.

“Some of the bodies have

been pulled out of the floodwater while a search operationis underway to find the miss-ing children,” said DC SouthWaziristan Noman AfzalAfridi.

In 2017, at least six peoplewere killed and several houseswere damaged after flashfloods triggered by heavy rainsswamped North and SouthWaziristan tribal agencies.

Global warming is expect-ed to unleash more rain, expos-ing millions of more people toriver flooding particularly inthe United States and parts ofAsia, Africa and centralEurope,

The Express Tribunereported.A study in the journalScience Advances calculatedhow much more flood pro-tection will be needed to keepthe risks of high-end floodsconstant in the next 25 years.

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Sudan’s second new militaryleader in as many days

accepted the resignation of thefeared intelligence chief onSaturday as he faced calls athome and abroad for a swifthandover to civilian rule.

Career soldier GeneralAbdel Fattah al-Burhan tookthe helm of Sudan’s transi-tional military council onFriday when his short-livedpredecessor General Awad IbnOuf — a close aide of oustedpresident Omar al-Bashir —quit in the face of persistentprotests.

Burhan now has the toughtask of persuading the tens ofthousands of protesters whoremain on the streets that he isnot just another general fromthe Bashir regime but is gen-uinely committed to civilian-led reform.

The new leader acceptedthe resignation on Saturday ofthe head of the NationalIntelligence and SecurityService, Salih Ghosh, the mil-

itary council announced.Ghosh had overseen a

sweeping crackdown led byNISS agents against protesterstaking part in four months ofmass demonstrations that ledto the toppling of Bashir in apalace coup by the army onThursday.

Dozens of protesters werekilled and thousands ofactivists, opposition leadersand journalists arrested.

The police said Friday that16 people had been killed inlive fire in Khartoum aloneover the previous two days asNISS agents led a desperate laststand for Bashir before thearmy intervened.

Burhan was expected tomeet protest organisers later onSaturday to hear their

demands, opposition sourcessaid.

A photograph published bystate news agency SUNAshowed him talking with pro-testers outside army head-quarters on Friday, before hiselevation to the top job.

Khartoum erupted withjoy when Ibn Ouf tendered hisresignation barely 24 hours after taking the oath ofoffice.

Car horns sounded as jubi-lant crowds streamed out oftheir homes chanting: “It fellagain, it fell again”.

But the organisers of thefour months of mass proteststhat have now toppled twoleaders in quick succession,called on demonstrators

to keep up their week-oldvigil outside army headquartersuntil Burhan reveals his truecolours.

Ibn Ouf had served asBashir’s defence minister rightup to the president’s downfall,after three decades of iron-fist-ed rule and was widely despisedon the streets.

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Syrian Kurds on Saturdayrepatriated 25 women and

children from Iraq’s Yazidiminority after freeing themduring the final push againstthe Islamic State group, a localofficial said.

The US-backed fighterssay they rescued some 300Yazidi women and childrenduring the fight to take thejihadists’ last scrap of territo-ry in eastern Syria.

“Today, we will hand over25 people —10 women and 15children — to the Yazidi coun-cil in Sinjar,” said ZiyadRustam, an official with theKurdish-run group YazidiHouse, which reunites res-cued Yazidi children withsurviving relatives.

“They will be sent to theirfamilies,” he told AFP. At theYazidi House headquarters,

women wearing colourfulrobes collected children scam-pering around the compoundbefore boarding busses boundfor Sinjar, the Yazidi heartland.

“The fate of my three sis-ters remains unknown... I don’tknow anything about them,”said 17-year-old JamilaHaidar.”I hope we will bereunited soon.”

Iraq’s Yazidis are a symbolof the suffering caused by theIslamic State group during itsrein over vast swathes of Syriaand Iraq. The jihadists stormedthrough Iraq’s northwest in2014 slaughtering thousandsof men and boys and abduct-ing women and girls to be

abused as sex slaves.But they have since lost all

of the once-sprawling cross-border “caliphate” to multipleoffensive.

The Kurdish-led SyrianDemocratic Forces last monthannounced the defeat of the ISproto-state after tens of thou-sands of people streamed outof the jihadists’ last patch ofterritory, around the village ofBaghouz near the Iraqi border.

Rustam said SDF had intotal liberated 850 Yazidiwomen and children duringits battles against IS since2015.But 3,040 Yazidis are stillmissing, he said, adding thatthe search for them was ongo-ing.

Rustam said the jihadistshad “sold many of them topeople inside Syria, in placeslike Idlib”, most of which isheld by a former Al-Qaedaaffiliate.

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The Taliban on Saturdayclaimed responsibility for

an attack in easternAfghanistan that the groupsaid was part of its newlyannounced spring offensive.

According to Afghan offi-cials, Taliban fighters onFriday night detonated twotruck bombs in the Shirzaddistrict of Nangarhar province,east of Kabul. The assaultcame hours after the Talibanannounced the start ofOperation Fath, the name themilitants have given to thisyear’s spring offensive.

“Both sides have sustainedcasualties,” the Afghan defenceministry said. “Clashes areongoing between (Afghansecurity forces) and Talibanterrorists.”

The Taliban, who fre-quently exaggerate numbers,claimed to have killed or

wounded “more than 200 sol-diers, police and militias”.

Nangarhar provincial gov-ernor spokesman AtaullahKhogyani said two Afghantroops had been killed, alongwith 27 Taliban fighters.

Another Taliban attackwas reported around the edgesof the northern city ofKunduz, which the militantsbriefly captured in 2015.

Naeem Mangal, head ofthe Kunduz regional hospital,told AFP at least eight peoplewere killed and 62 wounded.

In Ghor province in thewest, at least seven Afghansecurity forces were killed ina Taliban ambush, Ghorprovincial governorspokesman Abdul Hai Khatibitold AFP. Afghan PresidentAshraf Ghani’s palace onSaturday condemned “in thestrongest words” theannouncement of OperationFath.

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More than 70 British law-makers have urged their

government to prioritise anyextradition bid Sweden mightmake for WikiLeaks founderJulian Assange, who is also wanted in the UnitedStates.

Assange was arrested onThursday at Ecuadorxandpeers urge British HomeSecretary Sajid Javid to “giveevery assistance to Swedenshould they want to reviveand pursue the investigation”.

British law states that ifSweden does make an extradi-tion request, it would be up toJavid to decide which shouldtake precedence.

“We must send a strongmessage of the priority theUK has in tackling sexual vio-lence and the seriousness withwhich such allegations are

viewed,” the letter says.The sexual assault claim

expired in 2015 and Swedishprosecutors dropped a pre-liminary investigation into therape allegation in 2017, argu-ing that since Assange couldnot be reached, they could notproceed.

Following his arrest, how-ever, the alleged rape victimasked that her case now bereopened — but the limitationperiod on this claim expires inAugust 2020.

“We do not presume guilt,of course, but we believe dueprocess should be followed and

the complainant should see justice be done,” the lettersays.

The MPs and peers addthat it is “of grave concern tous” that the Swedish authori-ties did not appear to have priorwarning of Assange’s arrest,unlike the US authorities.

The letter was also copiedto Diane Abbott, the homeaffairs spokeswoman for themain opposition Labour party.

Abbott said: “Assange skip-ping bail in UK, or any rapecharge that may be brought bySwedish authorities shouldn’tbe ignored.

“But the only extraditionrequest is from USA, becausehe’s a whistle-blower on atroc-ities caused by US military ops.This extradition would bewrong so we oppose it.”Assange is currently being heldat the high-security Belmarshjail in southeast London.

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Pakistan Prime MinisterImran Khan’s recent state-

ment promising an end ofsupport to terror groups does not reflect a change ofpolicy and is motivated by thefear of getting blacklisted bythe global terror-financingwatchdog FATF, the country’s former envoy to theUS Husain Haqqani has said.

Amidst intense globalpressure to rein in terror out-fits, Khan last month said hisgovernment will not allowPakistan’s land to be usedfor any kind of terror activi-ties and promised actionsagainst militant groups oper-ating from the country’s soil.

Haqqani, Pakistan’s for-mer Ambassador to the US,told a Washington audienceon Friday that so far, there isno evidence that the Khan government or the military isdismantling Pakistan’s terror-ist support infrastructure.

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Englishman Jos Buttler laidthe platform with a ram-paging 89 while Shreyas

Gopal held his nerve at thedeath to power Rajasthan Royalsto a four-wicket victory overMumbai Indians in an IndianPremier League encounter atWankhede Stadium onSaturday.

This was Royals' secondvictory of the season in sevengames after losing a last ballthriller to CSK less than 48hours back.

Put into bat, MumbaiIndians rode on a aggressive 81by South African Quinton DeKock to post an imposing 187/5,but Buttler's 43-ball knock stud-ded with eight fours and sevensixes set the tone before Royalssurvived a scare to finish thegame in 19.3 overs.

The match was a forgettableone for young West Indies pacerAlzarri Joseph (0/53 in 3 overs),who was hammered for eightfours and three sixes and thenwas injured trying to save aboundary.

The 13th over changed thegame's complexion as Buttlersmashed two sixes and fourfours off Joseph to bring downthe equation to a manageablerun-a-ball.

Buttler first conjured a 60-run opening stand with skipperAjinkya Rahane (37 off 21 balls,6x 4; 1x6) to lay the foundationand then added 87 runs for thesecond wicket with SanjuSamson (31 off 26 balls; 2x4,1x6).

Buttler initially played sec-ond fiddle to Rahane but thenupped his ante once skipper wasgone. The Englishman in the

eighth over, hit Rahul Chaharfor a six, and then in next over,smashed two sixes off KrunalPandya as he raced to 50 off 29balls.

When Buttler departed inthe 14th over, Rajasthan need-ed 41 runs. But then came thetwist in the tale when Mumbaidid make a comeback of sortssending four batsman —Samson, Rahul Tripathi (1),Steve Smith (12 ) and LiamLivingstone (1) -- back to thepavilion as Rajasthan slumpedto 174.6 from 147/2.

However, Shreyas Gopal (13not out) and K Gowtham (0 notout) held their nerves to take theside home in a tense situation.Gopal hit the winning bound-ary off Hardik Pandya as cele-brations erupted in theRajasthan camp.

Joseph was the costliestbowler having conceded 53runs in three overs.

Earlier, Quinton de Kock hita belligerent 81 as he poweredMumbai Indians to an imposing187 for 5.

South African De Kock wasthe wrecker-in-chief as he ham-mered six fours and four sixes

in his 52-ball knock and got ablesupport from skipper RohitSharma (47 off 32 balls), whomade a comeback after missingout the last Mumbai game dueto a leg injury.

A late cameo from HardikPandya (28 off 11 balls), inwhich smashed three sixes andone fours ensured Mumbaineared the 190-run mark.

Rohit and De Kock took theopposition attack to the clean-ers as the two added 96 for thefirst wicket. They started theonslaught in the third overamassing 18 runs with the SouthAfrican hitting a six and four offKrishnappa Gowtham.

Then Rohit ripped apartpacer Dhawal Kulkarni, strikingthree fours, including a splen-did cover drive, as Mumbaigathered 14 runs from it.

De Kock kept playing shotsat will even as Mumbai reached57/0 after Powerplay period.Then De Kock dispatched spin-ner Liam Livingstone for twosixes over deep mid-wicket asruns came thick and fast. Heraced to his fifty in 34 balls.

Rohit, who struck six foursand a lone six, threw his wick-et away giving a sitter to JosButtler off Jofra Archer.

And then Rajasthan made agood comeback removing SuryaKumar Yadav (16) and KieronPollard (6) to reduce the hoststo 136/3.

Rajasthan bowlers made asplendid comeback as theyremoved De Kock and IshanKishan before the Hardik show.

Meanwhile, it was Rohit's100th match as captain forMumbai Indians (including thenow defunct Champions LeagueT20 games) and it wasMumbai's overall 200th match.

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Delhi Capitals advisor SouravGanguly described Shikhar

Dhawan as one of the best openingbatsmen in the world and revealed thathis franchise was 'desperate' to rope inthe left-hander after he left SunrisersHyderabad.

Back with his home team afterbeing traded, the India openerregained his touch to smash anunbeaten 97 from 63 balls to scriptDelhi Capitals seven-wicket winover Kolkata Knight Riders on Friday.

"Probably he's one of the bestopening batsmen in the world. Wewere desperate for Shikhar Dhawanwhen we heard that he's going to leaveSRH. Good that he is coming off.

"It is an important phase of thetournament. It's good to see Shikharget a good score with the tournamententering the second phase," Gangulysaid at the post-match conference.

"It was more like a ShikharDhawan innings once he gets set, hetakes the game away. He is a class act.He plays exactly the same way whenhe plays for India. He's been scoringconsistently in the shorter format inInternational cricket," he added.

Chasing 179 for victory, Dhawanwas however denied a maiden T20century after Ingram hit the winningruns with a six off Piyush Chawla toseal the win with seven balls to spare.

"Hundreds are not always possi-ble in T20 cricket. The importantthing is to win the match."

Speaking about the upcomingWorld Cup, Ganguly pointed outthat Dhawan was adjudged BestBatsman during India's runners-upfinish at the Champions Trophy 2017.

"World Cup is a different formatbut Shikhar plays very well in England.He is a fantastic one-day cricketer. Hewill do well in the World Cup. He wasthe batsman of the series in theChampions Trophy," said the formerleft-handed batsman.

The win catapulted Delhi to top-four and Ganguly felt that his teambowled exceptionally well.

"We bowled exceptionally well torestrict KKR to 178 for seven, it wasactually a 200-run pitch. We chasedit down easily. It's always great win-ning here," Ganguly said.

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Swashbuckling opener Chris Gaylemissed a well-deserved century

by a whisker, smashing an unbeat-en 99 off 64 balls to power Kings XIPunjab to 173 for four against RoyalChallengers Bangalore here onSaturday.

The 39-year-old West Indian,who had suffered a back spasm afterlast match, carried his bat, record-ing his highest score of this IPL sea-son blasting five sixes and as manyas 10 hits to the fence to single-handedly anchor the Punjab innings.

Invited to bat, Gayle stitched a66-run opening stand off 38 ballswith KL Rahul (18) and kept thescoreboard ticking even though helost partners on the other end at reg-ular intervals.

RCB could have dismissedGayle in the first over itself when hewas hit on the leg by Umesh Yadav

but Kohli didn't go for a DRS andthe West Indian escaped.

Gayle made RCB pay for themistake as he hit a four and six offUmesh's next over, before smashingNavdeep Saini for a boundary.

Rahul joined the party, sendingUmesh for a couple of fours.

In the sixth over, Gayle explod-ed as he welcomed Mohammad Sirajwith a four at long off and followedit up with a six over long-on andanother boundary across cover.

He then pulled another one oversquare leg before sending the ballacross the fine leg as KXIP amassed24 runs to end the powerplay at 60for no loss.

Yuzvendra Chahal was thenintroduced into the attack andRahul lifted him over long-on for a

maximum but the spinner had himstumped in the next delivery to pro-duce a crucial breakthrough.

Back in the team after missingthe last match due to a finger injury,Mayank Agarwal then joined Gayle,who completed his fifty in 28 balls.

Agarwal smashed Chahal overextra cover for a six but the spinneronce again returned to remove thebatsman in the next delivery bycleaning him up with a super deliv-ery.

Sarfaraz Khan (15) and Gaylethen took Punjab across the 100-mark before the former was caughtbehind off Siraj's delivery.

Sam Curran (1) too couldn't staylonger and was removed by MoeenAli as Punjab slipped to 114 for fourin 14th over.

Mandeep Singh (18) then gavecompany to Gayle as the duo pro-vided the late charge, scoring 60 off37 balls.

��� �"��)� Former Indiaopener Virender Sehwag feelsMahendra Singh Dhoni waslet off easily for his angry out-burst on umpire UlhasGandhe and he should havebeen "banned for two tothree games" to set a properexample.

Dhoni was docked only50 percent of his match feesfor entering the field of play

to confront Gandhe for back-tracking on a waist high no-ball.

He has been criticised byone and all but Sehwag is thefirst A list former India crick-eter to demand suspensionfor his one-time teammate.

"I feel Dhoni was let offeasy and should have beenbanned for at least 2-3 games.Because if he did this, tomor-

row another captain can dothe same. Then what is thevalue of an umpire," Sehwag,known for his straight talk,was quoted as saying by the'Cricbuzz' website.

Sehwag didn't mincewords when he said that afitting punishment wouldhave set a precedent.

"I feel he should havebeen banned for a few

games by IPL to set anexample. He should havestayed outside and insteadhave talked to the fourthumpire with the walkietalkie," Sehwag said.

"I feel he shouldn't havecome to the ground whenthere are two CSK membersalready and they were equal-ly inquisitive regarding theno-ball," he opined. PTI

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Table-toppers Chennai SuperKings will look to complete the

double against Kolkata KnightRiders, just like Delhi Capitals did,

when the two teams clash at EdenGardens on Sunday.The home side's con-

sistency has suddenly takena beating after two defeatson the trot, first in Chennaiand then against DelhiCapitals here on Friday.The Knight Riders, hence,would be under immensepressure to arrest the slidewhen they face the mighty Chennai.

Both their defeats exposed KKR's overreliance on Andre Russell, who looked omi-nous, but the opponents figured out a wayto strangulate the Windies powerhitter torestrict the team to below-par totals.

To make matters worse, the Jamaican isa doubtful starter after aggravating his wristinjury that he had sustained in Chennai. Henever looked at ease during his 21-ball 45against Delhi.

He also could not finish his quota of fourovers while bowling and limped off theground. He was not seen during the post-match presentation ceremony too.

"He has a bit of an issue. He braved thatand still went on to play this game. He isalways a special cricketer. We will take a callday after," skipper Dinesh Karthik said aboutthe availability of Russell, who has been theman-of-the-match in three of their four

wins.Russell has been exceptional for KKR

this season with six successive 40-plusscores and it would be a massive blow forthe hosts if they miss him in the back endof the tournament.

Thankfully for KKR, talented young-ster Shubman Gill looked in sublime

form and returned with a 65off 39 balls after being pro-moted to open against DelhiCapitals.

But KKR need their bat-ting to click as a whole,especially skipper DineshKarthik, their leading run-getter last season. He has

been struggling this time with 93 runs ata woeful average of 15.33.

With the Eden surface not helping thespinners much, the spin-oriented attacktoo have struggled to pick wickets whilethe pace attack in Prasidh Krishna andLockie Ferguson looked ordinary.

Karthik, who is also eyeing a WorldCup berth, will be under a lot of pressureto score runs personally and also turn itaround for KKR on the eve of the Indiateam selection.

Under astute captaincy of MahendraSingh Dhoni, Chennai are on a rampagewith six wins out of seven, including threein a row. But in the last match, Dhoni wasin the spotlight for wrong reasons.

This match will take place in the back-drop of the latest IPL controversy but theSuper Kings will be keen to put it behindthem with another dazzling performance.

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Shikhar Dhawan willbe keen to build on to

his new found formahead of the World Cupand also help DelhiCapitals continue theirwinning run in the IPL in theirmatch against Sunrisers Hyderabadhere on Sunday.

A confident Delhi are comingoff two back-to-back victoriesagainst Royal ChallengersBangalore and a strong KolkataKnight Riders outfit.

After Friday's win over KKR,Delhi have climbed to fourth spotwith eight points from sevenmatches and they would not wantto slide down the ladder at any cost.

Dhawan roared back into formwith an unbeaten 97 off 63 balls topower Delhi to a seven-wicket winovers hosts KKR.

Rishabh Pant (46 off 31 balls)also played a perfect second fiddleto Dhawan, curbing his rash shotsand showing immense maturity ina 105-run partnership from 69balls.

Although Dhawan missed outon a well-deserved century, hemust have got his confidence backand he would like to continue thegood job.

Besides Dhawan and Pant,skipper Shreyas Iyer and PrithviShaw have also been among runsand the Delhi batsmen would belooking to fire in unison againstHyderabad.

Even Delhi's bowling unit com-prising Kagiso Rabada, ChrisMorris, Ishant Sharma did well torestrict KKR on a good battingtrack.

In contrast, SunrisersHyderabad have suffered defeats intheir previous two games andwould be desperate to get back towinning ways.

Hyderabad will draw confi-dence from the fact that they hadthrashed Delhi when the two teamsmet last time in Ferozshah Kotla.

Having restricted Delhi to 129for eight, the Sunrisers achieved thetarget in 18.3 overs, handing thehome team a five-wicket defeat.

Although the Sunrisers lookedthreatening in their first three

games when David Warner andJonny Bairstow stitched century-plus stands, once the duo got outcheaply, the Hyderabad middle-order was in complete disarray.

Sunrisers' middle-order fell

apart against Mumbai Indians andKings XI Punjab in their last twogames with the likes of VijayShankar, Manish Pandey, DeepakHooda and Yusuf Pathan falling flat.

On the bowling front, the pacetrio of Bhuvneshwar Kumar,Sandeep Sharma and SiddharthKaul have been decent while theAfghan spin duo of Rashid Khanand Mohammad Nabi have alsobeen impressive in the middleovers.

But they failed to contain KingsXI Punjab batsmen, especially KLRahul, the other day.

Hyderabad will hope that theirbowlers give a good account ofthemselves against the Delhi bats-men on Saturday.

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It is election time in India. The cam-paigns are in full swing. The backdrop tothe elections was too electrifying for thevoters to be missed — a heinous terrorattack on Indian security personnel in

Lethpora, Pulwama, followed by Indian airstrikes on terror camps in Balakot, Pakistan. Amuscular India chose to break out of its self-imposed restraint to launch a counter terrorstrike deep within Pakistani territory, throwing

the nuclear cautionto wind, with a stu-pefied internation-al communityrecognising Indianright to respond.

The media inboth countriesexchanged high-decibel invectivesagainst each otheras the de-escala-tion was choreo-graphed by dis-

parate efforts by friendly countries imposingpressure on Pakistan to behave. Raves andrants aside, the military and political leader-ship in Pakistan beat a hasty retreat. Some ter-ror elements were brought under custody, oth-ers were asked to soften up. The agenciespaused their plans. The temperatures began todrop. The worst was over, or was it?

Between India and Pakistan, there is nodearth of occasions for fighting a war by othermeans. The elections, perhaps, provided thecontext for exchange of barbs and banters. Theairstrikes, called Surgical Strikes 2.0 by some,were subsequently used as a political football inIndia, with nationalism coming to the forespontaneously and pouring out into the elec-toral campaigns through media channels com-peting with one another to nail Pakistan onceand forever. An anti-Pakistan nationalism wasperhaps too obvious to be missed. Those watch-ing elections across the Radcliffe Line inPakistan were not going to miss it.

The elections in India are never followedwith as much interest in Pakistan as is the casetoday, with the campaign for the 17th Lok SabhaElections going on in full swing in different partsof India. Both vernacular and English languagemedia in Pakistan, print and electronic, havejoined the campaigns with their own interpreta-tions of the ongoing electoral festival in India.

There is selective coverage of election related stories to cater to the taste of Pakistanionlooker: Starting from actor Aamir Khanresponding to Prime Minister’s tweets andrumours of Salman Khan joining the Congress,to Hurriyat calling for boycott of elections, andFacebook asked by the Election Commissionerto remove Indian Air Force pilot AbhinandanVarthaman’s photographs.

Politicians from different parties seemed tolook at the Indian elections from similar stand-points. There was uniform criticism of PrimeMinister Narendra Modi’s campaigns. RehmanMalik of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) saidthe entire Indian public is now aware of thefact that their Prime Minister Modi wanted touse the Indian Army to win elections. He evenwent to the extent of saying it through Twitterthat “PM Modi wanted to engineer aBollywood like drama of war and he was mak-ing his video clips in Rajasthan while his oper-ators were implementing Pulwama”.

Communalising the narrative, some othercommentator wrote in The News, citing UttarPradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’sspeeches against the Mughals that “Hindutvagroups had amplified their divisive narrativeand attacks on Muslims and Muslim heritage”.Another observer wrote in The Nations, target-ing Indian politicians as a whole: “Beating thedrums of war is not a new technique for Indianpoliticians; it has become a tradition for theless popular politician to win the support ofpeople, to incite the sentiment of nationalismand jingoism.” Prime Minister Modi, he

warned, “could go to any extent for his seat”.On April 7, addressing the media in

Multan, the Foreign Minister of Pakistan, ShahMehmood Qureshi, came out with a wild alle-gation that India might attack Pakistanbetween April 16 and 20, citing intelligencereports. He went on to say that a Pulwama-likeincident could be staged in Jammu andKashmir to “justify Indian aggression”. He triedto sustain the fear of India in the minds ofPakistani people by saying that the war cloudswere far from over and India might launch anattack any time during the elections. An unsus-pecting media in Pakistan devoured such base-less assertion, flashing it in their headlines.

Qureshi went on to deliberately misinformhis audience in Pakistan that there was ameeting of the Cabinet Committee onSecurity (he misstated as Defence) where theIndian Prime Minister gave a free hand to hisservice chiefs to act against Pakistan to “takethe escalation to a new level”. He even con-nected such action to the Indian elections andassured his audience that his Government wassensitising the international community aboutthis impending threat from India and tellingthem to keep the “flashpoint of this region inmind”. He quietly lent a ‘nuclear dimension’ toit, all in the name of reviving internationalconcerns about Kashmir.

Imran Khan followed suit on April 7. In hisTwitter handle, he put out something which wasrather unwarranted: “BJP’s attempt to win elec-tions through whipping up war hysteria andfalse claims of downing a Pak F 16 has backfired

with US Defence officials also confirming thatno F16 was missing from Pakistan’s fleet.”

Commenting on the BJP manifesto, TheNation wrote editorially on April 9 that removalof Article 35A would be “disastrous”, quotingpoliticians from Kashmir and regarded it as amove to annex Kashmir! It cautioned the BJPfor such reckless policies and said that the party“must pay heed to these challenges. Under itsreign, the Valley has become a burning battle-ground and with this move they intend to reck-lessly escalate the conflict even further”.

There are words of caution as well. Urgingboth countries to scale down their rhetoricand engage each other, a commentator wrotein Daily Times that the polls suggested that“Prime Minister Modi and his Bharatiya JanataParty (BJP) has a slight lead”. However, “nomatter who wins, it will be essential for thewinner to embrace peace rather than war”, toavoid conflict and “potential annihilation oflarge segments of the populations of bothnations”. “A state of peaceful co-existencewould establish the platform for India andPakistan to work on prosperity for their peo-ple,” the commentator argued.

Yet another writer in the same newspaperstated that “Indians ratcheted up the recent ten-sions to improve the electoral prospects of Modiled BJP”, however, he urged both countries toshun the path of hostility and engage in a battle“for human security” which included “quest forclean drinking water, functioning healthcaresystem, high quality education, cheap publictransport, and a level playing field for public

entrepreneurship”. Both India and Pakistan, heargued, “must avoid the Thucydides’ trap wherein case of war both nations lose and millionsdie, in favour of peace and development”.

There is a general sense of alarm hovering inthe air. The Pakistani media argues that“although Indian PM Modi is exploiting thistension to win the General Elections, Pakistancan never be sure about India’s intentions”.

There were even reports of the PakistanMuslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leaders, whowere once rooting for India-Pakistan ties,chastising Imran Khan’s Government for releas-ing the Indian pilot, Abhinandan, in “haste” andfor extending a positive gesture to India byopening Kartarpur border as India would alwaysremain ungrateful. What was the need of takingthe decision to open Kartarpur border when theKashmir issue was still unresolved, some asked.

The weekly Friday Times carried an articleby Muhammad Tahir Iqbal on March 29,where Modi’s election strategy was discussedin detail. The writer argued that after fiveyears, the BJP had not been able to deliver onmany of the promises it made to the people ofIndia and therefore it lost elections in threeIndian States. Realising the party’s decliningpopularity, the party used the Pulwama inci-dent to toe a hard-line on Pakistan to boostits popularity and electoral fortunes, and thisstrategy has paid off, he wrote.

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The vernacular media’s coverage of India in thewake of the elections has been on expected lines,too. One can notice a clear emphasis on Kashmir

in the narrative being circulated by writers in the printmedia. Most commentators alluded to an impendingdanger of India launching an attack and to avoid such asituation, “there is a need to build pressure on India tostop behaving irresponsibly. Pakistan has to protect itsterritory, establish a China made Air Defence Systemon its Eastern border with India and lace the borderwith land-to-air LY-80 missiles and units of IBIS 150Radar for surveillance”. Simultaneously, Pakistanshould continue to uphold the cause of the Kashmirisdespite which Government comes to power in NewDelhi after the elections, it was stated.

Some commentators in the Urdu media gave a freerun to their communal perspective and said that theHindus behaved well when they were kept under subju-gation by Muslims and the British. However, as soon asthey regained power, they made life hell for theMuslims, Dalits and other minorities. During theMuslim rule, one of the commentators asserted, therewere no anti-Hindu riots, but after assuming power, theHindus “carried out more than 5,000 anti-Muslimsriots within a span of 71 years and lowered the status ofMuslims even below the cow”. Editorially, the daily Jangwrote that Pakistan had to be extremely cautiousbecause the Modi Government had created a war-likeenvironment and may resort to even war in the back-drop of the election campaigns in India.

The experts and analysts in the electronic media cut-ting across political parties and ideological persuasionswere also seen to be toeing an anti-Modi line, blaming iton his Right-wing Government for villainising Pakistanfor policy lapses of the Government. Some of them, inthe talk shows, would ridicule Indian politicians for rais-ing the bogey of Pakistan to win votes.

Looking away from excessive focus on PrimeMinister Modi and his party, there were also commentson the Congress party and its leader Rahul Gandhi.There were some who said that Amethi is to theGandhis what Lyari used to be for the Bhuttos. In thelast elections, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari lost Lyari butsaved his face by winning from Larkana. In India, too,the commentator noted that Rahul’s decision to contestfrom Kerala was welcome because there were chancesof his losing Amethi in the face of an aggressive SmritiIrani making an all-out effort to win it this time.Appreciating Rahul’s campaign, Daily Times wrote edi-

torially that his tone “has toughened in recent yearsand more people now see him as an aggressive leadercapable of countering Modi’s Hindutva politics”. Thereis thus a hope that the Opposition led by the Congressparty may see the back of the BJP in the elections andthere might be strong undercurrents at work to upsetthe BJP’s calculations, some averred.

There is also a quiet acknowledgement by variouscommentators on the way the Election Commission ofIndia was going about its job in India and a compari-son was made in a newspaper about the gargantuantask of catering for more than 814.5 million voters (in2014) with a larger percentage of attendance (66.38per cent) vis-à-vis the total number of voters inPakistan, which was only 105.96 million with a lowerpercentage of attendance (51.8 per cent).

Elections or no elections, there is a sense of fear andalarm at the surprise attack that India carried out inresponse to the terror attacks in Pulwama. There is a fearthat the Modi Government would return to power witha more hardline stand vis-à-vis Pakistan and create moreproblems for Pakistan which is labouring under an acutefinancial crisis. There is also concern in certain quartersthat Pakistan’s strategy of using terror as an instrumentof its policy towards India ought to be revised to avertcrises like the one that dragged both countries to a near-nuclear war after Pulwama. A vocal majority of com-mentators in Pakistan, however, endorsed the policy ofextending all possible help to the Kashmiri “freedomfighters” — a euphemism for terrorists funded,equipped, and trained by the Pakistani establishment.This contradiction remains unresolved in Pakistan,given its sustained antipathy towards India.

It is surprising for some, perhaps natural for others,not to find any sane voice in Pakistan, barring a few, tounderstand the Indian concerns about terror being per-petrated by Pakistan-based terror outfits for decades now.Inured by terror strikes at home, many Pakistanis do notquite understand the genuine sense of anger and anxietycaused by cross-border terror strikes among the peoplein India. In a way, the Right-wing turn in Indian politicscan be attributed to popular frustration with the tamereaction of previous Governments to unrepentant spon-sorship of terror by Pakistan for years together.

After a long time perhaps, Pakistan has emerged as animportant factor influencing voters’ choices in India, signi-fying widespread frustration with Pakistan’s strategy ofbleeding India through incessant terror strikes, unattribut-able to the Pakistan’s military, whose unseen hands enablethis vast constituency of armed grouped being readied byPakistan to take on India in an asymmetric low-cost war-fare over the years. That this frustration has been translat-ed into useful political capital now indicates the largertrend in Indian politics favouring strong leadership thatcan take decisive policy measures to deal with perennialthreats sapping the energy of the state, which could bealternatively used to bring peace and prosperity to Indians.

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Ram Navami this year has come during election timeand the first of the seven phases is already over. Thatin every election people try to elect a Government that

meets their aspirations, that is, a good Government.Needless to say that it is this good Government that will deliv-er good governance. In the Indian ethos, Ram Rajya — therule of Lord Ram in Ayodhya in the Treta era — is the epit-ome of good Government. With Lord Ram being alwaystalked about during election times, it is important to lookfor those practices which Lord Ram talked about as deter-minants of good governance. Great examples of wisdom arecontained in stories and discussions of Ramayana. In theValmiki Ramayana, we have Lord Ram in exile, living in theforest. Younger brother Bharat comes home and finds outwhat had happened in his absence and is shocked. He doesnot want his elder brother to be thus banished. So he goesto the forest and requests Shri Ram to return. This itself isa great lesson, given the lust to rule so prevalent today. Theloyalty, the sense of togetherness, the ability to sacrifice one’sown personal gain is rare to find. Shri Ram, before answer-ing his younger brother, enquires about the state of affairsin Ayodhya. This dialogue may be termed as a discourseon good governance. Shri Ram asks Bharat 75 questions:“Are you ruling the kingdom properly? Are you taking careof the elders?” And so on. These questions cover a wide rangeof topics related to governance of kingdoms. The eldestbrother says, “Bharat, you are the king and you are on topno doubt. But the secret of successful administration ismantra (counsel).” The words in Sanskrit are, “Mantro vijaya-moolam hi.” Is the younger brother taking the advice of histeam? Does he have good counsellors in the first place? Inanother stanza in the same section, Shri Ram is almosthumorous. “When you take counsel from people, do yougo for numbers or for quality? One sensible advisor is bet-ter than a thousand idiotic people to go on giving opinions.”There is another lesson on the crucial issue of time man-agement. Shri Ram says, “Do you take up such tasks firstwhere the investment is small but the rewards are high?”When we manage our time, we need to take up such activ-ities first where we put in a little time and the benefits arelarge. Today, we call such jobs ‘high priority jobs.’ One ofthe biggest errors in time management is that we labour onless important matters. Stephen Covey puts it as “doing firstthings first”. Do not yield to urgency. Do not give in to anyother temptations. Do truly important things first. AndShri Ram guides us to do important things first and thendo them in time. Shri Ram also talks on economics. Heasks Bharat, “Is your income larger than the expenditure?”He says, “Bharat, I hope your expenditure is not for thesake of undeserving.” And in the several stanzas that fol-low, he outlines for whom one should spend and for whomone should not. Similarly, there are lessons on all the crit-ical aspects of governance. Who should be our ministers,who should be our advisors, how to dispense justice, etc.If we only take the Ramayana lessons seriously, there willbe no need to hire foreign-trained consultants.

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Just imagine how large theuniverse is and how tiny asoul is, one in seven bil-

lion. Obviously, there areplenty of challenges for a soulin a human body. One isconsidered fortunate if one isborn in a decent family. LordKrishna describes two kindsof superior births, ie one in afamily of pure and prosperousand the other in a family ofwise yogis. Then, He statesthat the first one is rare andthe latter still rarer in thisworld. (The Gita 6.41-42)Now we can imagine that noteveryone will be so fortunate.These births are specialbecause persons born here geta good start in life. Theyqualified because they hadpractised yoga in their previ-ous lives. Now they are able toget back the proper intelli-gence of the previous birthconducive to yoga. Thismeans that they would havethe support of God in theirpresent lives. This is the keyrequirement for an excellentpresent life. Because God canremove all deficiencies a tinysoul faces in this imperma-nent place of miseries. (8.15)

Then, what about the restof us? How are we going tofare? To get the answer, weneed to know a few details ofthe cosmic design. There isGod, and there is His materi-

al creation, which works underHis superintendence. (9.10)God has made the rules andthe divine authorities, whooversee its working, imple-ment them. Essentially, it is the

karmaphala principle. Goodkarmas (deeds) are rewardedand bad ones are punished.These rewards and punish-ments are mainly where onewill be born, ie in what fami-

ly; where, ie place; the level ofintelligence; the looks; mater-ial wealth and opulence, onewill be able to gain etc.

The material creation hasbeen set in motion by God. It

has its own inertia. We, souls,need to adjust to it. One needsto get over the false notion thathe or she is at the centre of theuniverse. Everyone must fall inline, otherwise there will be pun-ishment. The degree of difficul-ty is big. One tries to manage butwithout active help from God,one lives quite an ordinary life.Taking shelter of God is themost important aspect of thecosmic design. Because a soulrequires proper guidance, secu-rity, peace, support, all kinds ofhelp, etc in order to lead a suc-cessful life. These can onlycome from God.

But one must qualify for it.What does one need to do toget this privilege? LordKrishna says take God’s shel-ter in all aspects. (18.62)Worship God with undividedattention, meditating on Him.(9.22) Once we get started onwhat God wishes from us, thenwe are sure to get what will setus apart from the commonman. God will get involved in

our lives. God can do what noone else is capable of doing. Hewill give us the perfect guid-ance, being omniscient. Thus,He will destroy the darknessborn of ignorance by the shin-ing lamp of knowledge. (10.11)Don’t we go wrong because weare mostly ill-informed? Thena tiny soul is always in need ofall kinds of help. God providesthat. (9.22) For example, oneis suffering from a serious dis-ease. God will arrange all helpfor its cure, tolerance, etc.

Not only for tolerance, weneed atmabala for being ableto lead a quality life. Godgives that. He protects as onlyHe can, because He is omnipo-tent. Peace — the elusive prizecomes from God only; those inGod consciousness are privi-leged in this regard. (2.66)Similarly, sukha — the realhappiness as different fromsense pleasures — comesthrough God consciousnessonly. (2.66) God givesshelter/support as only Hecan. And God can forgive ourpast wrongdoings; divineauthorities are not empoweredto do that. Therefore, we maybe tiny and the universe maybe too big, we are well-placedif we are connected with God.After all, He is the everythingof the creation. (7.19)����������� ��������.������� ���������� ���� �������C����������8���

How to become one with thedesire of God? Love meansthat you have no otherdesire except the desire forbeloved Lord Krishna.

Prabhupada explains that people consid-er oneness as having no separate exis-tence from the Lord. But we understandthat real oneness is when we are eternal-ly the servant of the Lord for we have noseparate desire than to please Him.

The devotee begins the stage of tran-scendental unalloyed devotion throughthe process of attentively and eagerlyhearing the message of Krishna con-sciousness from those devotees who aregenuine and sincere. Through submis-sively hearing and rendering service,gradually the ignorance and passion andall of these selfish desires within our heartare removed by the grace of Krishna andthen we can come to the unalloyed state.And what is the first and most importantinstruction: That we are hearing from thegreat souls, and what is the most impor-tant of all services: To sincerely and atten-tively chant the holy names of the Lordin the association of Vaishnavas.

By performing the Sankirtan Yagyaof the holy name in a humble service atti-tude amongst Vaishnavas, gradually allignorance and all passion is removedfrom the heart and we come to the con-sciousness of transcendental prema. SoSrila Prabhupada said, “Just chant HareKrishna” — that is ultimate answer to allof our questions. We must know. It isrepeated throughout the Shastra: Thegravity of offenses against Krishna andhis devotees. We must know clearlywhat will be the reaction upon us if wemake offenses. In fact, Srila Prabhupadaexplains in one such purport of theSrimad Bhagvatam that at one time,Sambha and some of the children ofKrishna offended Narada Muni, ParasaraMuni and by that offense to Vaishnavas,the entire Yadu dynasty was destroyed.

Even if you are directly the sons ofKrishna, if you commit offense againstVaishnavas, you and your whole dynasty

would be annihilated. What to speak ofus? So we must know clearly, howseverely the Lord responds to offenses tothose of you who have an alliance to him.And with this information we must bevery cautious, very careful to control thetongue. And how do we control thetongue? By using it in Krishna’s service,by speaking the glories of Krishna, andby speaking the glories of his devoteesand by chanting his holy names.

And when the tendency comes to crit-icise or to find faults, we should know that

if I speak it then I am committing spiri-tual suicide. At the same time, if I leavemy tongue idle, it is certain to say some-thing nonsense. So, let me keep it busy inglorifying Krishna and glorifying hisdevotees and glorifying his holy names.

Kapiladev explains that devotion inthe mode of ignorance is motivated with

envy or pride. Devotion in the mode ofpassion is when it is motivated by a desireof furtive action and sense gratification.And devotion in the mode of goodnessis for relief from suffering and pain — tobe freed from furtive activities. Andunmotivated transcendental devotion issimply for the pleasure of the Lord. Nowhow to elevate ourselves from the stagesof devotional ignorance, passion, andgoodness to the transcendental state? Itcomes by serving those who are in tran-scendental state and hearing from them.

By regularly hearing SrimadBhagvatam, a book which deals exclusive-ly with unmotivated uninterrupted devo-tional service; by submissively hearingSrimad Bhagvatam from a person who istruly living according to these principalsand by serving such a personality. TheLord within the heart pleased with thatendeavour removes the influences ofignorance and passion from our heart.

A separatist is one who sees his inter-est as separate from that of the SupremeLord. Mixed devotees or devotees in themode of passion and ignorance think thatthe interest of the Supreme Lord is sup-plying the orders of the devotee. Theinterest of such devotees is to withdrawfrom the Lord as much as possible fortheir sense gratification. This is the sep-aratist mentality. So, separateness andoneness is based on the motivation.

The separatist consciousness comeswhen we desire sense gratification. Andthe consciousness of true transcenden-tal oneness is when we simply want toplease Krishna. So as long as we are per-forming the service with some materi-al selfish motivation in our heart, thatis the separatist mentality. How to freeourselves from that mentality? Theanswer lies in the chanting of the holynames of the Lord as follows:

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While commemorating the128th birth anniversary

of Dr Bhimrao RamjiAmbedkar today, one can cer-tainly proclaim that he was noless a prophet who lived,inspired and left a legacy formillions on this planet. Thebest part of his life and times,unlike any other leaders, is thathe continues to remain broad-ly relevant at the heart of notonly the Dalit community, butalso among those who struggleto live a dignified life in soci-ety.

What Ambedkar hadfought for is a set of entrenchedsocial differences, discrimina-tions, inequalities in socio-religious traditions ofHinduism. Sad part of casteismis that it is being practiced forgenerations without any com-punction. And, hence the pat-terns and various modes of thisage old system are reproducedagain and again, simply tocontinue it for depriving alarge section of society.

The very essence ofAmbedkar lies in the fact thatthroughout his political phi-losophy, social preceded thepolitical elements. He was nei-ther a staunch individualistphilosopher like many that weexperience in the Westernpolitical tradition, nor a con-servative communitarian.

While discussing variousaspects of Ambedkar’s philos-ophy, it would remain incom-plete if we don’t bring out hisinteraction with MahatmaGandhi. Arrival of Ambedkarto India’s freedom struggleagainst the British Raj itself isquite significant. He tried toarticulate an alternative polit-ical ideology by challenging thecore credentials of the existingnationalist movement thensolely spearheaded by Gandhi.On several occasions, heargued with Gandhi to put anend to the scourge of “untouch-ability” before India receivesfreedom from the British colo-nial yoke. When Gandhi’sprime strategy of the liberationmovement was aimed at“British leaving India”,Ambedkar thought he wassimply doing lip service bylaunching various programmesto eliminate untouchabilityinstead of addressing the rootcauses of an issue that is deeply

embedded to Hinduism.Therefore, for Ambedkar,Gandhi’s loyalty to Hinduismwas an hindrance to eradica-tion of untouchability.

Further, Ambedkar alsocriticised Gandhi for eulogis-ing the Indian villages as illus-trative of unique units of social,economic and political equi-librium. He advocated that“Indian villages represent akind of colonialism of theHindus designed to exploitthe untouchables. Theuntouchables have no rights.They are there only to wait,serve and submit. They arethere to do or die. They have norights because they are outsidethe village republic and becausethey are outside the so-calledrepublic, they are outside theHindu fold. This is a viciouscircle. But this is a fact, whichcannot be gainsaid.”

Thus, Ambedkar rebuffedGandhi on the idea of the vil-lage republic as this is theplace where Dalits encounterextreme levels of exploitation inthe form of master-servantrelationship laced with pollu-tion and purity.

Ambedkar’s anguish wasthat Gandhi could have cer-tainly resolved the issue ofuntouchability, but he did not.The two of the most importantnon-violent historic weaponsthat Gandhi used against theBritish were Satyagraha andfasting. And to his credit, hehad conducted altogether 21fasts throughout the course ofIndia’s struggle forIndependence. But Ambedkarretorted that “In these 21 fasts,there is not one undertaken forthe removal of untouchability.”He also observed, “But MrGandhi has never used theweapon of Satyagraha againstthe Hindus to get them tothrow open wells and templesto the untouchables.”

Therefore, he most elo-quently put it that “The Hindusociety insists on segregation ofthe untouchables…It is not acase of social separation, amere stoppage of social inter-course for a temporary period.It is a case of territorial segre-gation.”

This all forced Ambedkarto demand a separate electoratefor the untouchables in thelines of Muslims, which was

conceded by the IndianNational Congress. He defend-ed such an electorate for theuntouchables by highlightingthat since voting was severelyrestricted by property and edu-cational qualifications, the geo-graphically highly disparatedepressed classes were unlike-ly to have any influence in thedecision-making process. Itindicates that for Ambedkarthe untouchables were com-pletely outside the fold of theHindu society. Hence theirpolitical representation shouldonly be done in the mode ofseparate electorate both forthe Central and ProvincialLegislatures.

However, Gandhi declinedto accept separate electorate forthe untouchables as he believedit to be an integral part ofHindus. That is why he wasready to give them reservedseats in general constituen-cies. Meanwhile when theBritish Government endorsedAmbedkar’s separate electorateproposal in the historicCommunal Award of 1932,Gandhi went on to fast insidethe Yervada jail in Poona.Finally, the historic Poona Pactwas signed between Gandhiand Ambedkar, according towhich the latter had to accept

the reservation of seats forDalits within the caste-Hinduelectoral constituencies.

His famous book,“Annihilation of Caste” pub-lished in 1936, Ambedkar start-ed a public debate by askingwhy the upper-caste Hindustend to treat their fellow beingswith aversion and prevent themfrom taking part in publicactivities along with them. Forhim, “The real enemy is not thepeople who observe caste, butthe Shastras that teach themthis religion of caste.”

With serious differenceswith Gandhi, and his generalaversions towards Hinduism,Ambedkar publicly convertedhimself to Buddhism onOctober 14, 1956, atDeekshabhoomi, Nagpur. Thisspearheaded a new DalitBuddhist movement acrossIndia in later years.

Today politics is all aboutcaste, race, religion, polarisa-tion and mudslinging. Politicalnarratives are crystallised inand around larger identitiesbased on these very lines.Ideology has taken a back seatin political discourses.Parliament is merely used topropagate narrow party goalsand hurling insulting words atpolitical rivals. Leaders hardly

deliver speeches; neither arethey engaged in peaceful,respectful and meaningful dia-logues. They are all in a con-tinuous race to stay in thepower corridors so as to safe-guard their power, prestigeand property of course fornow and future.

At such a critical juncture,political leaders of all huesmust be inspired by whatAmbedkar practiced and howhe amalgamated varioussources to leave behind theworld’s largest writtenConstitution to us. In fact, hedid this Herculean task inalmost three years of rigorousdebate, discussion and dia-logue in the historicConstituent Assembly ofBritish India.

Ambedkar will certainly berevered as the “RenaissanceMan” of Indian politicalthought who had fearlesslyspoken out for the downtrod-den and had helped them setforth their arduous journeyonly and only for liberty, equal-ity, and dignity. He is truly a“polymath” in the same sense,when the concept was enunci-ated first by German philoso-pher Von Wowern in the year1603: “It is the knowledge ofvarious matters, drawn from all

kinds of studies…rangingfreely through all the fields ofthe disciplines, as far as thehuman mind, with unweariedindustry, is able to pursuethem.”

Ambedkar, like many otherDalit activists and philoso-phers, had just started the longjourney of reclaiming equalityin largely caste-divided Indiansociety. Surprisingly, it is amyth why caste system in thiscountry remains endured evenafter years of anti-caste move-ments, social awareness cam-paigns and reformist strug-gles and lastly prohibition ofuntouchability by theConstitution of this country.Caste survives despite global-isation, scientific developmentand mass political mobilisationof the Dalits.

Needless to say that castesystem against whichAmbedkar fought throughouthis life is a contested terrain.

What he tried to preachand profess in India was noother than his great learninglessons from his professorsback in Columbia University inthe US. He was mostly influ-enced by John Dewey, EdwinSeligman, James HarveyRobinson and AlexanderGoldenweiser. What flowed

from his work in political lifeindicated that his philosophi-cal narratives had a seriousimpact of Dewey and the pro-gressivist and modernistZeitgeist that prevailed inAmerica during those days.Many say that Dewey couldeven be regarded as a “Guru”of Ambedkar, if at all he hadone.

India’s Dalit communityshould not look forward to thereincarnation of Ambedkar,but in due course of time,each member of it must trans-form himself/herself to anAmbedkar so as to put an endto the evils of the existingcaste system. Untouchabilitymust go in entirety. The dinand noise sounded by many ofthe helpless Dalits who stillundergo subjugation, humilia-tion, mental and physical tor-ture should be over by now.What needs to be underlinedhere is that Dalits must be eco-nomically empowered to fightout what comes on their way indaily life. Mere political repre-sentation and a reservationsystem used by few Dalitswould neither uplift the wholecommunity nor this could sup-port them struggling againstthe regular curse of untouch-ability.

Lastly, Ambedkar’s essencelies in heralding a systemicchange, instead of craving forpolitical freedom. To bringthis in and practice his philos-ophy in true sense of the term,along with massive socio-polit-ical awareness, economicstrength of the Dalit commu-nity must be enhanced. Unlessthey move in this direction,they will be struggling in thesame old and humiliating grad-ed system, constructed andreconstructed over the ages,despite the world being “Flat”for the rest of the humanity.Instead of arguing for radicalchange in the Indian social sys-tem, a “piecemeal engineering”can be much better in findinga way to achieve “social engi-neering” for the Dalits andtheir brethren in the days tocome. The annihilation of thecaste may take longer, butnimble steps towards the samecan start from right now.

(The writer is an expert oninternational affairs)

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Thanks to the proposal for theuniversal basic income, it has

become a topic for discussion asone-fifth population of this countryare living below the poverty line.

It is entirely another matter thatthe quantum of income prescribedto stay above this line has histori-cally remained a point of con-tention among economists andpoliticians. However, while debatingthe poverty line, we often forget thatanother one-fifth of the populationare living on the mercy of naturalcalamity, in the form of failed mon-soon, to find themselves back intothe the poverty line bracket.

Against this backdrop, there isno questioning the moral case forthe state to intervene in support ofthe poor. As a welfare state, theobjective is to ensure the reach ofpublic goods to the maximumnumber of people, not only toimprove their lives but also toincrease their capabilities to earn abetter livelihood.

The access to public goodssuch as primary education, health,sanitation, nutrition, and housing topeople who cannot afford it providesan equitable opportunity for every-one to improve the overall qualityof their life.

The Indian version of neoliberalgrowth borrowed from Washington

consensus and propelled bydemands from middle-incomegroups — who could afford whitegoods and fast moving consumergoods — has contributed signifi-cantly to transforming the economyfrom $400 billion to $2.7 trillion inthe last two decades. However, it hasfailed to make any noticeable dentin the income inequality existing inthe life of people struggling for sur-vival at the bottom of the econom-ic pyramid, raising a serious ques-tion mark on the inclusiveness of thegrowth despite dispensing a long listof welfare schemes to target the eco-nomically marginalised section ofthe population.

We do not need to look beyondthe findings of 2018 human devel-opment Index (HDI) released by theUnited Nations DevelopmentProgramme for validation. Between1990 and 2017, India’s HDI valueincreased from 0.427 to 0.640, analmost 50 per cent increase, whichis “an indicator that millions havebeen lifted out of poverty.”

At the same time, in what sig-nals the glaring inequality in thecountry, the HDI value declines bymore than a fourth when adjustedfor inequality. The value of India’siInequality-adjusted HDI (IHDI)falls to 0.468, a 26.8 per centdecrease, far worse than the global

average decrease in the global HDIvalue due to inequality at 20 percent.

Against the backdrop of this sta-tistical truth, the proposal for intro-ducing minimum income guaran-tee scheme to address the issue ofpoverty seems a clear reflection on

cumulative failure on the part ofpolitical and intellectual leaders tomeet the twin challenges of allevi-ating poverty and reducing incomeinequality.

Notwithstanding the state’smoral obligation towards the poor,the proposal seems to concede that

the state has so far failed miserablyin countering this twin challenge.

In that case, there is a strongcase for the state to withdraw itselffrom the active role of providingpublic services and allow the poorto find the best alternative availablein the market. However, given the

dismal track record of the market incatering to the needs of the poorestof the poor, expecting it to fill thegap created by the withdrawal of thestate seems a pipe dream.

In the absence of any sunsetclause or distinct feature to identi-fy the beneficiaries who succeed inclimbing themselves out of pover-ty, the scheme of direct cash trans-fer as an income support welfaremeasure and as a potent tool ofempowerment does not sound con-vincing even on paper.

In comparison, diverting moneyin creating economic assets — pri-mary & affordable health care,quality education, decent housing,access to low-cost capital —thatcould help in reducing the existinginequality in opportunities could bethe more viable option for the state.These assets help in the creation ofmore opportunities for people toearn a respectable income alongwith basic social security.

For example, inequality inopportunity is most troubling whenit is not the result of effort or talentbut instead is determined by theexternal circumstances. Let us havea look at the difference in circum-stances under which a child mightgrow up.

One child attends a well-rungrade school and high school and

heads on to college, while parentshelp out by supporting educationand other interests, paying for col-lege, a first car, and a first house, andoffering work connections that leadto internships and jobs. Whereas,another child attends a poorly rungrade school, barely makes itthrough a low-quality high school,does not go to college, and lacksfamily and peer support. Thesetwo children may be similar in theirunderlying talents and the effortthey put forth, but their economicoutcomes are likely to be entirelydifferent.

Welfare measures through pub-lic policy can attempt to build a lad-der of opportunities so that, eventhough all children will never comefrom identical families and attendsame schools, each child has a rea-sonable opportunity to attain aneconomic niche in the society basedon their interests, desires, talents,and efforts.

The success of any welfare ini-tiative depends on whether itimproves the lives of people at thebottom of the pyramid. Any initia-tive that fails to achieve the avowedobjective is nothing but doles in thegarb of welfare schemes.

(The writer is an IRS officer.Views expressed are personal.)

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Last year, a lady worried about heryounger sister’s marriage, cameasking: “Some pundits say that my

sister’s marriage is cursed as bothJupiter and Rahu occupy angular hous-es. For redressal, they are suggestingsome belief-driven puja, that may costheavy. Please tell me if she is reallycursed, and if so, what is the way for-ward?” At the outset, let me assure youthat your sister’s marriage is promisedbut is unduly delayed. There is nothinglike marriage being cursed, calling forremedial exercise thereto. Ordinarily,with Jupiter in the 7th house identifiedwith marriage, indicates early marriage.At the same time, what also needs to becounted is that 7th lord Saturn occupiesthe 4th house, which implies that shebecomes due for marriage after com-pleting 30. Following which, she mayget married when astrological parame-ters — dasha and transit of planets —become favourable.

“But she has completed 33 by now.Yet she is not married despite our bestefforts. We are losing patience. All herfriends are married and have becomemothers by now. Why she alone has beenleft out? Would it not mean that her

marriage is cursed,” the lady submitted. Not at all. In nature’s plan, there is

nothing like being rewarded or cursed.All that happens in life is a reflection ofKarmic carryover. And if there is delayin marriage, it is there with a purpose.Bear in mind: Just getting married is notenough; it should be stable and harmo-nious. Many a times, nature wishes youto allow enough time and space so thatgoing through the lessons of life, youbecome mature enough to negotiate thesubtleties of marriage with ease. As asister, you may be aware of her outerdemeanour, but not her frame of mind.So, such tendencies as would not be vis-ible, which could prove detrimental tomarital happiness may not be known.She needs to address them before get-ting married, and that comes with time.Hence the delay. A look at her astrologi-cal pointers will make things clear.

But before I detail your sister’s atti-tudinal issues, let me first try to figureout the probable timeline for her mar-riage. She was running Jupiter-Mercuryperiod when she completed 30. The twobeing opposite each other, could notfacilitate marriage. Jupiter-Ketu periodtoo that followed was not congenial for

marriage, as the two are placed adverseto each other. Towards 2017 end, beganJupiter-Venus period, which being ben-eficially aligned to each other promisesmarriage. More so, because both ofthem occupy the nakshatra owned byMoon posited in the 11th house identi-fied with fulfilment of desires. At thatpoint of time, Jupiter transited the 4thhouse, where it joined natal Saturn andKetu. Jupiter locking horns with thesetwo planets in the natal chart did notfavour success. Doors open for her mar-riage in October 2018 when transitJupiter moves to Scorpio sign, wherefrom it extends its benevolent aspect onboth Venus and Moon. Within a yearthereafter, she may get a suitable match.

Let us now come to her personalitytraits, particularly the negatives, thatcould unsettle marital happiness. TheSun and Venus are ill-disposed off toeach other, making her emotionallyvolatile and also subject to unpredictablemood swings. She may get over-exer-cised even on trivial issues, which shemay overstretch beyond due. Moonopposite Uranus makes her impatientand gives her a mercurial temperament;and placed adverse to Pluto makes hervulnerable to violent temper. Intelligencesignifying Mercury placed adverse to

Jupiter, Saturn, and Neptune, in the firstplace, accounts for lack of clarity invision and thought. Second, fixated one-track mind, and critical of others. Third,impaired reasoning and judgment.Jupiter ill-disposed off to Neptunebrings in peculiar beliefs. It may alsomean indiscrete financial handling.Venus opposite Uranus may cause lot ofconflict in terms of approach to life.

The positives in her are no less, butthey need to be consciously invoked andapplied. In personal life, however, thepartners take each other for granted, andin the usual flow, don’t allow time andspace for applying proper forethoughtbefore reacting or responding. So, sheneeded enough time to resolve her habittendencies and hence the delay. If by anychance, she would have got marriedearly, it would have failed. The lady wentaway carrying hopes. As luck would haveit, only yesterday, I was informed that hermarriage is now settled, and will besolemnised in coming July.

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