PM: INDIA CANNOT SUFFERTERRORISM TILL ETERNITYGhaziabad: Prime MinisterNarendra Modi on Sunday sent across a strong message toterrorist forces targeting India,saying the country cannot keepsuffering forever and that hisGovernment has taken some“strong decisions” against suchelements.

PRESIDENT TO FELICITATEPADMA AWARDEES TODAYNew Delhi: Fifty-six of the 112“inspiring” personalities, whowere selected for this year’sPadma awards, will be conferredthe prestigious honour onMonday by President Ram NathKovind at a special function inRashtrapati Bhavan, officialssaid.

AAP GOVT FLOATS GLOBALTENDERS FOR 375 E-BUSESNew Delhi: The DelhiGovernment has issued global tenders for engagement of 375of the 1,000 electric buses it has decided to procure to combathigh levels of air pollution andboost public transport in thenational Capital.

AIADMK FINALISES LSPOLL PACT WITH DMDKChennai: Ending days ofsuspense and hard bargain, the ruling AIADMK on Sundayinked an electoral pact withDMDK led by actor-turnedpolitician Vijayakanth, allotting itfour of the 39 Lok Sabha seatsin Tamil Nadu.

PETROL PRICES UP BY9-10 PAISE ON SUNDAYNew Delhi: Petrol prices rose inthe range of 9 to 10 paise in thefour metropolitan cities of thecountry on Sunday, while dieselprices remained unchanged.In the national Capital, petrolwas priced at `72.40 a litre, 9paise higher than Saturday’slevel.

GOVT CANCELS ROUNDSOF COAL MINES AUCTIONNew Delhi: The Centre hascancelled the sixth and seventhrounds of coal mines auctionunder which it was planning toput on sale 19 blocks.

CAPSULE

PNS n NEW DELHI

The Lok Sabha elections willbe held in seven phases

from April 11 to May 19 andthe votes will be counted onMay 23, announced the ChiefElection Commissioner (CEC)on Sunday.

Calling the Indian parlia-mentary battle the “largest fes-tival of democracy”, CEC SunilArora on Sunday said 91 con-stituencies (spread across 20States) will see polling on April11, followed by 97 constituen-cies spreading across 13 Stateson April 18, 115 Lok Sabhaconstituencies in 14 States onApril 23, while 71 in 9States/UTs on April 29, 51Parliamentary constituenciesin seven States on May 6, 59constituencies (also 7 States) onMay 12 and 59 constituencies(8 States) on May 19.

With nearly 90 crore vot-ers across 10 lakh booths in 543constituencies as against aboutnine lakh in 2014, India is setto hold its 17th Lok Sabha elec-tions over the next few weeks.

Arora announced that the voterverifiable paper audit trail(VVPAT) will be used in allpolling stations this time.

“With the announcementof the polls, the model code ofconduct would come intoimmediate effect from Sunday,”Arora said.

The tenure of the currentLok Sabha ends on June 3.Assembly polls in AndhraPradesh, Arunachal, Odishaand Sikkim will also be heldsimultaneously. However, elec-tions for the Jammu & KashmirAssembly, which was dissolvedafter the ruling coalitionbetween the BJP and the PDPfell apart, will not be heldalong with the Lok Sabha polls.

Both the NationalConference and PDP have crit-icised the decision not to holdJammu & Kashmir Assemblyelection along with the LokSabha polls.

Questioning ElectionCommission’s decision,National Conference vice-pres-ident Omar Abdullah said,“First time since 1996

Assembly elections in J&K arenot being held on time.Remember this the next timeyou are praising PM Modi forhis strong leadership,”

he tweeted.In another tweet Omar

said, “In 2014 we had LokSabha elections on time &Assembly elections on sched-ule even after the most devas-tating floods. Shows how badly

the BJP & earlier the BJP-PDPmishandled J&K,” Omar wroteon Twitter.

Former Chief Minister andPeoples Democratic Party(PDP) president MehboobaMufti also opposed the deci-

sion taken by the ECI of notholding Assembly and parlia-ment elections simultaneouslyin Jammu & Kashmir.

In a statement, Mehboobasaid, “Postponement ofAssembly polls in Jammu &

Kashmir is tantamount todenying basic rights of thepeople of the State to have apopular Government”. “It isvery dangerous to keep theState in the hands of unelect-ed representatives of theCentre. It will further compli-cate the problems in the Stateand the decision taken byElection Commission needsan immediate review,”Mehbooba said in a statement.

As per EC schedule, Bihar,Uttar Pradesh and West Bengalwill see staggered Lok Sabhaelections spread over all sevenphases starting from April 11to May 19. The nomination forthe first phase of polls willbegin March 18.

The phase I of the LokSabha election will take placeon April 11, 2019. The phase Ipolls will be held in 91 LokSabha constituencies in a totalof 20 States including AndhraPradesh, Arunachal Pradesh,Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh,Jammu & Kashmir,Maharashtra, Manipur,Meghalaya, Mizoram,

Nagaland, Odisha, Sikkim,Telangana, Tripura, UttarPradesh, Uttarakhand, WestBengal, Andaman andLakshadweep.

The polling in the phase IIof Lok Sabha elections will beheld on April 18, 2019 in 97Lok Sabha constituencies of 13States including Assam, Bihar,Chhattisgarh, Jammu &Kashmir, Karnataka,Maharashtra, Manipur, Odisha,Tamil Nadu, Tripura, UttarPradesh, West Bengal andPuducherry.

The third phase of pollingwill be held on April 23 in atotal of 115 constituenciesspread across 14 States. TheStates are: Assam, Bihar,Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Goa,Jammu & Kashmir, Karnataka,Kerala, Maharashtra, Odisha,Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal,Dadra and Nagar Haveli, andDaman and Diu.

The fourth phase of pollingwill on April 29 in 71 con-stituencies spread across nineStates.

Continued on Page 4

7-phase polls from April 11

RAJESH KUMAR n NEW DELHI

With social media becoming a crucial tool

for poll campaign to drum upsupport, the ElectionCommission (EC) on Sundayannounced strict guidelines forthe digital media giants andbrought them under theumbrella of model code ofconduct.

Political parties,

Governments, administrationsand individuals who useFacebook, Twitter, WhatsApp,YouTube, Instagram and otherdigital platforms for postingpoll related materials will haveto adhere to poll watchdog’slaid down ethics.

Announcing the LokSabha elections schedule,Chief Election CommissionerSunil Arora said that

Continued on Page 4

PNS n LUCKNOW

The nominations for thefirst phase of polling in

Uttar Pradesh for 80 Lok Sabhaseats will be issued on March18. This was stated by ChiefElectoral Officer (CEO)Venkateswarlu here on Sunday.

He said that 80 Lok Sabhaseats in the state would go topolls in 7 phases from April 11

to May 19. The counting ofvotes will be taken up on May23.

The second phase of nom-inations for 8 seats will beginon March 19, third phase for 10seats on March 28, fourthphase for 13 seats on April 2,fifth phase for 14 seats on April10, sixth phase for 14 seats onApril 16 and seventh and last

Continued on Page 4

AFP n ADDIS ABABA

Four Indians, including anEnvironment Ministry

consultant, were among thosekilled when a Nairobi-boundEthiopian Airlines planecrashed after take-off fromAddis Ababa, External AffairsMinister Sushma Swaraj said.

The Boeing 737 crashedminutes after an early-morn-ing takeoff from Addis Ababaon Sunday, killing all eightcrew and 149 passengers onboard, Indian EnvironmentMinistry consultant, ShikhaGarg, who was on her way toattend a UNEP meeting. “I am

sorry to know about the unfor-tunate crash of EthiopianAirlines plane ET 302. Wehave lost four Indian nation-als in the air crash. I haveasked Indian HighCommissioner in Ethiopia toprovide all help and assis-tance to the bereaved families,”Swaraj tweeted.

She said the IndianEmbassy in Ethiopia hasinformed her that thedeceased Indian nationals areVaidya Pannagesh Bhaskar,Vaidya Hansin Annagesh,Nukavarapu Manisha andShikha Garg.

Detailed report on P12

PNS n KENDRAPADA

Biju Janata Dal (BJD) supre-mo and Chief Minister

Naveen Patnaik on Sundayannounced a 33 per cent reser-vation for women in the list ofBJD candidates in the upcom-ing Lok Sabha polls.

He made the announce-ment at a Mission Shakti con-vention in Kendrapada.

“In the 1990s, Bijubabushowed the way to the entirecountry by implementing, forthe first time, a 33 per centreservation for women in thethree-tier Panchayati RajInstitutions and Governmentjobs. In 2012, our Governmentenhanced it to 50 per cent.

“Taking the move for-ward last year, ourGovernment for the first timepassed a resolution in theState Legislative Assembly toprovide 33 per cent reserva-tion for women in bothParliament and State legisla-

tures. I have also sent a pro-posal to all the national par-ties and Chief Ministers in thisregard,” Patnaik said

“I would like to announcehere at Kendrapada thatOdisha will send 33 per centwomen to Parliament in thecoming elections. The womenof Odisha will lead the way inwomen empowerment inIndia. If India is to lead theworld, if India is to be anadvanced nation like Americaand China then womenempowerment is the onlyanswer,” Patnaik said in hisaddress to a huge gathering.

“I call upon all the nation-al parties that they be true totheir words and must followwhat they are propagating forwomen empowerment. Thisannouncement at Kendrapara,the sacred land of LordBaladevjew will create historyin the journey of womenempowerment in India,Patnaik added.

TN RAGHUNATHA n MUMBAI

Notwithstanding theElection Commission’s

diktat to political parties todesist from making referencesto Armed forces in their pollcampaign, senior BJP leaderand External Affairs MinisterSushma Swaraj on Sunday indi-cated the IAF’s airstrikes on ter-ror camps in Pakistan would bean issue for her party in the LokSabha polls.

Speaking at a gathering ofthe BJP’s women workers here,Swaraj said the BJP wouldsoon come out with two leaflets— one containing initiativestaken by her party for the wel-fare of women and anotherwith questions counteringissues raised by the Oppositionvis-a-vis the Balakot air strikes.

Exhorting the party work-ers to counter the issues raisedby the Opposition on theBalakot airstrikes, Sushma said,“We should ask questions aboutwhether our jawans shouldcount the dead bodies (after

dropping bombs on terrorcamps) or return safely aftercarrying out the air strike. Ourparty workers should counter-question those who raisedoubts about the impact of ourair strike.”

Sushma said the IAF hadgone to kill the terrorists acrossthe border and not bring thebodies back. “They were sup-posed to go and launch an

attack and return,” she said.Hinting that the BJP would

not shy away from whipping upnationalist fervour during itscampaign for the Lok Sabhapolls, Sushma said, “We (BJP)should ask questions likewhether you (voter) will sup-port parties that side with sep-aratists. We should ask peoplewhether they want to vote forthose who question the valourof our jawans.”

Sushma’s remarks shouldbe seen in the context of thebarbs being exchanged betweenthe Opposition parties and theBJP over the party presidentAmit Shah’s claim that over 250terrorists were killed in theairstrike on the Jaish-e-Mohammed training camp.

The Opposition partieshave demanded to know howShah has arrived at the Balakotcausality figure. On its part, theIAF has taken a stand that it“does not count human casu-alties, only what has been hitand what hasn’t.”.

Continued on Page 4

RAJESH KUMAR n NEW DELHI

What is common to lady’sfinger, green chilli, water-

melon, lunchbox, sewingmachine, pencil box, razor,boat with man and sail, violin,battery torch, man blowingturha, toothbrush and manymore? They are all electionsymbols allotted to 39 regis-tered un-recognised parties setto contest 2019 Lok Sabhaelections.

The Election Commission(EC) on Sunday allotted com-mon party symbols to 39 reg-istered un-recognised partiesthat included filmstar KamalHaasan’s Makkal NeedhiMaiam (MNM) and formerJanata Dal (United) presidentSharad Yadav’s Loktantrik

Janata Dal (LJD). WhileHaasan’s party has been allot-ted “battery torch” as commonsymbol, LJD was given thesymbol of a “man blowingturha”. A person contestingon behalf of a recognised polit-ical party will inherit theparty’s symbol.

Last year in February,Haasan announced his plan toplunge into politics launchinghis political party MakkalNeedhi Maiam (people justicecentre) at a massive rally inMadurai. In December, Haasanannounced that his party willcontest the 2019 Lok Sabhapolls in all the 39 parliamentaryconstituencies of Tamil Naduand the lone seat in PuducherryUnion Territory. The actor-turned-politician then in

February, announced that hisparty would go it alone in theupcoming elections.

An Independent candidateor someone contesting onbehalf of an unrecognisedpolitical party has to approachthe EC and get a symbol allot-ted from the list of free symbolsavailable.

In the case of a recognisedpolitical party, the Commissionallows it to reserve a symbol.For example, if a political partyrecognised in a particular Statewishes to contest in elections inanother State, it can reserve thesymbol being used by it. TheCommission will oblige, pro-vided the symbol is not beingused by anyone else.

As per the EC notification,Yadav’s LJD will contest on all

the 543 parliamentary con-stituencies.

The LJD was floated byYadav in 2018 after his falloutwith Bihar Chief MinisterNitish Kumar over the latter’sdecision to end the alliance withthe RJD and enter into a tie-upwith NDA-led by BJP. After hisfallout, the three-time RajyaSabha member was disqualifiedfrom the Upper House underthe anti-defection law.

Loktantarik RastravadiParty has been allotted “tractorchalata kisan” sympol for 11parliamentary constituenciesin Gujarat. Communist Party ofIndia (Marxist-Leninist)Liberation) has been allotted“flag with three star” symbol.Jharkhand Mukti Morcha(Ulgulan) has been allotted

“bottle” symbol. Jan SanghParty has been allotted “greenchilli” to Delhi and Bihar while“dish antenna” allotted for 416parliamentary constituenciesacross the country.

Bahujan Awam Party hasbeen allotted “toothbrush”symbol to contestParliamentary constituenciesin Uttar Pradesh; HindustanPeople Party has been allotted“pencil box” for Uttar Pradesh,Bihar, Karnataka, GujaratGanasangam Party of Indiaallotted “lady finger” forTelangana, Andhra Pradesh,Karnataka, Kerala andPuducherry MaharashtraParivartan Sena is given ‘sewingmachine’ symbol and ApniParty given “lunchbox” symbolby the EC.

MoEF consultant among 4 Indianskilled in Ethiopian plane crash

BJD to field 33% womencandidates in LS elections,announces CM Naveen

BJP to make Pak airstrikes pollplank: Sushma after EC diktat

39 parties to battle with razor, green chilli, torch

EC tightens noose on social media

UP will also go to

polls in 7 phases

The festival of democracy,Elections are here. I urgemy fellow Indians to enrichthe 2019 Lok Sabhaelections with their activeparticipation. I hope thiselection witnesses a historicturnout. I particularly callupon first time voters tovote in record numbers — Narendra Modi

Ultimately back to We thepeople -the real power of ourdemocracy. Time to throw outthe most dictatorial and anti-federal govt in the history of

India. Time to seek answers ondemonetisation, jobs, destruction oftraders n destroying brotherhood amongstdifferent communities — Arvind Kejriwal

We welcome thedeclaration ofelections for the17th Lok Sabha. Icall upon the people

of India to turnout in recordnumbers and enhance thevibrancy of India’s electoralprocess — Amit Shah

First time since1996 Assemblyelections in J&Kare not beingheld on time.

Remember this the next timeyou are praising PM Modi forhis strong leadership —Omar Abdullah

ECI declaring 7-phase schedulefor general election to elect 17thLok Sabha in the country is awelcome move. Crores of poor,labourers, farmers, women, youth

etc participate in great strength in polling.Respecting them, free, fair and peaceful polling isutmost necessary — Mayawati

The First Law of Democracy: whatgoes up, must come down Thosewho forget this do so at their peril. Aswe celebrate our democracy let usvote for hope and unity. We promise

to work for the poor and our farmers and empower ouryouth and women

—Akhilesh Yadav

The wreckage of the plane that crashed shortly after takeoff from Addis Ababa,Ethiopia on Sunday AP

Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora addresses a Press conference to announce the poll schedule for the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections at Vigyan Bhavan in New Delhi on Sunday PTI

Counting on May 23; simultaneous Assembly polls in Andhra, Arunachal, Odisha & Sikkim but not in J&K

@TheDailyPioneer facebook.com/dailypioneerFollow us on:

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QUICK TAKES

Lucknow: Welcoming theLok Sabha election scheduleannounced on Sunday, BahujanSamaj Party chief Mayawatisaid the people had high hopesfrom the Election Commissionof India that it would take effec-tive measures this time to pre-vent Bharatiya Janata Partyfrom committing irregulari-ties during polling.

Mayawati specifically wel-comed the decision of the pollpanel to hold the Lok Sabhaelections in Uttar Pradesh inseven phases. “Lok Sabha elec-tion is a national festival ofdemocracy and it should be cel-ebrated by ensuring the partic-ipation of the sarvasamaj asdesired by these who framedthe Indian Constitution,” saidMayawati, the former ChiefMinister of UP.

“The current Lok Sabhapoll is very significant for thedowntrodden and underprivi-leged class of India as they havebeen at the receiving end in theBJP rule. The policies ofNarendra Modi government ledto widespread unrest and dis-cord in society,” Mayawati saidin a statement on Monday.

Saying that the people ofIndia deserved a better govern-ment and leadership, Mayawatisaid, “The common man hopesthat the next government to beformed after the election willsafeguard the Constitution anddemocratic institutions, pre-serve and protect the interestsof the sarvasamaj and savethem from the present narrow-minded government which ifpursuing the agenda of pseudonationalism,” the BSP presi-dent said. PNS

Lucknow (PNS): TejPratap Singh Yadav, the sittingSamajwadi Party MP fromMainpuri and grandson ofparty patriarch Mulayam SinghYadav, has rebelled against theparty for being denied ticket forthe 2019 Lok Sabha election.

The SP leadership, in aswift retaliation on Sunday,dissolved the district unit of theparty headed by KhumanSingh Verma. In the first list ofnine candidates announced bythe SP earlier this week, it hasfielded party patron MulayamSingh Yadav from the MainpuriLok Sabha seat.

Sources in the SP said thatparty state president NareshUttam issued the orders onSunday on the directions ofparty chief Akhilesh Yadav.

The supporters of TejPratap Yadav hold party gener-al secretary Ram Gopal Yadavresponsible for the denial ofticket to their leader. Theyburnt the effigy of Ram GopalYadav in Mainpuri on Saturdayand raised slogans denouncinghim.

The sources said that afterthe denial of ticket fromMainpuri, Tej Pratap SinghYadav had demanded ticketfrom any of the four Lok Sabhaseats – Azamgarh, Ghazipur,Sambhal and Jaunpur.

PNS n LUCKNOW

In a veiled attack on opposi-tion parties, Union Home

Minister Rajnath Singh said itwas a mystery why some oppo-sition leaders were rattled bythe surgical strike-II carried outby the Indian Air Force inPakistan and had started ques-tioning the government.

“Pakistan was caught com-pletely unawares by the surgi-cal strike. It received the lessonit deserved. Pakistan is dis-turbed, which is understand-able because of global condem-nation it has got. But it is sur-prising that the IAF strike hasrattled many opposition lead-ers and they are questioning thegovernment,” Rajnath Singhsaid during his interaction withfarmers at the ‘Gaon MeinMann ki Baat programme inBhagwant Nagar area of Unnaoon Sunday.

Some Congress andTrinamool Congress leadershave asked the Union govern-ment to furnish proof of thestrike at Jaish-e-Mohammedterrorist training camp inPakistan’s Balakot.

He said the non-militarystrike by Indian Air Force was

aimed against terrorists. “Weachieved the desired results thatgladdened the hearts of Indians.But many political leaders areupset and are questioning theIndian government, and this isvery confusing,” he said.

Singh said India was nowled by a towering personality likeNarendra Modi and the worldrecognised his efforts for bringthe poor and the farmers intothe mainstream. “The workdone by Modi government insocial sector is unparalleled.The poor who did not have ahouse now have one which alsohas electricity,” he said.

Singh asked the farmers to

tell him their problems so thatthey could be incorporated inthe election manifesto of theBharatiya Janata Party.

“I am the chairman of thecommittee which will draft theelection manifesto. I have cometo you to know what exactly youwant,” he said.

Singh, who representsLucknow in the Lok Sabha, saidit was the first time in the his-tory of Indian politics that apolitical party was preparing itselection agenda after discussionwith people. “Your views areimportant because these willform part of our Sankalp Patra,”he added.

PNS n LUCKNOW

Uttar Pradesh ChiefMinister YogiAdityanath said that the

country was witnessing a newchange because of the pro-peo-ple policies of Prime MinisterNarendra Modi that had amarked positive impact notonly on youths and workers butalso on farmers.

Laying the foundationstone of the Centre ofExcellence in State AgricultureManagement Institute atRehmankheda here on Sunday,the Chief Minister said that forthe first time, farmers were atthe centre of development.

“The state government isimplementing the Central gov-ernment’s policies in letter andspirit, and its impact can beseen,” he said in his address.

Yogi said the PrimeMinister introduced the SoilHealth Card Scheme and theUP government distributed overfour crore soil health cards.

“Irrigation is an importantfactor in agriculture and the UPgovernment has increased 2lakh hectare irrigation capaci-ty by introducing PradhanMantri Krishi Sichai Yojana.The Baan Sagar Project, whichwas started in 1978, was dedi-cated to the people on July 15,2018 by the Prime Minister. Itwas completed with financialsupport from the Centre,” Yogisaid, adding that by December2019, the government wouldprovide additional 20 lakhhectare irrigation facility.

Elaborating on the achieve-ments of the government, theChief Minister said that in2014, the minimum supportprice (MSP) of wheat was`1,460 per quintal and it wasincreased to `1,840 per quin-tal by the Modi government.He said the Central govern-ment also gave an additional`20 per quintal making theMSP `1,860 per quintal.

He pointed out that moneywas also transferred directly tothe account of farmers throughRTGS thus saving them fromclutches of middlemen.

“Farmers are the annadaata (food providers) in thereal sense so they should get therespect they deserve. ThePrime Minister introducedPradhan Mantri KrishiSamman Nidhi under which

the small and marginal farm-ers are paid `6,000 per annumon quarterly basis. The firstinstalment of `2,000 has beencredited in the accounts of thefarmers,” Yogi said.

“Similarly, farmers havebeen given free gas and elec-tricity connections,” he added.

The Chief Minister hon-oured farmers and scientistswho excelled in their fields.

PNS n LUCKNOW

With the aim to placateleaders and workers of

the ruling party and its allies,the Yogi Adityanath govern-ment announced the names ofoffice-bearers and chairper-sons of various state-run cor-porations, councils and boards,hours before the ElectionCommission announced thedates for Lok Sabha electionand the model mode of con-duct came into effect.

The governmentspokesman said that 72 personshad been named either asmembers or chairmen of thestate-run commissions.

In the cleverly drafted list,members of the ruling partyallies, particularly of SuheldeoBharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP)and Apna Dal (Sonelal), havebeen accommodated. Both theallies had been threatening tosever ties with the BharatiyaJanata Party if they did not getrespect and recognition.

Earlier, Backward ClassWelfare Minister Om PrakashRajbhar had questioned theconstitution of Backward ClassCommission as his recom-mendations were not accepted.In protest, he had handed overthe charge of that departmentto the Chief Minister but later

he was placated in a meetingwith Yogi.

Arvind Rajbhar has beenmade the chairman of UPSmall Industries CorporationLimited. He is the son ofCabinet minister Om PrakashRajbhar.

Rana Ajit Pratap Singh,another office-bearer of theSBSP, has been made the chair-man of UP Beej Vikas Nigam(UP Seeds DevelopmentCorporation), an importantstate-run corporation.

Rajeshwar Singh ofKushinagar has been appoint-ed vice-chairman of the SeedDevelopment Corporation.

The government has alsoaccommodated former law-maker and senior BJP leaderlike Shyam Nandan Singh(Firozabad) who has beenmade the chairperson of UPGau Seva Aayog.

Another former MLA,Nawab Singh Nagar (GautamBuddha Nagar) has been madethe chairman of Lal BahadurShastri Cane DevelopmentCorporation. while NeerajShahi (Deoria) has beenappointed as his deputy.

Comedian Raju Srivastava,who joined the BJP last year,has been appointed as chair-man of Film DevelopmentCouncil, Uttar Pradesh.

During Samajwadi Partyregime, Jaya Bachchan waschairperson of the UP FilmDevelopment Council .

Another senior BJP leaderand vice-president of the party,Jayendra Pratap Singh Rathore,has been made part-time chair-man of UP Pollution ControlBoard. Rathore took over thecharge on Sunday.

Surendra Nath Valmiki hasbeen made the chairman ofRajya Safai Karmachari Aayogwhile Munna Singh Dhanuk(Lucknow) and Lal BabuValmiki (Agra) have beenappointed as vice-chairmen.

Narendra Singh fromAzamgarh has been appointedas chairman of PurvanchalVikas Board while RamakantNishad (Gorakhpur) has beenappointed as chairman of UttarPradesh Fisheries DevelopmentCorporation.

Captain Vikas Gupta hasbeen appointed as chairman ofUttar Pradesh Council ofAgricultural Research(UPCAR).

The government has alsoappointed Jagdish Mishra aliasBalti Baba as chairman of UPState Agro IndustrialCorporation. Dr BN Singhfrom Lucknow has beenappointed as chairman UPHomeopathy Medicine Board.

PNS n LUCKNOW

Samajwadi Party presidentAkhilesh Yadav said the

voters of the country wereeagerly waiting for the electionas they wanted a change in theleadership of the country.

“The common man of thecountry is tired of the NarendraModi government as it hasfailed to fulfill its promises. TheBharatiya Janata Party failed tocreate employment opportuni-ties for the jobless youth, bringback the black money stashedin foreign countries and doublethe income of the farmers,”Akhilesh said, adding thatdemonetisation of high valuecurrency notes was the laststraw for the people as theirhard earned money was alsodeposited in banks and over40,000 industrialists left thecountry and settled inEuropean countries and othernations.

Hours before the ElectionCommission of Indiaannounced the Lok Sabha poll

schedule, the SP chief said hewould soon launch his party’selection campaign.

“Poll campaign is high on

my agenda but I decided to letthe Bharatiya Janata Party workhard and lose steam before Istarted my campaign. The party

will soon announce its electioncampaign programme,” saidAkhilesh Yadav here on Sunday.

Targeting the Narendra

Modi government over therecent air strike by Indian AirForce in Pakistan, the SP chiefsaid, “The BJP has dragged theIndian army in politics for itsnarrow political ends. The BJPcan stoop to any low for win-ning the elections’’.

He also questioned theModi government’s failure tobring back the economicoffenders who left the countryafter looting Indian banks’.

“Modi failed to preventNirav Modi and several othersfrom fleeing the country but Iwas stopped from visitingAllahabad during theKumbh,” he said.

Accusing the BJP of pursu-ing an agenda to divide societyon the lines of caste and reli-gion, Akhilesh said the SP hada positive agenda for the inte-gration of society.

Targeting the YogiAdityanath government overthe deterioration in law andorder, Akhilesh demanded theremoval of Director Deneral ofPolice OP Singh.

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CM: Modi’s pro-people policies

have brought a new change

Chief Minister honouring farmers and scientists who excelled in their fields at UP State Agriculture Management Institute atRehmankheda in Lucknow on Sunday Pioneer

UP govt appoints chiefs

of various corporations

Maya hopes ECIwill prevent pollirregularities

Oppn leaders too rattled by

surgical strike-II: Rajnath

People want a change in country’s leadership: AkhileshMay contest Lok Sabha poll from Azamgarh

PNS n LUCKNOW

Samajwadi Party presidentAkhilesh Yadav is likely to

contest the Lok Sabha electionfrom Azamgarh, presently rep-resented by his father andparty patriarch MulayamSingh Yadav. He may choose tocontest from Azamgarh tosend a clear signal that he is thetrue inheritor of MulayamSingh Yadav’s political legacy,both in his party and in UP.

The caste composition ofAzamgarh Lok Sabha con-stituency makes it an SPstronghold, more so with theBahujan Samaj Party’s backing.

The list of nine candi-dates released by SP on Fridaydoes not contain the name of

party president AkhileshYadav. This has given rise tospeculation that he may con-test the Lok Sabha poll fromAzamgarh.

The SP and Mayawati’sBSP along with Rashtriya LokDal have formed a pre-pollalliance in Uttar Pradesh forthe Lok Sabha election. Thetie-up makes Azamgarh seat asafe bet for Akhilesh. TheAzamgarh Lok Sabha con-stituency has a large numberof Yadav, Muslim and Dalitvoters.

In the past, Akhilesh hadbeen contesting from Kannaujand winning the seat.

As per the seat-sharingformula finalised by thealliance, the SP and BSP will

contest from 37 seats eachwhile Ajit Singh’s RLD hasbeen given three seats. Thealliance has decided not tofield candidates from RaeBareli and Amethi, the parlia-mentary constituencies ofUnited Progressive Alliancechairperson Sonia Gandhi andCongress president RahulGandhi, respectively.

Tej Pratap upsetat denial of ticket

Leopard kills 8-yr-old in Balrampur Lucknow (PNS): A leopard, which strayed

into a village in Balrampur district, killed an 8-year-old girl on Saturday evening. According todivisional forest officer RK Mittal, the girl,Rukmini of Baalu village adjacent to Sohelwaforest, had gone to relieve herself when she wasattacked by the leopard.

The animal dragged the girl inside the for-est and her mauled body was found late in thenight. The victim’s family was given `5 lakh ascompensation, he added.

Mittal urged the villagers not to leave theirchildren alone and asked them to keep the court-

yards of their houses adequately illuminated. Meanwhile, the Forest department is using

drone cameras to catch a leopard which haskilled three children and cattle in the past onemonth in villages close to Katarniaghat WildlifeSanctuary. Speaking to newsmen in Bahraich onSunday, Dudhwa Katarniaghat Tiger Reservefield director Ramesh Pandey said in the pastfew days, there had been cases of children beingkilled in leopard attacks and death of cattle wasalso reported. He said two drone cameras hadbeen launched to spot the animal and two ele-phants are being used for patrolling.

GOVT OFFICIAL BOOKED FOR AIDING SAND MINING MAFIA

Muzaffarnagar: A UP government official was booked bythe police for aiding sand mining mafia, an official said on Sunday.Brijesh Gautam, an inspector with the Mining department, wasaccused of being involved in the illegal lifting of sand from theYamuna river in Shamli district. On the directive of DistrictMagistrate Akhilesh Singh, the police registered a case againstthe inspector, Superintendent of Police Ajay Kumar Pandey said.The action was taken following several complaints of alleged cor-ruption against the inspector, he added.

MAN DIES RESISTING ROBBERY BID Pratapgarh: A 32-year-old man was killed for resisting a rob-

bery bid by two motorcycle-borne men in Pratapgarh, police saidSunday. Ashok Kumar was shot by the assailants on Saturday inSadar Bazar area of the city, additional superintendent of police(east) Ashwani Mishra said. The victim was taken to the med-ical college hospital in Allahabad but he succumbed to his injuries.

2 DEAD AS CAR RAMS INTO TREE Ballia: Two persons were killed and five others were injured

when the car they were travelling in rammed into a tree in Bairiyaarea of the district on Sunday. The accident took place when sevenstudents were returning to Patna after attending a birthday partyin Ballia, police said. The deceased were identified as Paarth (19)and Gajal (16). The injured were hospitalised.

WOMAN, SERVANT FOUND DEAD IN LAKHIMPUR KHERILakhimpur Kheri: A 40-year-old woman and her servant

were found dead in a flour mill-cum-residence in LakhimpurKheri district, police said on Sunday. Renu Gupta, the mill owner,and her servant Arif (18) were found dead on Saturday night inMahewa Ganj town, they said. The incident came to light whenother workers returned to the mill after delivering flour, policesaid. The workers found mill’s gate closed and called out to openit. Getting no response from inside the mill, they peeped througha window and spotted Arif lying inside with severe head injuries,police said. The workers then informed police and local residentswho rushed to the spot and took Arif to the district hospital buthe succumbed during treatment, they said. Later, Renu’s bodywas also found under sacks in the mill’s godown. PTI

city 03LUCKNOW | MONDAY | MARCH 11, 2019

PIONEER NEWS SERVICE n LUCKNOW

A23-year-old youth workingat a shopping mall was

bludgeoned to death inChinhat on Sunday. Police areinvestigating the case. Thename of a man said to be anadvocate had come to the lightduring the initial probe.

As per reports, the victim,identified as Shivam Agnihotriof Chinhat, was found lying ina pool of blood and was rushedto Ram Manohar Lohia hospi-tal in afternoon on Sunday. Helater died there in the evening.

Initial probe revealed thatShivam was admitted to thehospital by his colleaguesSandeep and Ankit. The policecontacted both and they toldpolice that they found Shivamoutside the house of a man. Thepolice then reached the local-ity where Shivam was foundfirst to collect details related tothe incident. It surfaced that anadvocate had called him at hishouse and later Shivam wasfound critically injured. Thepolice suspect that the advocatethrashed Shivam on some issueand later dumped him outsidehis house to hide his crime. Thepolice are investigating thecase.

PIONEER NEWS SERVICE n LUCKNOW

Caring two hoots to policingin the city, unidentified mis-

creants, claiming to be disciplesof a tantrik, duped a woman andher sister-in-law of their orna-ments and cash after intimidat-ing them that they would loseeverything in the time to comebecause of bad planets. All thishappened in Madiaon onSunday.

As per reports, Uma Devi,along with her sister-in-lawMithilesh Kumari, both ofAyush Vihar of Jankipuram,had gone for shopping at a mallin the area on Sunday evening.On the way, a man accosted herand asked if she knew theaddress of a Baba practising

tantra to ward off evil effects ofbad planets. As Uma expressedignorance and asked the man toask the same from another per-son, another man reached theretoo. The man, who came later,said he knew the address of theBaba saying he was passingthrough very adverse phase andcould get rid of his problems byblessings of the Baba. “Theirpraise for the Baba was so cap-tivating that we were awe-struckand stood riveted to hear fromthem. They told us that theywere disciples of the Baba andhad learnt the art of propitiatingmalefic effects of planets. Themiscreants told us that a veryunpleasant event was in store forour family. We were frightenedat their prediction and wished to

PIONEER NEWS SERVICE n LUCKNOW

In the Gosainganj dacoitycase in which three police-

men and their aides had loot-ed Rs 1.85 crore from a coalmerchant from a f lat atOmaxe Residency on Saturdaymorning, the SSP, Lucknow,formed five teams to nab theabsconding dacoits. On theother hand, the SSP, Lucknow,removed Gosainganj SHO APTripathi for the laxity.

Giving details, the policespokesman said the abscon-ders in the Gosainganj dacoitycase were identif ied asMadhukar Mishra, whoclaimed to be an advocate,Radhakrishna Upadhyay andYashraj Tiwari. “The abscon-ders were identified on thebasis of CCTV footages thatthe police recovered from theresidential apartment,” he said.The spokesman said the teamsformed to crack the case werebeing led by ASP, Rural,Vikrant Veer and HazratganjCO AK Mishra. On Saturdaynight, the police had arrestedtwo sub-inspectors, identi-fied as Pawan Kumar Mishraand Ashish Kumar Tiwari,

both of Jhansi. Later, afterconducting a manhunt, thepolice teams arrested consta-ble Pradeep Bhadauria ofBahraich and his driverAnand Yadav of Gosainganj.

On Sunday, the Lucknowpolice claimed to have recov-ered an SUV, a luxury car andRs 2.4 lakh in cash fromPradeep and his aide Anand.The police did not mentionthe recovery of the cash fromboth the sub-inspectors whowere arrested in the case.Both the sub-inspectors andthe constable had been sus-pended with immediate effect.

On Saturday morning, theaccused sub-inspectors, alongwith their aides, had looted Rs1.85 crore from a flat of busi-nessman Ankit Agrahari, whodeals in coals and buildingmaterial. The accused sub-inspectors and constables didnot inform the matter to theirbosses and chose to informthe incharge of the policeoutpost, Ahimamau, PremShanker Pandey andMohanlalganj CO, only aftertheir aide Madhukar movedaway with Rs 1.85 crore fromthe total cash stacked in a box.Their act, however, was cap-tured in the CCTV asMadhukar was seen movingaway from the crime scenewhile carrying a box in one ofthe footages. By stroke ofluck, Agrahari got a chance toinform his acquaintance, saidto be a minister in UP govern-ment, about his ordeal andthis way the news went viral.

After being hauled up,the Lucknow police swunginto action and a raid wasconducted by a team, led byASP, Rural, Vikrant Veer. Theteam recovered cash from thehouses of the accused.

Lucknow (PNS): Burglars brokeinto the house of a teacher employedat Central School and made off withRs 30,000 in cash and jewellery worthlakh under Chinhat police station onSunday. According to the police, theincident occurred in the interveningnight of Saturday and Sunday whenhouse owner Jagdish Kumar, a CentralSchool teacher, along with his fami-ly, had gone out of the city as they hadto attend a wedding ceremony at theirrelative’s house.

Around 6:30 am on Sunday,Jagdish’s neighbours saw the door ofthe house open when they hap-pened to pass near the house duringmorning walk. They informedJagdish after which he rushed to hisresidence only to see valuablesstrewn, Rs 30,000 in cash and jew-ellery worth lakh stolen. ChinhatSHO Sachin Singh said that thehunt for burglars was on and theywould be nabbed soon. An FIR hasbeen registered under charges of theftand house trespass.

PIONEER NEWS SERVICE n LUCKNOW

Hoardings, banners andposters of political parties

were removed by the districtadministration in Lucknowsoon after the schedule of LokSabha polls was announcedand the model code of conductimplemented. District elec-tion officer and DistrictMagistrate Kaushal Raj Sharmaheld a meeting with seniorofficials to ensure adherence tothe code of conduct. He saidshops selling banners and flagsof political parties should keepthe material inside.

ADM (West) SantoshKumar Vaish said their flyingsquads would start checking ofvehicles in all Assembly con-stituencies. “Vehicles will bechecked for alcohol, firearmsand cash randomly in allAssembly constituencies bythree teams constituted for

the purpose,” he said. He addedthat there would be propermonitoring of liquor shops.

The ADM said that the

total number of registered vot-ers in Lucknow till February1 were 35,78, 000 and thenumber of applications

received after that was 37,000.The number of postal ballotswas 4,500, he added.

Officials said that namesof voters could be registeredup to the last date of filing nominations by the candidates. “Any eligible per-son can fill form 6 for inclu-sion of his or her name in theelectoral rolls or raise anobjection to somebody’s nameor for deletion of his/her orany other person’s namethrough form 7. If any partic-ulars in the electoral rolls areto be modified such as name,house number, middle name,last name, age, sex etc, form 8can be filled and submitted. Incase a voter has changed his orher house from the pollingarea of one booth to otherbooth in the same Assemblyconstituency, they can fill andsubmit form 8,” the officialselaborated.

Dist admn pulls up socks to

enforce code of conduct

know the puja to appease thebad planets,” the woman toldpolice. They said the miscreantsasked to give their ornamentsand cash to them and theywould contact their guru tofind a solution to their problems.They later gave them a paper

sachet to the women and askedthem to open it a little later. “Wehad Rs 12,000 with us. We gavethe entire cash also for puja.When we opened the sachet, itwas filled with small stones,”they said. Police are investigat-ing the case.

2 women duped by miscreantsposing as disciples of tantrik

Youth done todeath; advocateunder lens

`1.85-crore loot: Five teams

formed to nab absconders

The absconders

in the Gosainganj

case have been

identified as

Madhukar Mishra,

who claims to be

an advocate,

Radhakrishna

Upadhyay and

Yashraj Tiwari

Cash, valuables

stolen from

teacher’s house

Hoardings, posters and other poll-related material being removed near the BJP office in Lucknow on Sunday Pioneer

Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav, his wife Dimple Yadav & children and party leader Azam Khan took aMetro from Munshipulia to Chaudhary Charan Singh Airport on Sunday. Akhilesh interacted with youngsters and alsoshook hands with them. At 10 pm on Sunday, Metro had received nearly 75,000 commuters and the maximumfootfalls (over 10,000) were received at Hazratganj station Pioneer

Lucknow (PNS):Managing director of UttarPradesh State Road TransportCorporation (UPSRTC)Dheeraj Sahu carried out aninspection at Alambagh BusTerminal on Sunday. Heinspected the basement park-ing, e-bus charging panel, plat-form, CCTV cameras, VVIPwaiting room and dormitory.

Regional manager PK Bosesaid the managing directorissued instructions for cleanli-ness in the basement area.“The managing director gavedirections for replacement of abroken camera at the busstand,” he said. He also said thatthe lift which had not beenworking in a proper mannershould be repaired. The MD

directed the officials to put upa signage at the point where thebus stand is connected with theMetro station so that passen-gers are aware. A request willalso be made to LMRC so thatthey can make a provision forsignages inside the trains too.Regarding the response to pinkbuses, he said it had been luke-warm till date.

UPSRTC MD inspects

Alambagh Bus Terminal

District Magistrate Kaushal Raj Sharma chairing a meeting after the Lok Sabha pollschedule was announced on Sunday

city 04LUCKNOW | MONDAY | MARCH 11, 2019

AWARENESSThe Foundation for

Education and EconomicDevelopment (FEED), in col-laboration with other organi-sations, sensitised communi-ty women targeting femalechikan artisans. Membersfrom the team said that thetheme of the programme wasempowering women bybreaking silence on the mostsensitive issue — menstrualhygiene. The event was aimedat educating girls and womenon menstrual hygiene andunderstanding their cycle, alsohighlighting solutions thataddress challenges that thegirls and women face due tom e n s t r u a t i o n .

Documentaries were alsoshown on the occasion.

MAHOTSAV Indian Trust for Rural

Heritage and Development(ITRHD) is organisingAzamgarh Mahotsav, spon-sored by Tourism department,at Sangeet Natak Akademi.AK Gupta from ITRHD saidthe festival had brought talent-ed weavers with their hand-loom products. “Potters havealso brought their best items forusers in Lucknow,” he said. TheBanaras-Hariharpur Gharanaartistes performed on March 9and 10. The artistes, some ofthem were as young as 11years old, showed dedication

towards classical music.“The basic aim of the fes-

tival is to showcase the prod-ucts like sarees, suits, dupattas,pottery and directly retail themby weavers without the inter-vention and mark-up of mid-

dleman. The festival has helpedin improving the livelihood ofparticipants. In addition tocraft support, ITRHD organis-es employment-based skilltraining, runs a free primaryschool for poor children, pro-

vides technical training toyouth and helps them in place-ment. ITRHD is in a constantendeavor to improve the life ofaverage Indian in Indian vil-lages, where the soul of thecountry resides,” he added.

PIONEER NEWS SERVICE n LUCKNOW

Atwo-day divisional levelseminar on ‘More crop per

drop (micro irrigation)’ wasorganised by the department ofHorticulture, in collaborationwith CISH. The seminar wasattended by director ofHorticulture RP Singh andCISH director Shailendra Rajanamong others. The programmewas attended by 500-odd farm-ers. “Since micro irrigation isbecoming an important com-ponent of high-tech horticul-ture in UP and the Central gov-ernment is promoting variousprogrammes through the

Horticulture department, suchawareness programmes areimportant for projecting suc-cess stories and understandthe problems of farmers,” Rajansaid.

A technical session wasorganised in which CISH sci-entists delivered talks onaspects like importance ofunderground water, water con-servation methods and

groundwater level in variousdistricts. SR Singh spoke on theimportance of fertigation whileDinesh Kumar explained var-ious components of drip irriga-tion systems. VK Singh spoke

on the overall use of micro irri-gation in horticulture whereasrepair and maintenance of thesystem was explained by AKVerma. Success stories of thefarmers from different dis-tricts on micro irrigation wereprojected and doubts related todrip irrigation were cleared bythe scientists.

A hands-on training ondrip irrigation was organised atthe CISH Experimental Farmwhere the farmers could seevarious installed systems andlive demonstration of irrigationtechnologies. There was also aninteraction session betweenthe farmers and scientists.

PIONEER NEWS SERVICE n LUCKNOW

Stunt driving caused seriousinjuries to five bystanders as

one of the cars overturnedwhile racing with another carin Gomti Nagar on Sundaymorning. The injured wereadmitted to a hospital while noaction was initiated againststunt performers. The eyewit-nesses said one of the cars hadUP government stickerembossed on it.

One of the survivors PremKumar said he had gone to thetea stall to take tea while goingfor some work in Gomti Nagar.“It was around 11 am. Theoccupants in one of the luxu-ry cars were in a jovial moodwhile having craned out theirheads outside the window inthe car. The audio system in thecar was tuned to high decibelmusic. Suddenly, we heard a

whining sound emanatingfrom its engine and it boltedout. In no second, it was nearthe tea stall. Probably, the manon the driving seat could notcontrol it and it overturned. Allpersons, including me, whowere standing around the teastall, came under the car. I didnot remember what happenednext as I found myself at hos-pital bed,” Prem said.

Giving details, policespokesman AK Dwivedi saidthe incident occurred placearound 11 am on Sunday at aculvert in Viram Khand 5locality. “One of the cars over-turned when the man on dri-ving seat was racing it ahead ofhis competitor driving anoth-er car. As the cars overturnednear a tea stall, five of thebystanders came under it andsuffered injuries,” he said. Hesaid the police rushed the

injured to a hospital. About thepolice action, the policespokesman said the same wasyet to be initiated. He refusedto comment when asked if itwas a stunt driving case.

The injured were identifiedas Prem Kumar of GomtiNagar Extension, tea stallowner Raju, safai worker Rajuand two other persons whoseidentities were being ascer-tained. The police spokesmansaid no casualty was reportedin the mishap. Sources in Policedepartment said the SSP,Lucknow, took the matter seri-ously soon after the incidentwent viral on social media. “Hesummoned the Gomti NagarSHO to explain in detail theincident and also was asked toexplain why an action againststunt performers was delayed,”sources in Police departmentsaid.

PIONEER NEWS SERVICE n LUCKNOW

Nine days after the daringKrishna Nagar dacoity at

jeweller Rajeev Kumar’s shop inwhich the miscreants had shotdead two persons and hadcritically injured the jewellerand a woman commuter, theSSP, Lucknow, shifted theKrishna Nagar SHO andappointed DC Mishra as thenew SHO. The SSP alsoappointed inspector SunilSingh as additional SHO,Krishna Nagar, and asked boththe incumbent to expedite theprobe into the case.

In another reshuffling,Vijay Kumar Singh wasappointed Gosainganj SHOand Ramesh Singh RawatBanthra SHO.

While the police evadedany query, sources said thepolice teams were searching forthe robbers who were involvedin the cash robbery case froman ice-cream factory in Naka inthe recent past. “The factoryowner Lalit was in his shopwhen the robbers opened fireand looted cash. They alsohad opened fire at Lalit hittinghim in his leg. The robberswere yet to be arrested. Theirlook and their modus operan-di were in a close similaritywith the Krishna Nagar dacoitycase. The police hoped to get aclue through this,” the sourcessaid. On the other hand, thepolice did not get any clue a dayafter it announced Rs 1 lakh asaward to one who gives a tip-off about the dacoits or any

important clue related to theincident. The sources said thepolice hoped to get a cluesoon.

On the fateful day onMarch 2, the miscreants hadstormed Rajeev’s shop whowas preparing to close theshop for the day. His employ-ee, goldsmith Guddu wasdowning the shutter and themiscreants pumped bullets inhis chest killing him on the spotwithout any provocation. Theylater shot at Rajeev three times.While coming out of the shopafter looting the jewellery, themiscreants shot dead securityguard, employed at an ATMbooth, Deshraj. When theywere firing, a woman com-muter had suffered firearminjuries on her hand too.

OPEN DAYCity Montessori School,

Aliganj Campus II, organised‘Open Day’ of its CISV MosaicProject ‘Rang De’ at theamphitheatre of Ram ManoharLohia Park on Sunday. Thestudents and teachers motivat-ed Lucknowites to actively con-tribute towards sustainabledevelopment and help in build-ing a just, peaceful, clean andpleasant society. They present-ed a variety of educational-cul-tural programmes and tookpart in unique contests to sendacross the message. The projecthas been conceptualised anddeveloped under the leadershipof principal Shivani Singh. CISV(Children’s InternationalSummer Village) envisages ajust and peaceful world andtakes up the responsibility tomake this happen by educatingand inspiring the future gener-ations. The sole objective of this

project is to invite active involve-ment of the participants ofdiverse age groups to createsolutions to the problems relat-ing to the natural environment.The event began with the recita-tion of school prayer, all-religionand world peace prayers.

Various programmes likenukkad natak, multimedia pre-sentations, CISV song etc wereheld on the occasion. Parents ofchildren also participated in var-ious competitions like facepainting, mehendi, poster-mak-ing, card-making etc.

DIVINE EDUCATION CONFERENCESCity Montessori School, Chowk and

Mahanagar campuses, organised ‘DivineEducation Conferences’ on Sunday. Both thefunctions began with educational-cultural pre-

sentations. The students delivered articulatedspeeches on universal values, global understand-ing, service to the world and excellence in allthings. The meritorious students were honouredand awarded certificates and prizes.

SCHOOLSCAN

CITYBRIEFS

SHOs shifted to speed up

probe into dacoity case

Stunt driving leaves 5 hurt

Farmers made aware about micro irrigation

Artistes performing at Azamgarh Mahotsav

‘Khatu Shyam Dhwaj Yatra’ being taken out in Aishbagh on Sunday Pioneer

7-PHASE POLLS...The States are: Bihar, Jammu

& Kashmir, Jharkhand, MadhyaPradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha,Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh andWest Bengal. The fifth phase ofpolling will be held on May 6 in51 Lok Sabha constituenciesspread across seven Statesincluding Bihar, Jammu &Kashmir, Jharkhand, MadhyaPradesh, Rajasthan, UttarPradesh and West Bengal.

The polling in the phase VIwill be held on May 12, in 59 LokSabha constituencies spreadacross Bihar, Haryana,Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh,Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal.Polls in Delhi-NCR will be heldin phase VI. The polls in phaseVII will be held on May 19. Theelection will be held in 59 con-stituencies of Bihar, Jharkhand,Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, WestBengal, Chandigarh (UT), UttarPradesh and Himachal Pradesh.

The CEC said 22 States andUnion Territories will see single-phase election, Karnataka,Manipur, Rajasthan and Tripurawill see polling in two phases,Assam and Chhattisgarh willhave three-phase polling,Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh,Maharashtra and Odisha will seefour-phase polling & Jammuand Kashmir will have five-phase elections. The placeswhere elections will take place ina single phase are AndhraPradesh, Arunachal Pradesh,Goa, Gujarat, Haryana,Himachal Pradesh, Kerala,Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland,Punjab, Sikkim, Telangana,Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand,Andaman and Nicobar Islands,Daman and Diu, Dadra andNagar Haveli, Lakshadweep,Chandigarh, Delhi andPuducherry.

To conduct the polls in asafe and secure atmosphere,Arora said a large number ofCentral Armed Police Forces(CAPFs) will be deployed. Hesaid a sufficient number ofvideo cameras and CCTVsbesides web-casting will be usedduring the electoral battle.“There will be extensive web-casting of sensitive votingbooths. All critical events will be

videographed.” CEC Arora saidthat a total electorate in this LokSabha elections will be 900 mil-lion, of which 15 million votersare in the 18-19 age group.

In 2014, when the BJP sweptto power, the Lok Sabha elec-tions were held across ninephases beginning April 7 andending May 9. The counting ofvotes had taken place on May 16.The total contestants in fray were8,251, with an average of 15 can-didates in each constituency.However, deposit was forfeitedin case of 7,000 contestants. Atotal of over 55 crore voters (66.3per cent) exercised their vote,while there were 9.27 lakhpolling stations. There werenearly 60 lakh ‘NOTA’ votes.

BJP TO MAKE...Union Home Minister and

senior BJP leader RajnathSingh said on Friday the IAFpilots were on a targeted mis-sion to destroy terrorist facili-ty in Pakistan and not go onany pleasure trip or to showerpetals. Earlier this month,senior Congress leader andformer Defence Minister AKAntony had urged PrimeMinister Narendra Modi andthe BJP president not to “politi-cise the armed forces”.

Swaraj’s remarks shouldalso be seen in the context ofthe Election Commission’sadvisory to political partiesabout the usage of defencepersonnel in party advertise-ments and references to armedforces in their political cam-paign. In an advisory sent outto presidents, chairpersons andgeneral secretaries of all recog-nised parties Saturday, the EChad drawn their attention to anold circular dated December 4,2013. “It is pertinent to men-tion here that the ArmedForces of a nation are theguardian of its frontiers, secu-rity and the political system.They are apolitical and neutralstakeholders in a moderndemocracy. It is, therefore,necessary that the politicalparties and leaders exercisegreat caution while makingany reference to the ArmedForces in their political cam-

paign,” the EC directive stated.“The Commission is of

the view that photographs ofchief of Army Staff or any otherDefence personnel and pho-tographs of functions ofDefence Forces should not beassociated with or used in anymanner in advertisement/pro-paganda/campaigning or inany other manner in connec-tion with elections by politicalparties and candidates,” thedirective stated. The directivecalled for “strict compliance” ofits directive.

EC TIGHTENS...social media platforms

such as Google, Facebook,YouTube and Twitter havesaid all political advertise-ments will be certified bythem before releasing. He alsosaid that Twitter, Facebookand Google will also highlightpolitical advertisements ontheir platforms specifically.Facebook and Google havealready deputed a dedicated a

grievance officer to receivecomplaints of any violation ofEC guidelines. The CECinformed that IT giants havepromised to take actionagainst hate speech. Stringentmonitoring of all events onelection days will be doneusing information technology,he said. Arora also said thata social media expert is alsogoing to be part of the MediaCertification and MonitoringCommittee. According to theEC, the candidates will have tofurnish the details of theirsocial media accounts at thetime of filing their nomina-tions. In order to fight thescourge of fake news, all can-didates standing for the 2019Lok Sabha elections will haveto declare their social mediaaccounts to the ElectionCommission as part of theiraffidavit. All advertisementon social media will alsorequire pre-certification. Allexpenditure on campaigningadvertisement in social media

is to be included in the elec-tion expenditure account, saidSunil Arora. He also men-tioned the C-Vigil app whichwas launched last year by theelection commission. The appwill help citizens to confiden-tially report any violation ofthe election code of conductand any malpractices.

In a decision taken earli-er, EC had also asked politicalparties to “desist from display-ing photographs of defencepersonnel” against the back-drop of a picture showing ahoarding with images ofIndian Air Force WingCommander AbhinandanVarthaman as well as leadersof a party. The instructionscame after the photograph ofa hoarding displaying pic-tures of the IAF pilot as wellas senior BJP leaders were cir-culated on social media andcame to the EC’s notice.However, it was not knownwhere the hoarding had beenput up.Students creating awareness about voting through sand art on the bank of Ganga in Allahabad on Sunday Pioneer

From Page 1phase for 13 seats on April 22.First phase (Polling on April11): Saharanpur, Kairana,Muzaffarnagar, Bijnore,Meerut, Baghpat, Ghaziabadand Gautam Buddha Nagar.

Second phase (poliing onApril 18): Nagina, Amroha,Bulandshahr Aligarh,Hathras, Mathura, Agra, andFatehpur Sikri.

Third phase (Polling onApril 23): Moradabad,Rampur, Sambhal, Ferozabad,Mainpuri, Etah, Badaun,Aonla, Bareilly and Pilibhit.

Fourth phase (Polling onApril 29): Shahjahanpur,Lakhimpur Kheri, Hardoi,Mishrik, Unnao, Farrukhabad,Etawah, Kannauj, Kanpur,Akbarpur, Jalaun, Jhansi andHamirpur.

Fifth phase (Polling onMay 6): Dhaurara, Sitapur,Mohanlalganj, Lucknow, RaeBareli, Amethi, Banda,Fatehpur, Kaushambi,Barabanki, Faizabad,Bahriach, Kaisergang, andGonda. Sixth phase (Polling

on May 12): Sultanpur,Pratapgarh, Ambedkarnagar,Phulpur, Prayagraj, Shravasti,Doomariaganj, Basti, SantKabir Nagar, Lalganj,Azamgarh, Jaunpur,Macchlishahr and Bhadoi.

Seventh phase (Pollingon May 19): Majarajganj,Gorakhpur, Kushinagar,Deoria, Basgaon, Ghosi,Salempur, Ballia andGhazipur. Meanwhile, themodel code of conduct hascome into force with immedi-ate effect with the announce-ment of Lok Sabha poll sched-ule by the ElectionCommission of India (ECI).

L Venkateswarlu said here

on Sunday that along with theLok Sabha polls, the ElectionCommission had alsoannounced the byelection toNighasan Assembly con-stituency in Lakhimpur Kheridistrict. The byelection hasbeen necessitated by the deathof sitting BJP MLARamkumar Verma.

He said the total numberof electorate in UP was 14.4crore, out of which 7.79 crorewere male, 6.61 crore femaleand 7,86 lakh divyang voters.He said after the brief electoralroll revision, 45,05 lakh nameswere added to the voters’ listwhile 23,48 lakh names weredeleted.

UP will also go

to polls in...

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

STAFF REPORTER n NEW DELHI

A24-year-old man wanted bythe law in a case of rape and

absconding for the past threeyears, was arrested fromGurugram, said the police onSunday. The accused identifiedas Rahul Victor was working asa driver and was arrested fromSikandarpur, Gurugram.

The victim had lodged acomplaint with the police inFebruary 2016 and alleged that

Rahul who was known to her in2015 took her to Gurugramwhere he offered her cold drinklaced with intoxicated substance.When she lost her conscious, heraped her and took her pho-tographs and video clips, policesaid. She further alleged that theaccused sexually exploited as hehad threatened to load her pho-tographs and video clip on

social networking sites, VijayKumar, Deputy Commissionerof Police (south) said. Rahulagain came to her house atKotla Mumbarakpur onFebruary 9, 2016 and threatenedher, he said. A case was regis-tered in this regard at KotlaMubarak police station, the offi-cer said.

The accused was on the run

for more than three years. Dueto non availability of any presentor permanent address, he couldnot be apprehended, he said.However, Investigations revealedthat at the time of offence, theaccused was using Aircel sim-card and due of closure of Aircelcompany, no records were madeavailable, he added. Several Facebook accounts in the name of

Rahul were scanned to trace hiswhereabouts. During thisprocess, the victim identifiedone of the photographs ofaccused in an account, the DCPsaid. All the photographs post-ed by the accused on the Facebook account were checked andin one of the selfies taken infront of a shop and posted by theaccused, a phone numbers ofshop keeper was seen on theboard. A police team managedto locate the shop, the DCP said.

Wanted rape accused nabbed

LUCKNOW | MONDAY | MARCH 11, 2019 nation 05

PIONEER NEWS SERVICE n

GHAZIABAD

Prime Minister NarendraModi on Sunday sent across

a strong message to terroristforces targeting India, sayingthe country cannot keep suf-fering forever and that hisGovernment has taken some"strong decisions" against suchelements.

"For many decades, thecountry and numerous familieshave suffered the wounds andpain given by terrorism,Naxalism and insurgency.What happened in Pulwamaand Uri was heartbreaking.We cannot bear this pain tilleternity. Enough is enough,"the Prime Minister said whileaddressing CISF personnel atits base. The paramilitary forceon Sunday celebrated the 50thyear of its raising.

This is the first time Modiattended the event of any of thefive Central Armed PoliceForces (CAPF) since he tookcharge in 2014. Raised in 1969,the Central Industrial SecurityForce has about 1.56 lakh per-sonnel in its ranks at present.

The PM said that followingdastardly acts of terrorist vio-lence, his government has

taken some strong decisions, inan apparent reference to theIAF strike on terror campsafter the Pulwama attack. Hesaid the government has adopt-ed "a new policy" to act againstterrorism and that it was itsresponsibility to live up to theexpectations of the families ofthe personnel killed in the line

of duty. The PM lauded the valour

and dedication of CISF menand women who protect "vitalassets" of the country in theface of a "hostile neighbourwhich does not have the capac-ity to fight a war."

Modi also hit out at theabuse of "VIP culture", saying

it was wrong on part of suchpeople to throw their weightaround, get angry and humil-iate security personnel, a majorbrunt of which is faced by theCISF. "I'd say the biggest prob-lem while carrying out yourduty is people like me, VIPs..The VIP culture at times is thebiggest threat to security," he

said. "When you frisk, some

people get annoyed and evensay 'I will see you' and you haveto tell them that it is your dutywhich has to be done," the PMadded. Therefore, he contin-ued, "I would dare tell suchpeople to be disciplined andcooperate with the securitypersonnel in carrying out theirtask." CISF gets a number ofcomplaints from legislators andothers categories of VIPs alleg-ing high-handedness by theirstaff at various airports.

The PM said it was his"emotional feeling" that secu-rity personnel donning the'khaki' have not got the recog-nition and respect they deserve.

The PM asked the CISF tocreate a "monitor and study inrealtime global trends andtechniques of terrorism" sothat a better preparedness isensured against. He also direct-ed the force to install 'digitalmuseums' or electronic walls atairports so that people get toknow about CISF's history,role and its expectations fromthe citizens. "You are not onlystanding at the gate, you arecontributing to the country'sgrowth," Modi told the CISFpersonnel.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi accepts salute after presenting medal at the CISF's 50th Raising Day, in Ghaziabad on Sunday PTI

KHULBE RE-EMPLOYEDAS SECY TO PMNew Delhi: Senior IAS officerBhaskar Khulbe has been re-employed as Secretary to PrimeMinister Narendra Modi for sixmonths, beginning April 1,according to a PersonnelMinistry order. Khulbe was inOctober 2014 appointed asadditional secretary in the PrimeMinister's Office (PMO). He wasappointed as the secretary, PMO,in August 2016. Khulbe is a1983-batch IAS officer of WestBengal cadre. The AppointmentsCommittee of the Cabinet alsoapproved the extension ofPrincipal Director General of PIBSitanshu Kar for six months whowas to retire this month end.

‘ANSWER TO PROBLEMSLIES IN SPIRITUAL VALUES’New Delhi: Former PresidentPranab Mukherjee on Sundaysaid the answer to all theproblems in the present criticaltimes lies in following spiritualwisdom and values. "Now is thetime when we must start to payattention to the moral, ethicaland spiritual dimension of ourlife, and strengthen thisfoundation of an advanced andhealthy society," Mukherjee saidspeaking at ‘Spiritual Responseto Critical Times', a one-dayinternational conferenceorganised by Brahma Kumaris.

A STEP TOWARDS RIGHT TO EQUALITYNew Delhi: On the occasion ofInternational Women's day,Amity Law School organisedInternational Symposium on"Dialectic Reflections on thePosition of Women in the 21stCentury India: A step towardsRight to Equality". The objectiveof the symposium was to createawareness amongst peopleregarding the changing socialand political landscape in India, astep that will enable women tosuccessfully take on orthodoxelements in their community.Prof. (Dr.) D.K. Bandyopadhyay,Chairman, Amity Law Schoolsshared that the symposium wasorganized with an aim to raiseawareness about women rightsand their struggle to achieveequality while also highlightingtheir social presence in thetwenty first century in India.

EVENT TO SHOWCASETALENT OF SPECIAL KIDSNew Delhi: SAMADHAN a Delhi-based NGO, which has beenworking for children withdisabilities for their holisticdevelopment, in collaborationwith the Culture Ministry onSunday organised an event"Challenges to Celebrations"showcasing artistic talent ofspecial kids. PramilaBalasundaram, Founder,SAMADHAN, said "our aim wasto create awareness on what theintellectually disabled can dogiven a canvas to paint theirstories in whatever medium thatsuits their skill sets".

INSHORT

PNS n NEW DELHI

As the Election Commissionon Sunday declared a

seven-phase general electionstarting April 11, political par-ties welcomed the much-await-ed announcement with the rul-ing alliance making a pitch forits re-election while its rivalexpressing confidence ofunseating it.

Prime Minister NarendraModi sought people's "bless-ings" for the NDA in the LokSabha polls, saying hisGovernment has made possiblewhat was earlier deemedimpossible, but Opposition par-ties said voters will throw it outof power for "wasting" its his-toric mandate and practising

"all talk no work".Seeking people's support

for the BJP, its president AmitShah said the ModiGovernment has taken bolddecisions for their welfare in itsfirst term and will ensure India'sgiant leap to make everyone"happy and prosperous" in itssecond.

The BJP-led NationalDemocratic AllianceGovernment has achieved "phe-nomenal results" in variousspheres of governance duringthis term, he said, citing anumber of its welfare initiatives.

The Congress, however, hitout at the Government sayingit will e best remembered for"wasting" its historic mandateand that all its promises

remained "unfulfilled".At a Press conference after

the announcement of the pollschedule, Congress leader K CVenugopal said people willchange the Modi Governmentthat believes in all talk and nowork.

All its promises haveremained unfulfilled, he saidasserting that it will be defeat-ed when votes are counted onMay 23. Senior Congress leaderAhmed Patel claimed theupcoming elections will heralda new era ending five years of"chaotic, despotic and destruc-tive" dispensation and the coun-try will return to the path of"sobriety, integrity and inclusiv-ity".

BSP supremo Mayawati

termed the government as"anti-poor and pro-capitalist"and which disturbed peace,caused unrest & anger amongmasses.

Modi in his tweets drew acomparison of his government'sperformance with the preced-ing Congress-led UPA govern-ment, asserting that the last fiveyears have shown what was ear-lier deemed impossible hasnow become possible.

The 2019 polls are about aspirit of confidence and posi-tivity with which India is ful-filling the aspirations of itspeople, he said.

In 2014 people compre-hensively rejected the UPA asthere was unprecedented angerover its "corruption, nepotism

and policy paralysis", he said,adding that India's self-confi-dence was at an all-time lowand people wanted to rid thenation of such "decay and pes-simism".

"Guided by 'Sabka Saath,Sabka Vikas, NDA seeks yourblessings again. We spent thelast five years fulfilling basicnecessities that were left unful-filled for 70 long years. Now,time has come to build on thatand create a strong, prosperous& secure India," he said.

CPI(M) general secretarySitaram Yechury said theannouncement of polls willend the unfair use of officialresources by the ModiGovernment as the model codeof conduct has come into force.

BJP ally and Lok JanshaktiParty president Ram VilasPaswan expressed confidencethat the NDA will win over 350of the 543 Lok Sabha seats.

The choice before people iswhether to elect a strong gov-ernment or a helplessGovernment, he said, express-ing confidence that Modi willbe Prime Minister for anotherterm. The NDA will sweep thepolls in Bihar, which sends 40MPs to the Lok Sabha, headded.

Samajwadi Party presidentAkhilesh Yadav predicted aloss for the NDA, saying thepoll announcement is also anannouncement of a "big change"in interest of people and thecountry

PIONEER NEWS SERVICE n

NEW DELHI

Congress president RahulGandhi on Sunday asked

Prime Minister Narendra Modito tell the families of the 40CRPF jawans killed inPulwama as to who releasedMasood Azhar, whose Jaish-e-Mohammed claimed responsi-bility for the terror attack.Taking to Twitter, he allegedthat it was the present NationalSecurity Adviser who went toKandahar to hand over the"murderer" Azhar.

Azhar, along with someother terrorists, was released bythe Indian government inDecember 1999 in lieu of therelease of over 150 hostages ofthe IC-814 Indian Airlinesflight that was hijacked toKandahar.

"PM Modi please tell thefamilies of our 40 CRPFShaheeds, who released theirmurderer, Masood Azhar? Alsotell them that your currentNSA was the deal maker, whowent to Kandahar to hand themurderer back to Pakistan,"Rahul Gandhi tweeted. At least40 CRPF jawans were killed inthe terror attack in Jammuand Kashmir's Pulwama dis-trict on February 14 for whichJeM has claimed responsibili-ty.

Senior Congress leader

Ahmed Patel said BJP is walk-ing down a dangerous path by"using the military" to concealits own "failures" and assertedthat the EC's circular prevent-ing the use of armed forces inelection campaign was muchneeded.

The Election Commission(EC) on Saturday asked polit-ical parties to "desist from dis-playing photographs of defencepersonnel" against the back-drop of a picture showing ahoarding with images of IndianAir Force Wing CommanderAbhinandan Varthaman as wellas leaders of the BJP.

"The EC's circular on pre-venting the use of of armedforces in election campaignwas much needed. This needsto be implemented in letter &spirit. Let's keep security forcesout of politics," Patel tweeted."By using the military to con-ceal its own failures the BJP iswalking down a dangerouspath," he said.

In a fresh instructionissued to all political parties,the EC referred to itsDecember 2013 letter in whichit had "called upon all politi-cal parties to advise their can-didates and leaders to desistfrom displaying photographsof defence personnel or pho-tographs of functions involv-ing defence personnel inadvertisements".

PNS n NEW DELHI

As the Election Commission(EC) announced the 2019

Lok Sabha poll schedule, theModel Code of Conduct cameinto force with immediate effecton Sunday evening. Amongother things, the Model Code ofConduct bars the Governmentfrom announcing any policymove that may impact voters'decision.

Opposition parties havequestioned the delay inannouncing the poll dates, withsenior Congress leader AhmedPatel asking the EC whether itwas waiting for the PrimeMinister's "official" travel pro-gramme "to conclude".

According to EC, the MCCdeals with eight provisions - gen-eral conduct, meetings, proces-sions, polling day, pollingbooths, observers, party inpower, and election manifestos.

Under General conduct,while political parties can criti-cise the other candidates basedon policies and programmes andtheir work record, they are notallowed to use caste and com-munal sentiments to lure voters.They cannot bribe or intimidatevoters and most importantly,they cannot criticise them based

on unverified reports. For meet-ings, it is mandatory for thepolitical parties to inform thelocal police about their ralliesand public meetings and providethem time to make adequatesecurity arrangements.

Carrying or burning effigiesof the opponents is not allowed.It needs to be ensured that incase two rival parties plan a roadshow in the same area, then theirroutes must not clash. Duringthe polling day, all those work-ers who are working for theirparties in the polling boothmust wear a badge with partyname and symbol.

In the polling booths, apartfrom voters, only those indi-viduals with a permit from theEC will be allowed to enterpolling booths. The politicalparty must not campaign forvotes within a distance of 100metres of the polling booth onthe day of voting. The rulingparty must not advertise at thecost of the public exchequer oruse official mass media for pub-licity on achievements. NoMember of Parliament or min-ister should combine their offi-cial visit with campaigning orparty work.

Ministers and other author-ities must not announce any

financial grants, or promise anyconstruction of roads, provisionof drinking water, and so on.Other parties must be allowedto use public spaces, and it mustnot be monopolised by those inpower.

PIONEER NEWS SERVICE n NEW DELHI

Fifty-six of the 112 “inspiring” personalities, who were select-ed for this year’s Padma awards, will be conferred the presti-

gious honour on Monday by President Ram Nath Kovind at a spe-cial function in Rashtrapati Bhavan.

Among those receiving the Padma Vibhushan, PadmaBhushan and Padma Shri on Monday are late actor Kader Khan,Akali Dal leader Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa and renowned journalistlate Kuldip Nayar. Khan (posthumous) will be honoured withPadma Shri, Dhindsa and Nayar (posthumous) will be honouredwith Padma Bhushan, a Home Ministry official said.

Noted theatre personality from Maharashtra BabasahebPurandare alias Balwant Moreshwar Purandare (PadmaVibhushan), Bihar leader Hukumdev Narayan Yadav (PadmaBhushan), former CEO of multinational techno giant Cisco sys-tems John Chambers, renowned dancer and filmmaker PrabhuDeva (Padma Shri) will also be honoured.

Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu, Prime Minister NarendraModi and other dignitaries are expected to attend the function.The Padma awards were announced on the eve of Republic Dayand the remaining awardees are likely to be conferred the hon-our at another function to be held on March 16.

This year's awardees are from across the nation, all segmentsof society and the government has gone beyond excellence alone,recognising larger impact and their selfless service, the official said.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Congress on Sunday claimedthat fugitive diamantaire

Mehul Choksi has applied forregistration of a new company inthe United Kingdom and askedthe Narendra Modi Governmenthow serious were its efforts forhis extradition.

Congress spokespersonPawan Khera said Choksi hadapplied for the registration in theUK of his company with its prin-cipal address in Dubai (UAE)only three days ago and askedwhether the Modi governmentknew about it. He also releasedpurported documents in supportof his claim.

Claiming that the Modi dis-pensation was facing an immi-nent defeat in the coming par-liamentary election, the Congressleader said the government musttell the people if it knew aboutChoksi's move. "Also, if agencieslike CBI and EnforcementDirectorate(ED) made any effortto extradite him," he told a pressconference.

The Congress spokesper-son also alleged that a "powerfulperson", who benefited fromChoksi, was protecting him."Who has benefited from Choksi

and who is this important, pow-erful man who is saving him.Why the Modi governmentapplied for extradition of Choksifrom Antigua with which Indiahas no extradition treaty," hequestioned.

Choksi, along with hisnephew Nirav Modi, is accusedof defrauding the state-runPunjab National Bank of Rs13,000 crore. He fled the coun-try last year after the scam cameto light. He has subsequentlytaken up citizenship of Antiguaand Barbuda.

Khera also asked whether itwas a coincidence that NiravModi was seen moving aroundfreely in London, and one-twodays ago Choksi got his "shellcompany" registered there.Referring to the BJP's slogan of"Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas",Khera said the government'sreal intention was "Bhagodon KeSaath, Bhagodon Ka Vikas' (help-ing fugitives to prosper).

Nirav Modi, 48, was trackeddown to a three-bedroom flatoccupying half of a floor of thelandmark Centre Point towerblock of luxury apartments,where rent is estimated to bearound 17,000 pounds a month,'The Daily Telegraph' reported.

PIONEER NEWS SERVICE n

NEW DELHI

Dialysis is a way of life formany patients suffering

with kidney ailments in thecountry. However, as the WorldKidney Day approaches onMarch 14, health experts saythat one can definitely helpslow the disease's progressionand treat its symptoms andcomplications by following acareful diet, exercise and hav-ing medicinal plants likePunarnava based formulations,as has also been found by var-ious studies.

For instance, a study pub-lished in World Journal ofPharmacy and PharmaceuticalsSciences noted that a womankidney patient was givenPunarnava based syrup for a

month. It was found that thecreatinine and urea level in herblood had gone down signifi-cantly to a healthy level. Notonly this, her hemoglobin levelhad also improved. Hence, thestudy concluded thatPunarnava-based medicinesnot only ensure kidney's healthbut also improves hemoglobinlevel. The study was conduct-ed in Banaras Hindu University(BHU).

Similarly, another studypublished in the IndoAmerican Journal ofPharmaceutical Research tootalked about the efficacy ofPunarnava based herbal for-mulations including lotusleaves, patharchur and othermajor herbs besides Punarnavawhen given to the subjects. Itwas found that the drug had

helped in maintaining histo-logical parameter of kidneys,apart from reducing high lev-els of uric acid and electrolytes.The study said that "the syrup(Neeri KFT) is a potentnephro-protective formulation,protecting kidneys fromnephrotoxins including oxida-tive damage induced by leadacetate."

Head of Department ofBHU's DravayagunavigyanVibhag KN Dwivedi assertedthat herbal formulations inNeeri KFT can be an alternateto dialysis to some extent. Infact, because of limited optionsin allopathy for kidney treat-ment, which is witnessingincreasing trend due to chang-ing lifestyles, now emphasis ison ayurveda drugs. Seniornephrologist from Sir Ganga

Ram Hospital Dr ManishMalik agreed: "Scope of treat-ment in allopathy is very less,is costly and not fully suc-cessful as well. Hence, bal-anced diet and ayurvedic cost-effective drugs like Neeri KFTbased on herbs like Punarnavacan help all those kidneypatients who are under theregular dialysis."

Sanchit Sharma, ExecutiveDirector of AimilPharmaceuticals, which isengaged in manufacturing andmarketing of Neeri KFT saidthat it has been developedafter intensive research.

In view of increasing casesof CKD and rising cost of outof pocket expenditure of thepatients on dialysis, the gov-ernment has initiated nationaldialysis programme in PPP

mode in district hospitalsacross the States.

As per Indian RenalFoundation, in the private sec-tor haemodialysis with 12 ses-sions every month costsaround Rs 12,000 to Rs 15,000while peritoneal dialysis costsaround Rs 18,000 to Rs 20,000monthly. Kidney transplantscan cost Rs 4 lakhs to Rs 6 lakh,depending on the hospital.Annually about 2.2 lakh newpatients of CKD get added inIndia resulting in additionaldemand for 3.4 Crore dialysisevery year.

Doctors warn that in thenext two decades, apart fromheart ailments and brainstrokes, CKD will be the nextmajor ailment that wouldpotentially cause a lot of pre-mature deaths among adults.

Tell kin of 40 CRPF

men who released

Azhar: RaGa to PM

PM seeks blessings, Cong predicts his exit

Enough is enough, we can’t keep suffering till eternity: PM

Prez to confer Padmaaward on 56 today

Cong claims Choksi seekingregistration of new companyin UK, targets Modi Govt

Poll code comes into force

with immediate effect

*Photographs of candidates onEVM Ballot paper

*No loud noise programmes tobe held 48 hours before polls

*Citizens can complain of cashtransactions

*EVMs will have photographs ofthe candidates next to symbol

* 84.3 million voters haveincreased since 2014

* 900 million registered asvoters. Of them, 15 millionvoters are in 18-19 age group

*Number of electors enrolled as"Others' gender are 38,325;

*The number of service electorsare 16,77,386

*VVPAT in all polling stations;As many as 17.4 lakh VVPATwill be used

*Special observers will be sentto certain sensitive states;

* Central police forces to bedeployed in large numbers.CEC Sunil Arora refuses todisclose exact number;

*VIGIL a citizen app will help thepublic reach out to ElectionCommission on anymalpractices;

*Measures being taken to reachout to voters in the remotest ofcorners in the country usingcommunity radio, folk arts;

*All political ads on social mediawill require pre-certification;

* Candidates must give socialmedia details;

*To ensure wholesome andconstructive participation andactiveengagement of PwDs inthe election process, the EChas directed to issueAccessible Photo Voter Slipswith BrailleFeatures to Personswith Visual Impairment or

Blind, over and abovenormalPhoto Voter Slips to be issued;

*There are approximately10,35,928 Polling Stations inthe country, as compared toapproximately 9,28,000 PollingStations in 2014.

* Every Polling Station isequipped with AMF likedrinking water, shed,toilet,ramp for the physicallychallenged voters and astandard voting compartment;

* Candidates with criminalantecedents are required topublish informationin thisregard in newspapers andthrough Television channelson three occasions during thecampaign period;

* All critical events will be video-graphed

EC KEY GUIDELINES

A study published in World Journal of Pharmacy andPharmaceuticals Sciences noted that a woman kidneypatient was given Punarnava based syrup for a month. Itwas found that the creatinine and urea level in her bloodhad gone down significantly to a healthy level. Not onlythis, her hemoglobin level had also improved. Hence,the study concluded that Punanrva-based medicines notonly ensure kidney's health but also improveshemoglobin level. The study was conducted in BanarasHindu University (BHU)

Similarly, another study published in the IndoAmerican Journal of Pharmaceutical Researchtoo talked about the efficacy of Punarnava basedherbal formulations including lotus leaves,patharchur and other major herbs besidesPunarnava when given to the subjects. It wasfound that the drug had helped in maintaininghistological parameter of kidneys, apart fromreducing high levels of uric acid and electrolytes

Punarnava ensures kidney's health, also treats anaemia

nation 06LUCKNOW | MONDAY | MARCH 11, 2019

Srinagar: Four civilians,including a woman, wereinjured in a ceasefire violationby Pakistani troops along theLine of Control in Jammu &Kashmir's Baramulla district onSunday, officials said.

Pakistani troops resorted tounprovoked firing towardsIndian posts and villages inKamalkote area of Uri in northKashmir, a police official said.

He said four civilians,including a woman, wereinjured in the firing.

The injured were admittedto a hospital, the official said.

An Army official con-firmed the ceasefire violationby Pakistani troops, but said theIndian Army has responded toPakistani firing in adequatemeasure. PTI

Workers paint a wall for an LDF candidate ahead of the Lok Sabha polls in Kochi on Sunday PTI

Chennai: Days after formalis-ing seat sharing with allies forthe Lok Sabha elections, DMKhas convened a meeting of itssenior office-bearers onMonday to fine tune its strate-gy for the polls.

Deliberations on bypollsto the 21 Assembly constituen-cies and the Lok Sabha electionsscheduled for April 18 would bethe agenda for the meeting, theparty said.

The meeting, to be held atthe party head quarters 'AnnaArivalayam,' here would see theparticipation of district secre-taries, MLAs, and MPs, a partyrelease here said.

Coming days after DMKchief M K Stalin's State widetour covering gram panchayatsand a recent public rally atVirudhunagar, the meeting onMarch 11 is expected to fine

tune the poll work and theparty's propaganda drive toreach out to the electorate.

DMK president M K Stalin,meanwhile, held interviews ofcandidates seeking party tick-ets for the Parliamentary elec-tions on Sunday here.

Party Rajya Sabha MPKanimozhi, (her tenure ends onJuly 24, 2019) eyeing Tuticorinconstituency is also one of theaspirants who attended theinterview during which seniorleaders Duraimurugan and T RBaalu were also present.

Winnability and trackrecord in party work were

among the factors that weretaken up for consideration.

On Saturday, Stalin heldinterviews for aspirants seekingto contest bypolls to 21Assembly constituencies.

Recently, the DMK com-pleted the seat sharing exercisewith its allies for the Lok Sabhaelections.

Setting aside 20 LS seg-ments for itself in Tamil Nadu,the Dravidian party allottednine seats to Congress in thestate and the lone constituencyin neighbouring Puducherry.

The CPI(M) and CPI,besides the VCK, have beengiven two seats each and oneseat each to the MDMK, IJK,IUML and the KMDK. TheMDMK has also been assuredof one nomination to the RajyaSabha, the election for which isexpected in June. PTI

DMK calls meet to fine-tuneelection strategy on Mar 11

Panaji: The Congress onSunday criticised the GoaGovernment's decision to grantanother six-month extension toall offshore casino vessels in theState to move out of the riverMandovi.

There has been a demandfrom a section of people to shiftcasinos from the Mandovi riverin Panaji, where they are cur-rently anchored.

Goa Congress spokesmanSunil Kawthankar toldreporters here that the resolu-tion granting extension to off-shore casinos was passed by theGovernment on Friday by cir-culating a note among stateCabinet members, withoutholding any discussion on sucha crucial issue.

He said senior BJP leaderManohar Parrikar, who is cur-rently the State Chief Minister,

led protests against the casinosvessels in 2012 ahead of theAssembly polls that year.

"The BJP came to power in2012 with an assurance that itwill move out casinos from theMandovi river," he said.

Kawthankar said the BJPwas yet to set up a GamingCommission and draft a casi-no policy, as announced earli-er.

He also accused the BJP-led State Government ofparalysing the mining andtourism industry, both key rev-enue earners for the coastalstate.

The Manohar Parrikar-ledGovernment earlier gave exten-sion by six months to the ves-sel-mounted casinos onSeptember 30, 2018, whichwas to expire on March 31 thisyear. PTI

Cong flays Goa Govtfor giving extension tooffshore casinos

Jaipur: Asserting that theCongress is "gaining momen-tum", Rajasthan Deputy ChiefMinister and State Congresspresident Sachin Pilot has exud-ed confidence that "UPA PlusPlus" will secure the mandate togovern in the coming LokSabha election.

He claimed the NDA isbecoming weaker and the BJP,having lost three states inassembly polls last year, had tocompromise to form coalitionsfor Lok Sabha polls.

The BJP lost power to theCongress in Madhya Pradesh,Chhattisgarh and Pilot's homestate, Rajasthan, in December.

"The Congress party isgaining momentum by aligningwith many more parties in var-ious states, therefore, the UPAPlus Plus will be a formidablealliance which will be defeatingNDA in the coming Lok Sabhaelection," Pilot told PTI.

Raising questions on theperformance of the Modi gov-ernment, Pilot, a former Unionminister, said it should make

itself answerable on its perfor-mance to people.

"The current ruling dis-pensation is not confidentenough of its performance.Therefore, Ram Mandir, otherreligious issues, cow vigilantismand love jihad were brought infrom time to time to divertattention from the main issues.

"Lack of job in economy.Corruption is there.Autonomous institutions wereweakened and attacked byModi government. The gov-ernment cannot hide behindother (religious) issues," hesaid.

In Rajasthan, the PCCpresident said the party is fullyprepared for the general elec-tion.

"Congress is very well pre-pared for the Lok Sabha elec-tion. Right after taking chargeof the Government in the state,we have started living up to thepromises we had made,whether it is unemploymentallowance or loan waiver," hesaid. PTI

‘UPA Plus Plus'

will form Govt

at Centre: Pilot

Jammu: Union MinisterJitendra Singh on Sundayattacked the Congress and NCfor blaming the BJP for the ter-ror outfit JeM founder MasoodAzhar's release in 1999, sayingthe two parties "were part of thedecision and will face difficul-ty if they go into the past".

The minister also defendedthe National InvestigationAgency's summons to sepa-ratist leader Mirwaiz UmarFarooq, asking if being a reli-gious leader grants one immu-nity from law "to receive hawalafunds and encourage terrorism".

Singh accused Congresspresident Rahul Gandhi andNational Conference presidentFarooq Abdullah of sufferingfrom selective amnesia of his-tory.

"Rahul Gandhi is a victim ofselective learning of history,while Farooq Abdullah is a vic-tim of selective recall of histo-ry," he told reporters here,responding to a question on thetwo leaders' recent statementsblaming the BJP for the releaseof Jaish-e-Mohammad'sfounder Azhar in exchange ofthe passengers of the hijackedIndian airlines flight IC-814 inAfganistan.

"When the Kandahar inci-dent happened, there was ademand from the entire coun-try for securing the release of thehostages and the then A BVajpayee government held talkswith all opposition parties andmoved ahead after getting theirconsent," Singh said.

"Among the oppositionleaders, the first meeting tookplace with Rahul's mother(Sonia Gandhi). That means shewas then equally responsible,"added Singh, the minister ofstate in Prime Minister's Office.

As far as Abdullah's state-ment that the terrorists werereleased despite his oppositionis concerned, Singh said he hasforgotten that his party (NC)was part of the then NDA, ledby Vajpayee and therefore wasequally responsible for the deci-sion of the then government.

"Handling the hijackingincident was the responsibilityof the Ministry of ExternalAffairs and Abdullah's son(Omar Abdullah) was thenworking as the minister of state(in the External AffairsMinistry)," pointed out Singh.

"He (Omar) had no regret,leave aside resigning under theprotest over the decision," he

said.Singh said the BJP can go

back into the history since 1947."Let us start from 1947, the

first mistake was done by his(Rahul Gandhi's) great grand-father (Pandit Jawahar LalNehru) when he forced SheikhMohammad Abdullah on thepeople of Jammu and Kashmir,"Singh claimed.

"Rahul's grandmother(Indira Gandhi) committed thesecond mistake when shepicked up Sheikh Abdullahfrom isolation and installedhim as the J&K chief minister.Another mistake was donewhen she engineered a coup topull down the Farooq Abdullahgovernment and paved the wayfor Gul Shah (G M Shah) tobecome the chief minister," headded.

"The fourth mistake wasthe 1987 state elections whichwere rigged by Abdullah,paving the way for terrorism totake roots in the State and hisbehind-the-veil support andencouragement to Jammu &Kashmir Liberation Front(JKLF), one of whose leaders isYaseen Malik (who was recent-ly arrested under public safetyact)," Singh said. PTI

Thiruvananthapuram: TheSabarimala temple will open forthe annual temple festival for 10days, starting from March 11.

A release issued by theTravancore Devaswom Board(TDB), which administers theshrine, said that head priestKandararu Rajeevaru wouldpreside over the temple open-ing ceremony.

The festival will end onMarch 21.

The temple will also get anew gold-plated door for thesanctum sanctorum when thehill shrine opens for the festi-val tomorrow.

The existing door, whichdeveloped tiny cracks, would bereplaced with the new one.

The holy door, made ofquality teak wood, has beenplated with at least four kilo-grams of gold after engravingand embossing it with copper.

A group of Sabarimaladevotees, led by one UnniNamboothiri, met the expens-es of the new door as an offer-ing to the presiding deity, TDBpresident A Padmakumar hadsaid. PTI

Sabarimala to

open on Mar

11 for annual

festival

Jammu: Pakistani troops onSunday resorted to unpro-voked ceasefire violations tar-geting forward posts and vil-lages at four places along theLine of Control (LoC) inJammu & Kashmir's Poonchdistrict, officials said.

The firing was intense inthe Krishna Ghati sector,where the Pakistani troopsresorted to mortar shellingand firing by small arms fromaround 04.30 AM, which wasretaliated to befittingly by theIndian Army, a defencespokesman said.

He said the cross-bordershelling between the two sidescontinued till 07.30 AM. Therewas no report of any casualtyon the Indian side, he said.

Officials said firing andshelling by Pakistan were also

reported from the Balnoi andMankote (both in Mendharsector), besides from Shahpursector, all in Poonch district,for a brief period in the earlyhours of Sunday.

The firing was mild innature and lasted for a briefperiod without causing anyharm, they said.

On late Saturday as well,the Pakistan army had target-ed Indian positions InSunderbani sector of Rajouridistrict for several hours.

There has been a spurt in

ceasefire violations by Pakistanafter India's preemptive airstrike on a Jaish-e-Mohammedterror camp in Balakot onFebruary 26 following theFebruary 14 Pulwama terrorattack in which 40 CRPF per-sonnel were killed.

Four civilians, includingthree members of a family,were killed and several othersinjured as Pakistan targetedover 80 villages in more than100 incidents of ceasefire vio-lations along the LoC in thestate since then.

Union Min hits at Cong, NC for blamingBJP for Masood Azhar's release in 1999

Rajinikanth not

to contest TN

Assembly bypoll

Chennai: Top film starRajinikanth on Sunday said hewould not contest the bypoll inthe Tamil Nadu Assembly, near-ly a month after declaring thathis target was only theAssembly election.

While bypolls are expectedto 21 Assembly constituenciesin the State, Rajinikanth, whenasked if he would fight thebypoll since he had declared theAssembly polls to be his onlytarget, tersely said, "No."

The actor is yet to launchhis political outfit, though onDecember 31, 2017, he hadannounced that his politicalentry was sure to fructify.

To questions like whichparty he would support (in thebypolls), Rajinikanth toldreporters at the airport here,"Sorry, I cannot say anythingnow."

Asked whether he hadmeant a national or a regionalparty when he had mentionedlast month that only that partyshould be supported whichwould resolve the "water prob-lem" of Tamil Nadu, he said,"Both."

On February 17,Rajinikanth had said "water isTamil Nadu's important prob-lem" and asked his fans andpeople to vote for a party whom

they thought would perma-nently resolve the issue by for-mulating and implementingprojects.

The jargon "water problem"is perceived as a reference towater scarcity in parts of thestate and the vexed Cauveryissue as well.

Rajinikanth had stronglypledged his support for inter-linking rivers on more than oneoccasion in the past.

The top actor had alsosaid last month that he wouldnot contest the upcoming LokSabha election. "Our target isonly the Assembly polls. I amnot supporting anyone," he had said and barred anyonefrom using his images or the f lag of the Rajini Makkal Mandram for politicalpurposes. PTI

4 civilianshurt in Pakfiring inBaramulla

Srinagar: Most of the lead-ing dailies in the Kashmirvalley printed a blank frontpage on Sunday as a markof protest against the"unexplained denial" ofadvertisements to twonewspapers by the Jammu &Kashmir Government.

The Kashmir Editors'Guild (KEG) had claimed lastmonth that the StateGovernment had stopped giv-ing advertisements to twomajor local dailies — GreaterKashmir and Kashmir Reader.

"With utmost regret, theKashmir Editors' Guild wishesto inform that the Jammu andKashmir Government hasstopped State Governmentadvertisements to two majordaily newspapers — GreaterKashmir and Kashmir Reader,"it had said in a statement,adding that the decision wasneither conveyed formally norwas any reason detailed to therespective publications.

As a mark of protest, the

leading dailies here — bothEnglish and Urdu — printed ablank front page on Sunday.

The front pages of thesenewspapers only carried a mes-sage from the KEG — "Inprotest against the unexplaineddenial of Government adver-tisements to Greater Kashmirand Kashmir Reader."

A spokesperson of theKEG said the guild and theKashmir Editors' Forum hadon Saturday taken the decisionto print a blank front pageagainst the Government's move"to scuttle" the media inKashmir.

He added that the guildwould also hold a protest at thePress Club here on Sundayafternoon against theGovernment decision. PTI

Kashmiri papers run blankfront page to protest ‘denial'of Govt ads to 2 dailies

Pak violates ceasefire

at 4 places in Poonch

Targets armyposts, villages

Kohima: Nagaland ChiefMinister Neiphiu Rio on Sundaylamented that the solution to thedecades-old Naga political issuecould not be found before theLok Sabha election.

"We were hoping againsthope that the solution willcome before the election," hesaid.

Rio was speaking on theoccasion of the completion ofone year of his People'sDemocratic Alliance (PDA)government of which the BJPis a part.

A new Government, whichcame to power in Nagalandunder Rio early last year, hadraised hopes of a solution to theNaga political problem.

Earlier on Sunday in Delhi,the Election Commissionannounced that the Lok Sabhaelection will be held from April11 to May 19.

The Government and theNaga people now do not knowwhat the negotiating parties are

thinking, Rio told reporterswithout elaborating it.

"If it (Naga political solu-tion) does not come...It will beproblem for our Naga societyto carry on," the Chief Ministersaid.

Even after the signing ofthe framework agreement withthe NSCN(IM) in 2015 and sixNaga nationalist politicalgroups joining the peace talksseparately, there has not beena breakthrough on the decades-old Naga problem.

The PDA, comprising 17Nationalist DemocraticProgress Party (NDPP) MLAs,12 BJP, 2 NPP and one JD(U)and an Independent, came topower after defeating the 15-year-old Naga People's FrontGovernment in the 2018assembly election.

Thanking the allies, Rio said, "We could not havemade it, unless we receivedfirm support from our alliancepartners." PTI

Naga issue could notget resolved before LSpolls, laments Rio

PTI n NEW DELHI

Union minister NitinGadkari on Sunday said

neither does he have any aspi-rations nor the RSS anydesigns to project him as aprime ministerial candidateand asserted that making “cal-culation” has never been hisforte in politics or work.Amid speculations that hecould be the BJP’s prime min-isterial candidate in case of afractured mandate in theupcoming general elections,the senior party leader said hewas not in the race andstressed that “tireless work”was his mantra.

“I have not done any cal-culation, never set targets —

neither in politics nor inwork. Mai to chala jidharchale rasta (I follow the pathwherever it leads). Jo kaamdikha karta gaya(Accomplished whatever isassigned to me). Believe indoing the best for the coun-try,” Gadkari told PTI in aninterview. Seeking to rubbishspeculations that he could bethe “Prime Minister in themaking”, the senior ministermade it clear that “neitherthere is anything like this inmy mind nor RSS has anysuch thing. Nation comessupreme for us.”

“I do not see dreams, nei-ther I go to anyone nor I doany lobbying. I am not in thisrace... I my telling you from

my heart,” the minister at thehelm of key infrastructureministries of the NarendraModi government said.Talking further about thespeculations, Gadkari, also aformer BJP chief, said that hedoes not know what peopleare thinking but that he has“nothing to do with it, noteven remotely”. Gadkari alsoasserted that he and his partystood “solidly behind Modijiwho is doing very good work”.

“Given what work wehave done, I feel we will getmore seats than the last timeunder Modiji,” he said andtermed the‘Mahagathbandhan’ (grandalliance) of Opposition par-ties for the upcoming Lok

Sabha polls as ‘Mahamilawat’(high adulteration). Earlierthis month, he termed spec-ulations about him being inthe race for prime minister as“mungeri lal ke haseen sapne”(day dreaming). On being afavourite with the Oppositionmembers too, Gadkariremarked that whoever cameto him, he believed in helpingthem with a positive attitude.“Whatever maximum I cando I try,” he added.

Last month in the LokSabha, UPA chairpersonSonia Gandhi along withother Congress membersappreciated Gadkari for the“wonderful” work he has beendoing in improving the coun-tr y’s infrastructure.

Describing himself as a“workaholic, Gadkari saidmassive work has been doneby the central government invarious sectors, includinginfrastructure that has seenprojects worth over Rs 15 lakhcrore. On whether he feltsome tasks could not be com-pleted in the current tenure,Gadkari said there were noregrets as “whatever was thereworth working I did... No oneis perfect and no one shouldthink he is perfect... Oneshould work relentlessly.”Gadkari is in charge of theroad transport and highways;shipping; and water resources,river development and Gangarejuvenation ministr ies .While viewing politics as a

“game of compulsions, limi-tations and contradictions”,the BJP heavyweight fromMaharashtra said that any-thing can happen in politicsand cricket.

He exuded confidencethat BJP was going to get athumping majority andincrease its seats tally in theupcoming general elections.Listing out various initiativesof the government, he said thenational health insurancescheme has benefited 10 crorefamilies, 1.5 crore houseshave been built under thePradhan Mantri Awas Yojanaand 6 crore people have got gas cylinders and that thenumber would go up to 12crore.

Gadkari says he’s not aspiring to become PM candidate

Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya during Holicelebrations at Ramanreti Ashram near Mathura on Sunday

LUCKNOW | MONDAY | MARCH 11, 2019 nation 07

MOHIT KANDHARI n JAMMU

Mainstream Kashmiri lead-ers on Sunday reacted

strongly over the postponementof Assembly polls in the State.

Questioning ElectionCommission’s decision NationalConference Vice PresidentOmar Abdullah said,”First timesince 1996 Assembly elections inJ&K are not being held on time.Remember this the next timeyou are praising PM Modi forhis strong leadership,” he tweet-ed.

In another tweet Omar said,“In 2014 we had Lok Sabha elec-tions on time & Assembly elec-tions on schedule even after themost devastating floods. Showshow badly the BJP & earlier theBJP-PDP mishandled J&K,”Omar wrote on Twitter.

He also said that PrimeMinister Narendra Modi hascreated a mess in Jammu &Kashmir.

“In a Balakote & Uri are notsymbols of PM Modi’s handlingof national security, J&K is andlook at the mess he has madethere. The abject surrender toanti-India forces is a cryingshame.” “With the amount ofinternational attention electionsin J&K attract I never thoughtPM Modi would be willing toconfess his failure on a globalstage but we all make mistakes& that was mine,” Omar tweet-ed. “What happened to @raj-nathsingh’s assurance to LokSabha & Rajya Sabha as well as

to the all party meeting recent-ly in Delhi that all forces wouldbe made available for simulta-neous polls?,” Omar also wroteon Twitter.

Former Chief Minister andPresident Peoples DemocraticParty (PDP) Mehbooba Muftialso opposed the decision takenby the Election Commission ofIndia (ECI) of not holdingassembly and parliament elec-tions simultaneously in Jammuand Kashmir.

In a statement, Mehboobasaid, “ postponement of assem-bly polls in Jammu and Kashmiris tantamount to denying basicrights of the people of the Stateto have a popular Government”.“It is very dangerous to keep thestate in the hands of unelectedrepresentatives of the centre. Itwill further complicate the prob-lems in the state and the decisiontaken by Election Commission

needs an immediate review,”Mehbooba said in a statement.

The PDP president addedthat this was not expected of theElection Commission of Indiaand the decision to hold LokSabha polls and at the same timedelay Assembly elections does-n’t make any sense. “It sows theseeds suspicion among the peo-ple about the designs of theGovernment of India and does-n’t convey a good message to thepeople of Jammu & Kashmirabout an independent institutionlike the Election Commission,”said Mehbooba.

She added that ECI’s deci-sions goes contrary to what theHome Minister has repeatedlysaid that GOI is ready to holdsimultaneous elections inJammu and Kashmir. Thischange in the schedule makesthe entire process highly suspi-cious, PDP president added.

CPI (M) leader MYTarigami in a statement said thatthis was done despite that almostall the political parties hadurged upon the ElectionCommission to hold both theelections simultaneously. Notholding assembly polls will sendwrong signals to people withinand outside the state.

“The Chief ElectionCommissioner during his press-er in Delhi repeatedly quotedrecent incidents of violence inKashmir as the reason for notholding Assembly polls,” saidTarigami. “If that is true, thenhow could be Lok Sabha polls beheld? Even the J&K Governorrecently said that PM Modicomplimented him for “suc-cessful” conduct of the civic elec-tions in Jammu and Kashmir.When these polls could be held,what is the logic for deferringAssembly polls?,” he said.

J&K parties slam deferment of Assembly Polls

Aizawl: Over sevenlakh electors wouldbe eligible to voteon April 11 for elec-tion to the lone LokSabha seat inMizoram, the state’sChief ElectoralOfficer (CEO)Ashish Kundra saidon Sunday.

Of the 7,84,405eligible voters, 51per cent are women,Kundra said.

A d d r e s s i n gmedia persons in Aizawl afterthe Election Commission ofIndia announced the dates forthe seven-phase poll exerciseacross the country, Kundrasaid polling would be held in1,175 polling stations, of whichat least ten per cent would bemanned by all women pollingofficials and security personnel.

Noting that the state elec-tion department was fully pre-pared to conduct the elections,the CEO said that expenditurefor the coming polls would beat least 15 per cent less com-

pared to the State Assemblypolls held on November 28 last.

Deployment of centralarmed police force would alsobe “immensely reduced” dur-ing the elections, he said.

“Though we are yet toreceive specific instructions,arrangements would be madefor Bru voters in six Tripurarelief camps by setting up tem-porary polling stations at theMizoram-Tripura borderKanhmun village, as was donein the last State Assembly polls,”he said. PTI

Siwan (Bihar): A marriageinvitation card urging guests tovote for Prime MinisterNarendra Modi in the generalelections as a wedding gift hasbecome the talk of the town inBihar’s Siwan district.

Ashok Singh, a resident ofSiwan Kala village, printed themessage on the envelope of hisdaughter’s marriage invitationcard, sources said.

“To bless my daughter andin the interest of the country,

please castyour votesin favour ofP r i m eM i n i s t e rN a r e n d r aModi in theupcoming Lok Sabha polls,” themessage on the card read.

Asked about the reasonbehind his appeal, Singh said:“There is no other objectiveexcept for the nation’s interest.”

“People should vote in

favour of Modi ji because thereis no other leader better thanhim. He thinks about the coun-try while others think aboutthemselves,” added Singh, whohas been staying in Kuwait forthe last 15 years where heworks in a private company.

His son Ravindra Singh tooechoed similar sentiments.

“Narendra Modi is the onlyone who can take the countryforward and no other leadercan do that,” he said. PTI

Srinagar: The Jammu &Kashmir unit of the Congresson Sunday alleged thatAssembly elections in the Statewere deferred due to theCentre’s “mishandling” of thesituation.

The Election Commissionon Sunday announced that LokSabha polls in Jammu &Kashmir will not be held alongwith general elections.

“The Centre’s tall claimsregarding the situation in thestate stand exposed. The Centrehas itself certified that the sit-uation is out of control and notconducive for holding simulta-neous polls,” Pradesh CongressCommittee president G A Mirsaid in a statement.

Mir said it was a goldenchance for the Centre to holdAssembly elections to give anelected Government to the peo-ple, as all political partiesfavoured simultaneously elec-tions in the State.

“But, the Centre has onceagain failed to hold assemblyelections citing volatile situationas the reason which is indica-tive of utter failure of the Centreto respect the urges and aspi-

rations of the people,” he said.The PCC president recalled

that during the UPAGovernment’s tenure, electionswere conducted in 2014 despiteunfavourable conditions, butthe state recorded the “highestpoll percentage”.

“This time, elections havebeen deferred due to the mis-handling of the situation on thepart of the Centre,” Mir alleged.

Senior CPI(M) leader M YTarigami said deferment ofassembly polls will send outwrong signals to people with-in and outside the State.

He said the Chief ElectionCommissioner during hispresser in New Delhi repeatedlycited recent incidents of vio-lence in Kashmir as the reasonfor not holding assembly polls.

“If that is true, then howcould Lok Sabha polls be held?Even the J&K Governor recent-ly said that Prime MinisterNarendra Modi complimentedhim for ‘successful’ conduct ofcivic elections in Jammu &Kashmir. When these pollscould be held, what is the logicfor deferring assembly polls?”Tarigami questioned.

Assembly polls postponedas Centre mishandled J&Ksituation: Congress KESTUR VASUKI n BENGALURU

The election commission ofIndia (EC) on Sunday has

announced the poll dates forKarnataka in two phases onApril 18 and 23 for the 28 con-stituencies for the next LokSabha. Even though the coali-tion Government led by JD(S)leader HD Kumaraswamy asChief Minister has become aplatform for Opposition unity,the congress wants to gain bythis alignment to beat the BJPsdominance in the State.Already the leaders of the boththe parties have started vigor-ous campaign touring acrossthe State.

Prime Minister NarendraModi, BJP chief Amit Shah,union Home Minister RajnathSingh and other national andstate level leaders are cam-paigning as part of the strate-gy has been working to retainthe dominance of the BJP inKarnataka However Congresswith some skirmish with JDstheir partner is also workingout strategy to end the domi-nance of BJP in Karnataka.Congress President RahulGandhi and other leaders havebeen campaigning in the Stateto consolidate the votes ofbackward classes and minori-ties to counter the high voltagecampaign by the BJP.

Karnataka with 28 seats iscrucial for both the parties.However for BJP after thealignment of Akilesh Yadavand Mayawati, Karnataka hasbecome more important to thesaffron party. An insider in theparty said the party is workingout an inclusive strategy tocounter both the Congressand the regional party JD(S)led by HD Devegowda. Manypredict that the alliancebetween JD(S) and theCongress might help consoli-date some of the vote share incentral and southern districtsin the State.

Since 2004 for Karnatakahas been the BJP’s forte in thelok sabha elections. In 2004BJP won 17 out of the 28 seatsand won in 18 constituencies in2009 Lok Sabha polls. In 2014,the BJP won 17 seats; theCongress won 9 while theJD(S) managed to win only 2constituencies. In 1999 was thelast election Congress bagged18 seats.

Even though there is a dis-content in saffron party toaccept Lingayat strongman BSYeddyurappa , the reality is theparty at this juncture cant’dump Yeddyurappa owing toLingayat consolidation. Eventhough Yeddyurappa is over 75,

BJP will go to elections in hisleadership waving of the partyrule of not giving tickets toleaders who have crossed 75.The defection of someCongress leaders to BJP and thethreat of operation lotus mighthelp BJP to either retain samenumber of seats or might losetwo to three seats is the pre-diction of the party insiders.

Congress and JD(S) leaderssay confidently that they mightcross 15 seats in old Mysuruarea and north Karnataka inKalaburgi, Bagalkot, Ballari,Chikkodi, Raichur and Bidar .If there is a triangular contestBJP leaders say with the Modiwave might win more seats.BJP is confidant of consolidat-ing its position in MumbaiKarnataka and urban areas tofight the JD(S) – Congresscombine.

Karnataka has been crucialfor both Rahul Gandhi andNarendra Modi. The euphoriaof elections in Karnataka hasalready churned lot of heat.This time experts feel it is alsogoing to be violent.

According to ElectionCommission of India Pollswill be held across the state intwo phases with 14 con-stituencies going to the polls onApril 18 and 14 constituencieson April 23. The counting ofballots for the ParliamentaryElection will take place onMay 23. 14 constituencies inthat go to the polls on April 18,the last date for filing nomina-tions is on March 26. The lastdate for scrutiny of nominationis March 27 and the last date forwithdrawal of nomination isMarch 29. For those 14 con-stituencies going to the polls onApril 23, the last date for filingnominations is April 4 and thelast day for withdrawal of nom-ination is April 8.

KUMAR CHELLAPPAN n

CHENNAI

The fate of EdappadyPalamiswamy-led Tamil

Nadu Government would beknown on May 23, the daywhen votes are counted.

The Election Commissionof India announced on Sundaythat the bypolls to the 21vacant Assembly constituenciesin the Tamil Nadu LegislativeAssembly would be held onApril 18 along with the electionto 39 Lok Sabha constituenciesfrom the State.

While 18 rebel AIADMKMLAs were disqualified by theSpeaker of the Assembly underthe provisions of the anti-defection law, two seats(Thiruparankundram andThiruvarur) fell vacant follow-ing the death of sitting mem-bers including former ChiefMinister M Karunanidhi. Alegislator belonging to theAIADMK lost the membershipof the House following hisconviction by a court of law ina riot case.

The present composition ofthe Tamil Nadu Assembly isprecarious and fragile which

has made the PalaniswamyGovernment a ‘sitting duck’.The House has an effectivestrength of 234. The rulingAIADMK has 115 memberswhile the Opposition DMK has88 MLAs. With the eight mem-bers of the Congress and onerepresentative of the MuslinLeague, the Opposition benchhas a total strength of 98(including TTV Dhinakaran ofthe AMMK) .

The AIADMK’s 115include 3 members who wereelected under the Two Leavessymbol of the party. But it is anopen secret that they wouldcross over to greener pasturesat the first available opportu-nity. Palaniswamy governmentshould have a minimum of118 members in the Houseafter the by-elections. But fora trouble-tree administration,the AIADMK should win atleast ten seats out of the 21 atstake, pointed out commenta-tors and analysts alike. “TheAIADMK had won 136 seats inthe 2016 assembly election. Ifthey win 20 seats in the by-election, they may be able tosail through the remainingperiod of the tenure without

troubles,” said G Satyamurty,veteran commentator andscribe. According toSatyamurthy, even if the partymanages to win four or fiveseats and touches the finishline, Dhinakaran and Stalinwould be breathing down thenecks of Palaniswamy.

Stalin is giving top priori-ty to the by-election from the21 constituencies. He wrote aletter to the party cadre all overTamil Nadu reminding themthat the DMK has been out ofpower for the last eight yearsand they have to pull up theirsocks to bring the party back tothe government.

DMK observers are of theview that Stalin was morebothered about the by-pollsthan the Lok Sabha election.“He could complete the seatsharing discussions with thealliance partners because hewas considerate to theirdemands and allocated 20seats for them to contest. Buthe was adamant that the DMKwould contest all the 21 by-elections which is furtherproof of his immediate agen-da, that is to pull down theAIADMK government,” said

Sam Rajappa, veteran com-mentator.

That Stalin is in full controlof the DMK became clear withthe side lining of T R Baalu andthe Maran brothers from majorresponsibilities. “Stalin deput-ed Kanimozhi for holding dis-cussions with the CongressHigh Command to clinch thedeal for the ensuing election. Itis almost sure that she would bethe face of the DMK in NewDelhi,” said Sam Rajappa.

The final composition ofthe AIADMK-led team is yetto be announced as the dis-cussions for an amicable set-tlement remained inconclu-sive even on Sunday.Premalatha Vijayakanth, trea-surer of the DMDK, belittledthe AIADMK asking what wasthe contribution of the 37 MPsof that party. This led to around of slanging matchbetween the DMDK and theAIADMK.

But the AIADMK made astrategic move on Friday byreinstating K C Palamisamy,former MP and minister whohad been expelled from theparty last year for criticising theAIADMK’s links with the BJP.

Two phasepolls in K’takaon April 18, 23

CONGRESS AND

JD(S) LEADERS SAY

CONFIDENTLY THAT

THEY MIGHT CROSS

15 SEATS IN OLD

MYSURU AREA AND

NORTH KARNATAKA

IN KALABURGI,

BAGALKOT, BALLARI,

CHIKKODI, RAICHUR

AND BIDAR

Fate of AIADMK Govt to be decided on May 23Polling on lone LS seatin Mizoram on April 11

Workers remove banner of a political party after the Model Code of Conduct came into effect following the announcement of the schedule for General Elections 2019 inPrayagraj (Allahabad) on Sunday PTI

SAUGAR SENGUPTA n

KOLKATA

After much quibbling, theCPI(M) and Congress

seemed to be reaching anelectoral alliance. For the firsttime, it has happened indecades that the Marxists arebeing forced to leave as manyas 17 seats to a non-Leftalliance partner.

According to sources, theCPI(M) has agreed to conteston 25 seats, leaving 17 for theCongress. The deal wasclinched after the Congressgave up its claim on Raiganj atraditional bastion of lateUnion Minister PRDasmunshi and his wifeDeepa Dasmunshi — but cur-rently held CPI(M) MP MdSalim who in 2014 won theseat by a wafer thin margin oflittle less than 2,000 votes.

The second seat that theCongress had to shed to theLeft is Murshidabad from

where CPI(M)’s sitting MPBadruddoza Khan will con-test. He won the seat by 25,000votes in 2014. As a quid proquo the Left is likely to backDasmunshi in the next year’sRajya Sabha elections apartfrom leaving a whopping 17seats to the tri-colour party.

Settlement of Raiganj andMurshidabad apart, a minorissue still remains between thetwo groups as the Left wantsto go only for a seat-sharingsystem with the Congresswhile the latter wants a full-fledged alliance till 2021Assembly elections.

On whether it is going tobe an alliance or a seat adjust-ment CPI(M) State secretarySuryakanto Mishra said “thereis no question of alliance. Wewill go for a seat adjustmentbecause the issue today is notanything else but to keep atwo communal and fascistforces like BJP and TrinamoolCongress out.”

On the other handPradesh Congress presidentSomen Mitra says, “The vot-ers will want to know aboutthe nature of the partnershipand we will have to give thema substantial reason. Theywill not take any hide-and-seek. They will definitely wantto see a full-fledged alliancefor future. If there is noalliance then we will go italone.”

On whether the two sidescan contest on their own thepolitical analyst IK Lahirisays: “On organizational termsthe Left is a poor shadow of aglorious past which meansthat on its own it will not beable to win a single seat inBengal for two reasons. Firstlythe Left organizers at boothlevel have either joined theTrinamool Congress, or beensitting idle or joined the BJPfor its political clout in Delhiand secondly they have a clearleadership crisis to match the

charisma of Narendra Modi orMamata Banerjee.” Thoughthe CPI(M) still has substan-tial support base it is doubt-ful whether they will be ableto convert it into votes, headds.

The Congress is almostsure to get the Purulia seatdespite the fact that secondlargest Left partner ForwardBloc has a sizeable presence inthe district. The party willfield Nepal Mahato from thisseat, insiders say. Bloc hasalready objected to an alliancewith the Congress even threat-ening to go it alone in someseats if need be.

The problem this time with the CPI(M) thelargest Front partner it willhave to leave seats for itspartners from the given 25seats agreed upon in theagreement. In such a case theCPI and Bloc are likely to getthree seats each whereas theRSP may get one.

CPM, Cong on the verge of alliance

Bihar: Wedding card urges gueststo vote for Modi in LS elections Mumbai: At least three Lok

Sabha seats in Maharashtra,including the one on whichNCP chief Sharad Pawar willcontest despite his earlier deci-sion of withdrawing from elec-toral politics, will be keenlywatched in the upcoming generalpolls.

Besides Madha Lok Sabhaseat from where 78-year-oldPawar is likely to contest, theother constituencies such asNagpur and Solapur will also bein the limelight.

Pawar, currently a RajyaSabha member, had earlier

announced he will not contestthe Lok Sabha polls, but recent-ly changed his decision.

He said some of his partycolleagues were insisting he con-test the Lok Sabha poll fromSolapur’s Madha seat, currentlyrepresented by party leaderVijaysinh Mohite Patil.

According to a politicalobserver, prime ministerialambitions have always beenassociated with Pawar, but theveteran politician earlier said hewas not eyeing the top post.

“Pawar may still win fromMadha, but it may not be a cake-

walk,” the observer said.The former Union Minister,

whose party is in talks with theCongress for seat-sharing, earli-er said there will be state-specificalliances and not a national tie-up against the BJP and he will tryto bring all like-minded partieson one platform to take on thesaffron outfit. Besides, formerUnion minister SushilkumarShinde, who faced defeat for thefirst time in the 2014 Lok Sabhapoll, was also being persuaded bythe Congress leadership to con-test from Solapur again, a partysource said.

Another source said thatNagpur, from where UnionTransport and Shipping MinisterNitin Gadkari is likely to contest,will also be keenly watched bypolitical observers.

Former BJP MP Nana Patoleis likely to contest on Congress’ticket against Gadkari.

Patole, who quit the BJP lastyear, had defeated NCP stalwartPraful Patel from Bhandara-Gondia seat in 2014.

State Congress chief AshokChavan, the sitting MP fromNanded, may also contest theLok Sabha poll, though his sup-

porters want him to contest theAssembly election due in the sec-ond-half of 2019, a source said.

Maharashtra, which hasaround eight crore voters, sends48 MPs to the Lok Sabha, thesecond highest after UttarPradesh which has 80 seats.

The BJP, riding on the ‘Modiwave’, surged ahead in the statein 2014 by winning 23 seatswhile its ally Shiv Sena bagged18. The Congress, which ruledthe state in alliance with the NCPfor 15 years, managed to win justtwo seats while Pawar’s partybagged four. PTI

LS poll: Pawar’s re-entry into poll fray to be watched keenly

This writer saw a glimpse or twoof demonetisation way back inearly 1946 as a nine-year-old.We had moved to Calcutta(now Kolkata) less than two

years before that. One evening, my fathercame home and promptly showed mymother two large currency notes with aportrait of King George VI, the like ofwhich the writer had never seen before.Each was worth a thousand rupees. Myfather explained how he was offered fivesuch notes at `600 each only and hedeclined, thinking it was i l legal.Eventually, his office colleague thrust twoof them into his jacket’s pocket. Hebrought that home. The next day, he wasmeant to go to the bank which would givehim new `1,000 notes in exchange. Myfather went on to explain that duringWorld War II, which had ended inAugust 1945, many a trader had profi-teered by selling war materials forAmerican as well as British troops, whohad been deployed on the Burma (nowMyanmar) front. The suppliers mademoney but did not always pay taxes. TheBritish Indian Government, therefore,decided to demonetise the thousandrupee note. Since then, this writer has notbeen unfamiliar with the process.

The year 1946 is too long ago but in1978/79, too, the Janata PartyGovernment of Morarji Desai haddemonetised high-value notes. But themeasure was so half-hearted that mostpeople cannot remember it. Even thiswriter cannot recollect the details. In con-trast, the Modi Government’s action hashad an enormous impact; though it tooktime for many people to comprehendwhat exactly were the implications. Butmost, who had stocks of untaxed cash,lost their money. Those, who could notfind a way out, deposited it in the bankon the fair assumption that they wouldsort it out with the Income Tax officer atthe time of assessment, with or withoutpenalty. A Kolkata person, who report-edly had `7,000 crore, could have donethe same unless his cash was gained notonly from an untaxed source but alsofrom a dubious earning like smuggling.

This writer discovered how unusual themove was on the evening when PrimeMinister Narendra Modi announced hisstep with regard to the demonetisation of`500 and `1,000 notes. The writer and oneof the most informed veteran journalistswere dining at a club when the announce-ment was made. But that gentleman need-ed to be explained the implications.

Those, who had bundles and bundlesof unaccounted notes of the two denom-inations, lost heavily that night. One per-son was rumoured to have become poor-er by `7,000 crore in one stroke. Manysmall holders managed to change theirnotes at a discount of between 20 and 50

per cent with the help of bro-kers, who had connectionswith willing bank managers.This was one of the severalmismanagements reportedagainst the Government.Another was the delay atmany banks of new supply ofcurrency. The rest was the lossof money by the middle classto upper class holders. Somefelt gravely upset and sinnedagainst for being suddenlydeprived of their hard earnedmoney. They were right,except that they overlookedthat they had not paid incometax on the money they lost.

The first reaction thiswriter heard of was fromthree of his acquaintances —a teacher, a technocrat and abusinessman. Each one ofthem stood to lose up to `50lakh, which were lying in thehouse or a safe deposit lock-er. They all swore against theGovernment. On the otherhand, the average lower mid-dle class and poorer peoplewere vicariously happy thatthe rich people have been hitfor their ill-gotten wealth.Until then, their impressionwas that only the poor getpunished while the rich getaway with the help of theirinfluence and wealth.

The real stunning effect

was that a great deal of infor-mal (euphemism for black)money ceased to be legal ten-der. Most of it went into thebanks. In the process for a fewdays to a couple of months,parts of over 85 per cent of thecurrency notes, `500 and`1,000, became non-legal ten-der. Immediately, there was aliquidity crunch also because ofthe delay in supply of newnotes. Except for `2,000 notes,others were not printed for rea-sons of secrecy. How much ofthe secrecy was for a dramaticeffect and how much was toprevent transfer of cash by thebig holders were a matter ofconjecture. But one thing wascertain that demonetisationwas a stinging message againstblack money as never before inIndia. It was also a warning thatmore steps were coming. Sureenough the Goods and ServicesTax (GST) was on the anvil.

For those not emotional-ly involved, could understandthat a digital, or just a mod-ern economy could not existon two parallel money streets— one white and bankableand the other black and notbankable. One which propos-es to be taxable and the otherwhich evades tax from start tofinish. The latter would con-tinually undercut the former

because it would always becheaper. Those opposed todemonetisation keep callingthe latter informal instead ofblack. Even well-known econ-omists and scholars talk inthese terms — possibly theyare being considerate to agreat portion of yesteryeartraders in our country.

This writer’s personalexperience is interesting. Mycompany manufactures tooth-brushes, whose sales shot upby over 50 per cent on themorrow of demonetisationand more so after the intro-duction of GST. The explana-tion was that his competitionin the cheaper varieties wastaking no notice of taxation;with the changes, several ofthe competitors stopped man-ufacturing. There is no doubtthat the so-called informalsector has been stunned.Liquidity had shrunk whilenew currency notes werebeing printed. Once theycame into full flow, there wasno such problem. The onlydifference was that blackmoney has to be spent; where-as money in the bank is usu-ally spent with care and cau-tion. The reported reducedconsumer demand is due tothe comparative reduction insuperfluous spending.

There are several othercountries, which have demon-etised their currency, includingthe UK and Australia, so hasPakistan. Zimbabwe had donesomething unique — it abol-ished its own currency andreplaced it with the US dollar.Yet other countries are NorthKorea, Myanmar, Nigeria andGhana. By and large, they havenot benefitted, not because ofdemonetisation per se, but dueto the lack of any improvementin financial management.Whenever the Governmentfaced a shortage of funds, itsbanks resorted to printing notesto meet its expenditure.

Regrettably, demonetisa-tion in India has been lookedat politically rather than withthe help of economic logic.Second, it has not alwaysbeen seen as preparatory tothe GST, which makes tradingwith black money almostimpossible. Moreover, pay-ing GST means also exposingone’s turnover to the incometax authorities. For those,who were used to tax-freetrading, these measures aredoubly painful. Its impact onthe general elections remainsto be seen.

(The writer is a well-known columnist and anauthor)

Do fines work for car majors, who vio-

late emission norms from country to

country by implanting cheat devices

to escape test thresholds? Do they work for

our cities that are already reeling under vehic-

ular pollution? So though the National Green

Tribunal (NGT) has directed Volkswagen India

to deposit a sum of `500 crore as part of a

case against the carmaker for violating emis-

sion norms, fact is this amount has been

raised from the earlier compensation of

`171.34 crore as a means of “creating deter-

rence.” Clearly, there has been no correc-

tive by the carmaker in the interim since 2015, when the Automotive Research

Association of India (ARAI) found discrepancies between the laboratory and

on-road emission testing of VW’s EA189 diesel engine — a discovery that led

to a voluntary recall of over three lakh vehicles. Last year, the NGT pulled up

the carmaker as it was yet to recall nearly 36 per cent of its fleet. Truth be told

the company has been riven with allegations of environmental violations in many

other countries, forcing a mass recall of its cars. Some Volkswagen execu-

tives have even been sentenced to years in jail. But for all the punitive mea-

sures and compensation payouts, Volkswagen, and other car majors with equal

cheat sheets, have continued to sell millions of cars. In fact, most car compa-

nies get by with paying carbon fines knowing full well that they can get the amount

back by selling millions of cars every year. Consumer rights or their deception

don’t matter. Nor does the incremental overload of pollution with each vehicle

that runs. Faulty cars are being replaced with vehicles from the same compa-

ny and as it turns out people still want to buy offending brands in big numbers.

There’s only one way to ensure compliance. Governments everywhere should

put a ban on their sales if cars are found violating norms. Once a stop-sale con-

dition throws the assembly line out of gear, the carmakers would feel the pinch

and realise that compensation cannot be a worthy investment and a guilt trip

could no longer generate revenue. The same actions should be taken across

the world, so that it impacts company finances and reduces profits. As a big

company, you only learn valuable lessons when you lose money. That’s when

you realise that things must change and that you can’t lie and get away with it.

Remember that VW’s on road emissions were 1.1 times to 2.6 times higher than

the applicable BS-IV norms. The government needs to sharpen testing modules

and have a uniform penalty policy for all manufacturers. Also with diesel’s days

limited and electric cars the new reality, not in the short term, but definitely in

the long run, carmakers should realise that they cannot play around with emis-

sion norms.

Truth be told, the Congress needs to

accommodate the federal front a bit more

seriously if it indeed wants the mahagath-

bandhan to work on the ground for the Lok

Sabha election and keep the momentum of the

last round of the Assembly verdict going. And

though it doesn’t want to dilute its own solo

presence and depth through strategic alliances,

fact is without them, it might lose the script

and score too little, too late. Perhaps that’s the

reason why Congress chief Rahul Gandhi him-

self oversaw the seat-sharing arrangement in

Karnataka. But it is Uttar Pradesh where the problem lies with Samajwadi Party

(SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav insisting that the two seats given to the Congress, the

Gandhis’ strongholds of Rae Bareli and Amethi, meant that the party was already

part of the Opposition front and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati keep-

ing mum on further concessions. Perhaps that’s the reason why the grand old

party has sent a “common aim” message of dismantling the Modi government

by offering two Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra to the BSP and one to the SP

while being in alliance with the NCP. While this is being done to coalesce the

Dalit-Muslim votebase in that state, it is clearly an olive branch to prevent, what

one of the Congress leaders said, hara-kiri in Uttar Pradesh, the result of which

is crucial to stemming the Modi tide, on a high after the Balakot airstrikes.

Although the Congress has decided to field candidates in 80 seats in Uttar

Pradesh and deployed Priyanka Gandhi Vadra in full force, it has still a long way

to go before stealing the thunder from the SP and BSP, given their solid vote per-

centages. Numerically, they pose a threat to the BJP’s vote share in combina-

tion and even surpass it for the Lok Sabha. It works for both the SP and BSP

that the Congress stay in the fray as a vote-cutter of the BJP, given the com-

monality of its social base with the rightist party, and helps justify the backward

caste-Dalit coalition as a front against the upper caste, Thakur raj of Yogi Adityanath.

But with a recharged Congress and Priyanka’s fresh appeal, now that she is into

booth level management, there could be a splintering of the Muslim-backward

votebase, too, that would directly benefit the BJP. It is understandable that the

SP and BSP are holding back going by past instances of seat-sharing where the

Congress vote didn’t transfer en bloc to the caste candidate but frittered away

with damaging consequences for both. Logically, they are right but notionally a

three-cornered fight would split the secular vote.

It is in this larger interest that the Congress has to be more flexible in its deal-

ing with regional parties even if an understanding with the SP-BSP is perhaps

too late. In this respect, the expected-to-be arrogant BJP has actually proved

critics wrong by going soft on regional allies. Despite being on a stronger wick-

et, the BJP has given more seats to JD(U)’s Nitish Kumar in Bihar and Shiv Sena’s

Uddhav Thackeray in Maharashtra. The BJP won 22 seats in Bihar in 2014 but

has settled for 17 this time around. Similarly, despite constant carping by the

Sena, the latest being demanding proof of the Balakot airstrikes, the BJP has

given it almost 50 per cent seats and even promised it chief ministership as the

State polls will be held simultaneously. And in UP, both the Congress and the

SP-BSP combine face challenges as the BJP is reaching out to smaller parties

and propping up Akhilesh’s estranged uncle Shivpal Yadav and Amar Singh to

chip away at the SP base. This is in contrast with the Congress, which wants

to go the whole hog but doesn’t see the writing on the wall. The Congress had

won no seats in Delhi in 2014 but by going alone here without tying up with AAP,

it has created a walkover scenario for the BJP. If the Congress is serious about

its revival at the national level, it has to make some compromises in this elec-

tion too. Or else risk being benched again. Because the mahagathbandhan needs

to be seen as cohesive rather than opportunist and needs to force other issues

as worthy of attention than just Balakot.

Olive branch season

Congress has to bend in its dealing with regional partieseven as it offers SP-BSP seats in Maharashtra

NGT increases fine for Volkswagen's cheat devices but onlystop-sales caveats world over will keep carmakers in check

Beef up security

Sir — The terror attack on secu-rity forces in Pulwama has high-lighted the need to revamp thesecurity network at defenceinstallations like the InformationTechnology parks. Given themounting tensions betweenIndia and Pakistan, acts of ter-rorism are unlikely to end any-time soon. It is, therefore, imper-ative for India as well as theGovernment to put in placeappropriate security measures atvital and sensitive places.

Bengaluru is regarded asIndia’s Silicon Valley. Exportsfrom the city have been estimat-ed at bi l l ions of dollars. Besides, it a lso generatesemployment for a large numberof IT professionals.

Hence, it is essential that toeffectively meet the terrorthreats, physical safety audit ofall important economic anddefense installations — notablythe mega InformationTechnology parks, shoppingmalls, railways stations and air-ports — must be carried out andcorrective measures be taken.

The Central IndustrialSecurity Force (CISF) with its

vast experience has an importantrole to play. The IT parks canturn out to be soft targets. Thesystem of entry to these areasmust be tightened with bettercoordination among the securi-ty agencies. This can ensure aneffective and swift response ifdisaster strikes. India should beprepared to tackle any warfare.

Ramesh G Jethwani Bengaluru

Flawed argument

Sir — This refers to the editorial,“Facts over perception” (March 8).The Government’s stand in theSupreme Court on the Rafale deal,on the ground that the documentson which it is based were “stolen”,is untenable. So long as the authen-ticity of the papers is not challenged,how did the documents come into

the hands of the Press is irrelevantin a vast majority of cases. Let’s alsoremember that today’s Governmentwas yesterday’s Opposition andthat in its earlier avatar, it took thethen Government to task on thebasis of numerous Press reportsbased on “leaked” documents. TheAgustaWestland case, for example,saw a blizzard of leaked papers.

P ArihanthSecunderabad

Murky deal

Sir — This refers to the editorial,“Facts over perception” (March 8).The whistle-blower, who made the‘secret documents’ on Rafale avail-able, must have done it after beingthoroughly convinced that it was amurky deal and he/she must havebeen disappointed over the way theGovernment has been trying tobury hard facts. In my opinion, theone who has taken such a grave riskto bring out the truth and exposethe Government for its suspiciousinvolvement in the deal, must be atrue nationalist.

Tharcius S FernandoChennai

Public apathy

Sir — Buying water has nowbecome common. But are we star-ing at a situation where buyingclean air may soon be the norm?We need to work quickly before thenext generation laments the lega-cy of an unliveable environment.

ShashiVia email

P A P E R W I T H P A S S I O N

www.dailypioneer.com

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op nionLUCKNOW | MONDAY | MARCH 11, 2019

08

Dissecting demonetisation

PRAFULL GORADIA

The move has been looked at politically rather than through the prism of economics. Second,

it has not always been seen as preparatory to the GST. The real test will lie in the LS verdict

I am going to continueto fight for my people. Iwill stay in Congressand continue to supportthe Congress.

Congress MLA—Alpesh Thakor

There is so much to shareabout Brahmastra, but it is fit-ting that the first team mem-ber this Insta journey touchesupon is… Ranbir.

Director—Ayan Mukherjee

I appeal to all Kashmiri moth-ers, please stop your childrenfrom going on the path ofmilitancy. I assure you oftheir safety and security.

Corps Commander—KJS Dhillon

S O U N D B I T E

L E T T E R S T O T H E E D I T O R

Apex court is right in giving peace a chance

This refers to the editorial, “Ayodhya breather” (March9). The Babri Masjid dispute is a ticking time bombthat cannot be sorted out within just eight weeks. But

the Supreme Court thinks otherwise. Justice IbrahimKalifulla, spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar and noted advo-cate Sriram Panchu have the arduous task of finding solu-tions to a case which has eluded settlement for the last50 years. Mediation has its role in several fields. It is indeeda time-tested method to bridge the gap. The mediators needto possess excellent communication skills, integritybeyond reproach and an unfathomable trust of involvedparties. Moreover, mediation as a part of dispute-settle-ment should wholeheartedly be acceptable to all.

Rules and regulations may have been referred to bythe apex court while forming the committee but discor-dant voices emanating from some corners prove that theprocess may not cut ice. The Ayodhya case is not a prover-bial storm in a teacup. Experienced “mediators” may haveto use their faculties to the fullest to convince all parties.

If they fail in their task, the top court will have a lot of think-ing to do. Amid all this, the Supreme Court has definite-ly done a service to the common man: It has sealed polit-ical parties' mouths to use the contentious issue as an elec-tion plank. Be that as it may, the citizens of India hope fora miracle — a fortuitous mediation — because the long-drawn-out case has seen no signs of early adjudication.

Ganapathi BhatAkola

Send your feedback to:letterstopioneer@gmail.com

Green rap on cars

I appeal to all parties to cometogether to create a sentimentin favour of Ram Mandir sothat it can be an advantage tothe nation, not just the BJP's.

Union minister—Uma Bharti

Shift the culture of violence

‘JOURNEY TOWARDS TRUTH’ IS A JOURNEY TOWARDS

NAYA PAKISTAN. NATIONS BECOME GREAT BECAUSE

THEY HAVE A HIGHER VALUE SYSTEM.

—PAKISTAN PRIME MINISTER

IMRAN KHAN

IF PAKISTAN CLAIMS TO BE A ‘NAYA PAKISTAN’

THEN IT SHOULD DEMONSTRATE ‘NAYA ACTION’

AGAINST TERRORIST GROUPS.

—MEA SPOKESPERSON

RAVEESH KUMAR

POINTCOUNTERPOINT

As we all know, 2019 is the year of gen-eral elections in India. And the students’union of any university in India plays a

vital role in raising issues of local and nation-al importance, lending a futuristic perspectiveof the nation’s goals. At the Aligarh MuslimUniversity (AMU), established in 1877 by sec-ularist and nationalist leader Sir Syed AhmadKhan, students have always raised their voic-es on several occasions in the past in an effi-cient manner. However, it has been observedin the recent past that AMU has become a softtarget and a centre for polarisation for right-wing groups. One incident after another clear-ly indicates the intention of a group of studentsbelonging to a political outfit to create nuisancein the peaceful campus. Whether it is the mat-ter of serving food in the dining hall, or tak-ing the “tiranga yatra” without permission orunauthorised entry of a TV reporter to thecampus to cover an event organised by AMUStudents’ Union, all these events seem to be pre-planned to disturb the peaceful academicatmosphere of the campus. It clearly shows thata group of students following a certain politi-cal ideology tries to distract attention fromunemployment and corruption within theGovernment before the 2019 general election.

There is no denying that the AMU sinceits inception has succeeded in maintaining acordial atmosphere for students and faculty ofall religious affiliations to live and worktogether. The Government of India must seeto it that this delicate balance is not disturbedby communalists of either kind. Likewise, oureducationists should consider the cause of theAMU as their own cause and seek to preserveits autonomy as well as its residential charac-ter. In his less than two years of tenure, ViceChancellor Prof Tariq Mansoor has taken manyinitiatives, be it smart classrooms or develop-ing infrastructure in the campus, maintainingthe academic standard of the university orreviving the tehzeeb among students and fac-ulty to make this great seat of learning unique.

Professor Mansoor believes that “talkingwith students and their representatives on a reg-ular basis and making them feel comfortableand relaxed is very important in resolving anycrisis.” Students always want the administra-tion to reach out to them and get their atten-tion. Prof Mansoor behaves like a fatherly fig-ure and keeps the communication lines openwith students so as to make them feel connect-ed, which helps in resolving any mattersmoothly.

Referring to a recent incident, ShashiBhushan Roy, who is an alumnus of AMU andwas in the campus recently for a corporatemeet, says, “I have been here for around 15years and received all my education from thisgreat seat of learning. I was never discriminat-ed on the basis of my religion or caste. In fact,I want my son to get admission in AMU. Hehas already applied for admission this year inthe university, which would be his first choice,if selected.”

In an appeal to the students’ community,the Vice Chancellor said, “Our glorious insti-tution, the Aligarh Muslim University, has been

passing through challenging times. Ourresilience and spirit has been and remains ourbiggest strength. During the recent past, myteam and I have been making the best possi-ble efforts to resolve the situation, which wehave successfully overcome.” He further said:“I will continue to see that innocent studentsare honourably exonerated, and no injustice isdone to any student because of false accusation.”This appeal boosted the morale of students andthey felt safer and connected with the admin-istration.

It is a matter of great satisfaction that AMUis ranked among top universities at the nation-al as well as the global level. It has successful-ly reached the top academic rankings in theworld. Academic standards are improving, thecurriculum is being upgraded and enriched ona regular basis in every department so as tomake sure the education and training provid-ed is relevant to the need of the times. At thesame time, the AMU management is trying topreserve the Aligarh tehzeeb by making surethat the faculty-student relations are cordial,respectful and beneficial to each other. Withthe help of alumni and well-wishers of theAMU, the management is also striving to makethe university serve its basic purpose, which isto provide good and relevant education that willenable graduating students to get easily placedin the global market.

Sir Syed Ahmad Khan dedicated his life forthe Hindu-Muslim unity in the country andworked all his life for the educational uplift ofthe community and to strengthen a pluralis-tic society of a modern India. He stressed onmaking education a medium to transform peo-ple into good human beings. AMU representsthe secular Ganga-Jamuni tehzeeb and the

AMU community is committed to preservingthis identity of this great seat of learning.

The AMU management has to carry thelegacy of the great reformer Sir Syed. And thecurrent Vice Chancellor, with his over three-decade association with the university, has totake the lead in guiding the top brass in ensur-ing excellence for the famed varsity. A goodbeginning is seemingly visible. In the last twoyears, factionalism and groupism on the cam-pus have decreased. The need of the hour is tomaintain this momentum.

For the AMU management as also the ViceChancellor, their biggest challenge would bemaintaining law and order situation in the insti-tution. Understanding the dynamics of thecampus would come handy for them. Also, itis high time that the AMU community world-wide supports the Vice-Chancellor in makingit one of the best universities of the country.It now has around 28,000 students, 2,000 fac-ulty members and 6,000 non-teaching mem-bers. Non-Muslims among these employeeshave a very viable presence. AMU is one of themost prominent residential universities in thesubcontinent and receives students from allwalks of life.

It has an eminent history, which is intri-cately linked with the freedom struggle and theformulation of the Indian education system.People across communities have contributedto making it what it is today. It is necessary thatthe minority character of the AMU must beprotected in the national interest as it was estab-lished and administered by the minority com-munity which enjoys protection under Article30 of the Constitution.

(The writer is a well-known linguist, authorand columnist)

Ever since its inception, AMU has maintained a cordial atmosphere for studentsas well as faculty members. All must strive to maintain this delicate balance

analysis 09F I R S T C O L U M N

Don’t count on a

return of unrest

GWYNNE DYER

The Syrian and Yemeni civil wars may be stumblingtowards an end but the events are still too fresh in

people’s minds for them to want to try again

MJ WARSI

Slogans of the ‘Arab Spring’ are being heard again in the

Arab world. “The people want the fall of the regime,”

chant the protesters in Sudan, where almost three

months of popular demonstrations challenge the power of

the long-ruling dictator Omar al-Bashir. He acknowledges the

parallels himself, condemning the demos as “an attempt to

copy the so-called Arab spring for Sudan.”

At the other end of the Arab world, in Algeria, the demos

began only last month, when President Abdelaziz Bouteflika,

in power for the last 20 years, announced that he will run

for a fifth term in the for thcoming elections. He is 82-years-

old and so badly affected by a stroke six years ago that he

can hardly walk or talk.

Bouteflika’s last public speech was in 2014, and the most

common poster in the street protests just shows a wheelchair

with a big red X over it. As Algerian writer Kamel Daoud put it,

by offering a candidate “who is almost dead”, the regime is

showing its contempt for the young people in Algeria (where

more than 30 per cent of people aged under 30 are unemployed).

The real reason for putting up Bouteflika once again is

that the various elements of le pouvoir (the power), as every-

body call the regime, could not agree on any other candi-

date. But it is an insult to the public and the regime is fright-

ened by the reaction.

Algerian Prime Minister Ahmed Ouyahia praised the

demonstrators for using strictly non-violent tactics (as in the

time of the Arab Spring), citing an incident where they gave roses

to the security forces policing the protests. But he pointed out:

The non-violent pro-democracy demonstrations in Syria in 2011,

which triggered a ghastly civil war, also “started with

exchanges of roses.” So, is the Arab Spring coming back so

soon? Probably not.

You couldn’t find two Arab countries with much less in com-

mon. Algeria is a reasonably well-educated, middle-income coun-

try; Sudan is a very poor country where literacy rate is actu-

ally falling. Sudanese are Black; Algerians are White. The vari-

eties of popular Arabic spoken in Algeria and Sudan are mutu-

ally incomprehensible. But they do have two things in common.

They are both dictatorships of very long standing. The

National Liberation Front has ruled Algeria since 1962, with

Bouteflika as its front man for the past 20 years. Bashir came

to power in a military coup 30 years ago. And both countries

largely missed out on the original Arab Spring: There were scat-

tered demonstrations, quickly appeased or crushed

but nothing more.

As in the Arab Spring, the protests this time are really fuelled

by falling living standards. A dictatorship that was tolerated while

living standards were rising becomes intolerable when there are

not enough jobs and it’s getting hard to put food on the table.

In Sudan this time, it was a cut in the subsidy on bread

that set off the protests but that was the last of many cuts over

the past decade. Sudan lost three-quarters of its oil income when

South Sudan became a separate country in 2011 and the regime

can no longer afford to buy the population off with subsidies

of various sorts. Algeria still has its oil but has been hurt badly

by the sustained fall in oil prices since 2014.

This doesn’t mean that Sudanese and Algerians would love

their rulers if there was more money in their pockets. They have

never more than tolerated them but the cost of trying to do some-

thing about the situation seemed too high. Now, it doesn’t seem

that high any more, at least not compared to the alternative.

The protests in Sudan may actually succeed in unseating

Bashir, although not necessarily the military-dominated regime

he leads. The regime in Algeria has already made a key con-

cession, with Bouteflika promising to hold a referendum on a

new constitution and then call fresh elections (in which he will

not run) before the end of his next five-year term.

The regime is hoping that will be enough to let it stay in

power, and it may be right. Algerians are deeply scarred by the

terrible civil war of the 1990s, when Islamists waged a ten-year

campaign of terror after their impending victory in a free elec-

tion was cancelled by the military. People remain frightened of

anything that could bring back that time, may be even includ-

ing too-free elections. And nobody else in the Arab world is

ready to pick up the torch just yet. The Syrian and Yemeni civil

wars, both triggered by the popular, initially non-violent revo-

lutions of the Arab Spring, may finally be stumbling towards

an end but the whole tragic sequence of events is still too fresh

in people’s minds for them to want to try again.

(The writer’s new book is Growing Pains: The Future of

Democracy (and Work))

The Indian diaspora’s long crymay turn bitter if the new draftEmigration Management Bill

2019 is passed. The need for a com-prehensive legislation, revamping theexisting Emigration Act of 1983, waswell understood by all parties andstakeholders in the field of migration.Even though the process for a newmigration legislation gathered steamin 2012, the Government nevershowed the needed political will toenact it.

It was a pleasant surprise at thefag end of the present Government’stenure that a sudden “stakeholders’meeting” was called and a draft Billprepared and published. For theIndian diaspora, it is a welcome sign,

even though it looks like an appease-ment exercise, keeping the morethan three-crore strong Indian dias-pora in mind. The Emigration Act of1983 had many anomalies like notbeing migrant-friendly and was notrepresentative of the the multi-layeredimmigration problems and chal-lenges.

The Government’s approachtowards the restructuring andrevamping of the Emigration Act wascallous, which was evident in the hur-riedly-convened stakeholders’ meetand the draft Bill. In the Bill draftingprocess, the real migrants, their CSOs,or the State Government bodies likeNORKA and APNRT were neitherconsulted, nor their opinion sought.Going through the provisions of thedraft Bill, it looks headed to meet thesame fate as the 1983 Act even as it istreacherously disappointing.

The new draft does not addressthe welfare needs and the kaleidoscop-ic changes in the socio, political, eco-nomic, demographic and culturalrelationships in the countries of des-tination. The need of the hour is aComprehensive Migration

Management Act (CMMA), whichshould end the stark exploitation inthe migration cycles, mainly in therecruitment process, at work andreturn and re-integration of themigrants. The new Act should beinclusive to result in a win-win situ-ation for all the migration stakehold-ers. Further, the new CMMA shouldview migration in the developmentalperspective and an economic activi-ty for both India and the Countriesof Transit and Destination.

A Migration ManagementMinistry should be created at theCentre besides a MigrationManagement Authority in all States aswell as the Centre. The responsibili-ty of complete restructuring andrevamping of the recruitment, place-ment, work, return and re-integrationshould be vested with the StateGovernments and the institutions andauthorities constituted for this pur-pose through the ComprehensiveMigration Management Act. TheProtector of Emigration is a colonialinstitution and it should be abolishedand put into the restructuring process.

A Pravasi Commission with quasi

judicial authority should also be con-stituted at the Centre and in all theStates. For the inclusion of migrantsin the democratic and developmen-tal process and for governance, a bodywith legislative powers should be con-stituted under this Act both at theCentre and State levels. The legislationaspects of the migration governancecan be through a quasi legislative body,having specific rules and regulations.

It is appalling to note that theIndian Government has no databank on its migrant demography. Itshould be provisioned in the Bill forcompulsory data collection of Indiansgoing abroad for whatever reasons.Identity smart cards should be provid-ed to the migrants. It should addressboth permanent and contractualmigration and should be able to pro-tect and safeguard the interest of allmigrant workers.

The underlying ethos of theCMMA should be based on theprinciples of freedom, equality anddignity, as enshrined in theConstitution of India and the new Actshould ensure the same in the desti-nation countries.

Well-managed migration bringsdevelopment to both India and thecountries of destination. In this per-spective or guiding principle, the newcomprehensive migration Act shouldbe developed.

The very basic element of the newAct should focus on implementing allthe UN and International LabourOrganisation (ILO) conventions,treaties, multilateral commitmentsto migrants’ human and labour rights.Those not yet ratified should bedone, made binding and applicable tomigrants across the board.

The proposed legislation shouldhave the migration elements relatedto those of the SDG goals and shouldbe in the broader framework of the 23directive principles and objectives ofthe Global Compact on Migration.Regularisation and regular pathwaysfor human mobility across the plankshould be core to the drive for the newCMMA of India and should facilitatehuman mobility with human rightsand labour rights of the migrants.

There should also be strict pro-visions for the protection of migrantwomen. “They are not by nature vul-

nerable population” in need of rescuebut too often, find themselves in vul-nerable situations due to (migra-tion) policies, values and the denial ofrights. Hence, this new enactmentshould ensure without fail the rightsto migrant women and their children,as enshrined in the Constitution ofIndia, UN treaties and conventions.

There should not be deportationof children in any circumstances andthey should not be separated fromtheir families. Provisions should bemade to protect and respect citizensand organisations that help undocu-mented migrants in need. The newlaw should have a human touch.Provisions against commodificationof the migrants/trading of migrantsshould be incorporated.

A majority of the Indian migra-tion is Asia-centered and economical-ly on temporary contractual migra-tion. The interest of this segment ofmigrants should be well protected inthe upcoming Act. The CMMAshould address the need for ethicalrecruitment, decent jobs and labourmobility with the protection of thelabour rights of migrants. Recruitment

fees should be borne by the employ-er, not the migrant worker and anyfees collected from the migrant work-er should be treated as bonded labourand trafficking in humans.

Portability of salary, social secu-rity benefits, indemnities and pen-sion etc should be guaranteed to themigrant worker without any hin-drance, both from the destinationcountries and the employers. Forcedrepatriation and administrativedeportation should not be allowed.Their voluntary return should betailor-made and context specific,involving a process with true choic-es, including choosing the momentof return. To change the narrativeand perceptions on migration, themigrants’ voices need to be audible.

What the Indian migrant wantsis a CMMA that will protect and safe-guard them in the true sense. We canalways wait for a few months more forthis to become a reality since we havebeen waiting for the last 35 years.

(The writer is an NRI working onthe welfare of migration workers in theGulf sector)

Plug the loopholes in draft emigration BillIn its current form, the draft is an improvement from the 1983 Act but the current paradigm demands a wider and thorough approach.

We need a Comprehensive Migration Management Act that should address every aspect of the exploitation of migrant workers

THOMAS MATHE KADAVIL

LUCKNOW | MONDAY | MARCH 11, 2019

www.dailypioneer.com

THE UNIVERSITYHAS AN EMINENTHISTORY, WHICHIS INTRICATELY

LINKED WITH THEFREEDOM

STRUGGLE ANDTHE FORMULATION

OF THE INDIANEDUCATION

SYSTEM. PEOPLEACROSS ALL

COMMUNITIESHAVE

CONTRIBUTED TOMAKING IT WHATIT IS TODAY. IT ISESSENTIAL THAT

ITS MINORITYCHARACTER MUST

BE PROTECTED

LUCKNOW | MONDAY | MARCH 11, 2019 money 10

PTI n NEW DELHI

India has invited Saudi Arabiato invest in its strategic oil

storage even as it looks to res-urrect a $44 billion (`3.08 lakhcrore) refinery project withthe world’s largest oil produc-er after the BJP-ruledMaharashtra governmentdenied land at the initial site.

Saudi Oil Minister KhalidAl Falih, on his second visit toIndia in three weeks, discussedwith its Indian counterpartDharmendra Pradhan the 60million tonne (MT) a yearmega oil refinery cum petro-

chemical complex, whose ini-tial allocated land in coastalRatnagiri district ofMaharashtra was denotifiedby the State Government ear-lier this month, as part of elec-toral understanding betweenthe ruling BJP and Shiv Sena.“The (two) Ministers reviewedvarious Saudi investment pro-posals in the Indian oil and gassector, including the urgentsteps to be taken to expedite theimplementation of the firstjoint venture West CoastRefinery and PetrochemicalProject in Maharashtra, esti-mated to cost $44 billion, whichwill be the largest greenfieldrefinery in the world,” an oilministry statement said Sunday.

The two Minister held talkslate last night. Shiv Sena hadopposed the project atRatnagiri district and the BJPagreed to its demand of shift-

ing out the project as part ofelectoral understanding for theensuing Lok Sabha polls.

No alternate site of the pro-ject has yet been identified and

the statement did not elaborateon steps to be taken for imple-mentation of the project. SaudiAramco and its partnerADNOC of UAE have signed

agreements to take 50 per centstake in the project.

The remaining is held bypublic sector oil firms — IOC,BPCL and HPCL. Pradhan

invited Saudi Arabia to investin India’s strategic oil reserves.“Invited HE @Khalid_AlFalihto partner in India’s StrategicReserves Program and furtherenhance Saudi investments inIndia’s refining & petrochem-ical sectors.

Strategic engagements inenergy will mutually benefitboth our countries and furtherbolster our bilateral ties,” hetweeted after the meeting.

The official statement said:“Saudi Arabia’s participation inIndian Strategic PetroleumReserve (SPR) program wasalso discussed.” India has built5.33 MT of emergency storageenough to meet its oil needs for9.5 days, in underground rockcaverns in Mangalore andPadur in Karnataka, andVisakhapatnam in AndhraPradesh.

It has allowed foreign oil

companies to store oil in thestorages on the condition thatthe stockpile can be used byNew Delhi in case of an emer-gency. Abu Dhabi National OilCompany (ADNOC) has hiredhalf of the 1.5 million tonnestrategic oil storage atMangalore and 2.5 milliontonne Padur facility.

In Phase-II, India plans tobuild an additional 6.5 milliontonne facilities at Chandikholin Odisha and Padur, which isexpected to augment the emer-gency cover against any supplydisruption by another 11.5days.

India, which meets 83 percent of its oil needs throughimports, built the storages asinsurance for any disruption insupplies. It has the right of firstrefusal to buy the crude oilstored in the facilities in case ofan emergency.

The statement said thatthe visit of the Saudi OilMinister was a follow up thefirst State visit of Saudi CrownPrince Mohammed bin Salmanbin Abdulaziz Al Saud lastmonth. “Both the ministersagreed to take concrete stepsfor early implementation of thedecisions taken in the oil andgas sector during the visit ofHis Royal Highness CrownPrince Mohammed bin Salmanbin Abdulaziz Al Saud to Indialast month,” it said.

The visit, it said, reflects theintensifying engagementbetween the two countries inthe hydrocarbon sector. SaudiArabia is the second largestsupplier of crude and LPG toIndia. In 2017-18, India’s crudeoil imports from Saudi Arabiawere 36.8 MT, accounting for16.7 per cent of its totalimports.

RBI: No data on demonetisednotes used at petrol pumps

PTI n NEW DELHI

State-owned Punjab NationalBank (PNB) has sanctioned

loans worth `689 crore to over1,600 Micro, Small andMedium Enterprises (MSMEs)through the psbloansin59min-utes.Com portal as part of itseffort to promote such indus-tries.

Under the Mudra Yojana,the bank has offered loan toover 2.69 lakh small entrepre-neurs this fiscal (till February14, 2019).

“In November 2018,Hon’ble Prime Ministerannounced the launch of the 59minute loan portal to enableeasy access to credit forMSMEs. Under this initiative,the bank has sanctioned loansto over 1,600 accounts withtotal sanctioned amount of`689 crore (till February end),”PNB managing director SunilMehta told PTI.

MSMEs through this por-tal can avail loans of up to `1crore in 59 minutes or less thanan hour. MSMEs apply forloans using their GST regis-tration as the portal is inte-grated with GST server at theback-end as well as IT, creditbureaus and banks. It is able toquickly score the applicant onindividual models of lenders(currently only public sectorbanks).

It is a strategic initiative ofSIDBI led PSB consortiumincubated under theDepartment of FinancialServices (DFS), Ministry of Finance. Otherpartner banks are the SBI,Bank of Baroda, PNB, Vijayaand Indian Bank.

With regard to the PradhanMantri Mudra Yojana, Mehtasaid since the inception of thescheme, PNB has sanctionedloan to over 17.16 lakhaccounts with total amount of21,019 crore till December 31,2018.

“In the current financialyear, the bank has offered theloan to over 2.69 lakh accountswith total amount sanctionedbeing 5,290 crore till February14, 2019. The scheme has

helped millions of small enter-prises in the country and willcontinue to do so, in the com-ing years. The bank has exceed-ed the government targetsunder Mudra scheme and hasprovided additional workingcapital limit to MSMEs,” hesaid.

PNB has bagged manyawards last month under theEnhanced Access and ServiceExcellence (EASE) reformsagenda. The bank won theReforms Excellency Award. Itwas also declared the winner inthe customer responsiveness,responsible banking and cred-it Off-take category.

The bank has also figuredin the Forbes world’s best bank2019 report in terms of cus-tomer satisfaction ratings.

Govt seeks Saudi investment in strategic oil storage

Rescue planfor refineryproject

PTI n NEW DELHI

The RBI in reply to an RTIquery said it has no data on

the old 500 and 1,000 rupeenotes used to pay for utility billssuch as fuel at petrol pumps —payments that are anonymousand are believed to haveformed a good part of thedemonetised currency thatreturned to the banking system.

After the November 8,2016 shock decision to ban theuse of old 500 and 1,000 rupeenotes, the Government hadallowed the exchange of thejunked notes as well as theybeing used for payment ofutility bills for 23 services.

Both 500 and 1,000 rupeenotes could be used at govern-ment hospitals, railway ticket-ing, public transport, airlineticketing at airports, milkbooths, crematoria/burialgrounds, petrol pumps, metrorail tickets, purchase of medi-cines on doctor prescriptionfrom the government and pri-vate pharmacies, LPG gascylinders, railway catering,electricity and water bills, ASImonument entry tickets andhighway toll.

On November 25, 2016,the exchange of old notes wasstopped and the Governmentallowed the use of only old 500rupee notes at these utilities tillDecember 15, 2016. The

Government, however, stoppedthe use of even this currency atpetrol pumps and for the pur-chase of air tickets at airportsabruptly with effect fromDecember 2, 2016, after reportsthat they were becoming frontsfor laundering of old currencynotes.

In reply to the Right toInformation (RTI) query, theRBI said: “information on(invalidated) notes used forpaying utility bills is not avail-able with us”.

As much as 99.3 per cent ofthe junked `500 and `1,000notes have returned to thebanking system, the RBI hadstated in August last year, indi-cating that just a miniscule per-centage of currency was left outof the system after theGovernment’s unprecedentednote ban aimed at curbingblack money and corruption.

Of the `15.41 lakh croreworth ̀ 500 and `1,000 notes incirculation on November 8,2016, when the note ban wasannounced, currency worth`15.31 lakh crore have beenreturned.

On the issue of numberand value of invalidated ordemonetised currency notesbeing exchanged, the RBI in theRTI reply referred to aNovember 28, 2016 press state-ment where it had stated that“Banks have since reportedthat such exchange/depositseffected from November 10,2016, upto November 27, 2016amounted to `8,44,982 crore(exchange amounted to`33,948 crore and depositsamounted to `8,11,033 crore).

“The facility of exchange ofSpecified Bank Notes at banks’counter was available up toNovember 24, 2016,” it said.

Specified Bank Notes orSBN is the term used to denotethe demonetised currencywhich was allowed to bedeposited in bank accountstill December 30, 2016.

The Reserve Bank of Indiaalso said it did not have infor-mation on the number of SBNsused to buy KYC-compliantinstruments like insurancepolicies.

The central bank referreda part of the RTI to theInsurance Regulatory andDevelopment Authority ofIndia (IRDAI) which also stat-ed that it does not have infor-mation on old notes used topay for insurance policies as “itis not maintained by theAuthority”.

PNB sanctions debt worth

`689 crore to 1,600 MSMEs

IANS n NEW DELHI

Petrol prices rose in therange of 9 to 10 paise in the

four metropolitan cities of thecountry on Sunday, while dieselprices remained unchanged.

In the national Capital,petrol was priced at `72.40 alitre, 9 paise higher thanSaturday’s level.

In Kolkata and Mumbai,the price of the fuel rose by 9paise to `74.48 and `78.03 perlitre, respectively, according todata on the Indian OilCorporation’s website. Theprice of petrol in Chennaiincreased by 10 paise to ̀ 75.19a litre. The rise in fuel pricescan be largely attributed to theincrease in crude oil costs.Petroleum Minister

Dharmendra Pradhan onSaturday conveyed India’s con-cerns over rising crude oilprices and its effects on thedomestic fuel rates during hismeeting here with SaudiArabia’s Minister of Energy,Khalid Al-Falih.

However, domestic fuelprices are likely to remain sub-dued till the upcoming gener-al elections end, to prevent anyoutrage among the consumers,said informed sources.

Diesel prices across thefour metros remainedunchanged for the thirdstraight day. While the fuel waspriced at Rs 67.54 per litre inDelhi, in Kolkata, Mumbai andChennai, diesel prices were at`69.33, `70.76 and `71.38 perlitre, respectively.

Petrol prices up 9-10 paise

IANS n JAMMU

The Jammu & KashmirGovernment on Sunday

appointed E Sreedharan, pop-ularly known as the ‘MetroMan’, as principal advisor totwo mass rapid transit corpo-rations in the State.

The government hasapproved setting up the twomass rapid transit corpora-tions. These have been namedthe Jammu Mass Rapid TransitCorp and the Srinagar Mass

Rapid Transit Corp.“While thinking anything

about the Mass Rapid Transitsystems in India, the first namewhich comes to everybody’smind is of Dr. ElattuvalapilSreedharan, a retired IES(IRSE) officer, Padma Shri andPadma Vibhushan, popularlyknown as ‘Metro Man’, who iscredited for changing the faceof public transport in Indiawith his leadership of buildingKonkan Railway and the DelhiMetro,” a statement said.

‘Metro Man’ Sreedharanto serve J&K now

PTI n NEW DELHI

With an aim to bolster itsinformation-gathering

mechanism and fast-track itsprobe, market regulator Sebihas sought direct powers togrant immunity in select casesand to impose lesser penalty ifthe accused agrees to provideassistance against other wrong-doers.

In two separate proposalsfor the government, theSecurities and Exchange Boardof India (Sebi) has opined thatsuch provisions would help itin establishing and securingstronger findings and ordersagainst defaulters againstwhom sufficient evidence maynot be available otherwise, offi-cials said.

The new powers can becrucial for Sebi in some ongo-ing cases, including one involv-ing a large bank and severalhigh-profile names, officialsadded. At present, any immu-nity for securities law violationscan be granted only by the cen-tral government.

Citing similar powers avail-able with the fair trade watch-dog Competition Commissionof India (CCI), Sebi has pro-posed to impose a lesser penal-ty on a person who may haveviolated securities laws butprovides assistance to the reg-ulator in proceedings againstother accused before comple-tion of investigation, inquiry,inspection or audit ordered by it.

Responding to Sebi’s pro-posal, the Finance Ministryhas opined any such powersshould remain with the centralgovernment and a provision for that can be madeby suitable amendments to theSebi Act and the SecuritiesContracts Regulation Act(SCRA).

Clarifying that the pro-

posal to impose a lesser penal-ty is different from grantingimmunity, Sebi has said theconduct of a person in anactionable proceeding may beconsidered as a mitigating fac-tor and the regulator or itsadjudicating officer should beempowered to impose a small-er fine against an individualproviding help in probe.

This would, however,depend on the person havingmade a full and true disclosurein respect of his or her allegedviolations and the disclosureshould be vital for the regula-tor.

Also, the penalty cannot bereduced in cases where the dis-closure is made after receipt ofreport of inspection, inquiry,audit or investigation.

In cases where the infor-mant stops cooperating withthe regulator before completion of the proceedingswould also not qualify for theleniency.

Besides, Sebi can actagainst such an informant at alater stage if it finds that theperson has failed to complywith the necessary conditionsfor the leniency, had givenfalse evidence or the disclosurewas “not vital or to the satis-faction” of the regulator or itsadjudicating officer.

On the proposal regarding“power to grant immunity”,the regulator is of the view thatsuch powers currently lies onlywith the central government.

However, the Committeeon Fair Market Conduct hasrecommended that such apower can also be exercisableby Sebi.

The Committee has alsosuggested necessary amend-ment to the Section 24B of theSebi Act to give power to Sebito impose lesser penalty alongthe lines of a similar provisionin the Competition Act.

Sebi seeks powers to grantimmunity, impose lesser penaltyin lieu of assistance in probe PTI n NEW DELHI

IDBI Bank on Sunday said itis strategising to be a ‘one-of-

its-kind’ financial conglomer-ate and plans to bring bankingand insurance services under asingle platform.

The country’s largest andthe only state-owned life insur-er LIC now holds a majoritystake in IDBI Bank. Also, thechange in ownership of IDBIBank from a government-owned to LIC-owned has led tothe lender becoming a privatesector entity.

“IDBI Bank is putting inplace necessary businessenablers to bring the conve-nience of banking and insur-ance services at one stop for allof its customers. IDBI Bankand LIC, through its collectivenetwork of branches, offices

and workforce, have startedleveraging their mutual busi-ness synergies,” the bank saidin a release.

The bank said these strate-gic initiatives will pave theway for improved operationsand better financing which inturn would lead to wealthmaximisation for all of itsstakeholders, including LICand the government.

This strategic plan wouldenable IDBI bank as well as LICto realise the full potentialarising out of business syner-gies, the bank said.

The major areas identifiedare pertaining to selling of LICpolicies through IDBI branch-es, management of cash andother premium receipts of LIC,enabling the technical where-withal for offering digital solu-tions to both the policy hold-

ers of LIC as well as IDBI cus-tomers.

“Towards this end, bank’sboard has approved appoint-ment of LIC as a corporateagent under bancassurance,”the release said.

As part of this initiative, thechairman of LIC has beenappointed as the non-executivechairman of the bank.

“The bank is consideringthe name of Rakesh Sharma,the current MD of the bank, forappointment for a further peri-od of three years as MD andCEO of IDBI Bank,” it said.

The new board will beentrusted with the responsi-bility of charting out a freshgrowth strategy for the bankand also revamping the cor-porate governance structureto ensure best-in-class businesspractices, it added.

IDBI charts out plan to bring banking,

insurance services at one platform

IANS n NEW DELHI

Making suggestions fordrawing up election man-

ifestoes for the upcoming polls,industry chamber CII onSunday said the next govern-ment should lower the corpo-rate tax to 18 per cent andincrease the public expenditureon healthcare and education.

A statement by theConfederation of IndianIndustry (CII) said their “sug-gested election manifesto”favoured the “lowering of cor-porate income tax to 18 percent with no exemptions tomake Indian tax rates globallycompetitive”.

Currently, the corporatetax for companies withturnover of up to Rs 250 croreis 25 per cent, and for thosewith a turnover of over Rs 250crore it is 30 per cent.

The suggested manifestosaid public expenditure on

healthcare should be increasedto 3 per cent of the GDP.

“The healthcare sectorshould be notified as an infra-structure sector. ReducingIndia’s maternal and infant

mortality ratios must be takenup on priority basis,” the state-ment said.

The CII note advocatesraising public expenditure oneducation to 6 per cent of

GDP. It suggests making voca-tional training part of the cur-riculum and incentivising bet-ter performance of teacherswith upgraded digital schoolinfrastructure, especially in

rural schools. “A key measure would be

to link universities with theindustry and increase govern-ment funding for R&D(research and development) to1 per cent of GDP,” it said.

The industry body alsotargets an average GDP growthrate of 8 per cent per annum forthe next five years and calledfor reducing the Good andServices Tax (GST) rate slabs to2 or 3, from the current fourslabs of 5, 12, 18 and 28 percent.

Commenting on the sug-gestions, Chandrajit Banerjee,Director General, CII said:“The CII suggested manifestoenvisages a continued highpace of reforms, enabling Indiato take a lead in a world of mul-tiple transformations in theglobal and technology envi-ronment.”

According to the suggest-ed manifesto, industrial corri-

dors and sector-specific indus-trial parks need to be promot-ed through public-private part-nership.

Micro, small and mediumenterprises (MSME) should beallocated 25 per cent land inindustrial corridors at lenientrates, it said.

In the infrastructure sector,public-private partnershipsneeds to be strengthened, andthe issues of delayed projectsand delayed payments to pro-ject contractors must beaddressed, it added.

On electoral reforms, CIIsuggests devising a model forsimultaneous elections ofParliament and StateLegislatures from 2024.

CII said it has shared thesuggested election manifestowith all the major politicalparties, both national andregional, for their considerationand inclusion in their partymanifestos.

Need lower higher outlays on health, education: CII

PTI n NEW DELHI

Subscribers of retirementfund body EPFO would not

require to file employee prov-ident fund (EPF) transferclaims on changing jobs fromthe next fiscal as the processwould be made automated,according to a labour ministryofficial. At present, the sub-scribers of the EmployeesProvident Fund Organisation(EPFO) are required to filetransfer of EPF claims onchanging jobs despite havinguniversal account number(UAN). The EPFO gets abouteight lakh EPF transfer claimsevery year.

“The EPFO is testing theautomation of EPF transfer onchanging jobs on pilot basis.The facility for all subscribersis expected to be launched any

time next year,” a senior labourministry official said. The offi-cial said, “The EPFO hadengaged the C-DAC to study itsoperating systems to achievethe goal of becoming paperlessorganisation. At present, 80 percent of the work is being doneonline. The automated transferof EPF on changing jobs is oneof the tools to be used toachieve that objective.”

The official explained thatthe moment the new employ-er would file the monthly EPFreturn including the UAN ofthe new employee, the EPFcontributions and interestearned on that would be auto-matically transferred.

This will enable theemployee to get the credits ofhis EPF contribution during hisprevious tenure with oldemployer into his or her UAN

automatically. At present after changing

job, a subscriber provides hisUAN to the new employer, whouses it for depositing his or herEPF contributions. But theUAN account does not reflectthe EPF contributions madeduring the subscriber’s previousjob and interest accrued onthat. The subscriber has to filean online claim through theactivated UAN to get credits ofEPF contributions made dur-ing his or her previous job.

The official said, “After theautomation of the EPF transferon changing jobs, the sub-scribers would be benefittedimmensely as the UAN wouldbe like a bank account. No mat-ter a subscriber changes placeor employer, his or her socialsecurity benefits would beaccessed through the UAN.

EPF transfer on job change tobecome automated from next fiscal

India, which meets83 per cent of itsoil needs throughimports, built the

storages asinsurance for any

disruption insupplies. It has theright of first refusalto buy the crude oil

stored in thefacilities in case of

an emergency

Scheme NAV 1Yr%Tata Digital India 14.88 20.75Fund-Reg(G)SBI Banking & Financial 16.94 16.98Services Fund-Reg(G)ICICI Pru Technology 59.08 15.19Fund(G)DHFL Pramerica Global 17.78 14.19Equity Opp Fund(G)Aditya Birla SL Global 19.29 13.64Real Estate Fund(G)Aditya Birla SL Digital India 52.87 13.45Fund(G)SBI Technology Opp 63.44 13.02Fund-Reg(G)Reliance US Equity Opp 14.58 12.61Fund(G)ICICI Pru US Bluechip 26.51 11.57Equity Fund(G)Tata Index Fund-Sensex 90.03 10.87Plan(G)Franklin India Technology 159.03 10.82Fund(G)Axis Bluechip Fund(G) 27.07 10.81HDFC Index 324.05 10.74Fund-Sensex(G)Axis Multicap Fund-Reg(G) 10.87 10.36ICICI Pru FMCG Fund(G) 235.08 10.04Reliance Index Fund - 18.02 9.98Sensex Plan(G)HDFC Index Fund-NIFTY 100.06 8.9550 Plan(G)IDFC Nifty Fund-Reg(G) 22.74 8.92UTI Nifty Index 71.76 8.89Fund-Reg(G)Aditya Birla SL Intl. Equity 20.56 8.85Fund-A(G)Tata Index Fund-Nifty 66.48 8.83Plan(G)Reliance Pharma Fund(G) 148.45 8.76SBI Nifty Index 94.54 8.40Fund-Reg(G)Franklin India Feeder - 29.15 8.19Franklin U.S. Opportunities Fund(G)Reliance Index Fund - Nifty 18.43 8.13Plan(G)Axis Midcap Fund(G) 35.29 8.09ICICI Pru Nifty Index 106.28 8.07Fund(G)Canara Rob Equity Tax 62.29 8.07Saver Fund-Reg(G)UTI Equity Fund-Reg(G) 137.37 8.04HDFC Top 100 Fund(G) 471.16 8.03Tata Banking & Financial 17.43 7.87Services Fund-Reg(G)Franklin India Index 87.27 7.86Fund-NSE Nifty(G)Aditya Birla SL Index 108.00 7.85Fund(G)ICICI Pru Growth 11.50 7.80Fund-2(DP)ICICI Pru Banking & Fin 61.27 7.79Serv Fund(G)Kotak India EQ Contra 50.51 7.71Fund(G)Canara Rob Equity Diver 128.99 7.68Fund-Reg(G)IDBI Nifty Index Fund(G) 20.32 7.65Baroda Banking & Fin 21.46 7.46Serv Fund(G)Canara Rob Bluechip 23.64 7.02Equity Fund-Reg(G)Mirae Asset India Equity 48.78 6.99Fund-Reg(G)Canara Rob Consumer 37.56 6.86Trends Fund-Reg(G)SBI Magnum Equity 99.46 6.86ESG Fund-Reg(G)ICICI Pru Global Stable 14.87 6.59Equity Fund(G)DSP US Flexible Equity 23.89 6.39Fund-Reg(G)Reliance Large Cap 33.58 6.26Fund(G)Mirae Asset Tax Saver 16.86 6.07Fund-Reg(G)Invesco India Financial 53.07 5.95Services Fund(G)Mirae Asset Great 33.72 5.94Consumer Fund-Reg(G)JM Core 11 Fund(G) 8.87 5.88Sundaram Select Focus(G) 169.60 5.74HDFC Equity Fund(G) 637.02 5.65Aditya Birla SL Banking & 27.33 5.64Financial Services Fund-Reg(G)Kotak Tax Saver 42.12 5.62Scheme(G)Kotak Standard Multicap 33.71 5.57Fund(G)Sundaram World Brand 14.11 5.51Fund-Sr II-Reg(G)Sundaram World Brand 14.27 5.46Fund-Sr III-Reg(G)Axis Long Term Equity 42.25 5.32Fund(G)Edelweiss Large Cap 33.71 5.08Fund(G)Parag Parikh Long Term 24.40 5.08Equity Fund-Reg(G)Reliance Multi Cap 95.40 4.88Fund(G)Kotak US Equity Fund(G) 15.93 4.84Mirae Asset Emerging 50.59 4.73Bluechip-Reg(G)Baroda Large Cap Fund(G) 13.80 4.62Axis Focused 25 Fund(G) 26.08 4.53

UTI Mastershare-Reg(G) 117.37 4.53ICICI Pru Multicap Fund(G) 283.19 4.52Tata India Pharma & 8.75 4.33Healthcare Fund-Reg(G)Reliance Banking Fund(G) 263.88 4.27ICICI Pru Bluechip Fund(G) 40.55 4.19Invesco India Largecap 27.65 4.10Fund(G)

IDFC Large Cap 31.13 4.09Fund-Reg(G)Principal Focused Multicap 61.25 4.04Fund(G)ICICI Pru Growth 10.79 3.98Fund-1(DP)Reliance Close Ended 17.71 3.94Equity Fund-II-A(G)ICICI Pru LT Equity Fund 360.14 3.91(Tax Saving)(G)DSP World Gold 11.35 3.84Fund-Reg(G)Kotak Bluechip Fund(G) 224.06 3.79Sundaram Large and Mid 33.07 3.62Cap Fund(G)Tata Large Cap Fund(G) 208.80 3.60Invesco India Growth Opp 32.92 3.49Fund(G)Aditya Birla SL India 79.20 3.43GenNext Fund(G)Invesco India Tax Plan(G) 48.91 3.34DHFL Pramerica Large 11.96 3.28Cap Fund-2-Reg(G)JM Large Cap Fund(G) 64.99 3.13UTI Dividend Yield 63.89 2.91Fund-Reg(G)Invesco India Midcap 47.59 2.76Fund(G)UTI Banking and Financial 94.25 2.76Services Fund-Reg(G)UTI Value Opp 58.99 2.72Fund-Reg(G)Franklin India Taxshield(G) 546.68 2.58L&T India Large Cap 25.76 2.56Fund-Reg(G)SBI Focused Equity 132.87 2.53Fund-Reg(G)Kotak Equity Opp Fund(G) 114.96 2.49ICICI Pru Focused Equity 29.03 2.47Fund(G)Franklin India Bluechip 451.29 2.46Fund(G)Aditya Birla SL Frontline 215.46 2.41Equity Fund(G)DSP Global Allocation 11.96 2.35Fund-Reg(G)Aditya Birla SL Focused 56.64 2.34Equity Fund(G)Sundaram LT Tax Adv 13.24 2.24Fund-Sr I-Reg(G)DHFL Pramerica Large 159.03 2.23Cap Fund(G)Invesco India Contra 46.25 2.21Fund(G)BNP Paribas Large Cap 83.18 2.17Fund(G)Sundaram Fin Serv Opp 38.32 2.17Fund(G)SBI Large & Midcap 212.86 2.08Fund-Reg(G)Tata India Tax Savings 17.32 2.07Fund-Reg(G)Aditya Birla SL MNC 742.47 1.99Fund(G)JM Tax Gain Fund(G) 16.14 1.98Tata India Consumer 17.06 1.98Fund-Reg(G)Sundaram LT Tax Adv 14.23 1.94Fund-Sr II-Reg(G)DSP Tax Saver 45.78 1.94Fund-Reg(G)Franklin India Focused 39.06 1.86Equity Fund(G)UTI MNC Fund-Reg(G) 191.84 1.77Reliance Capital Builder 12.54 1.75Fund-II-B(G)Principal Dividend 51.75 1.63Yield Fund(G)SBI Magnum Multicap 46.54 1.60Fund-Reg(G)JM Multicap Fund(G) 29.99 1.59ICICI Pru Value 10.47 1.55Fund-15(G)Tata Large & Mid Cap 192.69 1.47Fund(G)ICICI Pru R.I.G.H.T 41.70 1.46Fund(G)Edelweiss Multi-Cap 14.02 1.37Fund-Reg(G)

DSP World Energy 12.70 1.26Fund-Reg(G)Reliance Quant Fund(G) 24.82 1.24HDFC Growth Opp 108.48 1.13Fund-Reg(G)Franklin India Equity 574.40 1.12Fund(G)Sundaram Value 15.52 1.10Fund-II-Reg(G)DSP Equity Fund-Reg(G) 37.20 1.06DHFL Pramerica LT Equity 13.68 0.96Fund-Reg(G)DSP Top 100 Equity 195.48 0.91Fund-Reg(G)Edelweiss Large & Mid 29.90 0.89Cap Fund-Reg(G)Aditya Birla SL Equity 696.21 0.82Fund(G)SBI BlueChip Fund-Reg(G) 37.28 0.74DSP World Mining 8.19 0.68Fund-Reg(G)UTI LT Equity Fund 84.22 0.53(Tax Saving)-Reg(G)DSP World Agriculture 15.75 0.47Fund-Reg(G)BNP Paribas Long Term 36.20 0.40Equity Fund(G)DHFL Pramerica Tax 29.64 0.34Plan(G)Aditya Birla SL Tax 30.52 0.26Relief '96(G)DSP Focus Fund-Reg(G) 21.98 0.24Motilal Oswal Focused 25 20.66 0.14Fund-Reg(G)SBI Magnum 138.62 0.02TaxGain'93-Reg(G)Tata Mid Cap Growth 134.70 0.00Fund(G)Franklin Build India 40.12 -0.18Fund(G)Franklin India Equity 77.05 -0.32Advantage Fund(G)ICICI Pru Value Fund-3(D) 10.34 -0.39IDBI India Top 100 Equity 22.79 -0.57Fund(G)ICICI Pru Value Discovery 139.92 -0.57Fund(G)Canara Rob Emerg 90.59 -0.59Equities Fund-Reg(G)Kotak World Gold Fund(G) 8.13 -0.67HDFC Capital Builder 286.26 -0.68Value Fund(G)Reliance Japan Equity 12.11 -0.74Fund(G)SBI Tax Advantage 22.72 -0.79Fund-III-Reg(G)SBI Consumption Opp 113.96 -0.83Fund-Reg(G)ICICI Pru Large & Mid 310.24 -0.86Cap Fund(G)Aditya Birla SL Intl. 17.97 -0.91Equity Fund-B(G)UTI India LifeStyle 24.73 -1.04Fund-Reg(G)DSP Equity Opportunities 210.75 -1.13Fund-Reg(G)Principal Nifty 100 Equal 69.97 -1.27Weight Fund(G)DHFL Pramerica 12.76 -1.31Diversified Equity Fund-Reg(G)Sundaram Rural and 40.51 -1.34Consumption Fund(G)Reliance Value Fund(G) 70.72 -1.39IDBI Diversified Equity 20.32 -1.60Fund(G)UTI Healthcare 83.39 -1.62Fund-Reg(G)L&T Equity Fund-Reg(G) 78.82 -1.63Motilal Oswal Midcap 30 24.22 -1.63Fund-Reg(G)IDFC Core Equity 43.27 -1.64Fund-Reg(G)SBI Magnum Global 165.46 -1.71Fund-Reg(G)IDFC Multi Cap 89.56 -1.74Fund-Reg(G)Reliance Consumption 63.08 -1.76Fund(G)Invesco India Feeder - 12.31 -1.79Invesco Global Equity Income Fund(G)Tata Ethical Fund(G) 154.21 -1.81HDFC TaxSaver(G) 501.10 -1.84ICICI Pru Value Fund-8(D) 10.22 -1.92SBI Equity Opp 15.16 -2.03Fund-Sr I-Reg(G)ICICI Pru Value Fund-9(G) 11.89 -2.06SBI Tax advantage 33.49 -2.11Fund-II(G)L&T Long Term Advantage 49.84 -2.16Fund-I(G)Aditya Birla SL Global 12.45 -2.17Commodities Fund(G)Reliance Focused Equity 45.08 -2.31Fund(G)Principal Personal Tax 188.24 -2.36saver FundJM Value Fund(G) 30.64 -2.39IDBI Equity Advantage 25.25 -2.58Fund-Reg(G)Principal Multi Cap Growth 137.29 -2.59Fund(G)Franklin India Opportunities 71.11 -2.66Fund(G)Sundaram Diversified 97.42 -2.83Equity(G)ICICI Pru Nifty Next 50 24.29 -2.91

IDFC Sterling Value 50.09 -8.23Fund-Reg(G)BNP Paribas Mid Cap 30.61 -8.32Fund(G)UTI Infrastructure 50.43 -8.37Fund-Reg(G)UTI LT Adv Fund-IV(G) 10.23 -8.47ICICI Pru Dividend Yield 16.07 -8.49Equity Fund(G)Principal Global 27.81 -8.62Opportunities Fund(G)DHFL Pramerica Midcap 17.64 -8.65Opp Fund-Reg(G)Invesco India Infrastructure 16.23 -8.77Fund(G)DSP India T.I.G.E.R 86.60 -8.87Fund-Reg(G)Edelweiss Mid Cap 25.78 -9.01Fund-Reg(G)Aditya Birla SL Mfg. Equity 12.70 -9.16Fund-Reg(G)Aditya Birla SL Dividend 156.16 -9.23Yield Fund(G)Aditya Birla SL Midcap 279.49 -9.35Fund(G)Kotak Infra & Eco Reform 19.26 -9.62Fund(G)Reliance Vision Fund(G) 497.66 -9.67SBI Magnum MidCap 71.59 -9.82Fund-Reg(G)IDBI Small Cap Fund(G) 9.37 -9.90Sundaram Select 28.54 -9.91Micro Cap-Series IV-Reg(G)Sundaram Mid Cap 452.60-10.00Fund(G)Kotak Small Cap Fund(G) 69.45 -10.28UTI Mid Cap Fund-Reg(G) 97.62 -10.37L&T Emerging Businesses 24.36 -10.49Fund-Reg(G)Invesco India PSU Equity 16.30 -10.49Fund(G)Sundaram Infra Advantage 31.36 -10.53Fund(G)SBI Small Cap 50.40 -10.64Fund-Reg(G)Franklin India Smaller 52.85 -10.82Cos Fund(G)DSP Natural Res & New 31.27 -10.91Energy Fund-Reg(G)

L&T Infrastructure 15.48 -10.93Fund-Reg(G)Reliance Tax Saver (ELSS) 53.47 -11.14Fund(G)Reliance Small Cap 39.16 -11.15Fund(G)Tata Infrastructure Tax 23.04 -11.31Saving Fund(G)L&T Business Cycle 14.55 -11.36Fund-Reg(G)SBI Magnum Comma 34.54 -12.05Fund-Reg(G)Canara Rob Infrastructure 43.14 -12.07Fund-Reg(G)Kotak Global Emerging 14.91 -13.23Mkt Fund(G)SBI PSU Fund-Reg(G) 9.74 -13.32Aditya Birla SL 30.82 -13.72Infrastructure Fund(G)DSP Small Cap 54.13 -14.96Fund-Reg(G)Sundaram Select Micro 13.40 -15.03Cap-Series X-Reg(G)HDFC Infrastructure 16.32 -15.12Fund(G)Aditya Birla SL Small Cap 34.17 -15.56Fund(G)ICICI Pru Smallcap 23.73 -16.06Fund(G)Sundaram LT Micro Cap 8.72 -16.37Tax Adv Fund-Sr V-Reg(G)Reliance Power & Infra 94.43 -17.29Fund(G)Aditya Birla SL Pure Value 50.21 -18.61Fund(G)Aditya Birla SL Emerging 12.50 -18.78Leaders Fund-7-Reg(G)Sundaram LT Micro Cap 10.52 -18.87Tax Adv Fund-Sr III-Reg(G)Sundaram LT Micro Cap 8.90 -19.03Tax Adv Fund-Sr IV-Reg(G)Aditya Birla SL Emerging 14.25 -19.03Leaders Fund-4-Reg(G)Aditya Birla SL Emerging 13.69 -19.33Leaders Fund-3-Reg(G)IDFC Infrastructure 14.42 -19.46Fund-Reg(G)Sundaram Small Cap 80.86 -19.59Fund(G)UTI Transportation & 95.77 -19.72Logistics Fund-Reg(G)

Index Fund(G)Templeton India Equity 45.27 -2.97Income Fund(G)Principal Tax Savings Fund 200.72 -3.05Reliance Growth Fund(G) 1070.15-3.07Motilal Oswal Multicap 25.01 -3.1635 Fund-Reg(G)Sundaram Global Advt(G) 16.56 -3.30HDFC Small Cap 43.08 -3.35Fund-Reg(G)IDBI Nifty Junior Index 20.70 -3.38Fund(G)SBI Healthcare Opp 115.99 -3.43Fund-Reg(G)BNP Paribas Multi Cap 44.42 -3.45Fund(G)UTI Core Equity 59.99 -3.55Fund-Reg(G)Edelweiss Long Term 44.62 -3.59Equity Fund (Tax Savings)-Reg(G)Tata Equity P/E Fund(G) 130.25 -3.75Franklin India Prima 927.31 -3.91Fund(G)DSP Midcap Fund-Reg(G) 52.93 -4.03IDFC Tax Advt(ELSS) 54.11 -4.05Fund-Reg(G)Principal Emerging 100.20 -4.25Bluechip Fund(G)Edelweiss Emerging 12.20 -4.27Markets Opp Eq. Offshore Fund-Reg(G)SBI LT Advantage 12.19 -4.35Fund-IV-Reg(G)Aditya Birla SL 22.27 -4.36CEF-Global Agri-Reg(G)DHFL Pramerica Euro 13.05 -4.40Equity Fund(G)Kotak Emerging Equity 37.36 -4.41Scheme(G)UTI Focussed Equity 13.01 -4.42Fund-I(G)Aditya Birla SL Equity 387.34 -4.63Advantage Fund(G)ICICI Pru Value Fund-10(G) 11.00 -4.84Sundaram Select Small 13.61 -4.91Cap Series-IV-Reg(G)Sundaram Select Small 13.59 -5.16Cap Series-III-Reg(G)ICICI Pru Value Fund-11(G) 11.56 -5.17

Invesco India Multicap 45.47 -5.27Fund(G)HDFC Mid-Cap 52.93 -5.38Opportunities Fund(G)L&T Tax Advt Fund-Reg(G) 51.65 -5.40ICICI Pru Exports & 54.71 -5.41Services Fund(G)SBI LT Advantage 12.71 -5.50Fund-III-Reg(G)ICICI Pru Growth 10.15 -5.57Fund-3(DP)UTI LT Adv Fund-III(G) 13.41 -5.58Templeton India Value 246.34 -5.64Fund(G)Baroda ELSS 96(G) 42.70 -5.68L&T India Value 34.38 -5.77Fund-Reg(G)Motilal Oswal Long Term 16.52 -6.09Equity Fund-Reg(G)SBI LT Advantage 13.08 -6.47Fund-II-Reg(G)HDFC Focused 30 Fund(G) 74.40 -6.48ICICI Pru Midcap Fund(G) 92.58 -6.67UTI LT Adv Fund-V(G) 9.41 -6.86ICICI Pru Value Fund-4(G) 20.58 -6.92SBI Infrastructure 14.32 -6.94Fund-Reg(G)Franklin Asian 21.25 -7.04Equity Fund(G)ICICI Pru Infrastructure 48.50 -7.11Fund(G)SBI LT Advantage 12.72 -7.23Fund-I-Reg(G)Tata Resources & Energy 13.72 -7.39Fund-Reg(G)IDBI Midcap Fund(G) 10.65 -7.39SBI Contra Fund-Reg(G) 105.59 -7.41L&T Midcap Fund-Reg(G) 129.49 -7.55IDFC Focused Equity 35.26 -7.57Fund-Reg(G)Invesco India Feeder - 10.37 -7.68Invesco Pan European Equity Fund-Reg(G)L&T Large and Midcap 45.08 -7.72Fund-Reg(G)Edelweiss Eur Dynamic 10.45 -7.83Equity Off-shr Fund-Reg(G)Edelweiss Gr China Equity 26.19 -8.03Off-Shore Fund-Reg(G)Baroda Mid-cap Fund(G) 8.85 -8.10Tata Infrastructure Fund(G) 52.96 -8.19

funds 11LUCKNOW | MONDAY | MARCH 11, 2019

LUCKNOW | MONDAY | MARCH 11, 2019 world 12

ETHIOPIA n ADDIS ABABA

An Ethiopian Airlines flightcrashed shortly after take-

off from Ethiopia’s Capital onSunday morning, killing all 157on board, including Indians,authorities said, as grievingfamilies rushed to airports inAddis Ababa and the destina-tion, Nairobi.

More than 30 nationalitiesare among the dead.

It was not immediately clearwhat caused the crash of theBoeing 737-8 MAX plane,which was new and had beendelivered to the airline inNovember. The pilot sent out adistress call and was given clear-ance to return, the airline’s CEOtold reporters.

The state-owned EthiopianAirlines, widely considered thebest-managed airline in Africa,calls itself Africa’s largest carri-er and has ambitions of becom-ing the gateway to the continent.It is known as an early buyer ofnew aircraft as it assertivelyexpands.

The airline said 149 pas-sengers and eight crew mem-bers were thought to be on theplane.

Indians, Kenyans,Canadians, Chinese, Americans,Ethiopians, Italians, French,British, Egyptians, Slovakiansand others were among thedead, said the airline’s CEO,Tewolde Gebremariam.

The plane crashed six min-utes after departing AddisAbaba on its way to Kenya’s cap-ital, plowing into the ground atHejere near Bishoftu, or DebreZeit, some 50 kilometers (31miles) south of Addis Ababa, at8:44 am.

The airline later publisheda photo showing its CEO stand-ing in the wreckage.

All killed on Ethiopian

Airlines flight that crashed

Family members of the victims involved in a plane crash react at Addis Ababainternational airport Sunday AP

AP n ADDIS ABABA

The Ethiopian Airlines CEOand Kenya’s transport min-

ister say Indians, Canadians,Chinese, Americans and othersare among the many national-ities among the victims ofSunday morning’s deadly planecrash after takeoff from AddisAbaba.

Authorities earlier said 32Kenyans and nine Ethiopianswere killed.

Now they add 18Canadians; eight each fromChina, the United States andItaly; seven each from Franceand Britain; six from Egypt; fivefrom the Netherlands and foureach from India and Slovakia.

The airline has said 157people were thought to be onboard.

It is not yet clear whatcaused the crash of new Boeing737-8 MAX plane shortly aftertakeoff from Bole Airport enroute to Kenya’s capital,Nairobi.

Indians, Americans,Chinese among157 killed in crash,says authorities AFP n PYONGYANG

North Koreans went to thepolls on Sunday for an

election in which there couldbe only one winner.

Leader Kim Jong Un’s rul-ing Workers’ Party has an irongrip on the Democratic People’sRepublic of Korea, as the iso-lated, nuclear-armed country isofficially known.

Every five years it holds anelection for the rubber stamplegislature, known as theSupreme People’s Assembly.

The exercise has all thetrappings of votes elsewhere,from electoral rolls to sealedballot boxes to scrutineers forthe count.

But in keeping with one ofPyongyang’s most enduringslogans -- “Single-mindedunity” -- there is only oneapproved name on each of thered voting slips.

With portraits of theleader’s father Kim Jong Il andgrandfather Kim Il Sung look-ing down on every ballot box,voters lined up to drop their

slips inside.There is a pencil in the

panelled voting booths for any-one who might wish to regis-ter dissent by crossing out acandidate’s name. But no onedoes.

By 6pm, the official KCNAnews agency reported, all elec-tors in all constituencies hadvoted, “except for those abroador working in oceans”.

Turnout in 2014 was 99.97per cent and the vote was 100per cent in favour of the namedcandidates, a result unmatchedanywhere else in the world.

“Our society is one inwhich the people are gatheredaround the respected SupremeLeader with a single mind,”election official Ko Kyong Haktold AFP outside a polling sta-tion at the 3.26 PyongyangCable Factory.

Participation in the elec-tion was a citizen’s obligation,he said, “and there are no peo-ple who reject a candidate”.

An editorial in the RodongSinmun, the mouthpiece ofthe ruling party, reinforced

the message.Voters “should cast

approval ballots with their loy-alty to the party and the leader,absolute support to the DPRKgovernment and the will toshare their destiny with social-ism to the last”, it said.

With a total absence ofelectoral competition, analystssay the election is held largelyas a political rite to enable theauthorities to claim a mandatefrom the people.

It was the result of “estab-lished institutional inertia anda need to legitimise theGovernment by simulatingdemocratic procedure”, saidAndrei Lankov of Korea RiskGroup.

Soviet-style Communiststates had a long tradition ofholding general elections, hesaid, even if the ruling partyignored its own rules aboutholding regular congresses --something the North skippedfor more than 30 years.

“North Korea is just emu-lating all other Communiststates,” he said.

Democracy, DPRK style:North Korea holds election

AP n TOKYO

Aferry collided with whatapparently was a marine

animal off a Japanese island,injuring more than 80 people,local media reported.

The accident happened justafter noon Saturday off SadoIsland, Kyodo News agencyreported, citing Japan’s coastguard.

Five of the injuries wereserious and a 15-centimetercrack was found at the ferry’sstern. But ferry operator SadoSteam Ship Co. Said the jetfoilferry still reached its intendeddestination on the island, locat-ed off the west coast of Japan’smain island of Honshu, accord-ing to Kyodo.

The ferry, which departedfrom Honshu’s Niigata Port,was carrying 121 passengersand four crew members.

The cause of the accidentwas under investigation bycoast guard officials, who saidthe ferry may have struck awhale or some other sea ani-mal, Kyodo reported.

Over 80 injuredin Japan ferryaccident

AP n HONG KONG

China has issued a protestover remarks the US

ambassador-at-large for inter-national religious freedommade criticising Beijing’spolices toward Muslim andTibetan Buddhist minoritiesand saying the country was “atwar with faith.”

The Foreign Ministry’soffice in Hong Kong said thespeech Sam Brownback gaveFriday “slandered” China’s reli-gious policies. It said it had reg-istered its dissatisfactionSaturday with the US Consulatein the semi-autonomousChinese region, where thespeech was given.

China’s constitution andlaws protect freedom of religionand critics should “cease theirslander of China’s policies onreligion and the situation withfreedom of faith and ceaseusing religious issues to inter-fere in China’s internal affairs,”

the office said in a statement.US officials and UN

experts say China is believed tobe holding 1 million Uighurs,Muslims and members of othermajority Muslim ethnic groupsin political education camps inXinjiang. The US and othergovernments have criticizedthe crackdown.

The Chinese governmentsays those camps are vocationaltraining centers designed to ridthe region of extremism.

Brownback said PresidentDonald Trump’s administrationis “deeply concerned and con-sidered it a deliberate attemptby Beijing to redefine and con-trol these Muslim minoritygroups, (their) identity, cultureand faith.” He urgedBeijing to grant free access tothe camps to investigate claimsof abuse of inmates.

More generally, Brownbacksaid, China is “at war withfaith.”

“It’s a war they will not

win,” he said. “The ChineseCommunist Party must hearthe cry of its people for reli-gious freedom.”

Brownback was expectedto meet local religious leaders and religious studiesstudents and instructors whilein Hong Kong. The territoryenjoys freedom of speech andreligion far beyond that inmainland China, where theofficially atheist governmentkeeps tight control over anypotential challenges to itsauthority.

Brownback, the formergovernor of Kansas, was due totravel to Taiwan for a regionalmeeting on religious freedomMonday.

In his speech, the Catholicconservative called on China to release Wang Yi and JohnCao Sanqiang, detained pastorsin the “underground” church that operates indepen-dently of official Governmentagencies. (AP)

China protests US criticismof policies on religion

AFP n SYDNEY

Australia’s former ForeignMinister says she was mis-

taken for the spouse of a politi-cian by US First Lady MelaniaTrump, in her latest commentson the subordinate role ofwomen in conservative politics.

Julie Bishop has been vocalabout the treatment of seniorfemale politicians since shestepped down after the ouster offormer prime minister MalcolmTurnbull last year.

Bishop, who was Australia’sfirst female foreign ministerand deputy leader of the LiberalParty, is among several seniorpoliticians from the centre-rightgovernment set to quit parlia-ment at upcoming national elec-tions amid expectations of anopposition win.

She told a talk in AdelaideSaturday that Melania thoughther partner David Patton wasAustralia’s foreign minister,instead of her, after President

Donald Trump stuck up a con-versation with him, theAustralian BroadcastingCorporation reported.

“Melania, standing by,assumed David was the foreignminister and she said to me:‘Julie, will you be coming to myladies’ lunch tomorrow?,” Bishopsaid of the encounter at the UNGeneral Assembly Leaders’ weekin 2017. “And I said ‘No, David’sgoing to the partners’ lunch’. Shethought about that for a while,thinking: ‘Why would Australia’sforeign minister come to thepartners’ lunch?’

“So this went on for a whileuntil the president explained thatI was the foreign minister.”Australia’s embattled minoritygovernment has been accused ofhaving a “women problem”,with Prime Minister ScottMorrison recently boosting thenumber of female politicians inhis cabinet to counter the criti-cism.

One cabinet minister who is

also leaving parliament, KellyO’Dwyer, reportedly said as awarning in a party meetingseveral months ago that theLiberals were widely viewed byvoters as “homophobic, anti-women, climate-change deniers”.

Bishop said she was notcomfortable being the onlywoman among 18 men in cab-inet after Turnbull’s predecessorTony Abbott won national elec-tions in 2013. “This isn’t fine.This is not completely normal,”she said of the situation.

There have been growingcalls for the Liberals to introducequotas to improve the low lev-els of female representation inthe party. This is not the firsttime the issue of sexism has beenraised in Australian politics.

Former prime minister JuliaGillard became a torchbearer forwomen around the world in2012 with her fiery speech aboutmisogyny in parliament, whereshe accused Abbott of sexism.

Melania Trump ‘mistook formerfemale Australia FM for partner’

AFP n MOSCOW

Thousands of people ralliedagainst Russia’s increasing-

ly restrictive internet policiesSunday which some say willeventually lead to “total cen-sorship” and isolate the countryfrom the world.

The mass rally in Moscowand smaller events in othercities across the country wascalled after the Russian lowerhouse of parliament backed abill to stop Russian internet traf-fic from being routed on foreignservers, in a bid to boost cyber-security.

The move was labelled bycritics as the latest attempt tocontrol online content underPresident Vladimir Putin, withsome fearing the country is ontrack to completely isolate itsnetwork like in North Korea.

Activists counting peoplesaid more than 15,000 peoplehave turned up to listen tointernet and media rightsactivists as well as music per-

formers who have complainedof government pressure inrecent months.

“The government is battlingfreedom, including freedom onthe internet, I can tell you thisas somebody who spent amonth in jail for a tweet,” oneof the rally speakers SergeiBoiko, an internet freedomactivist from Siberia, said.

Police detained severalpeople without explanation. AnAFP correspondent saw a manbeing dragged away by armsand legs near the entrance to therally.

The popular Telegram mes-saging app, which Russianauthorities have been unsuc-cessfully trying to block formany months, called on itsusers to attend the rally lastweek. A message in Russian onits official account said that thebill on internet centralisationaims to “cut off Russia from therest of the world, after whichthey can block foreign socialnetworks and messengers.”

Thousands protestRussia’s ‘internet isolation’

AP n BEIJING

China is defending its often-criticized policies toward

Tibet 60 years after the DalaiLama fled abroad amid anuprising against Chinese rule.

The official Xinhua NewsAgency says economic growth,increases in lifespan and bettereducation refute the claims ofcritics.

Tibet is ruled under asmothering Chinese securityblanket and many Tibetansabroad say the Himalayanregion’s resources are beingexploited for Beijing’s benefit

while Tibet’s unique Buddhistculture is being destroyed.

Xinhua said “undeniablefacts and figures” related todevelopment “debunk therepeated lies and accusationsthat aim to smear Tibet’shuman rights with vilemotives.”

The article didn’t directly mention Sunday’suprising anniversary, referringto the events of 1959 instead asthe inauguration of “democra-tic reform” that saw the dismantlement of the Buddhist hierarchy and feudalstructures.

60 years after Dalai Lama fled,China defends Tibet policies

AFP n NIAMEY

Seven soldiers and 38 mili-tants died in an assault by

the jihadist group Boko Haramin southeastern Niger, thedefence ministry said onSaturday, the latest in a seriesof attacks that have shatteredmonths of relative calm nearthe Lake Chad basin.

“Armed forces... Stronglyrepelled an attack by the ter-rorist group Boko Haram onthe outskirts of Gueskerou,” theministry said in a statementread on state television.

Gueskerou is located inthe Niger region of Diffa closeto the birthplace of BokoHaram in neighbouring north-eastern Nigeria.

According to a provision-al toll, seven soldiers and “38terrorists” were killed. Onewas taken prisoner.

Five vehicles belonging tothe attackers and “a large quan-tity of weapons (four AK47rifles, eight machine guns, twoRPG rocket launchers, ammu-nition) were recovered”, thestatement added.

The attack on Friday was

the second in less than a monthand targeted a remote militaryposition on Lake Chad, whichstraddles Niger, Nigeria andChad, the scene of many raidsby the jihadist group since2015.

On February 16, sevenNiger soldiers were killed dur-ing an attack on ChetimaWangou, also in southeasternNiger.

In early January, the Nigerarmy claimed to have killedmore than 280 Boko Harammilitants in days of land and air

raids.In November, around a

dozen girls were taken in raidson several border villages in thesoutheast.

In the same month, sevenlocal employees of a Frenchdrilling firm and a governmentofficial were killed after sus-pected Boko Haram gunmenstormed their compound.

The government on Fridaynight named a new governor inDiffa. Mohamed Mouddourwill replace MahamadouBakabe who had been in postsince April 2018. No reasonwas given.

Boko Haram’s bloodyinsurgency began in north-eastern Nigeria in 2009 but hassince spread into neighbouringcountries, prompting a region-al military response.

Some 27,000 people havebeen killed and two millionothers displaced, sparking adire humanitarian crisis in theregion.

Militants have targetedboth soldiers and civilians andhave been blamed for abduc-tions of children and employ-ees of foreign companies.

7 soldiers, dozens of Boko Haramultras killed in Niger attack: Ministry

‘A LARGEQUANTITY OFWEAPONS (FOURAK47 RIFLES,EIGHT MACHINEGUNS, TWO RPGROCKETLAUNCHERS,AMMUNITION)WERE RECOVERED’

AP n TEHRAN

Iran’s president is making hisfirst official visit to Iraq this

week as he faces mountingpressure from hard-liners athome in the wake of the Trumpadministration’s unraveling ofthe nuclear deal.

Hassan Rouhani’s trip —billed as “historic and noble” byhis foreign minister — is meantto solidify ties between Shiite power Iran and Iraq’sShiite led-Government, astrong Tehran ally.

It is also Iran’s response toPresident Donald Trump’s snapDecember trip to Iraq and theAmerican president’s com-ments that US Forces shouldstay in Iraq to keep an eye onneighbouring Iran, with whichIraq shares a 1,400-kilometer-long (870 miles) border.

At the time, Trump slippedinto Iraq at night, withoutstopping in Baghdad, to greetUS Service members at a basefar from the Iraqi capital wherehe extolled the Americantroops’ fight against the IslamicState group.

Rouhani later mockedTrump’s visit, asserting that

flying into Iraq under the coverof darkness meant “defeat” forthe U.S. In Iraq and asking theU.S. President why he didn’tmake an “open and officialvisit.”

“You have to walk in thestreets of Baghdad ... To findout how people will welcomeyou,” Rouhani said at the time.

Rouhani’s visit to Iraq willprovide an opportunity forreaching “serious understand-ings” between the two neighbors, Iran’s top diplomat,Mohammad Javad Zarif toldthe official IRNA news agencyfrom Baghdad, where he waspreparing for Rouhani’s three-day visit that starts onMonday.

Rouhani, who had visitedIraq privately before becomingpresident, had planned an offi-cial visit in 2016 but that onewas cancelled over unspecified“executive” problems.

This time, Rouhani, who ison a second four-year-term, isparticularly vulnerable becauseof the economic crisis assailingthe Iranian rial, which hashurt ordinary Iranians andemboldened critics to openlycall for the president’s ouster.

Tehran sees the US militarypresence at its doorstep in Iraqas a threat — one that couldalso undermine Iran’s influenceover Baghdad.

Zarif alluded to that onSunday, saying that any coun-try which tries to interferewith the good Iran-Iraq rela-tions would “be deprived ofopportunities for itself.”

Iran also sees Iraq as a pos-sible route to bypass US sanc-tions that Trump re-imposedlast year after pulling the U.S.Out of the 2015 nuclear dealbetween Tehran and worldpowers.

Last year, Iran’s exports toIraq amounted to nearly $9 bil-lion. Tehran hopes to increasethe roughly $13 billion volumein trade between the twoneighboring countries to $20billion. Also, some 5 millionreligious tourists bring in near-ly $5 billion a year as Iraqis andIranians visit Shiite holy sites inthe two countries.

Under former dictatorSaddam Hussein, Iraq waged an eight-year war in the1980s against Iran, a conflictthat left nearly 1 million killedon both sides.

First time in Baghdad:

Iran’s president to visit Iraq

AFP n ABIDJAN

Amid-flight engine failureforced an Air France A380

jet with more than 500 passen-gers on board to turn back to theIvory Coast capital Abidjanwhere it landed without furtherincident early Sunday.

“We were flying over Niger(to Paris)... I saw a ball of flamefor a few seconds and then alarge bang on the left side of theaircraft,” Baudelaire Mieu, ajournalist with BloombergNews, told AFP.

“The plane began to roll,everything was shaking and

people started to panic. The pilotcame on and said ‘We have justlost a left side engine. We arereturning to Abidjan,” Mieusaid.

The Air France-KLM man-ager for West Africa Jean-LucMevellec confirmed the inci-dent. “Technically, it is what iscalled an engine blow-out. It isa well known problem,” Mevellectold AFP.

“It happens from time totime. It is a well known phe-nomenon, well understood andcrew are well trained on simu-lators all year long to deal withthis type of fault,” he added.

Engine failure forces AirFrance A380 back to Abidjan

AFP n TEHRAN

Iran’s President HassanRouhani has demanded

Pakistan act “decisively againstanti-Iranian terrorists” in aphone call with the country’spremier, Tehran said, a monthafter a bloody attack on secu-rity forces.

Iran says a Pakistani sui-cide bomber was behind theFebruary 13 attack that killed27 Revolutionary Guards in itsvolatile southeastern provinceof Sistan-Baluchistan.

A Sunni jihadist group,Jaish al-Adl (Army of Justice),which Tehran says operatesmostly out of bases in neigh-bouring Pakistan, claimedresponsibility for the blast.

Iran has accused Pakistan’sarmy and intelligence agency ofsheltering the jihadists andsummoned the country’sambassador in the wake of theattack.

Rouhani in the phone con-versation Saturday eveningwith Pakistani Prime MinisterImran Khan called to maintaingood ties and pointed the fin-ger of blame at Tehran’s tradi-tional regional and interna-

tional foes.“We shouldn’t allow

decades of friendship andbrotherhood between the twocountries be affected by ter-rorist groupuscules that weboth know from where they arebeing armed and financed,”Rouhani said, according to aGovernment statement.

The Iranian president wasalluding to the United Statesand Israel, as well as SaudiArabia and the United ArabEmirates, which it accuses ofaiding jihadist groups respon-sible for attacks from Pakistanisoil.

February’s bombing wasthe latest of numerous attackson Iran’s security forces andofficials in Sistan-Baluchistan,where the minority SunniBaluchis accuse the authoritiesof discrimination.

Iran demands Pak acts‘decisively against terrorists’

‘We shouldn’t allowdecades of friendship andbrotherhood between thetwo countries be affectedby terrorist groupusculesthat we both know fromwhere they are beingarmed and financed’

AFP n WASHINGTON

Donald Trump’s nationalsecurity advisor said

Sunday that the US presidentwould be “pretty disappointed”if North Korea conducted a newmissile test, but he refused toconfirm reports that such a testmay be near.

John Bolton appearednotably cautious when asked onABC’s “This Week” about areport that satellite imageryappears to show preparations ata North Korean site for the pos-sible launch of a missile or spacerocket.

“I would rather not get intothe specifics on that,” he said.

“I’m not going to speculate

on what that particular com-mercial satellite picture shows.”

On Friday, the website ofNPR posted a satellite imagethat the public broadcaster saidshowed intense activity aroundthe North’s Sanumdong site,where missiles and satellite-launching rockets have previ-ously been assembled.

NPR quoted an expert onthe North’s weapons programs,Jeffrey Lewis of the MiddleburyInstitute of International Studiesin Monterey, California, as say-ing, “When you put all thattogether, that’s really what itlooks like when the NorthKoreans are in the process ofbuilding a rocket.”

Trump, who once warned

Pyongyang of “fire and fury” ifit threatened the US, has beentrying to negotiate the North’sdenuclearisation with its leaderKim Jong Un, but their recentHanoi summit ended in failure.

Since then, Trump has beencautious in his prognostica-tions, continuing to suggest adeal remains possible.

He said Kim promised inHanoi that he would do nomore missile or nuclear testing,adding, “I take him at his word.”

Bolton declined to saywhether the US was aware at thetime of the Hanoi summit of anysuspect satellite imagery fromNorth Korea.

But he sent a strong signalto the North that it cannot

escape US scrutiny.“We see exactly what they

are doing,” he said. “We see it unblinkingly,

and we don’t have any illusionsabout what those are.”

Bolton said he was “notaware of any” contact with theNorth since the Hanoi summitbut was expecting an updateMonday from his South Koreancounterpart.

He said time remains onWashington’s side, adding thatthe president “is not underpressure to make any deal. Hewants to make the right deal.”

With North Korea stillunder economic sanctions, “theleverage is on our side right now,and not on North Korea’s.”

Aide says Trump would be ‘disappointed’ by a N Korea test

LUCKNOW | MONDAY | MARCH 11, 2019vivacity {mindspace} 13

Global peace

With the invention of nuclear weapons and theirsophisticated means of delivery, the nature of

wars has now changed dreadfully. As a result of thishorrendous development, mankind today is faced withthe problem of its very survival. In this situation, thequestion of disarmament, arms delimitation and pre-vention of war has attained foremost importance. But,while recognising the constant threat that a nuclearwar poses to global peace, it would be wrong to equatecalm with mere absence of war. For, conflict is noth-ing but a manifestation of the motives of violence anddestruction or of the ignoble emotions of hate andanger. The real villain, in the drama of war thereforeis a man's or a government’s base motive. One shouldnot, therefore, commit the folly of taking the woodfor the forest.

It is a man’s mind which is the repository of evil,of which violence is only one form. It is equally truethat it is a man’s mind which is a vast store of divinepotentialities as well. Wars, it has truly been said areborn in the minds of men; but the seeds of peace alsoare to be found in man’s mind. So, the problem of glob-al peace is, in its real essence, the question of man’smental equanimity and spiritual peace. If a manmoulds his motives in consonance with the pithy slo-gan: ‘Be good and do good’, peace will surely returnto Earth. Any other effort diplomatic, political,juridic and so on which is divorced from this prin-ciple, will attain, at best, only temporary and fragilepeace. It will be uneasy peace.

Peace, in the real sense, is a divine feeling and isassociated with love, unity, enlightenment, fraternalfeelings and inner joy. It has its roots in purity of mind.It is not even slightly touched by any ignoble motivesor by any one of the “seven deadly sins.” It shouldtherefore be remembered that the word ‘Peace’, haswider and more subtle connotations than the onewhich has generally formed the theme for discussionsat conferences that are held around the globe sincedecades. The subject discussed at these conferenceshas often centred around the threat of war, inter-reli-gious hostilities or breach of law and order. Most ofthe modern dictionaries also define peace in termswhich are equivalent to these. But, in truth, peacerefers to harmony of man’s mind with his intellect, hisconscience, his environment and with other beings.Equanimity of mind is an essential characteristic ofthe state of peace. In yogic parlance, it is the namegiven to spiritual experience which one gets when one’smind is linked to God, the Ocean of Peace with love.It is such a state of mind that spreads vibrations ofpeace in the world and can know the real solution tothe problem of global peace.

Conflict is nothing but a manifestation ofthe motives of violence and destruction orof the ignoble emotions of hate and anger,says RAJYOGI BRAHMAKUMAR NIKUNJ JI

Society is changing and so arethe dynamics of women and

their role in it. Many of them arechallenging the norm to take uppositions of power in an other-wise male-dominated world.From Indra Nooyi, the formerchairman and CEO of PepsiCoand currently on the Board ofDirectors of Amazon, to Mary TBarra, the CEO of GeneralMotors, women have shown timeand again that they are capable ofhandling positions of power, evenin industries that are predomi-nantly male.

That said, the world is stilldecades away from achievinggender parity in positions ofpower which makes it importantfor people who have reached thetop to lend a hand and pull up therest. Comic books might have got

many things wrong, but theyweren’t incorrect when they pop-ularised the phrase “With greatpower comes great responsibili-ty”, and that of those in primepower is higher than anyoneelse’s. It’s in the power of those

who have made it into the core ofthe system to change it from with-in. Agreed, systems don’t changeovernight, but a constant effortfrom within and outside canhelp it evolve faster.

The reason why I emphasise

on the importance of womenhelping women, instead of menhelping women, is because onlya woman truly understands thereality of their gender. There is anelement of empathy and under-standing that is far stronger than

sympathy from a gender thatdoesn’t understand the struggle.There are also nuances that the‘stronger’ gender can’t even beginto understand.

Women have had to fightmany battles including the onesagainst pay disparity, being takenseriously at the workplace andmore. So, if one has fought andcome out victorious, it becomesa duty to help others cross overtoo, if only to level the playingfield.

I head my own company andactively take part in its day-to-dayoperations. Only I know the fullextent of my struggle in setting itup and now, at this stage, I try andgo the extra mile to ensure oth-ers don’t have to tread the samepath. I pick my team of expertsmyself, giving due importance totalent over gender. Unsurprisingly,when I hire purely on the basis oftalent, I find myself with a teamthat has an almost equal numberof men and women. I offer a fairremuneration to everyone on myteam, not based on their previous-ly drawn salary, but by industrystandards and the work that eachmember does. Both men andwomen in the team get equalopportunity to take up highermanagement roles and some-times women are even given acertain edge to push them to

become better. I nudge those whohave the potential to be much bet-ter and constantly endeavour tobecome better both individuallyand as an organisation.

If I can make the effort tochange the system in my work-space, then other women withpower can too. May be not a dras-tic change in work policy, but evensmall actions and the effort canmake a difference. An equalopportunity here, a little helpthere, and the system could bechanged to reflect an equal soci-ety. We have the authority andthus hold the power to bringabout changes in the lives of thosewho don’t. We’ve had our fairshare of struggle, but we canalways help to make sure othersdon’t have to. After all, that’s whatmakes a great leader.

Society is changing and soare the dynamics of women andtheir role in it. Carly Fiorinabecame the first female CEO ofa Fortune 20 company, HewlettPackard, while Indira Gandhibecame the first female PrimeMinister of India. More andmore women are finding them-selves in better positions and it istime that we use the power ofpower.

(The author is the CEO andfounder of an e-commerce websitefor furniture and home decor.)

E-CIGARETTES LINKED TO DEPRESSION PASSIVE SMOKING CAN RAISE KIDNEY DISEASE RISK

Want to lower yourhigh blood pressure?Taking a nap duringthe day may helpreduce hypertensionlevels, besidesincreasing your energylevels and improving mood, as per a study.

The findings showed that taking a nap during the daywas associated with an average five mm Hg drop in bloodpressure.

In addition, for every 60 minutes of mid-day sleep, 24-hour average systolic (top number) blood pressuredecreased by three mm Hg.

“Mid-day sleep appears to lower blood pressure levelsat the same magnitude as other lifestyle changes,” saidManolis Kallistratos, cardiologist at the Asklepieion GeneralHospital in Voula in Greece.

“A drop in blood pressure as small as two mm Hg canreduce the risk of cardiovascular events such as heartattack by up to 10 per cent,” said Kallistratos.

ALZHEIMER'S DRUG PROMISES RARE DISEASE

An existing therapyfrequently used toreduce symptomsof Alzheimer'sdisease might workon patients with arare neurologicaldisease that destroys language and currently has notreatment, suggest researchers.

Alzheimer's patients are presently treated with a class ofdrugs called cholinesterase inhibitors which reduce itssymptoms by preventing the breakdown of acetylcholine — achemical messenger that contributes to learning andmemory.

The study, led by Northwestern University researchers,found that individuals with Primary Progressive Aphasia(PPA) undergo the same loss of cholinergic neurons andaxons in the forebrain as individuals with Alzheimer's.Therefore, they might also benefit from these cholinesteraseinhibitors. The team focussed on the type of PPA that showsa typical Alzheimer's pathology in the brain.

Besides affecting your heart andlungs, exposure to second-hand orpassive smoking can also raise thechances of chronic kidney disease(CKD), which can lead to renalfailure, warns a new study.

The findings showed thatindividuals with less or more thanthree days of exposure per week had nearly double the risk ofhaving kidney disease when compared with participants with nosecond-hand cigarette exposure.

“Second-hand smoke exposure at home or in the workplaceis still prevalent despite legislative actions prohibiting publicsmoking,” said Jung Tak Park from Yonsei University, Seoul.

“This exposure was found to be clearly related with CKD, evenwith less-frequent amounts of second-hand smoke exposure,"Park added. For the study, published in the Clinical Journal of theAmerican Society of Nephrology, the team included 131,196 non-smokers and were classified into three groups: no-exposure, lessthan three days per week of exposure, and three or more days perweek of exposure.

It is as safe to givebirth at the age of 50as at 40 and it wouldnot endanger themother or the baby,suggest Israeliresearchers.

The study, led by a team from Israel's Ben-GurionUniversity of the Negev (BGU) and Soroka UniversityMedical Centre, found that owing to medical andtechnological advancements — including extracellularfertilisation and egg donation — the age at which awoman can give birth has gradually increased. “Itturns out that 50 is the new 40 when it comes tochildbirth,” according to Eyal Sheiner, director at thedepartment of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Soroka.“There is no doubt that medical teams will need tohandle increasing numbers of birth for women overthe age of 50,” added Sheiner.

Complications were higher among women over 40who gave birth to children.

CHILDBIRTH AT 50 COULD BE SAFE

Using e-cigarettes can significantly raise the risk ofdepression, say researchers, who found that switching toe-cigarettes doesn’t eliminate health risks.The study, from the University of Kansas, US, showed thate-cigarette users were twice as likely to suffer fromdepression and anxiety.

In addition, vapingwas 56 per cent morelikely to lead to a heartattack and 30 per centmore likely to lead to astroke. It was alsofound to increase therisk of coronary arterydisease and circulatory problems, including blood clots, by10 per cent and 44 per cent respectively.

“These data are a real wake-up call and shouldprompt more action and awareness about the dangers ofe-cigarettes," said author Mohinder Vindhyal, assistantprof. “Regardless of how frequently you use them, daily oron some days, you’re still likely to have a stroke,” adds he.

MID-DAY NAP CAN LOWER HIGH BP

The moment you put a deadline on your dream, it becomes a goal.—Harsha Bhogle

Barely four, her tiny hand wrappedaround the plump finger of herfather, who carried the mental

weight of all that he had left behind andwithout any clue of the place that theywere headed, Dr Ramesh Sarin migrat-ed to India from her birthtown, Sahiwalin Pakistan, when the country was tornasunder in 1947.

It was during these troubled timesthat she observed her father, mother,aunts and uncles work hard to feed thehouse, earn a livelihood and have a per-manent source of income, which waslost in the backdrop of communal bat-tles.

Her memories of the way they tra-versed through the roads in her child-hood are blurred but what she has notforgotten was the manner in which sheand her siblings’ pursued education withno external help at that time. Their onlyinspiration were their hard working par-ents. “There were no tuitions unliketoday that could extend a guiding handto enable us to study better. Our parentsconstantly worked hard to give us a lifeof comfort where we could grow tobecome successful in future. If yourhome provides you with an atmosphereof empathy and love, you eventuallybecome that person. It all depends onwhat you are surrounded by,” says DrSarin, who works as a senior consultantSurgical Oncology, a breast cancer spe-cialist at the Apollo Hospitals, setting anexample for all the women who areunstoppable.

While talking about what a day, thatis dedicated to only women — the birth-givers and makers of the society —means to her, she says that it is good tocelebrate it since it talks about one-halfof the society and makes them the cen-tre of the universe which does not hap-pen regularly. “Even though there can-not be a particular day assigned to talkabout who and what is important, yetwe should use it to spread awarenessabout women empowerment and howthey need to look beyond their respon-sibilities and focus on themselves. Theycompletely ignore their health and Ishouldn’t be pointing that out as I havealso never looked after mine diligently.It is a universal problem with women.They seem to forget themselves amidsta mountain of chores and responsibil-ities. In her younger days, my daughterwould complain that I don’t give her asmuch time and attention as she want-ed. I used to be so engrossed with mypatients,” says the doctor who feels thatwomen are experts in multi-tasking andthat “no one could do that better thanthem.”

She goes on to add that Women’sDay is important as it makes people stopfor once to look at the qualities of empa-thy and compassion that women have.She says, “It’s like a god’s gift to us. Wehave it in us. And it’s the day toembrace every woman the way she is —beautiful. There’s one thing that I feelshould be done on this day and for thatmatter, almost every day — to makewomen realise their worth and tell themthat they’re capable. We need to tellthem that nothing is impossible andthey can achieve everything that theyever dream of. They should be fearlessin their spirit. No one should judge orstop them from doing something.”This, she believes, is the greatest tribute

that can ever be given to women.Indeed, if for one day this can hap-

pen, she says, it won’t be difficult tomake it happen every day.

Well, for her, the day isn’t just aboutempowering women or paying theirregards, rather also breaking socialtaboos. She says, “There is only thingthat needs to be done when it comes toempowering women, breaking the stig-ma around menstrual hygiene.Menstruation is such a beautiful phe-nomenon. Why can’t we talk about itopenly? It’s not some disease or adefect in the body. It’s natural and uni-versal. The moment we achieve the goalof an open society, we achieve the inde-pendence of every woman.”

In her journey of more than four tofive decades of treating and encounter-ing women of all age groups sufferingfrom breast cancer, Dr Sarin has alsobeen an expert in counselling herpatients. The cancer of the breast, shesays, is one of the few cancers which hasmethods available for early diagnosis,has effective treatment and high curerates as opposed to others. She lovestalking and counselling women withwhom she vibes well. “The first thingthat we do is to ask them to ‘accept it.’They tend to always question their ownacts and curse god for landing them inthis condition. However, there’s nocontrol that anyone could have over any-thing and hence, we tell them to acceptthe fact, face the truth, and live with itas it will make it easier for them to dealwith it. We ask them to dig out thepower within them and believe in it,”says she.

She began special support groupswhich have a number of NGOs andhealth foundations, for 20-30-year-oldpatients where they can come up anddiscuss their stories and emotions.

Dr Sarin was also invited to UAE forsetting up a cancer center in 1986 whereshe spent 10 years. She says that the onlydifference she found between India andUAE medical systems is that they are“more aware unlike people here.”

She believes that there is not a sin-gle thing that women cannot do and it’svery natural. “A woman winning anOscar is also normal and natural. Shedeserves the award as much as a mandoes,” says she, giving an example ofGuneet Monga who recently won anOscar for her documentary film, Period.End of Sentence.

For her, it’s important to remain bal-anced and work with a peaceful andcalm mind, no matter how harsh the sit-uation, she says as she signs off.

What makes you beautifulOvercoming odds during Partition, Dr RAMESH SARIN has displayed fortitude which she believes is essential in fighting cancer, says CHAHAK MITTAL

Women who haverisen through the

ranks have theresponsibility of

extending ahelping hand to

others, saysNATASHA JAIN

The power of power

THE FIRST THING THATWE DO IS TO ASK THE

PATIENTS TO ‘ACCEPT IT.’THEY TEND TO ALWAYSQUESTION THEIR OWN

ACTS OR CURSE GOD FORLANDING THEM IN THISCONDITION. HOWEVER,THERE’S NO CONTROLOVER SUCH THINGS.

HENCE, WE TELL THEM TOFACE THE TRUTH, DIG OUT

THE POWER WITHINTHEM AND BELIEVE IN IT

Actress MADHURI DIXIT NENE tookto social media to share an emotion-al note for her younger son Ryan onhis birthday.The note read: “Can't play with youlike earlier anymore, can't believehow fast have you grown up. Happy14th birthday Ryan.”She also shared a photo-graph in which she canbe seen having fun timewith her sons Ryan andArin.Madhuri, who tied theknot with US-basedsurgeon ShriramMadhav Nene in1999, gave birth toArin in 2003 andRyan in 2005.Madhuri had earlierspoken about herlove for kids. Shesaid, “I wanted toenjoy new phasesof my life. I wantedto have kids, andapart from work, Ihave had otherdreams. I love mysons and wantedto spend qualitytime with themduring theirinitial years.”

Actor IRRFAN KHAN, whoreturned to India last month afterreceiving neuroendocrine tumourtreatment in London, was spottedat Mumbai airport recently..

According to thephotographs, Irrfancan be seen avoid-ing paparazzi at theairport as he choseto hide his face witha muffler. He wasspotted wearing a

pink jacket and camouflage pants.However, it was not clear wherethe actor was heading to.Last year, Irrfan had revealed thathe has been diagnosed with a raretumour. Soon after, he went toLondon for treatment. It is also reported that the actorwill soon start shooting the sequelof his 2017 film Hindi Medium.

Actor BEN AFFLECK says“The bifurcationbetween indepen-dent films andstudio releases isless now. Peopleare trying to makemovies that areinteresting in mul-tiple ways like itused to be in the1990s and early2000s, where I kindof started out withChasing Amy,Armageddon and thenShakespeare in Lovewhich was a little bitof both.”The actor said he hastried to mix both thesensibilities in his fil-mography.

Madhuri getsemotional online

‘I wish, aswomen, weshould valueourselveslittle moreeach day sothatsomeday we will notneed a women's day tocelebrate ourachievements andstrengths. In theindustry, there will be atime when people willjust go to cinemas towatch the film withoutthinking whether it's amale-centric or afemale-centric film andthat's where weheading.’—Vidya Balan

LUCKNOW | MONDAY | MARCH 11, 2019vivacity 14

T E C H T A L K

Of all the major spirits,gin gets the leastamount of attentionwhen it comes tostanding on its own.

There are different ways to enjoywhisky, women love their vodka,tequila too has got its time in thesun. But the world of gin is just somuch more than cool, cuttingjuniper and you owe it to yourtaste buds to do some exploring.

Over the past decade, wehave witnessed a sort of ‘ginrenaissance’ across the UK, USand parts of Europe, with espe-cially the modern variant gainingpopularity. As is often the case,India soon picks up and followsthese trends, especially in met-ros such as Mumbai, Delhi andBengaluru. This is clear notjust in the growing populari-

ty of gin in major cities butalso in the availability of amuch wider selection of the

spirit due to the influx ofnewer brands in the market.

Today, the variety ofmodern gins available inIndia has successfullymoved ahead from the ear-lier juniper-heavy strongtaste to deeper and moreengaging aromas andflavours and more impor-tantly managed to shrugoff the perception of beinga colonial old-age drink.This in turn has led tothese modern gins beingreceived with enthusi-

asm even among the well-travelled younger audience.

The other significant cog inthe “gin Renaissance” has been therole played by mixologists andbartenders across the world. Thehistory of gin is closely tied tococktails as at one point it was thepreferred spirit for them.However, with the advent and

popularity of vodka, it was seen astoo complex a spirit to work withand a majority of the bartendingcommunity began to migrateaway from it. That trend began tochange around a decade ago,partly due to the development ofnewer, more modern styles of ginand also largely due to the bar-tending community that began toembrace the complexity of gin-based concoctions once again.

A part of this is also due to theevolving palette of the consumer.Today's consumer has an increas-ingly sophisticated palate — onewho is keen to engage with brandsand seeks information to educateoneself across spirit categories.These are nuanced consumerslooking for authenticity andprovenance in what they are con-suming and are genuinely inter-ested in knowing more about theheritage and craft that goes intotheir personal choice of brands.

As a result of these changingdynamics among consumers,most bars and restaurants todayare looking for differentiation intheir offerings and, therefore,investing heavily in developingunique experiences for their clien-tele through their drinks andcocktail menus. This means morechoice for the consumers.

PREMIUMISATION As seen in the overall drinksspace, the consumers are becom-ing more inclined towards betterquality, even if it requires a greaterspend. Be it the influx of superpremium gin brands in the coun-try, or the demand for qualitytonic water that does justice to thepremium spirits being consumed,the increasingly discerning audi-ence is choosing quality overspend. In fact, this is why brandsget motivated to cater to theIndian audience, even if today it

is only to a small percentage in apredominantly brown spirit mar-ket.

PROVENANCEConsumers today are keen toengage with brands, seeking infor-mation on the provenance andcraft involved in the process ofmaking gin. This is evidencedtoday when consumers, whetherbuying a bottle or consuming adrink in a restaurant, are inquisi-tive about the flavour or aroma ofthe liquid and conscious of thebrand being served in their cock-tail, instead of going ahead with afamiliar choice. Caorunn, forinstance, gets a lot of attention dueto its locally foraged botanical

such as coul blush apple, rowanberries and heather. These areeasy to pick up in the hand-craft-ed gin, which gives it an extreme-ly smooth and fresh flavour pro-file.

COMPLEXITYWe are also noticing a trend ofbars engaging foreign mixolo-gists or spending time and effortin training their bar staff to pre-sent complex cocktails and beaware of the liquid and botanicalthat go into their drinks. This isgreat as it, in turn, enhances theexperience of the end consumeras well as increases the recall valueof both the bar as well as the liq-uid consumed.

EXPERIMENTATIONExperimenting with cocktails,infusing them with unique ingre-dients is another hot trend. Thesedays, mixologists understandtheir ingredients well enough tocome up with interesting anddaring concepts and many ofthem become immensely popu-lar as signature offering at theirbars. There are some fantastic cocktailswith many unusual ingredients,such as coriander leaves, jamun,spinach and more on offer. Asthey say, every sip is a discovery.(The author is advisor of a glob-al drinks business.)

After building a social networkthat turned into a surveillancesystem, Facebook CEO Mark

Zuckerberg says he’s shifting hiscompany’s focus to messaging ser-vices designed to serve as fortress-es of privacy.

Instead of just being the networkthat connects everyone, Facebookwants to encourage small groups ofpeople to carry on encrypted con-versations that neither Facebook norany other outsider can read. It alsoplans to let messages automaticallydisappear, a feature pioneered by itsrival Snapchat that could limit therisks posed by a trail of socialmedia posts that follow peoplethroughout their lives.

It’s a major bet by Zuckerberg,who sees it as a way to pushFacebook more firmly into a mes-saging market that’s growing fasterthan its main social networkingbusiness. It might also help the

company ward off government reg-ulators, although the Facebook CEOmade clear that he expects the com-pany’s messaging business to com-plement, not replace, its core busi-nesses.

But there are plenty of obstacles.Facebook has weathered more thantwo years of turbulence for repeat-ed privacy lapses, spreading disin-formation, allowing Russian agentsto conduct targetted propaganda

campaigns and a rising tide of hatespeech and abuse. Zuckerberg sub-mitted to two days of grilling onCapitol Hill last April. All thatincreases the challenge of convinc-ing users that Facebook really meansit about privacy this time.

Encrypted conversations couldalleviate some of those problems, butit could make others worse. Securityis an “admirable goal,” said ForresterResearch analyst Fatemeh Khatibloo.“I’m just not sure it addresses thebigger issues Facebook is facing rightnow.”

Facebook grew into a colossusby vacuuming up people’s informa-tion in every possible way and dis-secting it to shoot targeted ads backat them. Anything that jeopardizesthat machine could pose a majorthreat to the company’s share price,which would also affect its ability toattract and retain talented engineersand other employees.

In an interview, Zuckerberg pre-dicted Facebook’s emphasis on pri-vacy will do more to help the com-pany’s business than hurt it. Whilemost of the stock market slipped inWednesday trading, Facebook’sshares gained $1.25 to close at$172.51.

The Facebook CEO has beentelegraphing some of these changesto investors for the past six months,but his recent blog post is the first

time he has explained the idea to themore than two billion people thatuse Facebook’s services and look atits ads. Those ads are expected togenerate $67 billion in revenue thisyear, according to the research firm.

If everything falls into place,Facebook will also display similaradvertising on the privacy-protect-ed messaging services. Those ser-vices are also likely to offer othermoneymaking features, such as adigital wallet, as Facebook attemptsto build something similar toTencent’s popular WeChat service inAsia.

“If you think about your life, youprobably spend more time commu-nicating privately than publicly,”Zuckerberg said. “The overallopportunity here is a lot larger thanwhat we have built in terms ofFacebook and Instagram.”

That’s far from proven. WhileFacebook has already tried to showads in the Messenger app, it’s seenonly limited success. It hasn’t eventested the concept in WhatsAppsince it acquired that service for $22billion in 2014.

“There are some hugeunknowns about how successfulFacebook is going to be rollingadvertising into a more private mes-saging environment,” said analystDebra Aho Williamson.

Some critics are convinced that

Facebook has become so powerful— even a threat to democracy as wellas to people’s privacy — that it needsto be reined in by tougher regula-tions or even a corporate breakup.

But unraveling Facebook couldbecome more difficult if Zuckerbergcan successfully stitch together themessaging services behind anencrypted wall.

“I see that as the goal of thisentire thing,” said Blake Reid, aUniversity of Colorado law profes-sor who specialises in technologyand policy. He said Facebook couldtell antitrust authorities thatWhatsApp, Instagram Direct andFacebook Messenger are tied sotightly together that it couldn’tunwind them.

Combining the three servicesalso lets Facebook build more com-plete data profiles on all of its users.Already, businesses can already tar-get Facebook and Instagram userswith the same ads, and marketingcampaigns are likely coming toWhatsApp eventually.

Facebook’s focus on messagingprivacy raises other concerns.Messaging apps have in the pasthelped fake news and rumoursspread fast, sometimes with deadlyconsequences. A report fromUniversity of Oxford researchers lastyear found evidence of widespreaddisinformation campaigns on chatapplications like WhatsApp. In oneparticularly brutal example, theIndian government last year accusedWhatsApp of fuelling rumours thatled to lynchings and mob violencethat wounded dozens.

Facebook responded by restrict-ing the number of groups to whicha message could be forwarded andlabelling forwarded messages assuch. Zuckerberg said that Facebookneeds to protect both privacy andsafety as it encrypted messaging ser-vices, although he noted to an“inherent trade-off ” between secu-rity and safety, simply becauseFacebook won’t be able to readencrypted conversations.

And in some cases, Facebookcould allow some content to auto-matically disappear in a day or two,as if it were a fleeting mirage.

“Some people want to storetheir messages forever and somepeople think having large collectionsof photos or messages is a liabilityas much as it is an asset,” saidZuckerberg, adding, “Figuring outthe balance is a really importantone.”

—AP

LOVE, LUST AND CONFUSION:

SEASON 2

While season one chronicled the character ParomoSarkar’s journey of indecisiveness, physical explo-rations and confusion, that every millennial couldrelate to, season two will see her deal with more con-fusion between love and lust. As she also tries to stickto her newly created ‘don’t-do list’, Paromo will be seenworking on a graphic novel based on her relationshipescapades. The new season will see her experimentsome more in her bid to find true love, while still hav-ing to make decisions about people who lust for her.Starring Tara Alisha Berry, Gaurav Chopra and ShivPandit, among others, the series is available now onViu.

THE DIRT

In this unflinching biopic based on Mötley Crüe’s best-

selling book, The Dirt: Confessions of the World’s MostNotorious Rock Band, four LA misfits navigate themonster highs and savage lows of music superstar-dom.Starring Douglas Booth, Iwan Rheon and ColsonBaker, the thriller releases on Netflix on March 22.

ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT

In the second half of the series’ fifth season, pressures

mount on the Bluth family as Buster heads toward amurder trial. The Bluth company is on the hook tobuild a ‘smart’ border wall that puts them in debt andrisks exposing a software hoax perpetrated byGeorge-Michael. Soon the gay mafia is involved andit appears that even Michael can’t save the family thistime. And Tobias becomes a Golden Girl. StarringJason Bateman, Jefferey Tambor and Jessica Walter,among others, the series’ fifth season’s second halfreleases on Netflix on March 15.

W E B B E D

Can Zuckerberg really make a privacy-friendly Facebook?

In search of balance

BACK WITH THE BAR MAN

BARS AREENGAGING FOREIGNMIXOLOGISTS AND

TRAINING THEIRSTAFF TO PRESENT

COMPLEXCOCKTAILS AND BE

AWARE OF THELIQUID AND

BOTANICALS THATGO IN THE DRINKS

Ben’s take onindie films

Once seen as too complex a spirit to be used in cocktails, gin has got a new lease

of life, says KAVIR ADVANI

sport 15LUCKNOW | MONDAY | MARCH 11, 2019

AFP ■ LIVERPOOL

Roberto Firmino returned togoalscoring form at the perfectmoment for Jurgen Klopp's

Liverpool, hitting the net twice in a4-2 victory over Burnley that hauledthem back to within a point ofPremier League leaders ManchesterCity.

Sadio Mane was also on thescoresheet twice in a game in whichLiverpool were required to respondto falling a goal behind against SeanDyche's struggling side.

And with City having opened afour-point gap overLiverpool, with a victo-ry over Watford onSaturday, the pres-sure was clearly onKlopp and his play-ers to respond, whichthey did impressive-ly despite the con-troversial mannerof Burnley's open-ing goal.

Firmino had a large role to playin steadying Liverpool nerves, takinghis league tally for the season to 11and ending a six-game goal droughtas his side reacted impressively togoing a goal down in the sixthminute.

Defender Joel Matip needlesslyconceded a corner which AshleyWestwood took from the left wingand curled directly into the Liverpoolgoal, with home goalkeeper Alissonprotesting furiously that he hadbeen impeded in his attempts to dealwith it.

Replays suggested Alisson had astrong point, with defender JamesTarkowski leaning on the Brazilianfrom behind and Jack Cork makingcontact in front of him. The goal-keeper's furious reaction, sprinting 40yards to remonstrate with refereeAndre Marriner, earned him a book-ing.

This was a real test of Liverpool'smental fortitude after a run that hasseen them draw five of their previ-ous seven games in the league and

Champions League.They trailed for just 13 minutes,

equalising with a flowing movestarted when Mohamed Salah andGeorginio Wijnaldum exchangedpasses and the Egyptian drilled overa pacy near-post cross.

Burnley's England goalkeeperTom Heaton and Tarkowski both hadchances to clear but somehowallowed the ball to pass through themfor Firmino to tap into an open net.

LIVERPOOL CONTROLLiverpool were now firmly in

control, clicking through the gearsand placing the Burnley defenceunder increasing pressure beforeMane shot them into the first lead ofthe afternoon shortly before the halfhour.

The goal owed much to the per-sistence of midfielder Adam Lallana,who charged down an attemptedclearance by Phil Bardsley, with theball breaking for Salah, who was welltackled by Charlie Taylor.

The rebound fell for Mane, whocurled a magnificent finish past thediving Heaton from 15 yards, scor-ing in a sixth consecutive homeleague game in the process.

It was hard to see a way back forstruggling Burnley, who started theday just two points outside the rele-gation places as the second halfquickly threatened to turn into a one-way procession towards the visitors'goal before Liverpool struck againmidway through the second half.

Salah broke clear and was poisedto shoot when Taylor made a superbtackle which, unfortunately for thevisitors, left the loose ball sitting upneatly for Firmino to drive it into anopen goal from 12 yards.

There was late anxiety afterJohann Berg Gudmundsson made it3-2 with an injury-time consolationafter a knock-down in the area fromBurnley substitute Peter Crouch.

But with virtually the last kick ofthe game in the 93rd minute, Manechased a long through ball, round-ed Heaton and completed the victo-ry by kicking into the open goal.

AFP ■ MADRID

Lionel Messi and Luis Suarezmight have been rested but

instead both played and scored asBarcelona came from behind to beatRayo Vallecano, ahead of theircrunch Champions League secondleg against Lyon.

Raul de Tomas' scintillatingstrike gave struggling Rayo a sur-prise lead at the Camp Nou butMessi converted a penalty andSuarez finished a brilliant passingmove to seal a 3-1 win, afterGerard Pique had headed inan equaliser on Saturday.

When Barca kickedoff, Atletico Madrid hadjust completed their own1-0 victory over Leganes,although Diego Simeonewas more cautious, restingAntoine Griezmann,Alvaro Morata and SaulNiguez, with Tuesday's tripto Juventus in mind.

Barca stay seven points clear ofAtletico and, temporarily at least,move 15 ahead of Real.

Even with a two-goal cushionfor the final eight minutes, ErnestoValverde kept Messi and Suarez onuntil the end, which may have sur-prised some, given he was accusedof exhausting key players last sea-son at the expense of success inEurope.

Messi's appearance was his443rd for Barcelona in La Liga,moving him ahead of Andres

Iniesta and behind only XaviHernandez, on 505, in the club's all-time list.

Samuel Umtiti started his sec-ond match in three months afterrecovering from a knee injury.

"Little by little he is reaching hislevel," said Valverde.

But Philippe Coutinho wasunderwhelming again, despite beingpicked ahead of Ousmane Dembele.

He poked an early chance wideafter a Messi cross and De Tomasput Rayo in front soon after, driving

at Pique before unleashing a siz-zling shot past Marc-Andre

ter Stegen.Pique headed one

Messi free-kick wide andthen another in at thenear post, nipping infront of Rayo goalkeeper

Stole Dimitrievski to nodin his sixth goal of theseason.

Dembele came onfor Arthur Melo at half-time andCoutinho dropped deeper, but itwas right-back Nelson Semedothat earned the penalty, after a foulfrom Jordi Amat. Messi made nomistake.

Rayo's belief, and energy, melt-ed away and Barca's third wastheir best of the night. Suarezfreed Dembele down the right andhe found Suarez again with a pull-back. Instead of shooting, Suarezbounced the ball off Ivan Rakitic inthe area before finally tappinghome.

AFP ■ MILAN

Krzysztof Piatek struck again to rescue a2-1 win for AC Milan at bottom club

Chievo on Saturday, keeping theirChampions League push firmly on track, butthe Polish striker was accused of scoringwith a 'kung fu' kick.

Piatek joined Milan from Genoa inJanuary and has now scoredeight goals in nine matches, asthe club notched up a fifthstraight league win to remainunbeaten since beforeChristmas.

Returning from injury, Lucas Bigliaopened with a curling free kick after 31 min-utes in Verona. It was just his second goalfor Milan and first since February last year.

Finnish midfielder Perparim Hetemajgot his head to the end of Leris cross topull the hosts level four minutes before thebreak.

But once again Piatek proved crucial,scoring the winner after 57 minutes incontroversial circumstances.

The 23-year-old met Samu Castillejo's

header amid a goalmouth scramble, dur-ing which the Pole looked to have strucka Chievo player while attempting an over-head kick.

A VAR review confirmed the goal tothe fury of Chievo coach Domenico DiCarlo.

"I don't want excuses but in the lastsix matches all the VAR decisions havegone against us," said Di Carlo, whose sidehave won just one of 27 games played.

"Piatek's move on (Fabio) Depaoliwasn't football, it's kung fu.

"You can write the headline: 'Chievobeaten by a kung fu kick.'"

Piatek joins Juventus star CristianoRonaldo and Sampdoria's FabioQuagliarella on top of the Serie A scor-ers' chart with 19 goals this season.

Milan consolidate third position tomove five points behind second-placedNapoli who travel to Sassuolo on Sunday.

However, coach Gennaro Gattusowas sent to the stands for arguing on thesidelines with Chievo midfielder RiccardoMeggiorini in the first-half and now risksa suspension for the derby.

AFP ■ PARIS

Lyon's stand-in captainMarcelo left the field with

a leg injury as his side strug-gled to a 2-2 draw atStrasbourg on Saturday, justdays away from theChampions League last 16second leg at Barcelona.

B r u n oGenesio's sidehead to the LaLiga giants withthe tie finely bal-anced at 0-0after the first legin France butthe Brazil iandefender is a doubt forWednesday's fixture.

"It's too early to know ifhe'll play against Barcelona.He has a little issue with hishamstring. We'll do every-thing we have to so he plays,but we have to wait until

Sunday," Genesio told Canal+.Genesio added he plans to

talk to the club's doctor afterextra tests are carried out onthe centre-back on Sunday.

Moussa Dembele scored

twice for Lyon at the Stade dela Meinau before LudovicAjorque claimed a double ofhis own in the space of 60 sec-onds during the second half.

Club skipper Nabil Fekir,

forward Bertrand Traore,attacker Memphis Depay aswell as midfielder TanguyNdombele started on thebench as Genesio attempted torest the influential four as theFrench club eye a first quar-ter-final in Europe's top-tiercompetition since 2010.

Fekir and Traore werebrought on during the lastquarter of an hour looking fora late winner but their effortswere in vain.

Lyon remain in third placein the table, four pointsbehind Lille who travel toSaint Etienne on Sunday.

Elsewhere big-spendingMonaco dropped down to17th place after a 1-1 drawagainst Bordeaux as 10-manAmiens beat mid-table Nimes2-1 to move to 16th and Dijonrose out of the automatic rel-egation places with a 1-1 stale-mate against Reims.

AFP n INDIAN WELLS

World number one Naomi Osaka launchedher Indian Wells WTA title defense with

a 6-3, 6-4 victory in a grudge match againstKristina Mladenovic on Saturday.

Osaka, whose second straight Grand Slamtitle at the Australian Open in January propelledher to the top of the rankings, was beaten by65th-ranked Mladenovic in Dubai last monthin her first match since she lifted the trophy inMelbourne.

Keen to avoid a repeat,Osaka marched through theopening set in 38 minutes,but she hit a speed bump asshe was broken when serv-ing for the match at 5-2 inthe second.

After Mladenovic held serve to narrow thedeficit to 5-4, the Japanese player faced anoth-er break point before wrapping up the matchafter one hour and 21 minutes.

She booked a third-round meeting withAmerican Danielle Collins, a 6-4, 6-1 winnerover Kirsten Flipkens.

Seven-time Grand Slam champion VenusWilliams pulled off the upset of the day, rally-ing from a set and two breaks down to topplethird-seeded Petra Kvitova 4-6, 7-5, 6-4.

"I just fought and tried my hardest," saidWilliams, currently ranked 36th in the world.

She booked a third-round clash with fel-

low American Christina McHale, a 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 winner over 30th-seeded Russian AnastasiaPavlyuchenkova.

There was disappointment, too, for 2011winner Caroline Wozaniacki, who fell 7-5, 2-6, 7-5 to 59th-ranked Russian EkaterinaAlexandrova.

Elsewhere on Saturday, fifth-seededKarolina Pliskova shook off a slow start to defeatJapanese qualifier Misaki Doi 6-7 (4/7), 6-1, 6-1.

Pliskova next faces another qualifier,Belgian Ysaline Bonaventure, who defeated28th-seeded Donna Vekic of Croatia 1-6, 7-6(7/5), 6-4.

Eighth-seeded German Angelique Kerbereased into the third round with a 6-0, 6-2 vic-tory over Kazakhstan's Yulia Putintseva.

INDIAN WELLS: Indian qualifierPrajnesh Gunneswaran achievedthe biggest win of his career whenhe stunningly knocked world num-ber 18 Nikoloz Basilashvili out ofthe Indian Wells ATP Mastersevent, continuing his dream runhere.

Playing his maiden singlesmain draw at this level, the Indianleft-hander secured a hard-fought6-4, 6(6)-7, 7-6(4) victory overthe Georgian in two hours 32minutes.

The world number 97needed only a single break ofserve to take the lead in thematch. Prajnesh brokeBasilashvili's serve in the fifthgame and then held his serve totake the opening set in 31minutes.

The second and third setswere tightly contested and wentinto tie breaks with Basilashviliemerging victorious in the formerand Prajnesh in the latter to seal aspot in the next round.

"It was definitely a hugematch. I think I played well betterthan I did in the previous round. Ihad to step up because I wasplaying a really good player,someone who has been in formand is ranked in the top 20,"Prajnesh said.

Before this, Prajnesh hadtaken out then world number 23Denis Shapovalov for the biggestwin of his career at the StuttgartATP 250 event last year.

Prajnesh will next face worldnumber 89 Croatia's Ivo Karlovicin the third round. He had earliergot the better of fanciedFrenchman Benoit Paire in thefirst stage. PTI

FIRMINO, MANE KEEP

LIVERPOOL IN TOUCH

Bobby ends six games goal drought with brace in 4-2 win over Burnley at Anfield

13 mintue hat-trick

AFP n LONDON

Raheem Sterling's rapid sec-ond-half hat-trick moved

Manchester City four pointsclear at the top of the PremierLeague with a 3-1 win overWatford before it was reduced toone after Liverpool’s Sundaytriumph.

City and Sterling had for-tune on their side to endWatford's resistence after a goal-less first-half.

A minute into the secondperiod Sterling was initiallyf lagged offside as DarylJanmaat's attempted clearancericocheted off the Englandwinger and into the net.

However, after a long dis-cussion with his assistant, refer-

ee Paul Tierney awarded thegoal because Janmaat's interven-tion meant Sterling was onside.

"The first goal will be debat-ed. I don't like this situation butit is what it is. I'm sorry if it wasoffside but we deserved to win,"said City boss Pep Guardiola.

"Next season, hopefully, wewill have VAR and it will beclear."

There was no doubt whenSterling rounded off a fine teammove involving David Silva andRiyad Mahrez four minuteslater.

Sterling then completed hishat-trick with some neat foot-work from Silva's pass beforeWatford substitute GerardDeulofeu pulled a goal back just22 seconds after coming on.

SADIO MANE WASALSO ON THE

SCORESHEET TWICEIN A GAME IN WHICH

LIVERPOOL WEREREQUIRED TORESPOND TO

FALLING A GOALBEHIND AGAINSTSEAN DYCHE'S

STRUGGLING SIDE

Messi caps

Barca comeback

Roberto Firmino celebrates after scoring his second goal of the game against Burnley at Anfield on Sunday LiverpoolFC

Moussa Dembele celebrates with teammates after scoring opening goal Lyon

Krzysztof Piatek celebrates after scoring goal AP

Lyon stumble before Barca tripPiatek’s kung fu goal rescues Milan

Prajnesh stuns

Basilashvili

Osaka turns

tables on

Mladenovic

NCR WINS CHAMPIONSHIPNCR defeated Lucknow Hostel

3-1 to win the 3rd State Women’sHockey Championship at MdShahid Stadium on Sunday. B SaritaDevi handed over the early advan-tage to NCR by scoring in the 14thminute. In the 32nd minute,Deeksha Tiwari extended the lead to2-0 by converting apenalty corner.B Sarita Devi plunged into actionagain and netted her second goal andteam’s third. In the 51st minute,Mumtaz scored the consolation goalfor Lucknow Hostel as NCR defend-ed its title. Meanwhile, SSB edgedpast NER 1-0 to claim the third spot.Primary education ministerAnupama Jaiswal gave away theprizes.

DAVID EMERGES CHAMPDavid Yung defeated

Anuj Yadava on tie-breaker towin the 24th Shivani CupSunday Open ChessTournament at Shivani PublicSchool on Sunday.RESULTS: (Open) 1-DavidYung, 2-Anuj Yadav, 3-Saurabh Pal (U-10) 1-Sanyam Srivastava, UjjawalRaj, 3-Aadhyansh Saxena (U-14) 1-Medhansh Saxena, 2-Akshat Bhatnagar, 3-LakshyaSrivastava; (U-16) 1-VishalYadav, 2-Aryan Singh, 3-Saksham Shukla.

LOCAL EVENTS

sport 16LUCKNOWI | MONDAY | MARCH 11, 2019

PTI ■ NEW DELHI

Kavinder Singh Bisht (56kg)struck Gold while Shiva

Thapa (60kg) and three othersclaimed Silver medals to end afine Indian campaign at the 38thGeeBee Boxing Tournament inHelsinki, Finland on Sunday.

Signing off with Silvermedals were three-time Asianmedallist Shiva Thapa (60kg),rookie Govind Sahani (49kg),Commonwealth Games Bronze-medallist MohammedHussamuddin (56kg) andDinesh Dagar (69kg).

In a rare all-Indian final, agritty Bisht was up againstCommonwealth Games Bronze-medallist Hussamuddin in the56kg summit clash. Both theboxers are from the ServicesSports Control Board (SSCB)and the familiarity with eachothers' techniques was apparentin the intense bout.

But it proved to be Bisht'sday and the Navyman overcamea cut sustained above his righteye in the final round to emergetriumphant against his Armyrival.

The boxer fromUttarakhand is a world champi-onship quarterfinalist in theflyweight category and this washis maiden international Gold

after making the jump to ban-tamweight.

Sahani started off stronglyagainst Thailand's ThitisanPanmod in his summit show-down, clinching the openinground unanimously. However,Panmod found favour with amajority of the judges in the nexttwo rounds and the messy boutended 3-2 in the flamboyantThai boxer's name.

Thapa (60kg), a three-timeAsian medallist lost 1-4 to localfavourite Arslan Khataev. In anintense battle, Thapa claimed thefinal round honours but thejudges ruled the first two roundsin favour of Khataev.

Dagar, a Silver-medallistfrom last year's India Open, wasup against CommonwealthGames Gold-medallist EnglandPat McCormack in the finals.The Indian entered the boutwith a heavily swollen left eyedue to an injury sustained in thesemifinals.

But to Dagar's credit, hefought hard and withstood threeeight counts before the refereeended the contest a few secondsinto the third round.

Ending with Bronze medalsafter semifinal losses were SumitSangwan (91kg), Sachin Siwach(52kg) and Naveen Kumar(+91kg).

PTI ■ MUMBAI

Top Indian players like skip-per Virat Kohli and Jasprit

Bumrah need to be careful notto get injured or pick up nig-gles during the IPL that pre-cedes the ICC World Cupthis year, feels HarbhajanSingh.

Saying the mega event,commencing on May 30 inEngland, is still some way off,the former India off spinnersaid Kohli's men will go intoit with their confidence highby winning the ongoing ODIseries against Australia andbecoming the top ranked teamin the world.

"World Cup is still very far.We will have to wait andwatch what happens. But thisis a kind of a team which canlift any major championship.World Cup or any big tourna-ment, — they can definitelywin. They have the team (forit)", Harbhajan said.

"But they have to be care-ful. IPL is a tournament inbetween where they will beplaying a lot of cricket, onegame after the other. That's

where fitness will come intoplay.

"You don't want your keyplayers to get injured some-one like Virat Kohli, RohitSharma, Jasprit Bumrah youdont want them to miss theWorld Cup because of injuriesor niggles. You want them to

be on their best of form and(play) best of cricket," said theveteran who was part of the2011 World Cup winningsquad.

"Obviously, this currentseries (against Australia) willhelp them (India) to get thatconfidence (before the World

Cup). If they become thenumber one side in the world,going forward in the WorldCup, you go there as a num-ber one which will boost theirconfidence," he said.

Praising the phenomenalbatting exploits of Kohli, whocracked his 41s ODI hundredagainst Australia at Ranchi inthe third game of the series,skyhigh Harbhajan said theIndian skipper has hit a "pur-ple patch", and is one of thetoughest batsmen to bowl to ashe doesn't show any weakness.

Looking at his (Virat's)form, from the last four-to-fiveyears, he has hit that purplepatch and he is definitely oneof those toughest batsmenthat you will come across as abowler.

"Every batsman has aweak point where to bowl atand, at the moment, we dontsee that with Virat Kohli.Every ball you bowl to him, hehas got an answer for that. Butif I have to bowl to him, I'llhave to look for one thing toget him out somehow and tomake sure bowl the bestagainst him," said Harbhajan.

AFP ■ WELLINGTON

New Zealand short-ballmaestro Neil Wagner

believed a result in the rain-affected second Test againstBangladesh is still "definitelypossible" after New Zealandtrailed by 173 at stumps onday three in Wellington onSunday.

New Zealand reached 38for two in reply toBangladesh's first innings 211after the first two days werewashed out.

Thirteen wickets fell inthe 72 overs possible, leadingNew Zealand's chief wicket-taker Wagner to think therewas still time to force a resultin the remaining two days.

"It's definitely possible,"Wagner said having removedthe cream of the Bangladeshside with four for 28.

"If we keep taking it ses-sion by session and get our-selves into the lead and pile onwhatever we can, anything ispossible." New Zealand willresume on Monday with RossTaylor on 19 and KaneWilliamson on 10.

Tamim Iqbal gave thetourists a sound start with 74as Bangladesh reached 119 forone before the next nine wick-ets fell for just 92 runs.

New Zealand, in reply,were reduced to eight for twoas Abu Jayed claimed bothopeners cheaply, butWilliamson and Taylor stead-

ied the innings before the rainreturned to force an earlyclose.

Williamson, who won thetoss, had no hesitation inbowling first on a green wick-et but it did not hold thedemons that conditions sug-gested.

Tamim and Shadman

Islam put on 75 for the firstwicket — their third consec-utive fifty-plus stand as new-ball pair Boult and TimSouthee were unable to gen-erate much swing or effectiveseam movement.

Once they were out of theattack the wickets began to fallwith Colin de Grandhommeaccounting for Shadman for27 before Wagner weaved hismagic.

Unlike the first Test whenthe Bangladesh batsmen weretroubled by the menacingheight he extracted from thepitch, this time they were thearchitects of their own down-fall with the wickets comingfrom injudicious pull shots orunnecessary leg side flicks.

In a telling 13-ball spelleither side of lunch, Wagnerf irst removed MominulHaque (15) and MohammadMithun (three) before thebreak and soon after theresumption took the keywicket of Tamim, who top-edged an attempted pull shot.

Boult mopped up the tailwith three wickets for fourruns in nine balls.

PTI ■ NEW DELHI

To bowlers bruised and battered, andfaced with the frightening prospect

of again running into Virat Kohli, spingreat Shane Warne offered an advise:bowl at either leg or wide of off stump,but not at the stumps.

"If you're going to bowl to ViratKohli, you either bowl at leg stump andprotect the on side, or you bowl wideof off stump and you protect the off side.You cannot bowl at the stumps, becausehe can hit you both ways," Warne wasquoted as saying 'ESPNcricinfo'.

"So, I think you've to take out oneside of the field. Protect just one side ofthe field, that's how you bowl to verygood players," the Australian added.

Warne plotted Kohli's dismissal ifhe were to actually bowl to him.

"I'd be bowling wide of off stumpand letting him try to cover drive witha slip, short cover and some protectionout there. So then it'll be very hard forhim to get it over the leg side. That'swhat I'd be trying to do and hopefullyget a little bit lucky and he mis-hits one."

Warne said he has not seen anyone"dominate" one-day international crick-et like Kohli has, but steered clear of call-ing him the greatest of all time.

"I got asked the question last night

and again this morning: is Virat Kohlithe best player in one-day cricket? Is hebetter than Tendulkar, is he better thanLara? I'm still thinking about it, I'm stilltrying to work that out."

Since the start of 2016, Kohli hasamassed 3985 runs in 59 ODI innings,maintaining a staggering average andstrike rate at the same time.

Warne continued, "The one thingwe can say is I don't think we have seenanyone dominate one-day cricket likeVirat Kohli has. The best player I saw— (Don) Bradman's the best so he does-n't even come into the equation — butViv Richards is the best player I saw. Asa player, playing against them, Lara andTendulkar were the two best players thatI bowled to."

The Indian has just scored his 41stODI century, inching closer toTendulkar's record of 49 tons.

"You know records are different indifferent eras and it's very hard to judge.All you can judge is how a player is intheir era, and Virat Kohli is so far aheadin one-day cricket than everybody else- in hundreds made, especially whilechasing — that sets him apart fromeverybody else that is playing," saidWarne, known for his aggressiveapproach in his heydays as the world'sbest leg-spinner.

PTI ■ DUBAI

India opener SmritiMandhana has jumped three

places to reach a career-bestthird position in the latest ICCWomen's T20I Player rank-ings released on Sunday.

Mandhana, the top-rankedODI batter who led the T20Iside in the absence ofHarmanpreet Kaur, scored 72runs in the three matches,including a fifty in the thirdmatch.

Harmanpreet, who hadmissed the England series dueto an ankle injury, slipped twoplaces to the ninth spot.

Among bowlers, RadhaYadav has gained five slots toreach fifth position after grab-bing three wickets from twomatches while other left-armspinner Ekta Bisht has alsofinished with three from two togain three places and reach 56thin the list.

Off-spinner Anuja Patil has

moved up from 35th to 31stposition.

England have overtakenNew Zealand to reach secondposition in the ICC Women'sT20I Team Rankings, gainingthree points to reach 277 points,six behind leaders Australia.

PTI ■ MOHALI

Unheralded AshtonTurner took an experi-enced Indian attack to

the cleaners with some unbe-lievable hitting, helpingAustralia chase down a recordbreaking target of 359 runs andlevel the five-match series hereon Sunday.

It was the highest evertotal that Indian team failed todefend in its ODI history, los-ing the game by four wickets.

Playing only his secondODI, Turner hit an unbeaten 84off 43 balls with five boundariesand as many six sixes to helpAustralia win in only 47.5overs. Earlier in the day,Shikhar Dhawan fired India to358 for nine with a sublime 143off 115 balls.

The partnership of 86 off39 balls between Turner andAlex Carey became the turningpoint after Peter Handscomband Usman Khawaja had setthe platform with a 192-runthird-wicket stand.

The big lad, who has beena designated finisher for BigBash League side PerthScorchers, showed his finishingskills against world's best deathbowler Jasprit Bumrah (3/63),hitting him for an effortlessramp shot.

The swagger with which helofted Bhuvneshwar Kumar(1/67) over long-on and deepmid-wicket, earned him a fewfans among the home crowdand the poor Indian fieldingdid help his cause with KedarJadhav and Shikhar Dhawandropping sitters.

Turner used his big reachto hit those big sixes down theground off Kuldeep andChahal.

Khawaja (91 off 99 balls)and Handscomb (117 off 105)set the tone as they playedYuzvendra Chahal (1/64 in 10overs) and Kuldeep Yadav (1/80in 10 overs) with ease.

The duo kept Australia inthe hunt taking 73 runs offVijay Shankar (0/29 in 5 overs)and Kedar Jadhav (0/44)'s com-bined 10-over spell.

Khawaja and Handscomb

found the gaps with ease andthe dew made it difficult for theIndian spinners with ball look-ing like a slippery bar of soap.

Khawaja was finally donein by a short ball from Bumrahand once Handscomb was dis-missed, India was smelling vic-tory but Turner changed it all.

Batting first, India lookeda completely different side withopening duo putting on 193

runs on arguably the flattesttrack on offer during the ongo-ing series.

While Dhawan got his 16thhundred in ODIs, vice-cap-tain Rohit (95 off 92 balls)missed out on what could havebeen a very well-deserved 23rdhundred with Australianbowlers looking like lambs forslaughter.

Pat Cummins (5/70 in 10

overs) and Jhye Richardson(3/85 in 9 overs) shared thespoils but were taken to task bythe Indian openers for theirwayward bowling.

Dhawan, who last reacheda three-figure mark againstPakistan in an Asia Cup matchin September 2018, was in flu-ent touch from the onset, hit-ting 18 fours and three sixes.

It released the pressure onRohit, who initially was watch-ful even as Dhawan went afterthe bowling.

With another opening slothopeful KL Rahul inductedinto the playing XI, the 33-year-old Dhawan finally looked tohave been shaken out of hiscomfort zone and played likeonly he could.

On a ground where it allstarted with a dream Test debutback in 2013 against the sameopposition, the southpawdecided to ease any worries thatthe team management hadwith regards to his form goinginto the World Cup.

On a track, where thebowlers needed to pitch it fur-ther up, the Aussies bowledshort and it helped Dhawan tomuscle it through the mid-wicket region repeatedly.

Dhawan continued toattack as he surpassed his pre-vious best of 137 against SouthAfrica at the MCG during the2015 World Cup.

He looked good for a dou-ble hundred but was out tryingto give Cummins the charge butthe platform for a big score wasset by then.

TURNER TURNS IT ON

Smriti Mandhana celebrates after fifty

HIGHEST OPENING STANDS FOR IND AGAINST AUS

Runs Partners Venue Date

193 Shikhar Dhawan/Rohit Sharma Mohali 10-03-2019

178 Shikhar Dhawan/Rohit Sharma Nagpur 30-10-2013

176 Shikhar Dhawan/Rohit Sharma Jaipur 16-10-2013

175 Sourav Ganguly/Sachin Tendulkar Kanpur 07-04-1998

140 Sourav Ganguly/Sachin Tendulkar Nagpur 14-10-2007

Faisel Features

Glenn makes most of rare opportunity and smashes 84 off 43balls to help Australia chase down 359 and win fourth ODI by4 wickets to level series 2-2

Kavinder fetches Goldin GeeBee tourney

Mandhana achievescareer-best T20 ranking

Players need to be careful of

injuries during IPL: Harbhajan

Cannot bowl at Virat Kohli'sstumps, Warne tells bowlers

PTI ■ DEHRADUN

Paul Stirling and Andy Balbirnie blastedscintillating fifties to guide Ireland to a

comprehensive five-wicket win overAfghanistan in the fifth ODI and level the five-match series 2-2, here on Sunday.

Stirling hit a strokeful 88-ball 70 lacedwith seven fours and two sixes, while Balbirnieanchored the Ireland innings, making a 91-ball 68 as the duo added 81 runs to lay thefoundation for the chase after Afghanistanposted 216 for six.

Stirling also shared a 57-run openingstand with Porterfield, while Balbirnie forgeda 46-run partnership with KJ O'Brien to takethe team home, scoring 219 for five in 47.2overs.

For Aghanistan, Zahir Khan (2/55) tooktwo wickets, while Muheeb Ur Rahman(1/26), Mohammad Nabi (1/47) and RashidKhan (1/41) scalped one each.

"All the batters are aware how good theirspinners are. I just kind of knew my game, wewatched a lot of their footage," said AndyBalbirnie, who was adjudged the man of theseries.

Earlier put into bat, Asghar Afghan (82)starred in two valuable partnership — 76 withMohammad Nabi (40) and 65 with RashidKhan (35) — to help Afghanistan score 216for six in the stipulated 50 overs.

Afghan's 111-ball innings was studdedwith six fours and a couple of sixes.

"It was a good series, we are targeting theworld cup, so we made changes in everymatch. Top order's a concern, the Test matchshould offer an opportunity," Afghan said afterthe match.

George Dickrell (2/46) snapped twowickets, while Tim Murtagh, Andy McBrine,James Cameron-Dow and Simi Singh con-tributed with one wicket each for Ireland.

Ireland beat

Afghans by 5

wickets

Result ‘definitely possible' in 2nd Test

AFP ■ SYDNEY

David Warner smashed arapid-fire century for his

Sydney club side on his returnfrom elbow surgery, reinforcinghis destructive abilities ahead ofthe World Cup in England.

The opener plunderedseven sixes and four fours in his77-ball onslaught for Randwick-Petersham, better known as theRandy Petes, in a one-day gameagainst Penrith that they lost.

He was finally caught dur-ing Saturday's match, in front ofa few dozen fans, off the bowl-ing of 18-year-old left-armerHenry Railz, the CricketAustralia website reported.

Year-long ball-tamperingbans from state and internation-al for Warner and formerAustralian skipper Steve Smithrun out on March 28.

They were both left out ofAustralia's squad on Friday forthe upcoming one-day seriesagainst Pakistan despite beingeligible for the final two games.

Selector Trevor Hohns saidthey would be better served eas-ing their way back at the IndianPremier League, which getsunder way this month.

Warner smacks

century on return

Peter Handscomb acknowledges crowd after scoring his maiden ODI hundred AP