september 5

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DELHI, SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2015

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

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Regd. DL(ND)-11/6110/2006-07-08 ● RNI No. TNENG/2012/49940 ● ISSN 0971 - 751X ● Vol. 5 ● No. 212 ● CITY EDITION ● 28 Pages ● Rs. 8.00 ● www.thehindu.in

METROPLUS-MELANGE— 4 Pages

RSS-BJP CONCLAVE ENDS ‘No official secrets revealed, only an exchange of ideas’

NEW DELHI: Prime MinisterNarendra Modi topped thelist of his Ministers who pre-sented themselves at theRSS-BJP co-ordinationmeeting here on Friday, thelast day of the three-dayevent and he was not disap-pointed with the RSS’ ap-praisal of his government,which Sarsanghchalak Mo-han Bhagwat said was “verysatisfactory.”

Mr. Modi delivered a 15-minute address at the meetattended by 93 delegates of

RSS-affiliated organisationsand almost his entire Councilof Ministers, and the BJP’sParliamentary Board.

“The Prime Minister said

he was proud to be a Swayam-sewak and that he had reac-hed where he had because ofthe values he had imbibed asa member of the RSS,” said a

source present at the meet-ing. The conclave drew muchflak from the Oppositionwhich questioned the closed-door consultation betweenthe government and the RSS,a “socio-cultural organisa-tion.” Congress’ deputy lead-er in the Rajya Sabha AnandSharma termed the meeting“unconstitutional.”

“The Prime Minister andhis Council of Ministers takean oath under the Constitu-tion that they won’t disclosetheir plans and policies withthose who are not under con-stitutional oath,” he added.

The RSS countered thischarge saying there was onlyan exchange of ideas and noofficial secrets were revealed.

Proud to be a ‘swayamsewak’, says ModiNistula Hebbar

PM gets a pat from the Sangh

� CONTINUED ON PAGE 14

RSS leader Dattatreya Hosbale (right) criticised theCongress at a press meet in Delhi on Friday, sayingthe RSS was not an illegal organisation. — PHOTO: PTI

NEW DELHI: Contingencyfunds with the ReserveBank of India (RBI), used incase of unforeseen shocks,have fallen to 8.4 per cent oftotal assets, against a targetof 12 per cent, as shown inits Annual Report for 2014-15 released on August 27.

For the last two years,the RBI has made no trans-fers to its ContingencyFund or its Asset Develop-ment Fund. The balance inthese funds, therefore, has

barely changed since 2013,when they made up 10.1 percent of total assets.

While the total in thesetwo funds stood at Rs.2,424billion in 2012-13, it wasRs.2,434 billion in 2014-15.

The capital requirementsof a central bank can varyconsiderably depending ona number of factors, ac-cording to the annual re-port.

“The wider the area of re-

sponsibilities of a centralbank, greater the risks and,hence, higher the require-ment of capital,” the reportsaid.

“A central bank may re-quire recapitalisation, pre-cisely at a time when thefiscal position is understrain, say, due to a finan-cial crisis,” it added.

“In the case of extremesituations, the RBI needsfunds to cope. For example,if a systemically importantbank goes bankrupt, thenthe RBI has to take its loss-es onto its own balancesheet,” a former DeputyGovernor of the RBI toldThe Hindu.

RBI crisis fund short of targetNo transfersmade in the lasttwo years: reportTCA Sharad Raghavan


NEW DELHI: In a landmarkjudgment, the Delhi HighCourt on Friday allowedwomen to be granted per-manent commission in theNavy, ensuring that womennaval officers enjoyedrights similar to their coun-terparts in the Army andthe Air Force.

The court said it wouldnot allow “sexist bias” toblock women’s progress.

Allowing a bunch of writpetitions moved by a groupof women naval officers, a

Division Bench said sincewomen were “here to stay”and since they workedshoulder to shoulder withtheir male counterparts,the court would “frown up-on any endeavour to re-strain the progress ofwomen”.

The Bench, comprisingJustice Kailash Gambhirand Justice Najmi Waziri,held that women could nowhave full-term service in theNavy and enjoy retirementbenefits, including pension.

Women to get permanentcommission in the NavyMohammed Iqbal


NEW DELHI: The SupremeCourt on Friday made theMaharashtra governmenta party to a petition filed byauthor Shobhaa De chal-lenging the Assembly’sbreach of privilege noticeagainst her.

The columnist had crit-icised the government’sdecision to make exhibi-tion of Marathi films man-datory in multiplexes.

Maharashtramade party inDe’s pleaLegal Correspondent


NEW DELHI: Alarmed by theproposal to make the NehruMemorial Museum and Li-brary (NMML) showcase thegovernment’s work, fourintellectuals on Friday saidany effort to steer the goal ofthe institution from its origi-nal purpose would be “a-nachronistic, inappropriateand unjustified’’. They saidTeen Murti’s basic functionsmust not be altered.

Nehru museum:intellectualsflay govt. moveNational Bureau


NEW DELHI: The Ministry ofHome Affairs (MHA) hascited nine reasons for can-celling the registration ofGreenpeace India under theForeign Contribution Regu-lation Act (FCRA).

One of them is payment ofannual salary of around56,951 Euros to internation-al activist Greg Muttitt.While Greenpeace hasmaintained that Mr. Mut-titt, author of ‘Fuel on theFire: Oil and Politics in Oc-cupied Iraq’, was on a validwork permit to India, thegovernment said the NGOconcealed the informationand it chanced upon his sala-

ry slip during an inspection. The MHA order of Sep-

tember 2 said: “GreenpeaceIndia Society has wilfullysuppressed and not dis-closed the payment of salaryEuro 56,951.16 per annumby Greenpeace Internation-al to Greg Muttitt, a foreignGreenpeace activist, whoworked on secondment withGreenpeace India Society inIndia for 5 months...... andviolated Section 33 of FCRA,2010, by not reporting thedetails thereof in the returnsfiled to the government.”

The cancellation of FCRApermit of Greenpeace Indiaeffectively means that theNGO can no longer receiveforeign funds and wouldhave to depend on domestic

contributions for its oper-ations. Greenpeace has saidat various forums that 90per cent of its funds comefrom domestic contributors.

The Tamil Nadu govern-ment is also probing a caseagainst Greenpeace Indiaunder the Registrar of Socie-ties Act and if it is foundguilty on that front too, itcould lose its licence to op-erate as an NGO altogether.

In an affidavit filed beforethe Bench of Justice V.P.Vaish on Friday, the MHAsaid the permanent registra-tion of Greenpeace had beencancellation in exercise ofthe powers conferred on theCentral government by Sec-tion 14 of the FCRA.

Since a suspension order

under Section 13(1) of FCRAwas already passed and theconsequences statutorilystipulated under Section 13(2)(a)(b) had to follow, theaccounts were frozen afterdisentitlement to receiveforeign contribution andprohibition from utilisingaccounts, the affidavit said.

The MHA said Green-peace was continuing to useits FCRA accounts despitetheir suspension on April 9this year and had violatedFCRA by merging its foreigndonations with domesticcontributions. The affidavitsaid the NGO had not comebefore the court with cleanhands.

MHA lists 9 reasons for cancelling Greenpeace licenseVijaita Singh & Mohammed Iqbal


PM’s pathshala

Prime Minister Narendra Modi waves to the school children afterinteracting with them on the eve of Teacher's Day at ManekshawCentre in New Delhi on Friday. PHOTO: PTI (SEE ALSO PAGE 14)

INSIDE �

NEW DELHI: Looking to end thelogjam on the one rank onepension (OROP) issue for ex-servicemen, the governmenthas prepared a draft on themodalities of implementingthe scheme and an announce-ment is likely in the next 2-3days. However, ex-servicementermed it “unilateral” and

have rejected the draft.The major sticking point re-

mains the issue of equalisa-tion. The government is firmon the revision every fiveyears in view of the adminis-trative difficulties of doing itannually, a move the veteransrejected. Talks are continuingto find common ground.

“This is the best possibledeal we could have worked outconsidering the financial im-

plications of this in a financialyear when recommendationsof the Seventh Pay Commis-sion will also be submitted.We also feel that a lot of veter-ans will be satisfied with thisdeal once it is explained, wehope that the protests endsoon,” said a senior UnionMinister.

Earlier this week, the RSS,too, raised the matter with thegovernment, asking for a

speedy resolution within rea-sonable means. “We have beentold by [BJP president] AmitShah that the OROP will beworked out soon,” said RSSjoint general secretary Datta-treya Hosabele on the side-lines of the BJP-RSSco-ordination meeting in Del-hi on Friday.

Govt ready with OROP draft modalities Nistula Hebbar & Dinakar Peri


NEW DELHI: A day after hisparty pulled out of the Ja-nata Dal (United)-ledgrand alliance in Bihar, Sa-majwadi Party supremoMulayam Singh heard outJD(U) president SharadYadav and Rashtriya Jana-ta Dal chief Lalu Prasad athis residence here on Fri-day — but failed to give anyassurance.

All that the SP leadersaid was that he would haveto consult his party col-leagues: he is flying toLucknow on Saturday.

However, Mr. SharadYadav, speaking to TheHindu after he called onthe SP leader on Friday (forthe second time in twodays), continued to express

his confidence that all is-sues would be sorted out:

“Mulayam Singhji and Ihave worked together for

so long: the alliance wasthere, the alliance is thereand it will continue to re-main intact.” He also saidthat the sharing of seatswas not the key problem.Mr. Lalu Prasad, on hispart, said, “All eyes are onBihar: the issue is not ofseats but of keeping com-munal forces at bay. Everyindividual is important andSharadji and I told Netaji[Mulayam Singh] that heneeded to shoulder thegreatest responsibility inthis battle as he is ourguardian. We need to sitand thrash this matter outso that a secular, socialistgovernment can be formedin Bihar.”

Smita Gupta

RJD supremo Lalu Prasad and JD(U) presidentSharad Yadav met SP chief Mulayam Singh (right)at his residence in New Delhi on Friday. — PHOTO: PTI

Lalu, Sharad fail to placate Mulayam


‘IT WAS SHEENA'S SKULL’

MUMBAI: The skull in theskeleton exhumed from Raigadhas been confirmed as SheenaBora’s during the digital facialsuperimposition test, seniorpolice sources said.

NEWS | PAGE 15

GOVT. SPYING ON ME: OMAR

SRINAGAR: The former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister,Omar Abdullah, accused thegovernment of “brazenly”spying on him. The ruling PDPrejected the charge. Mr.Omar said a CID person wasposted outside his residence tokeep a watch on people comingand going out.

NEWS | PAGE 15

JAIPUR: A cab driver was onFriday arrested for allegedlymolesting a Finnish woman inShastri Nagar here, the policesaid. The victim alleged thatOla cab driver Suryaveer Pod-dar touched her and tried todrag her into the car when shewas making payment onThursday night. She had hiredthe cab to return to her rentedaccommodation, DCP KailashChand Bshnoi said. - PTI

Ola driver heldfor molestingFinnish woman

� 3 GET 20-YEAR JAIL PAGE 11

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2 | THE HINDU SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2015

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| 3THE HINDU SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2015

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Published by N. Ram at Kasturi Buildings, 859 & 860, Anna Salai, Chennai-600002 and Printed by S. Ramanujam at HT Media Ltd. Plot No. 8, Udyog Vihar, Greater Noida Distt. Gautam Budh Nagar, U.P. 201306, on behalf of KASTURI & SONS LTD., Chennai-600002. Editor: Malini Parthasarathy (Responsible for selection of news under the PRB Act).

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

he body of a three-year-old boy, whowent missing on Wednesday, was to-day found inside his house in southDelhi’s RK Puram area.

The boy’s grandmother, who dis-covered the body, said there was adeep injury on the back of his head.Police said it was too early to saywhether the child was murdered orhe fell to his death. His body wasfound in a vertical position with hishead on the ground.

Jatin’s family suspects that he wasmurdered somewhere outside andthat his body was later dumped in-side the house during the wee hoursof Friday. They, however, said theyhad no enmity with anyone and hadnot received any ransom calls afterthe boy went missing.

The boy lived in a joint family inRK Puram’s Ekta Colony. Natives ofAlwar in Rajasthan, his family hasfor several decades been playing thedrums at weddings and other occa-sions in the city.

“Jatin had gone out playing withhis five-year-old friend Dheeraround 5 p.m. on Wednesday. Dheerreturned sometime later, but with-out Jatin. We approached police af-ter a search of the nearby localitiesproved futile,” said his father Raj Ku-mar. Police too launched a searchand put up “missing” posters of theboy. The body was recovered around7 a.m. on Friday when the boy’sgrandmother entered the first roomon the ground floor of their three-storey house. “A foul smell hit me as

soon as I entered the room. Ichecked behind a plastic waterdrum in a corner and found mygrandson’s hand popping out,” thegrandmother said.

An alarm was raised and thepolice was subsequently in-formed.

“Though we are investigatingthe case from a murder angle, it ispossible that the head injury wascaused by a fall from a height. It isalso likely that the eyes wereaffected as the body had begundecomposing,” said a police offi-cer investigating the case.

Police said it was unlikely thatthe boy was kidnapped for ran-

som as his parents neither re-ceived any ransom call nor werethey in a position to pay much.

The room from which the bodywas recovered is at the entrance ofthe house, which does not havedoors. That makes it easier forsomeone to dump the body unno-ticed. “But why would someonetake the risk to dump the bodyinside the house,” the officer won-dered. Jatin’s family members arebeing questioned.

POLICE: TOO EARLY TO SAY WHETHER IT IS MURDER OR HE FELL TO DEATH

Missing boy’s body foundStaff Reporter

T

The grieving family of Jatin (below) at their house in R.K.Puram’s Ekta Colony. —PHOTOS: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

JATIN WENT OUT TO PLAY WITH HIS FIVE-YEAR-OLD FRIEND AROUND 5 P.M.THE FRIEND RETURNED WITHOUT JATIN

TRAGIC END

NEW DELHI: Less than 10 days after twoundertrial prisoners were killed in-side a prison van, another confronta-tion took place between some Tiharinmates while they were beingbrought back from a Ghaziabad courton Friday.

Before Friday, there have been 24notable clashes between Delhi pris-oners inside prison vans.

The latest of those incidents, whichtook place on August 23, resulted innotorious gangster Neeraj Bawanaand his men brutally murdering twomembers of a rival gang.

This time, the prison van was dri-ven to a nearby police station in Gha-ziabad where the local police tookcontrol of the situation, said a seniorpolice officer.

“There was a verbal volley betweenthe prisoners but no physical vio-lence. No one was injured in the in-cident. We will recommend actionagainst the prisoners involved in theincident,” said Shivendra Kant Tewa-ri, DCP (Third Battalion). This battal-ion is tasked with transportingundertrial Delhi prisoners to Court inand outside the city. The van wasbringing back 12 general prisonersand one high-risk prisoner Mohd AsifAnsari who is in jail in a murder case.

Police said Ansari was kept in aseparate enclosure to separate himfrom the other prisoners and deniedhis involvement in the incident.

As the prison van was passingthrough Mahamaya Stadium in Gha-ziabad around 4 p.m. on Friday, eightof the 12 prisoners began abusing

each other. As the situation escalated,the escorting policemen stuck totheir drill and stopped the van whilecalling for help.

“Help arrived from the local policeafter which the van was escorted toSahibabad police station in Ghazia-bad. The van was then opened inpolice presence to analyse the sit-uation. When it was found that therewere no casualties, the SHO intimi-dated the prisoners and allowed thevan to proceed to Tihar Jail,” said Mr.Tewari.

A team from the Third Battalionescorted the van from the Delhi-Gha-ziabad border till Tihar Jail.

They were subsequently lodged inthe prison even as the Third Battalionhas begun the process of recom-mending action against the eightprisoners.

Police are yet to ascertain the causeof the quarrel, the officer claimed.

Meanwhile, on the same day, Nee-raj Bawana and his seven men wereproduced at Patiala Court. They were,however, transported to and from jailand court without any trouble, saidpolice.

Shiv Sunny

Another confrontation inprison van, no casualties

As the prison van was passingthrough Mahamaya Stadium inGhaziabad around 4 p.m., eightof the 12 inmates began abusingeach other. As the situationescalated, the escortingpolicemen stopped the van andcalled for help

NEW DELHI: Seven policemen were in-jured after they were attacked bysome persons while attempting toarrest a suspected chain snatcher onWednesday evening.

The injured policemen are de-ployed at police stations of Chana-kyapuri and South Campus.

They were discharged from hospi-tal after being administered first aid.

The police teams were on a visit tothe Sanjay Gandhi Camp in Chana-kyapuri on Wednesday evening.

They were there to arrest Shahidalias Mogli in connection with asnatching case registered at SouthCampus police station, said a policeofficer.

When the police teams reachedthe area, they were gheraoed by Mo-gli’s father, brother and neighbourswho allegedly attacked the police-men with sticks and even damagedtheir vehicles.

Not being allowed to leave the lo-cality with Mogli, police called for

help. Reinforcements were rushedin and the situation brought undercontrol.

Along with Mogli, police also ar-rested his brother Sabir Ali for lead-ing the attack on police.

A case of rioting and obstructingpublic servants from dischargingtheir duties has been registered.

Mogli is wanted in over half-a-dozen cases of snatchings and theftsregistered at various police stationsin the city.

His brother, Ali, also has a numberof criminal cases registered againsthim, said the officer.

Staff Reporter

Seven cops injuredwhile arresting snatcher

The police teams were on avisit to the Sanjay GandhiCamp in Chanakyapuri toarrest Shahid alias Mogli inconnection with a snatchingcase registered at SouthCampus police station, said apolice officer

NEW DELHI: A school teacher was stabbed by fourteenagers for refusing to hand over his mobilephone. Victim Anil Kumar, 39, suffered awound on his left abdomen and was admittedto a hospital. He is out of danger. A resident ofTrilokpuri, Kumar has been a teacher at anEDMC primary school in Shashi Garden areafor the last 10 years. He had gone to SanjayGandhi Jheel park on Thursday and was read-ing a newspaper when four teenagers tried torob him of his mobile phone.

“They demanded I hand over my phone.When I refused, two of them held me while thethird pulled stabbed me. They escaped with myphone after the assault,” said the victim. Avisitor to the park called the police controlroom (PCR). Kumar was subsequently rushedto Lal Bahadur Shastri Hospital where he wastreated. Police have registered a case in thisconnection, but are yet to identify the suspects.

Teacher stabbedfor mobile phoneStaff Reporter

NEW DELHI: Two men were chasedand nabbed by some policemenimmediately after they killed afactory worker in central Delhi’sNabi Karim area during the weehours of Friday.

The victim Mohd Saddam, 30,was attacked with blades by fourmen who waylaid him near PulPaharganj area. The victim shout-ed for help, which drew the atten-tion of two policemen patrollingthe area.

The policemen chased the as-sailants and managed to nab twoof them while the rest escaped.But the victim could not be savedas he had already bled enough.

“The arrested persons revealedthat they were hired by the ownerof a bag factory for which Saddamworked. Saddam had borrowedsome money from the owner, butthe two got involved in a disputewhen it came to returning themoney. So the owner hired themen for Rs.50,000,” said a seniorpolice officer.

A police team has been formedto nab the remaining two assai-lants who escaped, as well as thefactory owner Izrail.

2 nabbed formurderStaff Reporter

NEW DELHI: A Delhi court hassentenced a truck driver toseven days in jail for causingthe death of two persons byramming his truck into an au-to rickshaw and a motorcycle.The driver had consumed li-quor four times the permis-sible limit and hit the twovehicles on Barapulla near Sa-rai Kale Khan in South Delhiin 2011.

He pleaded guilty to the fo-rensic test report regardingthe content of alcohol in hisblood.

Counsel for the accusedpleaded with the court for alenient punishment but thecourt said that he did not de-serve too much leniency.

“In my view, the convict- does not deserve too much le-niency. The reason is that aperson who drives a vehiclemust know that he shoulddrive it carefully lest anybodymay suffer his life or limb dueto his fault,” MetropolitanMagistrate Ashok Kumar said.

“A professional driver ped-

als the accelerator of the auto-mobile almost throughout hisworking hours.

“He must constantly informhimself that he cannot affordto have a single moment oflaxity or inattentiveness whenhis leg is on a vehicle in loco-motion,” the Magistrate said.

Hence, the accused is alsonot entitled to the benefit ofthe Probation of OffendersAct. In view of the observa-tions…, I sentence the accusedto a period of seven days rigor-ous imprisonment…” the Ma-gistrate said.

Nirnimesh Kumar

Seven days in jailfor drunken driving

“The convict does notdeserve too muchleniency. The reason isthat a person who drivesa vehicle must know thathe should drive itcarefully lest anybodymay suffer his life orlimb due to his fault,”Metropolitan MagistrateAshok Kumar said

Art: Janus Art Gallery presents “BengalPanorama: The legacy and the continuity” - agroup art exhibition at Shridharani Art Gal-lery, Triveni Kala Sangam, 205, Tansen Marg,Mandi House, 11 a.m. - 7 p.m.

Exhibition: “Vision of Beauty-II” - groupexhibition of paintings by Richa Gupta, Sand-eep Pujara and Shalender Singh at Open PalmCourt Gallery, India Habitat Centre (IHC), 10a.m. - 8 p.m.

Exhibition: “Elephant - the divine mys-tery” an exhibition of photographs by RajeshBedi at Visual Arts Gallery, India HabitatCentre (IHC), 10 a.m. - 8 p.m.

Painting: 'Paradox', a solo exhibition ofdrawings and paintings by Vijendra S Vij atGallery No. 3, Lalit Kala Akademi, RabindraBhavan, Copernicus Marg, Mandi House, 11a.m. - 7 p.m.

Dance:Bharatiya Sangeet Sadan presents“Giridhar Gopal” Nritya-bhinaya by UmaSharma and her group at C.D. Deshmukh Au-ditorium, Main Building, India InternationalCentre (IIC), 6:30 p.m.

Music: Semi Classical Vocal recital byShweta Dubey and Hindustani Classical Vocalrecital by Suhasini Koratkar at HabitatWorld, India Habitat Centre (IHC), 7 p.m.

Theatre: Drama Society Aakriti presents“Daibaddho” - Bengali play at MuktadharaAuditorium, Banga Sanskriti Bhavan, 18-19Bhai Veer Singh Marg, 6:30 p.m.

(Mail your listings for this column [email protected])

DELHI TODAY

NEW DELHI: More than 100 Pas-sengers of a Delhi bound BritishAirways flight had a harrowingtime on Friday after the aircraftdeveloped a technical snag andhad to be diverted to Frankfurtairport.

The British Airways flight(BA 143) took off from Londonat 10.15 a.m. and was scheduledto land at Delhi’s Indira GandhiInternational Airport at 11.20p.m.

“All the passengers, were tak-en to a terminal that is not ser-viced and we are sitting in frontof Exit Gate D-51,” said Dr. SyedZafar Mahmood, President ofthe Zakat Foundation of India,adding, there is no announce-ment about the next flight, nowater, no food and no facility tocharge mobile phones.

The British Airways claimedthat they ‘are looking after cus-tomers while our highly trainedengineers check the aircraft’.

“We are doing all that we canto help customers, and we willfly them back to London as soonas possible to re-start theirjourney to India,” said a spo-kesperson of the airline.

Staff Reporter

BA flightdiverted

For feedback, please mail us [email protected]

City lights

An illuminated view of Birla Mandir on the eve of SrikrishnanJanmashtami, in New Delhi on Friday. —PHOTO: SUSHIL KUMAR VERMA

CMYK

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any people pride themselves on not or-dering in food a lot. Especially not at 2a.m.

But when you get home late starving,and have no Maggi packets to turn to, youhave little options. On such days, order-ing in from a late night delivery joint maynot be a bad bet.

Residents of South Delhi especiallyhave more to choose from with deliverycentres like Cravebusters, Munchboxand Captain Grub catering to those whowork late, party late, or are simply hun-gry.

A new kid on the block is Lettuce Eat, aplace that began operations just a fewweeks back.

The menu, which is available online,has on offer a mix of North Indian, Ori-ental, Italian and Continental cuisine.Operational in South Delhi’s Chattarpur,the delivery centre has more kitchensplanned across the city.

The process of placing an order itself isquite hassle-free with the suggestions of-fered making the experience better. Thefood is delivered in the time committed,which adds to the appeal of the place.

A text message from Lettuce Eat alertsthe customer once the order is on its way.A call usually follows in the next fewminutes with the order waiting at yourdoorstep.

It must be noted that most late nightdelivery centres have a policy of not ring-ing the doorbell.

The order itself comes neatly packedinto cardboard boxes, with the milkshak-es coming out of an icebox.

The highlight is a personalised notepasted on the package. “If music be thefood of love, play on. Bon Apetit Ms.Aslesha” it read.

The Chocolate Super Fudge shake atLettuce Eat has the right amount of sug-ar, while the Banoffee Pie is one of the

better ones available. Among the pizzas, the Veg Supreme is

one that is not high on cheese and iswell-coated with a sweet and spicy saucethat complements the vegetables.

The ‘Have it Your Way’ boxes and thepasta in pink sauce too are worth a shot.

Ask Sachit of Lettuce Eat about whatgot him to enter the late night deliverysector and the response is: “The markethas massive growth potential, but lackseateries that can deliver quality foodwithout burning a hole in your pocket.Considering a background in catering,and chefs with experience spanning overdecades, I decided to step in and fill avoid.”

With a pocket-friendly menu — mostappetizers are priced between Rs.150and Rs.275 with the main dishes pricedat Rs.150 to Rs.300 — the delivery servicelooks to target a broad spectrum ofpeople.

“We cater to families looking to orderat 8 p.m. to youngsters who come homelate after a night out, or to teenagers whoare up at 3 a.m. to watch a football match.

We are also working on a menu for calo-rie watchers,” adds Sachit.

For those who feel adventurous withone successful experience, another latenight service to try is Dare to Deliver.With Indian, Chinese, Italian and fastfood on its menu, the delivery joint,based in South Extension, caters mostlyto South Delhi and is among the newventures that seek to satiate the hungerof the city’s nocturnal beings.

They also deliver to Noida if they re-ceive a substantial order and are plan-ning a new unit at GK.

Though the delivery make take sometime, the food comes in easy to disposeboxes. For Rs.200 per head, it makes for adecent experience.

According to Vishal of Dare to Deliver,“During my college days I would havemidnight cravings. The only options wehad were to either cook for ourselves orlook for a paranthe walla. I wanted tomake availability of food a matter of con-venience for people.”

But delivering food at hours when thecity is asleep poses its own challenges.

“We have a policy of not ringingthe doorbell. We call our customersonce the order is at their doorstep. Attimes, people do not receive calls, inwhich case we have to get the parcelback. Our service and price of foodmakes the experience unique,” saysVishal.

According to Sachit, “Logistics aredifficult to manage for any night de-livery service.

“Further, elements like weather,gate closures at night, houses withunmarked addresses delay an order,which clients may not findacceptable.”

Well, the idea of ordering in atnight, at an hour when you want towithout having to worry about ‘ifthey will deliver now’ is like new-found freedom. It has got manyhooked for sure.

ORDERING FOOD LATE AT NIGHT JUST GOT EASIER IN THE CAPITAL

Midnight delhiveryAslesha

M

WE CATER TO FAMILIES, LOOKING TO ORDER AT8 P.M., TO YOUNGSTERS WHO COME HOMELATE AFTER A NIGHT OUT, OR TO TEENAGERSWHO ARE UP AT 3 A.M. TO WATCH A FOOTBALLMATCH. WE ARE ALSO WORKING ON A MENUFOR CALORIE WATCHERS

HUNGER PANGS

For feedback, please mail us [email protected]

NEW DELHI: It was a unique ex-perience for students at theDr. Rajendra Prasad Sarvo-daya Vidyalaya when the Pres-ident of India taught them fora day on Friday.

Excited to meet the Presi-dent, students of classes XIand XII waited for the first ci-tizen of India to arrive around11.55 a.m. Dressed in their uni-forms, the students were allset for a lifetime opportunity,which they made the most ofby asking him questions.

A student of Class XII(Commerce) said the biggestlesson she had learnt from Mr.Mukherjee’s life was that if he,belonging to a humble back-ground, could achieve somuch, others could do so too.

“I was excited about attend-ing the President’s class eversince I got to know that he isgoing to teach us. It was a verygood session as we got to askhim questions, which he an-swered patiently. The best

part of the one-hour sessionwas getting to learn about theConstitution of India,” saidanother student AbhayKumar.

Deepansh, of the VocationalEducation stream, asked Mr.Mukherjee about solutions forthe problems teenagers face,which hinder success, butcould not get an answer owingto lack of time. He has nowdecided to write to the Presi-dent.

“I feel really lucky to be apart of the President of India’sclass. He has taught us manythings today, from history topolitics and the importance offreedom struggle. I have manythings to take away from to-day’s class,” said DayanidhiTripathi, a student of class XI.

Chief Minister Arvind Kej-riwal later said his govern-ment was committed tosupporting teachers and mak-ing Delhi a world-class educa-tion hub. He also spoke ofdoubling the educationalbudget.

Students’ datewith the President Kritika Sharma Sebastian

The President took classes for students of classes XIand XII on Friday. PHOTO: RASHTRAPTI BHAWAN

NEW DELHI: “Silence says somuch more than noise,” be-lieves artist Tarini Ahuja. Andit is this view of hers that findsits way into her works as well.

It is the pastel colour pal-ette and the use of white spacein her canvasses that makeher works stand out as theyare free from clutter.

In her first solo show, Tari-ni mostly uses acrylic paint inher works, but manages togive it a translucent fluid feelto bring out a watercolour-type effect. She also plays withtexture, layers, shadows andborrows concepts from pho-tography and mathematics toframe her works.

The show, titled “Wabi-Sa-bi”, is on display at the ArtGallery, IIC Annexe, till Sep-tember 9. Wabi-Sabi, explainsTarini, is to find beauty in in-conspicuous, unconventionaland the overlooked details.

It is an intuitive worldviewfounded by Zen Buddhistsand goes against our condi-tioning towards the classicGreek ideals of valuing per-fection and symmetry.

“The beauty of Wabi-Sabi isthat it finds harmony in whatis imperfect, natural and mys-terious. It is perfection in itsimperfection as it is impulsiveyet controlled,” she says.

The young artist was bornand raised in New Delhi, afterwhich she headed to the La-salle College of the Arts inSingapore, where she devel-oped her style. “When I wentto Singapore to study, the ap-proach was very differentfrom back home. I was nottold what to do or how to do it.I had to explore, experimentand come up with my own vi-

sual language. This is where Iwas introduced to abstractworks, which is like learning anew language, and I workedtowards developing my ownlanguage,” she says.

Her earlier works, some ofwhich are on display, usewhite as background which,Tarini says, is because she wassurrounded by the pristineenvironment of Singapore.When she returned to India,she decided to add more col-our and moved from pristinewhites, clerical greys, sensi-tive blues and garden greensto dusty, earthy shades, anddramatic contrasts.

However, white and spacecontinue to dominate hermore recent works and shecontinues to work with theconcept that “nothingness”sometimes adds more.

The 25-year-old artist soldmost of her paintings on theopening evening of her exhi-bition.

‘Silence speaks more than noise’An exhibition attempts to discover beauty in the inconspicuous details

Jaideep Deo Bhanj

The show, titled ‘Wabi-Sabi’, is on at the IICAnnexe till September 9. PHOTO: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

NEW DELHI: On the eve of Teach-er’s Day, the Capital’s munici-palities honoured teachers,who had excelled in the pastyear, with awards.

The North Delhi MunicipalCorporation awarded 40 prin-cipals and teachers of primaryschools. Union Minister forScience and Technology andEarth Sciences MinisterHarshvardhan, who conferred

the awards, said teachers builta nation’s foundation. At theEast Delhi Municipal Corpora-tion’s awards ceremony, MPMaheish Girri awarded 25teachers. The South Delhi Mu-nicipal Corporation honoured35 teachers with Deputy May-or Kuldeep Solanki handingout the awards.

The New Delhi MunicipalCouncil, meanwhile, said eightteachers would be awarded at afunction to be organised soon.

School teachers awarded Staff Reporter

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CMYK

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NOIDA/DELHI

CITY/STATE

NEW DELHI: Forty-five year-old Agraj, whowas suffering from both liver and kidneyfailure, got a new lease of life afterundergoing a rare surgery at MedantaHospital, where doctors performed acombination of live donor liver and deceaseddonor kidney transplants on him.

The hospital announced the success of thetransplant on Friday, nearly a month afterthe surgery was performed.

Medanta’s Chief Liver Surgeon Dr. A.S.Soin said the patient was suffering from bothliver and kidney failure. According to Dr.Soin, he would not have lived long unless hehad his liver and kidney transplanted at thesame time.

While Agraj’s wife was willing to donate apart of her liver, he did not find any suitablekidney donor in the family and had been onthe waiting list for nearly six months.

“The operation was a logistic nightmareand a race against time. After being informedat 4 p.m. on August 12 about an operationpossibility (with a deceased donor matchingwith Agraj), the family came to Delhi fromAuraiya in U.P. after an eight-hour roadjourney in an ambulance,” said Dr. Soin.

At Delhi, the patient and his wifeunderwent tests. After the blood and thedeceased donor’s blood group matched, thedonor’s organs were harvested.

Later, in a combined transplant, the liverand kidney were transplanted. Since theliver was transplanted first, the kidney hadto be specially preserved with the durationbeing the minimum possible. The liver was

finally transplanted within six-and-a-halfhours, as opposed to the usual eight to 10hours. The kidney was subsequentlytransplanted.

A team of 30 experts and senior doctorsensured the surgery was successful.

Medanta chairman and managing directorDr. Naresh Trehan said both the organsworked well for Agraj, who had made anexcellent recovery. The deceased donor’sliver and kidney were also successfullytransplanted into separate recipients thesame day. The heart valves were also stored,added Dr. Trehan.

“Agraj’s combination of a live donor liverand deceased donor kidney transplantdemanded precise surgery and team work.The patient and his family have all pledgedto donate organs,” said Dr. Soin.

45-year-old undergoes liver, kidney transplant

Agraj, who was suffering from liverand kidney failure, with his wife.

Bindu Shajan Perappadan

NEW DELHI: The Delhi gov-ernment signed a memo-randum of understanding(MoU) with Wipro Ltd. onFriday for setting up astate-of-the-art moderncontrol room at Laxmi Na-gar here.

The decision comes afterthe State Cabinet’s deci-sion earlier this year thatapproved the implementa-tion of the free ‘Home toHospital Care’ emergencymedical response ambu-lance service to Delhiitesthrough the CentralisedAccident & Trauma Servic-es (CATS).

The MoU was signed byR.K. Dabral of CATS andManish Kumar of WiproLtd.

As per the Cabinet deci-sion, the three project com-ponents involved in theprocess are procurement of110 new ambulances, set-ting up of a modern controlroom, outsourcing of oper-ations and maintenance ofCATS ambulance service.

Delhi, Wipro tieup for medicalresponse scheme

Staff Reporter

REMEMBRANCE

DEATH

DEATH

ANNIVERSARIES

Please contact: 011-43579797from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m

Upcoming green buildings inDelhi might soon be as-signed a unique identifica-tion number to help getincentives like extra FloorArea Ratio (FAR) and pro-posed tax rebates.

The Delhi DevelopmentAuthority (DDA) had lastyear approved the proposalto incentivise the construc-tion of green buildings in theCapital and necessary mod-ifications were made in theMaster Plan of Delhi 2021.The major incentive provid-ed for green buildings is theprovision of extra FAR of upto five per cent. Despite thisincentive, the DDA is yet toget any application askingfor extra FAR from develop-ers of green buildings.

“The incentives are appli-cable, but till date we havereceived no such request,”said a senior DDA official,who did not wish to benamed.

“The incentive is applica-ble only for buildings thatare being constructed andhave been rated as greenbuilding. Existing greenbuildings will not get suchbenefits,” he added.

While Delhi is yet to seeenthusiastic response forsuch incentives, similar in-centives provided by theNoida Authority have beenlapped up by developers. As aresult, most of the upcominggreen building projects ofDelhi-NCR are located inNoida.

In order to avail of incen-tives from the local author-ity, under whose jurisdictiona building is coming up, de-velopers and owners mightget unique identification

numbers. “As there are manydifferent civic agencies inthe city, a unique numberwill make it easy to keep aproper record of such build-ings and also make the proc-ess of getting incentivessmoother for the appli-cants,” the official said.

The incentives providedunder the Master Plan willbe based on the rating crite-ria prescribed by Green Rat-ing for Integrated HabitatAssessment (GRIHA) forgreen buildings. Once a pro-

ject gets the rating, a sep-arate application has to bemade to the authority con-cerned to get extra FAR.

Norms that are largely tobe followed include recy-cling of treated waste waterwith separate lines for pota-ble water and recycled wa-ter. Projects will also have toinstall dual piping system forpotable and non-potable wa-ter. Groundwater has to berecharged through rain wa-ter harvesting, conservingwater bodies and regulatinggroundwater abstraction.Treated sewage effluentshould be recycled for non-potable uses like gardening,washing of vehicles, coolingtowers, etc. Utilities such asunderground water storagetank, roof-top water harvest-ing system, separate dry andwet dustbins, etc., are to beprovided within the plot.

For bigger projects, of siz-es 3,000 square metre andabove, provision of cavitywalls, atriums, shading de-vices in buildings will be en-couraged to make themenergy efficient. Solar heat-ing system will be providedon all plots with roof area of3,000 square metre andabove.

No takers for greenincentives in Delhi yetUnique ID for green buildings plannedSidhartha Roy

Government flats in New Moti Bagh have beencertified as ‘green’. PHOTO: SHIV KUMAR PUSHPAKAR

NEW DELHI: Student wings ofthe Congress and BJP de-clared their candidates forthe Delhi University Stu-dents’ Union (DUSU) elec-tion, slated to be held onSeptember 11.

The Congress-affiliatedNational Students’ Union ofIndia (NSUI) has fielded Pra-deep Vijayran, a final yearLLB student for the post ofPresident, while PrernaSingh of Ram Lal Anand Col-lege was selected as the Vice-Presidential candidate.

NSUI’s Amit Sehrawatfrom the Faculty of Law andDeepak Chaudhury fromHansraj College have beenfielded for the post of Secre-tary and Joint Secretaryrespectively.

BJP’s student wing AkhilBhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad(ABVP) has declared Saten-der Awana from Department

of Buddhist Studies as thePresidential candidate andSunny Dedha from Faculty ofLaw as the Vice-Presidentialnominee.

Those nominated by theABVP for the posts of Secre-tary and Joint Secretary in-clude Anjali Rana fromLakshmi Bai College andChatrapal Yadav from theDepartment of BuddhistStudies.

The Aam Aadmi Party’sstudents wing, Chhatra YuvaSangharsh Samiti (CYSS),which is making its debut thisyear, had announced its can-didates last week.

Their panel includes Hi-tanshi Chauhan from Satya-vati College, Garima Ranaand Rahul Raj Aryan of Hin-du College and Kuldeep Bid-huri of PGDAV College.

On Thursday, Left-backedAll India Students’ Associ-ation (AISA) had on Thurs-day announced its panel.

DUSU polls: Partiesdeclare candidates

ABVP candidates for the 2015 DUSU elections at apress conference on Friday. PHOTO: SHANKER CHAKRAVARTY

Staff Reporter

CMYK

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STATE6 | THE HINDU SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2015

NOIDA/DELHI

NEW DELHI: Now anyone foundlittering anywhere in DistrictGhaziabad, particularly onthe banks of river Hindon, willhave to immediately cough upRs.20,000 as environmentalcompensation.

The National Green Tribu-nal (NGT) has announced thefine while prohibiting publicat large and also the Ghazia-bad authorities from dumpingany waste just about any-where. The concerned civicagencies and the police havebeen empowered to recoverthe compensation.

It has ordered Ghaziabadauthorities to place dustbinsof appropriate sizes at certainplaces so that people canthrow waste in them ratherthan anywhere they want.

“Further, we direct that anyperson, authority, officers orofficials shall not throw,dump and/or burn any mu-nicipal solid waste anywherein the district Ghaziabad par-ticularly on the bank of riverHindon and road adjacentthereto,” the NGT ordered.

The order comes in the

wake of Ghaziabad Naga Ni-gam dumping waste on thebanks of or very close to Hin-don, a tributary of Yamunawhich the NGT has vowed torevitalise by 2017.

Not only Ghaziabad NagarNigam but even the residen-tial societies around Hindonin areas like Vasundhara En-clave, Mayur Vihar Phase I,Dallu Pura Village and NewAshok Nagar which have beendeveloped by DDA withoutany plan for sanitation also

add to the piles of waste alongHindon canal.

What is shocking is that theGhaziabad authorities haveadmitted to dumping wastealong Hindon. The municipalsolid waste is also burnt tofurther degrade theenvironment.

“Be that as it may. By nostretch of imagination, therecan be justification of anypublic authority of the Stateto permit environmental deg-radation and water pollution

by dumping municipal solidwaste directly or permittingother persons to throw suchwaste at such ecologicallysensitive places. Municipalsolid waste is even beingburnt openly,” the Tribunalsaid.

“It will be for the Nagar Ni-gam and all those authoritiesto place appropriate size ofdustbins for encouraging thepeople to dump wastes only inthe dustbins which shall betransported to a duly identi-fied site meant for the pur-pose of dumping uponsegregation.

“Any person or officer vio-lating this condition shall beliable to pay instantaneouslyRs.20,000 as environmentalcompensation and we permitall these authorities alongwith the police authorities toimpose this environmentalcompensation and recoverthe same. If any person isfound committing default inthat regards and resists therecovery, liberty is granted tothe authority to file an appli-cation before the Tribunal forappropriate orders,” the Tri-bunal made it clear.

Use a bin or pay Rs.20,000 in GhaziabadAkanksha Jain

The NGT has ordered Ghaziabad authorities toplace dustbins of appropriate sizes at certain placesso that people can throw waste in them. FILE PHOTO

NEW DELHI: Precisely 24hours after he presidedover a rock fest at northcampus along side ChiefMinister Arvind Kejriwal,Deputy Chief MinisterManish Sisodia, highly-placed governmentsources have revealed,personally led a raid touncover what is suspectedto be a multi-crore rupeescam at the Delhigovernment’s Commissionfor OBCs.

The Hindu has learntthat the alleged scampegged at at least Rs.5crore, pertains to“irregularities in accounts”related to the circle ratesof land allocated to theCommission to provide

infrastructural facilities tothose belonging to theOBC category and isexpected to lead to theouster of several officialsposted in the departmentmost likely during theearly half of the followingweek.

“We have reason tobelieve that several seniorofficials, including somebureaucrats, activelyparticipated in the fudgingaccounts and manipulatingfigures related to theallocation of land for theCommission by the DelhiDevelopment Authority(DDA),” said a seniorgovernment official.

“Evidence has beencollected from the recordsmaintained at theCommission with the raid

having been conductedwith the intent of ensuringthat importantdocumentation did not ‘gomissing’ from their usualplace of storage inconnivance with thosesuspected of havingparticipated in the allegedfraud,” the official added inan attempt to justify thehushed operation, which isyet to be publicised in theinterests of ongoinginvesitgation.

A government sourcetold The Hindu that Mr.Sisodia, in his capacity asthe Minister in charge ofAdministrative Reforms,personally led a team ofaround 20 governmentofficials to the offices ofthe Commission locatedon the 5th floor of central

Delhi’s Vikas Minar onWednesday afternoon.

Several senior officialsposted at the Commission,caught unawares due tothe surprise visit,remained glued to theirrespective workstations asMr. Sisodia instructedofficials comprising histeam to take in theirpossession several filesrelated to the scheme inwhich fraud has beenalleged.

After brisk proceedings,which are said to havelasted between just 10 to15 minutes, Mr. Sisodiaand the team under hiscommand vacated thepremises of theCommission with close totwo dozen files asevidence.

Sisodia leads raid to uncover scamJatin Anand NEW DELHI: Illegally-run park-

ing lots are thriving in NorthDelhi, officials of the localcivic body, which is respon-sible for regulating parking,have admitted.

Senior officials and leadersof the North Delhi MunicipalCorporation conducted asurprise check at six loca-tions to crackdown on unau-thorised parking lots,encroachment by contrac-tors and other violations ofthe contract by concessio-naires.

Bharat Bhushan Madan,the chairperson of the Re-munerative Projects Cell, ledthe raids on illegal parking inKarol Bagh, near Gaffar Mar-ket, on Arya Samaj Road,

near PVR Naraina, in MotiNagar and at KarampuraCommercial Complex.

“We found that contrac-tors had encroached onroads, taking up three lanesfor parking. On one hand, theNorth Corporation is suffer-ing a financial crisis, and onthe other the contractors aremaking money illegally,” saidMr. Madan.

He added that many ruleswere also not being followed.The contractor’s staff is sup-posed to wear uniforms andissue receipts from handhelddevices, but Mr. Madan saidthe parking attendants werenot wearing uniforms andgiving out hand-written slips.

The contractors are alsosupposed to put up sign-boards at prominent placesmarking the parking zone,with the no-parking areas de-marcated as well. That alsowas not done at any of thelocations.

“We have ordered action,including FIRs and notices,against the contractors. Wewill also take action againstany official found helping thecontractors break the rules,”said Mr. Madan.

Illegal parking rampant in North Delhi Staff Reporter

On one hand, the NorthCorporation is sufferinga financial crisis, and onthe other hand, thecontractors are makingmoney illegally

NEW DELHI: Delhi Commissionfor Women chief Swati Mali-wal has written to PoliceCommissioner B.S. Bassiasking him to file a first in-formation report in the AlkaLamba case.

Ms. Maliwal stated thatthough a complaint hadbeen filed against BJP MLAO.P. Sharma for allegedlythreatening the ChandniChowk MLA saying she “willhave to face the anger of BJPworkers with lathis” andcalling Ms. Lamba “a drug-addict”, an FIR was not filed.

Ms. Maliwal wrote thatthe DCW had taken theopinion of senior advocatesand the legal team had sug-gested that since casesagainst Mr. Sharma havebeen registered under Sec-tions 308 and 509, 503 and506 of the IPC Act, the po-lice should file an FIR.

“It is evident that an FIRshould’ve been registered inboth instances as cognizable

offences are made out. How-ever, it is sad to note thateven in the case where mod-esty of a female member ofthe Legislative Assembly ofDelhi has been outraged, thepolice has failed to file anFIR,” the DCW chief wrote.

She also asked Mr. Bassito take action against erringofficials for not taking suit-able action. She wrote toMr. Bassi on Friday after theBJP MLA failed to turn upfor the hearing.

“We had informed himwell in advance, and yet hechose not to show up,” she

said. A fortnight ago, Delhi Po-

lice submitted a detailed 40-page status report in con-nection with assault of theAAP legislator. However,police official didn’t submitthe CCTV footage whichcaptured the attack on Ms.Lamba.

The Chandni ChowkMLA suffered head injuryafter a boy working at asweet shop hurled a stone ather during an anti-drugsdrive at Kashmere Gate onAugust 9. The assailant wasarrested.

Staff Reporter

File FIR in Lamba case, Maliwal tells Bassi

BJP MLA O.P.Sharma had allegedlybeen threatening theChandni Chowk MLAsaying, she “will haveto face the anger ofBJP workers withlathis” and called her“a drug-addict”

NEW DELHI: The Capital’s ve-hicular movement wasthrown out of gear with mas-sive congestion being report-ed from arterial stretches insouth, east and central Delhitowards evening rush hours.

According to Traffic Police,congestion was reportedfrom Vikas Marg, ITO, PagatiMaidan, Mathura Road,Jungpura, Lajpat Nagar andOklha towards evening.

“It took me over 45 minutes to reach ITO from Math-ura Road due to the massivecongestion I encounterednear Pragati Maidan,” com-plained Jai Singh, a driver,who added there were no po-licemen to regulate traffic.

The police said congestionwas also reported from Meh-rauli-Badarpur Road due to acave-in between Lal Kuanand Khanpur. The reason be-hind the congestion in centraland east Delhi was blockedtraffic near Laxmi Nagar met-ro station due to a protest.

Massive jam Staff Reporter

MUMBAI: The Bombay HighCourt today extended byaround three months thetemporary bail granted to for-mer Delhi University Profes-sor G.N. Saibaba, arrested foralleged Maoist links, consid-ering his deteriorating healthcondition.

On June 30, the High Courtgranted him temporary bailfor three months to undergomedical treatment for multi-ple ailments, including a de-generative spine disease. Thebail was granted by a DivisionBench headed by Chief Jus-tice Mohit Shah, which hadconverted into public interestlitigation (PIL) a letter writ-ten by activist Purnima Up-adhyay. — PTI

Temporary bailfor DU Prof

CMYK

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NOIDA/DELHI

STATE

NEW DELHI: DEN-2 (denguestrain type-two) — the morevirulent of the four sero-types of dengue — is in circu-lation this year in theCapital along with DEN-4,according to a preliminaryreport by the All India In-stitute of Medical Sciences(AIIMS) released on Friday.

Delhi has previously seenall four serotypes (1, 2, 3 and4) of dengue, which havebeen isolated from time totime.

“This year DEN-2 is mostpredominant along withDEN-4, which we haven’tseen predominantly in Del-hi. Usually when a persongets a particular strain ofdengue he gets some immu-nity against it. This year weare seeing larger number ofpeople coming in withDEN-2 infection,” said AI-IMS Professor, Departmentof Microbiology, Lalit Dar.

“DEN-2 is the more viru-lent type of dengue and thesymptoms are more severe.However, having said that itis important to tell the gen-eral public that dengue iscompletely treatable in 99per cent cases and patientswith symptoms should seekmedical help immediately.This is no cause for worry,”he added.

Meanwhile, a report is-sued by AIIMS has notedthat its virology laboratoryhas already generated pre-liminary data on the sero-type of dengue circulating inDelhi in the on-goingseason.

“There appears to be a co-circulation of dengue sero-types 2 and 4 (DEN-2 andDEN-4) this year. Denguevirus has been isolated fromsix of the nine samples test-ed and of this four sampleshad DEN-2 and two sampleshad DEN-4. DEN-2 has beenpredominantly isolated inthe last two years andDEN-4 has been isolated ve-

ry rarely in previous yearstoo. The Institute has tested738 samples so far using theIgM antibodies and NSI an-tigen and 341 tested positivefor dengue,” noted a seniorAIIMS official.

“In 2010, when the lastdengue surge was registeredin Delhi, the city saw all thestrains of dengue withDEN-2 being predominant,’’said AIIMS spokespersonAmit Gupta.

Stating that dengue isboth preventable and man-ageable, K.K. Aggarwal ofthe Indian Medical Associ-ation said: “The risk of com-plications is in less than oneper cent of dengue casesand, if warning signals areknown to the public, alldeaths from dengue can beavoided. A platelet transfu-sion is not needed if theplatelet counts are morethan 10,000. Unnecessaryplatelet transfusion cancause more harm thangood.”

Most dengue virus infec-tions in adults are symp-tomatic (86 per cent) and inchildren under the age of 15years are asymptomatic orminimally symptomatic.

Classic dengue fever is an

acute febrile illness accom-panied by headache, retroorbital pain, and markedmuscle and joint pains.Symptoms typically developbetween four and sevendays after the bite of an in-fected mosquito. The incu-bation period may rangefrom three to 14 days. Fevertypically lasts for five to sev-en days. The febrile periodmay also be followed by aperiod of marked fatiguethat can last for days toweeks, especially in adults.Joint pain, body aches, andrash are more common infemales.

He added that most com-plications of dengue occurafter the fever is over. Thetwo days after the last epi-sode of the fever are crucialand during this period, a pa-tient should be encouragedto take plenty of oral fluidsmixed with salt and sugar.

“The main complicationis leakage of capillaries andcollection of blood outsidethe blood channels leadingto intravascular dehydra-tion. Giving fluids orally orby intravenous routes, ifgiven at a proper time, cansave fatal complications,” headded.

Bindu Shajan Perappadan

AIIMS identifies denguestrain circulating in Delhi

WEATHER WATCH (City-wise reading yesterday)

For metros highlighted, readings show max temperature

Delhi | 36.5° C

Kolkata | 34.6° C

Mumbai | 32.0° C

Hyderabad | 36.0° C

Chennai | 34.5° CBengaluru | 31.7° C

Image & Data: India Meteorological Department

Forecast for Saturday: Heavy rainfall would occur at isolated places oversouth interior Karnataka, coastal Karnataka, interior Tamilnadu and Kerala

Max Min Max Min Max MinAgartala 30.5 26.0 Hubballi 33.0 22.0 New Delhi 36.5 26.9

Ahmedabad 35.0 24.0 Hyderabad 36.0 24.4 Patna 35.9 25.5

Allahabad 37.0 25.9 Imphal 28.7 22.0 Port Blair 30.3 23.8

Aizawl 23.2 14.7 Jaipur 37.6 26.2 Pune 33.1 20.3

Bengaluru 31.7 21.3 Kohima 22.5 15.6 Puducherry 33.9 26.8

Bhopal 31.9 21.8 Kolkata 34.6 28.1 Raipur 33.7 25.9

Bhubaneswar 34.6 24.2 Kochi 32.2 25.0 Ranchi 32.6 23.8

Chandigarh 35.0 24.8 Kozhikode 34.5 26.4 Shillong 23.0 16.7

Chennai 34.5 28.3 Kurnool 36.9 28.0 Shimla 25.1 14.7

Coimbatore 35.1 24.0 Lucknow 36.6 25.7 Srinagar 25.6 12.5

Dehradun 32.2 22.3 Madurai 34.2 25.2 Vijayawada 35.3 27.3

Gangtok 23.0 18.1 Mangaluru 32.7 25.0 Visakhapatnam 31.4 28.4

Goa 31.0 25.0 Mumbai 32.0 23.8 Thiruvananthapuram 34.5 26.4

Guwahati 32.0 22.1 Mysuru 31.8 21.9 Tiruchi 36.5 26.2

NEW DELHI: To contain the es-calating disease here, thethree Municipal Corpora-tions of Delhi have initiated“dengue homework pro-gramme” in all of theirschools.

To further the process, ateacher has been designatedas the nodal authority to im-plement the programme.The teacher will also be re-sponsible for ensuring allmeasures for preventionand control of dengue.

“We have initiated ‘den-gue homework programme’,which is an old programmeas a part of which cards con-taining sketches of commonbreeding sites are distrib-uted among children in theirclass. The student is thenasked to go home and checkfor those sites and fill up thecard and get it signed by par-

ents every week,” said a se-nior Municipal Corporationofficial.

Further adding, the offi-cial said that the nodal teach-er will check the cards andsubsequently submit the re-port to District Health Offi-cer. The report wouldinclude data on number ofcards distributed and filledout by parents. The aim is toinvolve school children inthe drive against the dreadeddisease. Also, the nodalteacher will read out themessages on the preventionand control of dengue duringthe morning assembly apartfrom checking mosquitobreeding sites in the school.

Delhi reported 831 denguecases till August 29, withNorth Delhi with the highestat 352, south Delhi at 220,east Delhi at 73 cases. — PTI

Civic bodies rope in schoolsin fight against dengue

GURGAON: The district admin-istration has directed allschools in the city to installclosed-circuit television(CCTV) cameras and othersafety equipment in schoolbuses. The school authoritieshave also been asked to sub-mit a compliance report to theRoad Transport AuthoritySecretary, Sushil Sarwan, bySeptember 11.

Deputy Commissioner T.L.Satyaprakash has said that asper Punjab and Haryana HighCourt orders all privateschools should install at leasttwo CCTV cameras with dig-ital recording, apart fromzoom and tilt features. Thesecameras should be capable ofrecording continously for atleast 15 days with schoolskeeping the footage for atleast six months. All schoolshave been directed to deployat least one woman attendanton buses ferrying girlstudents.

Further, the bus drivershould have a minimum expe-rience of five years and notdrive over a speed of 50 kmph.To ensure that the speed limitis adhered to, schools havebeen asked to install speedgovernors in buses.

Get CCTVcameras forbuses, Gurgaonschools toldStaff Reporter

NEW DELHI: The Delhi HighCourt on Friday sought re-sponses from the Lieutenant-Governor and the Delhi gov-ernment on a plea by formeryouth Congress leader SushilSharma, serving life term forthe murder of his wife NainaSahni, seeking remission andpremature release from jail.

Justice Siddharth Mridulasked the authorities con-cerned to make their standclear by September 15 onwhether they are consideringSharma’s plea. Sharma, who isnow out on parole on theground of his mother’s illhealth, has moved the Courtstating that he has alreadyspent over 20 years in jail andis thus entitled to prematurerelease in accordance with theguidelines of the Sentence Re-view Board.

In his plea moved throughadvocate Sumeet Verma, hehas sought directions to theL-G and the Delhi governmentto expeditiously consider hisplea for premature releasefrom jail. While commuting tolife imprisonment the deathpenalty awarded to him, theSupreme Court had said that“life sentence is for the wholeof remaining life of Sharmasubject to the remission grant-ed by the appropriate govern-ment under the Code ofCriminal Procedure.” TheApex court had reduced thepunishment, awarded to Shar-ma by a trial court in 2003 andupheld by the High Court in2007. He was convicted ofmurdering his wife Naina. Hehad shot her with his licensedrevolver on July 2, 1995, tookher body to a restaurant,chopped it and tried to burn itin the restaurant’s oven. — PTI

HC seeks replyon Tandoorconvict’s plea

Of promises unkept

A hoarding criticising the Arvind Kejriwal government’s failure to appoint a Lokayukta sixmonths after it came to power is seen at Paharganj chowk in New Delhi on Friday. — PHOTO:

SUSHIL KUMAR VERMA

NEW DELHI: Anti CorruptionBranch (ACB) chief MukeshKumar Meena on Fridayfailed to appear before theCommission of Inquiry,formed by the AAP-led Delhigovernment to probe the al-leged multi-crore CNG-Fit-ness scam.

The Commission, headedby retired High Court judgeS. N. Agarwal, had sum-moned Mr. Meena to appearbefore it at 3 p.m. on Fridayfor having passed an orderthat “no information per-taining to the case will beshared with the Commis-

sion”, said a source in theACB.

The Arvind Kejriwal gov-ernment had on August 11constituted the Commission

of Inquiry to probe the al-leged Rs.100-crore CNG fit-ness scam, in which anumber of officials of theprevious Sheila Dikshit gov-

ernment are under thescanner.

Soon after the formationof the Commission of Inqui-ry by the AAP government,Mr. Meena, who is also aJoint Commissioner in

Delhi Police, openly cameout against it and said that he“will not allow any interfe-rence in the ongoinginvestigation”.

Last month, the UnionHome Ministry had termedthe setting up of the Com-mission of Inquiry by theDelhi government as “illegal,invalid”. — PTI

Meena skips summon by Commission of InquiryHe was to appearbefore the panel forpassing an order that“no informationpertaining to CNG-fitness scam will beshared with theCommission”

NEW DELHI: Around 500 em-ployees of All India Institute ofMedical Science (AIIMS) onFriday held a candlelightmarch to express solidaritywith the family of a 20-year-old youth, the son of an AIIMStechnician, died allegedly dueto the lax attitude of doctors.

According to AIIMS karma-chari union president Ramesh,Tannu Bharat Agria, the son ofa technician at AIIMS, hadgone to the hospital on August28 as he was suffering fromhigh fever and vomiting.

“The doctor prescribed ordi-nary medicines and asked himto come to the OPD next day.On August 30, he was rushed tothe emergency. At noon, hiscondition became serious andthen worsened. He was put onventilator. Later, he was takento the main ICU. He died a fewhours later,” he said.— PTI

AIIMS staffhold vigil

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NALGONDA: Lack of adequateteaching staff in govern-ment schools in Chandam-pet mandal of Nalgondadistrict is forcing parents towithdraw their childrenfrom these institutions andadmit them in privateschools.

As against the sanctionedstrength of 222, the schoolsare having just 65 teachers.That the number of theteaching staff is less than thenumber of schools showshow pathetic the standardsare in governmentinstitutions.

The mandal has a total of78 schools comprising 66primary, eight upper pri-mary and four high schools.According to official statis-tics, the total studentstrength in these schools is2,759. However, as many as18 primary schools are not

functioning as there are noteachers.

Among the remainingschools, 12 schools have astudent strength below 10each, while 10 schools haveless than 20 children each.Since the mandal is locatedin a remote area, not manyteachers, who were appoint-

ed here, come to the schoolson time. They also leaveschools early in the after-noon because there will beno transportation availablefrom the place late evening.

Poor monitoring

Some of the schools workfor only two to four hours as

teachers come from Hyde-rabad, Nalgonda, Suryapet,Devarakonda and other fa-raway places. Poor monitor-ing by educational officialsand district administrationfurther added to the woes ofchildren. Upper primaryschools located at Guvvala-gutta and Kothapally villag-es have 30 and 38 studentsrespectively but no teacher.The villagers had appointedtwo volunteers in each of theschools at their own ex-pense. Some of the studentswalk long distances for at-tending the schools.

Speaking to The Hindu,Krishna, a parent fromKothapally, said that mostof the parents withdrew theadmission of their childrenin the two schools and ad-mitted them in a privateschool located at GurrapuTanda where they wereforced to shell out Rs. 8,000to Rs. 20,000 on each child’s

education. Though the re-cent survey by officials saythere were only 119 childrenwho were out of school, thevillagers said that the num-ber was much more.

Lack of poor educationhas also been showing itsimpact on other social in-dicators. The sex ratioamong 0-6 aged childrenwas alarmingly low sincethere were only 834 girls forevery 1,000 boys and only 31per cent of women in Chan-dampet are literate.

A teacher working inChandampet, who does notwant to be named, said thatmany teachers were reluc-tant to work in the mandalsince there were no basicamenities. “We cannot evenfind a tea stall in Chandam-pet mandal headquarters ora hotel for having lunch.Some of the villages are lo-cated 50 km away fromChandampet.”

T. Karnakar Reddy

Only 65 teachers for 3,000 pupils in a Nalgonda mandal

NEGLECTED: Teachers, deterred by lack of facilities,are reluctant to work in government schools inremote Chandampet mandal of Telangana’sNalgonda district. — PHOTO: SINGAM VENKATARAMANA

BENGALURU: Hindustan Aero-nautics Ltd, which manufac-tures the Light CombatAircraft for the Air Force,plans to offload to industrylarger chunks of the fighterplane to produce than is beingdone now.

It is working on a process torope in eight to 12 large indus-try partners as tier-1 or tier-2suppliers of bigger ‘modules’or structures, according toHAL Chairman and ManagingDirector T. Suvarna Raju. Hesaid an industry partner maygear up to the task over a cou-ple of years.

In a scene where aircraftsupplies have been notorious-ly delayed for various reasons,the strategy is seen to supple-ment HAL’s capacity, increaseproduction and delivery ratesto the IAF.

Mr. Raju, who took overearly this year, told The Hinduin a recent interaction that itwould allow the public sectorDefence company to focus onmilitary aviation projects ofthe future – the Indo-RussianFifth Generation Fighter Air-craft, the civil passenger planeand unmanned air vehicles.

“We are trying to get [certain]modules of the LCA preparedby the private industry. Wehave given RFIs [the first stepof request for information] tothose who are interested in be-ing a defence vendor. An RFQ[request for quotation] willfollow.

“We have interacted with afew on the fuselage, which getsdone in four parts — the front,centre, rear and the wings. Wehave the jigs and fixtures forthem to make, to begin with.They can make on their ownlater,” Mr. Raju said. The hel-icopter gear box with its manycomponents was anotherexample.

Mr. Raju said this was itsnew approach of producing theLCA. It was also ready to lookfor any Indian vendor to makeits other product, the multi-purpose ALH, under licence.

Around 2,600 small and me-dium enterprises are regis-tered with it. HAL wasexplicitly spelling out the re-quired numbers. “So far, air-craft components are beingmade by industry. Now wewould like them to be aggrega-tors. We are looking at a mini-mum of 100 numbers in LCA;200 in LCH; 200 Light Utility[or observation] Helicopters;and another 150 AdvancedLight Helicopters.”

HAL would handhold the in-dustry partners until theywere confident.

Industry ecosystem

It would still be the integra-tor of the warplane, hold theintellectual property rightsand maintain the aircraft overthe next 40 or so years of theirservice. Such an industry eco-system, he said, would eventu-ally take part in militaryproduction and benefit frommany offsets that would comefrom original foreign hard-ware manufacturers.

HAL seeks to lighten LCA burdenMadhumathi D.S.

Focus will be on projectsof the future, says HAL Chairman T. Suvarna Raju. — PHOTO: BHAGYA PRAKASH K.

rimnagar. With more donorscoming forward, doctors atthe Lions Eye Hospital foundit hard to collect the cornea asthey were preoccupied withsurgeries and treatment at thehospital.

Practical training

At this stage, Mr. Anna Red-dy came forward to undergotraining in collection of cor-nea at L.V. Prasad Eye Hospi-tal, Sankara Nethralaya andAurobindo Eye Hospital in

Chennai under the supervi-sion of a surgeon and assist-ant. He was given practicaltraining in the collection ofcornea from sheep eyes.

In 2008, he started collec-tion of human cornea underthe guidance of expert doc-tors. Now, Mr. Anna Reddycollects cornea on his ownfrom various parts of the dis-trict and sends them to theL.V. Prasad Eye Hospital andSarojini Devi Eye Hospital inHyderabad.

“Sometimes I receive callsat odd hours from interior vil-lages also. I attend to themimmediately and collect thecornea,” he says.

Mr. Anna Reddy also moti-vated relatives of over 20 fam-ilies to donate the dead bodiesof their kin to the two privatemedical colleges in Karimna-gar town for medical purpos-es. “Though I am unable tofocus on my main professionof civil engineering, I get a lotof satisfaction by helping thevisually challenged get backtheir sight,” he says.

KARIMNAGAR: He is a civil engi-neer by profession. But his gritand determination to provideeyesight to visually challengedpersons saw him donning therole of an ophthalmologistsurgeon also.

Kola Anna Reddy, a seniormember of the Lions Club,joined the movement in 2003and become the district chair-man for eye-ball collections in2005. He has conducted sur-geries on more than 600 per-sons after their death inKarimnagar, Adilabad, Medakand Warangal districts andcollected cornea to provideeyesight to the visuallychallenged.

Inspired by his grandmoth-er’s motivation to donate eyes,he joined the Lions Club activ-ities and remained the fron-trunner in the campaign,educating people about theimportance of donating eyes.He also motivated more than6,000 persons to pledge theireyes to the Lions Club of Ka-

Restoring eyesight, a civilengineer’s unusual passion K.M. Dayashankar

Anna Reddy has beencollecting corneas fromdead persons since 2008.

The Kerala State HigherEducation Council had rec-ommended promulgation ofan ordinance to set up thevarsity and the draft had sug-gested formation of an ‘In-ternational ArabicUniversity of Kerala Fund’that could enable the varsityto accept donations fromabroad, apart from usingUnion and State governmentsupport.

But the Ministry of Hu-man Resource Developmentand the University GrantsCommission had no ap-proved guidelines as yet forallowing international varsi-ties in the country, it waspointed out. The officialshad also questioned the ra-tionale itself of establishingan international Arabic var-sity when two State universi-ties had Arabic departmentsand colleges were offeringthe language to the students.In addition, Arabic did notfigure among the country’sscheduled languages, theynoted.

That apart, they also re-minded that a union deci-sion on allowinginternational varsities wasstill pending beforeParliament.

KOCHI: The Union Home Min-istry has asked central agen-cies to report on aspects of“national concern” said to beinvolved in a proposal forsetting up an internationalArabic university in Kerala,top officials privy to the de-velopment told The Hindu.

The move comes on theheels of Additional ChiefSecretary K.M. Abraham andChief Secretary Jiji Thom-son officially opining thatthat it will be appropriate forthe government to get theMHA to examine theproposal.

In response to a Cabinetnote asking if a special offi-cer could be appointed forthe proposed internationalvarsity, the top State officialsindicated that some key fac-tors may need to be ad-dressed with regard to theproposal itself.

One was that the proposalimplied drawing funds fromabroad and various othersources for the university.The State Finance Depart-ment, anyhow, had stated itsinability to fund the varsity,needing an outlay of aboutRs.100 crore.

MHA seeks report on

Arabic varsity planG. Krishnakumar

HYDERABAD: Many have beenshocked, maybe bewilderedabout the unusual theft of ayoungster vanishing with aHarley Davidson bike from ashowroom in upscale Banja-ra Hills in the guise of a testride two days ago.

The person behind thetheft of the bike, caught bythe police in Mumbai, is anassistant engineer with theOil and Natural Gas Corpo-ration Limited. His educa-tional background too is noless impressive.

The man in question T.Kiran, in his late 20s, is alsoan M.Tech. from the IndianInstitute of Technology,Chennai, and has an engi-neering degree from a col-lege in Hyderabad.

“We are yet to ascertainfrom him why he resorted tothis. All that he told ourteam on being caught inMumbai that he was fond ofHarley Davidson bike andwanted to own one — byhook or by crook,” the Ban-jara Hills police told thiscorrespondent.

The way he walked intobike showroom two days agoand presented his docu-ments suggested that he hadprecisely planned to stealthe two-wheeler, say thepolice.

His claim that he was Tah-er Ali and the papers heshowed were false.

Taken for a ride

After coming out of theshowroom, he started thebike and disappeared intothe traffic.

It took the showroom em-

ployees sometime to realisethat he had taken them liter-ally for a ride and rush to thepolice. By then, Kiran wason his way to Mumbai.

Picking up clues from thevideo footage of surveillancecameras, the Banjara Hillspolice began a hunt for him.

The first lead was that hepurchased a helmet at SangaReddy in Medak district.Eventually, the special po-lice teams traced and caughthim in Mumbai. He wouldbe brought to city by Sat-urday morning.

Marri Ramu

Engineer poses as buyer tosteal Harley Davidson bike

T. Kiran took off with the bike from a showroom inHyderabad. The police caught him in Mumbai.(Picture for representational purposes only)

KOLLAM: On an average fiverapes a day took place in thefirst half of this year, includ-ing of a large number of mi-nors, according to the dataon crimes against womenand children released by theState police on Friday

The police registered 886rape cases across the State

during the period, in which322 of the rape victims wereminors.

While the district-wisefigures of minors raped werenot provided, when it cameto women, Thiruvananthap-uram district topped with 85cases. Malappuram followedwith 64 cases.

In 2014, the number ofrape cases registered in the

State was 1,283.Two dowry deaths were

also reported during the pe-riod. Nineteen dowry deathscases were registered lastyear. Six cases under theProhibition of Child Mar-riage Act were registered tillJune this year. While 69 mi-nors were abducted in theState, 76 women werekidnapped.

‘Kerala records five rapes a day’ Ignatius Pereira

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gers from other coaches as-sisted in the rescue operation.The injured were shifted to ahospital in Vriddhachalam.

Services resumed after thetrack was cleared for trafficThe work, which was carriedout throughout the day, en-gaging officials from differentdepartments, was completedby late evening.

Thirty five passengers weretreated and they left for theirrespective destinations.

The express train was de-tained at the accident spot forthree hours and it left withoutthe five derailed coachesaround 5 a.m. to reach Vridd-hachalam at about 5.30 a.m.After a two-hour hold up, itleft Vriddhachalam at 7.25a.m. and reached the Tiruchirailway junction at around9.45 a.m. - nearly five hoursbehind schedule.

Trains diverted

Some Chennai–boundtrains from Tiruchi and othersouthern destinations werediverted via main line section.Few other passenger trainswere either fully cancelled orpartially cancelled. Eleven ex-press trains were operated viadiverted route.

TIRUCHI: Thirty-nine passen-gers were injured after fivecoaches of Chennai Egmore-Mangalore Central Expressderailed near Puvanur in Cud-dalore district in Tiruchi Rail-way Division early on Friday.

The derailment occurred at2 a.m., throwing traffic out ofgear through the day on thebusy Villupuram–Tiruchichord line section that con-nects Chennai with the south-ern districts.

The express train with 22coaches was travelling at agood speed on leaving the Vil-lupuram junction when five ofits compartments in the rearside derailed.

Three air-conditionedcoaches (HA-1, B-1 and B-2), ageneral second class and lug-gage-cum-brake van coachwent off the track, said rail-way sources here.

Passengers who wereasleep felt a violent jerk in theimpact. The track, sleepersand overhead electric equip-ment suffered damage. Asnews spread, public residingin the vicinity rushed to thespot to rescue passengerscaught in the coaches. Passen-

39 injured as MangaloreExpress derailsR. Rajaram BENGALURU: Protecting the

last six long-billed vulturesin inland south India hasbecome a challenge for theForest Department even ina protected vulture sanctu-ary in Ramanagaram.

With rampant trespass-ing in 346.14 hectares in andaround Ramadevara Betta— which became the coun-try’s second vulture sanctu-ary in January 2012 — thedepartment has now decid-ed to fix a fee to enter thepark.

According to ornithol-ogists and wildlife experts,in the absence of an entryfee, the haven for the en-dangered species had be-come an open ground formiscreants. Recently, forestofficials arrested two per-sons for allegedly attempt-ing to harm the vultures. Asimilar attempt was record-ed last October.

Ravishankar, DivisionForest Officer, Ramanaga-ram, told The Hindu thatthe fee would be Rs. 25 foradults, Rs.10 for childrenand Rs. 100 for foreignvisitors.

Apart from this, plans in-

clude building watchtowersto allow wildlife enthusiaststo have a glimpse of over-head circling and landing ofvultures, besides develop-ing an information centrewhich, apart from mention-ing dos and don’ts in thesanctuary, will also explainthe behavioural pattern ofvultures.

Ideal habitat

Long-billed vulturesmade Ramadevara Bettatheir home as the crevicesof the tall granite hills —which are among theworld’s oldest granite out-crops — are suitable fortheir mating and breedingactivities, he said.

Shivananjaiah, environ-mentalist, who was part ofthe movement to make thearea a sanctuary, recalledthat there were hundreds oflong-billed vultures a fewdecades ago. Their habitatwas disturbed during theshooting of the iconic Bolly-wood blockbuster ‘Sholay’in the 70s and Hollywoodclassic ‘Passage to India’ inthe 80s. “Now their numberhas dwindled to just six,” hesaid.

Though they returned inlater years, their numbersdid not increase owing toscarcity of food, water andincrease in environmentpollution, Mr. Shivanan-jaiah said.

Muralidhara Khajane

Pulling vultures back from the brink

The carrion bird’s number has come down tosix, forcing forest officials to regulate entry intothe sanctuary in Ramanagaram.

Quota stir in Bihar

Police lathicharge agitators during the ‘Nishad Adhikar’ rally in Patnaon Friday. Members of the Nishad community marched to the Raj Bhavan seeking their inclusion in the Scheduled Castes category in Bihar. — PHOTO: RANJEET KUMAR

AHMEDABAD: A month-long dryspell in Gujarat has farmersand the government worriedas the State is now possiblystaring at a drought with themonsoon deficit widening.The State received heavy rainin June and July, leading tofloods in Saurashtra andNorth Gujarat, which killedover 100 people and thou-sands of animals.

“There was not a singledrop of rain in the whole ofAugust so it looks like we al-ready have a semi-drought inthe State notwithstandingthe rain in June-July,” a se-nior official says. The Cabi-net meeting held onWednesday discussed theproblem, he adds.

In the Saurashtra region,comprising seven districts,the situation is worseningwith a continued rain deficitas the mainstay crops ofgroundnut and cotton are in aprecarious position.

“To save the standingcrops, we urgently need freshshowers; or else, the cropswill wilt,” says Ramjibhai Pa-tel, a farmer from Rajkot dis-

trict, who has growngroundnut and cotton on his20-acre rain-fed farm.

“It rained heavily in June.Since then, there has notbeen major spells of rain.Groundwater has also not in-creased. So we cannot evenirrigate our fields from ourbore wells.”

Those farmers who haveaccess to the Narmada canalin Rajkot, Surendranagar,Mehsana, Patan, Ahmedabadand Banaskantha districtshave already started drawing

water from it, but they form aminiscule number.

By July-end, over 90 percent of the sowing was com-pleted in Gujarat. “If it doesnot rain in the next twoweeks, the government willdeclare semi-drought in theaffected areas,” AgricultureMinister Babubhai Bokhiriatold The Hindu.

“We are prepared to tacklethe situation if the monsoonfails. We will start drought-relief works in the affectedareas, and fodder for animals

will be made available by theState agencies,” Mr. Bokhiriasaid.

“The average rainfall in theState may have been over 50per cent by now, but it lookslike a bad monsoon for agri-culture,” Y.K. Alagh, agricul-ture economist and formerUnion Minister, says.

Officials say providingdrinking water will be adaunting task, as the Narma-da canal and pipeline net-work is the main source ofdrinking water in theparched areas of Saurashtra,Kutch and North Gujaratdistricts.

“We may have to start sup-plying water through tankersin those villages which arenot connected by pipelines.As of now, 150 villages inKutch are also being suppliedwater through tankers,” Wa-ter Resources Minister VijayRupani says.

Shadow of drought looms overGujarat as monsoon plays truant Mahesh Langa

GRIM PORTENTS: A month-long dry spell in the Statehas set alarm bells ringing. – FILE PHOTO: AFP

The mainstay crops ofgroundnut and cottonare in a precariousposition

IMPHAL/KOLKATA: Thousandsof people gathered in EastImphal on Thursday eveningto witness the burial of L.M.Sapam Robinhood, the teen-ager who succumbed to in-jury after a teargas shell hithis face during Joint Com-mittee on Inner Line PermitSystem (JCILPS) agitation inImphal valley on July 8.

The mortal remains ofRobinhood, a class XI stu-dent, was claimed by his fam-ily on Thursday, 58 days afterhis death, in the wake of anagreement between the Stategovernment and representa-tives of JCILPS, said a seniorpolice officer.

The day was relatively

peaceful in the valley (Im-phal) and the Churachandpurdistrict, 60 km south of thecapital Imphal, though minorincidents were reported.

With Robinhood’s last ritesbeing observed, JCILPS hassuspended its two-monthlong agitation. Schools andcolleges have reopened andthe government releasedwithout conditions all thosewho were arrested in connec-tion with the agitation.

‘Tribal martyrs’

This week, the hill tribeslaunched a massive move-ment in parts of Manipur andthe most-affected district wasChurachandpur, where eightpersons had died.

On Friday, the committeeto coordinate anti-Bill pro-

test in Churachandpur — theJoint Action Committee(JAC) — declared the peoplekilled in this week’s agitationas “tribal martyrs” and saidcompensation from the Ma-nipur government will not beaccepted.

“The tribals of the hills willraise funds for the martyrsand their families,” the jointsecretary of the committee,Francis Songate, told TheHindu.

The spokeswoman of thecommittee J.L. Swami saidthat they will talk to the fam-ilies to decide when they areplanning to take the bodiesback. “The bodies cannot bekept in the morgue for weeksin Churachandpur…the facil-ities are not adequate,” MsSwami said.

Manipur student-activist laid to rest after two months

Members of the Manipur Tribal Union stage aprotest in Bengaluru on Friday, seeking separateadministration for tribals and President’s rule intheir home State. They also condemned the ‘policebrutality’ against the tribals. — PHOTO: G.R.N. SOMASHEKAR

Iboyaima Laithangbam & Suvojit Bagchi

JAIPUR: Three persons wereon Friday sentenced to 20years imprisonment by acourt here for raping a 20-year-old Japanese tourist onthe Jaipur-Ajmer NationalHighway in February.

Three other persons,found guilty of harbouringthe offenders, were sen-tenced to two years impris-onment by the court ofAdditional District Judge,Jaipur district, Girish KumarOjha.

The court acquitted threeother accused named in thecase.

Main accused Ajit SinghChoudhary and his twofriends, Abrar and Abdul Wa-hid, were awarded 20-yearimprisonment under section376 D (gang-rape) of the Indi-an Penal Code and others.

Choudhary was convictedunder sections 376 D, 384(extortion), 342 (wrongfulconfinement) and 323 (vol-untarily causing hurt) of theIPC .

Abdul and Abrar were heldguilty under sections 376 D,366 (kidnapping, abductingor inducing woman to com-pel her marriage) and 342(wrongful confinement).

Ramraj, Shivraj and Ram-veer were given two years jailterm for harbouring the ac-cused. They were slappedwith a fine of Rs 5,000 by thecourt.

The court acquittedDharmveer, Ravindra andRajveer, public prosecutorBhanwar Singh said.

The Japanese girl wasraped on the interveningnight of February 8 and 9 atMozamabad near Dudu areaon the Jaipur-Ajmer Nation-al Highway, about 50 kmfrom here.

There were a total of nineaccused against whom thepolice had filed charge sheetunder various sections in-cluding 376 D (gang-rape),366 (kidnapping, abductingor inducing woman to com-pel her for marriage), 342(wrongful consignment), 120(B) (criminal conspiracy) andothers. — PTI

3 get 20-year jail

term for raping

Japanese tourist

he cash-for-vote scan-dal, in which Telugu De-sam Party MLA RevanthReddy was caught red-handed while allegedlytrying to bribe a nomi-nated MLA, rocked theAndhra Pradesh Legisla-tive Assembly on Friday.

Proceedings of theHouse were disturbedfor more than threehours as the OppositionYSR Congress membersdemanded a reply fromChief Minister N. Chan-drababu Naidu to charg-es that he was behind theattempt to bribe theMLA. Trouble began af-ter Speaker Kodela Siva-prasada Rao disallowedan adjournment motiongiven by YSRC membersseeking a debate on theepisode.

In support of his rul-ing, the Speaker citedrules that bar the raisingof any matter that is un-der adjudication by acourt of law in any partof the country.

Ministers K. Atchan

Naidu and Palle Raghu-natha Reddy assertedthat leader of the Oppo-sition Y.S. JaganmohanReddy, who is facing nu-merous charges of cor-ruption himself, had nomoral right to speakabout corruption.

The Ministers allegedthat the YSRC was act-ing at the behest of TRSpresident and Telanga-na Chief Minister K.Chandrasekhar Rao ininsisting on a discussionon the issue in the And-hra Pradesh Assembly.“Mr. ChandrasekharRao telephoned Mr. Ja-gan and asked him toraise the matter in theHouse,” Mr. Atchan Nai-du alleged.

As the Leader of theOpposition was not giv-

en an opportunity to ex-plain his point of view,YSRC members troopedinto the well of theHouse and raised slo-gans against Mr. Chan-drababu Naidu and theTDP Government, forc-ing the Speaker to ad-journ the House.

The YSRC membersdid not relent when theHouse reassembled af-ter an hour.

‘Ready to resign’

Mr. Jagan took objec-tion to the charges lev-elled against him by thetwo Ministers and saidhe was prepared to re-sign if they could provetheir claim that Mr.Chandrasekhar Rao hadtelephoned him. “Is Mr.Naidu prepared to do so

if the ruling party is un-able to prove its charg-es?” he asked.

The Opposition leaderwondered how TDPmembers were allowedto refer his name as wellas his father’s (the lateRajasekhara Reddy)when the Chair wouldnot allow a debate on thecharges against Mr. Nai-du. He wanted Mr. Nai-du to clarify whether thevoice in the purportedrapes related to thecash-for-vote episodewas his or not.

Mr. Naidu should alsoclarify whether or notMr. Revanth Reddy wassent by him to bribe thenominated MLA. “Mr.Naidu's name figured 22times in the charge sheetfiled by the TelanganaACB. The incidentproves how the ChiefMinister is trying tospend the money he gotas bribes from industryand other sections,” hesaid.

These remarks led to afurore in the House asTDP members stronglyobjected to the chargeslevelled against theirleader. The Speaker ad-journed the Houseagain.

YSR CONG. SEEKS TO CORNER NAIDU, RULING TDP HITS BACK

A.P. Assembly rockedM. Rajeev

TChandrababu Naidu and Jaganmohan Reddy

MR. NAIDU’S NAME FIGURES22 TIMES IN CHARGE SHEETFILED BY TELANGANA ACB

CASH-FOR-VOTE SCANDAL

HYDERABAD: Unprecedentedscenes were witnessed at theMahabubnagar Zilla Parishadmeeting on Friday.

The pandemonium rose toa crescendo after ruling Te-langana Rashtra Samiti MLAGuvvala Balaraju (Achampet)slapped Congress MLA Chit-tem Ramamohan Reddy(Makthal).

The ugly episode that wasaired by the Telugu television

channels took place in thepresence of two TRS Minis-ters — Jupally Krishna Raoand Laxma Reddy — and oth-er senior district officials.

Trouble broke out after theTDP MLA from Narayanpet,Rajendra Reddy, tried tospeak at the meeting. Minis-ter Krishna Rao alleged thatA.P. Chief Minister N. Chan-drababu Naidu had reported-ly written a letter to theCentre opposing construc-tion of the Palamuru lift irri-gation scheme. ZP Territorial

Constituency members andMandal Praja Parishad presi-dents demanded that theTDP MLA ensure that the let-ter was taken back by Mr.Naidu.

Caught on the camera

Meanwhile, Congress leg-islators led by Mr. Ramamo-han Reddy rushed to thepodium and protested, de-manding that they be given achance to speak. Mr. Balarajualso rushed to the podium,leading to an argument with

the Congress MLA and oth-ers. One thing led to the otherand Mr. Balaraju delivered aslap on the left cheek of Mr.Reddy, an act that was cap-tured by cameras.

Interestingly, just a fewminutes later, the TRS MLAsquatted in front of the ZPchairperson’s podium alleg-ing that he was abused by theCongress MLA and demand-ed that the police register acase under the Prevention ofSC/ST Atrocities Act againstthe Congress legislator.

TRS MLA slaps Congress MLA at zilla parishad meetingSuresh Krishnamoorthy& Ravi Reddy

PANAJI: The former Goa ChiefMinister, Wilfred de Souza,passed away at the ManipalGoa hospital on Friday after abrief illness. He was 88.

Tributes soon started topour in for de Souza, affec-tionately known as Willyacross the State, with peoplemourning the loss of one ofthe best administrators theState has seen.

His funeral will be held atthe Saligao Church in northGoa on Sunday. The Stategovernment has declaredthree-day mourning startingFriday, with all governmentprogrammes cancelled tillSunday.

Dr. de Souza was part ofpolitics in Goa for almost fourdecades.

Former Goa CM

Wilfred de

Souza no moreSpecial Correspondent

RAIPUR: An Assistant Com-mandant of the Central Re-serve Police Force (CRPF)was grievously injuredwhen suspected Maoists at-tacked him at a market atPalnar in Dantewada dis-trict of the restive Bastar re-gion in Chhattisgarh onFriday.

In another attack earlieron Thursday night, Maoistskilled two civilians in theDarbha area of Bastar. Thebodies of Panduram andMangaluram Korram ofToynar village were found 2km from the village.

The injured B.K. Malik is

the commander of a compa-ny of the 111th battalion ofthe CRPF stationed atPalnar.

“A small action team ofMaoists attacked Mr. Malikwith sharp-edged weaponswhen he went to the weeklyvillage market to gather in-telligence. He was alreadyon the Naxal hit list,” Di-nesh Pratap Upadhyay,Deputy Inspector-Generalof the CRPF, Dantewadarange, told The Hindu.

Mr. Malik is reported tobe in a critical state.

Mangaluram and Pandu-ram were killed by Maoistson the suspicion that theywere police informers.

Pavan Dahat

Maoists kill two, injureCRPF officer in Bastar

CMYK

ND-ND

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2015


NOIDA/DELHIEDITORIAL

Splits in political parties are the inevitable con-

sequences of their growth and evolution. But

the merger of parties, when it happens, is in-

variably artificial, forced by the transient expe-

diency of immediate circumstances. The Samajwadi

Party, the Janata Dal(United), the Rashtriya Janata

Dal, and the Janata Dal(Secular) came together under

the Janata Parivar umbrella only because they suffered

decimation at the BJP’s hands in the 2014 Lok Sabha

election. Other than a common rival, there was little

that bound them together. Now, with the Samajwadi

Party pulling out of the ‘grand alliance’ in Bihar with

the JD(U) and the RJD, the Janata Parivar faces the

prospect of unravelling. Although the SP does not have

much clout in Bihar, its inclusion in the alliance in the

State was crucial in the context of attempts to project a

national-level alternative to the BJP. After the JD(U)

and the RJD in Bihar between them took 200 of the 243

seats for contesting in the upcoming Assembly elec-

tions, and gave 40 to the Congress, the expectation was

that the SP would be accommodated by the RJD from

its quota of seats. But the RJD’s offer did not go far

enough: two from its own quota of 100 seats, and three

from that of the NCP, which had exited the alliance.

Now the formation will remain largely Bihar-specific.

The SP does not need the backing of the JD(U) or the

RJD or the JD(S) in Uttar Pradesh; the JD(S), similarly,

will not benefit in any manner from the support of the

other parties in Karnataka, the only State where it has a

substantial presence. The two parties that really need

each other are the JD(U) and the RJD, and only their

alliance is likely to endure, if at all.

What prompted SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav

to jeopardise the Janata Parivar by walking out of the

alliance in Bihar for the sake of a few seats is unclear.

But evidently it was obvious to the SP that the vision of

an alternative to both the BJP and the Congress at the

national level was no more than a chimera. In Bihar,

the RJD and the JD(U) wooed the Congress but took

the SP for granted. Both the RJD’s Lalu Prasad and the

JD(U)’s Nitish Kumar knew what they were doing:

trying to win the election in Bihar and not worrying

about a national alternative to the BJP and the Con-

gress. But in so doing they seem to have left the SP

miffed. Clearly, parties that cannot even come to an

understanding on seat adjustment will not be able to

merge into a single entity. The SP’s exit might not point

to the success or failure of the grand anti-BJP alliance

in Bihar, but it signals that another 1970s-like Janata

experiment at the national level is doomed to fail.

Unravelling of the Janata Parivar

Elusive justice

That governments, Central andState, could not even address thesimple demand by the survivors ofKandhamal that they be allowed afuture is disturbing (“Justicecontinues to elude Kandhamal”,Sept.4). It is ironic that none of thepillars of democracy, viz., theexecutive, the legislature or thejudiciary, could not instilconfidence in the minds of thosewho have been affected. India has alargely adversarial justice deliverysystem and if the appeals are notdisposed of at the earliest, it wouldnegate the principles of criminaljurisprudence.

C.R. Ananthanarayanan,Bengaluru

The description of the plight of theminorities in Kandhamal makesone realise how entire systemshave failed to extend justice to thevictims. The intolerant caucusshould now adopt a constructiveapproach of trying to convincepeople to stick to their faith andnot fall prey to conversion. Eventhe Left needs to play its role insuch areas to ensure a system ofchecks and balances and instilconfidence in the region. However,it is the economic condition of thepeople which is at the root of thisproblem.

A.G. Rajmohan,Anantapur, Andhra Pradesh

It is unfortunate that the writer hasrevealed her bias even thoughcommunists are supposed toeschew an outlook of equalitytowards all. She did not appear tobe objective in citing the case ofSwami Lakshmananda Saraswati.

It was the conversion of tribals andDalits in the Kandhamal area thatwas the trigger for violencebetween communities. Of course,this may be the unpalatable truthfor some.

B.K. Ramamurthi,Chennai

Kandhamal is completely peacefuland one wonders why there wassuch an article in the first place.The census data, which wasreleased recently, will be of help tothose who have little knowledgeabout Odisha and Kandhamal.

Rudra Rath,Berhampur, Odisha

Aylan KurdiThe stark picture of the Syriantoddler, Aylan Kurdi, lying lifelessface down by the ocean off Turkey,and widely shared across the globalmedia, is another standalone,heart-stopping picture ofcontemporary history thatestablishes a sense of connect withthe looming migrant crisis nowthreatening to engulf Europe. Atthe outset, the difference between‘refugees’ and ‘immigrants’ has tobe made clear. Refugees flee toescape violence and threats to life,whereas immigrants seek betterpastures.

The comity of nations has to beflexible and generous and evolve aglobal strategy to deal with theman-made migrant crisis. Thewider global response has to aim atstopping wars, and civil wars, andmitigating extreme poverty to stemthe tide of refugees (‘World’ page –“EU under pressure to open doorsto refugees”, Sept.4)

G. David Milton,Maruthancode, Tamil Nadu

There are many who seem tocompletely lack any compassionfor these ‘illegal migrants’, evidentin comments and statements thatare both ill-informed and narrow-minded. There are also those whohave restored our faith inhumanity by sparing the time anddonating money and much-neededsupplies to those in need. When allis said and done, life truly is so veryprecious; differing opinions aside,the only significant difference thatmatters between us and the ‘illegalmigrants’ are the civil wars tearingtheir countries apart. We need tohave this in mind while forming aresponse to the crisis.

Jennifer Duraisingam,London

The picture of the body of AylanKurdi is utterly tragic and one thatwill continue to haunt us. One canonly hope that sanity will somehowprevail in barbaric parts of theworld. As a parent, one’s heart feelsfor the desperation of otherparents seeking relief for thosewho don’t seem destined to have afuture.

Nevertheless, one wonders why“illegal migrants” must seek to goto lands where they are not wantedand do not share cultures orreligions. There is bound to be abacklash which will only increaseas those reaching Western shorestire of the ever growing resentmentto the hand that feeds them, andthe expectation that it is the hoststhat need to assimilate to therefugees, and not the other wayaround. This is a powder keg thatwill slowly become unstable. Isthere no way out?

Aditya Nair,Melbourne, Australia

Invigorating Islam

Vice-President Hameed Ansaribelongs to the group of nationalistMuslims like Moulana Abul KalamAzad and Kwaja Ahmad Abbas.Undivided India had to face theterrible incident of Partitionbecause there was nobody to listento sane and democratic leaders likethe Maulana and the Mahatma.The analysis of Mr. Ansari’screative and invigorating speech(“Invigorating Islam in India”,Sept.4), which celebrates plurality,diversity and democracy,reminded me of what M.N. Roysays in The Historical Role of Islamwhich was published in 1939: “Inview of this realistic reading ofhistory, Hindu superciliousnesstowards the religion and culture ofMuslims is absurd. It insultshistory and injures the politicalfuture of our country. Learningfrom the Muslims, Europe becamethe leader of modern civilization.…Unfortunately, India could notfully benefit by the heritage ofIslamic culture…Knowledge ofIslam’s contribution to humanculture and proper appreciation ofthe historical value of thatcontribution would shock theHindus out of their arrogant self-satisfaction, and cure the narrow-mindedness of the Muslims of ourday by bringing them face to facewith the true spirit of the faith theyprofess.”

Sukumaran C.V.,Palakkad

Oilfield managementAs the owner of a natural resourcesuch as oil, the government shouldbe concerned with the ultimaterecovery of oil/gas (Editorial,

Sept.4). Revenue sharing does notensure this, as enhanced recoverymethods impact negatively onrevenues. It is always possible tomaximise revenues withoutachieving ultimate recovery andbidding based on revenuesmilitates against maximisingultimate recovery. As a result,regulatory oversight is necessary asfar as reservoir management isconcerned in order to ensure itshealth, the adoption of bestpractices and prevent flogging asany mishandling of the reservoirwill result in otherwise recoverablereserves being irretrievably lost.Essential controls should not begiven up under the garb of easingways of doing business.

T.N.R. Rao,New Delhi

Sport and politicsThat sports and politics areinextricably intertwined with eachother is an undeniable fact(Editorial, Sept.4). With sportingevents, especially cricket, betweenIndia and Pakistan being looked atthrough the prism of nationalism,it is difficult to keep theoverwhelming element of jingoismat bay.

However, a revival of the India-Pakistan cricket series might wellhelp in defusing tensions in thesubcontinent if not fashion adramatic turnaround in bilateralrelations. Let us open up allavenues in order to give peace achance. Cricket diplomacy mayusher in a cessation of hostilitiesalong the border as also create aconducive atmosphere forresuming stalled negotiations.

P.K. Varadarajan,Chennai

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

The Union government’s decision to waive,

through an amendment to the Income Tax

Act, minimum alternate tax (MAT) liability on

capital gains made by foreign portfolio in-

vestors (FPIs) and Foreign Institutional Investors (FI-

Is) is a welcome move, especially from their point of

view. It is in line with the spirit of the promise in the

BJP’s manifesto for the 2014 general elections to put an

end to “tax terrorism”. The announcement and the

subsequent instructions issued to the tax department to

keep in abeyance, till the appropriate amendment is

carried out, pending proceedings and to not pursue the

recovery of outstanding demands in such cases is a big

relief to FIIs. In these times of heightened uncertainty

in the global financial markets, when risk appetite of

investors is especially low, the government’s decisions

would serve to restore some of the lost faith of investors

in India as an investment destination that doesn’t re-

sort to “retrospective taxation”. But to further demon-

strate its resolve, the government must also move to

rein in the tax department, which had served notices on

68 FIIs for MAT dues adding up to about Rs.600 crore

on the basis of a direction from the Authority for Ad-

vance Rulings in 2012 to a Mauritius-based investor

Castleton. In 2010, this investor had approached the

Authority seeking a confirmation that it was not re-

quired to pay MAT on a transaction it was planning to

execute. The department has been in too many disputes

with global companies such as Vodafone and Cairn,

some of which have even dragged India into interna-

tional arbitration. It has been said that India’s image as

an investment destination has suffered as a result.

The same way as the government has taken a position

on and dispelled the uncertainty around MAT, it must

quickly make up its mind and come out with an an-

nouncement on another outstanding issue, concerning

participatory notes (P-Notes). India’s indecision on this

matter is affecting FIIs. The Supreme Court-appointed

Special Investigation Team has asked regulators to put

in place regulations to identify individuals holding P-

Notes and take other steps to curb black money and tax

evasion through the stock market route. P-Notes are

offshore derivative instruments that a large number of

FIIs use to park funds in the equity market without

disclosing their identity to Indian regulators. The tax

authorities suspect that a huge chunk of these invest-

ments could in fact be Indian money masquerading as

foreign funds. The government had said it won’t imme-

diately act on the recommendation after the stock mar-

kets reacted sharply to news on it. But sooner or later it

will have to decide what has to be done, given that

action against black money too was a big election-time

promise of the BJP. The MAT experience shows that

sooner is better than later.

Friendly signal

CARTOONSCAPE

Successful sons of the market in popular per-ception, the Patidars are agitating to becomethe sons-in-law of the State. This disorient-ing, almost bizarre, event has the punditsflustered because there is really nothing toanalyse in the demand itself. As everyoneknows, including the Patidars themselves,they have no case — but they certainly havepolitical presence. Faced with such a phe-nomenon, we are forced to move beyond theliteral to the interpretive level, from factuallogic to ideological inclinations. At this level,the Patidars invite us to re-examine four fa-miliar themes located at the intersections ofcaste, state and market.

A different idea now

The first theme is the idea of reservationand its relationship to the idea of India. As anidea, reservation predates the nation — it wasmeant to repudiate the religiously sanctionedapartheid and oppression of caste society,and to establish the community of formalequals that is a precondition for nationhood.This dimension of reservation has been for-gotten, and today it is understood more as ameans for redressing caste-linked discrimi-nation and “backwardness”, and for enablingthe inclusion of hitherto excluded and under-represented groups. On none of thesegrounds do the Patidars qualify for reserva-tion, and they know this. The fact that theyare asking for it nevertheless indicates thattheir idea of reservation is quite different.

The Patidar idea of reservation seems to bethat it is simply a welfare benefit that the statecan grant to any community at its discretion.From this perspective, the main qualifica-tions for getting reservation would be: anelectorally significant population, and theskills needed to mobilise the community,manage the media and mount a successfulcampaign to coerce the state. That this is thePatidar’s notion of reservation is only an in-ference, but it is well supported by knownfacts. First, the justifications explicitly citedby the Patidars — increased competition, un-employment, lack of access to higher and pro-fessional education — are hardly unique tothem. Second, they have made no systematiceffort thus far to present the kind of evidenceof backwardness or under-representationthat is normally required to justify claims forreservation. Finally, the Patidars do happen

to be one of the largest and best organisedcommunities in Gujarat.

The contrast between the two views couldnot be more stark. In the constitutional view,reservation is explicitly and exclusively aboutredressing caste discrimination and inequal-ity. By its very definition, reservation cannotpromote the interests of the dominant castes;if anything, it would work against them. Inthe Patidar view, any caste can get reserva-tion if it has the power to bend the state to itswill. What is worrisome is not the opposedconceptions themselves, but the fact that thePatidars, like most people, are probably un-aware of the constitutional view. Ultimately,what really matters is not whether the Pati-

dars succeed or fail, but that their view ofreservation is the dominant one today.

Role of the ‘general category’

The second theme highlighted by the Pati-dars is the nature and role of the “generalcategory”. From the constitutional perspec-tive, the general category is the sphere ofequal citizenship where caste is not allowedto matter. It is the ultimate goal of the repub-lic to make the general category truly generalin the sense of including all citizens regard-less of caste. But because of the undeniablepresence and continuing reproduction ofcaste inequalities and discrimination, thelower caste majority must be protected withquotas. In other words, the function of reser-vation is to empower beneficiaries so thatlater generations begin to compete success-fully in the general category. Thus, when can-didates eligible for reservation begin to enterthe general category, it is a sign that reserva-tion is working. When the general category

begins to reflect the caste composition of so-ciety, it will be time to abolish reservation.

Like other upper castes, the Patidars usedto think of the general category as a quota forthemselves. They were enraged by the in-troduction of the quota for the Other Back-ward Classes (OBCs), and led the Gujaratanti-reservation agitations of 1981 and 1985which demanded that the State “end all reser-vations everywhere”. At that time, the Pati-dars maintained solidarity with their uppercaste allies as proud members of the generalcategory who despised quotas. The Gujaratstir of 1985 pioneered the rhetoric of meritand the anti-reservation arguments that werelater borrowed by the anti-Mandal agitation

in North India. Today, the Patidars want tosurrender the sanctimony of merit and aban-don the moral high ground of the generalcategory for two reasons.

The first has to do with the escalation ofcompetition within the upper castes. In the1980s, the Patels were confident of facingcompetition because of what sociologist I.P.Desai called “inbuilt structural advantages”.In other words, they had the money, powerand connections to buy expensive coaching,or to acquire merit “directly” by manipulatingexam results or grabbing donation seats. Butnow, in the Vyapam era of overheated merit-markets, the Patidars from the lower strataare being squeezed out. The second reason isthe entry of reservation-eligible lower castesinto the general category, about which HardikPatel, the 22-year-old spokesman of themovement, has complained.

The Patidar perspective on the general cat-egory may be self-seeking, but it has one im-portant virtue. It highlights what the

constitutional view glosses over, namely thatthough it is egalitarian in caste terms, thegeneral category allows a free rein to theinequities of wealth and social capital.

Caste pride

The third theme the Patels draw attentionto is not directly related to the Constitution:it is the perennial one of the mutual impact ofclass and caste identities. The Patidar cam-paign raises the subtle issue of the role ofcaste pride in the context of real or perceiveddownward mobility.

Given that their list of complaints is sure tobe shared by most other castes, why is it onlythe Patidars who are agitating? Contingentfactors may provide part of the explanation,but surely the sense of what is proper forPatels is also involved. The relational natureof caste ensures that caste pride is a mutualthing that depends crucially on the socialdistance that separates Patidars from thosewhom they consider their inferiors. Discon-tent may be triggered by the subjective an-guish of being mistaken for lowly others,regardless of objective deprivation. Conver-sely, caste pride may dictate that aspirationallevels be set unrealistically high relative toone’s resources and capabilities, so that frus-tration with failure sets in sooner than it hasto.

A different dimension of the caste-classinterface is that of solidarity. Like many othercommunities, the Patels are a single castestretched across several classes. Are sharedsurnames and common customs enough tounite the diamond kingpins, detergent bar-ons, real estate moguls and successful emi-grants at one end of the spectrum with thesmall farmers, diamond workers, petty busi-nessmen, and unemployed, prospectlessyouth at the other end?

At the moment this is a rhetorical questionbecause no one is facing a test of solidarityand nothing is at stake. A more immediatequestion is that of class solidarities acrosscaste lines. Are the Patidars who are genuine-ly striving for quotas going to get more sup-port from like-minded quota seekers like theGujjars and the Kurmis, than from their quo-ta-indifferent caste fellows? Past experiencesuggests that cross-caste alliances are goingto remain tentative and lukewarm. Butwhichever way one looks at it, the robustnessof caste identities is not in doubt.

Caste and the market

The fourth and final theme raised by thePatidars is, of course, the ideological hegemo-ny of the market. By far the most fascinatingaspect of the Patidar agitation is its deafeningsilence on the failure of the market model inwhich they had placed boundless faith. Somehave suggested that the silence is dictated bypolitical loyalties, since the Patidars formedthe core constituency of the Modi regime inGujarat. But the more likely explanation isthat the sway of market ideology is so strongthat protest or criticism is not even recog-nised as an option. Moreover, the inability tobe rational about the market is a global epi-demic today as the eminently avoidablecrashes and recessions of the recent past havedemonstrated. It is quite possible that forfaithful practitioners like the Patels, the mar-ket is like a force of nature that one cannotprotest against, just as one cannot agitate fora good monsoon.

The real reason to worry about the marketin India is the critical role it plays in regu-lating caste conflict. It is not entirely coinci-dental that liberalisation and the OBC quotafollowed closely on each other in 1990-91. Inmarket-friendly India, the art of the possiblehas been seen as the balancing of the “gushup” for big corporates with the “trickle down”for the electorally indispensable poor andlower castes. Groups like the Patidars mayupset the balance because, now, they want todrink from both streams.

(Satish Deshpande teaches sociology at Delhi University. E-mail:[email protected])

The Patidar idea of reservationThe constitutional view of reservation requiresevidence of discrimination or backwardness, butthe dominant view today seems to be that anycaste can get reservation if it can bend the state to its will

In market-friendly India, the art of the possible has been seen

as the balancing of the ‘gush up’ for big corporates with the

‘trickle down’ for the electorally indispensable poor and lower

castes. Groups like the Patidars may upset the balance

because, now, they want to drink from both streams.

Satish Deshpande

CMYK

ND-ND


NOIDA/DELHI

PERSPECTIVE

The report of the Seventh Pay Commis-sion (SPC) is set to be released soon. Thenew pay scales will be applicable to Cen-tral government employees with effectfrom January 2016. Many commentatorsask whether we need periodic Pay Com-missions that hand out wage increasesacross the board. They agonise over thehavoc that will be wrought on govern-ment finances. They want the workforceto be downsized. They would like payincreases to be linked to productivity.These propositions deserve careful scru-tiny. The reality is more nuanced.

Critics say we don’t need a Pay Com-mission every ten years because salariesin government are indexed to inflation.At the lower levels, pay in the govern-ment is higher than in the private sector.These criticisms overlook the fact that, atthe top-level or what is called the ‘AGrade’, the government competes for thesame pool of manpower as the privatesector. So do public sector companiesand public institutions — banks, publicsector enterprises, Indian Institutes ofTechnology (IITs), Indian Institutes ofManagement (IIMs) and regulatory bod-ies — where pay levels are derived frompay in government.

The annual increment in the Centralgovernment is 3 per cent. Adding dear-ness allowance increases of around 5 percent, we get an annual revision of 8 percent. This is not good enough, becausepay at the top in the private sector hasincreased exponentially in the post-lib-eralisation period.

Competition for talent

A correct comparison should, ofcourse, be done on the basis of cost to theorganisation. We need to add the marketvalue of perquisites to salaries and com-pare them with packages in the privatesector. We cannot and should not aim forparity with the private sector. We maysettle for a certain fraction of pay but thatfraction must be applied periodically ifthe public sector is not to lose out in thecompetition for talent.

True, pay scales at the lower levels ofgovernment are higher than those in theprivate sector. But that is unavoidablegiven the norm that the ratio of the mini-mum to maximum pay in governmentmust be within an acceptable band. (TheSixth Pay Commission had set the ratioat 1:12). Higher pay at lower levels ofgovernment also reflects shortcomingsin the private sector, such as hiring ofcontract labour and the lack of union-isation. They are not necessarily part ofthe ‘problem with government’.

Perhaps the strongest criticism of PayCommission awards is that they play ha-voc with government finances. At the ag-gregate level, these concerns aresomewhat exaggerated. Pay Commissionawards typically tend to disrupt govern-ment finances for a couple of years.Thereafter, their impact is digested bythe economy. Thus, pay, allowances andpension in Central government climbedfrom 1.9 per cent of GDP in 2001-02 to2.3 per cent in 2009-10, following theaward of the Sixth Pay Commission. By2012-13, however, they had declined to1.8 per cent of GDP.

The medium-term expenditure frame-work recently presented to Parliamentlooks at an increase in pay of 16 per centfor 2016-17 consequent to the SeventhPay Commission award. That wouldamount to an increase of 0.8 per cent ofGDP. This is a one-off impact. A morecorrect way to represent it would be toamortise it over, say, five years. Then, theannual impact on wages would be 0.16per cent of GDP.

The medium-term fiscal policy state-ment presented along with the last bud-get indicates that pensions in 2016-17would remain at the same level as in2015-16, namely, 0.7 per cent of GDP.Thus, the cumulative impact of anyaward is hardly something that shouldgive us insomnia.

There are a couple of riders to this.First, the government is committed toOne Rank, One Pension for the armedforces. This would impose an as yet un-defined burden on Central governmentfinances. Second, while the aggregatemacroeconomic impact may be bearable,the impact on particular States tends tobe destabilising.

The Fourteenth Finance Commission(FFC) estimated that the share of payand allowances in revenue expenditure

of the States varied from 29 per cent to 79per cent in 2012-13. The correspondingshare at the Centre was only 13 per cent.The problem arises because since thetime of the Fifth Pay Commission, therehas been a trend towards convergence inpay scales. The FFC, therefore, recom-mended that the Centre should consultthe States in drawing up a policy on gov-ernment wages.

Downsizing needed?

It is often argued that periodic payrevisions would be alright if only the gov-ernment could bring itself to downsizeits workforce — by at least 10 to 15 percent. From 2013 to 2016, the Central gov-ernment workforce (excluding defenceforces) is estimated to grow from 33.1lakh to 35.5 lakh. Of the increase of 2.4lakh, the police alone would account foran increase of 1.2 lakh or 50 per cent.What is required is not so much downsiz-ing as right-sizing — we need more doc-tors, engineers and teachers.

Downsizing of a sort has happened.The Sixth Pay Commission estimatedthat the share of pay, allowances andpension of the Central government inrevenue receipts came down from 38 percent in 1998-99 to an average of 24 percent in 2005-07. Based on the budgetfigures for 2015-16, this share appears tohave declined further to 21 per cent. Infinancial terms, this amounts to a reduc-

tion of 17 percentage points over 17 yearsor an annual downsizing of 1 per cent. It’sa different matter that it is not downsiz-ing through reduction in numbers ofpersonnel.

It is often said that pay increases ingovernment must be linked to produc-tivity. We are told that this is where gov-ernment and the private sector differhugely. However, the notion that privatesector pay is always linked to produc-tivity is a myth. In his best-selling book,Capital in the 21st Century, economistThomas Piketty argues that the explo-sion in CEO pay in the West has beenincreasingly divorced from performance.He also argues that the emergence ofhighly paid “supermanagers” is an im-portant factor driving inequality in theWest.

We are seeing a similar phenomenonin the private sector in India. The seriouspublic policy challenge, therefore, is notso much to contain a rise in pay in thepublic sector as finding ways to rein inpay in the private sector. It is also ironicalthat people should harp on linking pay toperformance in the public sector whenhigh-profile firms in the private sectorsuch as Google and Accenture are turningaway from such measurement.

A better idea would be to conduct peri-odic management audits of governmentdepartments on parameters such as costeffectiveness, timeliness and customersatisfaction.

Improving service delivery in govern-ment is the key issue. Periodic pay revi-sion and higher pay at lower levels ofgovernment relative to the private sectorcould help this cause provided these areaccompanied by other initiatives. Themacroeconomic impact is nowhere as se-vere as it is made out to be.

(T.T. Ram Mohan is professor at IIM,Ahmedabad)

Seventh Pay Commission is no ogreIts recommendations’ impact need not give us jitters because the rise in government wageswill amount to only 0.8 per cent of GDP

T. T. Ram Mohan

The notion that privatesector pay is always linkedto productivity is a myth, aspointed out by economistThomas Piketty in his bookCapital in the 21st Century

“Let me put it this way. Suppose riotshave broken out in an American town,and incendiary messages are being cir-culated through a messaging applicationowned by an Indian company. Were thecompany not to cooperate with law en-forcement agencies, what would the U.S.government do?” asked the Indian offi-cial. The response from his Americancounterpart across the table was swift:“That company would be in very serioustrouble.”

Earlier this month, when Indian andAmerican negotiators met in Washing-

ton D.C. for the bilateral Cyber Dialogue— after a gap of two years — they had aspirited exchange on the role of Internetcompanies during emergencies. The In-dian government has often flagged theconcern that data-mining giants basedoutside the country — Google, Twitter,Facebook and WhatsApp, to name a few— do not cooperate with law enforce-ment authorities during a security crisis.For their part, the companies argue thatdata-sharing with governments is a sen-sitive issue, especially as they are notprivy to official reasons for monitoringand surveillance. At the Cyber Dialoguethis year, India pointed to the 2013 Mu-zaffarnagar violence and the 2012 exo-dus of Northeasterners from Bengaluruas prime instances where social mediaplayed mischief, highlighting the needfor closer cooperation between Amer-ican companies and the government.

Clampdown in Gujarat

Hardly a week had passed since thedialogue when the anti-reservation pro-tests in Gujarat turned violent, prompt-ing the State government to shut offmobile data services for a week. Follow-ing protests in Imphal this week over theProtection of Manipur People (PMP)Bill, 2015, the Manipur government tooblocked Internet access in several partsof the State. In Gujarat, the Internetlockdown was in place in major citieslike Ahmedabad till Tuesday, affectingthe lives of tens of thousands.

Ordinary users and businesses wereunable to send messages via 3G services,make payments through Internet bank-ing portals, file taxes online, or use loca-tion-based apps for transport. The Stategovernment’s decision to ‘kill the In-ternet’, prompted by the concern thatmessages inciting violence could be cir-culated along online platforms, was dis-proportionate. But this overreach is asign of the government’s vulnerability,not its enthusiasm to clamp down onspeech.

A security crisis confers governmentswith wide legal latitude to restrict theflow of online information. They can doso in three ways: by targeting the con-tent, medium or device. Content-specif-ic restrictions usually take the form ofDNS (Domain Name System) seizures,where governments ask a website host(say, GoDaddy or Bluehost) to de-regis-

ter a domain name (say, www.yestoguj-aratviolence.com).

A second type of restriction could beaimed at the medium: governments canrequire Internet Service Providers(ISPs) to block access to websites ped-dling inflammatory content. A third kindof restriction targets the handheld de-vice, where the government asks aphone manufacturer to create ‘backdoors’ for monitoring and filtering con-tent on its devices. All three methods areblunt, and could even be counterproduc-tive.

A website could easily park its domainelsewhere after its registration has beenwithdrawn. ISP blocks can be circum-vented through proxy servers and vir-tual private networks (VPNs). Andcreating online ‘back doors’ is a danger-ous exercise because the security vul-nerability so created can be exploitednot just by governments but by mis-creants as well.

The Indian government understandsthat these methods, while legally defen-sible during an emergency, are ineffec-tive. This is why Gujarat blocked accessto mobile Internet altogether ratherthan targeting those websites or plat-forms that were promoting violence.Consider the example of WhatsApp, aCalifornia-based company that has nopresence in India. Its servers are located

abroad. Until recently, the company didnot even have a designated representa-tive in the country. If WhatsApp is beingused to promote incendiary messages,the government simply has no means tofilter problematic content. As a result,law enforcement agencies deploy exces-sive measures.

Disclosure vs. privacy

Central and State governments in In-dia share an adversarial relationship to-day with social media companies.Authorities say their compliance re-quests go mostly unheeded. Takedownnotices published by Internet compa-nies are often selective, highlighting themost egregious demands to paint gov-ernments in poor light. The argumentthat the private sector is standing up togovernment to protect user interestssimply does not hold water. The privacypolicies of some of the biggest Internetcompanies today leave much to be desir-ed. Many platforms have failed to regu-late hate speech. If that is not all, datacollected by social media from India isbeing farmed abroad for commercialpurposes.

It is in the public interest that foreignInternet companies cooperate with gov-ernments during security crises. Frus-trated by unsuccessful attempts attargeting sensitive content, Indian offi-cials have reached out to their counter-parts in the U.S. and Europe, hoping to“nudge” foreign companies into compli-ance. New Delhi’s desperation is under-standable, but conversations on onlinefiltering or blocking cannot take placebehind closed doors between govern-ments. Similarly, data localisation lawsthat require companies to set up serversin India cannot be a substitute for soundprivacy policies.

Without a sustained dialogue betweenboth parties, the government will con-tinue to deploy ham-handed measuresas in Gujarat to meet its ends. They nei-ther serve the interests of the user,whose daily activities are affected, northose of social media platforms, whichare missing out on an opportunity to bevaluable conduits for life-savinginformation.

(Arun Mohan Sukumar heads theCyber Initiative at the Observer Re-search Foundation, New Delhi.)

A case for the Net’s Ctrl+Alt+Del

INSTITUTIONAL OVERREACH? “Anti-reservation protests in Gujaratturned violent, prompting the State government to shut off mobiledata services for a week.” Picture shows a resident taking a photoof a burnt bus in Ahmedabad. — PHOTO: VIJAY SONEJI

It is in the public interest that foreign Internet companies cooperate with governmentsduring security crises

Governments curbinformation flow bytargeting the content,medium or device. Whiledefensible duringemergency, these arelargely ineffective

Arun Mohan Sukumar

More Pakistani jets

shot down

I.A.F. fighters to-day [September4] scored a magnificent successdestroying two out of four F-86Sabre jets of Pakistan which flewover Akhnoor town presumably forreconnaissance. The Pakistaniplanes were sighted a 3 p.m. and at3-10 four Bangalore-built Gnatfighters engaged them. In the nextfour minutes Flight-Lieut. V. S.Pathania shot down one of theSabre jets which disintegrated inthe air and crashed to the ground.The three other Gnat fightersengaged a second Sabre jet andbrought it down alter a burst of fire.The remaining two Pakistaniaircraft escaped over theinternational border. The invadingPakistani forces in the Chhamb-Jaurian Sector are paying a heavyprice in terms of planes, tanks andhuman lives. Last night theadvance armour patrols of thePakistani Army which crossed overto the eastern bank of the MonavarTavi river made contact withIndian troops. Three PakistaniPatton tanks have been destroyedby ground fire at the cost of oneIndian tank. The Pakistani forcesare now ten miles east of cease-fire

line. Dewa and Chhamb on thewestern bank and Jaurian on theeastern bank of Monavar Tavi arein Pakistani hands. Mysteres of theI.A.F. struck at enemy targets inthe forward areas this morning[September 4] and again in theafternoon.

UN Security Council meets

The United Nations SecurityCouncil met this afternoon[September 4, United Nations] toconsider the Kashmir situation.This was the Council’s 125thmeeting on Kashmir since Indiaoriginally brought the complaint ofaggression against Pakistan in1948. The Council last met in May1964 to discuss Kashmir. Themeeting was fixed after a great dealof “consultations” which began onSeptember 1. Informed sourcessaid the council meeting wasultimately fixed on the insistenceof Malaysia, Jordan and TheNetherlands that the fighting couldno longer be ignored and theCouncil must consider andsupplement the so-called quietdiplomatic efforts. Some others arereported to have been footdraggingarguing that diplomacy would havea better chance and that there wasnothing the Council could do.

(dated September 5, 1965)

FROM THE ARCHIVES

If the elements of journalism are universal and its governingrules common, then how does one explain the differencesamong various mainstream, broadsheet newspapers? Who isresponsible for the uniqueness of each newspaper? What arethe driving motives that bring about the differences? Are theypurely personal? These were some of the questions that were

posed to us over the past three years.Journalism, like filmmaking, is both an art and a science. The science

part of journalism is that of common good and is determined by its corevalues and cardinal principles. The five defining elements of this scienceare: truth and accuracy; independence; fairness and impartiality;humanity; and accountability. If the director is the auteur in filmmaking,responsible for its unique identity, inimitable style and distinctiveness,then the Editor is the auteur responsible for providing a newspaper or amagazine its own identity to stand out in the crowded informationmarket. This is where the rubrics of art come to play.

The auteur theory, developed by French filmmakers and theorists inthe aftermath of the Second World War, implies that best filmmakersleave their indelible signature on their films and the narratives haveunique identification markers that distinguish one director from another.Any long-time observer of media would not miss the Editor’s signature ina publication. It manifests itself in an unambiguous manner in the coverstory of a magazine or in the front page ofa newspaper. Ironically, the crucialattribute of an Editor — the socialresponsibility to minimise harm —manifests in the absence of stories andreports that have potential to conflate andcompound issues. The editorial judgmentplays at two levels simultaneously — theprocess of selection and rejection. At afundamental level, the act of rejection isan affirmative action to reducedestruction and impairment ofdemocratic institutions.

I would like to share a recent decision ofthe Editor of this newspaper to reject aright of reply plea from a reader. Thereason behind this decision answers manyquestions. What informs the editorial judgment? What are the crucialeditorial values that are upheld in denying some forms of counter-narratives the right of reply? Why is it offered to others who too have adifferent perspective to the newspaper? Is it possible that rejecting aspurious request becomes an act of defending freedom of expression?

In early July, there was a plagiarism charge against Rajiv Malhotra, aNew Jersey-based writer, that his book Indra’s Net used extensivematerial from Andrew J. Nicholson’s Unifying Hinduism: Philosophy andIdentity in Indian Intellectual History. On July 22, 2015, social scientistShiv Visvanathan wrote a lead article, “A battle without winners” (http://bit.ly/1JNGiuQ) in which he spoke about how the rituals of scholarlydebate — the process of critique, the acknowledgement of error, andapology — were abandoned and gave way to melodrama in the case ofRajiv Malhotra and his Western critics.

Right to reply

Mr. Visvanathan pointed out two things: “This is not a debate betweenthe colony and the metropolitan centre. Rather, it is a struggle betweenWestern academe and diasporic people flexing their intellectual andfinancial muscles. Second, a lot in this war was very different — onlineportals became the sites of intellectual struggle.” He stressed that“dissent must retain the codes of scholarship and learn to debate openly,seriously and systematically.”

Rajiv Malhotra wanted to invoke right of reply to this article and wroteto us: “The Hindu has posted a major article about me... I request that youkindly allow me an article to express my side of the story, so that readersare informed in a more balanced manner.”

I requested Editor, Malini Parthasarathy, to explain how she arrived ata decision to reject Rajiv Malhotra’s request to reply. Her response dealtwith three important aspects. First, about the article published in TheHindu: “In the specific context of this article by Shiv Visvanathan, hisdiscussion was focused on the rituals of scholarly debate and how he feltthese were abandoned in the controversy over whether Rajiv Malhotrahad committed plagiarism. Shiv’s critique of Malhotra was particularlytrenchant but so too was his criticism of Malhotra’s Western critics andthe Indian liberal left. His point clearly was aimed at both sides of thedebate with his concluding that both sides showed ‘arrogance’ and‘unfairness’.” Dr. Parthasarathy’s second point: “When Visvanathan’spoints were centred on the failure to construct a scholarly debate aroundthis controversy as in many others, there was no editorial requirement toseek Malhotra’s reply which would in turn fuel another round ofcontestation between him and his critics.”

Then she explored the third theme that the right of reply becomesmorally and editorially compelling only when a specific allegation wasmade that has defamatory or legal implications and was published in thenewspaper’s columns. “It is important that the newspaper’s right toexercise its own judgment on the need to give a self-proclaimedimpugned party, be protected especially in a climate where frenzy isbuilding up on social media virtually dictating an agenda of political andcultural priorities to the media, demanding compliance. We must becareful not to feed into this frenzy or to legitimise it in any way,”cautioned the [email protected]

FROM THE READERS’ EDITOR

Exercising editorialprerogatives

The crucialattribute of anEditor — the socialresponsibility tominimise harm —manifests in theabsence of storiesthat have potentialto conflate andcompound issues

A.S. Panneerselvan

CMYK

ND-ND


NOIDA/DELHI

NEWS

“Teen Murti’s essential task,standing and autonomy mustnot be impaired or distorted,’’said former West Bengal Gov-ernor Gopalkrishna Gandhi,actor Girish Karnad, histori-an Romila Thapar, and aca-demic Ananya Vajpeyi in ajoint statement.

Welcoming the renovationand modernisation plans forthe museum, the signatoriesto the statement expressedconcern over the reportedplans to transform it into a“Museum of Governance”and “repurpose it to broad-cast the activities of thegovernment.”

Pointing out that the gov-ernment had every resourceat its disposal to build a Mu-seum of Governance and usesuch an institution to displayits achievements, the state-ment said: “The Nehru Mu-seum was never meant to be

anything other than a mu-seum dedicated to India’s firstPrime Minister, his life andhis times.’’

Further, they said that thiswas done the world over. “Allaround the world, houses ofsignificant political leadersand politician-intellectualshave been converted into mu-seums and memorials open tothe public, and these act asexcellent spaces in which toeducate a wider citizenry’’about the country’s modernhistory and political life.

As for the Nehru Library,they said that it was in no waylimited to his papers, writingsor scholarship that might bedescribed as “Nehruvian.”“To insist that these institu-tions are limited to one man’srole or legacy is to misunder-stand both their foundationalmandate as well as misrepre-sent their actual functioning

at any point in living memo-ry,’’ they said, vouching forthe NMML’s ecumenicalcharacter, transcending dif-ferences of the Left and Right.

On Thursday, NMML Di-rector Mahesh Rangarajanhad issued a statement main-taining that the modernisa-tion plans would keep in mindthe “basic objective” ofspreading Nehru’s ideas, thefreedom struggle and the his-tory of modern India. Therewould be special focus on thegovernance of India underNehru, something “which hasbeen largely left out in thepresent exhibition.”

Further, he said, “TeenMurti Bhavan is the house ofNehru, the Prime Minister,and the museum will focus onhis years as Prime Minister,as he, along with great col-leagues, laid the foundationsof the post-colonial India”.

Intellectuals decry govt. move onNehru museum

Congress vice-presidentRahul Gandhi tweeted hisrather strong views on theRSS-BJP ‘samanvaybaithak’:

“Modiji can see intolerantnon-state actors controllinglarge territories everywhere-but not the intolerant non-state actor controlling him &his government.”

Countering the Opposi-tion charges, senior RSS of-fice-bearer DattatreyaHosabele told a press confer-ence: “The Congress, whichhas run the government ofthis country by remote con-trol, has no right to questionus. We are not an illegal orga-nisation, we are interested incertain issues. When peopleassociated with us have be-

come Ministers, it is naturalto have some exchange ofideas. Nothing has been di-vulged in these meetingswhich cannot be discussedby any organisation, like theCII or the Press Club.”

According to Mr. Hosa-bele, “this was not a chintanbaithak where decisionswere taken, but one wherediscussions on issues wereheld.”

He said the RSS was going

to set up a committee to ex-amine the figures revealed bythe religious demographiccensus (2011) and was in fa-vour of cultural ties withneighbours like Pakistan andBangladesh who were “likeour own brothers as theywere once part of ourcountry.”

Asked whether this in-cluded engaging with Pakis-tan, Mr. Hosabele said that“even Kauravas and Panda-vas had to engage, and to es-tablish dharma, we are readyto engage.” On the construc-tion of a Ram temple inAyodhya, he said the matterwas in the hands of “DharmaGuru” and the RSS had notgiven any timetable to thegovernment.

PM gets a pat from the SanghThe Congress, whichhas run governmentby remote control,has no right toquestion us, says RSS

The former Deputy Gov-ernor of the RBI, however,said extreme situations areunlikely, and the quantumof funds with the RBI —even without additions inthe last two years — wasenough.

The annual report alsoshowed that the RBI hadbeen transferring 99.9 percent of its profits to the gov-ernment, without keeping

any amount for itself. Thisis a sharp increase from the40-50 per cent it had trans-ferred in the 2010-13 peri-od.

In the financial year2014-15, the RBI trans-ferred Rs.659 billion to thegovernment coffers, upfrom Rs.150 billion in2010-11.

“There is little clarityabout this. Is it being used

to camouflage the govern-ment’s fiscal deficit situa-tion? What is the purposeof this increased transferamount,” the former RBIofficial said.

In 2015, the Bank of En-gland transferred a mere 93pounds to the governmentwhile the U.S. Federal Re-serve is required by law totransfer most of its profitsto the government.

RBI’s crisis fund short of target

FROM PAGE ONE

NEW DELHI: Speaking at Jan-tar Mantar, Maj. Gen.(retd) Satbir Singh, thechairman of the Indian Ex-Servicemen Movement,said they were ready to ac-cept a revision every twoyears but not beyond that.

Reacting to the draftOROP, Wg. Cdr. (retd) Vi-nod Nebb said if the gov-ernment went aheadunilaterally, they wouldcontinue their agitation.“It is utter rubbish. Thereis no question of acceptingit. In fact, we are going toescalate our protests fromSeptember 12.”

Annual revision sought

The veterans have beendemanding an annual revi-sion and implementationfrom April 1, 2014. As perthe definition, the OROPseeks uniform pensionbased on rank and length ofservice irrespective ofwhen they retire. The draftsays OROP would be im-plemented from July 1,

2014, as the governmentwas sworn in on May 26,2014, and 2013 would bethe base year forcalculation.

In terms of implementa-tion, arrears will be paidimmediately for widowswhile for all others it wouldbe cleared in four instal-

ments over two years. The OROP would be ap-

plicable for war widows butthose opting for voluntaryretirement are not eligible.

Given the complexitiesin determining the dura-tion of service and time ofretirement, the govern-ment is expected to ap-

point a judicialcommission which willsubmit a report within sixmonths.

Officials said the annualburden on the pension billwill be about Rs. 8,000crore which would pro-gressively go up with revi-sion in pensions.

Ready to accept revision everytwo years, say veteransNistula Hebbar & Dinakar Peri

NEW DELHI: Unwilling to “re-main silent despite the risksinvolved in speaking out,”Hindi writer Uday Prakashon Friday decided to returnhis Sahitya Akademi awardin protest against the mur-der of Kannada scholar andrationalist M.M. Kalburgion Sunday last.

The former assistant pro-fessor at the JawaharlalNehru University here an-nounced his intent througha Facebook post in Hindi.Currently in a village inChhattisgarh, he will offi-cially communicate his de-cision to the Akademi andreturn the award money ofRs.1 lakh and the citationnext week when he returnsto the Capital.

Speaking to The Hinduover phone from Chhattis-garh, Mr. Prakash said hedid not discuss his movewith any other writer. “It ismy decision and minealone,” he said, though inhis Facebook post he did ar-ticulate the hope that hisfriends would support himin this decision and stand byhim as always.

Mr. Prakash also wrotethat Prof. Kalburgi’s mur-der was part of a series ofattacks on and instances ofdisrespect shown towards

writers, artists, thinkersand intellectuals. While hispost makes no mention ofthe two other rationalistskilled over the past coupleof years — Narendra Dha-bolkar in August 2013 andGovind Pansare earlier thisyear — he held “Hindutvaforces” responsible for Prof.Kalburgi’s murder.

“This cowardly act of ter-ror shook me. This is not thetime to remain silent to pro-tect oneself. Silence will on-ly embolden such forces,”Mr. Prakash said.

The Sahitya Akademiawarded him in 2010-11 forhis collection of short sto-ries, Mohan Das. Prof. Kal-burgi was also an Akademiawardee.

Hindi writer to return Sahitya Akademi awardAnita Joshua

Uday Prakash isprotesting against themurder of scholarM.M.Kalburgi.

The affidavit was filed in re-sponse to a writ petition filedby Greenpeace India chal-lenging suspension of itsFCRA registration and freez-ing of its foreign and domesticcontribution accounts.

The court had on May 27allowed Greenpeace to usetwo of its accounts for thepurpose of receiving and uti-lising fresh domestic dona-tions for its day-to-dayfunctioning.

In a separate order, theMHA also said the NGO with-drew Rs.5.5 crore foreignfunds from its account afterproviding misleading infor-mation to the bank. “When anNGO’s licence is suspendedfor 180 days, it can withdraw25 per cent of the foreignfunds as per norms. Green-peace withdrew all theamount from its account andgave misleading informationto the court,” said a seniorgovernment official.

Government officials saidthat on inspection of books ofaccounts and records ofGreenpeace India, major vio-lations were found such astransfer of foreign funds fromFCRA designated accounts toother domestic accounts, un-der reporting of receipt of for-eign contribution during theyears 2007-08 to 2012-13,thereby making false state-ment, declaration or deliver-ing false accounts, incurringmore than 50 per cent expen-

diture on administrative ex-penses from foreigncontribution account, invol-vement of the society in vari-ous activities.

In its order, the MHA alsosaid that when a representa-tive of the NGO was called togive an explanation on August19, he did not cooperate andsaid it had already answeredthe queries at different forum.

The charges on which theFCRA registration of Green-peace India was cancelled are:Transfer of foreign fundsamounting to Rs l.92 croreand l.96 crore from FCRA des-ignated accounts to domesticaccounts in violation of Rule9(1)(e) of FCRR,2011; Green-peace India Society has un-der-reported and repeatedlymentioned incorrect amountof foreign funds received inviolation of Section 33 ofFCRA, example being the for-eign contribution openingbalance for 2008-09, whichwas shown as nil in the audi-tor's certificate, but was ac-tually Rs.6.6 crore. It incurredmore than 50 per cent of theforeign funds on administra-tive expenditure in 2011-12(88.72%) and 2012-13(81.04%) without obtainingthe prior approval of the gov-ernment in violation of Sec-tion 8(1)(b) of FCRA; TheNGO funded legal costs, notonly for seeking bail, but alsofor filing writ petitions of anassociated Indian NGO and

activists engaged by it, there-by violating Section 8(1)(a) ofFCRA; Greenpeace trans-ferred foreign contribution ofRs.8 lakh in 2010-2011 to theemployees of Greenpeace En-vironment Trust (GET),which is a separate Trust inviolation of Section 7 of theFCRA; The NGO shifted itsoffice from Chennai to Benga-luru without the approval ofMHA, in violation of the un-dertaking and declaration giv-en by the Greenpeace IndiaSociety in its application forregistration under Rule 9(1)(a) of FC(R)Rules, 2011;Greenpeace India Society re-placed 50 per cent or more ofthe executive committeemembers without obtainingprior approval of MHA; Theinformation and evidence inpossession of Governmentconfirms that the acceptanceof foreign contribution byGreenpeace has prejudiciallyaffected the public interest, inviolation of Section 12 (4) (t)(iii) and has prejudicially af-fected the economic interestof the State in violation of Sec-tion 12 (4) (t)(ii) of FCRA.

The NGO in a statementsaid that “it reiterated itscommitment to continuing itscampaigns with the support ofIndian donors, and launched anew online campaign recre-ating Bollywood movie post-ers to highlight real lifestories about reclaiming free-dom of speech.”

‘Did not stop using FCRA’

NEW DELHI: “Dream big”,“think positive”, “even thesmallest of deeds help in na-tion-building”, “keep try-ing”, “make notes onwhatever interests you”,“don’t be cowed down bycriticism or failure.” Thesewere some tips Prime Min-ister Narendra Modi had forchildren during his interac-tion with students acrossthe country through a vid-eo-conferencing on Friday,a day before Teachers’ Day.

Mr. Modi punctuated hisreplies with personal anec-dotes including the fact thathe did not use notes whilespeaking as they had puthim in trouble, and that hisparents did not have any bigdreams for him. “Theywould have been happyeven if I had become aclerk,” he said.

The children had a rangeof personal questions forMr. Modi, including his sar-torial style; particularly, thehalf-sleeve “Modi kurtas”.“I do not have any fashiondesigner though some haveclaimed I had one. I havenever tried to deny these re-ports because what all canone deny. I designed myhalf-sleeve kurtas myselfbecause it was convenientcompared to the long-sleeved ones. One day, I justcut off the sleeves myselfand now it’s called a fashion.But, yes, I was always par-ticular about turning outwell even when my familydid not have the means.”

For positive thinking, he

recommended the Pollyan-na books; for better oratoryskills, he suggested thatchildren turn to “Google gu-ru” and YouTube to read thespeeches of great leaders;and by way of employmentopportunity, he flagged Yo-ga. “After the InternationalYoga Day, there is so much

interest in Yoga that there isa demand for goodinstructors.”

The Prime Minister alsohad a lesson for parents andurged them not to imposetheir dreams – fulfilled andunfulfilled – on their chil-dren.

“Allow your children to

discover themselves andfollow their own dreams.”And, to both parents andchildren, the message fromhis classroom was thatthere is no yardstick nortime-frame for success;keep trying to improve andany improvement is in itselfa success.

On the policy front, he in-dicated that the govern-ment was toying with theidea of replacing the charac-ter certificate issued byschools with an “aptitudecertificate” that would in-clude a periodic peer reviewfrom the schooling stage it-self.

This is the second time hehas addressed children onTeachers’ Day and said theeffort was to elevate it fromthe annual ritual it had be-come, so that the professionwould draw talent. He alsohad an explanation why on-ly achievers among childrenwere selected to pose ques-tions to him. This, he said,was done to draw attentionto the role of teachers inseeing the spark in suchkids.

Dream big, think positive, PM tells students Anita Joshua

A Supreme Court Benchcomprising Justices DipakMisra and Prafulla C. Pantaccepted the submission ofAttorney General Mukul Ro-hatgi that Maharashtra bemade a party, thus enablingit to contest author ShobhaaDe’s plea and assist thecourt.

The court had on April 28stayed the breach of privi-lege notice issued againsther by the Assembly. It hadthen taken serious note ofthe fallout suffered by thewriter for tweets expressingher views as a citizen in ademocracy.

The notice, moved by ShivSena MLA Pratap Sarnaik,argued that Ms. De had in-sulted the legislature, the

Marathi people and lan-guage and people.

On April 7, Ms. De tweet-ed: “Devendra ‘Diktatwala’

Fadnavis is at it again!!!From beef to movies. This isnot the Maharashtra we alllove! Nako!Nako! Yeh sab ro-ko!” “It has never been soextreme in our country. Allshe is accused of is tweeting,which she had been doing alot,” senior advocate C.A.Sundaram, representing Ms.De, submitted. Mr. Sunda-ram said no privilege of thelegislators was affected bythe satirical tweets.

The Legislature PrincipalSecretary issued a Notice ofViolation of Rights datedApril 10 to Ms. De, asking herto explain the tweets aboutthe decision to make it man-datory for multiplexes toscreen Marathi movies dur-ing prime time.

State made party in writer’s pleain breach of privilege case

SC on April 28 stayedthe breach of privilegenotice against ShobhaaDe by the Assembly.

As of now, Navy treated wom-en officers as a group entitledonly to a short service com-mission of 14 years and menwere entitled to both shortservice and permanentcommissions.

The women naval officerswere not eligible for pension,since it required a minimum of20 years of service. The pet-

The High Court had issuednotices in the case to the Chiefof the Naval Staff and the De-fence Ministry, asking them toclarify their stand.

It had asked the respon-dents to explain the criteriaadopted by them in case ofwomen and men officers whiledeciding on the permanentcommission.

itions were filed by a group ofwomen officers, both retiredand serving, from the logistics,education and air traffic con-trol departments of the Navy.

The petitioners contendedthat they were losing out oncareer opportunities and hadbeen deprived of pension be-cause of the forced short ser-vice commission.

Permanent commission for women in Navy

not value things they get. During thehour-long class, the President touchedupon various facets of political history,including changes in the economy underformer Prime Minister Narasimha Rao,and Finance Minister Manmohan Singh.

Taking a trip down memory lane, hesaid that he was an “unparallelednaughty boy” who used to trouble hismother. He later credited her for hissuccess.

“My best teacher was my mother. Iwas a trouble for my mother. After a dayof mischief and other things, I used toreceive a good deal of thrashing fromher. After that she used to come andfondle me with love and care and ask mewhat I had done from sunrise to sunset,which I had to tell in a chronologicalorder,”

Mr. Mukherjee told the students. He

NEW DELHI: Dressed in a formal greybandhgala, President Pranab Mukherjeedonned the hat of a teacher at the Dr.Rajendra Prasad Sarvodaya Vidyalaya onFriday.

Giving lessons in History and PoliticalScience to a classroom of 60 studentsfrom classes XI and XII, Mr. Mukherjeedeveloped an instant connect with themand asked them to call him ‘MukherjeeSir’.

“If anyone of you feel bored, you arefree to tell me. I am no longer aPresident or a Minister. I am justMukherjee Sir, I will be happy if you callme Mukherjee Sir,” the President said.

He spoke about the meaning ofdevelopment for people in the currenttimes and said that people these days do

also said that he was not a brightstudent. “I was an average student. I hadto walk five kms to my school and usedto complain to my mother about thedistance. She would tell me that she hadno option and always advised me towork hard,” he said.

Stating that teachers were responsiblefor kindling the interest of students inbooks, he said that his college Principalwas an excellent orator who ensured“my interest in history and English”.“While narrating Julius Caesar, ourteacher used to play the role of Brutus,Antony and Caesar. It was done sobeautifully that within the next twoyears I had finished half of the books ofWilliam Shakespeare,” he said.

The idea of holding a class wasproposed by Delhi Chief Minister ArvindKejriwal and his Deputy Manish Sisodia.

President dons a teacher’s hatKritika Sharma Sebastian

Meanwhile, SP sources toldThe Hindu that a sequence ofevents had culminated in thedecision of its parliamentaryboard on Thursday to pull outof the alliance. One, the partywas upset that even thoughMr. Mulayam Singh had beenaccepted as the president ofthe proposed new party, hewas not consulted on seat-sharing for the coming Biharpolls. Two, when the divisionwas announced, the JD(U),the RJD, the Congress andthe Nationalist Congress Par-ty (NCP) were mentioned —

but not the SP. After the NCPwalked out of the alliance lastweek as it was upset at beinggiven just three seats, the alli-ance leaders agreed to givethe SP five seats — a number itdescribed as an insult.

Finally, the SP was offend-ed that while Mr. Nitish Ku-mar — who is now the grandalliance’s Chief Ministerialcandidate, thanks to the ef-forts of Mr. Mulayam Singh —had had meetings with Con-gress president Sonia Gandhion seat-sharing, he had cho-sen not to meet the SP

supremo.SP sources also added that

the party needed to be “equi-distant from the Congressand the BJP” as its main ob-jective was to win the As-sembly elections in UttarPradesh in 2017: it was there-fore uncomfortable at beingpart of a grand alliance ofwhich the Congress, too, wasa member. For instance, be-ing seen with the Congresspresident at election rallieswould not go down well withSP supporters, these sourcesadded.

Mulayam keeps his counsel

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Courton Friday summoned the UnionLabour Secretary to court nextweek after the governmentcounsel did not satisfactorilyexplain how the government in-tends to spend Rs. 27,000 crorecollected through cess — underthe Building and Other Con-struction Workers Welfare CessAct, 1996 — for the welfare ofconstruction workers.

“We simply wanted to knowwhat steps you want to take tospend the money. This is lacka-daisical. Ask your secretary toappear in person next Friday,”the Social Justice Bench of Jus-tices Madan B. Lokur and U.U.Lalit said. The court termed theapproach of the Centre, theStates and the Union Territo-ries “casual” and asked them toapprise it of their plans on tospending the money. It furthersought amicus curiae and senioradvocate Vivek K. Tankha’s togive suggestions on the issue.

Earlier, the government’scounsel for the government toldthe Bench that he would discussthe matter with the Labour Sec-retary and get back with infor-mation on of the steps taken tospend the amount collected ascess under the Building andOther Construction WorkersWelfare Cess Act, 1996.

SC summons

Labour Secretary

Legal Correspondent

CMYK

ND-ND


NOIDA/DELHI

NEWS

WASHINGTON: Victims of the1984 Bhopal poison gas disas-ter refused to let the embersdie on their U.S. lawsuitagainst alleged water pollu-ters Union Carbide Company(UCC) when their lawyers thisweek filed arguments with theU.S. Court of Appeals for theSecond Circuit that the com-pany behind the deadly leak ofmethyl isocyanate was contin-uing to foul local wells from itsplant located in the area.

The arguments in the ap-peal come more than a yearafter a New York federal dis-trict court found that UCCcould not be sued in the SahuII case, despite “compellingevidence that UCC caused theharm”, including argumentspresented by plaintiff repre-sentatives EarthRights Inter-national (ERI) that a UCCemployee, Lucas John Couv-aras, managed the construc-tion of the plant and was ableto provide substantial newevidence that demonstratedits involvement.

Involvement of UCC

In this week’s develop-ments, the plaintiffs said thatthey had provided more evi-dence demonstrating UCC’sresponsibility, in this case the

testimonies of “two leadingexperts [who] concluded thatUCC’s technology and wastedisposal strategy for the plantwas improper for the site, andcaused the water pollutionthat we still see today”, saidRichard Herz, Senior Litiga-tion Attorney at ERI.

Speaking to The Hindu, ERIcounsel Marco Simons saidthat a decision in the case waslikely in the next two to fourmonths and the plaintiffswere “quite hopeful” aboutthe outcome after the “hear-ing went well and the judgesseemed pretty engaged in the

case,” particularly expressingconcern that the judge [in theNew York court] did not ade-quately address the fact thatthe construction manager forthe plant said that he workedfor UCC…”

Mr. Simons noted that al-though the U.S. courts haveshied away from any furtherinvolvement in the gas disas-ter case since the passage ofthe Bhopal Act, “If we estab-lish in the U.S. that UCC wasresponsible for the plant thatcould be significant for thecase in India” from an eviden-tiary standpoint.

Bhopal gas tragedy victims presson with appeal arguments in U.S. Narayan Lakshman

JUSTICE DELAYED, DENIED: Children with differenttypes of congenital disabilities take part in acandlelight vigil to pay tributes to the victims ofthe Bhopal gas tragedy. — FILE PHOTO: A.M. FARUQUI

Slow crawl on Gurgaon Expressway

BUMPER TO BUMPER: It was another harrowing day for motorists caught in a massive traffic jam inGurgaon on the 27.7-km Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway, touted as one of the busiest inter-city routeswith six to eight lanes, on Friday. Such blocks have become common on the road built to connectthe national capital and bustling Gurgaon. — PHOTO: PTI

SRINAGAR: Former Jammu andKashmir Chief MinisterOmar Abdullah on Friday ac-cused the Peoples Democrat-ic Party (PDP) government inthe State of spying on him, acharge denied by the officialspokesman.

“Mufti Govt brazenly spy-ing on me. A journalist inter-viewing me for a nationaldaily just got stopped rightoutside my gate by CID per-son. She was asked who shewas & what the purpose of hervisit was! Seriously guys ifyou want to know just ask me,I couldn’t care less if U do(sic),” Mr. Abdullah tweeted,evoking a barrage of response

from netizens. “Dear Mufti Sbif you & your apparatchikswant to know what I'm up topick up the phone & ask me.Please don’t accost peopleoutside my gate! (sic),” headded.

However, the governmentdenied the charge. “No agen-cy is spying on him. There isno need to,” government spo-kesperson and State Educa-tion Minister Nayeem Akhtartold The Hindu.

“Perhaps, he has mistakenthe Special Security Group(SSG) personnel, meant toprotect him, as spies,” Mr.Akhtar said.

“Many people are protect-ed by the SSG, including Muf-ti Sahib and Mehboobaji.They have been protectingthe Abdullah families for agesnow.”

“He continues to see phan-toms. He should take off fromTwitter and avoid … addictionto tweets,” he added.

Omar says he is being spiedon; J&K govt. denies chargePeerzada Ashiq

Omar Abdullah says CIDmen stopped a journalistat the gates of his house.

MUMBAI: Criticism of a politic-ian or a public servant, in theform of words, signs or repre-sentations, can attract sedi-tion charges under Section124 A of the Indian PenalCode if it shows them as rep-resentatives of the Union orthe State governments, saythe guidelines issued by theMaharashtra HomeDepartment.

The guidelines say criti-cism in this form, which maycause disaffection with, orenmity and disloyalty to, theCentre or the State govern-ment will be treated as sedi-tion. This comes after a“submission” made by theAdvocate-General in theBombay High Court in a caseinvolving Aseem Trivedi, po-litical activist and cartoonist,that the Home Department

would issue these guidelinesin the form of a circular to allpolicemen.

Late on Friday evening, theMaharashtra governmentclarified that these guidelineswere part of a general circu-lar, and not a GovernmentResolution, and were strictly

in accordance with HighCourt orders.

In March, the court reject-ed sedition charges againstMr. Trivedi, reiterating thatthe charge of sedition underSection 124

A could not be invoked topenalise criticism of the per-sons for the time being en-gaged in carrying onadministration or strongwords used to express disap-probation of governmentmeasures to improve or alterthem by lawful means. It hasmaintained that sedition wasapplicable on a case-to-casebasis, if there was a clear andpresent danger of violence ora threat to public order.

Opposition charge

The resolution has comeunder severe criticism fromthe Opposition parties, whichhave blamed the government

for attempting to curb thefreedom of expression.

“This government resolu-tion was born out of misin-terpretation of the HighCourt’s order. In case thecourt order says this, then itwas the duty of the State gov-ernment to appeal in the Su-preme Court against suchorder, which they have notdone,” said RadhakrushnaVikhe-Patil, Congress MLAand Leader of theOpposition.

By the guidelines, com-ments expressing disapprov-al of criticism of thegovernment with the view toobtaining a change of the gov-ernment by lawful means arenot seditious.

Obscenity or vulgarity byitself should not be taken as afactor for deciding whetherthe case comes under thepurview of Section 124 A.

Maharashtra curbs criticism of politiciansStatements causing ‘enmity to govt.’ to be treated as seditionAlok Deshpande

MUMBAI: The human remainsexhumed in Maharashtra’sRaigad district last weekmay be that of Sheena Bora,the victim in the high-pro-file murder case in whichthe prime suspect is hermother — media executiveIndrani Mukherjea.

However, investigatorsare awaiting DNA test re-sults, which are expected toarrive in the next few days,before drawing conclusionsabout the victim’s identity.

Forensic experts used thedigital facial superimposi-tion test — in which pho-tographs of missing personsare compared with skulls ofrecovered bodies — to cometo the conclusion.

Senior police officialsconfirmed that the results ofthe tests carried out in theBMC-run BYL Nair Hospi-tal were positive and foren-sic analysis of the rest of theskeletal remains had yieldedcrucial anatomical informa-tion about the body.

“We compared the dentalstructure and the cheekbones by superimposing thepictures of Sheena availablewith us on the skull. Thepatterns were found to bematching by the expertsduring the tests,” said asource. He added that foren-sic tests on bone fragmentsconfirmed that it belongedto a woman who was be-tween 23 and 25 years old atthe time of her death. Ms.Bora was 24 at the time ofher mysterious disappear-ance, and investigation bythe police shows she waskilled on April 24, 2012.

While the police continueto remain tight-lipped aboutthe exact motive behind themurder, sources hinted itwas linked to a financialdispute.

‘Digital test on skull showsremains to be of Sheena’Shubhomoy Sikdar

Vidhi Mukherjea andPeter Mukherjeabeing escorted to theKhar police stationin Mumbai onFriday; SiddharthDas (right) at thepolice station.- PHOTOS: PTI

NEW DELHI: A Supreme Courtjudge on Friday recusedhimself from hearing a pub-lic interest petition for acourt-monitored investiga-tion into allegations by Ro-hini Salian, Special PublicProsecutor for the NationalInvestigation Agency, thatshe was asked to go “soft” inthe 2008 Malegaon blastcase involving Hindu right-wing groups.

The case was called forhearing before the Benchled by Justice F.M.I. Kali-fulla, when Justice U.U. La-lit said he would like towithdraw from hearing thecase as he had appeared forsome of the accused in thepast.

The petition was filed byhuman rights worker andwriter Harsh Mander.

SC judgerecuses fromMalegaonblasts caseLegal Correspondent

NEW DELHI: The Central Bu-reau of Investigation (CBI)searched nearly 60 placesacross six States on Friday aspart of the investigation intoa chit-fund scam allegedly in-volving Basil InternationalLtd.

“Searches have been car-ried out at various branchesof Basil International in Del-hi, Assam, West Bengal,Jharkhand, Uttar Pradeshand Maharashtra. A huge pileof documents pertaining tothe case has been seized forscrutiny,” a CBI official said.

The case is one of the 250-odd registered by the CBIagainst 130 firms accused ofrunning Ponzi schemes, suchas the Saradha Group, theDaffodils Group and RoseValley.

High returns promised

The alleged scam was firstintimated to the Securitiesand Exchange Board of Indiaby the Income Tax Depart-ment in June 2011, statingthat the company was en-gaged in the business of tak-ing deposits in the garb ofredeemable preferenceshares from rural people byoffering returns ranging from11 per cent to 14 per cent.

“The money so mobilisedwas used to pay huge com-missions to agents, invest inbusiness assets and fixed de-posits and siphoned off incash. The company was al-leged to be running a Ponzischeme where its liabilitieswere met using the deposits,”the SEBI said in one of itsorders.

The company had been al-legedly paying maturityamounts by raising fundsfrom other business entities.

The Income Tax Depart-ment found that the companyhad mobilised about Rs. 96crore by March 2011, besidesallegedly giving clearance toissue preference shares forRs. 102 crore by the next fi-nancial year. The companycontinued to issue share cer-tificates till March 2012.

When questioned by theSEBI, the firm was unable tofurnish the number of inves-tors despite several notices.In its interim order in May2013, the board issued show-cause notices to its 12 direc-tors and promoters.

CBI raids 60sites, seizesdocuments inchit scamDevesh K. Pandey

PUNE: Protesting Film and Tel-evision Institute of India stu-dents screened theiraward-winning films inde-pendently in Mumbai on Fri-day after the Films Divisiondeclined to do so and cancelledthe “FD Zone” weekly pro-gramme for the first time inmore than three years.

Students and eminent film-makers alleged that the Minis-try had pressured the FilmsDivision into cancelling thescreenings as a measure towear down the strike by thestudents.

The students shifted thevenue of the screening to Bhu-pesh Gupta Bhavan, near Ra-vindra Natya Mandir in thePrabhadevi area, where thescreening was originallyscheduled.

“The Films Division earlierdefended its decision by stat-

ing that it was cancelling thescreening owing to ‘Janmash-tami’, but when pointed outthat the festival fell on the nextday, it admitted that it did notwant to risk screening films byFTII students. This clearlyshows the FD has been brow-beaten by the Ministry, whichwants to retaliate against thestudents in any manner tobreak their strike,” Anand Pat-wardhan, documentary film-maker, told The Hindu.

“The short films included amix of those made in the pastfive years and ones made in thepast two months at the heightof the strike and showcase theartistic and creative expres-sion of students on campus.These are not ‘propagandafilms’ about students’ de-mands or ones that lambasteauthorities, but instead sensi-tively reflect the mood on cam-pus,” Surabhi Sharma, co-hostof the FD Zone, said.

Films Division cancels show,FTII students screen films

Shoumojit Banerjee

GOVERNMENT CIRCULAR

MUMBAI: Applying make-upon Sheena Bora’s corpse topass her off as a living per-son and sending regular e-mails to family membersimpersonating her, formerINX CEO Indrani Mukher-jea used several ploys tododge suspicion followingthe murder, sources said onFriday.

“The morning after themurder when Ms. Mukher-jea and co-accused SanjeevKhanna and Shyamvar Raiwere going to dump thebody in the Raigad forests,

she combed Sheena’s hairand applied lipstick on herface to give the impressionthat she was indeed alive,”said a police source.

“In May 2012, Ms. Muk-herjea told an employee toprepare a fake Hotmailemail id of Sheena and sheherself used it to send mailsto those who were curiousabout her daughter. The listincluded Ms. Mukherjea’shusband Peter, Vidhie[daughter of Khanna andMs. Mukherjea, adopted byMr. Mukherjea], and Shee-na’s biological brother Mik-hail,” the source said.

Make-up, e-mail ploysto avoid suspicionShubhomoy Sikdar

NEW DELHI: Jaimini Bhagwati,former Indian High Commis-sioner to the United King-dom, the European Unionand Belgium, joined the Lib-eral Democratic Party (LDP)in Assam as its chairman onFriday. A fledgling politicaloutfit, the LDP was formedafter Pradyot Bora quit theBharatiya Janata Party overdifferences with party chiefAmit Shah. The LDP posi-tions itself as India’s secondliberal party (after the Swa-tantra Party in the 1960s).

Dr. Bhagwati is at the mo-ment the RBI Chair Professorat the Indian Council on In-ternational Economic Rela-tions.

His father, Bijoy ChandraBhagwati, had been a Con-gress MP from Tezpur for along time and Labour Minis-ter the Nehru Cabinet. Hewas himself rumoured tohave been angling for theCongress ticket in the LokSabha elections in 2014.

“It is true that a few wellwishers wanted me to contestfrom Tezpur, but it was notdeemed suitable by the Con-gress high command. My in-terest in public life, however,has meant that I join the LDP,since it is a party that seemscommitted to probity in poli-tics and which responds to re-al issues,” he told The Hindu.

For Mr. Bora, who walkedout of the BJP only to see Hi-manta Biswa Sarma, a formeraide of Tarun Gogoi, enter theparty, the addition of Dr.Bhagwati has come as a boost.“Elections are due in Assamin 2016, and we hope to dowell, in a scenario where peo-ple are tired of the Congressand cynical about the BJP,”said Mr. Bora.

Ex-diplomat tochair Assam party

Nistula Hebbar

ANKARA: Under pressure backhome to cut rates, RBI Gover-nor Raghuram Rajan on Fri-day said global economieswitnessing sustainablegrowth needed to hike ratesalthough not in a “one go, bigbang” manner. Market vola-tility concerns, he added,should not come in the way ofcentral bank decisions.

While Mr. Rajan did notname the United States Fed-eral Reserve, his commentsbefore a grouping of globalcentral bankers and interna-tional business communitycome against the backdrop ofthe widespread speculationabout an imminent rate hikeby the U.S. central bank.

The RBI Governor is underintense pressure from thegovernment and industry tofurther lower the rates, al-though he has already an-nounced three cuts of 25basis points each so far in2015. RBI’s next monetarypolicy review is scheduled onSeptember 29.

‘Prisoner’s dilemma’

However, two of his cuts sofar this year have been out-side the scheduled reviews.“We risk, as central banks,being trapped in a prisoner’sdilemma: nobody wants to bethe first to leave this ex-

tremely accommodative sit-uation. We prolong a periodof extreme monetary accom-modation, but without thevolatility that eventually hasto emerge.”

Mr. Rajan, who is attend-ing a meeting of the B20 onthe sidelines of the G20Meeting of Finance Minis-ters and Central Bank Gover-nors, said the economiesreturning to a sustainablegrowth path should start un-precedented monetary poli-

cies that they had resorted toafter the financial crisis of2007-08.

Markets should not bescared of volatility as it wouldbe transient in nature, heobserved.

Jaitley’s promises

Promising a rational taxregime and easier businessenvironment, Finance Min-ister Arun Jaitley on Fridayasked Turkish industry lead-ers to invest in India, includ-ing in smart cities, textiles,food processing and renew-able business sectors.

In an interactive sessionwith them on the sidelines ofthe Ankara summit, he saidthe government had madesignificant progress in im-proving ease of doing busi-ness in India and a lot morewas being done in this regard.“We have made significantprogress on ease of doingbusiness, although I wouldnot say as yet that we haveperfected it.” Committinghimself to rationalising thetaxation regime, both interms of direct and indirecttaxes, he said a number ofinitiatives that offer signifi-cant investment opportuni-ties had been announced forglobal investors, includingthose from Turkey. — PTI

Rajan urges global economiesto hike rates, but not in one go

RBI GovernorRaghuram Rajan’scomments come againstthe backdrop ofwidespread speculationabout an imminent ratehike by the U.S. FederalReserve. — PHOTO: PTI

SRINAGAR: Just five days afterthree civilians were killed inPakistani firing on the Line ofControl, the troops on Fridaymorning once again ex-changed fire in parts of Jam-mu region.Local policeofficials said the Pakistani fir-ing started on Thursday nightand continued till Fridaymorning near the LoC in R SPora and Bimber Gali areas.Reports suggest two mortarshells were also fired.

Pak. violatesceasefire again

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: On the eve ofTeachers’ Day, a law teachersought justice from the Su-preme Court for thousands ofstudents who annually fall vic-tim to the “arbitrary and in-efficient” conduct of theCommon Law Admission Test(CLAT).

The petition, filed by Sham-nad Basheer, a legal academicand scholar in IntellectualProperty Rights law, said theCLAT was being increasinglysubject to arbitrariness, thequestions were plagiarisedand sub-standard, and incom-petence marked the conductof the annual test for admis-sion to graduate and postgrad-uate courses in Law.

Admitting the petition, a

Bench, led by Justice T.S. Tha-kur, on Friday issued notice tothe Union of India, the LegalEducation Committee of theBar Council of India and theRajiv Gandhi University in Pa-tiala, where the next CLAT isscheduled for May 2016. Thecourt gave them six weeks torespond to the notice.

The first edition of theCLAT was conducted by theNational Law School of IndiaUniversity, Bengaluru, in May2008. The scores were usedfor admission to 11 NationalLaw Schools, including fournon-participating universi-ties, for the academic year2008-09. Since then, theCLAT has been conductedeight times for the academicyears from 2008-09 to 2015-16.

Law teacher seeksjustice in legal educationKrishnadas Rajagopal


NOIDA/DELHI

CMYK

ND-ND

WORLD

ABUJA: Mounting attacks byNigeria’s ferocious Boko HaramIslamists have sent more than2.1 million people fleeing theirhomes in northeast Nigeria, theInternational Organization forMigration said Friday.

Revising sharply upwards itsprevious estimate of 1.5 million,

the IOM attributed the increaseto a very recent spike in BokoHaram's six-year insurgency.But the state-run NationalEmergency ManagementAgency said other factors wereat play, such as unrelentingcommunal strife and the returnof Nigerians who had previouslyfled the country.

But more than 1,000 peoplehave died in Boko Haramattacks since May 29 whenMuhammadu Buhari came topower. — AFP

2.1m displaced by Boko Haram

DUSHANBE: Eight policeofficers and nine allegedmilitants were killed in twoshootouts in Tajikistan onFriday that the governmentblamed on a Deputy DefenceMinister and the country’smoderate Islamic opposition.

The U.S. embassy inTajikistan meanwhile warnedthe unrest might be a precursorto “other acts of violence.”

An armed group killed fourpolice in an early morningshootout on the outskirts of thecapital Dushanbe and a furtherfour policemen were killed in ashootout in the town of Vahdatjust outside the capitalDushanbe, the interior ministrysaid. Nine alleged militantswere killed during theshootouts, another six weredetained. — AFP

17 killed in Tajikistan shootouts

ferocious storm of popular outrageprovoked by the photograph of AylanKurdi, the three-year-old Syrian boywho drowned with his brother andmother off the coast of Turkey, ap-pears to have forced a change ofthinking among some leaders in Eu-rope in stepping up to their respon-sibility in meeting the refugee crisis.

The image proved a tipping pointin the ongoing crisis not just becauseof the individual tragedy it portraysbut because it symbolises the plightof thousands of children, the mostvulnerable among those making thelong journey to safety.

In the U.K., the pressure appearsto have pushed Prime Minister DavidCameron – whose government hasgiven refuge to 216 Syrians sinceMarch 2014 through the usual asy-lum process – to announce in Lisbonthat Britain will open its doors to“thousands more”, but only from UNrefugee camps bordering Syria, andnot from those already in Europe.

His critics are unlikely to be satis-fied: on Friday, Natalie Bennett,leader of the Green Party, said that ifthe U.K. took 2.4 million refugees itwould still only be one for every 266of the population.

‘Defining moment’

As the EU prepares for emergencymeetings, U.N. High Commissionerfor Refugees Antonio Guterres hascalled the present juncture a “defin-ing moment” for the EU.

Terming the influx a “refugee cri-sis, not only a migration phenom-enon”, he has urged the EU and itsmember states to “be ready, with theconsent and in support of the con-cerned governments – mainly Greeceand Hungary, but also Italy – to put

in place immediate and adequateemergency reception, assistance andregistration capacity….and increaserelocation opportunities to as manyas 200,000.”

This is a small figure if set againstthe numbers who are coming in. Al-together, 438,000 refugees had ap-plied for asylum by the end of July inEurope – compared with 571,000 forthe whole of last year, according tofigures of the UNHCR.

‘Walk to Vienna’

In Hungary, where a train withrefugees heading for the Austrianborder enroute Germany was stop-ped 40 km outside the capital Bu-dapest on Thursday, those aboard

have refused to disembark from thetrain. In Budapest itself, strandedrefugees who have occupied publicplaces vowed they would “walk toVienna” if they don’t get transport.

Hardline Hungarian Prime Min-ister Viktor Orban, who is opposedto any mandatory quota system fortaking refugees, has controversiallystated that Muslim refugeesthreaten to undermine the “Chris-tian roots” of Europe, and callingthe crisis “Germany’s problem.”

Meanwhile, the influx from Sy-ria, and other West Asian andNorth African countries continues,with the crossings taking its toll. Aboat carrying 50 is reported to havesunk off the coast of Libya.

PRIME MINISTER DAVID CAMERON SAYS BRITAIN WILL OPEN ITS DOORS TO ‘THOUSANDS MORE’

Accept more refugees: U.N. tells EU Parvathi Menon

A

I THINK WE HAVE A RIGHT TO DECIDETHAT WE DO NOT WANT A LARGENUMBER OF MUSLIM PEOPLEIN OUR COUNTRY— VIKTOR ORBAN, HUNGARIAN PRIME MINISTER

ENDLESS EXODUS

ABU DHABI: The UAE said 22 ofits troops were killed in Ye-men and Bahrain said it lostfive soldiers on Friday, thedeadliest day for a Saudi-ledcoalition battling YemeniShia rebels.

The Yemeni governmentsaid an “accidential explo-sion” at an arms depot at amilitary base in the easternprovince of Marib killed the22 Emiratis, but the rebelssaid their fighters launched arocket attack that caused theblast.

Coalition ally Bahrain saidfive of its soldiers were killedin southern Saudi Arabiawhere they had been posted tohelp defend the border withwar-wracked Yemen, but itgave no details.

The Arab coalition led byRiyadh has since March bat-tled Iran-backed Houthi re-bels to restore the rule ofPresident Abedrabbo Man-sour Hadi, exiled in Riyadh.Around 60 people, mainly

military personnel, have diedin cross-border rebel attacksin the south of the Saudi king-dom since the coalitionlaunched air strikes on theHouthis and their allies.

The campaign waslaunched as the Houthis ad-vanced on the southern portcity of Aden, after having tak-en control of the capital Sanaawithout resistance in Septem-ber 2014.

The United Arab Emiratesarmed forces, in a statementcarried by state news agencyWAM, did not disclose the cir-cumstances of what was itshighest casualty toll of the six-month-old air war. The Emi-rati army had previously an-nounced at least eight deathsin Yemen among its ranks.

A total of 33 Yemeni sol-diers and coalition forceswere killed and dozens of peo-ple were wounded in the blastat the base in Safer, 250 kmfrom Sanaa, the pro-Hadi ar-my command said. — AFP

UAE, Bahrain lose 27soldiers battling Houthis

COLOMBO: A 42-memberCouncil of Cabinet Ministerswas sworn in by PresidentMaithripala Sirisena here onFriday.

Thirty-one of the CabinetMinisters belong to the Unit-ed National Party (UNP) andthe remaining 11 to the SriLanka Freedom Party(SLFP). There are threeMinisters from the Tamilcommunity and four Mus-lims. The Cabinet includestwo women, both from theUNP.

The total figure does notinclude Mangala Samarawee-ra, who was made Foreign Af-fairs Minister 10 days ago at alow-profile event besides thePresident, who is the head ofthe Cabinet under theConstitution.

On Thursday, Parliamentadopted a motion to increasethe number of Cabinet Min-isters not exceeding 48 andthat of other categories ofMinisters, not more than 45.

Prime Minister RanilWickremesinghe was the firstto take oath as Minister incharge of National Policy andEconomic Affairs followed by

his party colleague, JohnAmaratunga, who has beenput in charge of Tourism De-velopment and ChristianAffairs.

While D.M. Swaminathan,Palany Digambaram and Ma-no Ganesan are the Tamilrepresentatives, the UNPgeneral secretary, KabirHasheem, Sri Lanka MuslimCongress leader Rauf Ha-keem, All Ceylon MakkalCongress chief Rishad Bathi-hudeen and UNP lawmakerfrom Kandy Abdul HaleemMohamad Hashim are the

Muslim faces of the Cabinet. Among the SLFP heavy-

weights who have been ac-commodated in the Cabinetare Anura Priyadarshana Ya-pa, Nimal Siripala de Silva,S.B. Dissanayake, MahindaSamarasinghe Mahinda Am-araweera and Duminda Dis-sanayake. Rajitha Senaratne,Arjuna Ranatunga and M. K.A. D. S. Gunawardana, whobroke away from the SLFP onthe eve of the general elec-tions and contested on theUNP ticket, have becomeMinisters.

Sri Lanka gets 42-member Cabinet T. Ramakrishnan

Ravi Karunanayake (right) takes the oath asFinance Minister during the swearing in ceremonyof the new Cabinet, in Colombo on Friday. — PHOTO: REUTERS

WASHINGTON: The visit of Indi-an Prime Minister NarendraModi to Silicon Valley at theend of September appears tobe evoking a similar balance ofemotion from his supportersand critics to what was wit-nessed when he landed in NewYork last year – a rapturouswelcome from a large numberof Indian-Americans throng-ing to an overflowing arena,and a quieter but still substan-tive voice of a minority of hiscritics who used the visit tounderscore concerns relatingto human rights and civilliberties.

The group organising thecommunity reception for Mr.Modi at the SAP Centre at theheart of Silicon Valley, the In-do-American Community ofthe West Coast (IACWC),noted this week that prepara-tions for Mr. Modi’s visit werein full swing and the finalphase of registration was con-cluded, with the total numberof registrants surpassing45,000.

This was “far greater thanthe capacity of the hall,”IACWC said, and it also signif-icantly outshone the MadisonSquare Garden figure of20,000.

Centre of innovation

Supplying a flavour of theexcitement on the West Coastregarding the Prime Minis-ter’s visit, Naren Gupta, a ven-ture capitalist who is also theCo-Chairman of the IACWC,said: “With Silicon Valley asthe centre of innovation, weare all very excited about thepossibilities that exist for In-dia under the leadership ofPrime Minister Modi [who]has outlined several key initia-tives, including digital cities,alternate power and cleanli-ness that requite innovativeapproaches. We want to giveback to our homeland… andwe plan to engage in thought-ful dialog with the PM aboutbest ways to make adifference.”

However, South Block’splans for the widely anticipat-ed visit have not been without

the odd stumble, it would ap-pear, including a back-downfrom initial suggestions thatthe agenda would include Mr.Modi delivering an address atStanford University, which isalso situated in the Bay Area.

In a statement to The Hindua Stanford University officialsaid, “We have no confirma-tion from India of a visit toStanford by the Prime Minis-ter. At this point in time, wedo not believe Stanford is onhis itinerary,” adding that thecommunity reception at theSAP arena “is not related to

Stanford”. Similarly, the pastweek has seen a widely circu-lated public letter from agroup of U.S. academics, in-cluding India specialist Wen-dy Doniger and other notablessuch as Anjali Arondekar, Ar-jun Appadurai, Sarada Balago-palan, Radhika Balakrishnanand Srimati Basu, who ex-pressed concern at Mr. Modi’sDigital India project as it ap-parently had a “lack of safe-guards about privacy ofinformation, and thus… po-tential for abuse”.

In the letter, which was sentto top technology companiesincluding Google, Microsoftand Adobe, all led by CEOs ofIndian origin Sundar Pichai,Satya Nadella and ShantanuNarayen, respectively, theacademics said they alsowished to “remind Mr. Modi’saudiences of the powerful rea-sons for him being denied theright to enter the U.S. from2005 to 2014, for there is stillan active case in Indian courtsthat questions his role in theGujarat violence of 2002 when1,000 died.”

Blend of excitement and disquiet overPrime Minister Modi’s California tripNarayan Lakshman

PM Narendra Modi atMadison Square Gardenin 2014. — FILE PHOTO: AFP

DAMASCUS: The Islamic Stategroup has blown up three an-cient funeral towers in theancient city of Palmyra, Sy-ria's antiquities chief said onFriday, continuing the de-struction of a World Heritagesite that UNESCO has con-demned as a war crime.

The militants, who have al-ready attacked two Roman-era temples in the city, blewup the tombs dating from be-tween 44 and 103 A.D., saidMaamoun Abdulkarim.

He cited sources in Palmy-ra who confirmed the de-struction of the tombs,including that of Elahbel,built in 103 A.D.

The four-storey buildingwas one of the best preservedof Palmyra’s funeral towers,sandstone constructionsbuilt to hold the remains ofthe ancient city’s richest fam-ilies.

The Syrian Observatory forHuman Rights monitoringgroup said the towers wereblown up within the past twoweeks.

The whole of Palmyra, in-cluding the four cemeteriesoutside the walls of the an-cient city, has been listed as aworld heritage site by UNES-CO since 1980.

In its listing, the U.N. agen-cy singles out the towertombs as the “oldest and mostdistinctive” of Palmyra's fu-nerary monuments, “tallmulti-storey sandstonebuildings belonging to therichest families.” — AFP

IS blows upPalmyra’sfamed tombs

The Valley of Tombs liesto west of the historicalcity of Palmyra in Syria.— PHOTO: REUTERS

LONDON: The story of three-year-old AylanKurdi appears to have stirred the con-science of Europe. The photograph of thedrowned child has sparked an outpouringon social media of public support for thethousands of refugees who are in searchof countries and communities that willaccept them.

Under the hash tag #refugeeswelcome,politicians and campaigners; ordinary in-dividuals and celebrities; charities and lo-cal councils; even football teams havethrown their weight behind the demandthat their governments adopt a humaneresponse to the crisis that is playing outacross the continent.

It has set off a wave of voluntarism withpeople taking the leadership in providingrelief at refugee camps through collectionand distribution drives, others organisingprotests and vigils, and several individu-als and families offering to put up refugeefamilies.

The petition by Kylie Whyte on a gov-ernment homepage calling for the U.K. totake in more asylum seekers doubled itsnumbers in the last 24-hours, well sur-passing the minimum of 100,000 neededfor the issue to be discussed in Parlia-ment.

Another popular campaign that sprungup online was the group #RefugeesWel-comeEFL, which called for the clubs ofthe English Premier League to unfurlbanners at football games across thecountry on September 12.

The Migrant and Refugees Communi-ties Forum made a Facebook appeal tojoin Convoy Budapest Vienna - Rail re-placement Operation for Refugees, andseveral thousand have already signed upas volunteers. The convoy of buses andcars will start on Sunday from Vienna tobring as many refugees as possible fromBudapest in defiance of the Hungariangovernment’s denial of safe travel bytrain to them.

Parvathi Menon

The photo thatshook Europe

WASHINGTON: The U.S. varsitiesand colleges have experienceda 32 per cent rise in number ofstudents from India since lastyear as compared to nine percent internationally, latest of-ficial figures have stated.

According to a report re-leased by the Student and Ex-change Visitor Program(SEVP), 76 per cent of all in-ternational students are fromAsia. India and Vietnam hadthe greatest percentage in-crease in students at 31.9 and25.9 per cent respectivelywhen compared to statisticsextracted from SEVIS July2014.

“Twenty-four per cent of allF&M students studying atschools in the state of Texasare from India, followed by 17per cent from China,” SEVPsaid. China with 300,000 hasthe maximum number of in-ternational students in theUS, followed by India withnearly 150,000. — PTI

32 per cent rise in Indianstudents in U.S.

WASHINGTON: Hosting SaudiArabia’s new monarch forthe first time, President Ba-rack Obama said on Fridaythat the U.S. shares KingSalman’s desire for an inclu-sive government in Yementhat can relieve that Arabcountry’s humanitarian cri-sis.

Since March, the U.S. hasbeen supporting a Saudi-ledintervention against Ye-men’s Iran-aided Shia re-bels. Their talks alsoaddressed the Iran nucleardeal, a source of lingeringtension in the U.S.-Saudi re-lationship.

Beyond Yemen, SaudiArabia wants the U.S. to in-crease support for Syrian re-bels fighting the IslamicState and seeking to topplePresident Bashar al-Assad’sgovernment after four-and-a-half years of civil war.

Saudis also want assur-ances that the Iran dealcomes with a broader effortto counter Iran’s destabilis-ing activities in the region. — AP

Obama, SaudiKing smoothenfrayed ties

WASHINGTON: While he wasvacationing in Martha’sVineyard last summer, U.S.President Barack Obamabrought along a book, “TheLowland” by Pulitzer Prizewinning Indian-Americanauthor Jhumpa Lahiri, andclearly it made a deep im-pression on him.

This week Mr. Obama de-cided to include Ms. Lahiriin a hallowed list of individ-uals awarded the WhiteHouse’s annual NationalMedal of Arts and NationalHumanities medal.

The citation that thePresident will read at nextweek’s presentation cere-mony, which will be attend-ed by the First Lady as well,will commend Ms. Lahiri for“enlarging the human sto-ry,” noting, “In her works of

fiction, Dr. Lahiri has illu-minated the Indian-Amer-ican experience inbeautifully wrought narra-tives of estrangement andbelonging”.

Ms. Lahiri’s novel, whose

premise was described byThe New York Times as“startlingly operatic”, is atale of two brothers growingup in Calcutta in the 1960s,of whom one is killed, andthe other marries his preg-nant widow and moves tothe U.S.

Along with Ms. Lahiri,others honoured by theWhite House include ac-tress Sally Field and authorStephen King.

The medal is awarded inseparate categories for hu-manities and the arts by re-spective NationalEndowments established bythe U.S. Congress in 1965,and to date they haveawarded more than $5 bil-lion to “support artistic ex-cellence, creativity, andinnovation for the benefit ofindividuals and communi-ties,” White House noted.

Obama picks Jhumpa Lahirifor top White House medalNarayan Lakshman

The citation willcommend JhumpaLahiri for “enlargingthe human story.” — PHOTO: REUTERS

CAIRO: Egyptian billionaire NaguibSawiris has offered to buy an island offGreece or Italy and develop it to helphundreds of thousands of people flee-ing from Syria and other conflicts.

The telecoms tycoon first an-nounced the initiative on Twitter.

“Greece or Italy sell me an island, I’llcall its independence and host the mi-grants and provide jobs for them build-ing their new country,” he wrote.

Asked by AFP whether he believed itcould work, he said: “Of course it’s fea-sible.” — AFP

Billionaire to buyisland for refugees

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BUSINESS

BRIEFLY

SENSEX GOLD RUPEE BRENT OIL

04-09-15 25202 563POINTS

04-09-15 26,730 80 Rs/10gm

04-09-15 66.46 0.22Rs/$

04-09-15 50.02 2.36$/bbl03-09-15 25765 03-09-15 26,810 03-09-15 66.24 03-09-15 52.38

WE ARE PLEASED THAT HOSPIRA,

A GLOBAL LEADER IN BIOSIMILARS,

IS NOW PART OF PFIZER

IAN READ, CHAIRMAN AND CEO, PFIZER INC

BENGALURU: Vijaya Bank, onFriday announced a reduction inits base rate by 15 basis pointswith effect from September 4,2015. Accordingly, the revisedbase rate will be 9.85 per centper annum against the existingrate of 10 per cent. This is thesecond rate cut announced bythe Bank during the last threemonths. With this reduction inbase rate, Vijaya Bank is poisedto hike its exposure in retaillending especially in the housingand Vehicle segment. — PradeeshChandran

CHEAPER LOANS

Vijaya Bank cutsBase Rate

NEW DELHI: India’s domesticair passenger traffic surgedby a whopping 28.1 per cent inJuly 2015 from a year ago,highest among the eight ma-jor international markets in-cluding China, Russia, Braziland the U.S., according to In-ternational Air Transport As-sociation (IATA). However,IATA also warned that thecurrent global happeningspoint to turbulence in comingmonths.

IATA said the increase indomestic demand was owingto significant increases in ser-vice frequencies and im-provements in economicgrowth. As per data, overalldomestic travel demandworldwide rose by 7.6 percent in July 2015 against 6.5per cent last July.

“All markets showedgrowth with the strongest in-creases occurring in Indiaand China,” IATA said.

China clocked the secondhighest passenger trafficgrowth at 10.9 per cent afterIndia, as per the data.

The Russian Federationposted an 8.8 per cent growthduring the period, the globalairlines body said. “The U.S.and Brazil markets grew by6.6 per cent and 5.9 per centin July 2015 respectively, itadded. However, IATA said

the recent developments inthe Chinese economy, includ-ing deep declines in the coun-try’s stock exchange, haveincreased concerns about fur-ther slowdown in theeconomy.

“July results were stronglypositive but slowing globaltrade and the wild gyrationsof stock exchanges aroundthe globe suggest that we maybe in for some turbulence incoming months,” IATA Di-rector General and Chief Ex-ecutive Tony Tyler said in astatement.

“The downward movementin stock markets around theglobe reflects investors’ grow-ing concerns about slowingtrade and economic growth inemerging economies, as wellas China’s continued shift to-wards domestic markets.Aviation’s connectivity cre-ates economic opportunitiesand contributes to job cre-ation. Governments lookingto shore up consumer confi-dence and encourage spend-ing by removing barriers togrowth ,” he added.

Air passenger traffic surges28 per cent in July: IATASanjay Vijayakumar

The increase is due tosignificant increasesin service frequenciesand improvements ineconomic growth

NEW DELHI: India could saveabout $1.8 billion on fertilisersubsidies this year thanks tolow energy prices but PrimeMinister Narendra Modi’sgovernment, two sourcessaid, has no plans to removeprice controls, a reform thatwould risk angering farmers.

Industry groups had hopedthat the reform-minded Modiwould use the opportunitypresented by lower prices tofree up the fertiliser market,as he did with diesel a yearago.

But stung by opposition tohis reforms, including the de-feat of a pro-industry land re-form that opponents said wasdamaging for farmers, Mr.Modi is now more cautious ofangering rural voters.

About two-thirds of India’spopulation live in the coun-tryside, and the Prime Minis-ter is currently campaigningin the large rural state of Bi-

har, where assembly elec-tions are due in a few weeks.

“Currently, there is no planto raise urea prices, possiblyfor the next few years,” a se-nior official at the fertiliserministry, with direct knowl-edge of policy issues, toldReuters.

He said falls in naphtha andgas prices would likely reducethe fertiliser subsidy bill toRs.600 billion ($9.1 billion)this fiscal year, about 18 percent below last year.

Reducing fiscal deficit

The savings will help Indiatowards its goal of reducingthe fiscal deficit to 3.9 percent by the end of March,while simultaneously in-creasing spending on roadsand rail in an attempt to re-vive the economy with a gov-ernment-led stimulus.

Another official at the Fi-nance Ministry said the funds

saved could be used for in-frastructure or social sectors,which have faced cuts this

year. Two sources said theimport tax on urea, now 5 percent, could be hiked to pro-

tect domestic producers fromChinese fertiliser imports ifthe Chinese yuan currencywere to weaken further.

“Due to the fall in interna-tional gas prices, benefitsfrom the fall in fertiliser sub-sidy bill could accrue to thegovernment this fiscal year,”said Finance Ministryspokesman D.S. Malik. He de-clined to comment on the de-cision not to free the market.

Critics of price controls saythey encourage Indian farm-ers to use too much urea,rather than a mix of fertilisersthat would be better for pro-ductivity and soil health.

“There was a lot of expecta-tion when Mr. Modi came topower. We are a bit disillu-sioned. We do not see anychange as far as fertiliser pol-icy, payment of subsidies orease of doing business areconcerned,” said SatishChander, Director General of

the Fertiliser Association ofIndia, an industry group.

Farmers pay Rs.5,360 ($81)a tonne for subsidised urea,almost unchanged since2000. Nutrients like di-am-monium phosphate (DAP)and potash, which are partlysubsidised, cost three to fourtimes more.

India now produces urea atabout $375 a tonne, industryexperts say, meaning anychange to the subsidy wouldbe quickly felt by both farm-ers and fertiliser companies.

Fertiliser producers, whichinclude Tata Chemicals andChambal Fertilisers havelong asked for prices to befreed, or that subsidies bepaid directly to farmers ascash transfers.

Finance Ministry officialssaid a lack of land recordsmeant it would be difficult toshift to cash transfers any-time soon. — Reuters

India saves $1.8 b on fertiliser subsidies, but no reform planned

Critics of price controls say they encourage Indianfarmers to use too much urea, rather than a mix offertilisers that would be better for productivity and soil health.

NGC Videsh Ltd., (OVL), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Oil and NatualGas Corporaration (ONGC) signedan agreement on Friday to buy a 15per cent stake in CSJC Vankorneft,a company organised under the lawof the Russian Federation, and theowner of the Vankor field andNorth Vankor license.

Rosneft Oil Company of Russiawholly-owns Vankorneft.

“Vankor is Rosneft’s (and Rus-sia’s) second largest field by pro-duction and accounts for 4 per centof Russian production. Vankor oilfield has recoverable reserves of 2.5billion barrel, will give OVL 3.3 mil-lion tonnes per annum of oil pro-duction. The field currentlyproduces around 4.40 lakh billionbarrels per day (bpd) of crude oil onan average with ONGC Videsh’sshare of daily production at about66,000 bpd,” State-owned Oil andNatural Gas Company, the parentcompany of ONGC Videsh, said in astatement.

While the deal value is reported-ly $1.3 billion, the company spo-kesperson told The Hindu thatONGC Videsh had not as yet sharedthe exact amount.

If correct, this will make thisdeal the fourth-biggest acquisitionby ONGC Videsh. It had earlierpaid $4.125 billion in 2013 for a 16per cent stake in Mozambique’soffshore Rovuma Area 1. The twolargest acquisitions it has madewere both in Russia, in 2001 and2009. OVL currently has 36 pro-jects in 17 countries from NewZealand to Colombia.

ONGC will be able to nominatetwo directors on Vankorneft’sboard while Rosneft will keep con-trol of the project operations, thecompanies said in a joint state-ment. The present transaction pro-vides an opportunity to ONGCVidesh to enhance its presence inRussia and is consistent with its

stated strategic objective of add-ing high quality international as-sets to its existing E&P portfolio.This acquisition also has signif-icant strategic importance to In-dia, both in terms ofaugmentation of India’s energysecurity as well as enhancing In-dia’s stature in the global politi-cal and economic arenas.

The agreement was signed byNarendra K. Verma, CEO andManaging Director, ONGC Vi-desh, and Igor Sechin, Chairman,Board of Directors, Rosneft, dur-ing the Eastern Economic Forum(EEF) held in Vladivostok on Fri-day in the presence of VladimirPutin, the President of the Rus-sian Federation.

THE FIELD CURRENTLY PRODUCES AROUND 4.40 LAKH BILLION BARRELS PER DAY OF CRUDE OIL

OVL buys 15% stake inRosneft’s Vankor oil field

TCA Sharad Raghavan

O

WHILE THE DEAL VALUE IS REPORTEDLY$1.3 BILLION, THE COMPANYSPOKESPERSON TOLD THE HINDU THATONGC VIDESH HAD NOT AS YET SHARED THE EXACT AMOUNT

ACQUISITION

MUMBAI: Outflow of fundsfrom equities on global eco-nomic worries, coupled withfear of a deficient monsoon,dragged the benchmark BSESensex down by more thantwo per cent, recording itslowest closing level since July2014.

The Sensex lost 562.88points or 2.18 per cent toclose at 25201.90. All otherbroader indices too ended inthe red as BSE 100 was downby 2.17 per cent and BSE 200lost 2.12 per cent. While mid-cap stocks closed with a lossof 1.90 per cent, small-capdipped by 2.47 per cent.

Meanwhile, the rupeeclosed low at 66.46 a dollarcompared to its previousclose of 66.24 on Thursday.

On the NSE 50-share Niftyclosed at 7655.05 with a lossof 167.95 or 2.15 per cent.

“Global investors are facingredemption pressure in arisk-off environment,” saidVijay Singhania, founder-Di-rector, Trade Smart Online, aleading discount brokeragefirm.

U.S. Federal Reserve’sFOMC holds its two-daymeeting on interest ratesfrom September 16. “U.S. Fedrate hike is spooking globalmarkets and the domesticmarkets no exception. Fur-ther downside in Nifty cannotbe ruled out in case Fed hikesrates in September,” Mr.Singhania added.

“In the recent weeks, globalequities have been impactedby sudden devaluation of itscurrency by China and signals

of an economic slowdown. Sofar India is concerned, the de-lay in passing key reforms hasalso contributed to the dis-appointment among inves-tors,” said Sanjeev Zarbade,Vice President, Private ClientGroup Research, KotakSecurities.

Going forward, he said thatthe U.S. August jobs data,which is slated to be releasedon Friday in the U.S., wouldbe closely watched as a strongreading would bolster thecase for a rate hike. Given theweak investor sentiment thatis prevalent currently, “a ratehike may not go down wellwith most emergingmarkets.”

However, Mr. Zarbade saidthat “valuations are comingback to reasonable levels andlong term investors should gofor buying stocks of qualitycompanies.”

“The global risk is gettinghighlighted with the focusmounting on the prospects ofa U.S. rate hike soon. Contin-ued outflow by FIIs and lossof interest from domestic in-vestors has crashed the Indi-an market to the new low,”said Vinod Nair, Head-Fun-damental Research, GeojitBNP Paribas Financial Ser-vices Ltd.

“Global investors are con-cerned about the Fed ratehike which will impact theflow of funds to equities. Thisuncertainty is likely to con-tinue till September 17.”

However, Mr. Nair saidthat this is a good opportunityto invest in quality stocks. “Inthe medium-term we haveroom for further 50 bps cut ininterest rate by the end of theyear, adjusted to the U.S. ratehike expectation and a likelyintervention by China otheremerging market economiesto stimulate the economy. Allthese factors are likely to pro-vide support to the market.”

Oommen A. Ninan

Stocks tumble, rupee dips

CHENNAI: Kamarajar Port Ltd.(KPL) has given in principleconsent to Indian Oil Corpo-ration (IOC) to set up a cap-tive jetty to handle importedPetroleum, Oil and Lubri-cants (POL) cargo.

Talking to The Hindu, aKPL official said: “Based onthe request from IOC, wehave given in principle con-sent to IOC on Friday to con-struct their own jetty forhandling POL consignments.Currently, we have a multi-purpose berth from which wehandle annually three milliontonnes of vegetable oils,chemicals, POL and LNG forvarious clients.”

To avoid congestion andensure timely delivery of car-go, IOC has proposed to havea captive jetty. It would be of300 metres in length and itcan handle three milliontonnes per annum. IOC andKPL are expected to sign adeal next week, after discuss-ing in detail about the pro-posed project, sources said.

IOC is setting up a Rs.5,150crore LNG import terminal atEnnore. KPL had earmarkedwater front for LNG jetty andland for storage and re-gas-ification terminal.

The terminal would be-come operational by early2018.

Kamarajar Portgives nod to IOCfor captive jettyN. Anand

NEW DELHI: Echoing industry’sdisappointment over the de-lay in enacting the Goods andServices Tax (GST) Bill, Ma-ruti Suzuki Chairman R.C.Bhargava on Friday said po-litical establishment must re-look at measures that areclearly in national interest.

“I am sure people at large,who are concerned about theeconomy, will be very disap-pointed that due to purely po-litical reasons, with no cleareconomic considerations be-ing apparent, the GST has notbeen approved,” he said.

Mr. Bhargava, who was ad-dressing shareholders at thecompany's annual generalmeeting here, said added, “Ithink that is very disappoint-ing and as industry we believethat the entire political estab-lishment must re-look atmeasures, which are clearlyin national interest.”

Seeking reduced taxation,the auto industry has beenpitching for speedy imple-mentation of GST for a longtime.

On Wednesday, the outgo-ing President of Society of In-dian AutomobileManufacturers had expressedsimilar views, saying that theindustry was ‘disheartened’

at the lack of political consen-sus on the issue. Meanwhile,Mr. Bhargava added that thedelayed minority sharehol-ders' voting on allowing par-ent Suzuki to own and investin the Gujarat plant was likelyto happen soon.

“The minority shareholdervoting on the Gujarat plantwhich was delayed becausewe found that the govern-ment had moved someamendments in 2013 Compa-nies Act...We thought itwould be imprudent of us tovote on under an Act which isunder an amendment. So, wepostponed that,” he said.

Under pressure from insti-tutional investors over theproposed takeover of its Guj-

arat plant by Suzuki, MSI hadtweaked its proposals relatedto the plant and decided toseek the approval of minorityshareholders for the same.

On the importance of theGujarat plant, which will beits third, Mr. Bhargava said:“This year if we grow in dou-ble digits our capacity utilisa-tion will become almost 100per cent. We will be produc-ing over 1.4 million vehiclesduring this fiscal.” “Certainlyin 2016-17 we hope that wewill somehow manage. In2017-18 we will need the Guj-arat plant.

Work is going on the plantat full swing and we will be onschedule to commission theplant,” he said.

GST logjam disappointing, saysMaruti Suzuki Chairman Yuthika Bhargava

I am sure people at large,who are concerned about theeconomy, will be verydisappointed that due topurely political reasons, withno clear economicconsiderations beingapparent, the GST has notbeen approved.- R.C. BHARGAVA, CHAIRMAN, MARUTI SUZUKI

MUMBAI: Investor wealthslumped by Rs.1.92 lakhcrore on Friday as the BSEbenchmark Sensexplummeted by 563 pointsfollowing heavy selling inglobal stocks ahead of theU.S. jobs data.

Following the sharpdecline in stocks, themarket capitalisation ofBSE-listed companies fellby Rs.1,92,604.36 crore toRs.93,83,643 crore.

“Indian indices remainedunder pressure primarilyon account of the sustainedglobal risk-off trend, whichhas had its impact on stockmarkets across the world.

“Concerns with respectto the Chinese economyslowdown and its impact onglobal growth, the

consequent currencyvolatility, and the stancethat the U.S. Fed wouldadopt in its policy meet acouple of weeks from now,continued to affect investor sentiments,” saidHitesh Agrawal — HeadResearch, RelianceSecurities.

Market analysts said astrong non-farm payrollsdata is expected to allowthe U.S. Federal Reserve toconsider a September ratehike.

Among the 30-shareSensex constituents, 28ended the day with lossesled by Vedanta, Gail, TataSteel and HindalcoIndustries. Bharti Airteland Coal India were theonly gainers. — PTI

Investor wealth dipsby Rs.1.9 lakh crore

NEW DELHI: Ahead of his visit toIndia later this month, Gen-eral Electric (GE) Chairmanand CEO Jeff Immelt on Fri-day said the company seeshuge potential in the manu-facturing space in the countryand is keen to invest in sec-tors such as rail, power andhealthcare.

Dubbing India as the‘growth engine for Asia’, Mr.Immelt said, “Infrastructureis a key driver of India’sgrowth. We are keen to investmuch more in India and inprojects to boost its infras-tructure in sectors such asrail, power and healthcare.”

These efforts will have aripple effect on the overall ec-onomic growth in India andbeyond, he added.

The American multi-na-tional conglomerate in astatement said it had doubledits investments in India overthe past five years and deliv-ered about $3 billion in eco-nomic value. “Investmentshave ranged from supplier de-velopment programs to new,large infrastructure projectsand manufacturing facili-ties,” it added.

GE said their manufactur-ing facilities in India werenow leveraged by the compa-

ny as global supply source fora number of its businessessuch as aviation, turbo ma-chinery, wind turbines anddiesel locomotives.

“The levels of local sourc-ing have increased by 20 percent for locomotives, 30 percent for power equipmentand 15 per cent for aviation.India may soon become aglobal centre of excellence forcertain components,” itadded.

GE is also partnering withvarious States across India toform public private partner-ships and has such partner-ships with seven States forHealthcare. Earlier this year,the company announced a$200 million investment inthe multi-modal manufactur-ing facility in Pune,Maharashtra.

GE keen to investin India: ChairmanYuthika Bhargava

The levels of localsourcing haveincreased forlocomotives, powerequipment andaviation. India maysoon become a globalcentre of excellencefor certaincomponents

CHENNAI: Suzlon is set to rampup its manufacturing oper-ations by setting up three newproduction units during thisfiscal. This debt-laden com-pany will also make a begin-ning in the area of offshorewind segment.

“We aim to establish threerotor blade manufacturingunits in India during this fis-cal year. Additionally, we areconducting techno-commer-cial analysis along the coast-line of Gujarat to examine thepotential of India’s pilot off-shore wind project,” TulsiTanti, Chairman and Manag-ing Director, Suzlon, said incompany’s annual report.

The company has aboutfive rotor blade productionunits in India and one in theU.S. Overall, its annual manu-facturing capacity is about

3,600 MW. He said that com-pany’s priority during this fis-cal would be to ramp upvolume by executing a strongorder book of about 1,100MW.

This fiscal will also markour foray into solar, withplans to offer wind-solar in-tegrated solutions.

Suzlon, which had a consol-idated net debt of Rs.7000crore excluding FCCBs as onJune 30, 2015, aims to lev-erage its technology to attain15 per cent reduction in COE(cost of energy) averaging at athree per cent reduction peryear.

Suzlon plans three newrotor blade factoriesG. Balachandar

Will also make abeginning in the area of offshore wind segment

BULLION RATES

September 04 rates in rupees withprevious rates in brackets

ChennaiBar Silver (1 kg) 35,335 (35,090)Retail (1 g) 37.80 (37.50)24 ct gold (10 g) 26,760 (26,790)22 ct gold (1 g) 2,502 (2,505)DelhiSilver 35,575 (35,300)Standard gold 26,730 (26,810)Sovereign 22,300 (22,350)

EXCHANGE RATES

Indicative direct rates in rupees a unit except yen at 4 p.m on September 04

Currencies TT TT Buying Selling

U.S. Dollar 66.26 66.58Euro 73.85 74.22Pound Sterling 100.89 101.39Jap Yen (100 Units) 55.61 55.89Chinese Yuan 10.41 10.49Swiss Franc 68.07 68.41Singapore Dollar 46.71 46.96Australian Dollar 46.26 46.50Canadian Dollar 50.05 50.31Swedish Kroner 7.84 7.89Danish Kroner 9.90 9.95New Zealand Dollar 42.16 42.38Hongkong Dollar 8.55 8.59Malaysian Ringitt 15.51 15.71Kuwaiti Dinar 218.86 220.65UAE Dirham 18.03 18.13Bahraini Dinar 174.24 177.60Qatari Riyal 18.24 18.28Saudi Riyal 17.70 17.74Omani Riyal 171.58 173.62

Source: Indian Bank

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SPORT

Group A: At Pilsen (Czech Re-public): Czech Republic 2 (Skoda 74,86) bt Kazakhstan 1 (Logvinenko 21);At Amsterdam: The Netherlands 0lost to Iceland 1 (Sigurdsson 51-pen);At Konya (Turkey): Turkey 1 (SelcukInan 77) drew with Latvia 1 (Sabala90+1).

Group B: At Brussels: Belgium 3(Fellaini 23, De Bruyne 44, Hazard78-pen) beat Bosnia and Herzegovina1 (Dzeko 15); At Nicosia: Cyprus 0lost to Wales 1 (Bale 82); At Haifa(Israel): Israel 4 (Zahavi 3, Bitton 22,Hemed 26-pen, Dabbur 38) bt Andorra0.

Group H: At Sofia: Bulgaria 0 lostNorway 1 (Forren 57); At Florence:Italy 1 (Pelle 69) bt Malta 0; At Baku:Azerbaijan 0 drew with Croatia 0.

THE RESULTS

PARIS: Iceland took a big steptowards sealing its ticket to Eu-ro 2016 with a 1-0 win in theNetherlands on Thursdaywhich put the Dutch in dangerof missing the finals in France.

A Gylfi Sigurdsson penaltyon 51 minutes ensured that Ice-land stay top of Group A with 18points — eight ahead of WorldCup bronze medallists theNetherlands — which is thirdwith three games left.

The stuttering Dutch cam-paign had already cost GuusHiddink his job and new coachDanny Blind had a baptism offire in Amsterdam.

With their backs to the wallthe Dutch desperately needed awin but were lucky not to betrailing after seven minuteswith Jon Dadi Bodvarson mis-sing on front of goal.

Injury and a send-off

The Dutch lost captain ArjenRobben to an apparent groininjury after half an hour and hewas replaced by LucianoNarsingh.

And things began to unravelfor the host when defenderBruno Martins Indi was sendoff on 33 minutes for appearingto grab striker Kolbeinn Sig-thorsson by the neck.

The nightmare continued af-

ter the break with Swanseamidfielder Sigurdsson convert-ing a penalty awarded afterGregory van der Wiel broughtdown Birkir Bjarnason.

The Netherlands is third inGroup A six points behind theCzech Republic which beat Ka-zakhstan 2-1 thanks to a lateMilan Skoda brace on 74 and 86minutes.

The Netherlands faces amust-win journey on Sunday toTurkey. — AFP

Iceland loss puts the heat on the Dutch

ON TARGET: Gylfi Thor Sigurdsson converts a penalty for Iceland's match-winner against the Netherlandson Thursday. — PHOTO: AFP

BENGALURU: Badminton starSaina Nehwal credits her coachVimal Kumar for guiding her toa “dream run this year”.

Saina, who reached the finalof the World Championship re-cently, has been under Vimal’stutelage in Bengaluru for abouta year now, after having workedwith P. Gopi Chand in heradopted home city of Hydera-bad before that.

The World No.1, unveiled asthe Edelweiss Group’s brandambassador at a press confer-ence here on Friday, stated thatVimal had helped her get over afew mental blocks that hadthreatened to derail her career.

“When I first came to Benga-luru, I asked Vimal sir ‘Will I beable to cross the quarterfinalstage in the World Champion-ship? Will I be able to regain myWorld No.1 spot?’ He said, ‘Sai-na, you have worked so hard toreach this level, so you can defi-nitely reach the finals and winall major tournaments. You willbecome World No.1 soon. Fromnow on, just work hard and be-lieve in yourself’.”

“Even when I lose a match,Vimal sir tells me to believe inmyself.”

The 25-year-old explainedthat apart from building herconfidence, Vimal had alsomade a few technical adjust-ments which have turned hergame around.

“We are very disciplined intraining, but it took some timefor me to overcome my mentalstress. I had gone through a dif-ficult two years, where I hadlost to girls I would have beatenin straight sets usually,” Sainasaid.

“And, then, there were thetop-level players I have strug-gled against — Wang Yihan,Wang Shixian, Tai Tzu-yingand Ratchanok Intanon. Mypoor record against these girlsforced me to make changes inmy game. This is where I re-ceived good support fromVimal.”

“My movements on the courtwere very, very slow; so with hishelp, I turned into a fast mover.

I am able to cover the court wellnow. My racquet movementsare better as well, which helpsme play my shots. My defencehas improved a lot too.”

That Saina has achieved somuch in a short period of timeis testament to Vimal’s efficientmethods as a coach.

“I’ve been with him for just ayear, and it normally takes timefor a coach and his ward toclick. But I’ve already done sowell — winning the China Openand the Indian Open Super Se-ries, becoming the World No. 1

and so on,” Saina said. Asked about her chances at

the upcoming Japan Open, anda possible second-round matchagainst P.V. Sindhu, Saina re-plied: “I’m happy that we havemany Indians who are doingwell at the international levelnow. This shows that the qual-ity of Indian badminton has im-proved.

“As for possibly facing Sind-hu, I approach all matches inthe same way, regardless ofwhich country my opponent isfrom.”

BADMINTON

‘Training under Vimal sir hasturned things around’Sports Reporter

AT A HAPPY PLACE: Saina Nehwal says she isgrateful for all that coach Vimal Kumar has donefor her since her arrival in Bengaluru after ‘adifficult two years’. — PHOTO: SUDHAKARA JAIN

CHENNAI: When Jamshid Nassi-ri came to India, football wascertainly not high on his agen-da. This, after having had repre-sented his native country Iran,in football, in 1978.

“I had come to study here in1979,” he said. But as it turnedout, guiding his alma mater,Aligarh Muslim University, to anational inter-university titletriumph helped him fetch acontract with East Bengal in1980 and the rest, as they say, ishistory.

After playing for 15 yearswith renowned teams in the In-dian circuit, he took to full-time coaching. He has hadcoaching stints with quite a fewhigh-profile clubs — the Mo-hammedan Sporting Club forinstance — but his heart lies ingrooming school children. “Iam the first foreigner to havecoached a state team — Mah-arashtra. I guided them to vic-tories in the Santosh Trophyand the National games,” hesaid. His face lighted up whenhe added, “But I love coachingschool children. This country

has talent in abundance.” An expatriate, associated

with Indian football for 36years now, he’s known for hisaffability off the field as muchfor his dexterity on it.

As someone who is interest-ed in the development of Indi-an football, he said that the newkid on the block, the Indian Su-per League, still had a lot toimprove despite the public in-

terest that it had generated.“As of now, the franchises are

focused on building a base forthemselves. Instead I wouldlove to see each of them havinga proper structure in place.They’ll have to invest moretime in scouting for and nur-turing young talent. Every fran-chise should have its ownacademy to train them,” hesaid.

He said that the AIFF shouldplay a major part in the runningof the league. “AIFF shouldguide the franchises in that re-spect.”

He has long stressed on theneed for more full-fledgedtraining academies across thecountry. He has expressed hiswillingness to walk the talk butrued the fact that he’s con-strained by the paucity offunds.

“I would love to open an a-cademy. But I don’t have thefinancial assistance and thesupport to do it.”

When asked which foreignplayer he likes the most in theI-league, he said, “Katsumi ofMohun Bagan. He’s very skilful.I like watching him play.”

Love coaching school kids Prasanna Venkatesan

Jamshid Nassiri.— PHOTO: R. RAVINDRAN

HYDERABAD: Powered by a finecentury by opener P. AkshathReddy (113, 99 balls, 9x4, 2x6),Hyderabad XI scored a 127-runwin over Air India in the firstround of the three-day Coroman-del King al-India Moin-ud-DowlaGold Cup cricket tournament atGymkhana Ground here onFriday.

Earlier, resuming at its over-night score of 337 for nine, AirIndia folded up after adding justone run this morning with off-spinner Vishal Sharma complet-ing a five wicket haul (five for 73).

In the second innings of 40overs each, Hyderabad scored 251for five with Akshath leading fromthe front with some crackingboundaries on either side of thewicket on a pitch which showedno signs of wear and tear. For AirIndia, Sonu Sharma (three for 71)bowled well. His captain HanumaVihari (64) notched up his secondhalf-century of the match.

Chasing a daunting 378 in 40overs, Air India batsmen showedbetter enterprise in the second in-nings but the total was too big todeny the home team a deservingwin.

It eventually finished at 251 forfour with Rahul Yadav (86 not out,

89 balls, 2x 4, 5 x 6) treating thebowlers with disdain particularlyleft-arm spinners Mehdi Hasanand B. Sandeep.

At Uppal Stadium, Dinesh Kar-thik cracked a century (142, 117balls 12 x 4, 5 x 6) to star in IndiaCements’ impressive 146-run winover ONGC.

The scores: Hyderabad XI 465 for 7 in90 overs & 251 for five in 40 overs (P.Akshath Reddy 113, G.H. Vihari 64, SonuSharma three for 71) bt Air India 338 in89.3 overs (John Abraham 38 not out, A.Vishal Sharma five for 73) & 251 for four in40 overs (Hiten Dalal 30, Rahul Yadav 86not out, Rajesh Sharma 49 not out).

FCI 283 and 100 in 25.4 overs (SunilSam three for 40, M.S. Washington Sun-dar three for 13) lost to MRF 296 & 88 forno loss in 12.5 overs (X. Thalaivan Sargu-ram 35 not out, Unmukt Chand 49 not out).

Hyderabad President’s XI 290 & 284 forfour in 40 overs (B. Anirudh 101, HimalayAgarwal 61, K. Sumath 42 not out) drewwith Sri Lanka Development XI 429 foreight in 90 overs (Lahiru Milantha 79 notout, Ahmed Quadri four for 65) & 138 for sixin 32.5 overs (Kusal Mendis 52, MinodBhanuka 34, D.B. Ravi Teja three for 38).Rain interrupts play.

India Cements 353 & 265 for three in 40overs (K.B. Arun Karthik 66, Dinesh Kar-thik 142, B. Aparajith 43) bt ONGC 272 &200 for six in 40 overs (Milind Kumar 37,Mohd Saif 52, Pranshu Vijayram 34 notout).

Akshath shines Special Correspondent

VIJAYAWADA: Aman of Haryanawon the gold medal in the un-der-11 segment of the 25kg cat-egory in the Nationalsub-junior judo championshiphere on Friday.

The results: Boys: 10-11 (25kg): 1. Aman (Ha-

ryana), 2. M. Ranjendro (Manipur), 3.Anuj Bhandari (Uttarakhand), GopalSisa (Orissa).

11-12 (35kg): 1. Anil (Haryana), 2.Sagar Sharma (Punjab), 3. ParthJoshi (Rajasthan), Jathin Thokas(Delhi).

11-12 (35kg): 1. Amith SinghDhank (Uttarakhand), 2. Sankar Maji(Orissa), 3. Rahul (Karnataka), RahulSolanki (Delhi).

Girls: 10-11 (20kg): 1. Pinky (Ha-ryana), 2. Saithangpuii (Mizoram), 3.M. Roshibina (Manipur), Vaishali To-kas (Delhi).

11-12 (30kg): 1. Malini (Delhi), 2.Debanjali Nath (Tripura), 3. Pinki Negi(Uttarakhand), Moshitha (Maharash-tra ‘A’).

11-12 (30kg): 1. Matouleibi (Mani-pur), 2 Ashwariya (Uttarakhand), 3.Shina (Maharashtra ‘B’), Himanshi(Delhi).

14-15 (40kg): 1 Anumol (Delhi), 2.Akansha (Kerala), 3. Bidyaswori (Ma-nipur), Rakshanda (Karnataka). —Special Correspondent.

Aman wins gold

LOS ANGELES: The 2015 GrandSlam of golf, featuring theyear’s Major champions, hasbeen cancelled as the PGA ofAmerica found it too compli-cated to move it from DonaldTrump’s Los Angeles course.

The PGA had announced inJuly that it was pulling the Oc-tober event from Trump Na-tional Los Angeles over thebillionaire presidential hope-ful’s controversial remarksabout Mexican immigrants.

Organisers originally hopedto find a new venue for the 36-hole exhibition, which this yearwas expected to feature Mas-ters and US Open winner Jor-dan Spieth, British Openchampion Zach Johnson andPGA Champion Jason Day.

“Due to the timing and logis-tics needed to stage the PGAGrand Slam of Golf to the high-est standards, we are disap-pointed that we will not be ableto conduct the event this year,”the PGA of America said onThursday in a statement.

“This was a memorable yearfor Major championship golfand the PGA of America con-gratulates Jordan Spieth, ZachJohnson and Jason Day ontheir impressive wins. We lookforward to conducting the PGAGrand Slam of Golf in 2016.” —AFP

Grand Slam ofgolf cancelled

MUMBAI: Harinderpal SinghSandhu lost to top seed AdrianWaller in 40 minutes, the En-gland ace winning 11-6, 11-9,11-6 in the $15,000 NSCI Opensquash men’s quarterfinals.

Joshna Chinappa, seededthree in the women’s draw, en-tered the semifinals with a 36-minute victory over Hong Kongqualifier Lee Ka Yi 11-5, 11-7,9-11, 11-2.

Waller said: “The key was thesecond game. He had most ofthe game, but I managed toclaw back at the end.”

The Indian said: “I startedwell in the first game, then justgave away everything with a lotof errors. He stuck to the basicsand that paid off.”

The results (quarterfinals): Men:Karim El Hammamy (Egy) bt Mo-hamed Reda (Egy) 11-6, 6-11, 11-7,11-7; Adrian Waller (Eng) bt Harinder-pal Singh Sandhu 11-6, 11-9, 11-6.

Women: Abiba Mohamed (Egy) btMillie Tomlinson (Eng) 14-12, 11-7,14-12; Hania El Hammamy (Egy) btNouran El Torky (Egy) 11-7, 11-6, 6-11, 7-11, 11-7; Joshna Chinappa btLee Ka Yi (Hkg) 11-5, 11-7, 9-11, 11-2.— Special Correspondent

Waller downsHarinderpal

SEGOVIA (SPAIN): Defendingchampion Atletico de Kolkatahas geared up for the secondseason of ISL football tourna-ment with a thumping 9-0 winover Gimnastica Segoviana CFU-19 team in its first friendlymatch here.

ATK’s marquee player Hel-der Postiga struck a hat-trickand was well supported by Ker-ala Blasters FC recruit IainHume as the duo shared fivegoals between them at the LosAngeles de San Rafael groundin El Espinar on Thursday.

Jewel Raja, who was selectedfrom the ISL draft, also scored agoal along with one each fromSpanish recruit Gavilan, Valdoand Arata Izumi.

Happy with the progress ofhis team which is on a three-week-long pre-season training,ATK head coach Antonio LopezHabas said: “We are just at thebeginning of our preparationsfor the second season of ISL.” —PTI

Easy for ATK

HYDERABAD: Sixth-seeded RianPandole shocked top-seededCh. Vasisht 3-6, 7-6(3), 6-2 inthe boys’ singles semifinal ofthe ITF juniors tennis tourna-ment for boys and girls (un-der-18) at Lal Bahadur Stadiumtennis complex here on Friday.

In the other semifinal, SanilJagtiani defeated Sahil Desh-mukh 6-1, 6-2.

The results: Boys: Singles: Semifinals: Rian

Pandole bt Ch. Vasisht 3-6, 7-6 (3),6-2; Sanil Jagtiani bt Sahil Deshmukh6-1, 6-2.

Doubles: Quarterfinals: ShaheedAlam (Sin) & R. Sri Aakash (Mas) btParikshit Somani & Dhruv Sunish 6-2,6-2; K. Adil & Anurag Nenwani bt Al-ester Magalit (Hkg) & Yuchen Wu(Chn) 3-6, 6-3, 10-3; Ch. Vasisht &Sahil Deshmukh bt Paramveer SinghBajwa & Param Pun 6-1, 6-4; AnirudhChandrasekhar & Rishi Reddy btSiddhant Banthia & Alex Solanki 7-6(4), 6-4.

Girls: Singles: semifinals: MahakJain & Sama Sathwika 4-6, 6-1, 7-5;Akanksha A. Bhan & Shivani SwarupIngle 6-3, 0-6, 7-6(4).

Doubles: Quarterfinals: MahakJain & Maria Dominique Ong (Phi) btAkanksha Bhan & Rishika Ravindran7-6(2), 6-4; R. Bhamidipati Shrivalli &Ch. Sravya Shivani bt D. Lalita & Sha-hid Kamal Nidha 6-3, 6-4; Jui-YunChang (Tpe) & Thanushree Vale btShivani Manjanna & Baani Singh 6-0,3-6,10-3; Sama Sathwika & ShivaniSwarup Ingle bt Priyana Kalita & Jen-nifer Luikham 6-0, 6-2.

Rian Pandolestuns Vasisht

KOCHI: India, the World No. 38,suffered a shocking 82-76 lossto the Philippines and was rele-gated to level two in the Asianwomen’s basketball champion-ship at Wuhan, China, onFriday.

P.S. Jeena top-scored with28 points and India led 22-16 atthe end of the first quarter, butthe Philippines, ranked 58th inthe world, dominated the nexttwo sessions 23-15 and 26-16.

India made a strong come-back and dominated the lastquarter 23-17 in the crucial rel-egation-promotion game but itcame a little too late. For thePhilippines, Bernandina ledthe charts with 32 points.

Playing in level one, Indiahad lost all its games in Group Aearlier, to Korea 121-44, Thai-land 65-63, China 102-39, Ja-pan 131-31 and to Taipei 92-61.

India relegated

MONZA: Lewis Hamilton set thepace in practice for the ItalianGrand Prix on Friday with dom-inant Mercedes leaving its rivalstrailing.

The Briton told reporters onarriving at Monza with his hairdyed blond that he was goingthrough an ‘experimental’ phase.There was nothing radically dif-ferent in his track performance,however, only clear evidencethat the upgraded Mercedes

power unit was faster than ever.The championship leader, 28

points clear of teammate NicoRosberg with eight races remain-ing, lapped nearly half a secondfaster than the German in sunnymorning conditions.

The Briton was only 0.021quicker than Rosberg in the af-ternoon, when he produced hisfastest lap of one minute 24.279seconds on the quickest track onthe calendar.

Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel,preparing for his first Italianrace in the home team’s red over-alls, was third quickest in bothsessions — a massive 1.588 slow-er than Hamilton in the morningand 0.759 adrift after lunch.

Mercedes-powered Force In-dia was fourth in both sessions,with Nico Hulkenberg in themorning and Sergio Perez in theafternoon. — Reuters

FORMULA ONE

Hamilton sets the pace

NEW DELHI: Bengal under-19captain Ankit Keshri’s familywill receive a compensation ofRs. 25 lakh from BCCI’s insur-ance company as the saidamount has been cleared.

CAB joint secretary SubirGanguly said that they have re-ceived intimation from theBCCI that the cheque issued bythe insurance company will ar-rive at the CAB headquarters ina couple of days.

“Since Ankit played CoochBehar Trophy for Bengal, hecame under the insurance cov-er that BCCI has for all playerswho have participated in theboard’s affiliated tournaments.The maximum claim for on-field death is Rs. 25 lakh,” saidGanguly. — PTI

Compensationfor Ankit’s kin

COIMBATORE: Akhil Rabindrawill be raring to go when thesecond round of the FMSCI-JKRacing championship begins atthe Kari Motor Speedway hereon Saturday.

Akhil won two of the threeraces in the JK Racing IndiaSeries, the premium class of thechampionship, in Coimbatorelast month.

It will not be an easy route tothe podium for Akhil. VishnuPrasad, Kush Maini, DhruvMohite and Ameya Bafna, whoare all talented and capable ofpulling a surprise, may wellchallenge him all the way to thechequered flag.

The grid will also feature Lo-renzo Camplese from Italy. The21-year-old, who has raised thelevel of competition, is provingto be a tough contender.

The Formula LGB4 class,which features four profession-al racing teams, is also expectedto go down to the wire. Season-ed stars such as Chittesh Man-dody, Sudarshana Rao andKrishnaraj Mahadik are all ea-ger to gain an edge over theother on the overall champion-ship points table.

JK Racing c’ship’ssecond round thisweekend

KOLKATA: The Salt Lake Stadiumor the Vivekananda Yubabhara-ti Krirangan officially returnedto its pristine state on Fridayhaving been re-laid with thenatural grass which it had sport-ed since its inception in 1984.

The centre of the multi-pur-pose stadium, which primarilyhosts football matches apartfrom the field events of occa-sional athletic meets, was giventhe artificial cover of ‘Fieldturf’midway in 2009 in a bid to keepthe surface free from the dam-ages of prolonged monsoon inthe region.

After the biggest football sta-

dium in India was picked up asone of the venues of the un-der-17 World Cup in 2017, it be-came mandatory for it to getback the natural cover. Atleticode Kolkata, the Indian SuperLeague franchise which has thestadium as it home venue, hasalso been complaining about thedamages the artificial surfacecaused to players’ fitness.

The work on the extraction of‘Fieldturf’ and relaying of thenatural ‘Reveira Bermudagrass’started in early May and wascompleted before the scheduleddeadline of October 31 by SportsTurf and Golf Enterprises, thecompany entrusted with thetask.

The inauguration of the new-ly-laid surface will happen withone of the oldest and the mostpopular football derbies in Asia— featuring the city giants EastBengal and Mohun Bagan — onSunday.

The stadium was officiallyhanded over by the State gov-ernment’s sports department tothe State’s governing body offootball — Indian Football Asso-ciation — on Friday ahead of thebig match of the Calcutta Foot-ball League.

The stadium will also host thematches of the second edition ofISL before it is handed over toFIFA later in 2016 to get it readyfor the U-17 World Cup.

Salt Lake Stadium pitchreturns to its pristine statePrincipal Correspondent

NEW DELHI: Karan Srivastav beathis doubles partner RhythmMalhotra in three sets to clinchthe boys’ title in the AITAChampionship series under-16tennis tournament at the DLTAComplex here on Friday.

It was a double crown for Ka-ran, as he had won the doublestitle earlier.

Eighth seed Zaffar Rainaclinched the girls’ title as shebeat second Vanshika Choud-hary for the loss of six games.

The results (finals):Boys: Karan Srivastav bt Rhythm

Malhotra 6-4, 4-6, 6-3.Girls: Zaffar Raina bt Vanshika

Choudhary 7-5, 6-1.

Double forKaran

NEW DELHI: Youngmen SportsClub held defending championIndian National Football Clubto a 2-2 draw in an ill-temperedSuper League match of the Del-hi Soccer Association Leaguechampionship at the AmbedkarStadium.

Despite taking a 2-0 lead,INFC committed several errorsto let the opposition back intothe game and split points. How-ever, INFC coach Hans Raj notonly abused and manhandledmatch referee Rahul Gupta and

the linesmen but also abusedthe DSA officials present andbroke chairs both on theground and in the stands.

Match Commissioner AbdulSaleem confirmed the incident,adding that he had recom-mended the strictest possibleaction against the coach in hisreport.

“He not only abused,punched and kicked the refereeand the assistant referee, hethrew chairs at everyone in-cluding League chairman andDSA vice-president NK Bhatiawho was present there. Such

actions cannot be condoned,”Saleem said.

Based on the reports by thematch referee and the commis-sioner, the league’s disciplinarysub-committee issued a show-cause notice to the coach. Bha-tia said the coach may be sus-pended and the team may alsopenalised for Hans Raj’sactions.

In another match, City FCbeat Tarun Sangha FC 3-1.

The results: INFC 2 (Useni, Ka-pango) drew with YSC 2 (Adesh 2);CFC 3 (Ripu 2, Dipanshu) bt TSFC 1(Deepak Maity).

Youngmen SC holds INFCSpecial Correspondent

CMYK

ND-ND


NOIDA/DELHISPORT

Across

1 Maybe illnessaffecting a series offactory workers (8,4)

8 Beige colour fan (4)9 Perfect trick some

say to get a friend(10)

11 Compose veryordinary article (6)

12 Big band's

near strong wind (11)15 Give one a latitude to

be objective (9)17 See-through cut in a

boot (6)20 Ungulate flicking an

unusual tongue (6)21 Girl's after college

rank (5)23 False things coming

out of one's mouth?(5)

25 It is bad, 'cosstanding under itgives tan (3)

22 Happen to regretfollowing a star (4,4)

23 Sort of junction/intersection for amess (6)

24 Now is representedthus in time (4,6)

26 Slip, scratching headin a church recess (4)

27 Killing is hishappiness (12)

Down

2 Outlet manufactureda fine velvet say(6,5)

3 English setter seenoutside church is anentertainer (5)

4 It is not dangerous togo past 8 reportedly(6)

5 One might berepresenting genustyro? (9)

6 Lives by dogmataessentially showingfaith (3)

7 Pleasure getting intobed? (5)

10 Essays about leaderof Bantu families (6)

13 Bird can be sailingthrough

THE HINDU CROSSWORD 114921 2 3 4 5 6

7

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M A I D E N C L O S E U P

T I E A D P I

E A R N Y O U R L I V I N G

D N G N B U G M

E V E N I F C O M M E R C E

L N N N A N

I N D I E R E A T T E M P T

C S E T R A

A E R O S P A C E A L I S T

T A S D N I

E X P A N D O N J E T H R O

S I I N A M A N

S P E E C H O F P R A I S E

E R H U O R T

N A S C E N T P E K O E S

Buzzer

Solution to puzzle 11491

performance stunt(8)

14 Not oddly aviation isunprofitable (4)

16 Reel from funnygagster (7)

18 Strikes during LS pollawful in retrospect(7)

19 Penned a legaldocument (4)

Saint Arunagirinathar, in his Kandar Alankaaram, says thatthe sea, the Krauncha mountain and the demonSoorapadman were all destroyed by the spear of LordShanmukha. While the popular story of the slaying ofSoorapadman does talk of the destruction of the ocean andthe Krauncha mountain, these are not to be viewed asordinary killings. What is indicated is much more, saidR.Narayanan in a discourse. When it is said that Lord Sivaburnt three cities belonging to demons, what is actuallymeant is that He destroyed illusion, the effects of our karmaand our ego. Likewise, when Lord Shanmukha is said to havedestroyed the sea, the Krauncha mountain and the demonSoorapadman, it is implied that He is the One who destroyspride, illusion and the effects of our past actions. In fact, inanother verse Arunagirinathar prays that Lord Shanmukhashould send His spear to destroy his pride as He destroyedSoorapadman. “Why have I not been blessed with hands thatoffer salutations to the One who is the nephew of LordRama, who built a bridge to Lanka with the help of an armyof monkeys?” laments Arunagirinathar. “Why have I notbeen blessed with hands that offer worship to the Son ofLord Siva, the One who wears snakes as ornaments?” hecries. The wealth of kings, who have mighty armies, andelephants and horses, will one day disappear like letterswritten on water. Arunagirinathar prays that when Yamacomes to take him away, Lord Shanmukha should be by hisside and should say to him, “Do not be afraid.”Arunagirinathar says we should give at least a handful of riceeveryday to the needy. We should eat only after we havegiven some food to others. What is the need to pamper thisbody, which is going to end up as ash, asks the saint.

He destroys pride

FAITH

A mind game and a puzzle

that you solve with

reasoning and logic. Fill in

the grid with digits in such

a manner that every row,

every column and every

3x3 box accommodates

the digits 1 to 9, without

repeating any. The

solution to yesterday’s

puzzle is at left.

SU | DO | KU

VARIETY

ZURICH: Twice Olympic cham-pion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Prycestreaked to victory in the Dia-mond League women's 100metres final on Thursday with atime of 10.93 seconds against ahead wind on a cold, blusteryevening.

The 28-year-old Jamaican,who dyed her hair green for hersuccessful world title defencein Beijing last month before re-verting to black, picked up$40,000 for winning the Dia-mond League trophy in herevent.

Sixteen finals were staged onThursday at a meeting whichfeatured 20 individual goldmedallists from Beijing. The re-maining 16 events will be decid-ed in Brussels on Sept. 11.

“There is no more to ask, Iwon the world championshipsand the Diamond race,” saidFraser-Pryce. “I was eager tocome back on the track afterBeijing and I just enjoy thismeeting.”

Britain's Greg Rutherford,who added the world men'slong jump title to his Olympic,European and Commonwealthgold medals in Beijing, showedhis competitive grit after a longseason to win on a countbackfrom American Marquis Dendyand clinch the Diamond Leaguetrophy. Both men leaped 8.32metres.

However, Wayde van Niek-erk, David Rudisha and MariaArzamasova failed to repro-duce their world title-winningform.

Poland’s Adam Kszczot wona high-quality 800m, beatingout Kenya’s world record hold-er and newly-minted worldchampion Rudisha.

Delight for Fraser-Pryce, RutherfordWorld champions van Niekerk, Rudisha and Arzamasova fail to deliver

PEERLESS: Greg Rutherford proved he is the world'sbest in long jump adding the Diamond Trophy tohis impressive collection of global titles. — PHOTO: AP

World champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryceposes with her trophy.— PHOTO: AP

In the 400m, AmericanLaShawn Merritt got the betterof van Niekerk and in the wom-en’s 800m, Kenyan Eunice Sumgained a degree of revenge overArzamasova, winning in1:59.14. Genzebe Dibaba againplayed second fiddle to Ethio-pian teammate Almaz Ayana,this time in the 3000m, whichthe latter outsprinted the for-mer to win in a meeting recordof 8:22.34.

The results: Men: 200m: 1. AlonsoEdward (Pan) 20.03s, 2. RasheedDwyer (Jam) 20.20, 3. Anaso Jobod-wana (RSA) 20.24; 400m: 1. LaShawnMerritt (USA) 44.18s, 2. Kirani James

(GRN) 44.28, 3. Wayde van Niekerk(RSA) 44.35; 800m: 1. Adam Kszczot(Pol) 1:45.55s, 2. Taoufik Makhloufi(Alg) 1:45.62, 3. Mohammed Aman(Eth) 1:45.83.1500m: 1. Asbel Kiprop(KEN) 3:35.79s, 2. Elijah Motonei Ma-nangoi (Ken) 3:36.01, 3. Robert Biwott(Ken) 3:36.04; 110m hurdles: 1. Ser-gey Shubenkov (Rus) 13.14s, 2. DavidOliver (USA) 13.30, 3. Orlando Ortega(Cub) 13.30. 400m hurdles: 1. KariemHussein (Sui) 49.16s, 2. Rasmus Magi(Est) 49.37, 3. Thomas Barr (Eir)49.79; 3000m steeplechase: 1. PaulKipsiele Koech (Ken) 8:10.24s, 2. Jai-rus Kipchoge (Ken) 8:15.64, 3. EvanJager (USA) 8:18.39.

Long jump: 1. Greg Rutherford(GBr) 8.32m, 2. Marquis Dendy (USA)8.32, 3. 3. Fabrice Lapierre (Aus) 8.27;Discus: 1. Robert Urbanek (Pol)65.78m, 2. Piotr Malachowski (Pol)65.04, 3. Gerd Kanter (Est) 64.38.

Women: 100m: 1. Shelly-AnnFraser-Pryce (Jam) 10.93s, 2. Bless-ing Okagbare (Ngr) 10.98, 3. Tori Bo-wie (USA) 11.06. 800m: 1. EuniceJepkoech Sum (Ken) 1:59.14s, 2. Lyn-sey Sharp (GBr) 1:59.37, 3. FabienneKohlmann (Ger) 1:59.68; 3000m: 1.Almaz Ayana (Eth) 8:22.34s, 2. Gen-zebe Dibaba (Eth) 8:26.54, 3. SenbereTeferi (Eth) 8:34.32; 400m hurdles: 1.Zuzana Hejnova (Cze) 54.47s, 2. SaraPetersen (Den) 54.57, 3. GeorganneMoline (USA) 54.89; Long jump: 1.Ivana Spanovic (SRB) 7.02m, 2. Tian-na Bartoletta (USA) 6.97, 3. SharaProctor (GBr) 6.58; Pole vault: 1. Ni-koleta Kiriakopoulou (Gre) 4.77m, 2.Fabiana Murer (Bra) & Yarisley Silva(Cub) 4.72; Shot put: 1. ChristinaSchwanitz (Ger) 19.91m, 2. MichelleCarter (USA) 19.12, 3. Anita Marton(Hun) 18.42; Javelin: 1. Barbora Spo-takova (Cze) 64.31m, 2. ElizabethGleadle (Can) 62.70, 3. Kathrina Mol-itor (Ger) 62.43. — Agencies

The winners so far in theDiamond Race, with eachreceiving a diamond trophyand a cash prize. The secondlot of 16 winners will beknown after the second finalin Brussels, the 14th andfinal leg of the DiamondLeague, on September 11.

Men: 200m: Alonso Edward(Pan), 400m: Kirani James (Grn),1500m: Asbel Kiprop (Ken), 110mhurdles: David Oliver (USA),3000m steeplechase: Jairus

Birech (Ken), Long jump: GregRutherford (GBr), High jump:Mutaz Essa Barshim (Qat) andDiscus: Piotr Malachowski (Pol).

Women: 100m: Shelly-AnnFraser-Pryce (Jam), 800m: EuniceSum (Ken), 3000m: GenzebeDibaba (Eth), 400m hurdles:Zuzana Hejnova (Cze), Longjump: Tianna Bartoletta (USA),Pole vault: Nikoleta Kiriakopoulou(Gre), Shot put: ChristinaSchwanitz (Ger), Javelin: BarboraSpotakova (Cze).

Champions All

CHENNAI: ‘Mine!’ shouted oneand smashed the ball. ‘Yours!’he cried on the next ball, leav-ing the smashing to his partner.‘Leave!’ was the call later, as theball sailed long.

These scenes were repeatedas the top-seeded duo of N. Vi-jay Sundar Prashanth and Jee-van Nedunchezhiyan tangoedtogether — not always perfectlybut well enough — to claimtheir second successive ITFFutures doubles title, this timein the Raman Sports Trust$10,000 event at the Power Paktennis courts here on Fridayevening.

Playing the Russo-Kazakhcombine of Markos Kalovelo-nis and Timur Khabibulin, Jee-van and Vijay were seeminglyup against it after a series ofhowlers saw them go a setdown. Potential easy winnerswere buried into the net or hitout wildly; Jeevan gave vent tohis feelings by kicking the netand the ball while Vijay stoodthere with a bemused look afterhis transgressions.

Slowly but surely, though,they caught the rhythm, andgot more things right thanwrong in the second set and inthe match tie-break.

“Doubles with Vijay is fun.We share a good relationship,”said Jeevan, indicating howcommunication is important,so too is the enjoyment of play-ing together.

“Also, this, unlike the singles,is not so physically demanding.And in the late afternoon theconditions are also better com-pared to the morning session.”

It will be a similar post-noonsingles final that awaits Jeevan

on Saturday; he had earlierbeen stretched to three sets byyet another gutsy performanceby Sidharth Rawat in the sin-gles semifinals.

For the title, Jeevan playsPrajnesh Gunneswaran, whohe had lost to in the quarterfi-nals last week. The wildcard’s75-minute straight-set dis-missal of sixth seed Kaza Vi-nayak Sharma handed Prajnesh

a hat-trick of wins against seed-ed players this week, and he willbe keen to notch up yet anotherhigh-profile victim.

The results: Semifinals: JeevanNedunchezhiyan bt Sidharth Rawat 6-7(3), 6-3, 6-3; Prajnesh Gunneswaranbt Kaza Vinayak Sharma 6-2, 6-4.Doubles: Final: N. Vijay SundarPrashanth & Jeevan Nedunchezhiyanbt Markos Kalovelonis (Rus) & TimurKhabibulin (Kaz) 4-6, 6-3, 10-4.

TENNIS

Vijay & Jeevan bag title

PUTTING IT AWAY: From a set down, JeevanNedunchezhiyan and Vijay Sundar Prasanth foundtheir rhythm to wrap up their second title win in asmany weeks. — PHOTO: R. RAGU

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: Cricketers in Rajas-than can look forward to partic-ipating in Board-conductedtournaments this season fol-lowing the formation of a com-mittee to carry on the task.

The Board of Control forCricket in India (BCCI) on Fri-day constituted an ad-hoc com-mittee for managing cricketaffairs in Rajasthan, which hadbeen suspended for havingelected Lalit Modi as presidentof the State association.

“The committee has beentasked to ensure the participa-tion of Rajasthan teams in vari-ous BCCI tournaments in theupcoming domestic season,”said a press release. The com-mittee will comprise C.K.Khanna, Milind Kanmadikar,Snehal Parikh and P.V. Shettywith Amrit Mathur ascoordinator.

Rajasthan cricketers in allage groups had been uncertainabout their participation in do-mestic cricket in the absence ofany communication fromBCCI. Last season, cricket inRajasthan had been managedby the Board, which has adopt-ed the same strategy this yeartoo.

Commenting on the appoint-ment of the committee, BCCIpresident Jagmohan Dalmiya,

said, “This step is in line withthe BCCI philosophy of keep-ing the interests of cricket andplayers on top priority.

“Like any other side playingdomestic cricket in India, Ra-jasthan players will have all thefacilities, exposure and oppor-tunities required to performand excel.”

BCCI secretary Anurag Tha-kur, who had been approachedby some cricketers to help thegame survive in Rajasthan,said: “This move is to ensurethat the interests of players areprotected and they are provid-ed every possible opportunity.

“The BCCI is committed tosupporting cricket in Rajasthanand ensuring that players at alllevels are able to play and par-ticipate in BCCI tournamentsin a positive environment.”

Immediate challenge

The immediate challengefacing Rajasthan is to identifymethods of picking teams forvarious tournaments in the ab-sence of any preparatory tour-naments.

BCCI will also constitute aselection committee for thepurpose with a possible induc-tion of a member from the Na-tional panel.

Last year, Roger Binny wasinvolved in the selection proc-ess.

CRICKET

BCCI formspanel to handleRCA affairsSpecial Correspondent

VISAKHAPATNAM: The city ofdestiny — Visakhapatnam — isall set to host the biggest athlet-ics event in its history when thethree-day Shriram PropertiesNational Inter-District JuniorAthletics Meet (NIDJAM)kick-starts at the Port Stadiumhere on Saturday.

Thousands of rookie ath-letes, in the u-14 and u-16 seg-ments, from all over thecountry will showcase their tal-ent in front of administrators,selectors and veterans of theathletics fraternity.

The event has received a re-cord 3,284 entries including1,210 girls from 292 districts. Inthe last edition held at Ranchi2,700 athletes took part.

This mega event, organisedby the Athletics Federation ofIndia (AFI) to spot raw talent inthe country, is being organisedfor the first time in South India.The earlier 12 editions wereheld at Haridwar and Ranchi.

“The Athletics Federation ofIndia’s team of talent-hunterswill also be spotting talent forthe national youth camp on thebasis of their performancehere.

NIDJAM will feature 30events in track and field in bothage categories.

Twenty events will be heldfor u-16 and 10 for u-14,” saidAFI COO Manish Kumar.

AFI president Adille Sumari-walla, secretary C.K. Walson,Arjuna awardee and long jump-er Anju Bobby George, veteranathlete Gurbachan Singh Rand-hawa and selection committeemember J.S. Saini will witnessthe proceedings.

AFI is providing all facilitiesfor the participants, coachesand technical officials and pay-ing their travelling expenses.

Chief Minister ChandrababuNaidu will inaugurate the eventon Saturday.

“We will be using the newequipments that we bought forthe junior National meet at Vi-jayawada early this year. Wehave also brought equipmentfrom the Acharya NagajurnaUniversity athletics academy,”said APAA secretary A.V.Raghavendra.

The 600m (u-14 boys andgirls), javelin (u-16 girls), shotput (u-16 boys and girls) andlong jump (u-14 boys and girls)finals will be held on the inau-gural day.

ATHLETICS

NIDJAM all set toproject rookie talent J.R. Shridharan

MUMBAI: All India Football Fed-eration (AIFF) president Pra-ful Patel emphasised thatI-League remains the country’spremier football competition,but also praised the Indian Su-per League (ISL) for putting In-dian football on the world map.

The federation chief is pull-ing the I-League clubs and ISLtowards a future merger,though the specifics remain tobe worked out between theclubs, ISL organiser Interna-tional Management Group-Re-liance and the AIFF.

Speaking after initiating aninteraction between the threeparties, Patel said: “I-League isIndia’s main league.

“The Indian Super Leaguemay be called a league, but is infact a tournament, like the Rov-ers Cup.”

Referring to the purpose ofFriday’s meeting, Patel said:“We are working towards oneentity in future, bringing to-gether I-League clubs and theISL. A working group will beformed to work out the path.”

Asked about the success ofthe ISL, he said: “The ISL has

been a reasonable success andgetting better. Young players(foreigners) have been signedby the clubs for season two.”

He clarified that it was tooearly to say when the mergerwould happen.

“Many more discussionshave to take place among theworking group, which has rep-resentatives from I-Leagueclubs, IMG-R and AIFF.”

Royal Wahingdoh was theonly absentee from among I-League club owners or teammanagement attending themeeting. Representatives fromIMG and Reliance Industrieswere also present.

The I-League clubs ex-pressed their views on variousaspects, so did IMG-R aboutthe merger concept initiated bythe AIFF president. Patel said:“There is naturally anxiety in

I-League clubs, especially afterthe ISL started.

“We are aware about the lowattendance due to matchestimed at 3p.m. Who will cometo watch in that heat?” He add-ed: “Now some club matchesare played in the evening.There is also a spill-over effectof the ISL interest on I-Leagueattendances. The game is alsogetting attention from the cor-porates.”The Pune FC manage-ment and Kalyani Bharat FCofficial were present. The fed-eration chief ruled out anydoubts over their participation.

“Both will be meeting me. AsI see it, the three Pune clubscan come together.”

FC Pune City is the only oth-er team from Pune involved inIndian football, competing onlyin ISL. “We have to look at oth-er issues also when moving to-wards the merger, there is theissue of heritage clubs in Kolka-ta and Goa.”

The AIFF chief promisedmore discussions with clubsand organisations. “We will an-nounce a working group, to befollowed by a core group. At alater stage, I wish to call in a fewISL teams for their thoughts.”

FOOTBALL

AIFF mulling I-League-ISL mergerNandakumar Marar

A working group is tobe formed

The specifics remain tobe worked out betweenthe clubs

BENGALURU: The Indian footballteam arrived here on Friday,ahead of its 2018 World Cuppreliminary joint qualificationmatch against Iran on Septem-ber 8.

The 23-man squad landed inthe afternoon from Pune; Holi-charan Narzary, Lalchhuanma-wia, Karanjit Singh, Brandon

Fernandes and Sanjiban Ghoshwere those from the nationalcamp for the 28 ‘probables’ whowere left out.

India will look to improvequickly after being held to agoalless draw by Nepal in theirfriendly on August 31.

“We have great support here;the fans really get behind theNational team,” coach StephenConstantine said on arrival.

“I hope we can give the fanssomething to cheer about. Itwill be a very difficult match,but that’s the time you can dis-cover whom you can dependon.”

Meanwhile, Iran, ranked 40in the world, thrashed Guam6-0 in the qualifying match inTehran on Thursday, and is ex-pected to arrive in Bengaluruon Sunday.

Indian team arrives in BengaluruPrincipal Correspondent

BANGKOK: Former WorldChampionships bronze-medal-list Vikas Krishan (75kg) wasthe lone Indian to make the fi-nal while three others settledfor bronze medals after losinghard-fought semifinal contestsin the Asian Boxing Champion-ships here on Friday.

Vikas defeated Iraq’s Wa-

heed Abdulridha 3-0 to set up aclash with Uzbekistan’s Bekte-mir Melikuziev in the final onSaturday.

However, Satish Kumar(+91kg), L. Devendro (49kg)and defending champion ShivaThapa (56kg) lost their respec-tive semifinals and settled forbronze medals. — PTI

BOXING

Vikas enters final

CMYK

ND-ND


NOIDA/DELHI

SPORTTelecast schedule

England v Australia: 2nd ODI, STAR Sports1 & HD1, 3 p.m.; Italian F1 GP: Qualifying race, STARSports4 & HD4, 5.25 p.m.; US Open: TEN Sports & TEN HD, 8.30 p.m. & 4.30 a.m. (Sunday)Euro qualifiers: Sony Six 12 midnight, Sony Kix & Sony Six HD 9 p.m. & 12 midnight

Deflating a row

We continue to have full confidence in the safety, quality and suitability of its tyres. Competitors should heedPirelli’s expert advice when setting their race strategy and tactics, and if they do not, it is at their own risk. — F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone defusing the row over the quality of Pirelli’s tyres

Out of the world

So difficult to enjoy yourself when you are playing aMartian. Good luck Roger Federer. — Steve Darcis onTwitter after his loss to the five-time champion

NEW YORK: Five-time championRoger Federer strolled into theUS Open third round on Thurs-day as fellow old-timer LleytonHewitt bid farewell in trade-mark fighting style.

On a dramatic day which sawa record created for the longestwomen’s match, and a newGrand Slam high for retire-ments from the men’s tourna-ment, Andy Murray escaped hisearliest exit in 10 years when hecame back from two sets downto make the last 32.

There was also a late securityscare when a drone crashed in-to the corner of Louis Arm-strong Stadium.

Then, after midnight, 2009and 2014 runner-up CarolineWozniacki, the fourth seed, wasknocked out by Czech worldnumber 149 Petra Cetkovskawho saved four match points towin 6-4, 5-7, 7-6(1).

World No. 2 Federer, the 17-time Grand Slam champion,needed just 80 minutes to routBelgium’s Steve Darcis 6-1, 6-2,6-1.

The 34-year-old Swiss star,who was champion from 2004-2008 and runner-up in 2009,goes on to face German 29thseed Philipp Kohlschreiber.

Strong beginning

Federer has lost just ninegames in the first two rounds,his fewest in 16 appearances.

“Very often I started thistournament quite strong. It’salways gone quite well for me,”said Federer.

“I’ve always enjoyed condi-tions here, the balls, the speedof the court, the atmosphere in

the arena. It’s always workedvery well for me.”

Third seed and 2012 cham-pion Murray came back fromtwo sets down to defeat tiringFrenchman Adrian Mannarino5-7, 4-6, 6-1, 6-3, 6-1 on ArthurAshe Stadium.

Murray, 28, who had neededfour sets to beat Nick Kyrgios inthe opening round, fired 21 aceswhile Mannarino was undoneby 61 unforced errors.

Former world No. 1 Hewitt,the champion in 2001, made adramatic farewell battling fromtwo sets down and having twomatch points before losing tofellow Australian BernardTomic on a rocking Grandstandcourt.

In his final match in NewYork, the 34-year-old fell 6-3,6-2, 3-6, 5-7, 7-5 after threehours and 27 minutes after his57th career five-set match.

Hewitt will retire after Ja-nuary’s Australian Open. “Iwould have liked to have beenable to enjoy it a bit more,” saidHewitt who was described as a“legend” by Tomic.

“But obviously when it’s sotight, especially in the fifth set,you’re just trying to find a wayto obviously get across theline.”

America’s Jack Sock and De-nis Istomin retired from theirmatches as they wilted in the33-degree Celsius heat.

Dubious record

Twelve men — a record at theMajors — as well as two womenhave now quit matches in thefirst four days.

The 22-year-old Sock wasleading Belgium’s Ruben Be-melmans 6-4, 6-4, 3-6, 1-2when he started cramping andwas forced to retire.

Sock, the 28th seed, col-lapsed on the court, where hewas treated with ice packs byUS Open medical staff beforebeing helped off to the shade ofthe Grandstand.

Longest match

Britain’s world number 97Johanna Konta made historywhen she defeated Wimbledonrunner-up Garbine Muguruzain the longest women’s matchin US Open history.

Konta won 7-6(4), 6-7(4), 6-2in 3 hours 23 minutes, beatingby seven minutes the previouslongest match played in 2011when Samantha Stosur defeat-ed Nadia Petrova.

The defeats for Muguruzaand Wozniacki left just three ofthe top 10 left in the tourna-ment — Serena Williams, Simo-na Halep and Petra Kvitova. —AFP

Hewitt bids adieu after a five-setterFederer and Murray progress; Wozniacki crashes out

A FIGHTER EXITS: Former champion Lleyton Hewitt made a dramatic farewell,battling back from two sets down, only to lose to fellow-AustralianBernard Tomic. — PHOTO: REUTERS

NEW YORK: America’s Jack Sockfainted in 33-degree heat andwas carried off court at the USOpen as the number of menquitting hit a Grand Slam re-cord 12.

The 22-year-old was leadingBelgium’s Ruben Bemelmanswhen he started cramping andwas forced to retire.

The 28th seed then collapsedon the court, where he wastreated with ice packs and coldtowels by US Open medicalstaff before being helped off to

the shade of the GrandstandCourt.

He became the 11th man toretire from a match at thisyear’s tournament, which hasbeen played in 30-plus heat ev-ery day. Just hours later, DenisIstomin of Uzbekistan becamethe 12th when he called it quitsagainst Austrian DominicThiem.

Two women also retired inthe first round, taking the totalfor this year’s US Open to 14. —Agencies

Energy-sapping heatlaying them low

DOWN AND OUT: A visibly distressed Jack Sock isgiven assistance after he collapsed because ofextreme heat conditions at the Open. — PHOTO: AFP

Men: Third round: Jo-WilfriedTsonga (Fra) bt Sergiy Stakhovsky(Ukr) 6-3, 7-5, 6-2; Benoit Paire (Fra)bt 26-Tommy Robredo (Esp) 7-6(3),6-1, 6-1.

Second round: 2-Roger Federer(Sui) bt Steve Darcis (Bel) 6-1, 6-2,6-1; 15-Kevin Anderson (RSA) bt Aus-tin Krajicek (USA) 6-3, 6-4, 6-2; 31-Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (Esp) bt Nico-las Mahut (Fra) 6-4, 6-2, 6-7(4), 6-1;Jiri Vesely (Cze) bt 21-Ivo Karlovic(Cro) 7-6(3), 3-6, 3-6, 6-2, 7-6(4); Do-nald Young (USA) bt Aljaz Bedene(GBr) 3-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-2; 13-John Isner(USA) bt Mikhail Youzhny (Rus) 6-3,6-4, 6-4; 20-Dominic Thiem (Aut) btDenis Istomin (Uzb) 6-4, 6-4, 1-0 retd.22-Viktor Troicki (Srb) bt Rajeev Ram(USA) 7-6(10), 6-4, 3-6, 6-3; RubenBemelmans (Bel) bt 28-Jack Sock(USA) 4-6, 4-6, 6-3, 2-1 retd. 5-StanWawrinka (Sui) bt Chung Hyeon (Kor)7-6(2), 7-6(4), 7-6(6); 24-BernardTomic (Aus) bt Lleyton Hewitt (Aus)6-3, 6-2, 3-6, 5-7, 7-5; 12-RichardGasquet (Fra) bt Robin Haase (Ned)4-6, 6-3, 7-6(4), 6-4; 6-Tomas Berdych(Cze) bt Jurgen Melzer (Aut) 7-6(2),6-1, 6-3; 29-Philipp Kohlschreiber(Ger) bt Lukas Rosol (Cze) 7-6(4), 6-2,6-2; 3-Andy Murray (GBr) bt AdrianMannarino (Fra) 5-7, 4-6, 6-1, 6-3, 6-1.

Doubles: Second round: SteveJohnson & Sam Querrey (USA) bt

Leander Paes (Ind) & Fernando Ver-dasco (Esp) 7-5, 4-6, 6-3.

First round: Paes & Verdasco btFlorian Mayer (Ger) & Frank Moder(Ger) 6-2 6-3.

Women: Third round: KristinaMladenovic (Fra) bt Darya Kasatkina(Rus) 6-2, 6-3; 13-Ekaterina Makarova(Rus) bt 17-Elina Svitolina (Ukr) 6-3,7-5.

Second round: Petra Cetkovska(Cze) bt 4-Caroline Wozniacki (Den)6-4, 5-7, 7-6(1); 24-Sabine Lisicki(Ger) bt Camila Giorgi (Ita) 6-4, 6-0;Shelby Rogers (USA) bt Kurumi Nara(Jpn) 6-4, 6-4; Barbora Strycova (Cze)bt Wang Qiang (Chn) 6-2, 4-6, 7-5;Mona Barthel (Ger) bt Olga Govort-sova (Blr) 2-6, 6-2, 6-4; 2-Simona Ha-lep (Rom) bt Kateryna Bondarenko(Ukr) 6-3, 6-4; 11-Angelique Kerber(Ger) bt Karin Knapp (Ita) 7-5, 6-2;Johanna Konta (GBr) bt 9-GarbineMuguruza Blanco (Esp) 7-6(4), 6-7(4),6-2; 32-Anna Karolina Schmiedlova(Svk) bt Danka Kovinic (MNE) 6-4,5-7, 6-4; 26-Flavia Pennetta (Ita) btMonica Niculescu (Rom) 6-1, 6-4; 5-Petra Kvitova (Cze) bt Nicole Gibbs(USA) 6-3 6-4.

Doubles: First round: 1-MartinaHingis (Sui) & Sania Mirza (Ind) btKaitlyn Christian (USA) & SabrinaSantamaria (USA) 6-1, 6-2.

US OPEN RESULTS

NEW YORK: Indian star LeanderPaes and Spaniard FernandoVerdasco went down to SteveJohnson and Sam Querrey ofthe United States 7-5, 4-6, 6-3,in the second round of themen’s doubles event at the USOpen on Friday.

Paes and Verdasco had bea-ten Germans Florian Mayerand Frank Moder 6-2, 6-3 inthe opening round onThursday.

It took Paes and Verdascojust 62 minutes to advance asthey saved two break chancesand converted all the threebreakpoints they earned.

Sania-Hingis advanceIn women’s doubles, the top-

seeded Indo-Swiss pair of Saniaand Martina Hingis dispatchedAmericans Kaitlyn Christianand Sabrina Santamaria 6-1,6-2.

However, the hot favouriteswere broken twice in the 56-minute match in which theybroke their rivals seven times.— PTI

Paes-Verdascogo down insecond round

NEW DELHI: Second seed SomdevDevvarman failed to capitaliseon a rousing start as he wasbeaten 0-6, 7-5, 6-3 by Ti Chenof Chinese Taipei in the quar-terfinals of the $50,000 Chal-lenger tennis tournament inBangkok, Thailand, on Friday.Somdev collected $1460 and 15ATP points.In the $15,000 ITFmen’s Futures event in Calgary,sixth seed Sanam Singh madethe quarterfinals. In the

$15,000 women’s event in Bar-celona, Snehadevi Reddycruised past qualifier SeoneMendez of Australia.

Karman for US OpenKarman Kaur Thandi made

the girls’ singles semifinals ofthe ITF grade-1 junior tennistournament in Quebec, Cana-da, and the effort gained her anentry into the main draw of theUS Open junior event, as a “spe-cial exempt”. Otherwise, Kar-man, ranked 86th in the world,

was scheduled to go throughthe qualifying event.

The results: $50,000 Challengermen, Bangkok, Thailand: Singles(quarterfinals): Ti Chen (Tpe) btSomdev Devvarman 0-6, 7-5, 6-3.

$15,000 ITF men, Calgary, Cana-da: Singles (first round): SanamSingh bt Raleigh Smith (US) 6-1, 6-4.

$15,000 ITF women, Barcelona,Spain: Singles (quarterfinals): Sne-hadevi Reddy bt Seone Mendez (Aus)6-4, 6-2.

$10,000 ITF women, Sharm ElSheikh, Egypt: Singles (pre-quar-terfinals): Kanika Vaidya bt HortenciaBirnbaumer (Bol) 6-0, 6-4.

Doubles (quarterfinals): YuliaBryzgalova (Rus) & Kanika Vaidya btKamonwal Buayam (Tha) & AnastasiaKharchenko (Ukr) 6-7(4), 7-6(9), 10-2.

ITF grade-1 juniors, Quebec,Canada: Girls (quarterfinals): Kar-man Kaur Thandi bt Emily Arbuthnott(GBr) 6-2, 6-2.

Doubles (semifinals): Bianca Va-nessa Andreescu & Katherine Sebov(Can) bt Jessica Hinojosa Gomez(Mex) & Y. Pranjala 3-6, 7-5, 10-5.

Devvarman bows out

INDIANS ABROAD

Australia: 305 for six in 50 overs. England: J. Roy c Warner b Max-

well 67, A. Hales c Watson b Marsh 22,J. Taylor b Watson 49, E. Morgan cWade b Watson 38, B. Stokes c Burnsb Starc 13, J. Buttler c Marsh b Coul-ter-Nile 4, M. Ali c Marsh b Cummins17, C. Woakes c Wade b Coulter-Nile0, A. Rashid c Wade b Starc 11, M.Wood (not out) 10, S. Finn b Cummins10; Extras (lb-1, w-4): 5; Total (in 45.3overs): 246.

Fall of wickets: 1-70, 2-112, 3-152, 4-172, 5-194, 6-194, 7-194, 8-220, 9-232.

Australia bowling: Starc 10-0-55-2, Coulter-Nile 8-1-39-2, Cummins9.3-1-48-2, Marsh 4-1-35-1, Watson8-0-39-2, Maxwell 6-0-29-1.

Man-of-the-match: Wade.

SCOREBOARD

NEW DELHI: Gurpreet Singh’shunt for a global medal contin-ued to be elusive as the Armyshooter ended up sixth in the25-metre rapid fire pistol in theWorld Cup Final in Munich,Germany, on Friday.

The 27-year-old Gurpreetwho has won the Olympic quo-ta place in air pistol, apart fromgold medals in CommonwealthGames, qualified in the secondplace with a score of 585, oneshort of his best score that heachieved in the last World Cupin Gabala. He had 98.5 and 99per cent accuracy in the 8-sec-ond and 6-second series re-spectively, but that dipped a bitto 95 per cent in the 4-secondseries.

However, in the final, shot inthe demanding 4-second series,Gurpreet failed to assert hisclass. It was no consolation thatthe top six did not feature thereigning Olympic championLeuris Pupo of Cuba and theBeijing Games bronze medal-list Christian Reitz of Germany,or for that matter, the gold andsilver medallists of the lastWorld Cup Hu Haozhe and LaoJiajie of China.

Gurpreet, who had finished

fourth and fifth in two WorldCups this season in rapid firepistol, shot 11 out of 20 and goteliminated first.

The reigning World juniorchampion Jean Quiquampoixof France shot a world juniorrecord of 32 to pip the defend-ing champion Leonid Ekimovof Russia by one point in thefinal. The reigning WorldChampion and Asian Gameschampion Kim Jun Hong ofKorea was pushed to thebronze medal.

Meannwhile, Olympic silvermedallist Guntegmaa Otryad ofMongolia broke through theChinese stranglehold to takethe silver behind the reigningWorld Champion and AsianGames champion ZhangJingjing.

The results:Men: 25m rapid fire pistol: 1. Jean

Quiquampoix (Fra) 32 FWRJ (582); 2.Leonid Ekimov (Rus) 31 (587); 3. KimJun Hong (Kor) 27 (582); 6. GurpreetSingh 11 (585).

Women: 25m sports pistol: 1.Zhang Jingjing (Chn) 7 (17) 584; 2.Gundegmaa Otryad (Mgl) 3 (17) 583;3. Cao Lijia (Chn) 8 (15) 588; 4. LinYuemei (Chn) 0 (15) 587. — SpecialCorrespondent

SHOOTING

Global medal keepseluding Gurpreet

SOUTHAMPTON: Australia, bid-ding to avenge its defeat in theAshes earlier in the tour, went1-0 up in the One-Day Interna-tional series when it beat En-gland by 59 runs here onThursday.

Australia chalked up 305 forsix after captain Steve Smithelected to bat. England wasbowled out for 246 with Wat-son, Starc, Cummins and Coul-ter-Nile claiming two wicketsapiece.

Openers Jason Roy and AlexHales gave England a flyingstart in the chase, surging to 70before the latter was caught byShane Watson off the bowlingof Marsh for 22.

Roy went on to compile 67off 64 deliveries but Australiachipped away with regularwickets.

Skipper Eoin Morgan, JosButtler and Chris Woakes fellin the space of four balls as thehosts collapsed from 194 for

four to 194 for seven.The second game in the five-

match series will be played atLord’s on Saturday. — Reuters

CRICKET

Australia goes 1-0 up

CMYK

ND-ND


NOIDA/DELHI

september 5

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