rni regn. no. chheng/2012/42718, postal reg. no. - ryp dn/34/2013-2015 ... victory as the supreme...

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A head of the crucial floor test by ousted Uttarakhand Chief Minister Harish Rawat on Tuesday, the Congress smelt victory as the Supreme Court refused to allow the nine dis- qualified rebel Congress MLAs to vote. After excluding the nine disqualified MLAs, the Assembly has an effective strength of 61 members. Of that, the Congress has 27 MLAs on its own and claims the backing of the six-member PDF to make the ruling side’s figure of 33. The PDF comprises two MLAs of the BSP, one of Uttarakhand Kranti Dal and three Independents. Rawat needs the backing of 31 MLAs for a simple majority. The BJP has 28 MLAs, including that of Bhim Lal Arya whose loyalty is in doubt. A specially-convened two- hour-long session during which the President’s Rule will be kept in abeyance will be held between 11 am and 1 pm for the “single agenda” of the floor test, a Bench of Justices Dipak Misra and Shiva Kirti Singh had said on Friday. The day did not start on a good note for the nine dis- qualified MLAs as the Uttarakhand High Court dis- missed their petitions chal- lenging the Speaker’s action to disqualify them. The MLAs then rushed to the SC, which took up their case after 12.30 pm. Senior advocate CA Sundaram appearing for the nine MLAs argued that their disqualification was not prop- er as the HC proceeded on the basis of a letter signed by them along with 27 BJP MLAs that was written to the Governor expressing dissatisfaction with the Chief Minister and Speaker of the House for not allowing a division on the passing of the Appropriation Bill. Sundaram said, “I am fully within my right to dissent with the Chief Minister as part of intra-party democracy. But to treat my dissent to mean that I have left the party is a wrong reading of the law and hence the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution relating to dis- qualification will not hold good.” He further urged the court to consider that disqualification will only set in if they voted against the Appropriation Bill. But since the Bill was stated to have been passed, there was no proof of anti-party activity on their part, Sundaram added. The Bench of Justices Dipak Misra and Shiva Kirti Singh issued a notice on the petition but Sundaram pressed for stay of their disqualification in order to participate in the floor test. He argued, “The purpose of the court lifting President’s Rule and ordering a floor test as an extraordinary step is to get an idea of the ground real- ity. This purpose will get fur- thered if my disqualification is stayed for the period of two hours when the voting takes place and the result is placed in a sealed cover in the court.” Continued on Page 4 A dmission to all under- graduate medical and den- tal courses in the country will now only be through the National Eligibility Entrance Test (NEET). Ordering this on Monday, the Supreme Court invalidated all other exams, conducted by States, private colleges, deemed colleges, and association of management of private colleges. “Only NEET would enable students to get admission to MBBS or BDS studies,” a Bench of Justices Anil R Dave, Shiva Kirti Singh and Adarsh K Goel said. The Court also gave a big concession to medical aspirants by allowing those students who already gave NEET-I on May 1 to re-appear for the second phase of NEET, which is tenta- tively fixed for July 24. The court also directed that the Oversight Committee constituted recent- ly by a Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court to monitor functions of Medical Council of India (MCI), will oversee the conduct of NEET-II. “We direct all such eligible candidates who could not appear in NEET-I and those who had appeared but have apprehension that they had not prepared well, be permit- ted to appear in NEET-II, sub- ject to seeking an option from the said candidates to give up their candidature for NEET-I,” the Bench said. The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), the agency that conducts NEET, informed the Court that over 6.5 lakh students appeared for NEET-I. This number is expected to rise to over nine lakh if the registered students are given a fresh chance to appear with those who apply fresh under the NEET. Realising the logistic constraints and other factors that may go into conducting the exam on such a large scale, the Bench directed, “It would be open to the respondent (CBSE) to reschedule the date of holding NEET-II, if neces- sary.” The order brought a close to the proceedings that went on for days in which private col- leges and States opposed NEET’s implementation this year. The States felt that stu- dents will be put to hardship as the common entrance test of States are held in vernacular languages, unlike NEET that was held in English and Hindi. Continued on Page 4 Kathmandu: Nepal has dis- missed rumours that the Government was mulling expulsion of Indian envoy Ranjit Rae as “baseless” and aimed at damaging bilateral ties. Media speculation was rife that the Nepalese Government was mulling Rae’s expulsion in the backdrop of cancellation of President Bidhya Devi Bhandari’s maiden foreign visit to India and the controversy surrounding the recall of Nepal’s envoy to India Deep Kumar Upadhyay by the Nepalese Government. Media reports had sug- gested the Government was preparing to declare Rae per- sona non-grata (PNG), mean- ing his diplomatic immunity would be withdrawn. However, the Nepalese Government rubbished such rumours with Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Kamal Thapa terming them as “baseless”. “Some media speculation regarding Nepal Govt mulling expulsion of Indian Ambassador Rae is baseless and aimed at damaging Nepal- India relations,” Thapa tweeted. Nepal’s Ambassador to India Upadhyay has continued to stay put in his post in New Delhi, two days after his coun- try’s Government was said to have ordered his recall, and was reported to have denied he had colluded with India to topple the KP Oli dispensation back home. Nepal had on Friday can- celled the visit of its President to India hardly 72 hours before her departure for Delhi. Though no reason was assigned for cancellation of the trip, it was believed to indicate Nepal’s unhappiness with India over the latter’s alleged meddling in the internal affairs of the Himalayan nation. PTI T he BJP on Monday released copies of BA and MA degrees of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and sought apology from Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for making baseless charges against the PM. The AAP hit back saying the documents were “forged” and had “glaring discrepancies” in them. At a Press conference, BJP President Amit Shah and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley released the graduation degree taken from Delhi University and the masters’ degree from Gujarat University. The two leaders launched a blistering attack on Kejriwal accusing him of lowering the pub- lic discourse by spreading “lies” and substitut- ing governance with “politics of adventurism”. They demanded an apology from him. Shah and Jaitley alleged Kejriwal has tried to turn a “lie” into truth by running a campaign to mislead peo- ple of the country. (Details on page 5) T he Supreme Court on Monday agreed for a con- ditional relaxation of its order banning diesel taxis from ply- ing in Delhi and National Capital Region (NCR) if the Delhi Government, the Environment Pollution Control Authority and the taxi owners association give a con- crete road map by Tuesday for phasing out diesel taxis. The Court hinted that it was even open to modifying its order banning registration of new diesel cars above 2000 cc in Delhi-NCR. "Primarily, we are of the view that diesel vehicles cause more pollution than other vehi- cles. We may be right, we may be wrong. We are open to mod- ifying it," said the Bench of Chief Justice TS Thakur, Justices AK Sikri and R Banumathi. "We may start a symbolic cess on any person who is buy- ing a diesel vehicle which would be a one-time cess. What should be the scale, price, engine capacity is the thing to be deliberated upon. There has to be a rational basis to decide that," the Bench said. Affected by the ban on diesel cabs, IT industry body National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM), which earlier wrote to the Centre that the ban had severe- ly affected BPO sector which employed more than two lakh people, appeared in the court through senior advocate Kapil SIbal to state its grievance. T he ruckus over Prime Minister Narendra Modi allegedly naming Congress president Sonia Gandhi in the AgustaWestland scam during election rallies in Kerala and Tamil Nadu consumed the proceedings of Rajya Sabha on Monday and threatened to derail the passage of several key legislations in the four remain- ing days of the Budget Session. Taking exception to the Prime Minister’s charge dur- ing election rallies last week that an Italian court had named Sonia Gandhi in con- nection with the AgustaWestland helicopter scandal, the Congress stalled proceedings in the Upper House. The party also plans to move the appropriate motion against the Prime Minister (PM) over his alleged charge that an Italian court named Sonia Gandhi in the AgustaWestland case. Rajya Sabha member Shantaram Naik (Congress) gave notice of breach of privi- lege against Modi and Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar to the Chairman Hamid Ansari under Rule 187 and 188. He said the PM has made a “wild charge” against UPA leaders alleging that they had taken money in the purchase of heli- copters. Naik also claimed Parrikar misled the House by reading out a long prepared statement making wild charges to be used by the PM during his election rally. The agitated Congress MPs demanded a statement and an apology from Modi and did not allow the Rajya Sabha to function. T he installed power gen- eration capacity of the State-owned power com- panies has jumped from 2424.70 MW to 2927.70 MW which includes 500 MW of commercial power produced from Madwa Project in Janjgir-Champa district, officials said here on Monday. Notably, Chhattisgarh is set to retain the 'power surplus' tag for another 4 to 5 years as the State Government along with the Chhattisgarh State Power Distribution Company Ltd (CSPDCL) has inked long-term MoUs with several power pro- ducers, they stated. "With power genera- tion contributions from Central sector, private pro- ducers and renewable ener- gy sector, Chhattisgarh will have power supply avail- ability of about 3656 MW during the coming three years," CSPDCL Managing Director Ankit Anand said. While maintaining the status of 'zero power cut State', the highest power demand in Chhattisgarh has been registered at 4000 MW while the power pro- duction from various sources here has been 4612 MW, he informed. "NTPC plants generate 1026 MW, NSPCL gives 50 MW, renewable energy sources contribute 271 MW, Nuclear Power Corporation provides 48 MW while pri- vate power producers add 292 MW electricity in State's power kitty," the MD said. Referring to Plant Load Factor (PLF) of different power plants in Chhattisgarh, he said that on an average, most of the units have completed 50 years of their establish- ment. However, their PLF has been registered at 76 per cent, he said, adding that that is more than the national average. RNI Regn. No. CHHENG/2012/42718, Postal Reg. No. - RYP DN/34/2013-2015

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Page 1: RNI Regn. No. CHHENG/2012/42718, Postal Reg. No. - RYP DN/34/2013-2015 ... victory as the Supreme Court refused to allow the nine dis- ... Kathmandu: Nepal has dis-missed rumours that

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Ahead of the crucial floortest by ousted Uttarakhand

Chief Minister Harish Rawaton Tuesday, the Congress smeltvictory as the Supreme Courtrefused to allow the nine dis-qualified rebel Congress MLAsto vote.

After excluding the ninedisqualified MLAs, theAssembly has an effectivestrength of 61 members. Ofthat, the Congress has 27 MLAson its own and claims thebacking of the six-memberPDF to make the ruling side’sfigure of 33.

The PDF comprises twoMLAs of the BSP, one ofUttarakhand Kranti Dal andthree Independents. Rawatneeds the backing of 31 MLAsfor a simple majority.

The BJP has 28 MLAs,including that of Bhim LalArya whose loyalty is in doubt.

A specially-convened two-hour-long session duringwhich the President’s Rule willbe kept in abeyance will be heldbetween 11 am and 1 pm forthe “single agenda” of the floortest, a Bench of Justices DipakMisra and Shiva Kirti Singhhad said on Friday.

The day did not start on agood note for the nine dis-qualified MLAs as theUttarakhand High Court dis-missed their petitions chal-lenging the Speaker’s action todisqualify them. The MLAsthen rushed to the SC, whichtook up their case after 12.30pm.

Senior advocate CASundaram appearing for thenine MLAs argued that theirdisqualification was not prop-er as the HC proceeded on the

basis of a letter signed by themalong with 27 BJP MLAs thatwas written to the Governorexpressing dissatisfaction withthe Chief Minister and Speakerof the House for not allowinga division on the passing of theAppropriation Bill.

Sundaram said, “I am fullywithin my right to dissent withthe Chief Minister as part ofintra-party democracy. But totreat my dissent to mean thatI have left the party is a wrongreading of the law and hence

the Tenth Schedule of theConstitution relating to dis-qualification will not holdgood.”

He further urged the courtto consider that disqualificationwill only set in if they votedagainst the Appropriation Bill.But since the Bill was stated tohave been passed, there was noproof of anti-party activity ontheir part, Sundaram added.

The Bench of JusticesDipak Misra and Shiva KirtiSingh issued a notice on the

petition but Sundaram pressedfor stay of their disqualificationin order to participate in thefloor test.

He argued, “The purposeof the court lifting President’sRule and ordering a floor testas an extraordinary step is toget an idea of the ground real-ity. This purpose will get fur-thered if my disqualification isstayed for the period of twohours when the voting takesplace and the result is placed ina sealed cover in the court.”

Continued on Page 4

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Admission to all under-graduate medical and den-

tal courses in the country willnow only be through theNational Eligibility EntranceTest (NEET). Ordering thison Monday, the Supreme Courtinvalidated all other exams,conducted by States, privatecolleges, deemed colleges, andassociation of management ofprivate colleges.

“Only NEET would enablestudents to get admission toMBBS or BDS studies,” a Benchof Justices Anil R Dave, ShivaKirti Singh and Adarsh K Goelsaid.

The Court also gave a bigconcession to medical aspirantsby allowing those students whoalready gave NEET-I on May 1to re-appear for the secondphase of NEET, which is tenta-tively fixed for July 24. The courtalso directed that the OversightCommittee constituted recent-ly by a Constitution Bench ofthe Supreme Court to monitorfunctions of Medical Council ofIndia (MCI), will oversee theconduct of NEET-II.

“We direct all such eligiblecandidates who could notappear in NEET-I and thosewho had appeared but haveapprehension that they hadnot prepared well, be permit-ted to appear in NEET-II, sub-ject to seeking an option fromthe said candidates to give up

their candidature for NEET-I,”the Bench said.

The Central Board ofSecondary Education (CBSE),the agency that conductsNEET, informed the Courtthat over 6.5 lakh studentsappeared for NEET-I. Thisnumber is expected to rise toover nine lakh if the registeredstudents are given a freshchance to appear with thosewho apply fresh under theNEET. Realising the logisticconstraints and other factorsthat may go into conductingthe exam on such a large scale,

the Bench directed, “It wouldbe open to the respondent(CBSE) to reschedule the dateof holding NEET-II, if neces-sary.”

The order brought a closeto the proceedings that went onfor days in which private col-leges and States opposedNEET’s implementation thisyear. The States felt that stu-dents will be put to hardship asthe common entrance test ofStates are held in vernacularlanguages, unlike NEET thatwas held in English and Hindi.

Continued on Page 4

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Kathmandu: Nepal has dis-missed rumours that theGovernment was mullingexpulsion of Indian envoyRanjit Rae as “baseless” andaimed at damaging bilateral ties.

Media speculation was rifethat the Nepalese Governmentwas mulling Rae’s expulsion inthe backdrop of cancellation ofPresident Bidhya DeviBhandari’s maiden foreign visitto India and the controversysurrounding the recall ofNepal’s envoy to India DeepKumar Upadhyay by theNepalese Government.

Media reports had sug-gested the Government waspreparing to declare Rae per-sona non-grata (PNG), mean-

ing his diplomatic immunitywould be withdrawn.

However, the NepaleseGovernment rubbished suchrumours with Deputy PrimeMinister and Foreign MinisterKamal Thapa terming themas “baseless”.

“Some media speculationregarding Nepal Govt mullingexpulsion of IndianAmbassador Rae is baselessand aimed at damaging Nepal-India relations,” Thapa tweeted.

Nepal’s Ambassador toIndia Upadhyay has continuedto stay put in his post in NewDelhi, two days after his coun-try’s Government was said tohave ordered his recall, and wasreported to have denied he hadcolluded with India to topple theKP Oli dispensation back home.

Nepal had on Friday can-celled the visit of its Presidentto India hardly 72 hours beforeher departure for Delhi.Though no reason was assignedfor cancellation of the trip, itwas believed to indicate Nepal’sunhappiness with India over thelatter’s alleged meddling in theinternal affairs of theHimalayan nation. PTI

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The BJP on Monday released copies of BA andMA degrees of Prime Minister Narendra

Modi and sought apology from Delhi ChiefMinister Arvind Kejriwal for making baselesscharges against the PM.

The AAP hit back saying the documents were“forged” and had “glaring discrepancies” inthem.

At a Press conference, BJP President AmitShah and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley releasedthe graduation degree taken from DelhiUniversity and the masters’ degree from GujaratUniversity.

The two leaders launched a blistering attackon Kejriwal accusing him of lowering the pub-lic discourse by spreading “lies” and substitut-ing governance with “politics of adventurism”.They demanded an apology from him. Shah andJaitley alleged Kejriwal has tried to turn a “lie”into truth by running a campaign to mislead peo-ple of the country. (Details on page 5)

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The Supreme Court onMonday agreed for a con-

ditional relaxation of its orderbanning diesel taxis from ply-ing in Delhi and NationalCapital Region (NCR) if theDelhi Government, theEnvironment PollutionControl Authority and the taxiowners association give a con-crete road map by Tuesday forphasing out diesel taxis. TheCourt hinted that it was evenopen to modifying its order

banning registration of newdiesel cars above 2000 cc inDelhi-NCR.

"Primarily, we are of theview that diesel vehicles causemore pollution than other vehi-cles. We may be right, we maybe wrong. We are open to mod-ifying it," said the Bench ofChief Justice TS Thakur, JusticesAK Sikri and R Banumathi.

"We may start a symboliccess on any person who is buy-ing a diesel vehicle whichwould be a one-time cess.What should be the scale, price,

engine capacity is the thing tobe deliberated upon. Therehas to be a rational basis todecide that," the Bench said.

Affected by the ban ondiesel cabs, IT industry bodyNational Association ofSoftware and ServicesCompanies (NASSCOM),which earlier wrote to theCentre that the ban had severe-ly affected BPO sector whichemployed more than two lakhpeople, appeared in the courtthrough senior advocate KapilSIbal to state its grievance.

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The ruckus over PrimeMinister Narendra Modi

allegedly naming Congresspresident Sonia Gandhi in theAgustaWestland scam duringelection rallies in Kerala andTamil Nadu consumed theproceedings of Rajya Sabhaon Monday and threatened toderail the passage of several keylegislations in the four remain-ing days of the Budget Session.

Taking exception to thePrime Minister’s charge dur-ing election rallies last weekthat an Italian court hadnamed Sonia Gandhi in con-nection with theAgustaWestland helicopterscandal, the Congress stalledproceedings in the UpperHouse. The party also plans tomove the appropriate motionagainst the Prime Minister(PM) over his alleged chargethat an Italian court namedSonia Gandhi in theAgustaWestland case.

Rajya Sabha memberShantaram Naik (Congress)gave notice of breach of privi-lege against Modi and DefenceMinister Manohar Parrikar tothe Chairman Hamid Ansariunder Rule 187 and 188. Hesaid the PM has made a “wildcharge” against UPA leaders

alleging that they had takenmoney in the purchase of heli-copters. Naik also claimedParrikar misled the House byreading out a long preparedstatement making wild chargesto be used by the PM during hiselection rally.

The agitated Congress MPsdemanded a statement and anapology from Modi and did not allow the Rajya Sabha to function.

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The installed power gen-eration capacity of the

State-owned power com-panies has jumped from2424.70 MW to 2927.70MW which includes 500MW of commercial powerproduced from MadwaProject in Janjgir-Champadistrict, officials said here onMonday.

Notably, Chhattisgarhis set to retain the 'powersurplus' tag for another 4 to5 years as the StateGovernment along withthe Chhattisgarh StatePower DistributionCompany Ltd (CSPDCL)has inked long-term MoUswith several power pro-ducers, they stated.

"With power genera-tion contributions fromCentral sector, private pro-

ducers and renewable ener-gy sector, Chhattisgarh willhave power supply avail-ability of about 3656 MWduring the coming threeyears," CSPDCL ManagingDirector Ankit Anand said.

While maintaining thestatus of 'zero power cutState', the highest powerdemand in Chhattisgarhhas been registered at 4000MW while the power pro-

duction from varioussources here has been 4612MW, he informed.

"NTPC plants generate

1026 MW, NSPCL gives 50MW, renewable energysources contribute 271 MW,Nuclear Power Corporation

provides 48 MW while pri-vate power producers add292 MW electricity in State'spower kitty," the MD said.

Referring to Plant LoadFactor (PLF) of differentpower plants inChhattisgarh, he said thaton an average, most of theunits have completed 50years of their establish-ment. However, their PLFhas been registered at 76 percent, he said, adding thatthat is more than thenational average.

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The Modi Government on Mondaycarried out a major mid-level

bureaucratic reshuffle involving 15new Joint Secretaries, a majority ofwhom belong to Group A services.The Government has taken intoaccount the rising demand fromvarious Group A services seeking jobopportunities equal to that enjoyed byIAS officers. Of the 15 new JS, onlyfour are IAS officers.

The acting chief of Natgrid RajivArora has been shifted as JointSecretary in Labour and EmploymentMinistry in place of G VenugopalReddy, who has been sent back to hiscadre--Railway Ministry--beforecompletion of his tenure.

Arora, a 1987 batch IAS officer ofHaryana cadre, has been appointed as

JS in Labour and Employment Mini-stry for a period of overall five yearof central deputation upto November14, 2017, an order issued by DoPTstated. He was working as JointSecretary in Natgrid -- an intelligencegathering mechanism being set up totrack any terror suspect and incidentto enhance India’s counter terrorcapabilities--under Home Ministry.

Madhya Pradesh cadre IPS offi-cer Sudhir K Saxena will be new JointSecretary in Home Ministry. R KMitra, a Central Secretariat Serviceofficer, will continue to work as JointSecretary in Home Ministry for aperiod upto the date of his retirementon March 31, 2018, the order said.

While IAS officer RajeshAggarwal has been shifted fromDepartment of Financial Services(DFS) and appointed as Joint

Secretary in Ministry of Tribal Affairs,Suchindra Mishra, an Indian DefenceAccounts Service officer, has beenappointed in place Aggarwal as JointSecretary in DFS.

Anna Roy, an officer of IndianEconomic Service, has also beenmoved out of the post of JS in the DFSand appointed as Adviser, Knowledgeand Innovation Hub in Niti Aayog, itsaid. IRS officer Madnesh KumarMishra will be new Joint Secretary inplace of Roy.

Anju Nigam, an officer of IndianPostal Service, will be Joint Secretaryin Ministry of Information &Broadcasting. Jayant Sinha, an officerof Indian Audit & Account Service,has been appointed as JS in DefenceMinistry. Her colleague from the sameservice, Meenakshi Sharma, will beAdditional Director General, Ministry

of Tourism, the order said.IPS officer Sanjeeb Kumar

Patjoshi has been appointed as JointSecretary in Ministry of PanchayatiRaj. IAS officer Kalpana Awasthi willbe Director General, NationalProductivity Council under theDepartment of Industrial Policy andPromotion. She was working as JS inthe department.

Arun Baroka has been named asnew Joint Secretary in Ministry ofDrinking Water and Sanitation. Forestservice officer Ashok will be new JointSecretary in National Commission forScheduled Tribes. He is JS in TribalAffairs Ministry. IRS officer SanjayAwasthi has been appointed asMember Secretary, National Councilfor Teacher Education under theDepartment of School Educationand Literacy.

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The Government on Mondaydirected the Special

Protection Group (SPG) andthe Intelligence Bureau (IB) totake maximum precautions forCongress vice -president RahulGandhi’s security after ananonymous letter threatening tokill him surfaced ahead of hisscheduled visit to Karaikal inPuducherry on Tuesday for apublic meeting.

A delegation of topCongress leaders met HomeMinister Rajnath Singh andasked him to beef up Rahul’ssecurity. A Home Ministryofficial said that Singh, after themeeting, asked Home SecretaryRajiv Mehrishi to take up theissue seriously and ensure pro-tection to Rahul.

The team, includingAhmed Patel, PoliticalSecretary to Congress PresidentSonia Gandhi, TreasurerMotilal Vohra, CongressDeputy Leader in Rajya SabhaAnand Sharma, and RajyaSabha MP Rajiv Shukla, metSingh and apprised him aboutthe alleged threat to theCongress Vice President’s life.

“The Home Minister has

assured us of prompt actionand security enhancement. Hehas also assured us that theagencies of the Centre and thestates and SPG will be alertedabout the threat that has beenreceived,” Sharma said aftermeeting the Home Minister.

The threat has reportedlybeen given in an unsigned let-ter written in Tamil and post-ed in Puducherry on May 4.The letter was reportedly sentto V Narayanswamy, who wasMinister for PMO in the UPAgovernment. The letter hasallegedly claimed Congress hasbeen responsible for “closure ofindustries in Pondicherry” andhas threatened that Rahul willbe “blasted” when he address-

es the Karaikal meeting. Sharma said the Congress

delegation also raised issue ofproposed “en mass shifting” ofaround 400 officers of SPG andbringing in new people toreplace them.

“SPG requires rigoroustraining. Its personnel arebrought from CISF, CRPF, BSFand central agencies. So it’s amatter of concern as to whysuch a proposal has come up tochange such a large number ofthe personnel,” he said.

The SPG guards the PrimeMinister, the former PrimeMinisters and their immedi-ately family. Sonia Gandhi andher two children — Rahul andPriyanka — are SPG protectees.

The threat has been givenin an unsigned letter writtenin Tamil and posted inPuducherry on May 4. Theletter was reportedly sent to VNarayanswamy, who wasMinister for PMO in the UPAgovernment.

The letter al legedlyclaimed Congress was respon-sible for “closure of industriesin Pondicherry” and hasthreatened that Rahul will be“blasted” when he addressesthe Karaikal meeting.

����� ()9:);<=

Placing copies of educationaldegrees of Prime Minister

Narendra Modi on the table, theBJP leadership on Mondaysought to strongly decry “a cam-paign of lies and disinformation”by Delhi Chief Minister ArvindKejriwal, who, they said, “hasbrought the public discourse toits lowest level” by questioningthe academic qualifications of thePrime Minister.

In a stinging attack againstKejriwal, BJP President AmitShah and union finance minis-ter Arun Jaitley , placed degreesof Bachelor of Arts, 1978, andMaster of Arts (external), 1983,in ‘Entire Political Science’ andrelated mark sheets here at partyheadquarters at a press confer-ence and accused Kejriwal ofdrumming up a crooked cam-paign and thereby “defaming”the country.

“On whose information youwrote a letter to Prime Minister’sOffice and mislead the media?”Shah asked and demanded anapology from the Delhi CM. “Paap kiya hain.. Mafi maangnichahiye..” ( you have sinned and

should apologize), he said afterpresenting a bunch of six-oddpages detailing Modi’s gradua-tion and post-graduation degreesand mark sheets.

“ I will also write to Kejriwalso that he is satisfied and coun-try is free from inane things,” theBJP President said. Asked tocomment on the CIC order overthe issue, Shah refused to reactsaying it was a legal issue whetherthe order was wrong or right.

On JD(U) MP K C Tyagiand Congress leader ManishTiwari asking clarifications on

Modi’s educational degrees, Shahpointedly singled out Tiwarisaying, “ You have to clarify ma-ny a things before the country onthe Agusta chopper issue”.

Attacking Kejriwal forspreading falsehood on theissue , Jaitley accused the AAPchief of “substitutinggovernance” with “politics ofadventurism”. He said allega-tions against Modi threaten“federal polity” in the countrywhen a Union Territoryindulges in irresponsiblebehavior to attack the PM.

In a swipe at the Aaa AdmiParty, Jaitley said the controver-sy on PM’s degree has been cre-ated by a party “whose leadersand MLAs are being prosecutedfor disclosing fake degrees .”

He said a party swearing bythe name of common manshould be praising that a man(Modi) hailing from a disad-vantaged section and “in diffi-cult family circumstances” tooka journey to Delhi in the sev-enties and completed his BA asan external student. “I knew thisbecause I was a student union

leader of ABVP in DelhiUniversity then as he would stayin ABVP office in 33, Bungalowroad here,” he said .The BJPleader said Naresh Gaud “ a fulltimer” used to live in the ABVPoffice and knew Modi better asboth had stayed together.

Hitting out at AAP Jaitleysaid, “ They have brought pub-lic discourse to the lowest levelwithout checking the basicfacts on the issue”. Shah andJaitley did not take many ques-tions on the issue after releas-ing copies of degrees. Quizzedabout the authenticity ofModi’s BA degree, Shah askeda newsperson to check it withthe Delhi University.

����� ()9:);<=

The Indian Government has said that the deathof Indian maid Asima Khatoon working in

Riyadh was due to tuberculosis and not torture byher employer as reported.

“On receipt of information, our Embassy inRiyadh sent one of its officials to King Saud ChestDisease Hospital, Riyadh one of the reputedHospitals for TB, on Monday. He was told by theMortuary In-charge that she was admitted in theHospital on 27.4.16 and later shifted to the ICU.The death was due to natural reasons and he wasinformed that all the requisite documents havebeen handed over to the sponsor for submissionto the Embassy,” External Affairs Ministryspokesperson Vikas Swarup said.

As per Khatoon’s death report, she died on2.5.2016 due to ‘disseminated T.B. and multi organsfailure’. The young woman from Hyderabad hada history of TB and she had received anti-TB drugsin 2012 for 3 months.

Swarup added that Khatoon’s sponsor had visited the Embassy earlier on last Tuesday and again on Monday to complete doc-umentation in order to transport the mortalremains to India.

According to the sponsor, she worked with himfor about 4 months and 16 days for which he hasdeposited with the Embassy 5 months’ salary. TheIndian Embassy in Riyadh is in touch withKhatoon’s family in India to determine futurecourse of action.

����� ()9:);<=

The CBI on Monday questioned for-mer Indian Air Force (IAF) chief SP

Tyagi on the inflow of foreign remit-tances into his bank accounts in 2009after his retirement from service in con-nection with the ongoing probe into theAgustaWestland VVIP helicopter deal.

CBI officials refused to quantifythe volume of the foreign remittancesreceived by Tyagi in his bankaccounts. Interestingly, Tyagi’s accountwas frozen after the registration of thecase in 2013 but the CBI has only nowfound out that Tyagi had received for-eign remittances.

The CBI also questionedManaging Director of IDS InfotechPratap Aggarwal and CEO ofAeromatrix Praveen Bakshi .Aggarwal and Bakshi were ques-tioned about the nature of the servicestheir respective companies providedto the AgustaWestland. The CBI isverifying their claims and the gen-uineness of their statements relatingto the services claimed to have beenrendered by these two companies toAgustaWestland.

Both the companies, accused inthe FIR, have claimed to have pro-vided engineering services toAgustaWestland for which theyreceived payments. However, theagency suspects that the two compa-nies were used as intermediaries for

transfer of bribe money byAgustaWestland to the babus andpoliticians who were allegedly thebeneficiaries of the controversial dealwith the company for supply of 12VVIP helicopters. The CBI has againcalled lawyer and businessmanGuatam Khaitan, Bakshi andAggarwal for questioning on Tuesday.

During the earlier rounds ofquestioning, Khaitan was found to beconcealing information on the finan-cial transaction between his compa-ny Aeromatrix and AgustaWestland.Khaitan, however, has admitted thathe was instrumental in setting up shellcompany IDS Tunisia, a subsidiary ofIDS Infotech based at Chandigarh.AgustaWestland transferred fundsfor the bribe money through IDSTunisia to its parent company as wellas certain individuals in India, agencysources said. Khaitan was legal advi-sor of IDS Infotech.

����� ()9:);<=

The CBI has registered acase against an Under

Secretary of the Union HomeMinistry for allegedly issuingFCRA notices arbitrarily toseveral NGOs and registeredsocieties - which were receiv-ing significant amount of for-eign contributions - for finan-cial gains.

The agency has bookedUnder Secretary Anand Joshiand some other unknown per-sons. Joshi has been bookedunder Section 120-B (criminalconspiracy) and for violationof the relevant provisions ofthe Prevention of CorruptionAct, 1988.

The accused allegedlydemanded and obtained bribefrom some of these organisa-tions which laundered throughimmovable assets and certainprivate companies, officialsources said.

After registration of the

case on May 5, the agencyconducted searches onSunday and Monday at fourlocations of the accused offi-cial, including official andresidential premises. The searches yielded cash of�7.5 lakh and certain incrim-inating documents includingfiles relating to Ministries of Home and Informationand Broadcasting, the sources said.

The searches concludedearly this morning and theaccused officer’s wife, whoruns a company, is also underthe scanner. It is suspected thatthe money was routed throughher company as well, thesources said.

The issue came to the foreafter files pertaining to thealleged FCRA violations bytwo NGOs run by socialactivist Teesta Setalvad wentmissing from the Union HomeMinistry. The files were latertraced and restored in theFCRA division but CBI wasasked to investigate the matter.

It was noticed that the fileshad gone missing when theHome Ministry took a deci-sion to cancel FCRA registra-

tion of one of Setalvad’s NGOs,Sabrang Trust, sources said.

Sabrang Trust’s licence wassuspended on September 9,2015 by the ministry and itasked for an explanation fromthe firm, failing which FCRAregistration would have beencancelled in 180 days.

Setalvad filed her reply inOctober and the deadlinegiven by the ministry expiredin March this year.

When Home Ministryofficials found that the fileshad gone missing, they con-ducted an inquiry and identi-fied the official who had takenaway the files. He was sum-moned and the files wererestored.

According to the rules,an Under Secretary is notallowed to take away files,only officials of the rank ofJoint Secretary and above areallowed to take the files home.It is a serious violation, theofficial added.

The incident happenedwhen Joshi was UnderSecretary in-charge of FCRAand presently he was posted asUnder Secretary (Coordi-nation) in the Ministry.

����� ()9:);<=

The National Green Tribunalon Monday disallowed

activities as paragliding andriding snow scooters atRohtang Pass in HimachalPradesh as the “extremely eco-sensitive area cannot be sub-jected to further degradation.”

The green bench, headedby NGT Chairperson JusticeSwatanter Kumar, however,clarified that it would be“appropriate to permit someactivities at lower levels so thatits consequences upon theenvironment and ecology couldbe observed.”

The tribunal further stressedthat no other activity of any kind,except providing of local dress-es and photography would be

permitted at Rohtang Pass. In this connection it

observed, that people involvedin providing local dresses forphotography, would be allowedto carry on their activity atRohtang, Solang, Gulaba andMarhi. Those given permit inthis regard, would be issued withlicenses, that would be provid-ed by the concerned authority.

It also said cameraman orthe people providing these ser-

vices would not be allowed tocarry on any other ancillaryactivity or take eatables at anyof the identified sites.

Regarding operation ofvehicles, the green panel said800 petrol vehicles per daywould now be allowed to go toRohtang instead of the 600 aspermitted in its earlier order.

Meanwhile, the benchappointed six advocates as localcommissioners and asked themto file a comprehensive reporton compliance of the terms andconditions of its orders withinthree weeks.

The tribunal would con-sider permitting other activitiesat Rohtang only after thereceipt of report of the com-missioners appointed underthis order.

����� ()9:);<=

The Environment Ministrylaunched on Monday a web-

based application on IntegratedWaste Management System(IWMS) for better managementand also track the movement ofhazardous waste.

Launching the application, Environment MinisterPrakash Javadekar said that itwill provide an opportunity toall the industries dealing in haz-ardous waste, to apply online.He further informed that thereare an estimated 43000 indus-tries dealing in hazardouswaste, of which about 30000industries have been mappedthrough this application.

The objective of the appli-cation is to enhance transparencyin the working of the Ministryand other Centre/State level reg-

ulatory bodies and also to reducethe time taken for processingapplications, seeking varioustypes of permissions under therecently notified waste manage-ment regulations.

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Haldighati in Rajasthan,where Maharana Pratap

fought the famous battle withMughal Emperor Akbar, will bedeveloped as a tourist destina-tion, the Centre announcedtoday as it released a com-memorative coin to mark the475th birth anniversary of thedoughty ruler of Mewar.

The Centre will also provideRs 9.50 crore to Rajasthan gov-ernment for the construction ofa multi-purpose indoor stadiumat Khel Gaon in Udaipur in thememory of Maharana Pratap,besides developing a museumthere named after him, CultureMinister Mahesh Sharma said.

“Maharana Pratap is knownfor his fearless fight to protecthis people. He inspires us tocontinue our struggle till we

attain the success. The Centrealong with Rajasthan govern-ment will develop Haldighati asthe tourist centre in memory ofMaharana,” Sharma said.

“A museum will also bedeveloped and named afterhim in Udaipur,” he added.

Maharana Pratap was theeldest son of MaharaniJaiwanta Bai and Udai SinghII, founder of Udaipur.

Renowned as a fearlesswarrior and an ingenious com-bat strategist, Pratap protect-ed the Mewar region againstrepeated onslaughts from theMughals and safeguarded hispeople until his death.

Ministry of Culture is cel-ebrating the 475th BirthAnniversary year of Maharana Pratap during 2015-16 in association withRajasthan government.

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Atotal of 117 IndustrialE n t r e p r e n e u r s

Memorandum (IEM) werefiled in Chhattisgarh with theproposed investment of �36,511 crore during 2015-16 ason December 2015.

This is in comparison to 37IEMs filed with the proposedinvestment of ��1,62,584 croresduring financial year 2014-15,the annual report 2015-16 ofthe Department of IndustrialPromotion and Policy (DIPP)has mentioned.

Meanwhile, notably, theChhattisgarh governmentsigned a total of seven MoUswith as many number of com-panies totalling proposedinvestment of ��236 crore onMay 4 this year.

The MoUs have beensigned for proposed investmentin food processing, electronics,coal and engineering sectors .

As per these MoUs, aninvestment of ��236 crore acrosselectronics, food processing,engineering and coal valueaddition sectors would gener-ate employment opportunitiesof over 2000 local youth in theState, officials stated.

Chhattisgarh intends tooffer renewable energy equip-ment market for solar photovoltaic equipment worth �32,000 crores during the nextfive years to investors whodecide to establish projects inthe State, they stated.

The Government is alsopromising abundant and easyaccess to raw materials that gointo equipment manufacturingfor renewable energy sector.

Notably, a host of key

Chinese companies fromZhengzhou city of Henanprovince in China signedMemorandum ofUnderstandings (MoUs) worth945 million USD (approx. �6,600 Crore) for setting up awide set of industrial projectsin Chhattisgarh during ChiefMinister Raman Singh’s week-long tour to China recently.

As per the MoUs, Chinesecompanies will primarily investin manufacturing of solarpower equipment, railway andbuilding construction materi-al sectors in Chhattisgarh.

Notably, the Chhattisgarhgovernment has commenced

the process of setting up theElectronic ManufacturingCluster (EMC) at Sector-22 ofthe new capital.

Initially, infrastructuraldevelopment works such asconstruction of boundary wall,roads , drainage, culverts, watersupply system and streets lightwould be taken up.

Notably, the Chhattisgarhgovernment will also be settingup an IT SEZ in the vicinity ofthe EMC to be established atSector 22 in the new capital.

The EMC would be atlocated about 7 kms from theSwami Vivekananda Airport,Raipur. The site enjoys abun-dant water supply from the

Mahanadi river and also havealso sufficient power connec-tion to cater the needs of oper-ation in EMC, officials stated.

The location of the EMC isat Tuta village of Naya Raipur. The chief promoter of the pro-ject is Chhattisgarh StateIndustrial DevelopmentCorporation (CSIDC) and theproject is to be established in anarea measuring 70 acres .

The Chhattisgarh StateIndustrial DevelopmentCorporation (CSIDC) hasidentified a land parcel mea-suring 30 hectares at VillageKhapri, Tehsil Tilda in Raipurdistrict for the development of

a Textile Park. The proposed Textile Park at

Tilda is aimed at providing onestop integrated facilities withmanufacturing support, welfareand common infrastructurefacilities to the prospective tex-tile industries. The proposedTextile Park is envisaged tohouse world class eco system fortextile industry, officials stated.

T e s t i n glaboratory(Including equip-ment), Design centre(Including equipment) ,Training Centre, Trade & dis-play centre , Conferencing andmeeting facilities, Warehouse/raw material depot , packagingunit Canteen andworker hos-tels and Recreation Centre.

Central public sectorundertaking ContainerCorporation of India (CCI) isalso in the process of develop-ing a 'Logistics Hub' on over100 acres of land in the newcapital, officials stated.

It may be recalled thatChina has also expressed keeninterest in extending support toChhattisgarh government fordeveloping India's ‘LogisticsHub’ in the State.

Notably, State Commerceand Industry Minister AmarAgrawal in the month of Januarythis year had suggested ConsulGeneral of People’s Republic ofChina MA Zhanwu who was ona visit to Chhattisgarh that owingto its location in the heart of thecountry, Chhattisgarh State canbe developed as 'Logistics Hub ofIndia'. The Consulate Generalthen had assured that China willencourage its industrialists toextend support in developmentof Chhattisgarh as ‘LogisticsHub’ of India.

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Atrooper of District ReserveGroup (DRG) was killed

after an IED planted by Maoistswent off in the insurgency-hitSukma district, police said hereon Monday.

Meanwhile, in another IEDblast triggered by Maoists in thedistrict, driver of a construc-tion vehicle was injured.

“The blast which claimedlife of DRG trooper occurred inthe afternoon hours under thelimits of Maraiguda police sta-tion which is about 130 kmsfrom district headquarters,”Superintendent of Police (SP)Sukma, D Shravan said.

The incident happened onthe under-constructionMaraiguda-Golapalli road,wherein the DRG trooperalong with others was provid-ing security cover to the con-struction work, he said.

The deceased was identi-fied as Assistant ConstableMakdam Joga, who accidentl-ly stepped over the IED plant-ed by Naxals triggering blast,the SP mentioned.

Soon after the incident,reinforcement was rushed tothe spot and the criticallyinjured cop was evacuated toBhadrachalam in Telanganadistrict, where he succumbedto injuries, Shravan informed.

In a separate incident onthe same route, a driver ofEarth Mover machine wasinjured after IED planted byNaxals exploded.

“The Earth Movermachine accidentally hit an

IED while it was operating onthe road causing blast in whichthe vehicle driver was injured,”the SP said.

The wounded driver hasbeen shifted to Bhadrachalamfor treatment, he said.

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The Steel Authority of IndiaLtd (SAIL) is observing

Swachh Bharat Fortnight fromMay 1 to 15, 2016 at the BhilaiSteel Plant (BSP) here.

A number of events andactivities have been plannedduring this period. In this con-text BSP’s Corporate SocialResponsibility (CSR)

Department has arranged forSwachchta Programme inMachandur village, one of theModel Steel Villages adopted byBhilai Steel Plant (BSP) onMay 11, 2016, a BSP pressrelease informed.

In addition to cleanlinessdrive with the participation ofthe citizens, students andPanchayat members, BPLSchool students sponsored byCSR Department of BSP willplay out a skit on ‘Swachchta’.

Noted theatre personalitySharad Kokas will hold an inter-active session on the occasion.

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Chief Minister Raman Singhon Monday attended a

mass marriage programmeheld in Baghbahara region ofMahasamund district duringthe ongoing Lok Suraj Abhiyan.

On the occasion, as many as121 couples tied nuptial knot.

Extending his wishes to thenewly wedded couples, Singhsaid “Mukhyamantri KanyaVivah Yojana" being run by theState government is one of myfavourite schemes”.

On the occasion, the ChiefMinister declared ��20 lakh forconstruction of a communitybuilding in village Mungaserfollowing the requests made bypublic representatives and vil-lagers.

Besides, he also dedicateddevelopmental and construc-

tion works to the tune ofaround ��187 crore. Moreover,Singh distributed chequesworth ��11.52 crore to around28000 beneficiaries of differentschemes.

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It is not just the responsibil-ity of Forest Department to

guard saplings planted duringplantation drive but people areequally responsible for ensur-ing safety of saplings, saidForest Minister MaheshGagda while addressing a con-vention of Halba AdivasiSamaj at village Ghathulaunder Nagri block ofChhattisgarh’s Dhamtari dis-trict on Sunday.

“Plants and trees play avital role in maintaining equi-

librium within the environ-ment which impacts the livesof all living beings. If villagersassure of providing requisite

safety to saplings by consti-tuting a committee at villagelevel then the Departmentwill definitely undertake mas-

sive plantation drive in theregion,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Ministeralso announced of givingaround 2.5 acres of land forsetting up a Water FilterationPlant and development of aDepot.

Addressing the gathering,Gagda said people of Halbacommunity are dynamic andhardworking. Large numbersof people belonging to thecommunity are active in thefield of politics, social work aswell as employed in govern-ment service.

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�����!�,.1!�.�!� .,��!.���1��!�� 1��!.��� /.5!��/�� Naya Raipur: Around four

people including a HealthDepartment official sustainedminor injuries after a rashly dri-ver car collided with a multi util-ity vehicle (MUV) in which theywere travelling at MantralayaChowk on Monday evening.

“The incident happenedwhen Dr RK Bhuarya of HealthDepartment posted as ProjectOfficer in Rajanandgaon wascoming towards Raipur afterattending departmental meet-ings at Indravati Bhawan at theMantralaya complex,” Station

House Officer Rakhi PoliceStation Mathura Singh said.

Some unidentified youthscoming from behind in aHyundai Verna car dashed theMahindra Bolero in which DrBhuarya was travelling alongwith his subordinates, the SHOsaid adding after the incident,the youths left the car at thespot and fled.

Dr Bhuarya and othershave received minor injuries,the SHO said adding police hasregistered a case in this regardand have begun investigations.

Staff Reporter

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Page 4: RNI Regn. No. CHHENG/2012/42718, Postal Reg. No. - RYP DN/34/2013-2015 ... victory as the Supreme Court refused to allow the nine dis- ... Kathmandu: Nepal has dis-missed rumours that

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Chief Minister Raman Singhon Monday made a sur-

prise visit to Bohirgaon villagein Mainpur DevelopmentBlock in Gariaband district asa part of the ongoing 'Lok SurajMission'.

The Chief Minister afterhis arrival conducted 'Choupal'under a Tamarind tree and hada formal interaction with thevillagers.

He sanctioned a hostel forthe children of backward class-es at Bohirgaon.

Singh also directed theEnergy Department officials tomake arrangements to supplyelectricity to villages Temi,Pathri and Dumargaon.

He sanctioned cementconcrete road at Bohirgaonand Pathri. On the insistence ofthe gathering, Singh also sanc-tioned a community hall at vil-lage Bardula.

Singh later enquired aboutthe institutional delivery mech-anism at the village fromA.N.M. Devkumari Salamewho replied that at Bohirgaonthe deliveries are conducted atState Government hospitals.

The women of the areacome to village Bohirgaon Sub-Health Centre for deliveries. Inthe entire Gariaband districtthis Sub-Health Centre tops thelist of institutional deliveries.

The Chief Minister con-gratulated the A.N.M.

Devkumari for her dedicatedhard work and wished her abright future.

Chief Secretary VivekDhand and Secretary to ChiefMinister Subodh KumarSingh were also present on theoccasion.

In the second phase ofLok Suraj Abhiyan, Singh heldChaupal under the shade ofPipal tree in village Akalvara ofChhura development block ofGariaband district.

As per the directives of theChief Minister, water fromkotri nala water reservoirwould be supplied to even theremotest of the villages. Thiswill enable water-supply topeople of Akalvara village.

It is noteworthy thatChhura development block has

been declared as drought-affected. Villagers told theChief Minister that Kotri waterreservoir has sufficient watereven in summer season. Canalrepairing and lining wouldenable water supply this waterreservoir to many villagesincluding Akalvara.

On this, Singh directedofficials to ensure repairing ofcanals under Mahatma GandhiNational Rural EmploymentGuarantee Scheme.

The Chief Minister alsogave instructions to organizecamp in Akalvara for distribu-tion of crop insurance amount.

Singh was accorded warmwelcome by villagers on hisarrival at Akalvara.

People of the village haveawareness about hygiene andcleanliness.

The Chief Minister admin-istered pledge of makingAkalvara an open defecationfree village to villagers.

Villagers told Singh thatthey have not received cropinsurance claim yet. On this,Chief Minister directed theCollector to hold camp in the vil-lage and distribute crop insur-ance amount as soon as possible.

The vil lagers alsoinformed that boys' hostelbuilding is in dilapidated con-dition. Villagers also told ChiefMinister that both high schooland higher secondary classesare being conducted in the

same building.On this, Singh assured

them of sanctioning construc-tion of building for higher sec-ondary school in next budget.Chief Minister directed officialsto do intensive plantation atpublic places before arrival ofmonsoons.

The Chief Minister saidthat 5,000 fruit-bearingsaplings should be planted inAanganwadi centres and otherpublic places.

Meanwhile , the ChiefMinister appreciated the effortsof teachers in improving thequality of education in villageAkalwara in Ghariaband district.

The Akalwara HigherSecondary School Principal G.P. Verma and his teachers wakeup the school children at thewee hours of 03:30 am by blow-ing whistles in front their resi-dences. The efforts of the schoolmanagement had yielded resultsand the children are gettinggood marks and better results.

Singh reached the villageAkalwara as a part of 'Lok Suraj'Mission and felicitated theSchool Principal and his groupof teachers. He also felicitatedmeritorious students andpraised them for their hardwork and dedication to studies.

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New Delhi: The SupremeCourt on Monday directed theSelvam Education Trust, whichruns Kalahandi district’sJarring-based Sardar RajasMedical College, to deposit ��2crore by June 25, failing whicha non-bailable warrant (NBW)would be issued against it.

A Bench comprisingJustice Dipak Misra and ShivaKirti Singh while hearing thecase directed the Chennai-based trust to deposit theamount.

Counsel JitendraMohapatra said, “The matterwas posted for today for a spe-cific reason. On April 19, theDivision Bench had directedthe Selvam Education Trust todeposit ��2 crore within fourweeks. They were supposed todeposit but for various reasonsknown to them they could notdeposit it. They filed an appli-cation for modification andrecall which was stronglyrejected by the court anddirected the trust to deposit theamount on or before June 25,failing which an NBW will beissued. The matter was subse-quently adjourned,”

Earlier, the apex court haddirected the Selvam Educationaland Charitable Trust to deposit�2 crore before the Registry ofSupreme Court. The Registrywas directed that the amount sodeposited shall be kept in ashort-term fixed deposit in theUCO Bank, Supreme CourtCompound, New Delhi. PNS

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The politics over the re-allot-ment of prime land to

Congress-linked AssociatedJournals Limited (AJL) heatedup in Haryana on Monday withChief Minister Manohar LalKhattar and former ChiefMinister Bhupinder SinghHooda hurling allegations andcounter-allegations at each other.

While Congress leaderHooda slammed the BJP, termingthe case registered against himand others as “revenge politics”by the incumbent KhattarGovernment, the Chief Ministerhit back saying that the formerChief Minister had himself askedfor the investigation but is nowbecoming restless.

The Vigilance Bureau hadlast week registered a case ofcheating, breach of trust andcorruption against Hooda, whowas also the HUDA chairmanin his capacity as the state'sChief Minister.

Officials of HUDA andoffice-bearers of AJL — thepromoters of 'The NationalHerald' newspaper — were

also charged with illegal re-allotment of the plot to the AJLin 2005. The AJL is also linkedto Congress president SoniaGandhi and vice-presidentRahul Gandhi.

Defending hisGovernment's decision to re-allot prime land in Sector 6 ofPanchkula to AJL, Hooda whiletalking to the mediapersonssaid, “There is nothing wrongin the decision to re-allot landto AJL. There was no loss to thegovernment or any agency.The Haryana UrbanDevelopment Authority(HUDA) is a 'no-profit-no-loss' organization.”

He also asked the ManoharLal Khattar-led Government tostop indulging in the politics ofvendetta and instead focus onfulfilling the promises made tothe people.

“This BJP led HaryanaGovernment has only two goalsincluding work with vindictivesentiments and to keep trans-ferring and changing the posts ofGovernment officers,” he alleged.

The senior Congress leaderalso accused the Indian National

Lok Dal (INLD) of acting likean alliance partner of the rulingBJP rather than playing therole of the opposition party. Headded, “I appeal to the govern-ment to investigate and registerall cases in one go. The allot-ment of land to the Devi LalTrust (linked to the INLD)should also be investigated.”

Leader of Opposition inHaryana Assembly, AbhaySingh Chautala, had on May 3in a letter to Haryana ChiefMinister demanded registra-tion of a criminal case againstCongress-linked AJL andHooda in the case.

“The ruling BJP is notdoing anything except workingto take revenge against politi-cal opponents. The attempt isto frame Congress leaders indifferent cases,” Hooda alleged

The former Chief Ministeralso called the BJP the protag-onist behind the riots, whichrattled Haryana during the Jatreservation agitation inFebruary. “The BJP is respon-sible for the riots, which brokeout in Haryana two monthsback. They even denied the

demand of a Supreme Court-monitored probe,” said Hooda.

When asked if he knowsSudeep Kalkal, the advocatearrested for riots, Hoodaresponded angrily saying,“Pictures of Kalkal with ChiefMinister and BJP leaders havealso emerged… Nobody canenter Chief Minister’s housewithout an invitation.”

“Everybody in Rohtakknows me as I and my familyhas represented the con-stituency for a long time,” saidhe when asked about his rela-tions with Kalkal.

On the other hand, ChiefMinister Manohar Lal Khattarhas denied the allegation lev-elled by Hooda that the StateGovernment is acting with afeeling of revenge in AJL case.

Talking to the mediaper-sons, Khattar said that it wasHooda himself who had, dur-ing the Vidhan Sabha session,demanded that irregularitiescommitted in any area shouldbe investigated in a fair man-ner and action should be takenagainst the guilty.

The Chief Minister remind-

ed that Bhupinder Singh Hoodahad even said that if he himselfwas found guilty, action shouldbe taken against him too.

The AJL issue has beeninvestigated by the VigilanceBureau, which is taking actionagainst those who have beenfound guilty in the investiga-tion, said Khattar.

The Chief Minister addedthat those found indulged incorrupt practices, might it beCongress, INLD or any inde-pendent or even any leader ofthe BJP, action would be takenagainst the guilty.

Hooda, who as the Chiefminister was the ex-officiochairman of the HaryanaUrban Development Authority(HUDA), has been accused ofillegally transferring land toAssociated Journals Ltd., whichpublished the newspaper atPanchkula in 2005.

Documents revealed thatHaryana's joint legal remem-brancer Jagdeep Jain had onAugust 17, 2005, stronglyopposed the plot's re-allot-ment. However, Hooda thenoverruled Jain's note.

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More than half a centuryhas gone by since the

time when renowned authorRuskin Bond chose to settledown in Mussoorie after real-ising that life in big cities wasnot his cup of tea.

After fulfilling his dream ofbecoming a writer, twenty-nine-year old Bond was clearthat it was now time to fulfillhis other dream-that of livingin the hills. In 2011, Bond com-pleted sixty years of writing andin 2013, he completed fiftyyears of being in Landour,Mussoorie. Mussoorie wouldnever be the same without hisbenevolent presence.

“It is really amazing. I wasthirty when I came to Landour,following my dream of being aresident of this Himalayantown,” said Bond while speak-ing to The Pioneer. Bond’sname has become synonymous

with Mussoorie and Dehradun,with stories of simple people,told tongue-in–cheek and withan all–embracing warmth andcandour.

Ruskin Bond is no longerjust a writer. He means manythings to many people. Anicon of excellence for some, aninspiration for others, a symbolof simplicity and good humourfor many and a weaver ofexquisite tales for a lot of hisadmirers and fans.

This grand old “writer onthe hill” believes that he is for-tunate that God gave him along writing life. “I have beenwriting for sixty five years andmaking a living out of it! I real-ly feel blessed as I have lived thelife I wanted to. Not all peoplecan claim to have done that. Iconsider myself very fortunateand blessed by the gods to havehad a life without too muchdistress and disappointment. Ihave followed my instinct morethan intelligence.”

“I made Mussoorie myhome more than half a centuryago and for me the prospect ofhaving to leave the hills for morethan a couple of days brings dis-comfort. The mountains are inmy blood. The birds and trees,the flowers and even the littleinsects in the wilderness nearmy home in LandourCantonment are close to myheart. It is among them that Ilike to spend most of the timewhich I get when I am not doing

what I love doing best-writing.”Ivy Cottage is his little

haven in the hills. He hasalways loved mountains. In“Kim”, Kipling wrote-Who goesto the hills, goes to his mother.

“Living in the hills is likeliving in the bosom of a strong,sometimes proud, but alwayscomforting mother. Every timeI go away from here the home-coming is warmer and sweet-er,” says Bond.

He says had he not decid-

ed to make Mussoorie hishome he may have been a dif-ferent person today. “There’snature all around me. Myshrubbery is my favouriteplace. Watching nature changeits colours with the changingseasons enchants me. The spar-rows are here all the yearround. And so are the thrush-es. It is summer and fruit-eat-ing birds have arrived. Thepresence of these birds addstranquility to my life.”

The writer-in-residence inthis hill town, Bond wrote hisfirst book The Room on theRoof at the age of sixteen. Thework has the Doon valley as itsbackdrop and paints an endear-ing picture of the pristine beau-ty of the valley in the 1950s.Generations of children havebeen studying the book as atext in school.

Ruskin Bond has a gentlecharm. It has kept him goingeven as he wanders around thehill side identifying wildflow-

ers for children or just listen-ing patiently to the localbaker’s complaint of poor yeastand as the years have gone by,he has become a living legend,an institution.

Having long ago, effort-lessly, crossed his ‘century’ ofpublished titles, Ruskin Bondhas maintained his integrity asa writer and has workedtowards his goals with single-minded devotion. Perhaps hisgreatest achievement is that hehas persevered in his dream ofbecoming a full-time writer.And he writes for those ‘gentlereaders’ who are interested inthe beauty of nature and thedignity in the lives of ordinarypeople rather than in stormyevents.

His stories achieve a uni-versal quality that transcendsthe regional locale and endors-es the human endeavor to sur-vive against odds and to pre-serve what is beautiful andmeaningful.

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The Uttarakhand GovernorKrishan Kant Paul has

ordered formation of a five-member high powered com-mittee to study causes of thisyear’s forest fires inUttarakhand along with theecological and other aspects.The Governor held detaileddiscussion with the advisorycouncil on Monday afternoonbefore taking the decision toconstitute the high poweredcommittee headed by retiredIAS officer Vibha Puri Das.

According to informationprovided by Raj Bhawan, thehigh powered committee willundertake a detailed study ofthis year’s forest fires in theState, reasons for its occur-rence, its ecological and otherrelated aspects. This com-mittee will then submit itsreport along with its recom-mendations.

Experts connected to the

spheres of forests and envi-ronment have also beenincluded in the high poweredcommittee with one represen-tative each from the WildlifeInstitute of India and ForestResearch Institute along withthe additional chief secretary,forests, representing the Stateadministration will be mem-bers of the committee in whichthe additional secretary, forests,will be the secretary of thecommittee.

According to informationprovided by the State authori-ties, as per informationreceived till May 9, the totalnumber of incidents of forestfires was placed at 1,832 withthe resulting affect on 4,022hectare land area estimated tohave cost an evaluated loss of�41,50,225.

It is pertinent to mentionhere that after raging across thestate since February, forest fireswere extinguished securely fol-lowing rainfall in all the 13 dis-

tricts of Uttarakhand last week.According to information

provided by the forest depart-ment, since the start of the for-est fire season on February 15,the maximum number of for-est fire incidents were report-ed from Pauri district where365 reported incidents affect-ed 949.75 hectare area esti-mated to have caused evalu-ated loss of about �8,16,725.Similarly during this period,Dehradun district had 158reported forest fire incidentsaffecting 318 hectare landcausing evaluated loss of�2,45,425 whereas 209 inci-dents were reported fromChamoli district affecting454.45 hectare land area caus-ing evaluated loss of�5,40,625. The least affecteddistrict, Udham Singh Nagarsaw a total of only 14 forestfire incidents being reportedaffecting 13 hectare land arearesulting in evaluated loss of�7,875.

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Chandigarh: CriticisingHaryana for being lenient withthe vigilante groups, Punjaband Haryana High Court onMonday, handed over theinvestigation of a disappearancecase of a youngster, who wentmissing on March 5, after hehad gone to buy a buffalofrom Shahabad, to the CBI.

The orders came soon afterJustice Fateh Deep Singh ruledthat even senior police func-tionaries were hand-in-glovewith “vigilante group” GauRaksha Dal “obviously to

achieve sinister design”.The orders came on a peti-

tion filed by Tahir Hasan againstthe State of Haryana, whereinpetitioner has said that his sonleft for Shahabad to purchase abuffalo for meeting “domesticneeds”, but never returned. Theyoungster was allegedly founddead later. The warrant officerappointed by the High Court inthis case had indicated in hisreport that on intervening nightof March 5 and 6, Gau RakshaDal members confronted avehicle carrying cattle.

The members of GauRaksha Dal blocked the road,leading to firing of shots. Theoccupants of the vehicle ranaway, following which FIR underPrevention of Cruelty to AnimalsAct and Section 307 of the IPCwas registered on March 6 atShahabad police station.

Taking strong exception onthe registration of the case, JusticeFateh Deep Singh in his order saidthat the attitude of senior policeofficers on report being lodgedwas itself suggestive of police rolein the episode. Apparently, even

the District Magistrate failed toperform his duties. Mere assump-tion that the vehicle occupantswere committing cruelty to ani-mals by transporting them waswholly unjustified.

The HC observed,“Apparently a precious humanlife has been lost or done awaywith and which the local policeand the administration in spiteof being in knowledge of, aretrying to hoodwink the law andrather acting as an impedimentin its smooth implementationof due process of law”. PNS

����������%����� ��$���#���������"������#�������#� ��From Page 1The Bench said that the

order to lift President’s Rule toenable the floor test from 11 amto 1 pm on Tuesday was passedwith the consent of both sides.This will not be true as regardslifting of the disqualification.

Appearing for former ChiefMinister Rawat, senior advocateKapil Sibal pointed out thatprior to the stage when theAssembly met to pass theAppropriation Bill on March 19,the rebel MLAs had stated in amemorandum that the

Government was in a minority,which was an admission on theirpart of having left the party.

The Bench reiterated thatthe floor test will go on as perits earlier direction but kept theissue of the nine disqualifiedMLAs for July 12. Meanwhile,the court modified its May 6order by directing the PrincipalSecretary, Legislative andParliamentary Affairs,Government of Uttarakhand toremain present in the Houseduring the voting and producethe result along with videorecording of proceedings in asealed cover to court onWednesday.

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From Page 1When the Bench asked

CBSE if it was possible to havequestion papers prepared invernacular languages,Additional Solicitor General(ASG) Pinky Anand assuredthat efforts will be made butfailed to give any assurance.The final order did not makeany recommendation to thiseffect, leaving it to the choiceand discretion of CBSE.

Private colleges too hadopposed the NEET claiming itwould affect their autonomy.

Minority colleges pleaded theirseparate character and soughtexemption from the NEET.But the order by the Benchsaid, “Prima facie we do notfind any infirmity in the NEETregulation on the ground thatit affects the rights of the Statesor private institutions…norrights of minorities are in anymanner affected by the NEET.The NEET only provides forconducting entrance test for eli-gibility for admission toMBBS/BDS course,” the ordersaid.

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Page 5: RNI Regn. No. CHHENG/2012/42718, Postal Reg. No. - RYP DN/34/2013-2015 ... victory as the Supreme Court refused to allow the nine dis- ... Kathmandu: Nepal has dis-missed rumours that

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North Korea’s ruling-partyCongress on Monday

announced a new title for KimJong Un, party chairman, in amove that highlights how theauthoritarian country’s firstcongress in 36 years is aimed atbolstering the young leader.

Less than a third of themore than 100 foreign jour-nalists invited for the historiccongress were permitted toattend, and even they were

allowed to view the proceed-ings in the ornate April 25House of Culture for onlyabout 10 minutes. Earlier onMonday, a BBC correspon-dent was expelled for alleged-ly “insulting the dignity” ofNorth Korea.

As a military band in fulluniform played the welcom-ing song, used wheneverNorth Korea’s leader enters apublic place, Mr. Kim strodeonto the stage, generating along, loud standing ovation

from the several thousanddelegates attending.

In unison the delegatesshouted, “Mansae! Mansae!”wishing Mr. Kim long life.

Mr. Kim Yong Nam, thehead of the North’s Parliament,stood to read a roster of topparty positions calling Mr. KimJong Un chairman of theWorkers’ Party of Korea for thefirst time.

Mr. Kim had already beenhead of the party, but with thetitle of first secretary.

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Chinese state-run media onMonday played down

North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un’s pledge not to use nuclearweapons unless his country’ssovereignty is threatened, say-ing that his pursuit of atomicarms remained dangerous.

Beijing is Pyongyang’smain diplomatic protector andsource of trade and aid, butrelations between them havebecome increasingly strainedby the North’s nuclear ambi-tions, and Kim has yet to visithis neighbour.

The North’s first ruling partycongress in nearly 40 years for-mally endorsed Kim’s policy ofexpanding the country’s nucleararsenal, after he said it would notuse the weapons unless attacked,and would work for globaldenuclearisation.

But the international com-munity and the United Nationshave long demanded an end tothe North’s nuclear and missileprogrammes. Kim’s declaration“was made from the perspectivethat North Korea is now anuclear state”, China’s GlobalTimes newspaper, which isclose to the ruling Communistparty, said in an editorial.

As such, it said, its “attitudehas not changed, and neitherhas its biggest contradictionwith the outside world beenresolved”.

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Raising the stakes inBritain’s European Union

membership debate, PrimeMinister David Cameron saidMonday that leaving the blocwould increase the risk ofwar in Europe.

Cameron’s speech onnational security came as cam-paigning ahead of a June 23 voteon the country’s EU member-ship moved into its final weeks.

Cameron said it would berash to assume that “peaceand stability on our continentare assured beyond any shad-ow of doubt.” He said the EU“has helped reconcile countrieswhich were at each other’sthroats for decades.”

“Britain has a fundamentalnational interest in maintainingcommon purpose in Europe to

avoid future conflict betweenEuropean countries,” he said.

Cameron argued that “iso-lationism has never served thiscountry well. Whenever weturn our back on Europe, soon-er or later we come to regret it.”

The EU was founded afterWorld War II, in part to preventthe continent’s nations fromwaging war ever again. But ter-rorist attacks in Paris andBrussels and the arrival ofhundreds of thousands ofmigrants from the Middle East,Asia and Africa have high-lighted the security challengesfacing the bloc.

The two sides in Britain’sreferendum debate have arguedbitterly over whether leavingthe 28-nation union wouldmake Britain more or lesssecure. Two former U.K. intel-ligence chiefs said in an inter-

view published Sunday that theEU gives Britain an edge ingathering anti-terror intelli-gence and underpins conti-nental peace.

Cameron said that, withthe fight against the IslamicState group raging and anassertive Russia flexing its mus-cles, “now is a time for strengthin numbers.”

The anti-EU group VoteLeave called Cameron’s claims“historically illiterate,” argu-ing that NATO contributes farmore to European peace andsecurity than the EU.

“The notion that the peaceof Europe was guaranteed bythe institutions of the EuropeanUnion was always utter non-sense,” said Robert Cowcroft ofthe University of Edinburgh, amember of Historians forBritain, an anti-EU group.

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Cooler temperatures and lightrain have officials optimistic

they’ve reached a turning pointon getting a handle on a massivewildfire that has devastatedparts of Canada’s oil sands townof Fort McMurray.

Alberta Premier Notley saidthe battle against the fire has sta-bilized to the point where shecan visit and begin the nextphase of the Government’s oper-ation to determine what must bedone to eventually allow peopleto return to the city.

A massive evacuation of25,000 residents displaced by the

blaze also came to an end. Morethan 80,000 people have left FortMcMurray in the heart ofCanada’ oil sands, where the firehas torched 1,600 homes andother buildings.

Gas has been turned off, thepower grid is damaged andwater is not drinkable. Officialssaid there is no timeline toreturn residents to the city, butthe provincial government issending in a team to do prelim-inary planning.

David Yurdiga, the mem-ber of Parliament for the area,toured Fort McMurray yester-day and said he was now moreoptimistic.

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ABelgian terror cell withlinks to the Paris and

Brussels attacks had acquiredbomb-making chemicalsbefore it was smashed bypolice last year, a judge saidon Monday at the opening of the trial of thecell’s members.

Seven men who went ontrial today in a Brussels courtwere arrested after a deadly raid in the Belgiantown of Verviers in January2015 which exposed analleged plot to kill police officers.

Nine suspects who arestill at large are being tried intheir absence.

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Indonesia’s Vice Presidenton Monday cal led on

Islamic leaders to spread mes-sages about a tolerant Islam tocurb extremism that oftensprings from misinterpreta-tion of Islamic teachings.

Speaking at the opening ofthe International Summit ofthe Moderate Islamic Leaders,Vice President Jusuf Kallasaid he believes that youthswho don’t have deep faith aresusceptible to be militants, notfor wealth or political cause,but rather as a “shortcut” toheaven.

“That’s why the role of

Islamic clerics is needed to domore to correct the misinter-pretation,” Kalla said. “Wegather here today for thatpurpose, to produce the solu-tion to curb radicalism in theform of terrorism, wars andconflicts.”

He added that the exis-tence of 1.6 billion Muslimsspread across 57 countriesshould become a force to pro-mote the goodness of Islam.

The meeting organised byNahdlatul Ulama, Indonesia’slargest Muslim organisation, isexpected to produce a mes-sage about the importance ofpromoting a peaceful Islam tocombat radicalism worldwide.

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Two opposition monitoringgroups are reporting multi-

ple air raids on a rebel-held areaand shelling of government-controlled parts of the northerncity of Aleppo hours before afive-day cease-fire was to expire.

The Britain-based SyrianObservatory for Human Rightsand the Local CoordinationCommittee say the airstrikesMonday hit several areas inAleppo, including the neigh-borhood of Rashideen.

Monday’s airstrikes came aday after opposition fightersshelled the Government-heldneighborhood of Midan, killinga child, state media andactivists said.

Washington: US Republicanpresidential candidate DonaldTrump said on Sunday he wasopen to raising taxes on therich, backing off his prior pro-posal to reduce taxes on allAmericans and breaking withone of his party’s core policiesdating back to the 1990s.

“I am willing to pay more,and you know what, the wealthyare willing to pay more,” Trumptold ABC’s “This Week.”

After effectively sealing theRepublican nomination for theNovember 8 presidential elec-tion last week, Trump has usedspeeches and interviews tooffer more details on his poli-cy positions.

The billionaire real estatetycoon has said he would like tosee an increase in the minimumwage, although he told NBC’s“Meet the Press” on Sunday hewould prefer to see states takethe lead on that front instead ofthe federal Government.

“I don’t know how peoplemake it on $7.25 an hour,”Trump said of the current fed-eral minimum wage. “I wouldlike to see an increase of some

magnitude. But I’d rather leave itto the states. Let the statesdecide.” Trump’s call for high-er taxes on the wealthy is abreak with Republican presi-dential nominees who havestaunchly opposed tax hikes foralmost three decades. Tax hikeshave been anathema to many inthe party since formerPresident George HW Bushinfuriated fellow Republicansby abandoning a pledge not toraise taxes and agreeing to anincrease in a 1990 budget deal.

Democrats, including pres-idential front-runner HillaryClinton, have pressed forincreased taxes on the wealth-

iest Americans for years.Trump released a tax pro-

posal last September thatincluded broad tax breaks forbusinesses and households.He proposed reducing thehighest income tax rate to 25per cent from the current39.6 per cent rate.

Pressed on the contradic-tion between his latest com-ments on taxes and theSeptember tax plan, Trump

said he viewed his originalproposal as “a concept” andthat he expected it would bechanged following negotiationswith Congress.

“By the time it gets nego-tiated, it’s going to be a differ-ent plan,” Trump told ABC. Heemphasised in separate inter-views with ABC and NBC thathis priorities were loweringtaxes on the middle class andbusinesses.

“The middle class has to beprotected,” Trump told NBC.The rich are “probably going toend up paying more,” he said.

The Clinton campaign saidTrump was trying to pander tovoters beyond those who sup-ported him in the Republicannominating contests and thathe had no intention of raisingthe taxes of wealthy people.

“Don’t believe DonaldTrump’s weak attempts at ageneral election ‘makeover’ foreven a second,” ChristinaReynolds, a Clinton campaignspokeswoman, said in a state-ment. “Trump’s economic planstake direct aim at workingAmericans - his proposal to cuttrillions in taxes for the top onepercent would almost certain-ly come at the expense of work-ing- and middle-class families.”

When asked on NBCwhether he would release hisown tax returns before theelection, Trump said once againthat it depended on the com-pletion of an audit.

“Sure. If the auditors finish.I’ll do it as fast as the auditorsfinish,” he said. Agencies

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Iran test-fired another ballis-tic missile, the latest in a spate

of tests following the imple-mentation of the nuclear dealwith world powers earlier thisyear, according to a report onMonday by the country’s semi-official Tasnim news agency.

The test-firing of the missilewas carried out two weeks ago,the agency quoted General AliAbdollahi, deputy chief of thearmed forces’ headquarters, assaying. Tasnim is close to thecountry’s powerful Revol-utionary Guard, which is incharge of Iranian ballistic missilesprogramme.

The agency said the mis-sile has a range of 2,000 kilo-

metres, or 1,250 miles, enoughto reach much of the MiddleEast. Iranian military com-manders have described themas a strategic asset and a strongdeterrent, capable of hittingUS bases or Israel in the eventof a strike on Iran.

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Tens of millions of Filipinosjammed into schools and

other voting stations on Mondayto elect a new president, withanti-establishment firebrandRodrigo Duterte the shockfavourite after an incendiarycampaign full of profanity-lacedthreats to kill criminals.

The elections will also seeFilipinos choose more than18,000 other positions, down tothe local village councillorlevel, in another milestone fora nation that has struggled tocement democracy afteremerging from dictatorshipthree decades ago.

Duterte, the longtimemayor of the southern city ofDavao, has hypnotised mil-lions with his vows of brutal butquick solutions to the nation’stwin plagues of crime andpoverty, which many believehave worsened despite strongeconomic growth in recentyears.

The candidate’s critics havewarned he will plunge thecountry into another dark peri-od of dictatorship and turmoil,after a “People Power” revolu-tion ended the regime ofFerdinand Marcos in 1986.

Washington: The United States has succeeded in defanging a toxicPakistan by neutralising its entire nuclear arsenal — on television.In yet another American TV series that will expectedly driveIslamabad ballistic, Pakistan is portrayed as a dangerous, unsta-ble, failed country, with the United States having to keep a con-stant watch on its nuclear arsenal as the country spirals into an abyss- not very different from what many analysts discuss in real life.But in keeping with the general belief that Washington has con-tingency plans to take over or neutralise its nuclear weapons, theTV drama ‘Madam Secretary’ — whose fans include Presidentialcandidate Hillary Clinton — pushes the envelop further in a recentepisode titled ‘Render Safe.’ Agencies

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Ukraine’s pro-Russianrebels on Monday com-

memorated the former SovietUnion’s victory over NaziGermany by parading tanksand other heavy weaponsbanned under a fragile truce.

The eastern insurgents’de facto capital of Donetsksaw more than 10,000 peopleswarm along the main streetof the shattered industrialhub to remember the victimsof what Russia calls The GreatPatriotic War.

The industrial hub - hometo nearly one million before therevolt against the pro-Westernleadership in Kiev erupted twoyears ago - was awash in the

orange and black ribbonsadopted as a symbol of patrio-tism in Russia.

“I promise that we will win.We will persevere and win,”Donetsk separatist chiefAleksander Zakharchenkodeclared after modern tanksand Russian-made Grad mul-tiple-rocket launcher systemsrumbled past a seated group ofdecorated war veterans.

One Katyusha rocketlauncher used during WorldWar II was engraved with asign reading “For Stalin” - theSoviet dictator who has gainedhero status among someinsurgents and whose por-traits are increasingly visiblein Russia itself.

Donetsk runs along the

30-kilometre-wide bufferzone that splits the two sides’forces and was meant to have been free of largeweapons under a repeatedly-broken peace agreementsigned in February 2015.

Russia denies backing themilitias but often refers toUkrainian leaders who toppledthe former Soviet republic’spro-Moscow president inFebruary 2014 as “fascists”who staged an illegal coup.

That month’s pro-EU rev-olution was followed severalweeks later by Russia’s annex-ation of Crimea and the April2014 outbreak of a conflict thathas claimed more than 9,300lives and tattered Moscow’srelations with the West.

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Fundamentalist Jamaat-e-Islami chief and 1971 war

crimes convict Motiur RahmanNizami has been shifted toDhaka Central Jail from a sub-urban prison as his executionseemed imminent.

“He (Nizami) has beenbrought here (Dhaka Jail) lastnight as part of the process toexecute the Supreme Courtverdict. We are prepared tocarry out the process in DhakaCentral Jail,” a senior prisonofficial said.

He said the 73-year-oldtop leader of Bangladesh’sbiggest Islamist party was keptin an isolated cell in the prison“as per procedure”.

Prison authorities, how-ever, were still waiting for thecopy of the Supreme Courtjudgement.

“I can’t tell you when thedeath sentence will be execut-ed but what I want to say is thatthe verdict will be carried out

after exhausting all legal pro-cedures,” said Home MinisterAsaduzzaman Kamal.

Nizami’s final appealagainst his death sentence forwar crimes committed duringthe 1971 Liberation Waragainst Pakistan was rejected bythe Supreme Court on May 5.

He was brought to the cap-ital in a special prison vanescorted by a number of policevehicles from the Kashimpur

Central Jail.According to witnesses,

security vigil was intensifiedovernight around the prison inthe old part of Dhaka with eliteanti-crime Rapid ActionBattalion (RAB) forcesdeployed along with police inriot gear.

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North Korea on Monday expelled three BBCjournalists it had detained days earlier for

allegedly “insulting the dignity” of the authori-tarian country, which has invited scores of for-eign media for its ongoing ruling party congress.

Correspondent Rupert Wingfield-Hayes andhis team had been scheduled to leave Friday afteraccompanying a group of Nobel laureates on aNorth Korea trip. Instead, the journalists werestopped at the airport, detained and questioned.

O Ryong Il, secretary-general of the North’sNational Peace Committee, said Wingfield-Hayes’ news coverage distorted facts and “spokeill of the system and the leadership of the coun-try.” He said Wingfield-Hayes wrote an apolo-gy, was being expelled today and would neverbe admitted into the country again.

The BBC said Wingfield-Hayes’ producerMaria Byrne and cameraman Matthew Goddardwere also detained and expelled. The threearrived in Beijing on a flight Monday evening.Wingfield-Hayes said only that he was glad tobe out and would have a statement later. His col-leagues did not speak.

“We are very disappointed that our reporterRupert Wingfield-Hayes and his team have beendeported from North Korea after the govern-ment took offence at material he had filed,” theBBC said in a statement.

“Four BBC staff, who were invited to coverthe Workers Party Congress, remain in NorthKorea and we expect them to be allowed to con-tinue their reporting.”

More than 100 foreign journalists are in thecapital for North Korea’s first party congress in36 years, though they have largely been pre-vented from actually covering the proceedingsand the more than 3,400 delegates.

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Page 6: RNI Regn. No. CHHENG/2012/42718, Postal Reg. No. - RYP DN/34/2013-2015 ... victory as the Supreme Court refused to allow the nine dis- ... Kathmandu: Nepal has dis-missed rumours that

The Court of Appeals inMilan has sent twosenior officials ofFinmeccanica, theItalian aerospace com-

pany, to jail for false accountingand corruption in the �3,600crore AgustaWestland helicopterdeal. It now transpires that thecompany had set apart 30 mil-lion towards bribes to Indians toclinch the deal.

Corruption in defence dealsis nothing new in India, but theAgustaWestland bribery casestands out for a very special rea-son, namely, that bribe-givershave been packed off to jail by anItalian court even as Indian inves-tigators are groping in the dark asthey search for the bribe-takers.This has happened in the past toowhen no one was punished fortaking bribes and commissions inthe Bofors deal and in many otherinternational contracts.

But, while we are seized of thecase at hand, we need to look at thelarger issue, namely, the modernIndian history of corruption, andget to the genesis of bribes andcommissions. There are severalwitnesses to this history of corrup-tion, who provide us valuable evi-dence of how and where it allbegan. These witnesses include for-mer President R Venkataraman,former Cabinet secretary BGDeshmukh, former Central Bureauof Investigation Director APMukherjee, former Ambassadorand a member of the Nehru fam-ily — BK Nehru and JRD Tata.

The most important ‘wit-ness’ to this history is RVenkataraman. In his autobiog-raphy, My Presidential Years, heprovides us a nugget of informa-tion that holds the clue to corrup-tion and bribery in big interna-tional deals. He refers to a con-versation he had with JRD Tata,when the latter called on him atRashtrapati Bhavan.Commenting on Prime MinisterRajiv Gandhi’s statement onBofors, JRD Tata told thePresident that “it would be diffi-cult” for the Congress to deny thereceipt of commission, because,since 1980, industrialists were notapproached for political contribu-tions. Consequently, the generalfeeling among industrialists “wasthat the party was financed bycommission on deals”. AlthoughVenkataraman held key portfoliosincluding Defence in the IndiraGandhi Cabinet, he does notchallenge or repudiate the com-ments of JRD Tata. He just slipsit in and allows his readers todigest the information!

The ‘testimony’ of BGDeshmukh, who was CabinetSecretary from 1986 to 1989 iseven more damning. In his auto-biography titled, A CabinetSecretary Looks Back, Deshmukhdeals with the Bofors scandalinvolving corruption in the pur-chase of field guns from thisSwedish company in 1986 andlinks it to Indira Gandhi’s policyof not collecting party funds with-in the country, preferring insteadto take cuts on international deals.

According to him, the gene-sis of the Bofors affair lay “in thepractice initiated by IndiraGandhi...for collecting funds forthe Congress”. He says collectionof party funds was more “trans-parent” when Jawaharlal Nehruwas the Prime Minister. It was nota “highly competitive and corro-sive practice corrupting the wholesocial, economic and political fab-ric”. In his view, at the beginningof her tenure as Prime Minister,Indira Gandhi realised that sheneeded funds to fight elections “toestablish herself as the undisput-ed leader of the Congress”.

In Maharastra, she dependedheavily on Rajni Patel and

Vasantrao Naik to raise funds forthe party and they did so “by liter-ally selling sheets of sea water in theNariman Point area”. Once sheestablished herself, Deshmukh saysIndira Gandhi “decided that a farbetter way to collect funds for theparty was through claiming cutsfrom foreign deals” and this wasperfected from 1972 onwards. Thisscheme of claiming cuts on foreigndeals was further refined when herGovernment appointed trustedsenior officers in the DefenceMinistry and the Department ofDefence Production.

This system, according tohim, “earned notoriety” in foreigncountries. “In the HDWSubmarine case, I was told theWest German Defence Ministryhad intimated to the defencesupplier the amount of corruptionthat would be required to be paidin selling defence equipment”. Hewas told that commission onsuch deals was 10 per cent ormore in Latin America andAfrica, whereas India was placedin the bracket of five per cent to10 per cent. Deshmukh’s referenceto the HDW Submarine deal issignificant because like Bofors,

this deal too became controver-sial following a telex messagewhich indicated that HDWwould have to give a commissionof seven per cent in order toclinch the contract and this led toa huge ruckus in our Parliamentand a political conflict betweenRajiv Gandhi and VP Singh.

In his autobiography, BKNehru too refers to collection ofparty funds by the Congress andquotes Rajiv Gandhi as having toldhim that in the 1980s, “crores andunaccounted crores” had beencollected for party purposes.

Much of this gets further cor-roboration in former CBI DirectorAP Mukherjee’s book, Unknownfacets of Rajiv Gandhi, Jyoti Basuand Indrajit Gupta. He says RajivGandhi told him at the height of theBofors controversy in 1989 that abig all-India party needed “substan-tial amounts of money” for itsadministration and a lot more tocontest Assembly and parliamen-tary elections. The party’s hungerof money led many importantparty functionaries and ministersto resort to “massive fund collec-tion”. When he discussed it withcolleagues, they said commissionsto middlemen should be bannedbut “commissions to be given as amatter of routine practice by thesuppliers of major defence materi-als could be pooled under the careof some non-Government entitywhich could be utilised solely forthe purpose of meeting theinescapable expenses of the party”.Mukherjee says that Rajiv Gandhitold him that endorsed this idea.

Later, after the fall of the RajivGandhi Government, the VP SinghGovernment secured the help of theSwiss and British Governmentsand secured evidence of the Bofors’payments trail. One trail establishedthat Bofors had remitted $7.3 mil-lion to the Swiss Bank account ofMaria and Ottavio Quattrocchi,close friends of Sonia and RajivGandhi. So, there is sufficient evi-dence to establish that commissionson international deals has been derigueur since the 1980s.

There are some people who,for domestic political reasons,despise everything that is Italian.That would not be the rightapproach. The recentAgustaWestland judgementshows that we have much to learnfrom Italy. We must hope that theinvestigators will follow the leadsand complete the process initiat-ed by the court in Milan. Onreading the judgement, one thingis for sure: If the investigatorstrack down the final beneficiary,the Italians will not mind it!C

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Sir — This refers to the editorial,“Shameful and tragic” (May 7).Dalit women are at a double disad-vantage on account of gender andcaste. Given their vulnerability,they are constantly in fear of beingraped and mauled. For them, con-stitutional rights and guaranteesexist only on paper; in real life, theyare violated with impunity.

Low social status and strait-ened material circumstances makethem an easy prey for potentialrapists. In all probability, theabode of the Kerala victim, whichwas also the crime scene — a mudhouse in a two-cent purambokkuland (law owned by none, henceGovernment’s) on a canal bundwas an open invitation to therapist-cum-murderer.

To ignore the injustices doneto the poor Dalits is to betray ourcommon humanity. For amoment, we must imagine our-selves in place of the Dalits tounderstand the burden and painof existence on account of theabomination of caste. It is the pri-mary duty of the Government andthe civil society to end the atroc-ities (hate crimes) against Dalitsand secure them a life of dignity.

G David MiltonMaruthancode

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Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “Shameful and tragic” (May 7).Kerala once had the highest liter-ary rate in our country, but hasnow lost its ethical credentials andmoral certitude. Sexual assault,crime and murder of women haveexceeded the national average.

Obviously, the OommenChandy Government has notbeen able to contain, control andcurb the increasing incidents ofrape and violence in the State.Love for power has blinded thepresent dispensation.

Nimai Charan SwainBhubaneswar

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Sir — This refers to the article,“India’s public sector wasteland”(May 9) by Sandeep Bamzai. Theonly solution to have a robustbanking system is to mergesmall public sector units with alarge bank that is efficient, ratherthan recapitalising it.

With the kind of non-per-forming assets we have in thebanking system (even ReserveBank of India GovernorRaghuram Rajan has clearly askedthe banks to clean their books by

2017), there is bound to be somemore chaos in the short- to mid-term future and the only way wecan revive the economy is by wayof mergers. Though mergers willhave its own set of challenges, thebiggest of them will be humanresources. It’ll still be easier tohandle than selling the bank.

Bal Govind Noida

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Sir — Reserve Bank of IndiaGovernor Raghuram Rajan hasrightly advised the students notto fall prey to unscrupulousschools which leave them withhigh debt and useless degrees.The dismal quality of educationis what makes the students self-dependent when it comes toenhancing their skills.

There are a number of pri-vate schools, colleges and insti-tutions that are imparting poorstandards of education, but areyet successful in attracting stu-dents in droves. Moreover, suchinstitutions are not affiliated toany university.

Vinod C DixitAhmedabad

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For long, keeping statusquo in the economy wasseen as a virtue, and any-

thing that went in any otherdirection was kept away. Butthe realisation for a paradigmshift was reckoned in 1980s.On July 24, 1991, then FinanceMinister Manmohan Singhdelivered one of the most deci-sive speeches ever given inParliament. This was to helpthe Indian economy, whichwas in the midst of a deepfinancial crisis.

Singh said, “I do not min-imise the difficulties that lieahead on the long and arduousjourney on which we haveembarked. But as Victor Hugoonce said, ‘no power on earthcan stop an idea whose timehas come’. I suggest to thisaugust House that the emer-gence of India as a major eco-nomic power in the worldhappens to be one such idea.Let the whole world hear it

loud and clear. India is nowwide-awake. We shall prevail.We shall overcome.”

That idea was to rationalisethe state’s hold over the econ-omy and allow it flourish undera competitive ecosystem thatcould trickle down to the lastperson of society. Policymakersanticipated the future andbrought a radical change in thebanking space by negating thetrend where ‘profit’ as a dirtyword. They placed profit at thecore of the Government’s operating strategy.

The economic reformsimpacted Indian businesses inunprecedented ways. The goalwas to make the economymarket-oriented and expandthe role of private and foreigninvestment. Specific changesincluded a reduction in importtariffs, deregulation of markets,reduction of taxes, and greaterforeign investment. Thesechanges were made to usher

India into the next level of economic advancement.

Following the reforms, theIndian economy witnessedhigh economic growth in the1990s and 2000s. But oppo-nents blamed it also forincreased poverty, inequalityand economic degradation.Higher economic growth sig-nificantly increased the scopeof welfare programmes —India strove over the last two-and-half decades to find abalance between growth andequity through remodelledpublic policies.

At times, the opponents ofeconomic reforms have doubt-ed if these could be part of aninclusive economic growthstrategy but the ground reali-ties tell a different story that ispositive sans the rise of com-parative income inequality. Butrising income has improved thespending capacity of masses inIndia. Hence, today India is one

of the strongest markets in theworld. This is the most impor-tant contribution of economicliberalisation in India.

Before 1991, theGovernment had closed theIndian economy to the outsideworld. The Indian rupee wasinconvertible, and high tariffsand import licensing preventedforeign goods from reaching themarkets. India also had a systemof central planning for the econ-omy, in which firms requiredlicenses to invest and develop.

The unfriendly bureaucra-cy often led to absurd restric-tions — up to 80 agencies hadto be satisfied before a firmcould be granted a license toproduce, and the state woulddecide what was produced,how much, at what price andwhat sources of capital were tobe used.

The central pillar of poli-cy was import substitution:The belief that India needed to

rely on internal markets fordevelopment, not internation-al trade. A belief generated bya mix of socialism and theexperience of colonial exploita-tion. State Planning, ratherthan markets, would deter-mine how much investmentwas needed in which sectors.

Economic reforms didaway with the licence raj,reduced tariffs and interestrates and ended many publicsector monopolies, allowingspeedy approval of foreigndirect investment in many sec-tors. Since then, the overallthrust of liberalisation hasremained the same, yet noGovernment has tried to takeon powerful lobbies and contentious issues.

By the turn of the 21st cen-tury, India had progressedtowards a free-market econo-my, with a substantial reduc-tion in state control andincreased financial liberalisa-

tion. This has been accompa-nied by increases in lifeexpectancy, literacy rates andfood security, although urbanresidents have benefited morethan rural residents.

Nevertheless, relativedeprivation is the spoiler fornew Indian economy, whichhas developed itself through aninterface of different process-es and greater participation ofcorporate resources. This isunsustainable, and shall cer-tainly be attended without theprisms of political ideologies.

The grave issue today isproliferation of easy money,with discriminatory tenden-cies. The economic reformsagenda needs a serious re-looking. The way the strategieswere made in the early phase,couldn’t last for long — and theadulterated policies have over-shadowed some of the remark-able achievements that camewith reforms.

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Ever since the Seventh PayCommission report has beenmade public, there has beena sense of resentment in theArmed Forces community.

While the veterans were battling forOne Rank One Pension, the men inuniform were hopeful that the PayCommission would deliver justice bycorrecting the anomalies of the Fourth,Fifth and Sixth Pay Commissions. Butthis was not to be.

Having learnt from experience,the three Service chiefs immediatelyswung into action to not only douse thesimmering fire in the rank and file butalso plan a joint strategy to reach outto the Government. The Seventh PayCommission had not only failed toresolve the anomalies of the previouspay commissions but had added furthersalt to the injury by equating the sta-tus of the Armed Forces of India withthat of the Central Armed policeForces. The Pay Commission alsowent beyond its charter and tried tin-kering with the terms and conditionsof service of the rank and file. TheArmed Forces were harmed both mon-etarily as well as protocol-wise.

The basis of the report is a study car-ried out by the Institute of Defence Studiesand Analyses, a strategic think-tank,comparing the pay of Indian ArmedForces with that of certain foreign armiesof developed countries. The competenceof the IDSA to carry out such a study isquestionable. Moreover, why only have theArmed Forces been singled out for sucha comparison? Why not review the termsof service for the other Services, such asthe Indian Administrative Service, the

Indian Foreign Service and the IndianForest Service to name a few? Theanswer is simple: The study was designedto reduce the salary, perks and status ofthe Armed Forces.

Soldiers worry that history isrepeating itself. Every Pay Commissionsince 1973 has been unfair to theArmed Forces but there was majorresentment with the Sixth PayCommission in 2008. It led to a show-down between the three Service chiefsand the politico-bureaucratic establish-ment. The Services requested theGovernment to have their representa-tive in the Committee of Secretaries tolook into the anomalies. The requestwas based on the logic that 30 per centof Central Government employeesaffected by the Pay Commissionbelonged to the Armed Forces.

The request was not granted but anassurance was given that the military’sconcerns would be addressed with sym-pathy and without prejudice. The Servicechiefs conceded but were later aghast bythe committee’s Government approvedreport. The Services found that not onlywere their major grievances not addressed,three more discrepancies had been intro-duced in the final Cabinet notification.The Service chiefs were let down in frontof the Forces and humiliated. They tookup the matter separately with the DefenceMinister and the Prime Minister, andrealised that the real villain was theMinistry of Defence, which had present-ed a weak case for the Forces, without rel-evant supporting documents.

The Sixth Pay Commission wasworse than the Fifth Pay Commission,wherein the Armed Forces had pointed

out 48 anomalies, of which only eight wereresolved. Fortunately, Admiral SureeshMehta, a no non-sense officer, was theChairman of the Chiefs of StaffCommittee then. He convinced his twocolleagues to delay the implementation offlawed Sixth Pay Commission. The deci-sion was communicated by Service head-quarters to the rank and file through a sig-nal message. The message was receivedwith great jubilation, which sent jitters tothe politico-bureaucratic nexus.

There were adverse comments in cer-tain quarters of the media as well. Veteranjournalist Nitin Gokhale openly support-ed the Service chiefs. He wrote, “If the said‘signal’, as the communication is called inmilitary parlance, is defiance, then no mil-itary chief will ever be able to give assur-ances to, and take, his men in confidence.Anyone who has dealt with the ArmedForces will tell you that there is not an iotaof truth in the canard that is being spreadabout the three Chiefs ‘defying’ the civilauthorities. Yes, they questioned thebureaucracy’s attempts to wittingly orunwittingly introduce pay and status dis-parities between the Armed Forces andtheir civilian counterparts. Yes they tookthe matter to Prime Minister but in noway did they defy the Government.”

The bold stand taken by the threeChiefs had the desired result and thePrime Minister appointed a group ofMinisters to resolve the grievances of theArmed Forces. Some of the main pointswere immediately settled and the Servicesaccepted the Sixth Pay Commission. Butthe MOD continued to play truant, andthe unresolved anomalies were referredto the Seventh Pay Commission.

The continued apathy of the

bureaucracy towards men in uniform isperplexing. World over the ArmedForces are placed on a different pedestalbut in our country, under the garb ofensuring civil supremacy, the politico-bureaucratic nexus works against theinterests of the Armed Forces.

Knowing that the Armed Forces areunhappy with the treatment meted tothem by the Seventh Pay Commission,efforts are being made through themedia to spread lies. The latest attemptis an article in a leading national dailytitled, “Our Service chiefs may earnmore than US generals”. It states that forthe first time, the three chiefs will drawmore salary than their US counterparts,based on purchasing power parity terms,when the Seventh Pay Commission isimplemented. The PPP comparison ismisleading and flawed. How can the salaryof officers of two different armies, havingdifferent terms and conditions of service,be compared? Moreover, the figuresquoted in the article were exaggerated aswas evident from another news item pub-lished a few days later in another daily,titled “Indian Service chiefs earn less thantop US general reveals new data.”

Such articles are aimed at creatingconfusion among the rank and file, andsowing the seeds of distrust between offi-cers and jawans. No nation, more soIndia, can afford to have a disgruntledmilitary. All grievances of the ArmedForces must be addressed sympatheti-cally and without prejudice. The PrimeMinister must intervene to ensure thatthe justice is done and the widening riftin civil-military relations halted.

(The writer is a retired Army officer,and security & strategic affairs analyst)

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With hardly seven days togo for the May 16

Assembly election, Tamil Naduis witnessing an unprecedent-ed fight between the twoDravidian majors, theAIADMK and the DMK.Though the AIADMK hadestablished a well- defined leadover its rivals till last week, theDMK has succeeded in nar-rowing the difference to a cer-tain extent through door-to-door campaign by senior lead-ers in all the constituencies theparty is contesting.

The AIADMK is dependentonly on the charisma ofJayalalithaa, the party generalsecretary and she is carrying theentire burden on her shoulders.Jayalalithaa who has been heli-hopping from Chennai to dis-trict headquarters to addresselection rallies launched roadshows since last week to counterthe charges made by Oppositionparties that she was not inter-acting with the people. To sub-stantiate their allegations, DMKpresident M Karunanidhi andhis son M K Stalin has beengoing from street to street tomeet voters and plead withthem for their votes.

Kattumannarkoil Kannan,vice-president, Cauvery DeltaFarmers Welfare Association,said the 2016 assembly electionis the most unpredictable elec-tion he had seen. "TheAIADMK and the DMK are

the main rivals as well as mainplayers. I don't give any impor-tance to the People's WelfareFront or others including theBJP. This is a close fight," saidKannan.

The AIADMK has anadvantage that there is no vis-ible anti-incumbency factoragainst the party. But there arepeople in Chennai who arguethat the "mishandling" of therescue and relief operations ofthe December 2015 floods may

cost the AIADMK dearly.Gokul Indira, minister in

the Jayalalithaa cabinet, andseeking reelection from AnnaNagar said charges about mis-handling of flood relief opera-tion is a false propaganda bythe DMK. "We have ensuredthat all those affected by theflood got relief materials andcompensation. I personallysupervised the relief opera-tions and Amma (chief minis-ter Jayalalithaa ) was monitor-

ing the operations round-the-clock," said Gokul Indira.

Arupathi Kalyanam, gen-eral secretary , Federation ofFarmers' Association, CauveryDelta Districts, said the partieshave let down the farmingcommunity as a whole andchances of the farmers votingen mass for a particular partyare nil. "The manifestos of allparties except the PMK and thePWF are disappointing. Sincefifty per cent of the farmers arenot affiliated to any of the par-ties, it is not possible to saywhich way the wind is blow-ing," said Kalyanam.

But Kannan is hopeful ofthe AIADMK scrapingthrough. "The crucial issuethis time is whether Jayalalithaawould create history by becom-ing the first chief minister afterMG Ramachandran to retainpower. MGR, the founder ofAIADMK is the only chiefminister in modern times towin all the three elections hecontested (1977, 1980 and1985) and retained power.Since then Tamil Nadu hasbeen seeing the DMK and theAIADMK ruling the State alter-nately. The seizure of unac-counted money from variousplaces in the State since themodel code of conduct cameinto effect has baffled the elec-torate. Till Sunday the flyingsquads and intelligence units ofthe Election Commission hasmade seized Rs 87 crore fromvarious places in the State.The Opposition had chargedthat the AIADMK was distrib-uting cash to purchase votes.But when money was seizedfrom DMK camps, the allega-tions have come down.

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Congress-led UDF andCPI(M)-headed LDF, the

chief political rivals of Keralawho have been ruling the Statealternately every five years,believed that no third force canpenetrate into the State, untilthe grand appearance of PrimeMinister Narendra Modi inthe high-voltage BJP-NDAcampaign for the May 16Assembly election.

Modi has been in Keralafor campaigning only for twodays so far, and the total timehe spent on his speeches at fourvenues was just two hours, butthose four speeches seem tohave been more than sufficientto shake their confidence, if thechange in the tones of theirresponses to the challenge theBJP is posing in the election isany indication.

The anxiety and confusioncreated in the Congress campby Modi's campaign role wasobvious from the way ChiefMinister Oommen Chandy,heading the scam-beleagueredUDF regime, posted an "openletter" on his Facebook pageasking the PM not to "foolKeralites". This was the firsttime Chandy had entered intoa direct argument with theBJP-NDA in this election.

"In his urgency to termModi's development concept ashollow, Chandy seems to havebecome a victim of the foot-in-mouth disease himself," sayssenior journalist Satheesan."His complaint that the Modi

regime had done nothing toshore up rubber prices, was aself-goal as the UPA headed byhis party was instrumental increating the rubber crisis," headded.

According to a Kochi-based psephologist, Modi haddeliberately formulated hisspeeches in such a way that hedenied his opponents theopportunity to criticize himover the usual minority-major-ity arguments whenever dis-cussions took place on the BJP."I would say Modi had totallyavoided what common mancalls 'politics' from his speech-es," he said.

Observers say that the con-tents of the four speeches deliv-ered by Modi in two days - May6 and May 8 - have woken upthe leaders of the UDF and theLeft to the reality that there areenough socio-economic issuesthat they have not attended to,which a third force like BJP caneasily use to sneak into Kerala's

power structure.The Prime Minister had

woven his four speechesaround some of the burningissues Kerala was facing - likedrinking water shortage, risingunemployment, soaring publicdebt, falling agricultural pro-duction, closure of PSUs, etc -and held in a matter-of-factfashion the Congress and theLeft, which had ruled the Stateall these years, responsible forall those ills.

Modi had also given specialcare in his speeches to con-vincingly describe the short-comings in the development ofthe State as a result of thealleged hypocrisy of theCongress and the Marxists.He also attacked in the harsh-est available words to blast theMarxists and the Congress forplaying their alleged politics ofadjustment in the State.

"When a pre-poll survey inApril-end predicted the possi-bility of the BJP opening

account by winning three tofive seats in the 140-seatAssembly in this election, theUDF and LDF had discountedthis possibility by saying thatsurveys had never been error-free. But they may not be feel-ing that confident now," saidthe psephologist.

Even several Congressmenand Marxists are now admit-ting - secretly, indeed - thattheir parties had perhaps com-mitted a serious mistake inproperly assessing the increasein the strength of the BJP inKerala. They also admit that theModi campaign has given a bigpush to the Kerala BJP's elec-toral efforts.

On Monday, a marked dif-ference was seen in theapproach of top Congress lead-ers to the issues of BJP andModi's campaign. ChiefMinister Chandy, who is notknown to devote much time todeal with the BJP in his speech-es, was seen using most of hisspeech in Thrissur to criticiseModi for levelling chargesagainst his party president SoniaGandhi over the chopper deal.

"The Prime Minister low-ered himself to the level of anordinary BJP worker to raisefalse allegations againstSoniaji," Chandy said at a UDFelection rally at which theCongress president spoke.Similarly, State Congress pres-ident VM Sudheeran alsodevoted much of his speech totell his party workers about theneed to work for a "BJP-MuktIndia".

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Aday after Prime Minister NarendraModi taunted her over the

AgustaWestland chopper deal in an elec-tion campaign speech in Kerala, Congresspresident Sonia Gandhi on Monday hitback at him by saying that he could nottake away her commitment to and love forIndia.

“Yes, I was born in Italy but this is myhome, this is my country,” Sonia said at anelection rally of the Congress-led UDF inThiruvananthapuram late Monday eveningin a direct and emotionally-charged replyto the swipe Modi took at her at the sameplace on Sunday in the context of the chop-per gate. Modi had said, “All know who hasrelations in Italy.”

“I came here in 1968 as the daughterin law of Indira Gandhi. This is my home,this is my country. It is here that I willbreathe my last and it is here my ashes willmingle with my loved ones. For all these48 years the RSS and others have tauntedme for being born in Italy,” the Congresschief said in emotion-choked voice.

“I was born to proud and honest par-ents and I will never be ashamed of them.Yes, I have relatives in Italy. I have a 93-year-old mother and two sisters,” Soniasaid, adding that Prime Minister Modimight not be able to understand her emo-tions but the people of India were able tounderstand it.

At another election programme atThrissur earlier in the day, she hit out atthe Modi Government accusing it of top-pling elected governments, suffocating uni-versities, threatening NGOs and treatingrivals as traitors.

“Our democratically elected govern-ments – like in Arunachal Pradesh andUttarakhand – are being toppled through

unconstitutional and other underhanddealings,” Sonia said while addressing arally of the Congress-led ruling UDF forthe May 16 Assembly election at thefamous Thekkinkadu Grounds in Thrissur.

Alleging that the Modi Governmentwas a threat to the universities, Judiciary,NGOs and civil society, the Congress chiefsaid, “Universities are being put on notice,judiciary is being threatened, NGOs arebeing silenced.” She also asked Keralites tounite to oppose the BJP-RSS efforts todestroy the State’s secular fabric.

“The Prime Minister has plenty oftime to tour all over the country but whenit comes to farmers’ sufferings, he just looksaway,” the Congress president alleged.Coconut farmers were suffering due to theCentre’s refusal to impose restrictions onthe import of palmolein, she said, addingthat the Government also declined torelease money for the price stabilizationfund.

She also slammed the Modi regime forcutting down funds for various schemeslike the MNREGA initiated by the previ-ous Congress-led UPA government.“Likewise, it is also refusing to support self-help groups like Kerala’s Kudumbasreewhich had become famous all over thecountry,” Sonia said.

Beginning her speech by expressinggrief at the loss of more than a hundredlives in the gruesome fireworks tragedy ata Kollam temple on April 10, Sonia saidshe shared the pain of the mother of the29-year-old Dalit law student who was bru-tally raped and murdered at Perumbavooron April 28. While praising the UDFGovernment headed by Chief MinisterOommen Chandy for implementing sev-eral development projects like the Kannurairport and Kochi Metro Rail in the pastfive years, the Congress president criticizedthe CPI(M)-led Opposition LDF foradopting anti-development policy.

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As a strategic move ahead ofthe upcoming Assembly

polls in the State, the mainOpposition party Congress onMonday launched State-wide'Lok Darbar' in order to address'people's issues' pending with theBJP-ruled State Government.

First 'Lok Darbar' wasorganised at Hindu religiousplace Utkantheshwar situatedin the Leader of Opposition,Shankersinh Vaghela's assem-bly constituency Kapadwanjon the auspicious day of'Akhatrij'. From now onwards,'Lok Darbar' will be held in allthe districts of Gujarat for nextthree months.

On this occasion, GujaratPradesh Congress Committee(GPCC) president BharatsinhSolanki launched a dedicatedwebsite www.lokdarbar.in andmobile app to make the initia-tive high-tech and reach largenumber of people.

During Lok Darbars seniorCongress leaders will listenpeople's issues related toemployment, agriculture, tradeand commerce, infrastructurelike roads, drinking water prob-lem, irrigation, transportation,

land related problems, infla-tion, minority issues, educa-tion, corruption in govern-ment system, pollution andenvironment etc.

The Congress leaders notonly listen to people's problembut they would distribute aform during such Lok Darbarin which applicants can men-tion their problem and theCongress cadre would repre-sent to the related authority toresolve them.

"Those who would not beable to attend Lok Darbarphysically can also send theirproblems through website ormobile app. The Congress lead-ers will sincerely try to addresstheir problems and tell themabout the status of issues in afortnight's period," said Vaghelawhile addressing people in LokDarbar in Utkandheshwar.

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The BJP in Tamil Nadu suf-fered a setback with the

candidate fielded by the party-led alliance AnnamalaiMuthukumar (32) fromMadathukulam Assembly con-stituency in Tiruppur districtfor the May 16 election walk-ing over to the AIADMK onSunday. Muthukumar, amechanical engineer by pro-fession, joined the AIADMK inpresence of party supremo JJayalalithaa during the electionrally addressed by her atThanjavur on Sunday.

With Muthukumar jump-ing the fence and joining theAIADMK, the BJP has no can-didate in this constituency.The AIADMK, the DMK, thePWF, the PMK and theKongunadu Makkal MunnetraKazhagam will fight it amongthemselves.

Muthukumar was a leaderof the Indian Makkal KalviMunnetra Kazhagam(IMKMK), a caste outfit led byT Deivanathan, owner of alocal cable TV network.Madathukulam was one of the24 seats given by the BJP to thisoutfit which had agreed tocontest the election in theLotus symbol of the BJP. "Idecided to run away from thebattlefield because there wasnobody to help me. During thelast one week I spent Rs 5 lakhfrom my personal savingstowards the campaign expens-

es and I am left with no money.Neither the IMKMK nor theBJP leadership came to help mein spite of the number of phonecalls I made," Muthukumartold The Pioneer over tele-phone from Coimbatore.

He said the district secre-tary and president of the partyas well as the state president ofthe IMKMK did not respond tohis phone calls or SMSes andhe was left with no other alter-native than to accept the invi-tation by the AIADMK. "I wassaddened that the BJP leader-ship in Tamil Nadu too ignoredmy predicament. Now I'll workfor the success of the AIADKcandidate K Manoharan," saidMuthukumaran.

But Deivanathan, presi-dent, IMKMK, told ThePioneer that Muthukumaranwas kidnapped by PollachiJayaraman and was presentedin front of Jayalalithaa. "Weare filing a habeas corpuspetit ion demandingMauthukumaran to bebrought before the court andset free. And we are alsocampaigning intensively forthe success of the Lotus sym-bol at Madathukulam," saidDeivanathan. People inMadathukulam and elsewherein Tamil Nadu stand to see arare spectacle of the defectedcandidate Muthukumarancampaigning for theAIADMK candidate while theformer's old party colleaguescampaigning for the Lotussymbol.

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Page 9: RNI Regn. No. CHHENG/2012/42718, Postal Reg. No. - RYP DN/34/2013-2015 ... victory as the Supreme Court refused to allow the nine dis- ... Kathmandu: Nepal has dis-missed rumours that

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Jammu and Kashmir ChiefMinister Mehbooba Mufti on

Monday sought to rest the con-troversy over the development ofa special colony for ex-servicemenin Kashmir saying no land hasbeen allotted for the purposethough the former soldiers haveformally put forth the demand.

Mufti was speaking toreporters after formally re-open-ing of Government offices incapital Srinagar after biennialdurbar move from winter capitalJammu. The Chief Ministeraccused the former Chief MinisterOmar Abdullah of being imma-ture to rake up the issue at a timewhen tourist season was peakingin the Valley.

She said the demand fordeveloping a Sainik Colony wasfrom the soldiers belonging to thestate of Jammu and Kashmir.

Mehbooba described thenews reports on development ofSainik Colony as “rumours” andlinked it with attempts to create

law and order situation that hitsthe ongoing tourism season.

“Rumours are being spread.But no land has been allotted (forthe colony). The demand for thecolony is from ex-servicemenwho hail from the state. No ex-servicemen from outside the statedemanded allotment of land,”Mehbooba said and clarified thatno land has been allotted for thesaid colony.

The controversy erupted afterreports surfaced that during the77th annual meeting of RajyaSainik Board, Governor NNVohra, who is chairman of theboard, had cleared the proposal ofthe Sainik Colony in April 2015.The colony was proposed to beconstructed in the outskirts ofSrinagar city near InternationalAirport.

During the meeting, theSainik Board secretary Brig (retd)RS Langeh had informed thatDivisional CommissionerKashmir had agreed to allot 173kanals ( kanal is one eighth of anacre) of land on payment basis.

However, with huge responsefrom the former soldiers toacquire land in Srinagar out-skirts, the Board revised its initialproposal and sought allotment of350 kanals.

The issue generated contro-versy as separatists and severalmainstream political partiesdescribed the proposal as anattempt to change the demogra-

phy of the Muslim majority state.Mehbooba targeted former

chief minister Omar Abdullah forraising the issue and asked her tobehave like a “responsible person”.Abdullah had posted documentsrelated to the controversy on asocial networking site and ques-tioned the purpose of developingthe colony in Kashmir.

Mehbooba referred to Omar

Abdullah’s earlier post on micro-blogging site twitter when heerroneously posted pictures of2010 summer agitation and linkedthem with the recent killings inKashmir.

“Omar Abdullah is not acommon man. He has been thechief minister. I hope that Omarhasn’t repeated his mistake (ofposting 2010 pictures),”Mehbooba said.

She said that it was intriguingto note that during wintermonths, Kashmir remains peace-ful and when summer arrives,efforts are made to create law andorder situation. “This timetourism season is going onsmoothly but efforts are beingmade to create spanners,” she said.

She said her late father MuftiMuhammad Sayeed allied withthe BJP for safeguarding the iden-tity of Jammu and Kashmir.

“Be it the prime minister orthe chief minister, nobody woulddilute the special status of Jammuand Kashmir,” she added.

Earlier, the chief ministerwas accorded guard of honour bythe a contingent of women police.She later visited several offices inthe secretariat.

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Outbreak of bird flu in apoultry farm at Melkera

village in Humnabad Taluk inBidar district in Karnataka hasmade the KarnatakaGovernment to declare bird fluemergency and started cullingmore than 1.3 lakh birds toprevent the outbreak of avianinfluenza (H5N1 virus) toother farms.

The state government hasalso instructed poultry farmersto take precautionary mea-sures to prevent infection ofchicken with H5N1 virus. Inthe case of viral infection, sci-entists have advised farm own-ers not to sell or move any ofthe birds/eggs and materialout of farm. They have beeninstructed to adopt adequatebio-security measures.

Minister for AnimalHusbandry A. Manju, said thatthe outbreak of bird flu wasfound in the farm owned byRamesh Gupta in Bidar districtand the state government

would provide compensationto the farmer immediately afterculling. "It was decided to cullall poultry birds within one-kmradius of the infected farm" headded.

"We received informationon May 5 that at in poultryfarm about 20,000 chickenshave died. To identify the dis-ease we had sent the samples toa laboratory in Bhopal, thereport confirms the cause isdue to H5N1 virus" he said.

According to Minister ateam of doctors and scientistsof the Institute of AnimalHealth and Veterinary,Biologicals, Bengaluru, visited

the private farm in Bidar andcollected the samples for test-ing. The samples were tested atNational Institute HighSecurity Animal Diseases,Bhopal, and samples testedpositive for H5N1. He alsoasked the people not get pan-icky as government has takenall measures to prevent thespread of the virus.

According to Ministerpoultry farms located withina 1 km radius, all the birds willalso be culled and other farmswithin a 3 km radius will becarefully monitored to preventthe disease spreading further.

According to AnimalHusbandry department recordsKarnataka has around 7,000poultry farms, which are bothlayers and broilers varieties.The farms have stock of morethan five crore birds. The state'sdaily egg production is about1.2 crore. A team of expertswould oversee the process ofculling and preventive mea-sures being taken to contain itsspread.

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The ancient Somnath templesituated on the west coast of

Gujarat has gone a step closerto what its management callsreminiscence of its Golden eraas one of the 12 Jyortirlinga hasinstalled gold-plated doors tothe central part of the temple- Garbha Griha.

Shri Somnath Trust, whichis managing the historical tem-ple, said on Monday in a writ-ten statement thatGarbhagriha, ornaments andwalls of the temple have beennow got golden covering. Thegold plated doors were openedfor the public fromMondayearly morning, after theirinstallation and Sankalp Vidhipuja held at the temple onSunday late evening.

The temple trust convert-ed the gates and other utensilsin to golden as they received a

pledge of 100 kilograms ofgold in donation from aMumbai-based family.

In the second and thirdphase, the trust seeks to useadditional gold to convertShikhar-Dhvaj dand, Damru-Trishul, rest of the portions ofwalls, pillars, face of Lord Shiva,ornaments etc be golden.

It may be noted thatSomnath temple had alsobecome one of the first templesin the country that hadannounced to put 35 kg in goldGold Monetisation Schemelaunched by Prime MinisterModi.

Among the trustees of theSomnath Temple Trust includeformer Gujarat Chief MinisterKeshubhai Patel, who is also thechairman of the trust, PrimeMinister Narendra Modi, vet-eran BJP leader LK Advani, BJPNational President Amit Shah,among others.

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The State Government onMonday announced a new

comprehensive AgricultureBusiness Policy - 2016 in a bidto take holistic approachtowards the agriculture sectorin Gujarat.

As per the new policy 25%of project cost subsidy up to Rs50 lakh to set up, expand,diversify, modernize the agroand food processing unit hasbeen given. Provision of 25% ofproject cost subsidy up to Rs500 lakh for cold chain, foodirradiation plant, pack house,Food Park etc. has been made.Another important feature ofthe policy is 25% of project costsubsidy up to Rs 250 lakh to setup primary processing center,collection center in rural areas.The state government has alsodecided to give 7.5% interest

assistance on term loan inlimit of maximum Rs 150 lakhfor five years period to set upagro and food processing unit,it expansion, diversificationand modernization.

Launching the 12th editionof statewide Krishi Mahotsavfrom Anand in central Gujarat,Gujarat Chief MinisterAnandiben said that under thenew comprehensiveAgricultural Business Policy-2016 the state governmentwanted to open the doors ofglobal trade for farmers andyouth of the state throughmodern farming, food pro-cessing and establishing value

chain from farm to globalcommodity markets.

The Chief Ministerclaimed that her governmentwas pro-farmer. She said hergovernment had been encour-aging organic farming and wassetting up an organic farminguniversity. Patel further saidthat Gujarat government wastaking measures to preventadulteration in fertilizers andmilk, while it would provideland at concessional rates toagricultural produce marketingcommittees (APMCs) and milkdistribution centres.

The government plannedto provide one lakh new elec-tricity connections during theKrishi Mahotsav, loan at oneper cent interest, allocation ofRs 10 crore for drip irrigationand Rs 100 crore to checkdamage to crops by animals,she said.

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The annual Amarnarh Yatrato the Himalayan Hindu

cave shrine in Jammu andKashmir will begin on July 2and conclude on August 24, itwas announced here onMonday.

The schedule and arrange-ments for this year's pilgrimagewere discussed in a meeting,chaired by Governor N.N.Vohra, who is also the chair-man of Shri Amarnathji ShrineBoard (SASB) at the RajBhavan here on Monday.

Announcing the scheduleafter the meeting, SASB CEOP.K. Tripathi said that 7,500yatris per day are permitted toundertake the yatra along eachof the two routes, via Baltal andPahalgam. It was also informedthat, based on the weather con-ditions, the access control gatesat Domel and Chandanwari willbe closed at 11 a.m. every day,after which no pilgrim will be

allowed to proceed on the tracks.He said the pilgrims must avoidstaying at the shrine for the nightas the temperature drops sharplyafter sunset. Accordingly, the pil-grims will not be allowed to pro-ceed beyond Panjtarni Campafter 3 p.m. every day.

Tripathi said the advanceregistration which commencedon February 29 through 432bank branches of PunjabNational Bank, J&K Bank andYES Bank spread over the

country is proceeding smooth-ly and, as of now, 143,462 peo-ple have enrolled.

The list of bank branchesauthorised to undertakeadvance registration is availableon the shrine board's websitewww.shriamarnathjishrine.com, which has also procedureand guidelines for securingadvance registration, groupregistration and registrationof pilgrims from outside thecountry.

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Eight months after a leading,Thane builder shot himself

dead after having allegedly suf-fered harassment at the handsof a coterie of some “corrupt”local corporators, one morebuilder attempted suicide atNavi Mumbai, creating sensa-tion in Mumbai’s satellite city.

Raj Khanderi of the SwarajDevelopers tried to commitsuicide by shooting himselfwith his revolver in the head athis Sanpada residence in NaviMumbai at around 2.30 pm.

The severely bleedingKhanderi was rushed to thelocal Mahatma GandhiMemorial Hospital, where doc-tors attending on himdescribed his condition as “crit-ical”.

Though the police have not

established as to what prompt-ed him to take the extreme,preliminary investigations haverevealed that Khandheri wasunder extreme depression forthe past several days.

Considered one of theleading developers in NaviMumbai, Khanderi had madehuge investments in the con-struction and real estate busi-ness. Even several of his asso-ciates and fellow builders hadmade investments in his busi-ness.

The investigators are tryingto ascertain if Khanderi’sattempted suicide had any-thing to do with the problemsarising out of the current reces-sion in the real estate businessor political and bureaucratichassles he might have facedwhile seeking permissions andclearances from the Navi

Municipal Corporation (NMC)as it had happened in the caseof a Thane builder who killedhimself eight months ago.

Khanderi’s attempted sui-cide appears akin to the shock-ing manner in which Thane-based builder Suraj Parmarhad shot himself dead at hisconstruction site office onOctober 7 last year.

In his 13-page suicide note,Parmar had alleged that acoterie of local corporatorsand officials had been harass-ing him for bribes. He had alsoalleged that the coterie was try-ing to stall his various housingprojects involving crores ofrupees.

A note book left byParmar in his car, in which hehad named corporators whohad allegedly taken moneyfrom him and were demand-ing huge bribes from himgranting civic clearances andpermissions, had openedPandora’s Box.

Having registered a case of

‘abetment to suicide’ andoffences of criminal miscon-duct under the Prevention ofCorruption Act against publicservants concerned, the Thanepolice had arrested four cor-porators Vikrant Chavan(Congress), Najib Mulla,Hanumant Jagdale (both NCP)and Sudhakar Chavan (inde-pendent) of the ThaneMunicipal Corporation(TMC).

The investigations into theSuraj Parmar suicide case haveexposed the nexus betweencorporators and a section ofcivic officials, and the corrup-tion prevailing in the civicbody in matters relating to thegrant of building permissionsand clearances.

The four TMC corporators,against whom the Thane policefiled a 3,050 page charge-sheetfor abetment of suicide andoffences under the Preventionof Corruption Act, are cur-rently being tried in a Thanecourt.

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Though the rival groups exuded confi-dence of winning the recently concludedBengal Assembly elections internal reportsbeing prepared by some of the TrinamoolCongress district committees tend to put theState ruling outfit ahead of the Congress-Leftalliance. According to sources internalreports being prepared by the district com-mittees of Hooghly, North 24 Parganas, EastMidnapore and Howrah put the ruling partyahead by a few notches. For instance a reportbeing sent by the Hooghly district commit-tee to the Trinamool State committee saysthat the party may get at least 16 out of 18seats. It is another matter that the Left oppo-sition puts the figure at 6:18 --- by conser-vative assessment --- in favour of theTrinamool. According to both the Congressand the Left leadership the Alliance may getPandua, Serampore, Champdani,Chandernagore, Uttarpara and Saptagramseats. On the other hand Trinamool MPSuvendu Adhikary and party candidate forNandigram Assembly seat says his party willwin all the 16 seats from the district. “Waitfor May 19 and you will see Bengal once

again painted in Trinamool colours. Our dis-trict-wise reports only confirm this. Insofaras East Midnapore is concerned we are setto win all the 16 seats” he says. However, thelocal district leadership of the CPI(M) saysthey will “definitely win four seats ofPanshkura West, Egra, South Contai andHaldia and will give “stiff resistance atRamnagar.” At Howrah district Trinamoolpresident Arup Roy says they will win the16 seats. “We will not only win all the seatsbut make it difficult to save their (Congress-Left) deposits,” he says adding “the Left lead-ers cried hoarse about their winning but pri-vately they are also telling that they had doneso to encourage their workers.”

However Howrah CPI(M) leaders saythey will win at least eight seats from the dis-trict including Howrah North, Central, Bally,Amta and Udaynarayanpur. “There is a goodchance of winning Sankrail also because thevoters who could not vote during the pan-chayat and civic elections turned out in greatnumbers and voted for us.

Similarly the Trinamool North 24Parganas leadership is projecting hands-down victory. “We will win at least 28 outof 33 seats,” says JP Mullick the district TMC

president however here also the Left says theywill win at least 12 seats “if not more.” Says,Trinamool general secretary ParthoChatterjee, “the huge turnout during the elec-tions only proves that the people have votedfor Mamata Banerjee.’ On the other handCPI(M)’s Suryakanta Mishra says “Let May19 come and everything will be clear. Wehave already won the elections. The questionnow is about the margin.” His words areechoed by Congress’ Manas Bhunia. He says“the Congress thanks the ElectionCommission for holding a free and fare elec-tion. The people have been able to vote andthe mandate is going in favour of theAlliance.” When asked as to how the Alliancewould win when it is not sure of getting themajority number of seats in most districts asenior Congress says “out of 76 seats in NorthBengal we will win 65. Now out of the 218seats the Trinamool will have to win morethan 65 percent seats in South Bengalwhich not quite possible considering the factthat they have to contend with strong Leftbastions in Burdwan and Nadia whichjointly have 35 seats and stronger anti-estab-lishment wave in the urban and semi-urbanareas.”

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Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad thestudents’ arm of the BJP on Monday

held a rally outside Jadavpur Universityagainst what they said “anti-nationalactivities” by its students who had been“harbouring anti-India elements andindulging in secessionist activities.”Monday’s rally which saw a minor skir-mish between the police and the agitatorswas in retaliation of another rally orga-nized by the JU students who chanted“Azadi” slogans and alleged “attempt bythe ABVP to infiltrate the campus anddestroy its academic and free-thinkingenvironment.” The two sides witnesseda physical showdown a late last weekwhen the JUSU students objected to thescreening of Vivek Agnihotri film Buddhain a Traffic Jam inside the campus. Afterinitial consent the authorities had with-drawn permission to screen the film.FIRs were lodged from both sides butnone was arrested in which the ABVPsupporters alleged physical assault by theJUSU members some women studentsof the University alleged molestation.

Meanwhile ABVP leaders on Mondaysaid they would not allow anti-nationalactivities in Indian soil. “These commu-

nists have made this place a den of anti-national activities and now they are rais-ing logans in favour of Pakistan even. Thiscannot be tolerated and they will have tobe flushed out. This agitation has beenstaged for this purpose.”

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Snapping 3-month decliningstreak, passenger car sales in

India rose 1.87 per cent in Aprilon popular new models likeMaruti Baleno and RenaultKwid, although a subdued ruralmarket continued to affect theoverall sentiment.

According to the datareleased by the Society of IndianAutomobile Manufacturers(SIAM), domestic passenger carsales stood at 1,62,566 units inApril as against 1,59,588 units inthe same month last year.

“If we talk only about carsthen growth during the lastmonth largely came from newlaunches like Baleno and Kwid,"SIAM Director General VishnuMathur told reporters here. Ruralsales for cars continue to be sub-dued, he added.

“If we see the total passen-ger vehicle segment, it has grownby over 11 per cent. It is mainlydue to the robust growth of util-ity vehicles like Hyundai Creta,Maruti Vitara Brezza and vehi-

cles like Mahindra's KUV100,”Mathur said. The distinctionbetween passenger cars andSUVs is getting more blurred, headded.

During last month total pas-senger vehicle sales rose by 11.04per cent to 2,42,060 units asagainst 2,17,989 units in the yearago period. Utility vehicles grewby 42.82 per cent in April. Thesegment has been growing sinceOctober last year, Mathur said.

During April, Maruti SuzukiIndia's domestic car sales were up2.72 per cent at 86,481 units, asagainst 84,188 units in the samemonth last year. Rival HyundaiMotor India saw a decline of10.52 per cent at 34,425 units asagainst 38,474 units in the cor-responding month last year.

Honda Cars India's salesalso declined by 20.12 per centto 9,499 units as against 11,892in April last year. Tata Motors' carsales were at 9,106 units in Aprilthis year, as compared with8,925 units in the year-agomonth, up 2 per cent. RenaultIndia's car sales zoomed to 9,907

units during the month asagainst just 259 units last year.Maruti Suzuki India's passengervehicle sales in April were up16.22 per cent at 1,17,045 units,while that of rival HyundaiMotor India were up by 9.71 percent to 42,351 units.

Homegrown utility vehi-cles major Mahindra &Mahindra's passenger vehiclessales were up 16.39 per cent at22,655 units, while Honda CarsIndia saw a decline of 17 per centin its passenger vehicles sales

during the month at 10,486units. Tata Motors saw 3.44per cent increase in sales of pas-senger vehicles at 12,230 units.Renault India saw a massive210.57 per cent jump in passen-ger vehicle sales at 12,426 units.Total two-wheeler sales in Aprilrose 21.23 per cent to 15,60,339units. Motorcycle sales lastmonth jumped 16.24 per cent to10,24,926 units, from 8,81,743 ayear earlier. The motorcyclesales were highest sinceSeptember 2014, when the seg-

ment had grown by 18.65 percent. “The uptick in bike salesduring the last month can bemainly attributed to weddingseason. We'll have to see if thiscontinues as the rural demandstill remain subdued. Thoughvarious factors like forecast of abetter monsoon has improvedthe sentiment,” Mathur said.

Mather added that despitebetter show during last month,the industry is still far from itspeak performance. “In none ofthe categories we have reachedthe peak levels we saw during the2011-12 period,” Mathur noted.In the motorcycle segment, mar-ket leader Hero MotoCorp'ssales were at 5,17,019 units asagainst 4,68,699 units in the year-ago month, up 10.3 per cent.

Rival Bajaj Auto saw 24.84per cent increase in its sales at2,00,433 units as compared with1,60,554 units in the same monthlast year. Honda Motorcycle andScooter India’s (HMSI) bike saleswere at 1,50,711 units as against1,31,204 units in the corre-sponding month last year, up

14.86 per cent. In the scoot-er segment, total sales were up35.85 per cent at 4,68,368 unitsas against 3,44,752 units inthe year ago month. Marketleader HMSI posted sales of2,63,324 units as against 1,97,790units in the same month last year,a growth of 33.13 per cent.

Hero MotoCorp's scootersales also jumped by 48.18 percent to 83,506 units as comparedwith 56,352 units in April lastyear. Chennai-based TVS MotorCo saw its scooter sales at 60,455units as against 47,843 units inthe year-ago month, up 26.36 percent. SIAM said sales of com-mercial vehicles rose 17.36 percent to 53,835 units in April.

“Heavy commercial vehiclesegment is witnessing demandfrom the replacement segmentas well demand for new vehiclesdue to infrastructure and min-ing segments gaining steam,”Mathur said. Vehicle salesacross categories registered anincrease of 20.04 per cent to19,00,879 units from 15,83,582units in April last year.

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The BSE Sensex logged itsbiggest single-day gain in

nearly four weeks, surging 460points to 25,688.86, on a flur-ry of buying activity after glob-al shares rallied on hopes thatthe US Federal Reserve willremain cautious on interestrate hikes. Besides, a string ofencouraging quarterly numbersso far raised expectations of animprovement in the economy.

Sentiment was supportedby lower-than-expected USApril non-farm payroll num-bers, as it meant the Fed wouldtake longer time to raise inter-est rates. Two-wheeler makerBajaj Auto was the biggest gain-er on the index, climbing 3.78per cent to �2,527.95, whileAxis Bank followed with a gainof 3.41 per cent to �477.25.

Mortgage lender HDFCcontinued its winning streak foryet another day, on the back ofupbeat fourth quarter earn-

ings, surging 3.12 per cent to�1,204. “Weak US payroll datagave support to rising hopesthat the Fed will not raise inter-est rates in June this year,” saidShreyash Devalkar, FundManager - Equities BNP

Paribas MF.European markets climbed

after Greek lawmakers adopt-ed further austerity measures asAthens bids to unlock morebailout money. Back home,the Sensex resumed up at

25,321.83 and shot up furtherto a high of 25,709.68 beforeending at 25,688.86 -- itsalmost two-week high -- show-ing a gain of 460.36 points or1.82 per cent. This is the index'sbiggest single-session gain sinceApril 13.

The NSE 50-share Niftyrose by 132.60 points or 1.71per cent to close at 7,866.05.ITC surged by 2.38 per cent to�324.75 after the company saidthere is “progressive resump-tion” of production at its ciga-rette factories. Jewellery stockslike PC Jewellers and Titan rose1.03 per cent and 0.41 per cent,respectively, on hopes of a pickup in buying on the occasion ofAkshya Tritiya.

In Europe, gains were sup-ported by a latest data show-ing German manufacturingorders rebounded sharply inMarch. Key indices from thecontinent, like in France,Germany and the UK, werehigher by up to 1.85 per cent.

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The GMR group on Mondaysaid it is selling 30 per cent

stake in select portfolio of assetsof its subsidiary GMR Energy(GEL) to Malaysia’s TenagaNasional Berhad for $300 mil-lion on a fully diluted basis.GMR Group CorporateChairman Kiran KumarGrandhi said the sale proceedswill be used to reduce corporatedebt load of GEL, which is cur-rently pegged at �2,750 crore.

“Tenaga is making aninvestment of $300 million(approximately �2,000 crore) inGMR Energy. Their invest-ment represents 30 per centstake in GEL comprising sevenportfolio of energy assets,which indicates a valuation of$1 billion, or �6,700 crore,”Grandhi said on a conferencecall.

GEL will manage a bal-anced portfolio of seven coal-, gas-based and renewable(hydro and solar) power pro-jects with a total capacity of4,630 MW. This portfoliowould have an operating capac-ity of 2,300 MW and pipelinecapacity of 2,330 MW, includ-ing 1,500 MW hydel powerprojects in Nepal.

Grandhi said all the sevenassets in which the Malaysianfirm is acquiring stake havepower purchase agreements(PPAs) and clearances in placeand some of them are generat-ing cash flows with stable oper-ations. Furthermore, Tenagahas the right to invest inChhattisgarh and other assetsany time in the next five years,he said, adding that synergiesbetween both the groups willlead to a long and strong part-

nership benefiting both GELand the Indian power sector.

“As of now, the entireamount will go towards reduc-ing corporate debt. Today, theGMR group's consolidated debtis in the range of �6,375 crore,”he said.

“Corporate debt for GEL is�2,750 crore. With this, �2,000crore debt will retire and debtwill go down to � 750 crore. Wewill save annually �250 croreper annum towards interest.”Replying to a specific question,he said the company's gas-based plants in AndhraPradesh are currently operatingat 35 per cent PLF (plant loadfactor).

It is hoping for 50 per centPLF in the second half of thisyear. Tenaga is the largestpower utility player in Malaysiawith integrated presence acrossthe value chain of power gen-eration, transmission and dis-tribution with a total installedcapacity of 10,818 MW and 50per cent market share ofMalaysian grid's generationcapacity.

GMR group Chairman GM Rao said: “India’s substantialand sustained economic growthwill require collaboration fromall stakeholders in the powersector. The Prime Minister hasset a vision of 24x7 power forall by 2022. We believe ourpartnership with a major powersector player like Tenaga is oneof the steps to implement thePrime Minister’s vision.”According to GMR EnergyChairman G B S Raju, the col-laboration “once again signifiesGMR's commitment and abil-ity to successfully execute strate-gic partnerships to create valuefor all its stakeholders.”

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FMCG major HindustanUnilever on Monday report-

ed a 7.02 per cent increase in itsstandalone net profit at �1,089.59crore for the three months toMarch, after witnessing declinein the previous two quarters.

The company had posted anet profit of �1,018.08 crore in theJanuary-March quarter of thepreceding fiscal, HUL said in astatement. HUL’s net sales duringthe quarter under review were�7,809.40 crore, up 3.36 percent, as against �7,555.00 crore inthe year-ago period. For theyear ended March 2016, HUL’s

consolidated net profit was down6.43 per cent to �4,082.42 croreas against a net profit of �4,363.08crore last fiscal.

Consolidated net sales forFY 2015-16 increased 4.11 percent to �32,482.72 crore asagainst �31,199.72 crore a yearago. Commenting on the per-formance, HUL ChairmanHarish Manwani said: “In chal-lenging markets and a defla-tionary cost environment, wehave delivered another year ofcompetitive and profitablegrowth. The consistency of ourperformance is a result of man-aging our business dynamically,and executing our strategy with

even greater rigour and disci-pline.”

He further said: “Our sus-tained focus on investing behindbrands, sharpening our execu-tional capabilities and drivingmarket development has enabledus to keep winning with con-sumers in a rapidly changingmarket.”

During the quarter underreview, the company said itsdomestic consumer businessgrew at 4 per cent. Growth was,however, impacted by the phas-ing out of Excise Duty incentives,a one-time credit for excise dutyrefund in the base quarter andmarginal price de-growth.Expenses in period were up 2.15

per cent at �6,566.36 crore, asagainst �6,427.97 crore a year ago.During the quarter, revenuefrom soaps and detergents seg-ment was up 2.14 per cent at�3,752.50 crore, as against�3,673.71 crore a year ago.

“The quarter witnessedprice deflation in this segment,albeit at lower levels, arisingfrom actions taken earlier topass on the benefit of lowercommodity costs to consumers,”said HUL. HUL’s revenue frompersonal products was up 2.78per cent at �2,312.42 crore dur-ing the fourth quarter, as against�2,249.68 crore in the sameperiod of 2014-15.

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CBDT has dec laredAugust 31 as deadline

for the taxpayers whose ITRsfor six assessment yearsbetween 2009-10 and 2014-15 are pending for process-ing and issuance of refundsdue to issues of non-filing ofITR-V acknowledgementform at its Bengaluru-basedcollection centre.

Of fer ing t he ‘f ina lopportunity’, the departmenthas said taxpayers whoserefunds and tax issues arepending for assessment years(AYs) 2009-10, 2010-11,2011-12, 2012-13, 2013-14and 2014-15, should imme-diately authenticate theirIncome Tax Returns byusing either the electronicverification by Aadhaar orbank account-based facilityavailable on its official webportal or send a bonafidecopy of the ITR-V to its CPCin Bengaluru by ‘speed post’before August 31.

“In case of returns forAYs (2009-10 to 2014-15)which were uploaded elec-tronically by the taxpayerwithin the time allowedunder section 139 of the Actand which have remainedincomplete due to non-sub-mission of ITR-V Form forverification, hereby permitsverification of such returnsalso through EVC.

“Such ver i f icat ionprocess must be completedby August 31. As an alterna-tive to EVC, the taxpayer isallowed to send a duly-signed copy of ITR-V to theCentral Processing Centre,Bengaluru by this date byspeed post,” a CBDT direc-tive, accessed by PTI, said.

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Amid a continuing debateon soaring bad loans of

corporates, an SBI study onMonday sought to downplaythe concerns over high debtlevels of large business houses,including Adani Group, sayingtheir aggregate borrowingswere ‘well within the norms’.

According to a report bythe SBI's Economic ResearchDepartment, the aggregatedebt to aggregate net worth oftop 10 companies under studyis ‘below 2x’ which is well with-in the norms. Global financialservices major Credit Suisserecently came out with a reporttitled ‘House of Debt’, whichhad focused on over-lever-aged Indian companies. TheSBI report termed the Credit

Suisse report as ‘misleading’and said ‘what is more impor-tant at the end of day is the net-worth, cash in hand, yearlyaccretion to networth, invest-ments, market value of assetsand unbundling of value ofsome of its subsidiaries thusoverall defining its repaymentcapacity.” “Our estimates showthat on an aggregate basis suchtop ten companies ratio standsat 1.93x and 1.88x respective-ly which is well within respect-ed level of 2x,’ it added.

According to SBI, basedon about 200 corporateresults announced for FY16,about 60 corporates reporteddecline in debt levels inFY2015-16 over FY2014-15.The aggregate amount ofreduction in debt levels ismore than �6,862 crore.

NEW DELHI:The Centre may notaxe a 145-year- old law that providesshield against attachment of pen-sion of former Presidents, SupremeCourt judges, Members ofParliament and lakhs of its retiredemployees.

The Pensions Act, 1871 hasbeen under consideration forpast some time past in accor-dance with the policy of theCentral Government to repealobsolete laws. The governmenthas decided to axe over 1,000such archaic laws.

However, the Act had to beexcluded from the list of obso-lete laws to be repealed as someof its provisions provide securi-ty to the pensioners againstattachment of pension. Ameeting was recently called byMinistry of Personnel, PublicGrievances and Pensions to elic-it views of select ministries on the

proposal to scrap Pensions Actor to amend rules regulating var-ious pensions given by them,according to minutes of themeeting.

The representative fromDepartment of Financial Services(DFS) suggested that instead ofamending a large number of Actsand rules to secure pensionsagainst attachment, the existingPensions Act, 1871 may beamended to repeal only thoseprovisions in the Act whichhave since become irrelevant orredundant.

This proposal was support-ed by representatives of ministriesof Home, Labour, RuralDevelopment, Defence, Ministryof Railways and Department ofPersonnel and Training. It wasthen decided that this suggestionwill be placed before the com-petent authority, which is Prime

Minister Narendra Modi as he isincharge of the Ministry ofPersonnel, Public Grievancesand Pensions, for taking a deci-sion in the matter, according tothe minutes of the meeting.

Under the old law, pensionsgranted by the government shallnot be liable to seizure, attach-ment or sequestration by processof any court.

During the meeting, theDFS officials mentioned that thepensions of President, VicePresident, Ministers and Memberof Parliament, etc, are regulatedby various Acts of Parliament.Similarly, pensions of SupremeCourt, High Courts Judges, CentralVigilance Commissioners, CentralInformation Commissioners,Members of Union Public ServiceCommission, are also grantedpension under the Acts regulat-ing their service conditions.PTI

MUMBAI: Reserve Bankon Monday said the aggre-gate cei l ing for foreigninve s tors to inve s t inUjjivan Financial Serviceswill remain at 49 per cent.

In view of listing of sharesof the company, UjjivanFinancial Services Limited onstock exchange, the aggregateinvestment ceiling for ForeignInstitutional Investor/Registered Foreign PortfoliosInvestors investment underPortfolio Investment Schemeshall remain at 49 per cent, RBIsaid in a notification.

It further said the aggre-gate limit for NRI investmentshall not exceed 10 per cent.“The total foreign investmentfrom all sources...In the com-pany shall not exceed 49 percent,” it said. The microfi-nance company recently wit-nessed robust demand for itsrecently-concluded IPO. PTI

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Tata Steel Europe onMonday announced it has

received seven expressions ofinterest to acquire the firm'sUK ailing business. All seven have been "immedi-ately taken forward" to the nextstage of the sale process, whichinvolves inputs from the UKgovernment, the firm said in astatement.

Koushik Chatterjee, GroupExecutive Director (Financeand Corporate), Tata SteelLimited, said, "We are pleasedwith the response to the initialstage of the global sales processfor Tata Steel's UK business.

The announcement byTata Steel Europe marks anoth-er important stage gate in thisprocess. “The expressions ofinterest received have beenthrough a robust initial assess-

ment process with inputsreceived from the UK govern-ment whose views have beenconsidered by the board.’

“We believe that the bidsbeing taken forward offerfuture prospects of sustain-ability for the UK business asa whole. The sales process willcontinue as announced earlierin an expedited and robustmanner to deliver greater clar-ity for all key stakeholderssuch as employees, customersand suppliers, he said.

“Whilst the sales processcontinues, Tata Steel's businessin the UK under the new lead-ership team continues to focuson the business performance,”he said.

The UK Government haspromised to put in place mea-sures worth hundreds of mil-lions of pounds to support anyrescue deal for Tata’s UK busi-

ness – which could includetaking a stake of up to 25 percent.

Tata Steel Europe said it isalso clarifying outstandingpoints with a number of otherparties who have submitted anexpression of interest. It saidthat the seven expressions ofinterest being take forward fitin with the company's ‘prima-ry intention’ to ensure the saleof the whole of Tata Steel's UKbusiness.

“Expressions of interestfor parts of the UK businessare not being taken forward atthis point,” the firm said. In thenext phase of the sales processthe progressing interested par-ties will be given access to fur-ther business information andmanagement team presenta-tions in order for them torapidly progress their interestto a binding stage.

�������#������������C:"<������������MUMBAI: Shares of ITCon Monday rose by over 2per cent after the companysaid there is ‘progressiveresumption’ of productionat its cigarette factories,which was suspended fromMay 4 over the large picto-rial warning issue.

The stock ended at�324.75, up 2.38 per cent onBSE. During the day, itgained 2.77 per cent to�326. At NSE, shares of thecompany went up by 2.23per cent to close at �324.80.

On the volume front, 3 lakhshares of the company weretraded at BSE and over 56lakh shares changed handsat NSE during the day.

“The cigarette factoriesare commencing produc-tion progressively,” ITC saidin a BSE filing on Sunday.On May 5, ITC had said ithas shut down its produc-tion till the time it is able tocomply with ‘inter imrequirements’ of 85 percent pictorial warnings.

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Struggling R Ashwin has not been given hisfull quota of overs by Rising Pune

Supergiants captain Mahendra Singh Dhoniin a few IPL matches this season but formerIndia pacer Ajit Agarkar does not view it asa sign of lack of faith in the off-spinner.

Asked whether Dhoni lacked faith inAshwin, Agarkar said it was mainly to dowith the match conditions and situationsthan anything else.

"At times it may seem odd but I don'tthink it is due to any lack of faith. WhenPune came to Mumbai (to take on MumbaiIndians at the Wankhede Stadium lastmonth), it was a seamers' wicket andAshwin's bowling was not needed," Agarkarsaid on Monday.

Ashwin bowled just one over for onewicket in that IPL opener on April 9 thatRPS won easily after restricting the hometeam and title holders to 121 for 8.

"You have to remember that when theIPL games were played in spin-friendly con-ditions in Chennai, he used to open the bowl-ing. The conditions matter," Agarkar added.

Agarkar is among the four-member ex-cricketers' panel — Australia's Dirk Nannes,South Africa's Darryl Cullinan and NewZealand's Iain O'Brien being the others —which conducts the IPL-related show "TheFriendly Toast", presented by cricket websiteESPNCricinfo, daily on Sony ESPN channel.

A controversy had arisen post theWorld T20 championship in which Indiawere knocked out by eventual champions

West Indies in the semi final here on March31 after Ashwin bowled only two overs for20 runs in the power-play and then was notbrought on to bowl again by Dhoni.

Ashwin got peeved when asked aboutit at the pre-match media conference herebefore RPS took on Mumbai Indians andgave a tongue lashing to the journalist whohad asked the question whether he foundit difficult to bowl following the dew-fall,the reason cited by Dhoni for the ineffec-tiveness of the Indian spinners.

"When there was dew, I didn't bowl.It's better you ask the question to some-one who actually bowled. To be very hon-est, I don't know how it felt with the dewon. It's very amusing. Because in the first12 balls I bowled, I created a wicket-oppor-tunity as well. It's quite surprising how youphrase your question," India's top spinbowler had retorted.

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It will be a battle of survival for strug-gling Rising Pune Supergiants when

they lock horns against formidable title-contenders Sunrisers Hyderabad in anIPL match, here on Tuesday.

For Mahendra Singh Dhoni and hismen, it has been a demoralising jour-ney so far as apart from three winsagainst — Mumbai Indians, SunrisersHyderabad and Delhi Daredevils —they have failed to trouble other teams,losing four matches at their homeground in Pune itself.

Dhoni also have been left with adepleted side after a spate of injurieswhich led to the return of Faf du Plessis,Kevin Pietersen, Steven Smith andMitchell Marsh.

Though Pakistani-born Australianbatsman Usman Khawaja and formerAussie captain GeorgeBailey joined the side,they have not beenable to make much ofa difference so far andthe Sanjeev Goenka-owned team will needdesperately need to dosomething to keepthemselves afloat.

The Supergiants have been affect-ed by the lack of qualify bowlers, whocan restrict the opponents. None oftheir bowlers figure in the top 15 wick-et-takers list this season.

Among batsmen, ithas been left to AjinkyaRahane to do the job ashe has scored 417 runsso far and is placed atthe third spot in highestrun-getters list.

Hyderabad, on theother hand, have been riding on a waveof success with their latest win beingagainst two-time winner and defend-ing champions Mumbai Indians by 85runs on Sunday night at the ACA-VDCA stadium here.

The Sunrisers have been driven bythe batting prowess of skipper DavidWarner, who is placed at the secondposition in top-scorers list with 458runs with five fifties so far.

Shikhar Dhawan too has taken theresponsibility and complemented hiscaptain in the opening slot.

Moises Henriques too has provedto be an important cog in Sunrisers'wheels with some crucial contributions.

Hyderabad's bowling unit too haveworked like a well-oiled machine withtheir formidable pace battery of Nehra,Kumar, Mustafizur Rahman andBarinder Sran doing the job for the team.

SquadRPS: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (C),Ankit Sharma, Baba Aparajith, MuruganAshwin, Ravichandran Ashwin, GeorgeBailey, Ankush Bains, Rajat Bhatia,Scott Boland, Deepak Chahar, AshokDinda, Peter Handscombe, usmanKhawaja, Albie Morkel, Ishwar Pandey,Irfan Pathan, Thisara Perera, AjinkyaRahane, Ishant Sharma, RP Singh,Saurabh Tiwary, Adam Zampa; SRH:David Warner (C), Ashish Reddy,Ricky Bhui, Bipul Sharma, Trent Boult,Ben Cutting, Shikhar Dhawan, MoisesHenriques, Deepak Hooda, SiddarthKaul, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, AbhimanyuMidtun, Eoin Morgan, MustafizurRahman, Ashish Mehra, Naman Ojha,Vijay Shanker, Karn Sharma, BarinderSran, T Suman, Aditya Tare, KaneWilliamson, Yuvraj Singh.

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England paceman JamesAnderson is optimistic that

whatever happens in the upcom-ing Test series against Lanka nei-ther he nor captain Alastair Cookwill feel as "crushed" as they didduring the tourists' 2014 triumph.

The teams begin a three-match series at Headingley onMay 19, the ground where, twoyears ago, Sri Lanka clinched adramatic 1-0 win in what was thenthe second of a two-Test campaignwhen Anderson was dismissed offthe penultimate ball of the match.

"To get within two balls I didfeel crushed at the end of it," saidAnderson. "It had been a longgame and we came so close."

England, thanks mainly toMoeen Ali's maiden Test hun-dred, nearly saved the game hav-ing seen Sri Lanka cling on for a

draw at Lord's.But the damage at

Headingley had been done on afourth day where Sri Lanka cap-tain Angelo Mathews made asuperb 160 and, significantly,shared a stand of 149 for the

eighth wicket with tailenderRangana Herath.

Cook's tactically naive ploy offeeding Mathews runs in order toget at Herath backfired spectac-ularly.

The England skipper repeat-edly stationed four men on therope for the first four balls of anover only for Mathews to respondby going on the offensive, with 16of his eventual 25 fours comingoff the last two balls of an over.

At the end of a drainingmatch, Anderson had to chokeback tears while afterwards Cook,whose approach was widely crit-icised, especially by Shane Warne,pondered resigning captaincy.

But Anderson feels the grow-ing authority Cook has beengiven by England's Australiancoach Trevor Bayliss, who tookcharge for the team's 2015 Ashestriumph, means there's no dan-

ger of his longstanding skipperletting a situation drift again.

"It was gutting really andhopefully we'll not be in that sit-uation again this time," saidAnderson, England's all-timemost successful Test bowler, with433 wickets to his credit.

"With a change of coach anda few different players in there aswell, the last 12 months have beena real breath of fresh air."

Anderson, 33, said he feltCook's increasing command hadbeen evident during both lastyear's Ashes win and the subse-quent Test series triumph in SA,comparing the control the Essexopener now has in the dressingroom to that of Allan Border, MarkTaylor and Steve Waugh.

"I think Cooky's done a fantas-tic job. Certainly since Trevor'scome in he's taken more respon-sibility," said Anderson.

������ ;3<A-)

Facing criticism from formerplayers over the appointment of

South African Mickey Arthur asthe national team's head coach,Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB)chairman Shaharyar Khan exud-ed confidence that the formerProtean batsman would be suc-cessful in his mission.

Mickey, who earlier served asthe Australia coach, succeeded for-mer Pakistan pace legend WaqarYounis, as the head coach of theteam on Friday.

Shaharyar reckoned thatMickey's association with theKarachi Kings franchise in theinaugural Pakistan Super League(PSL), will help him in his newassignment.

"Look Mickey Arthur hasalready clarified to us about that

statement he made some years ago.So it is a dead issue now. He wascoach with the Karachi Kings inthe Pakistan Super League, so heknows the players well. He shouldbe successful in his assignment,"Shaharyar was quoted as saying bydailytimes.com.pk on Sunday.

Khan also tried to shrug offthe criticism from former Pakistanstars, who claimed that he had ear-lier levelled match-fixing allega-tions against Pakistani players.

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South African run-machine AB deVilliers hit a crucially-timed knockof 64 runs to guide Royal

Challengers Bangalore (RCB) to a healthy175/6 against Kings XI Punjab in a IndianPremier League (IPL) group phase matchhere on Monday.

De Villiers was helped in his effortsby Sachin Baby (33 off 29 balls) at thePunjab Cricket Association IS BindraStadium. Their fourth-wicket partnershipof 88 runs from 55 balls found the cor-nerstone of RCB's strong total.

For Punjab, legbreak bowler K.C.Cariappa picked up two wickets at the topof the innings (2/16) to become theirmost successful bowler.

RCB began strongly, putting up 56 inthe powerplay without losing a wicket.

Openers K.L. Rahul (42) and ViratKohli (20) batted with consummate easemixing ones and twos with boundariesto score at a fast clip.

Punjab got a chance to break themomentum early, in the third over whenKohli offered a chance after coming downthe track to pacer Mohit Sharma.

Kohli only managed to slice hisattempt to backward point where MarcusStoinis made a hash of the chance.

Rahul was the chief aggressor andadded insult to Stoinis's injury by smash-ing three fours and a huge six of theAustralian in the next over.

RCB were moving along nicely andlooked like setting up a strong platformfor a big score, reaching 61 in seven overs.

But the introduction of leg-breakbowler K.C. Cariappa halted RCB'smarch. He effected a double break in hisvery first over, off the third and the fifthball, to account for Rahul and Kohli,respectively.

Rahul's slog sweep attempt resultedinhim getting bowled while Kohli playedaway from his body to offer a catch atshort cover. Rahul smashed six bound-aries and a six during his 25-ball innings.

Punjab completed a turnaround inthe next over with left-arm spinner AxarPatel castling Australian Shane batsmanShane Watson (1) to reduce RCB to 67/3

in nine overs.The rhythm was snapped, the run-

rate dropped, and RCB needed all of deVilliers' experience to pull them up.

De Villers along with Baby guidedthe team past the 100-run mark in the

14th over. He launched himself intosome free-hitting, carting SandeepSharma for a four and a six in the 16thover. Mohit Sharma also received somerough treatment as de Villiers brough uphis half-century in 30 balls.

De Villiers customarily hit at least aboundary a six off three consecutive oversfrom the 15th over, till his dismissal inthe 18th, to shoot up his team to 155.

De Villers' 35-ball knock containedfive hits to the fence and two over it. Heensured that the team reached a defend-able total.

Earlier, Punjab captain Murali Vijaywon the toss and chose to bowl againstRCB. Punjab made two changes to theside that beat Delhi Daredevils in theirprevious game. South Africa all-rounderFarhaan Behardien and seamer AnureetSingh were named in for Glenn Maxwelland Gurkeerat Singh.

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Michel Platini will resign as UEFA presidentafter failing to overturn his ban at the Courtof Arbitration for Sport, which cut his sanc-

tion from six to four years.Platini called the verdict a "deep injustice" and

said he will now step down from the UEFA posi-tion he has held since 2007.

CAS effectively removed Platini from worldfootball by ensuring his ban "corresponds to theduration of a presidential term," the court said ina statement. Platini's current UEFA mandateexpires in March 2019, and the next FIFA presiden-tial election is due in May 2019.

"This decision is inflicting me a suspensionwhose length will de facto prevent me — as if bychance — from bidding for the next FIFA presiden-tial election," Platini said in a statement.

Leaving UEFA also frees him to pursue anappeal to Swiss courts and "establish my integrityin this case," Platini said. Switzerland's SupremeCourt can overturn verdicts if legal process is abusedbut will not re-judge the evidence.

The court ruled that Platini was guilty of con-flict of interest for taking a $2 million payment fromFIFA approved by Sepp Blatter in 2011. Themoney was uncontracted extra salary for workingas Blatter's presidential adviser from 1999-2002, andwas largely unknown until it was revealed by Swissfederal prosecutors last September.

The CAS panel "was not convinced by the legit-imacy of the 2,000,000 Swiss francs payment, whichwas only recognized by Mr. Platini and Mr. Blatter,"the CAS statement said.

Platini got the money "more than eight yearsafter the end of his work relations, was not basedon any document established at the time of the con-tractual relations and did not correlate with thealleged unpaid part of his salary," the court said.

In deciding the ban, the judges said Platini's atti-tude in court was a factor in the verdict.

The ruling cited "the absence of any repentanceand the impact that this matter has had on FIFA'sreputation."

FIFA was also criticized by the court for know-ing about the irregular payment for four years beforethe independent ethics committee opened an inves-tigation. For that reason, CAS dismissed a FIFAethics charge against Platini of disloyalty to FIFA.

The case ended Platini's hopes of replacingBlatter at FIFA.

The UEFA executive committee will meet next

week in Basel, Switzerland, on thesidelines of the Europa League finalto discuss replacing Platini. Anelection is likely in mid-Septemberat meetings of European footballleaders in Athens, Greece.

UEFA said on Monday that itwill not appoint an interim leaderahead of the election, and did notcomment on the verdict.

FIFA also avoided comment ina brief statement, saying it "acknowl-edged the decision," including cut-ting Platini's fine to 60,000 Swissfrancs ($61,900) from 80,000 Swissfrancs ($82,500).

Blatter is awaiting a CAS hear-ing to challenge his six-year ban.

Blatter and Platini were provi-

sionally suspended by the FIFAethics committee last October, thenbanned for eight years. FIFA'sappeal panel cut two years off theirsanctions in February as reward fortheir long service to the sport.

The verdict came on Monday,one month before a project close toPlatini's heart — the EuropeanChampionship in his native France— kicks off. He captained France tothe title when it last hosted the tour-nament in 1984.

Platini said as he left his hear-ing at CAS that he will attendmatches as a guest at Euro 2016,played in nine cities from June 10-July 10. However, his ban bars himfrom formal business contact with

football officials and he cannot present the trophy.Platini put his faith in the independence of CAS

throughout his case, and criticized the FIFA ethicscourt as biased. He often said there were forcesinside football's world body trying to block his pres-idential bid, though he did not identify who.

The CAS panel judged the evidence afresh andhad the power to impose a life ban on Platini if itbelieved bribery and corruption were factors.

Platini received his money from FIFA inFebruary 2011, when Blatter was preparing for whatbecame a bitterly fought re-election contest againstMohamed bin Hammam of Qatar. The Platini-ledUEFA pledged support to Blatter before BinHammam's candidacy was ended by allegations hebribed Caribbean voters.

The timing of the payment in an election yearwas noted in the CAS statement on Monday.

Platini and Blatter, the Frenchman's formermentor, deny wrongdoing, and claim they had a ver-bal contract for the additional money.

Both men, whose friendship soured as Platini'sFIFA leadership ambitions grew, have effectivelybeen a star witness in each other's appeal case. Theywere heard on back-to-back days at the two earli-er FIFA tribunals.

An entirely different CAS panel will judgeBlatter's appeal and should take into account thePlatini verdict, CAS secretary general Matthieu Reebsaid last month. In February, Blatter was replacedas FIFA president by Gianni Infantino, Platini's long-time right-hand man at UEFA.

UEFA publicly stood by Platini since detailsemerged last September, when Swiss federal pros-ecutors opened criminal proceedings against Blatterfor suspected mismanagement. Both men werequizzed at FIFA headquarters after an executivecommittee meeting.

UEFA can opt to call a quick election ahead ofEuro 2016 in Paris, but that is thought unlikely.

UEFA and FIFA vice president Angel MariaVillar, the longtime Spanish football federation pres-ident, is a contender to replace Platini but also hashistory with the FIFA ethics committee. He waswarned last November for an indecent remark in2014 to then-FIFA prosecutor Michael Garcia dur-ing an investigation into the 2018 and 2022 WorldCup bid contests.

Another UEFA vice president and federationleader, Michael van Praag of the Netherlands, is aprobable contender. Van Praag entered the 2015

FIFA presidential contest but with-drew before election day.

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Adecade after their first match, whenthey were a couple of promising

teenagers, Novak Djokovic defeatedAndy Murray again in Madrid, this timeto win a record 29th career Masters title.

The top-ranked Djokovic defeatedthe second-ranked Murray 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 in the Madrid Open final on Sunday,10 years after their rivalry started in theround of 16 of the tournament in Spain.

"Ten years (later) we are the two bestplayers in the world, which at that timemaybe it seemed like something that willbe very challenging for us to achieve,"said the 28-year-old Djokovic, whobeat Murray in three sets in that 2006meeting. "But we both thrived to be atthe top, and we've known each othersince we were 12. I think you can seealready in those junior days that both ofus have serious intentions to conquer thetennis world."

Djokovic saved seven break pointsin the final game and converted on histhird match point to secure the win overthe defending champion on Sunday,moving one victory ahead of RafaelNadal in Masters tournament victories.

The loss kept Murray from winninghis 12th Masters title, and will drop theBritish player to No 3 in the ranking onMonday, when he will be surpassed byRoger Federer, third in the list ofMasters winners with 24 titles.

"I'm very pleased that I have devel-oped a great rivalry with somebody that

I've known since very long time andsomebody that I have a very good andfriendly relationship with on and off thecourt," Djokovic said.

Djokovic has won 12 of the last 13matches against Murray since 2014, andis 23-9 overall against the 28-year-oldBritish player.

It was Djokovic's second title inMadrid, and fifth of the year this season.He reached 33 wins, the most on tourin 2016. The win leaves the Serb tied withBjorn Borg and Pete Sampras for sixthon the Open Era titles list with 64.

"It's obviously very flattering to bealongside such legends of the sport, ten-nis players that I was looking up to,"Djokovic said. "It's an achievement thatI'm very proud of."

Djokovic dominated the first set butit was even from then until the end, withboth players faltering on decisivemoments. Djokovic hit 25 winners buthad as many unforced errors, whileMurray had 10 aces in the match thatlasted 2 hours, 6 minutes at the "MagicBox" center court in Madrid.

The thrilling last game finally endedwhen Murray sent a forehand into thenet, givingDjokovic his 15th straight winagainst top-10 opponents, a streak inwhich he has lost only two of 35 sets.

"That's why he's No 1 just now,"Murray said. "He fought very hard in thatgame and served well when he was a bitnervous. At the end he came up withsome big serves and got himself somefree points and did well."

Djokovic has won fiveof the last six Masters titles,including three this year.He had already won inIndian Wells andMiami, and had alsoclinched the AustralianOpen in a final againstMurray.

His next tourna-ment will

be theRome

Mastersnext week,and thenhe plays atthe FrenchOpen, wherehe lost thelast two finals.

"I had anamazing openingfour months of the season,"Djokovic said. "I came here early, gotused to the conditions, and played a real-ly fantastic tournament that will definite-ly serve as a great confidence boostbefore Rome and of course French Open,where I want to arrive in a best possibleshape."

It was Djokovic's first clay-courttournament since being upset by 55th-ranked Jiri Vesely in the second roundin Monte Carlo last month.

Djokovic had won in Madrid for thefirst time in 2011.

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Indian women hockey team's dis-appointing show continued against

Great Britain as the visitors onMonday suffered another humiliat-ing loss, going down 0-7 in the finalgame of the five-match series here.

Great Britain opened the scoringin the 12th minute when ShonaMcCallin broke into the Indiandefence and netted the ball.

Continuing their dominatingshow, the hosts earned two penaltycorners in the first quarter, but weredenied from adding to their tally,courtesy of some brilliant defencefrom the Indian eves.

A similar flurry of attacks in thesecond quarter again won the hometeam two back-to-back penalty cor-ners, but India's defence stood strong.

Meanwhile, Indian girls, too, hadtheir chance to equalise via a penal-ty corner but they failed to convert.

Just when it looked like theIndian women were getting back intothe game, Great Britain added to

their tally by converting a penaltycorner through Susannah Townsend.

They kept pressing and won yetanother penalty corner just after thehalf time, which they managed toconvert through Crista Cullen in the38th minute.

Thereafter, Great Britain com-pletely unleashed their attackingprowess and scored two more goals.One of them came via a penalty cor-ner by Kate Walsh and the other wasscored by Helen Walsh.

But that was not the end toIndia's misery as SusannahTownsend netted the ball twice in thefinal minutes of the match to finishwith as many as seven goals.

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Ecstatic after becoming the firstIndian men's doubles pair to

qualify for the Olympics, ManuAttri and B Sumeeth Reddy are nowlooking to tighten their game andimprove their fitness level ahead ofthe Rio Games in August.

The World No 20 Indian pairsealed its Rio berth after the BWFWorld ranking were released lastThursday, following the end of thequalification period between May 4,2015 to May 1, 2016.

Playing their maiden Olympics,Manu said they will work harder tomake up for the lack of experience.

"Experience is important. Butif you work hard, you can improvefaster. There is a three-monthgap now and we will look to trainharder and improve our fitness forOlympics," the 23-year-old told."Now there is no target apartfrom Olympics. Like any otherathlete, I want to win a medal formy country."

Sumeeth said: "Olympics is oncein four years and all the playersranked higher than us would obvi-

ously be in pressure while playing us,so if we can showcase the bestgame, then God willing I think wecan stand on the podium. Now thatwe have qualified, we are givenextra attention on court and off courtin the camps, most of the playershave been feeding us, so there a

responsibility on both of us to ensurewe give our best to get a medal forIndia."

It, however, will be an uphill taskfor the Indian duo to return with amedal from Rio if their recent per-formances are any indicator. Manuand Sumeeth, who had reached the

finals of US Open Grand Prix Goldand won the Mexico Open GrandPrix last year, haven't crossed the firstround of any Super Series event thisyear, apart from the India Open,where they beat an Indian pair in theopening round.

Sumeeth said: "The inconsisten-

cy is due to the number of tourna-ments we had to play since one year,just to make sure we qualify but wenow would mostly be focusing on theOlympics so I would like to thinkthat the results would get better fromnow. I think we need to cut downsimple errors on court and not giveaway easy points. We have got towork hard each day without think-ing about the results as giving ourbest is in our hands."

Asked about the next tourna-ments and targets, Manu said: "Weare next playing Thomas Cup (May15-22) and then there is IndonesiaOpen (May 30-June 5) and thelong-time target is a medal at 2018Commonwealth Games," he said.

Manu and Sumeeth say are likechalk and cheese when it comes topersonalities. "Me and Sumeeth arecompletely opposite. After a matchor training, I like to go out and chillwith friends and he wants to stayback, always focused and a seriouskind of a guy. But we never interferein each others' lives and it never mat-tered because we are always togeth-er when on court, we have a greatbonding," Manu said.

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