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n an attempt to break away
Itapism”
from “bureaucratic red
and infuse fresh ideas
into governance, the Centre on
Sunday advertised 10 for posts
of Joint Secretary-level officers
opening them for general pub-
lic bypassing the prevalent
Union Public Ser vice
Commission system. The
Government hopes to overhaul
the governance system through
this experimental step.
Terming the recruitment as
“lateral recruitment”, the
Government through the
Department of Personnel and
Training (DoPT) advertised
for 10 posts against vacancies
in ministries of Finance,
Commerce, Civil Aviation,
Environment, Agriculture,
Road Transport and Highways,
Shipping, Renewable Energy.
The advertisement invited pro-
20?BD;4
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A094B7:D<0AQ =4F34;78
he India Meteorological
T Department (IMD) will
soon be able to issue flash flood
alerts with its ambitious “flash
flood guidance FFG system”.
FFG systems are specialised
forecasting and early-warning
systems for flash floods.
The system will forecast the
impact of rainfall warning that
would alert States/cities on
whether a particular spell of
rain could lead to flooding after
assessment of soil condition,
moisture level and topography
of the particular area.
According to Director
General of IMD KJ Ramesh,
the new system will help take
precautionary measures in
advance in case of sudden
flood in any specific area.
“Rainfall spell would flood
an area often depends on inter-
play of factors that include the
temperature, soil condition,
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fessionals working in various
field to join the Government
and become part of the nation-
building.
Though the appointment
of individuals from private
sector in the Government at
Secretary level is not new — the
NDA Government in 2002 had
appointed Reliance-owned
BSES head RV Sahi as the
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Power Secretary — this is the
first time posts at Joint
Secretary level have been
thrown open for the general
public from the public and pri-
vate sectors.
“The Government of India
has decided to invite talented
and motivated Indian nation-
als willing to contribute
towards nation-building to join
the Government at the level of
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BC055A4?>AC4AQ =4F34;78
ere is an advice to the wor-
H shippers of Bacchus from
the Delhi Excise department:
Never drink your favourite
beer in any restro bar or a club
in the national Capital without
checking the expiry date as the
Delhi Government has found
some establishments serving
“expired beer” to customers.
The Excise Department
officers were aghast to find nine
well-known venues in popular
hangout spots like Hauz Khas,
New Friends Colony and
Connaught Place serving
“expired beer” during surprise
19, 2017 and April 13, 2018.
Restro bar is a commonly
used phrase that means a
restaurant which serves alco-
holic drinks and has charac-
teristics of a bar or nightclub.
In a written response to a
question asked by AAP MLA
Assembly, the Excise
Department said 214 pubs,
bars and restaurants were
inspected by its Enforcement
Branch during the past year
and of these, 94 restro bars
were found violating Excise
rules.
According to data provid-
ed to the Assembly, nine restro
soil depth, antecedent soil mois-
ture conditions, state of the
drainage system, topography
and the amount of rain. The
trial run is going on the system,”
said an official of IMD.
Elaborating the FFG sys-
tem, officials said that real-time
data input comes from remote
sensing satellite radar tracking
rainfall in the region and
hydrological models based on
local climatic and geographic
conditions.
“Flash flood guidance sys-
tems focus primarily on heavy
rainfall and rainfall on satu-
rated soils. The systems seek to
identify the amount of rainfall
that exceeds a water body’s car-
rying capacity,” official added.
For instance soil condition
VQSUR__[S_]TQY\i`Y_^UUb
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Joint Secretary. The proposal of
lateral entry is aimed at bring-
ing in fresh ideas and new
approaches to governance and
also to augment manpower.
Candidates who have expertise
in specific areas of Revenue,
Financial Services, Economic
Affairs, Agriculture, Road
Transport & Highways,
Shipping, Environment &
7^_T
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RWPXa\P]0aeX]S?P]PVPaXhP
Forests, New & Renewable
Energy, Civil Aviation and
Commerce and fulfil the eligi-
bility criteria may apply for spe-
cific posts mentioned in the
advertisement,” the DoPT
advertisement said.
It added that candidates
from State Governments/
Union Territories
Administration, Central/State
PSUs/autonomous bodies, etc,
2[dQbU^d]S
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Rajouri Garden, Saket, New
Friends Colony, Punjabi Bagh,
Laxmi Nagar, Connaught Place
and Janakpuri were found serv-
ing “expired beer” to customers
during the inspections.
An Excise official said beer
bottles of various brands have
different written advice.
For instance, labels of beer
bottles of some brands say
“best before six months from
the date of manufacture”, while
others read “best before twelve
months from date of manu-
facture”. “The Department
takes action if restro bars and
clubs are found serving beer
which has expired as per the
written advice,” he said.
Continued on Page 4
of Rajasthan and Madhya
Pradesh can absorb 10 to 20 cm
rainfall. On the other hand, soil
conditions of Uttarakhand can-
not absorb 10 cm or 20 cm
rainfall so there are chances of
flood-like situation.
“Presently the IMD issues
warnings for heavy rain but
these have mostly failed to
prompt States into taking pre-
emptive measures. What needs
to be done is to convert that
forecast into a flood warning.
Will the rain flood the city or
not?, an official said.
To forecast the floods, the
IMD operates Flood
Meteorological Offices (FMOs)
at 13 locations, which include
Agra, Ahmedabad, Asansol,
Bhubaneswar, Guwahati,
Hyderabad, Jalpaiguri,
Lucknow, New Delhi, Patna,
Srinagar, Bangaluru and
Chennai with the support of
Central Water Commission.
Continued on Page 4
H@C=5""
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set up or controlled by
Central/State Governments
shall be appointed on deputa-
tion (including short-term con-
tract). The candidates from
private sector organisations,
international/multinational
organisations, etc, shall be
appointed on contract basis for
a period of three years extend-
able up to five years.
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Minister of State (MoS) in
the Prime Minister’s Office
Jitendra Singh said the
,QGLDIURZQVRQ
Government’s decision of intro-
ducing lateral entry of 10 posi-
tions as Joint Secretaries is an
endeavour to give every Indian
a chance to grow and con-
2%2530FDOOV
tribute his expertise in the
national growth.
Terming the lateral entry as
a huge reform by exposing the
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he Shiv Sena has set the cat
T among the pigeons by
charging that the purpose
behind the RSS inviting former
President Pranab Mukherjee to
its headquarters might be that
in the event of 2019 Lok Sabha
polls throwing up a hung
House, it might initiate a move
to form a “national
Government’ with “citizen”
Pranab at the helm of the new
dispensation.
In an editorial published in
its official mouth-piece
Saamana, the Shiv Sena said,
“There must be definitely some
agenda behind the RSS inviting
Pranab to its headquarters (to
address the graduated
pracharaks). Whatever may be
agenda, we will get to know
about it in 2019”.
“Available pointers suggest
that the BJP will not get major-
ity in the 2019 Lok Sabha
polls. In the event of a hung
House and the likelihood of
other political parties not sup-
porting Modi’s candidature for
the Prime Minister’s post, the
grapevine in Delhi has it that
the RSS might try to float a
national Government with
=0E8=D?037H0HQ =4F34;78
ihar Chief Minister Nitish
B Kumar comes from the
Kurmi caste having just over
three per cent presence in the
State, which has been a labo-
ratory of caste politics for ages.
If Nitish is still the tallest
leader of Bihar, then there are
reasons for it: He commands
acceptance across caste and
community, his political acu-
men is unmatched, and his
administrative qualities
unquestionable.
All of these will be on test
now that one of the NDA allies
wants him to relinquish the
chair of Chief Minister and the
BJP desires him to be a junior
partner and settle for just
around 10-12 out of 40 seats in
the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
With virtually no chance of
a reunion with Lalu Prasad,
Nitish will now have to explore
his option within the NDA
itself. A well-known election
“manager” recently tried to
persuade Lalu to take steps to
DA@CE"'
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top civil service to competition
through lateral entry, former
vice chairman of Niti Aayog,
Arvind Panagriya tweeted,
“Hope India’s best minds will
rise to the occasion and come
forward to serve. They are the
key to the success of the
reform.”
The unconventional move
based on recommendations of
FWhPaTcX\T comed by RTI activist and for-
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the NITI Aayog drew strong
criticism from Opposition par-
ties who were against the idea
of diluting bureaucratic checks
and balances. “Why are time-
tested UPSC and SSC being
sought to be undermined? To
fill IAS ranks with Sanghis
and undermine reservation
too, in the BJP’s last few months
in office,” tweeted CPI(M) gen-
eral secretary Sitaram Yechury.
Pranab at its helm,” the
Saamana editorial stated.
Elaborating on the editor-
ial in Saamana, the Sena’s
spokesperson and the newspa-
APdcPUcTaaTcXaX]VPb
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per’s executive editor Sanjay
Raut said, “We feel the RSS is
preparing itself for a situation
where it might put forth Pranab
ji as the Prime Minister’s can-
didate if the BJP fails to get
required numbers in the lower
house of Parliament, in any
case the BJP will lose a mini-
mum of 110 seats this time.”
Swift came the response
from Pranab’s daughter
Sharmistha Mukherjee who
tweeted, “Raut, after retiring as
revive the JD(U)-RJD alliance
by extending support to Nitish.
However, sources said, Lalu
remained non-committal on
showing any such magnanim-
ity.
In the 2009 Lok Sabha
polls, when the BJP and the
JD(U) were allies, Nitish was
the face of the alliance and the
JD(U) contested 25 out of 40
seats. In the next year’s
Assembly polls, once again, the
JD(U) was the big brother as it
contested 141 seats and the BJP
had to be content with 102
seats. In 2005 Assembly polls
also, the two sides had con-
tested nearly the same number
of seats.
But that equation is bound
to change now. After Nitish
dumped the BJP and went solo
in 2014 Lok Sabha polls, the
saffron outfit contested 30 seats
in alliance with Ram Vilas
Paswan’s LJP and Upendra
Kuswaha’s RLSP. The BJP won
22 seats, whereas the LJP won
six out of the seven seats it con-
tested, and the RLSP won three
4bcPQ[XbWTS '%#
Defending the move Niti
Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant
tweeted, “Niti’s experience with
lateral entry has been extreme-
ly good. They bring in a vast
number of fresh & vibrant
ideas. This move in Govt was
long overdue & I welcome it.
Will catalyse UPSC entrants to
specialise. Govt must also allow
deputation of its officers to pri-
vate sector as well.”
This move was also wel-
mer CIC Shailesh Gandhi, who
said that this is a better method
as UPSC doesn’t show the spe-
cialisation. “If the selection is
done in a transparent manner,
laying down proper criteria
and ensuring that experts in
those fields joined is a brilliant
idea,” he said.
Historian Ramachandran
Guha posted his 2016 article
written in a newspaper sug-
gesting the Government to
open bureaucracy for compe-
tition. “I think that from the
level of Joint Secretar y
upwards, all Government jobs
should be subject to open com-
petition. At that level one can
bring in professionals with
expertise, and yet allow them
to grow in the State system,
before assuming larger respon-
sibilities,” Guha had written.
President of India, my father is
NOT going to enter into active
politics again.”
Sharmistha had earlier
questioned her father Pranab’s
decision to go to the RSS head-
quarters in Nagpur by saying
that his speech would be for-
gotten, visuals will remain and
those would be circulated with
fake statements.
Sharmistha also responded
to a tweet from a RSS sympa-
thiser Rahul Easwar who said,
“Expecting a Tweet of applause
from respected,
@Sharmistha_GK ji; Not as a
dear
daughter, but as a Citizen.
Sri #PranabMukherjeewas
superb :-).”
In her tweet, Sharmistha
said, “Thanks @RahulEaswar ji
from a daughter. But as a
daughter as well as a citizen, I
reserve the right to differ &
express that difference without
fear. Was brought up like that
by my parents. I am what I am-
good or bad- thanks to them”.
Earlier, alluding to the
“changing approach” of the
Sangh Parivar towards
Muslims, the Sena mouth-
piece stated that the RSS, which
in the past would criticise the
Congress of trying to “appease”
had begun to hold Iftar parties
using the Government machin-
er y and State-run guest
houses.
Continued on Page 4
out of three.
So, the
BJP, the LJP
and the RLSP
together have
31 MPs in
the current
Lok Sabha.
That leaves
only nine
seats which
can be given to Nitish.
BJP sources said the party
may deny tickets to sulking
MPs Shatrughan Sinha and
Kirti Azad and may give two
additional seats to the JD(U).
That makes it 11 for the JD(U).
This seems to be the best case
scenario for Nitish, unless the
BJP is ready to surrender more
of the seats it won in 2014 gen-
eral elections, or Kushwaha
walks out of the NDA. In the
second case, the BJP could
offer the RLSP quota seats to
the JD(U). Kushwaha has
refused to accept Nitish as CM
candidate in 2020 Assembly
polls and staked his own claim
for the coveted chair.
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n a clear message of India’s
IChina’s
continued Opposition to
ambitious One Belt
One Road (OBOR) initiative,
Prime Minister Narendra Modi
on Sunday said mega connec-
tivity projects must respect
sovereignty and territorial
integrity of the countries,
asserting that New Delhi would
support initiatives which
ensure inclusivity.
In an address at the annu-
al summit of the Shanghai
Cooperation Organisation
(SCO) in port city Qingdao, the
Prime Minister also coined an
acronym SECURE which he
explained: ‘S’ for security for
citizens, ‘E’ for economic devel-
opment, ‘C’ for connectivity in
the region, ‘U’ for unity, ‘R’ for
respect of sovereignty and
integrity and ‘E’ for environ-
ment protection.
Referring to the threat of
terrorism, Modi talked about
the “unfortunate” example of
the effects of terrorism and
extremism in Afghanistan and
hoped that the bold steps taken
by its President Ashraf Ghani
will be respected by all the play-
ers in the region.
It was the responsibility of
the bloc to ensure that the rea-
sons for which Afghanistan’s
unity, integrity and sovereign-
ty were affected in the past are
not repeated, he said, adding
India will play an important
role in the SCO Contact group
on Afghanistan.
Officials said almost all
For Nitish who contested
25 seats in 2009 in alliance with
the BJP, it will be a big climb
down if he agreed to settle for
just around one dozen seats.
Nitish could hope for a face
saver only if there is a “sacro-
sanct” agreement that the
JD(U) will contest the major
share of Assembly seats.
However, given the distrust
between the two parties, a sec-
tion of the JD(U) is of the opin-
ion that Nitish should advance
the Assembly polls and hold
them along with the general
elections. That would insulate
him against any “change of
mind” by the BJP leadership if
the Modi Government is back
in the saddles and Nitish is seen
as an expendable ally. The
results of the 2009 Lok Sabha
polls showed that the BJP will
be well placed if Nitish and the
RJD are locked in a triangular
contest.
However, Nitish has so far
persistently denied advancing
the Assembly polls, which are
slated to be held in 2020.
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SCO leaders, including Russian
President Vladimir Putin and
Chinese President Xi Jinping,
talked about the dangers of ter-
rorism and extremism and
resolved to contain it with a
concrete action plan.
Talking about the impor-
tance of transport corridors,
Modi, in the presence of the
Chinese President, said India’s
commitment to connectivity
projects is reflected in its
involvement in International
North South Corridor project,
development of the Chabahar
port and Ashgabat agreement.
“Connectivity with the
neighbouring countries is
India’s priority. We welcome the
connectivity projects which
are sustainable and efficient
and which respect territorial
integrity and sovereignty of the
countries,” the Prime Minister
said.
Continued on Page 4
The BJP central leader-
ship understands it too well
that Nitish’s options are limit-
ed. That is why the JD(U) has
not even got invitation to join
the Union Cabinet and Amit
Shah did not think it necessary
to reach out to Nitish as he did
in case of Uddhav Thackeray
and Prakash Singh Badal.
Of course, Shah may still meet
Nitish when he visits the State
in course of his jan samparak
programme, but the message
has gone that Nitish may have
to play the role of a junior part-
ner in to the BJP in Bihar in the
Lok Sabha polls.
The setbacks suffered by
his party in Jehanabad and
Jokihat polls show that the
JD(U) has to pay a heavy cost
for abandoning Lalu. Now that
the BJP is trying to cut him to
size and even someone like
Kushwaha is questioning his
ability to lead Bihar, Nitish
seems to be running out of
options. Can he produce one
more political googly he is so
famous for?
=4F34;78k<>=30H k9D=4 ! '
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n its bid to prevent traffic vio-
IPolice
lations, the Gurugram Traffic
has decided to soon
observe “Zero Tolerance Day”
twice a week across the city. As
of now, the department
observes Zero Tolerance Day
two days in a month. Apart
from challans, the police will
also hold awareness talks on
Zero Tolerance days in future.
“Our only aim to organise
Zero Tolerance Day twice a
week is to catch violators who
break traffic rules across the
city. Next on our agenda is to
spread awareness messages
among the offenders not to
break traffic rules. Also, we have
identified a number of dark
spots on National Highway-48
and other parts in the city, as
part of our goal to reduce fatal-
ities on the road,” DCP (traffic),
Sulochana Gajraj said.
Normally, the city police
issue challans to about 3,000
vehicles on an average in the
city. On Zero Tolerance Day,
apart from traffic police, all
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gang of armed robbers that
A had unleashed reign of
terror in Ghaziabad and its
adjoining areas finally met its
match when a team of
Ghaziabad Police intercepted
them. The gang was identified
during the investigation into a
robbery in which robbers had
snatched C 13,05,000 from a
Mother Dairy distributor in
Indirapuram area, on June 4
this year.
Senior Superintendent of
Police (SSP) Viabhav Krishna
said they have busted a gang
that had committed 34 rob-
beries and murders in the
national Capital region. With
the arrest of six members of this
notorious gang, 13 cases of rob-
bery have been solved.
Indirapuram police and spe-
cial cell of Ghaziabad Police car-
ried out a joint operation to nab
the gang members near the
bridge at sector 5/6 of Vaishali
area. All of them were taken to
the police station for question-
ing. On their instance, police
raided their hide out place near
Harsha Mall and recovered
Rs. 11, 55, 000 in cash looted
from the distributor and
weapons used in the crime. All
the arrested gang members con-
fessed their involvement in the
cases of robbery. They have
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UHVSRQGLQJWRDQ\FRQWHQWVSXEOLVKHGLQWKLVQHZVSDSHU7KHSULQWHUSXEOLVKHUHGLWRUDQGDQ\HPSOR\HHRIWKH3LRQHHU*URXS·VZLOOQRWEHKHOGUHVSRQVLEOHIRUDQ\NLQGRIFODLPPDGHE\WKHDGYHUWLVHUVRIWKHSURGXFWV VHUYLFHVDQGVKDOOQRWEHPDGHUHVSRQVLEOHIRUDQ\NLQGRIORVVFRQVHTXHQFHVDQGIXUWKHUSURGXFWUHODWHGGDPDJHVRQVXFKDGYHUWLVHPHQWV
police stations concerned also
penalise violations in their
jurisdiction.
The Gurugram traffic
police and all police stations in
its jurisdiction observed Zero
Tolerance Day against traffic
violations on June 7. The num-
ber of vehicles against which
fines were issued was 12,632.
The amount of money collect-
ed as penalty was Rs 13,86,700,
the police said.
During the day a maxi-
mum number of challans are
issued for driving without seat-
belts and helmets, over speed-
ing, wrong parking, signal
jumping, triple riding and dri-
\^ST[\PaZTc_[PRT
been identified as Sonu Bhati,
Raj Kumar, Deepak Sharma,
Subham, Nemkar and Parvez
Hasan, the SSP said.
The police recovered six fire
arms including rifle pistol, sin-
gle and double barrel guns and
country made pistols. The police
also recovered a pistol from
Sonu a resident of GB Nagar,
who was found involved in three
criminal cases in the police sta-
tions of Noida and Ghaziabad.
The police recovered a DBBL
Gun from Raj Kumar a resident
of Delhi he was found involved
in seven criminal cases of rob-
bery and murder. Police recov-
ered a SBBL Gun from Deepak
Sharma a resident of Delhi who
was found involved in eight
criminal cases of robbery, mur-
der and extortion. Police recov-
ered a rifle from Subham a res-
ident of Delhi who was found
involved in eight criminal cases
in Delhi, Ghaziabad and Noida,
the police recovered a DBBL gun
from Nemkar a resident of Delhi
who was found involved in five
criminal cases in Noida and
Ghaziabad, Vaibhav Krishna
said.
Police recovered Rs 9.30
lakh and a pistol from Parvez
a resident of Bulandshahr who
was found involved in three
criminal cases in the local
police station of Noida and
Ghaziabad, the SSP added.
ving in the wrong direction.
Apart from drives to
enforce road rules, Gurugram
Police officials are also plan-
ning to launch a special drive
to check drink driving during
the night, especially on the busy
MG Road, Golf Course Road,
Huda City Centre Road and
state highways.
“The number of Zero
Tolerance day will help to curb
traffic violations effectively. It
would have to be brought to
enforce the laws. Speeding is
the main cause of accidents. We
need to carefully consider ways
to effectively stop people break-
ing the limits,” the DCP, said.
=3<2_a^cTbcST\P]SX]VaTVd[PaXbPcX^]^UY^Qb
?C8Q =4F34;78
taging a protest is recog-
S nised as a constitutional
right of the citizens but dam-
aging or destroying public
property and dumping garbage
on roads as a mark of protest
are “constitutionally imper-
missible”, the Delhi High Court
has said.
The cour t-made the
observations recently while
taking cognisance of media
reports that sanitation work-
ers employed on contract
basis by the New Delhi
Municipal Council (NDMC)
staged protests demanding
regularisation of jobs and
better wages and dumped
garbage outside prominent
buildings such as Shastri
Bhavan and Rail Bhavan
in the Lutyens Zone on
May 24.
A Bench of Acting Chief
Justice Gita Mittal and Justice
S P Garg said it could not be
denied that dumping of
garbage would not only be a
detriment for the environment
but would also imperil public
health and such acts are
offences under several penal
provisions and municipal
enactments.
In its order, the court said
that while protests may be per-
missible, the nature of the
protest certainly is question-
able.
“We find more and more
instances where in claimed
enforcement of their rights or
protest for perceived viola-
3^RbaT\^eT ZVcd\^daUa^\_PcXT]c³bPQS^\T]
BC055A4?>AC4AQ
=4F34;78
fter a complex surgery,
A that lasted for more than
10 hours, doctors successfully
removed a giant 2-feet long
tumour, weighing 10 kgs, from
the abdomen of a patient.
Doctors at Sir Ganga Ram
hospital in national Capital
gave new lease of life to a
farmer, Charan Lal, from
Bikaner in Rajasthan who was
suffering from the cancer since
last more than 6 months.
Doctors informed that hav-
ing occupied more than 80 per-
cent of the abdominal volume of
the patient the tumour has made
life miserable for the Charan Lal
as he felt regular pain and was
not able to eat anything. Further,
he lost 10 Kg of weight in 3
months and was even unable to
sleep or breathe easily.
Experts said that such large
tumour was a grave threat to
other vital organs of the patient
body and was hampering their
functioning also. “His scan
revealed a large tumour in his
body occupying more than 80
percent space in his abdomen.
BC055A4?>AC4AQ =4F34;78
A day after heavy dust storm,
Delhi people witnessed
pleasant weather as mercury
slipped by some notches and
minimum temperature settling
at 23.4 degrees Celsius.
However, humidity level
was recorded 70 per cent.
“The minimum tempera-
ture settled at 23.4 degrees
Celsius, five notches below nor-
mal. Weather on Sunday was
pleasant due to rain and thun-
der storm on Saturday,” a MeT
Department official said.
At different stations of
Delhi, the minimum tempera-
ture recorded were — Lodhi
Road (25.3 degrees Celsius),
Palam (23.6), Ayanagar (22.7)
and Ridge (15).
MeT official also said that
surface winds are likely to hit
Delhi again on Jun13 and 14
while light rain may occur on
Monday and Tuesday.
According to a private
weather forecast organization,
Skymet, In the last 24 hours
from 8:30 am on Saturday,
Palam in Delhi recorded mod-
erate showers to the tune of 27
mm while Safdarjung saw light
showers of 4.7 mm. During the
tions, aggrieved persons are
damaging or destroying pub-
lic properties and harm is
being inflicted on the envi-
ronment.
“In the present case, garbage
has been dumped on public
streets as a form of protest.
There are several instances of
damage to public property
including police stations, buses,
railway tracks etc. While stag-
ing of protest is recognised as a
constitutional right of citizens,
however such protests are even
constitutionally impermissible,”
the bench said.
Noting that the issue
raised several concerns of larg-
er public interest and needed
immediate intervention, it said
that the newspaper reports be
registered as a writ petition in
public interest.
The bench issued notice to
the chairperson of NDMC for
July 16 and directed him to
place before it the list of work-
ers who were involved in the
protest.
It also issued notice to
This tumour had grown so
huge that it had displaced his
intestines to the left side of his
body. The tumour was now
compressing on all structures of
his abdomen including his
liver, both of his kidneys, stom-
ach and spleen. It was also
putting pressure on the main
blood vessels which help in get-
ting blood to and fro from
heart,” said Dr. Ushast Dhir,
Consultant in Department of
Surgical Gastroenterology and
same time frame, Ayanagar
recorded 17.3 mm, Narela 16
mm, and Ridge 11 mm.
The IMD also marked 15
tha and 16th June as cloudy days.
“The Western Disturbance
is over Western Himalayan
region along with its induced
cyclonic circulation over
Haryana and adjoining areas,”
the private weather watch oar-
ganisation mentioned high-
lighting the reason for thun-
president of the Sanitation
Workers' Union Ravinder Nath
Bharti, , whose name was men-
tioned in the news reports.
The protesting contractu-
al workers had on May 24 also
dumped garbage outside the
NDMC's Convention Centre.
The garbage had affected traf-
fic in some areas. The workers
had called off their strike on
May 25.
This was not the first
time that municipal staff had
resorted to this manner of
protest.
A few years back sanitation
workers of the East Delhi
Municipal Corporation
(EDMC) had dumped garbage
on roads and even prevented
private players, temporarily
hired by the civic body, from
clearing the refuse.
They were protesting
against non-payment of wages
for several months. The high
court had to step in and issue
directions to ensure cleanliness
in the areas under the control
of the EDMC.
Liver transplantation at Sir
Ganga Ram Hospital.
Patient said that initially he
thought it was regular gas pain
until recently when his symp-
toms got worse and he started
feeling pain in his stomach. He
said he always felt bloated and
was not able to eat and he lost
over 10 Kg of his weight in
3months. He said he was
unable to lie flat on bed to sleep
and nor was able to breathe eas-
ily. He approached many hos-
derstorm and pre-monsson
activities
Meanwhile on Sunday
weather will became humid
over Delhi and the National
Capital Region (NCR).
On Saturday, the mini-
mum temperature had settled
at 30 degrees Celsius, two
notches above the season's
average while the maximum
was recorded at 40.5 degrees
Celsius.
BC055A4?>AC4AQ =4F34;78
T he North Delhi Municipal
Corporation (NMC) has
set the ball rolling to give a
market in Shalimar Bagh area
in North West Delhi, a shop-
ping mall-like ambience and
turn it into a model market-
place, senior officials said.
Leader of the House in the
North Corporation Tilak Raj
Kataria inspected Shalimar Bagh
market on Sunday and directed
the officials to modernise it to
make it look like a mall, the civic
body said in a statement. He also
asked officials to put Kota stone
on walls, it said.
“All the shops in the mar-
ket would carry similar sig-
nages. It would also have mod-
ern benches for shoppers,”
Kataria said.He also asked offi-
cials to plan special lighting
pitals but never got any relief.
At Sir Ganga Ram, multi
disciplinary team approach
was employed on the patient
for performing complex
surgery. The process of opti-
mizing the patient required
help of multiple doctors from
various disciplines including
Dr. Sachin Kathuria from urol-
ogy, Dr Ish Anand from neu-
rology and Dr Mehta from car-
diology. “The anaesthesia in
this patient was complicated by
RP_XcP[!
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BC055A4?>AC4AQ =4F34;78
eacher representatives from
T more than 100 colleges and
universities from all across the
nation attended meeting of
the national working commit-
tee of the higher education
wing of Akhil Bhartiya
Rashtriya Shaikshik
Mahasangh (ABRSM) held in
national Capital on Sunday to
deliberate upon higher educa-
tion policies and its framework.
National president of organ-
isation Dr JP Singhal laid stress
upon the need of spending at-
least six per cent of GDP on the
education in the country. He also
laid stress that there should be
uniform implementation of the
recommendations of the seventh
pay commission in both central
and state universities.
“The Government must
spend at least six per cent of the
GDP on education. We have
asked the Government to
ensure a nation-wide uniform
implementation of seventh pay
recommendation not only in
the central universities but also
in all the States and universities
therein,” said Singhal. He felt
arrangements for the evening
hours.The market should have
sufficient green areas and the
focus would be on “vertical gar-
dens”, he said.This market
would be turned into a model
market, he said.
The Leader of the House
also directed officials to build
separate toilet facilities for men,
women, and differently-abled
people, and asked them to run
a special cleanliness drive in the
market.Kataria also asked offi-
cials to carry out beautification
of the entry and exit gates of the
market.He also directed them
to check and remove any type
of encroachment in the area.
“One model market would
be developed in each ward of the
NDMC, for which letters have
been sent to respective council-
lors from the office of the Leader
of House,” Kataria said.
the fact that this huge tumour
had compromised blood
return to the heart,” said the
doctor.
According to experts, the
tumour had left no room in the
abdomen to operate. The surgery
to be successful required removal
of the tumour in one piece
without damaging the vital
organs and their blood supply.
“This required extremely
precise dissection of this
tumour separating it from liver
and its blood supply, intestines,
right kidney and Ureter. There
was no room for blood loss as
the venous return to heart was
already compromised and loos-
ing blood would mean a dis-
aster. The most complex part of
the surgery was separating the
tumour from renal veins, aorta
and vena cava without losing
blood or damaging these struc-
tures,” said Dr Dhir.
According to him the team
had to conduct this surgery
with absolute perfection. “It
required over 10 hours for the
team to successfully remove the
tumour. The tumour weighed
over 10 Kg and was 2 feet long,”
he said.
0ZWX[1WPacXhP
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that the Government needs to
invest more on the higher edu-
cation so that research and
innovations can be encour-
aged in the country.
“Representatives from
more than hundred Colleges
and universities attended this
meeting. More than twenty
states were represented by
teachers. Several sessions were
held throughout the day where-
in different aspects of Higher
Education were discussed,” said
Sanjay Kumar, media coordi-
nator for the programme.
National secretary of the
organisation Dr Manoj Sinha,
who is also in-charge of the
higher education wing, chaired
a session wherein Government
policies related to higher edu-
cation were discussed.
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=4F34;78
40-year-old man threw
A acid on his wife and two
daughters and then drank it to
kill himself in northeast
Delhi's Karawal Nagar, police
said on Sunday. The incident
in question was reported on
Saturday.
A police official said that
the police personnel reached
the spot immediately. They
found the body of Yashpal,
while his wife and two daugh-
ters were found lying injured.
The injured were taken to the
GTB Hospital immediately
where they are currently
under treatment, the police
said.
His wife has suffered about
40 per cent burn injuries while
daughters got partially burnt
but were out of danger, the
police said. It has been revealed
that the couple were not on
good terms and used to quar-
rel frequently, they said.
Neighbours reportedly
informed the police that a
quarrel had broken between
the couple and it soon turned
gor y when the husband
brought acid. In a fit of rage, he
threw it on his wife and daugh-
ters and subsequently drank it
himself and died on the spot.
A case has been registered in
this regard and is being inves-
tigated, the police official
added.
127,&(,,19,7,1*H
H7
7(1'(56
The Executive Engineer (E) PWD DHC & ND/CENTRAL,
Ground floor MSO Bldg, New Delhi on behalf of President of
India invites ONLINE item rate bids from the approved and
eligible contractors registered with CPWD in appropriate com-
posite category or those of appropriates list of MES, BSNL,
Railway and other state Govt. Department dealing with build-
ings and Roads and other experienced non registered con-
tractors, who satisfy the criteria of execution of similar works,
Provided they meet Eligibility Criteria as stipulated in the
NIT:- of the following work (s):- which shall be received
by E-Tendering.
N/W:- MOEI & Fans, Street/Compound/Security light and
RMO Air-Conditioner, Pump Set, DG Set installed in Fire
Stations at Connaught place, Rakaab Ganj & Chanakya
Puri, New Delhi (SH:- Repair/Replacement of Various
Electrical Accessories, Security Lights & Drinking Water
supply Pump set in Various Fire Station & Head Quarter
Building, Connaught Place, New Delhi).
NIT No: 75/EE(E)/PWD DHC & ND/Central/2018-19
Estimated Cost: Rs. 847776/- Earnest Money: Rs. 16956/-
& period of completion *Thrce Months, Last Date and time
submission of Tender upto 3:00 PM on 14-06-2018
The tender forms and other details can be obtained from the
website: http://govtprocurement.delhi.gov.in at Tender I.D.
NO. 2018_PWD_152081_1
DIP/Shabdarth/0699/18-19

3ULQWHGDQGSXEOLVKHGE\&KDQGDQ0LWUDIRUDQGRQEHKDOIRI&0<.3ULQWHFK/WGQG)ORRU/LQN+RXVH%DKDGXU6KDK=DIDU0DUJ1HZ'HOKL DQGSULQWHGDW-DJUDQ3UDNDVKDQ/WG'6HFWRU1RLGD83(GLWRU&KDQGDQ0LWUD$,5685&+$5*(RIC(DVW&DOFXWWD5DQFKL%KXEDQHVZDU1RUWK/HK:HVW

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BC055A4?>AC4AQ =4F34;78

Itonsupport
a bid to drum up public
for the full Statehood
Delhi, the Aam Aadmi Party
(AAP) has decided to hold 300
meetings in all municipal
wards between June 17 and 24.
A decision in this regard was
taken in a meeting chaired by
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal
with MLAs and ward-level
AAP office-bearers.
The clarion call for full
Statehood to Delhi comes
ahead of the Lok Sabha elec-
tions scheduled next year.
According to party sources, the
ruling party in Delhi is plan-
ning to strongly raise the state-
hood issue during the Lok
Sabha elections.
"Had a meeting wid ward
level office-bearers of AAP
Delhi. Made strategy to take
msg of full statehood to every
house in Delhi (sic)", the Chief
Minister tweeted after the
meeting.
Addressing the meeting of
AAP leaders, Kejriwal com-
pared the post of the Delhi
Lieutenant Governor (L-G)
with the British-era Viceroy
and the Centre with the British
rulers. "In 1947, the country got
freedom. Throughout the
country, it was decided that
people's rule will replace the
Viceroy's rule. But in Delhi, the
L-G was appointed in place of
the Viceroy. The people of
Delhi were cheated. We would
ask people (during meetings)
whether there should be peo-
ple's rule or L-G's rule in Delhi.
The L-G creates hurdles in our
every project, be it the CCTV
project or doorstep delivery of
ration," Kejriwal said.
"The problem we had with
the British is that they took
away all our gold and all our
money to England. But what
the Centre is doing with us is
even worse -- Delhi every year
pays Rs 1.30 lakh crore as tax,
but in return, Delhi gets noth-
ing from the Centre," Kejriwal
said.
Later, briefing the media
bout the outcome of the meet-
ing, Rural Development
Minister and AAP's Delhi
Convener Gopal Rai said that
the AAP will also hold a state-
level workers' convention on
July one at the Indira Gandhi
Indoor Stadium here to
announce the party's future
steps on the demand. Rai
claimed that the people of
Delhi were unable to get their
full rights even after 70 years of
Independence and that was
impeding the all- round
growth.
"When people in other
States vote and pay taxes, the
State is ruled by their elected
Governments. But, here in
Delhi, despite voting and pay-
ing taxes, the Delhi
Government elected by them
does not have any power. This
is an insult to the Constitution
of India," Rai said.
"In no State can a govern-
ment come with more major-
ity (than the AAP in Delhi).
But even after that, the people
in Delhi are compelled to look
at the Lieutenant Governor
for the smallest of works", Rai
added.
Asked why the AAP was
doing all this after enjoying
power for three years, Rai said:
"In the past three years, we have
done every possible thing --
from requesting to praying to
the Home Ministry to the
Lieutenant Governor. But as the
speed of developmental works
is slowed, we are forced to take
this step. The AAP leader said
that the party is ready to share
powers with the Centre."
"The reason for Delhi not
accorded the status of a state is
that it is the national Capital.
We are ready for the New
Delhi Municipal Council areas
under the Centre. But there are
no embassies in Burari and
Narela areas -- why should peo-
ple from these areas suffer
even when there is no Central
Government office in these
areas?" Rai asked.
The AAP Government had
called a special Assembly ses-
sion -- which is scheduled to
conclude on Monday now -- to
press its demand for full state-
hood to Delhi. A resolution
tabled in the Assembly would
be passed and forwarded to the
Centre, Rai said.
.HMULZDO'LNVKLWWUDGHEDUEV
80=BQ =4F34;78
ormer Delhi Chief Minister
F Sheila Dikshit on Sunday
said lack of Statehood cannot
be an excuse for not working,
prompting AAP leader and
her successor Arvind Kejriwal
to dare her to run the Capital
under Prime Minister
Narendra Modi.
After the Aam Aadmi Party
(AAP) raised the pitch for full
Statehood for Delhi, Dikshit
told the media here that Delhi
will continue to be partly gov-
erned by the Centre unless the
Constitution is changed.
"Now, with elections
approaching, they (AAP) are
talking about the lack of rights.
This is just an excuse. They
knew about the Statehood
issues, they knew about the
Constitution," she said.
"The only way to make
Delhi a full State is to change the
Constitution. If they are able to
do that, it's fine. Otherwise,
Delhi is and will remain a
Union territory, partly gov-
erned by the Centre," she added.
Kejriwal, who defeated
Dikshit in 2013 and came to
power again in 2015, said peo-
ple were unhappy with the state
of affairs with Dikshit on the
issues of water and electricity
bills as well as Government
schools and hospitals.
"We fixed all these things.
During your tenure, you had
your own party in power in
Centre. You also had your own
LG. I challenge you to run
Delhi for a year under the
Modi-rule," Kejriwal tweeted.
"And please talk to your
own Puducherr y Chief
Minister. Kindly give his gyan
to him also," he added.
Puducherry's Congress
Chief Minister V.
Narayanasamy has been having
a running battle with his Lt
Governor Kiran Bedi over
jurisdictional issues.
Later, talking to IANS,
Dikshit said her Government
worked not only with the
Congress but also with the
Bharatiya Janata Party at the
Centre and had the "rapport
with both". "We worked and
had a rapport with both the
Atal Bihari Vajpayee
Government and with the
Manmohan Singh
Government," she said.
The AAP had been accus-
ing the Congress and BJP of
taking a U-turn on Statehood
demand. Dikshit said, "We too
demanded Statehood, but we
were not successful." She dis-
missed any possibility of an
alliance with the AAP in the
2019 Lok Sabha elections.
Delhi Congress President
Ajay Maken had on Friday
said the AAP Government was
demanding full Statehood for
Delhi to hide its own failures.
The AAP on Sunday had a
meeting with its ward level
office-bearers to chalk out a
strategy to take the message of
full statehood to every house in
Delhi.

<_@V\Qic3=_fUb´TUU`U^Y^WgQdUbSbYcYc %-3SODQVPHJDUDOOLHVLQ2FW1RY
BC055A4?>AC4AQ =4F34;78
mid water crisis in Capital,
A Leader of Opposition in the
Delhi Assembly Vijender Gupta
said he will raise water scarci-
ty issue on Monday in a special
session. The BJP leader said
Delhi Government is failed to
provide adequate water supply
to every household in Delhi.
"People are dismayed by
shortage of water in scorching
heat. However, instead of solv-
ing the problem, it is running
away from its responsibility by
causing conflicts with Haryana
or claims to go to the court but
backtracks at the last moment
in the fear of getting itself
exposed," Gupta said.
It may be noted that Chief
Minister Arvind Kejriwal is
also president of Delhi Jal
Board (DJB).
Gupta has demanded that
the CM puts forth the devel-
opment work done by him
regarding DJB in the past three
years of his Government.
"Why all the work of the
DJB has been stalled and why
is he escaping taking respon-
sibility for the stalled projects
and who is responsible for Rs
800-crore loss in DJB in the
past two years. Since, Kejriwal
is the president of the DJB, he
is answerable for the corrup-
tion that has occurred in his
tenure," Gupta asked."I will
raise the issue of deepening
water crises in Delhi as well as
increasing corruption in DJB
in the assembly and will
expose the government," he
said.
BC055A4?>AC4AQ =4F34;78
nticipating a "possible
A alliance" between ruling
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and
Congress to prevent Bharatiya
Janata Party (BJP), the Delhi
state unit BJP has planned to
hold four mega rallies.
The strategy to counter
possible alliance is to face
political battleground before
Lok Sabha 2019 elections, as
the back-to-back rallies are
likely to occur in October and
November this year and will
focus on the Dalit community,
"Purvanchali people ral-
lied behind the BJP in the
municipal corporation elec-
tions last year. If we succeed in
having their support, the BJP
will brave any challenge includ-
ing the possibility of an alliance
between the AAP and the
Congress," said a BJP leader.
The party's Delhi unit
plans to invite top leaders such
as Prime Minister Narendra
Modi and BJP president Amit
Shah to address the
Purvanchali rally that will be
the first in the series of the four
mega gatherings.
party. The BJP hopes that each
of the rallies will be attended by
at least one lakh people, the
party leader, who did not wish
to be identified, said.
The party, which believes
that Purvanchalis constitute
around 40 per cent of the city's
total voters, had appointed
Bhojpuri superstar-turned-
politician Manoj Tiwari as the
city unit president in
November 2016. Tiwari led
the party to a major win in the
civic polls in April 2017.
Poorvanchali voters con-
stitute 20-45 per cent of the
Assembly segments where
Purvanchalis dominate include
Burari, Seemapuri, Gokalpuri,
Karawal Nagar, Kirari, Badli
and Nangloi.
"Under our 'Sampark for
Samarthan' campaign, all
senior leaders, including Delhi
unit chief Manoj Tiwari, are
meeting prominent people.
Booth-level office-bearers have
to approach 50 households
and tell the people about the
Modi Government's achieve-
ments," he said.
The Yuva Morcha has gal-
vanised its cadre through bike

2<b[P\b2T]caTU^a218 5VRU]Z_VW`cUVdZ]eZ_X women, youth and people from

Purvanchal or parts of eastern
The preparations have
begun with contact pro-
vote share in at least 20
Assembly constituencies in
rallies in spreading the message
about the Government's

_a^QTX]c^<^WP[[P2[X]XRb `WTZejUcRZ_d
Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. grammes launched by the Delhi, the leader said. The achievements, he added.

BC055A4?>AC4AQ =4F34;78 VieV_UVUe`;f_V$!

pping the ante against the
U National Democratic Alliance
(NDA) Government at the Centre,
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has
alleged that the Central Bureau of
Investigation (CBI) has started
investigating the Mohalla Clinics
project. Kejriwal further accused
the CBI of summoning several
senior officials and seizing docu-
ments related to it.
The Chief Minister made the
accusation in a series of tweets, a
day after he alleged that the CBI
and the Anti-Corruption Branch
(ACB) had started random pick-
ing of files from the Delhi Jal Board
(DJB), of which he is the minister-
in-charge, to "somehow frame
him in something".
"Now, CBI starts investigating
moh clinics-takes 3 lac pages incl
all patients prescriptions. All
CDMOs, 2 Addl Dirs, Project Dir,
Addl secy, OSD to Dir n many
other officers summoned (sic)..,"
Kejriwal tweeted.
He also attacked Prime
Minister Narendra Modi, tweeting
"Modi ji, instead of closing Delhi's
mohalla clinics, open mohalla
clinics across the country."
Mohalla Clinics is one of the
flagship projects of the Aam
Aadmi Party (AAP) Government.
There are currently around 165
mohalla clinics aimed at providing
free primary healthcare to city res-
idents closer to home.
The Government has a target
of setting up 1,000 such clinics
across the national capital.
In another tweet, Kejriwal
alleged, "Delhi Government has
spent Rs 3lakh to get these pages
photocopied. Special permission
was taken by officers for this
money."
"I challenge Modi ji if these Rs
3 lacs photocopying charges and
CBI officers' salary cud be recov-
ered out of this investigation (sic),"
he further tweeted
In a series of tweets on
Saturday, the Chief Minister had
announced that he will put in the
public domain the list of all files
sought by the two agencies, and
asked them to either explain the
reason or else "apologise to
Delhiites for this witch-hunting
exercise".
BC055A4?>AC4AQ =4F34;78
logged drains have been the Achilles heel during rain
C in the national Capital. Public Works Department
(PWD) of the Delhi Government has extended the dead-
line for desilting of the city drains to June 30. The depart-
ment had earlier set June 15target.
In a written reply to a question asked by Leader of
Opposition Vijender Gupta in the Assembly, PWD
Minister Satyendar Jain on Friday told the House that
the other preparations done by the department to han-
dle waterlogging in the city were the deployment of tem-
porary and permanent pumps, maintenance vans
along with cleaning of the bell mouth openings.
As of June 1, the department has not even completed
25 per cent desilting in 70 per cent of the sites. Of the
1,036 roads under the PWD, on 726 roads the work done
is only up to 25 per cent. Only 87 sites have been com-
pletely cleared, according to a PWD report.
"In all the drains, 20 to 50 per cent desilting is done,
and the work is in progress in all the areas," Jain said.
The PWD has identified 157 waterlogging locations
on the basis of previous experience during the mon-
soons. It will deploy temporary pumps, maintenance
vans and labour to avoid waterlogging in these sites.
The Traffic Police has also identified 370 vulnera-
ble waterlogging locations, of which 312 comes under
the PWD and remaining 58 pertain to other depart-
ments.
A total of 143 maintenance vans will be deployed
across the city with 34 in East, 60 in South and 49 in
the North zone. Over 680 workers will also be deployed
to handle these vans.
Apart from these, a booklet titled "PWD Flood
Control Order 2018" was also released for officials for
taking necessary action.

1A?;b5PcTW_da1TaXVaXSX]PdVdaPcTS
BC055A4?>AC4AQ =4F34;78
t the time when Delhi's
A power demand has
increased by four to five per
cent, Chief Minister Arvind
Kejriwal inaugurated BRPL's
Fatehpur Beri grid in South
Delhi on Sunday. The grid will
benefit a population of three
lakh. Constructed at a cost of
around C 45 crore, this 66
KVA Grid Sub Station is
extremely critical to the grow-
ing power needs of the fast
developing areas of South
Delhi.
Kejriwal also unfurled the
national flag atop a 35 m mast
at BSES Rajdhani Power
Limited (BRPL), a spokesper-
son of the discom said. Power
Minister Satyendar Jain and
some AAP MLAs were pre-
sent at the inaugural function.
Looking at the increase in
the power demand in the
area, during 2018-2019, the
discom plans to invest a
capex of around Rs 12 crore
in the Fatehpur Beri area, to
further strengthen the net-
work by undertaking several
activities, the spokesperson
said.
The Grid Sub Station is
equipped with the next gen-
eration distribution tech-
nologies and conforms to
stringent international stan-
dards while Station will be
unmanned and will be
remotely controlled from the
Supervisory Control and Data
Access (SCADA).
"The Grid also includes
class leading features like 66
KV power cables with built in
Fiber Optic Connectivity, Air
Insulated Sub Station (AIS)
and N-1 loading compliance,"
said an official of BSES.
Explaining features of the
grid, the official explained that
the setting-up of this Grid will
greatly reduce the length of the
feeders by around 50 percent
which will help in further
improving the power reliabili-
ty for the residents.
BRPL CEO Amal Sinha
said, "We are very confident
that not only will BRPL con-
tinues to meet the ever increas-
ing power needs of the area, but
also continue to partner in the
development of the national
capital."
"Commissioning of the
sub-station has increased
capacity in the area by 50
MVA. It will augment the net-
work and further improve the
power supply in areas like
Fatehpur Beri, Chandan Hole,
Bhati Mine, Chattarpur Farms,
Dera Bhati and Asola and ben-
efit a population of around 3
lakh," Sinha said.
"We are very confident
that not only will BRPL con-
tinue to meet the ever increas-
ing power needs of the area, but
also continue to partner in the
development of the national
capital. Commensurate with
Delhi's growing appetite for
power, its electricity infra-
structure must also keep pace",
Siha said.
=4F34;78k<>=30H k9D=4 ! '
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?C8Q 0<18:0?DA2770CC8B60A7
B JP president Amit Shah on
Sunday sounded the bugle
for the upcoming Assembly
polls in Chhattisgarh, launch-
ing a blistering attack on Rahul
Gandhi over “lack of develop-
ment” during the “four-gener-
ation rule” of the Congress.
Addressing a huge rally in
Ambikabur, Shah hit out at
Gandhi for seeking an account
of the work done by the BJP-led
NDA Government at the
Centre in the past four years,
but not speaking about the 55
years the Congress ruled the
country.
“Congress chief Rahul
Gandhi was asking what has the
Modi government done in four
years. Rahul baba, why are you
asking for our account of four
years? We do not need to give
you any account. We will give
an account of every minute and
every paisa to people when we
go to them seeking votes,” he
said.
“You are asking ‘hisab’
from us but this country wants
‘hisab’ of four generations of
your family. Your family ruled
the country for 55 years...
People of this country want to
know why development did not
take place during the 55-year
rule of four generations of
your family,” Shah said.
The rally was organised as
part of the ‘Vikas Yatra’ cam-
paign launched by Chief
Minister Raman Singh to high-
light the achievements of his
government in the past 15
years in Chhattisgarh, which
goes to polls later this year.
Shah said no party has the
9440SeP]RTSaTbd[cbSTR[PaTS?P]RWZd[PQ^hc^_b
?C8Q =4F34;78
he results for the 2018 Joint
T Entrance Examination
(JEE) Advanced for admission
to IITs were announced on
Sunday with Pranav Goyal
from Panchkula in Haryana
bagging the top rank, scoring
337 marks out of 360.
The second position was
secured by Kota’s Sahil Jain
while Delhi’s Kailash Gupta got
the third spot.
Meenal Parekh from Kota
in Rajasthan is the topper
among girls with 318 marks.
Minister for Human
Resource Development (HRD)
Prakash Javadekar congratu-
lated the successful candidates
4YVT\SVVc¶d DRiV_RRaa`Z_eVU
From Page 1
Five cases of serving alco-
hol to “underage customers”
were also found and com-
plaints lodged with the police
accordingly, the Department
said. In Delhi, the legal drink-
ing age is 25 years. In June
2015, the Department had sub-
mitted a proposal to the AAP
Government advocating bring-
ing down the legal drinking age
to 21 for consumption of beer
and wine. But, it was turned
down.
The Department said dur-
ing inspections, most of the
restro bars and clubs were also
found violating the seat-capac-
ity condition. In these cases,
fines were imposed on such
establishments.
,QGLDIURZQVRQ2%2530FDOOV
From Page 1
India has been severely
critical of OBOR, the pet pro-
ject of Xi, as the USD 50 billion
China Pakistan Economic
Corridor, which is part of the
BRI, passes through Pakistan-
occupied Kashmir (PoK). India
says it cannot accept a project
that ignores its core concern on
sovereignty and territorial
integrity.
19?_aTbXST]c0\XcBWPWPSSaTbbTbWXbbd__^acTabSdaX]VP_dQ[XR\TTcX]VX]
0\QXZP_da^]Bd]SPh
courage to share the account of
its work with people ahead of
elections but the chief minister
has been doing that through his
Vikas Yatra. The Congress is
not opposing the yatra but
development, Shah said, refer-
ring to the opposition party’s
criticism of the campaign.
The Congress has slammed
the yatra, accusing the BJP of
using public money to promote
itself ahead of the polls. State
Congress General Secretary
Bhupesh Baghel last month
wrote to the chief election
commissioner and
Chhattisgarh chief secretary,
seeking a ban on the campaign.
At the rally, Shah took a dig
at Gandhi’s foreign visits.
“Raman Singh launched
his ‘vikas yatra’ during soaring
mercury. However, when sum-
mer comes Rahul Gandhi goes
on a vacation to Europe... They
cannot serve people,” he said.
On May 18, Gandhi held a
mega roadshow from Durg
5P\X[hP]SaT[PcXeTb^U?aP]Pe6^hP[fW^c^__TS88C944TgP\! 'RT[TQaPcTX]
2WP]SXVPaW^]Bd]SPh
and asked others not to lose
their heart.
“Congrats to all candidates
who have qualified in JEE
(Advanced). Those who could
not get results as per their
expectations should not lose
heart. There is always a next
RTeZ_XFAD4TYZVW
New Delhi: UPSC member
Ar vind Saxena has been
appointed as the acting
Chairman of the commission
from June 20, a Government
order said.
Saxena, a 1978-batch
Indian Postal Service officer,
will take over the charge from
incumbent Vinay Mittal who
completes his term at the Union
Public Service Commission
(UPSC) on June 19.
A latest Government order
said Saxena will “perform the
duties of the post of Chairman,
UPSC” with effect from June 20
till further orders or till com-
pletion of his tenure on August
7, 2020.
Except India, all other
member nations of the SCO
including Russia, Pakistan and
Iran have been supporting
China’s OBOR.
Prime Minister Modi also
said the history of the region
carries a clear message that
connectivity does not only
mean physical connectivity
and that the human aspect
relating to it is also important.
He said priority for people-
to-people contact and exchange
of ideas should be given due
priority. He added that India
welcomes the concept of “open
doors”.
The International North-
South Transport Corridor
(INSTC) is a 7,200-km-long
multi-mode transport project
for moving freight among
India, Iran, Afghanistan,
Armenia, Azerbaijan, Russia,
Central Asia and Europe.
The Ashgabat agreement is a
transport agreement among
several Gulf and Central Asian
countries which is aimed at cre-
ating a transit corridor to spur
trade and investment. India has
been supporting the project.
?C8
town to state capital Raipur,
covering a distance of around
50 km. Listing the achieve-
ments of the Modi government,
Shah said bank accounts of 30
crore people were opened dur-
ing the past four years.
“...3.80 crore mothers were
provided gas cylinder connec-
tions and toilets were built at
7.5 crore households while
19,000 villages were electrified.
The NDA government has
launched 116 schemes for the
benefit of villagers, the poor,
labourers, youth, women and
all sections of society,” he said.
Shah said the Modi gov-
ernment has launched several
measures to safeguard the bor-
ders and referred to the surgi-
cal strikes conducted by India
across the LoC in September
2016 as a response to a terror-
ist attack on an Army base in
Uri. Eighteen Indian soldiers
died in the Uri attack.
“Ceasefire violations by
Pakistan were frequent earlier.
?C8
time,” the minister said on
Twitter.
He also tweeted, “Kudos to
@IITKanpur for ensuring fool-
proof conduct of JEE2018
exam, first time conducted
fully online. A total of 11279
seats are being offered in IITs.
%HQJDOXUXRIILFLDOVERRNHGIRU
ERWFKHGVWHULOLVDWLRQRIVWUD\GRJV CDD>fd]Z^hZ_Xe`Y`]U6ZU>Z]R_,
Bengaluru: A case has been
registered against three officials
of the city civic body BBMP for
allegedly botching up the ster-
DA4`_XcVdddVVZeRdµXZ^^ZT\¶
ilisation procedure of stray
dogs in the city. Based on a
complaint from NGO Civil
and Green Warriors, the
Cottonpet police registered the
case on June 6 against Joint
Director of Animal Husbandry
department Anand, Assistant
Director Basavaraj and Animal
Birth Control Centre in charge
Abhilash Maddur.
They have been booked
under section 11 (1) of the
Prevention of Cruelty to
“We have again reached a
stage where physical and digi-
tal connectivity is changing
the definition of geography.
Therefore, connectivity with
our neighbourhood & in the
SCO region is our priority,”
Modi said. In his address,
Pakistani President Mamnoon
Hussain whole-heartedly sup-
ported the OBOR and said the
China-Pakistan Economic
Corridor (CPEC), which is
part of the OBOR, has boost-
ed Pakistan’s economy.
It is for the first time the
Indian Prime Minister attend-
ed the SCO summit after India
along with Pakistan became a
full-fledged members of the
grouping, jointly dominated
by China and Russia.
The officials said India
wants stabilisation of the ener-
gy market and the issue figured
during deliberations at the
summit. The SCO currently
has eight member countries
which represents around 42 per
cent of the world’s population
and 20 per cent of the global
GDP.
Modi said India would like
H^dPaTPbZX]V³WXbPQ´
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When the Uri attack happened,
the BJP government took a
decision and the Indian forces
conducted a surgical strike in
Pakistan and returned safely,”
he said.
The BJP chief asserted that
the Scheduled Caste/Scheduled
Tribes (Prevention of
Atrocities) and the reserva-
tion in Government jobs will
remain intact till the BJP-led
Government is in power and
accused the Congress of
spreading “lies” about the Modi
Government.
“In the coming days, the
Congress will spread different
types of lies to mislead people.
Sometimes they will say the
SC/ST Act is being abolished,
on other occasions they will say
the reservation (system) was
being scrapped. “I want to
clearly say that the SC/ST Act
and reservation will remain in
force till the BJP Government
is in power. Neither SC/ST Act
will be amended nor the reser-
vation will be scrapped, till BJP
is in power,” Shah said.
Exuding confidence that
the BJP will retain power in
Chhattisgarh for a straight
fourth term, Shah set a target
of winning 65 of the total 90
seats in the upcoming polls.
“By witnessing this massive
crowd of people, it is evident
that Raman Singh government
will retain power for the fourth
consecutive term in the state.
However, this time just a victory
will not be enough but the party
has to register a huge win by
bagging 65 out of 90 seats,” he
said, adding the victory should
be such that the Congress gets
“uprooted” from the State.
800 supernumerary seats have
been created specifically for
female candidates to improve
gender balance.”
This year, a total of 11,279
seats are being offered in the
Indian Institutes of Technology
(IITs) and 800 supernumerary
seats have been created specif-
ically for women candidates to
improve the gender balance in
IITs, as per the directives of the
HRD Ministry, according to an
official statement.
It said as per provisions, the
total supernumerary seats cre-
ated cannot exceed 10 per cent
of the total seats being offered
in the IITs.
This year, out of the total
1,55,158 students, who
Animal Act-1960 (mutilate or
kill any animal in a cruel man-
ner) and Section 428 (com-
mitting mischief of killing ani-
mal) and 34 (criminal act by
several people) of the IPC.
In her complaint to the
commissioner of Bengaluru,
animal rights activist Geetha
Mishra stated that there were
irregularities in the log sheet
entries with regard to dogs
picked up from the streets.
There were botched up
surgeries, dirty kennels and
substandard food for the strays,
she alleged. Misra accused offi-
cers of not operating on them
to extend all cooperation to the
SCO and that the bloc gives
India immense opportunities
to enhance friendship with
resource-rich Central Asian
nations.
He also suggested that the
SCO members should set some
goals and form a small com-
mittee to prepare a roadmap to
achieve them by the bloc’s 25th
summit.
He also announced that
India will host an SCO food
festival and a comprehensive
exhibition on Buddhist her-
itage. Modi also compliment-
ed China’s initiative to organ-
ise an SCO film festival and
SCO world heritage exhibi-
tion. In his address, Chinese
President Xi Jinping
announced offering a 30 billion
yuan (USD 4.7 billion) loan to
SCO for joint projects.
The SCO was founded at a
summit in Shanghai in 2001 by
the presidents of Russia, China,
Kyrgyz Republic, Kazakhstan,
Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
India and Pakistan became its
members last year.
7HM3UDWDS¶VWZHHW
VLJQDOVULIWZLWK
EURWKHU7HMDVKZL
?C8Q ?0C=0
ej Pratap Yadav, the elder
T son of RJD chief Lalu
Prasad and Rabri Devi, has
triggered a flutter in political
circle with a tweet signalling a
rift between him and his
younger brother Tejashwi
Yadav even as the latter urged
people not to make a ‘mountain
out of a molehill’.
In the tweet yesterday, RJD
leader Tej Pratap Yadav said his
desire was to “get Arjuna seat-
ed on the throne of Hastinapur
and himself return to Dwarka
(like Lord Krishna)”.
The metaphor is being
seen as his desire to retire
from politics following RJD
heir apparent and his younger
brother Tejashwi Yadav’s acces-
sion to power.
Hours later, Tej Pratap
Yadav, the former health min-
ister in the grand alliance gov-
ernment, appeared before the
media, with sandalwood paste
and vermilion smeared on his
forehead.
“I will remain in politics....
This party has been set up by
my father and he has toiled
hard to make the RJD what it
is today,” he remarked.
“But there is a threat to the
party from some insiders. They
are anti-social elements who
are destroying the party by fur-
thering their own agenda
invoking the name of my par-
ents, Tejashwi, Misa (eldest
sister and Rajya Sabha MP) and
myself,” Tej Pratap Yadav said.
appeared for the JEE Advanced
on May 20, 18,138 have quali-
fied. Of the total qualified can-
didates, 2,076 are women.
With the results out, seat
allocation will begin from June
15. For the first time, JEE
Advanced was held complete-
ly in the online mode.
Selected candidates will
obtain admission into under-
graduate courses, which will
help in obtaining a bachelors,
integrated masters or bachelor-
master dual degree in engi-
neering, sciences or architec-
ture.
Aspirants can attempt JEE
(Advanced) for a maximum of
two times in two consecutive
years.
and yet cutting a small portion
of ear of the dog as a mark of
identification that the opera-
tion has been done.
“To avoid identification by
alert locals, these dogs are
deliberately being relocated to
the Kanakapura forest and
other areas.”
“This act of Bruhat
Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike
(BBMP) is definitely attracting
wild animals like Cheetah
(leopard) and tiger into the city
limits, thus creating a danger-
ous unnatural animal-human
conflict,” Misra said in her
complaint. PTI
CDD ^Rjac`[VTeAcR_RS
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Yf_X9`fdV+DV_R
From Page 1
“Roza-Iftar parties are in
full swing across the country.
There was a time when the
Sangh Parivar people would
criticise the Congress for hold-
ing such parties for Muslims.
They would then say that Iftar
parties did not fit into the
scheme of Hindutva. But, the
Sangh itself is holding currently
Roza-Iftar parties so much so
that they are using the
Government machinery and
State-run guest houses,” the
editorial stated.
Recalling a statement made
by RSS third Sarsanghchalak
late Balasaheb Devaras in
response to a comment by a
socialist leader, the Saamana
editorial stated: “Devaras had
said that the Sangh Parivar had
not changed, but the outlook of
the people towards the RSS had
changed. But, we have now
begun to realise that the RSS
has indeed changed. Otherwise
They are taking advantage
of Lalu Prasad’s inability to take
a very active interest in party
affairs, he said adding: “But I
would not allow them to suc-
ceed.”
“I feel slighted when I tele-
phone a party functionary for
some work only to be silenced
by the remark that there were
different orders from the top,”
he said without elaborating.
He did not name anybody
but clarified that he harboured
no ill-will against Tejashwi
Yadav younger to him in age
but bigger in political stature -
whom he called ‘mere kaleje ka
tukda’.
With the issue hogging
media limelight, Tejashwi
Yadav dismissed any rift with
elder brother.
Stating that Tej Pratap
described him as his ‘kaleja ka
tukda’, Tejashwi Yadav said he
is his ‘brother and guide’.
He also urged people not to
make a “mountain out of a
molehill” and asserted that Tej
Pratap had also spoken about
strengthening the party.
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Chandigarh: Pranav Goyal,
who topped the Joint Entrance
Examination (JEE) Advanced,
let out the secret of his success
— stay calm and be focused.
He bagged the first rank by
scoring 337 marks out of 360
in the examination, the results
of which were announced by
the Indian Institute of
Technology (IIT) on Sunday.
“If you focus well, your
study hours won’t really matter.
So, just stay focused and calm.
Have faith in your teachers and
their guidance, and always
ensure that your knowledge is
conceptually sound,” an excit-
ed Pranav told the media.
Pranav, student of a private
school in Panchkula, said solv-
ing the previous years’ papers
helped in getting an insight into
the pattern of the examination.
?C8Q ;D2:=>F
he RSS-backed Muslim
T Rashtriya Manch (MRM)
will hold ‘Eid Milan’ pro-
grammes and Iftar parties in a
bid to remove what it believes
are misconceptions among a
section of the people about the
Sangh and the BJP, but its
attempts to reach out to
Muslims have been derided by
the opposition as a mere polit-
ical gimmick ahead of the 2019
how can one explain this:
When the Congress held Iftar
parties for Muslims, it would
call the then ruling party as
being religiously blind. Now
when the RSS holds such par-
ties for Muslims, then we need
to justify it saying that the act
is tolerance towards other reli-
gions”.
Quoting Mukhejee’s state-
ment made in his speech at the
RSS headquarters that “India’s
nationhood is not one lan-
guage, one religion, one
enemy... they (Indians) live
under one system, one flag and
one identity of being
Bharatiya,” the Sena mouth-
piece stated: “When Pranab
Mukherjee made this state-
ment, the people from the
Sangh Parivar present at that
function clapped. The
Congresswallahs being idiots
tried to stop Mukherjee from
going to Nagpur. Ok. Let’s hail
Hindutva”.
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he family of a Gujarat fish-
T erman, who was languish-
ing in a Pakistan jail, found out
about his death, which
occurred on March 4, On
Sunday after a letter written by
one of his cellmates reached his
wife.
Deva Rama Baraiya (55), a
fisherman from Kotada village
in Gujarat’s Gir Somnath dis-
trict, was arrested from the
high seas by Pakistani maritime
patrolling agencies and put in
a Karachi jail on February 2, his
family members said.
Pravin Dhansukh Chavda,
a cellmate of Baraiya, had writ-
ten a letter on April 22 to the
latter’s wife, Labhuben, inform-
ing her of her husband’s death,
Babubhai Somabhai, the
sarpanch of Kotada village,
said, adding that she received
the letter on Sunday.
Chavda is Baraiya’s broth-
er’s son-in-law and his family
too lives in Kotada village, the
sarpanch said. Chavda’s letter
6dYPaPc36?XbbdTb
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ujarat DGP Shivanand Jha
G has issued advisories
including that of how to present
before media through series of
circulars for cops with a view
to improve image of Gujarat
police.
According to one such cir-
cular, Jha has banned junior
police officers to give interview
to electronic media on camera.
In case of an incident pertain-
ing to law & order or sensitive
issue, only those holding ranks
of SP, DCP and above have
been permitted to go before
electronic media. It is desired
now that only officers of the
rank of deputy police com-
missioner (DCPs) in commis-
sionerate areas and deputy
superintendent of police (DSP)
in district areas give bites to the
electronic media,” said the cir-
cular issued by the DGP.
According to DGP in such
incidences, correct information
should reach to the people. In
the past half correct or wrong
information given by junior
officials, though unknowingly
created controversies, said a
Lok Sabha polls.
The MRM said it would
invite Muslim clerics and RSS
leaders to an ‘Eid Milan’ pro-
gramme to be held in Delhi on
June 19.
“Guests from other coun-
tries and ambassadors will also
be invited to the programme
during which the MRM will try
to remove misconceptions
related to the RSS and the BJP,”
the front’s national convenor
Muhammad Afzal told PTI.
9=4Q\UbdcicdU]
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From Page 1
Apart from this, the IMD
also supports Damodar Valley
Corporation (DVC) by pro-
viding Quantitative
Precipitation Estimation (QPF)
for Damodar river basin areas
for their flood forecasting activ-
ities.
During the flood season,
FMOs provide valuable mete-
orological support to the
Central Water Commission
(CWC) for issuing flood warn-
ings in respect of the 43 rivers
of India covering 146 river
basins.
CWC is working in close
association with IMD and State
Governments for timely flood
forecast whenever the river
water level rises above warning
level.
In a pilot mode, mathe-
matical models for rainfall
runoff estimation (like MIKE-
mentioned that Baraiya had
died in the prison on March 4,
he added. PTI is in possession
of a copy of the letter written
by Chavda in Gujarati.
“Baraiya is survived by
wife Kasturiben, who works as
a maid, and six children. The
family is poor and has been dis-
traught since they got the news
of Baraiya’s death,” the village
head said.
Gujarat Fishermen Central
Cooperative Association
Limited president Veljibhai
Masani confirmed Baraiya’s
death and requested External
Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj
to raise the matter with the
Pakistani authorities.
He criticised the authorities
of the neighbouring country
for not informing their Indian
counterparts about the fisher-
man’s death in their captivity.
The Gujarat Fishermen
Central Cooperative
Association Limited is an apex
body of fishermen cooperatives
with the Gujarat government
being its majority shareholder.
senior police officer requesting
anonymity.
Jha has also ordered all the
officials to face camera only
wearing their uniform and
never give interview in civil
dress. He has also put forth cer-
tain do’s and don’ts for his force.
The police personnel have
been advised to wear only
properly ironed uniform, to
carry their baton at all times,
speak over their cell phone
“carefully” and not share infor-
mation about any crime or
enquiry with unauthorised per-
sons, wear helmet and follow
traffic rules when travelling on
their two-wheelers, not vile
away their time on traffic duty
and be presentable in their
behavior when in public places.
In view of improve image
of the State police department,
the cops have been advised not
to hang around in public parks
nor occupy benches kept on
public places, especially when
they are in uniform.
Jha who is a 1983 batch
Gujarat cadre IPS officer was
appointed as DGP in February
this year replacing in-charge
DGP PP Pandey.
Afzal said RSS chief Mohan
Bhagwat had also been invited
to the event but might not be
able to attend it because of prior
engagements.
The Opposition Samajwadi
Party said the move was an
effort to “befool” Muslims
while the Congress dubbed it a
“political gimmick” ahead of
the 2019 elections.
“The BJP and the RSS are
trying befool Muslims for
whom they have done nothing.
11 FF) are used for some of the
sites in Damodar Basin,
Godavari Basin, Mahanadi
Basin & Chambal Basin.
According to reports,
between 2011 and 2014,
Arunachal Pradesh suffered
an average annual loss of 10 per
cent of the GDP.
The State has been report-
ing significant flood damages
since early 2000s. Sikkim wit-
nessed annual average losses of
1.7 per cent of the GDP
between 2011 and 2014, fol-
lowed by Meghalaya, at 1.5 per
cent of the GDP during the
same period.
For Himachal Pradesh,
annual average losses between
2011 and 2013 stood at 1.8 per
cent of the GDP.
Hilly regions suffer more
due to flash floods which are
difficult to predict and also
cause landslides.
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he Ministry of Home affairs
T (MHA), which recently
eased penalties on NGOs for
violating Foreign contribution
(regulation) Act, has started
crackdown on private limited
companies receiving foreign
funds in violation of FCRA Act
2010.
The MHA, which has so
far cancelled more than 18,000
licenses of NGOs for alleged
violation of FCRA, in its recent
investigation found that foreign
donors have now changed their
strategies and instead of giving
donations to NGOs, they are
routing money through private
limited companies, mostly
owned by the trusties of these
NGOs or new entities, to carry
on their activities without being
noticed.
Investigation further
revealed that in many cases sev-
eral NGOs after receiving for-
eign donations, transferred this
money to private limited com-
panies in total violation of
FCRA norms.
For example, activists
Teesta Setalvad received C2
crore in her private ltd com-
pany, Sabrang Communication
and publishing private limited,
in which she and her husband
Javed Anand are directors.
Teesta and her husband are fac-
ing criminal case against them
DccPaPZWP]SVTcbbTg
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A094B7:D<0AQ =4F34;78
ndia’s first “Sexed Semen
I Production Centre” will
come up at Rishikesh in
Uttrakhand to produce female
calves for indigenous Indian
cattle. This would ensure that
the cows inseminated with
‘sexed semen’ give birth only
to female calves. Sexed semen
technology is a breeding tech-
nology about preselecting the
sex of offspring by sorting or
separating the X-sperms from
Y-sperms. This will help to pro-
duce more cows than bulls.
“In normal breeding, there
are 50-50 chances that, we
either get a bull or a cow. With
sexed semen, in majority cases
one gets a female progeny,” said
officials of Agriculture
Ministry. Union Agriculture
Minister Radha Mohan Singh
has laid the foundation of the
country’s first sex semen pro-
duction centre at Rishikesh.
The Centre is being set up as
part of the Rashtriya Gokul
Mission.
“The Centre has planned
to set up 10 more such sorted
semen centre across the coun-
try and global tender has been
floated to this effect,” Singh
said. According to officials,
the technology is being adopt-
ed for this centre, was devel-
oped by the United States, to
produce more cows than bulls.
The project is being undertak-
en to increase milk productiv-
ity and the cow population.
Officials said that in sex
sorted semen technology, the
fractions of X-bearing (female)
and Y-bearing (male) sperm
are modified from the natural
mix through sorting and selec-
/DQWDQDFDPDUDWKUHDWORRPVRYHU+3IRUHVWV
0A270=09H>C8Q =4F34;78
fter having devoured many
A forests in the country, an
invasive weed from South
America, Lantana camara, is
gradually spreading its tentacles
to eat away the native medici-
nal plants found in the
Dhauladhar range, an exten-
sion of Himalayas in Himachal
Pradesh, researchers have
warned.
During their research, they
found that more than 86 per
cent plant species were report-
ed to be used for therapeutic
purpose by the locals. The
study is published in the latest
journal of Current Science.
They pointed out that the
heavy infestation of Lantana
camera in sub-tropical forests
has degraded the habitats of
native medicinal plant species.
The invasion of Lantana cama-
and are out on bail.
Similarly, Advantage India
of Deepak Talwar received C5
crore in his company and he
too is facing criminal case.
Global Advisory Association
Service private limited received
C1.75 crore in violation of
FCRA norms. Rajendra Pratap
Gupta and his wife Kopal
Gupta are directors of the com-
pany. Lawyers Collective
received C9 crore through for-
eign funding. Indira Jaisingh
and her husband Anand
Grover are directors on
Lawyers Collective.
The MHA has prepared an
elaborate list of such companies
and initiating action against
them. A probe by the MHA
against 21 top NGOs revealed
alleged irregularities in their
foreign contribution receipts.
Prominent among them were
Mary Kom’s boxing training
tion. The new semen mix,
which is formed, when impreg-
nated will only yield female
calves in almost 90% of the
cases. The sorting process basi-
cally involves exploiting the dif-
ferences in deoxyribonucleic
acid (DNA) content between
X-chromosome-bearing and
Y- c h r o m o s o m e - b e a r i n g
sperms. The former contains
slightly more DNA, with the
difference ranging from 3.6%
to 4.2%, depending upon the
breed of the cattle or buffalo.
The process of sorting is done
either by passing the sperm
cells through a laser beam or by
staining sperm with a DNA-
binding fluorescent dye.
Data from the 19th live-
stock census shows that while
the cattle population has
dipped by 4.1 per cent in 2012
from 2007 (previous census
period), the buffalo population
has grown by 3.19 per cent dur-
ing the same period. Further,
the study notes that the per-
centage changes in milch buf-
falo population during the
period 2003-07 and 2007-12
has increased by 46 per cent in
rural areas.
“Cow is a better animal
than buffalo to increase the
farmers’ income. Cow can give
you a better jump in milk
yield and is more amenable to
upgrading in breeding than a
buffalo,” officials said.
ra, which emerged as
the most dominant
shrub species during
the present study, is
changing the structure
and composition of
subtropical forests.
Among the catego-
ry of medicinal plant,
Lantana camara is one,
but in India this plant is ;P]cP]PRP\PaP
categorised in poiso-
nous plant as, this plant is Adhatoda vasica, its continuous
among top ten invasive weeds proliferation may be crucial for
and toxic plant on the earth.
“Since Lantana camara native plant species,” noted
prefers relatively warm climat- researchers, Natasha Sharma
ic condition, it has not yet and Chandra Prakash Kala
invaded the temperate and from
subalpine forests in the region. Environment Management of
“Besides, as Lantana cama- Bhopal-based Indian Institute
ra spreads in the habitats occu- of Forest Management (IIFM).
pied by many important med-
icinally and ecologically impor- diate protective steps such as
tant species, including Berberis declaring the high density med-
asiatica, Vitex negundo and icinal plant areas as medicinal
school, Rajiv Gandhi
Charitable Trust , Public Health
Foundation of India (PHFI),
Asianet New Charitable Trust,
Waste Management Society,
New Era Society, Yateem
Khana and Madrasa, Amensty
International (India) founda-
tion, Center for social
Development, etc.
The MHA, which has by an
order on June 5, eases penalties
on NGOs for violating FCRA
norms said that for offence
punishable under Section 37
for transferring foreign contri-
bution to any other person in
contravention of Section 7 of
the Act, a penalty of C1 lakh or
10 per cent of such of such
transferred foreign contribu-
tion, whichever is higher will be
paid. However no relaxation
has been given to the compa-
nies receiving foreign fund in
violation of FCRA norms.
9D38280;0??>8=C<4=CB
?C8Q =4F34;78
nion Minister Arun Jaitley
U on Sunday criticised the
Congress party for creating
hue and cr y over the
Government’s decision to refer
back a judicial appointment
recommendation to the col-
legium for reconsideration.
He also recalled how the
judges were superseded in the
past and attempts were made to
influence judgements.
The Government had
returned the recommendation
of Supreme Court collegium
for elevation of Uttarakhand
High Court Chief Justice KM
Joseph to the apex court.
Although, the collegium has
decided to resend his name to
the Government, it is yet to
officially approach the
Government.
Under the present sce-
nario, Jaitley said the executive
can give inputs to the col-
legium, it can even refer a rec-
ommendation back with rele-
vant inputs for reconsideration
but is eventually bound by the
recommendations. “This is
contrary to the text of the
Constitution,” he said in a
Facebook post.
“The hue and cry made by
my friends in the Congress
party recently when the
Government referred a case
back for reconsideration, fades
into the oblivion.
“It is part of the much
diluted role of an elected
Government that relevant
inputs be brought to the notice
of the collegium. This is in con-
sonance with democratic
accountability …? I have writ-
ten this blog so that my friends
in the Congress party get an
opportunity to look at the mir-
the survival of these important
Ecosystem and
They have called for imme-
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he Election Commission
T has given the nod to
amended rules and regulations
of the ruling AIADMK, which
has done away with the pow-
erful general secretary post
held by the late J Jayalalithaa.
The EC has uploaded the
amended rules and regulations
on its website. Put up under
‘Constitutions of Political
Parties,’ the amended rules and
regulations include the cre-
ation of new party posts —
Coordinator and Joint
Coordinator, held by O
Panneerselvam and K
Palaniswami, respectively.
While Palaniswami is the
Chief Minister of the State,
Panneerselvam is his Deputy.
The two leaders had merged
their led respective factions in
August 2017.
A party general council
under them later adopted a
slew of resolutions, including
abolishing the General
Secretar y post held by
Jayalalithaa following her death
in December 2016, besides
annulling the interim appoint-
ment of her confidante, the
jailed VK Sasikala, as her suc-
cessor. Putting up the amend-
ed rules and regulations on the
EC website for ‘public view’ was
a ‘technical’ process, official
sources said.
ror,” he said.
Jaitley spelled out various
incidents of the past where
judges of the Supreme Court
were superseded and how rec-
ommendations of the apex
court were turned down.
“Chief Justice Hidayatullah
recommended the names of
Justice SP Kotwal, the Chief
Justice of Bombay; Justice MS
Menon, Chief Justice of Kerala
to the Supreme Court. The
executive did not respond to
either of the two names and
ignored the recommendations.
The Chief Justice meekly sub-
mitted and never questioned
the inaction,” Jaitley said.
Citing the famous
Kesavananda Bharati case, the
Minister recalled how the
Government of the day tried to
subvert the independence of
judiciary and gain the power to
even tweak the basic tenets of
the Constitution with the help
of Parliament.
It was a landmark decision
of the Supreme Court that
outlined the basic structure
doctrine of the constitution,
which cannot be tempered
with. “It goes to (TR)
Andhyarjuna’s credit that hav-
ing appeared with HM Seervai
on the Government side, he has
plant conser vation
areas among others.
The researchers said
that apart from their
therapeutic properties,
these medicinal plant
species maintain the
health of an ecosystem
as each species has a
specific role in the func-
tioning of an ecosys-
tem.
During their study, they
encountered around 184 plant
species in the sampling region,
of which 86 per cent had med-
icinal uses. Among woody
plant species, the use of bark
was highest, whereas in herba-
ceous species the use of leaf and
root was highest for treatment
of over 32 groups of diseases.
Though the local people
deserve credit for sustaining
village forests for centuries,
further loss of medicinal plants
In the amended rules, the
party has said, among others,
that the late Jayalalithaa shall be
the “eternal” General Secretary
and that the post has been
“abolished.”
“As per wishes of the mem-
bers of the party and the party
cadre, Puratchi Thalaivi
(Revolutionary leader) Dr J
Jayalalithaa shall be the eternal
General Secretary of the party
and no person shall be elected
appointed/nominated to that
post.”
The Co-ordinator and Joint
Co-ordinator, elected by the
party General Council, shall
hold respective posts for five
years and “are fully authorised
to relax or make alterations to
any of the rules and regulations,”
it said. Among others, the top
two leaders were ‘empowered’ to
take decisions on important
political events, policies and
programmes of urgent nature,
which cannot “brook delay and
await the meeting of either
Executive Committee or
General Council.”
In April this year,
AIADMK had written to the
EC, requesting it to take on
record and update the amend-
ment to its party rules and reg-
ulations done in its September
2017 General Council meeting.
It had also sought that the
same be uploaded on the
Commission’s website.
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authored a brilliant and accu-
rate day by day history of how
the Kesavananda case pro-
ceeded. There was acrimony on
the Bench,” Jaitley said.
Andhyarjuna’s book, The
Kesavananda Bharati Case —
the Untold Story of Struggle for
Supremacy by Supreme Court
and Parliament, was published
in 2011.
The citizen was represent-
ed by Nani Palkhiwala and the
government by HM Seervai
with supporting arguments
from Attorney General Niren
De, he said, recalling details
from the book.
“When a judge asked coun-
sel a question, someone with an
alternate opinion on the bench
would answer it. It was a thir-
teen judge Bench and the obvi-
ous object of both sides in a
dividing bench was to reach the
figure of 7 for the law to be laid
down. There are several inter-
esting episodes which need to
be stated,” he said.
He also recounted how the
government tried various tricks
to delay the hearing so that the
then Chief Justice SM Sikri
retires and Government retains
the right to amend the consti-
tution even with regard to fun-
damental rights.
at these elevations should be
discouraged, said the
researchers.
Agreed Sanchit Sharma
from AIMIL Pharma, Delhi,
which is engaged in production
of herbal drugs like Lukoskin
for white patches and BGR-34
to treat diabetes, based on
extracts from medicinal plants
viz. Daruharidra, Giloy,
Vijaysar, Gudmar, Manjeestha
and Methi.
He laid stress on immedi-
ate protection of country's
herbal wealth to ensure cost
effective herbal drugs to the
large segment of the population
who can't afford to pay the
costlier allopathic drugs. More
so, when the Government is
going all out of its way to pro-
mote the herbal drugs, most of
whose efficacy has been well
proven through various stud-
ies, said Sharma.
?C8Q =4F34;78
BSF Sub-Officer has been
A warned and issued a show-
cause notice by his
Commanding Officer (CO)
for failing to attend a ceremo-
nial ‘rope pulling’ farewell
party of a senior at a force
camp in West Bengal, leading
to a “war of letters” between
the two.
The officiating CO of the
155th battalion of the Border
Security Force, a second-in-
command rank official, shot of
another letter to the Inspector
under him after the latter
argued that such an event was
“neither regimental or official”
and is meant to be accorded
only to the head of the unit or
establishment, according to
records accessed by PTI.
This is the second instance
that has come to light in the
country’s largest border guard-
ing force in the recent past
where a supervisory officer has
reprimanded his junior for
not following the age-old tra-
ditions and norms of the uni-
formed force.
In March, Prime Minister
Narendra Modi had expressed
his displeasure and directed the
BSF to withdraw a seven-day
pay cut order against a jawan
after his CO found him guilty
of “disrespecting” the PM.
The current instance was
triggered after Inspector
Damodara BB failed to attend
a traditional event of pulling
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Finally on the judgement
day, six judges held that fun-
damental rights were una-
mendable and there was an
implied limitation on the
power of Parliament to amend.
Six others held that
Parliament had power to
amend every Article of the
Constitution, he said.
“The thirteenth judge HR
Khanna held that the implied
limitation on the power to
amend was in relation to the
basic structure of the constitu-
tion. The opinion of one judge
thus became the law. After the
judgement had been read and
the Chief Justice read out the
final order with regard to the
law declared by the Supreme
Court and then signed the
same, he circulated it to the
bench for signatures,” he said.
Four of the dissenting
judges — A N Ray, MH Beg,
KK Mathew and SN Dwivedi
— refused to sign the order, he
said, adding that the
Kesavananda Bharati’s final
order was signed by only nine
of the thirteen judges.
That very day JM Shelat,
AN Grover and KS Hegde
were superseded and AN Ray
become the new Chief Justice.
Upon Ray’s retirement, HR
Khanna was superseded and
Beg became the Chief Justice,
he said.
Talking about Nehru era,
Jaitley said when Justice HJ
Kania started recommending
names for appointment to the
High Courts, it caused a sig-
nificant flutter.
“Pandit Nehru questioned
his suitability to be the first
Chief Justice of India. It was
only Sardar Patel’s pragma-
tism that had enabled him to
manage Justice Kania,” he said.
=ZeYZf^Z`_SReeVcje`cVUfTV
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Iandnreliance
a move to achieve self-
in defence sector
to reduce the dependence
on imports, especially from
China, India is all set to produce
its first lithium ion (Li-ion) bat-
tery on commercial basis. The
Central Electro Chemical
Research Institute (CECRI),
Karaikudi, Tamil Nadu under
Council of Scientific &
Industrial Research (CSIR) and
a private firm, RAASI Solar
Power Private Limited have
inked a pact for transfer of tech-
nology for India’s first Lithium
Ion (Li-ion) Battery project.
The RAASI Group will set
up the manufacturing facility in
Krishnagiri district of Tamil
Nadu close to Bangalore. “We
want to bring down the cost of
]PcX^]$
the vehicle by ropes to see off
an assistant commandant rank
officer from the unit mess at 9
am on June 6 at the BSF camp
in Salugura in West Bengal.
The very same day the
unit’s deputy Manish Negi, fil-
ing in for commanding officer
on leave, shot of an explana-
tion-cum-warning letter to
Damodara seeking reasons for
his failure to attend the event.
The Inspector replied
stating he came to work on
that day as “routine” as there
was no written order com-
municated to him and that
such an event was neither
“regimental nor official” and
is restricted to be accorded to
the head of the department,
which was not the case this
time.
Miffed by the junior offi-
cial seeking a copy of rank-
wise “entitlements” of officers
from him, Negi shot off anoth-
er show cause notice to him
stating that the Inspector
should know that it is the tra-
dition of the force to see off an
officer who is either retired or
moving out for a new posting.
Senior BSF officers said the
forces’ North Bengal frontier
and the headquarter has taken
note of the incident and an
inquiry is being carried out to
ascertain the circumstances
and facts of the case.
“No doubt, this war of let-
ters cannot be ignored as an
aberration as the supervisory
officers are always told to be
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n the lines of campaigns in
O Madhya Pradesh and
Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan Chief
Minister Vasundhara Raje, who
is set to face a tough challenge
from the Congress in the
upcoming Assembly poll, is also
embarking on a ‘Vikas Yatra’ to
showcase development under-
taken by her Government and
that of the Modi-dispensation at
the Centre.
Madhya Pradesh Chief
Minister Shivraj Singh
Chouhan has completed his
‘Vikas Yatra’ and Chhattisgarh
CM is currently touring across
the State. Rajasthan BJP is tak-
ing ‘Vikas Yatra’ in all 200
Assembly seats which would go
to poll by the year-end. Along
with Rajasthan, Madhya
Pradesh, Chhattisgarh — all
BJP-ruled States — will face
election together with Mizoram
by November-December.
All the three States would
be facing anti-incumbency, but
the BJP in Rajasthan would be
more apprehensive of elec-
torates who traditionally are
not in habit of repeating a
Government twice. BJP’s cen-
tral leadership had earlier
declared that in all three States,
the party would go to polls with
the incumbent Chief Ministers.
The three States would be
taking fresh mandate close to
2019 elections and Assembly
results could be a curtain rais-
er to the Lok Sabha polls.
Madhya Pradesh (29),
Rajasthan (25) and
Chhattisgarh (25) contributes
a total of 65 Lok Sabah seats-
a majority of which are cur-
rently with the BJP.
Vasundhara Raje (65), who
had issues with the central
leadership in the past is expect-
ed to commence ‘Yatra’ from
Monday to highlight welfare
schemes undertaken by her
cell manufacturing below
C15,000 per KW to replace
Lead Acid Battery,” said C
Narasimhan, CMD of RAASI
Group. “We also have plans to
make Lithium Ion battery for
solar roof top with life span of
25 years to make it affordable
enough to drive the photo
voltaic segment.”
This is the first commercial
ToT for manufacturing of the
Li-ion battery in the country.
The CECRI has already
set up the first indigenous Li-
ion fabrication facility that has
applications in defence, solar
powered devices, railways and
other high end usages. The
facility is to start industrial level
production in two months.
“It’s the first time that we
will have our own technology
and potential to produce Li-ion
judicious and issue rationale-
based orders while undertak-
ing disciplinary action on
paper or verbally.
“However, the uniformed
forces have a long tradition and
even in this case the officiating
CO has pointed out that the
Inspector concerned has
attended such events in the
past.
This will be resolved soon,”
the official said.
He said there have been
issues in the past between the
combat and non-combat
administrative cadre officials,
as in this case where the
Inspector is from ministerial
cadre, and the discipline of a
uniformed force is the top
most irrespective of a person-
nel belonging to any cadre.
However, another official
said that such ceremonial
events are accorded to a CO or
formation commander and
hence arbitrary use of such tra-
ditions should not be allowed
as this leads to grievance
amongst the jawans and junior
officers.
The 2.5-lakh personnel
strong BSF is primarily tasked
to guard Indian borders with
Pakistan and Bangladesh apart
from rendering a number of
duties in the internal security
domain.
A number of its battalions
are deployed under the North
Bengal frontier in West Bengal
to guard the Indo-Bangla inter-
national border.
Government. Her previous two
‘yatras’ were ‘Parivartan Yatra’
(to bring in change) and ‘Suraj
Sankalp Yatra’ (for good gov-
ernance). The latest one has
been named ‘Vikas Yatra’ (for
development).
State leaders and Ministers
would be touring all 200
Assembly constituencies. It is,
however, not clear as how
many central leaders and
Ministers would participate in
the ‘Yatra’. The much delayed
yatra is to first cove the tribal-
dominated division of Udaipur
and peak in July.
Like in Madhya Pradesh
and Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan
too would go with the devel-
opment agenda and focus on
the performance of NDA under
Prime Minister Narendra
Modi, said a senior central
leader from Rajasthan. BJP
which had won 160 out of the
200 Vidhan Sabha seats in the
2013 Assembly election is now
faced with a resurgent Congress
The BJP poll campaign in
Rajasthan is affected by not
having a new State president as
a consensus has not reached
between Vasudhara Raje and
party president Amit Shah on
the issue. Raje is understood to
have opposed the nomination
of Union Minister of State for
Agriculture and Lok Sabha
member from Jodhpur,
Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, as
replacement for Ashok
Parnami, the State BJP presi-
dent who was asked to step
down following the party’s
defeat in the Ajmer and Alwar
Lok Sabha byelections and
Mandalgarh Assembly bypoll.
The defeats in bypolls has
sent message to the BJP in
Rajasthan that unless it puts an
immediate stop to its internal dif-
ferences and factionalism, it
would have a tough task ahead
in the polls against the Congress
which is smelling power.
batteries domestically. This
would help in cutting costs as
well as our dependence on the
foreign market,” said professor
Vijayamohan K Pillai, Diector
of the CECRI. We are looking
for more investor, he said.
Currently, Indian manu-
facturers source Lithium Ion
Battery from China, Japan and
South Korea among some other
countries. India is one of the
largest importers and in 2017,
it imported nearly 150 Million
US Dollar worth Li-Ion bat-
teries. “Today’s development is
a validation of the capabilities
of CSIR and its laboratories to
meet technology in critical
areas to support our industry,
besides other sectors,” said Dr
Harsh Vardhan, Union Science
and Technology Minister who
was present at the occasion.
=4F34;78k<>=30H k9D=4 ! '
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engal Chief Minister has
B once again raised the issue
of Central deprivation alleging
the BJP Government has held
back its rightful C10,000 crore
earmarked for development.
In the recent weeks the
Chief Minister has shot off at
least three letters to the Centre
demanding clearance of her
State’s dues amounting to about
C9,959 crore under 16 heads.
According to officials in
the State Finance Department
the Centre is yet to clear C609
crore — due on account of
good performance. Besides,
the State has also demanded its
due of C3830 crore on account
of Sarva Shiksha Aviyan and
C790 crore under Mid Day
Meal scheme.
Besides there are a number
of other schemes under which
the State has been deprived of
its lawful grants from the
Centre, sources said.
Accordingly huge amount of
money is due under Urban
Renewal Mission, National
Urban Employment Scheme,
Swacchh Bharat and other pro-
grammes.
“This is a blatant denial of
State rights. The people of
#U^[SaXbTX]
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W est Bengal has witnessed fter hiding for nearly 20
a four-fold rise in its Adays, the Jammu and
expenditure on physical infra- Kashmir
structure since the Trinamool
Congress formed the
Government in 2011, Chief
Minister Mamata Banerjee on
Sunday said.
Recently, C18,000 crore of
new infrastructure projects
have been allocated, in
addition to the C25,755 crore of
budgetar y allocation for
capital expenditure for the cur-
rent financial year, she said.
“Infrastructure
development is going on in a
rapid pace in Bengal.
In fact, expenditure on
physical infrastructure in the
state has increased almost four-
fold since 2011,” Banerjee wrote
on her Facebook wall this
evening.
The C18,000 crore of
new infrastructure projects
include flyovers, rural and
urban drinking water, roads
and bridges, power, affordable
housing and irrigation, she
said.
89FcSQbU*$%)`bYc_^Ubc 6dYPaPc2^]V[TPSTab
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drive conducted in the
A prisons across Uttar
Pradesh has found 459 inmates
HIV positive. The joint drive,
a joint operation of state
Prisons Administration and
Reforms Services and UP State
AIDS Control Society, was
launched last month and is still
underway.
As per the records blood
test (finger prick) was con-
ducted on 78,739 prisoners of
which 559 were found reactive.
Of them, 479 inmates were
detected for the first time. These
prisoners further underwent
confirmatory three-kit tests to
5^aTbc3T_Pac\T]c_Tab^]]T[cPZTPfPhcWT]X]ThTPa^[S\P[TcXVTaPUcTacaP]`dX[XbX]VXc]TPa7TSXhP[Pc^f]X]=P]YP]VdScP[dZ
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Bengal are being deprived. We
are not begging for funds.
We are only demanding
our dues. The Centre will have
to keep in mind that the peo-
ple of the States pay taxes and
out of those taxes the States get
their dues for development of
their people,” the Chief
Minister has said wondering
whether Bengal is being
deprived because of its politi-
cal preference.
While the Centre has
linked nonpayment of dues
with non-receipt of “utilization
certificates,” the State
Government has vehemently
refuted the claims saying “the
Centre is creating excuses to
deprive Bengal. We have doc-
umentary proof to show that
we have been regularly sending
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Police has
arrested Rajinder Singh, broth-
er of BJP leader Lal Singh,
from Rajasthan in connection
with a case related to alleged
abuse of State Chief Minister
Mehbooba Mufti during a pub-
lic rally, officials said here
today.
Police cracked the case
with the help of technical
experts and pinpointed
Rajinder’s location in Udaipur
of Rajasthan. Immediately, a
team was sent to
Udaipur where help from the
local police was sought in nab-
bing the accused, whose pur-
ported remarks on a video
against the Chief Minister cre-
ated a flutter with political
leaders cutting across the party
lines demanded strict action
against him.
Singh, while participating
in ‘Dogra Samman rally’
organised by his
brother Lal Singh, had pur-
portedly used very bad lan-
check if the are HIV positive. As
per the report available so far,
459 inmates have been tested
HIV positive. Report of other
inmates are still awaited.
Lucknow prison, compris-
ing Lucknow district jail, Nari
Bandi Niketan and Model jail,
tops the list with 49 HIV pos-
itive inmates followed by
Ghaziabad and Moradabad
district jails with 46 and 33
HIV positive inmates, respec-
tively. Twenty-one inmates at
Naini and 24 at Aligarh district
jails were also detected HIV
positive.
Of the total 459 HIV pos-
itives inmates, the officials
have started Antiretroviral
utilization certificates,” said a
senior official.
Notwithstanding Banerjee’s
claims of “malicious depriva-
tion” by the Centre the Left
Front leadership on the other
hand have different things to
say.
According to the Marxists
“both Mamata Banerjee and
the BJP are hand-in-gloves
regardless of public saber-rat-
tling in order to polarize votes.
Under Trinamool regime BJP
has not deprived Bengal. The
biggest proof of it is Centre’s
sanctioning of Rs 3,100 crore
just before the 2016 Assembly
elections.
The money was given to
clear the dues under 100-days
work scheme. The grant saved
the day for the Trinamool as it
managed to temporarily calm
down crores of rural poor.
Mamata managed to
scrape through in 70 seats in
which the TMC won by a
mere 150 to 4,000 votes. Her
Government would have fallen
in 2016 had BJP not helped it
with funds.”
Similarly the Centre had
disbursed funds to t he
Trinamool Government ahead
of this year’s rural elections too,
the CPI(M) leadership said.
guage against the Chief
Minister and had also abused
her.
Police registered a case on
May 21 under Section 501
(printing or engraving words
that are defamatory) and sec-
tion 509 (word, gesture or act
intended to insult the modesty
of a woman) of the Ranbir
Penal Code (RPC) and Section
66A of the Information
Technology Act.
Based on the FIR, a
Lookout Notice was
issued against Rajinder Singh
by Chief Judicial Magistrate
Kathua.
“Based on application filed
by SHO Police Station
Hiranagar to the effect that
accused Rajinder Singh,
involved in FIR no 187 of 2018
for offences under sections
501, 509 of RPC and sections
66/67 of IT Act registered with
Police Station Hiranagar, is
evading arrest and is
hiding/concealing himself...,”
the order read.
His bail application was
also rejected on June 1 by the
court.
treatment (ART) of 69, as per
the report.
Earlier, when the list was
compiled, the total number of
HIV positive inmates was
pegged at 406. At that time, the
test had been conducted on
78,057 inmates of which 563
were found reactive.
A senior jail official said
they are facing problems as sev-
eral inmates have refused to go
for the blood test. The state
prison department has now
begun the process of trying to
motivate the remaining 11,166
inmates to go for blood test
promising that if the disease is
detected they will be provided
free treatment.
?C8
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s the dissidence in
Congress reached a
crescendo, it has also made
divided factions among
Lingayats to come together to
fight against the Congress High
Command which has refused
to listen to their demands.
After the formation of the
Government led by JDs chief
HD Kumaraswamy in a fragile
coalition formation and sub-
sequent cabinet expansion has
led to major revolt by a section
of powerful MLAs in the
Congress which was rejected by
the people of the State by giv-
ing them only 78 seats. It is
clear indication many leaders
based on the caste calcula-
tions have come out against the
party high command after they
were rejected by the party by
refusing to make them minis-
ters. Former water resources
minister and a powerful
Lingayat Minister from North
Karnataka MB Patil is taking
the lead along with another
Lingayat leader and senior
congress leader Shamnur
Shivashankarappa who
opposed Lingayat division have
joined to fight the party high
command. Even though the
party is putting a brave face
about dissidence, they are shak-
en by the tremors they have
sent.
A senior lingayat leader in
BXgX]UX[caPc^ab
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ix infiltrators have been
Smajor
killed as Army foiled a
infiltration bid in Keran
sector of north Kashmir’s
Kupwara district on Sunday.
Theentire area has been cor-
doned off for a combing oper-
ation to trackdown more sus-
pected infiltrators.
Sources said a group of
armed militants was noticed
trying toinfiltrate into this side
of the Line of Control (LoC)
early onSunday. Soon after the
suspicious movement was
noticed, the counterinfiltra-
tion security grid initiated
action that resulted into apro-
longed gunfight.
In the ensuing encounter,
six armed infiltratorswere
killed in several phases of the
operation.
A defence spokesman said
that a large haul of arms and
ammunition wasrecovered
from the slain militants.
He said search operation
was in progress till last reports
came infrom the area.
The infiltration bid took
place despite the armies of
India andPakistan reaffirming
their commitment to adhere to
ceasefire agreedupon by the
two countries in 2003.
bcXa^eTaUPa\ST\P]Sb
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everal Congress leaders and
S workers were on Sunday
detained as they protested
across the State against what
the party claimed was the BJP
government’s failure to address
the issues of farmers.
As part of the protest,
Congress workers threw veg-
etables and poured milk on the
roads.
They also blocked several
roads, including national and
state highways, by burning
tyres.
Today was the third day of
the protest and it included
tractor rallies as well as a “jail
bharo andolan”.
While Congress state pres-
ident Amit Chavda was
detained along with party
workers at Asodar in Anand
district, police detained Leader
of Opposition in the Gujarat
Assembly, Paresh Dhanani, at
Vadia village in Amreli district.
Chief Minister Vijay
Rupani, however, termed it as
a “Congress only” protest and
claimed that farmers in the
state had lent no support to the
opposition party’s three-day
programme.
The three-day agitation
started on Friday.
“Speaking up for farmers
and raising the voice against the
anti-farmer and anti-people
policies of the government is a
crime in the eyes of Gujarat
government. Was arrested (sic)
the Congress said “ We are all
elected for fourth or fifth time.
We are true soldiers of the
party. But party has not treat-
ed us well. We were promised
a birth but someone in the
party has influenced the high
command not to include us in
the cabinet. One thing is sure
this has brought us together.
We will fight together.”
Lingayat leaders like MB
Patil, who spearheaded the
movement for a separate
Lingayat movement a master-
stroke to garner Lingayat votes
for the congress has joined
hands with another Lingayat
leader Shamanur
Shivashankarappa, who
opposed the division of
Lingayats within the party to
fight for justice. HK Patil
another Reddy Lingayat, BC
Patil, SR Patil significantly who
resigned as the working presi-
dent of the party , Iswar Kandre
and as many as another ten
Lingayat leaders have joined
the bandwagon of dissidence to
fight the decision of the con-
gress party. This has become a
major headache for the
Kumaraswamy government
which is yet to start function-
ing.
Congress has 18 Lingayat
MLAs and only three have
been inducted into cabinet
ignoring senior members of the
party. With more than 18 per-
cent of the population
$WURFLWLHVDJDLQVW'DOLWV
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n spite of the claims by the
I ruling AIADMK that Tamil
Nadu is a garden of peace, the
scheduled caste and scheduled
tribe communities in the State
say that there has been no let-
up in their sufferings. “Though
Tamil Nadu has been under
Dravidian rule since 1967, the
sufferings experienced by the
SC/ST communities continue
unabated,” L Murugan, mem-
ber, National Commission for
Scheduled Caste, told The
Pioneer.
He was referring to the
May 28 murder of three
Scheduled Caste persons in
Sivaganga district of the State
by members of the caste Hindu
community. Six persons have
been arrested for the gruesome
murder, arising out of a frivo-
lous charge made by the Caste
Hindus that the scheduled
caste persons did not get up on
seeing a youth belonging to
their community.
Murugan had rushed to
Kachanatham village on hear-
ing that the police was indif-
ferent to the pleas by the SC
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by the police (at) Aasodar,
Anand for seeking
#JusticeForFarmers and debt
waiver for farmers in Gujarat,”
Chavda tweeted.
Talking to reporters, he
said “Congress supports the
demands of farmers. The BJP
government has failed to fulfil
promises made to farmers, and
we are committed to ensuring
that farmers get their due. The
policies adopted by the BJP
government are anti-farmer.”
CM Rupani said, “The pro-
gramme being held since the
last three days is a Congress
one. Nobody other than the
Congress is supporting it. It is
just to instigate people.”
“All I would like to tell the
Congress is that, instead of
throwing milk in Gujarat, you
should go to Congress-ruled
States like Karnataka and
Punjab where farmers get a
lower price for milk when
compared to Gujarat,” he said.
±FTPaTP[[T[TRcTSU^a
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cadTb^[SXTab^UcWT_Pach Patil told the media.
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Lingayats are a dominant com-
munity and deciding factor in
Karnataka politics. The division
of Lingayats has not yielded
much needed results to the
century old party which has to
strategically go for an alliance
with local JDs to keep the BJP
away. An advertisement by the
separate Lingayat movement
group in major newspapers
has claimed the division has
benefited the congress and
many religious leaders who
had supported the movement
to divide the Lingayats are
now demanding ministries for
the leaders who helped the con-
gress to win as many as 78
seats.
“I am of the opinion that
two Deputy Chief Minister
posts must have been created.
One for a leader from North
Karnataka and one from the
South. My self-respect is hurt.
community. “There was gross
violation of norms by the
police. It was only after my
intervention that the district
superintendent of police sus-
pended the two sub inspectors
who had colluded with the
accused,” said Murugan.
The NCSC member said
that the AIADMK and the
DMK, ruling Tamil Nadu alter-
nately have been using the
scheduled caste and scheduled
tribe communities as vote
banks. His views were echoed
by TADA Periasamy, leader of
the scheduled caste communi-
ties who have been waging a
war against the atrocities per-
petrated on SC/ST communi-
ties by caste Hindus.
“The Dravidian move-
ments and parties stand for the
interests of the backward and
most backward communities .
They portray themselves as
saviours of SC/ST communities
and claim that they are against
the Brahmins. The Brahmins
constitute a mere two or three
per cent Tamil Nadu popula-
tion at all a threat to the SC/ST
or anyone. We are tormented
and attacked by the caste
Hindus with the full support of
CT[P]VP]P6^eTa]^a4B;=PaPbX\WP]2WXTU<X]XbcTa:2WP]SaPBTZWPaAP^3T_dch2<<^WP\\TS<PW\^^S0[XFPZU
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he Jammu & Kashmir
T Tourism Department on
Sunday handed over a cheque
of C five lakh to the family of a
tourist from Chennai who was
killed by stone-pelters here
last month, officials said.
The stone-pelting incident
had received widespread con-
demnation.
On the directions of
Tourism Minister Tassaduq
Mufti, Director, Tourism,
Kashmir, Mahmood A Shah
today met in Chennai, the fam-
ily of a 22-year-old R
Thirumany, who died in stone-
pelting incident at Narbal on
May 8, an official spokesman
said.
]PcX^]%
I must have been given a min-
isterial post in the first round
of selection itself,” hurt MB
Patil, who spearheaded the
movement for a separate
Lingayat religion, said that he
was disappointed that his own
party had “dumped him”. “But
just because they dumped me,
I will not dump the Congress,”
Patil said after meeting with
Kumaraswamy.
He also said that he was not
alone in this struggle and that
there are 20 MLAs who are
willing to join him.
Hunaswadi Rajan, editor in
chief of Samyuktha Karnataka,
a popular daily in Kannada says
the next session will decide the
fate of the Government. He
said” dissidence and rebellion
has so far refused to die down.
It’s going to be testing time for
the chief minister and the con-
gress in the first session as they
have to pass many bills. If they
(dissidence) abstain it shows
that the government is in a
sticky wicket and an oppor-
tunity for them to prove their
strength. This is a very fragile
coalition. Groups within the
party has emerged to establish
their supremacy to fight the
party high command.”
Congress and JDs are fac-
ing dissidence with many
senior leaders miffed that they
were not given ministerial
berths. The Congress chose 14
the DMK and the AIADMK.
Have you seen the Dravidian
parties acting against the inter-
ests of the caste Hindus?” asked
Periasamy, a CPI-turned-
Maoist-turned Dalit active.
He said Tamil Nadu could
be the only State in the coun-
try which has separate resi-
dential areas for Dalits and the
Backward Communities.
“Though caste Hindus can
come to Dalit colonies, we are
not allowed in their areas,”
said Periasamy. He said in
most of the villages there are tea
shops serving tea in separate
tumblers for the Dalits.
Murugan said Erode dis-
trict, the birth place of E V
Ramasamy cker (popularly
known as Periyar), the Dalits
are still denied entry in temples
administered by the Tamil
Nadu government. Periasamy
said that situation was no dif-
ferent in other temples. “Please
understand that Ramasamy
Naicker, C N Annadurai
(founder of the DMK) , M G
Ramachandran stood for the
interests of the backward com-
munities while they had no
concern for the Dalits,” said
Periasamy.
He said the official hand-
ed over a cheque of Rs five lakh
to the family.
No amount can compen-
sate the loss of the life, the
whole J&K state shares the
grief of the family, Shah said at
Press Club, Chapak.
After the incident on May
8, Jammu and Kashmir Chief
Minister Mehbooba Mufti and
the Tourism Minister, on the
behalf of entire state, had apol-
ogized for the incident and the
human loss.
The chief minister had also
handed over a cash amount of
Rs two lakh to the bereaved
family, officials said.
Shah claimed the incident
was an “isolated” one and
other tourists who were part of
legislators to become ministers
in the coalition government.
Leaders including MB Patil,
HK Patil, SR Patil, Satish
Jarkiholi, Shamanur
Shivashankarappa, Ramalinga
Reddy, R Roshan Baig - all of
whom were ministers in the
previous Siddaramaiah gov-
ernment - are upset over being
not being given a portfolio this
time around. Satish Jarkiholi,
told the media that he would
soon resign from the post of
AICC secretary. An insider in
the party said this group
which is akin to former chief
minister Siddaramaiah who
has been sidelined in the party
is instrumental in strumming
the dissidence.
Meanwhile Congress floor
leader in the Lok Sabha
Mallikarjun M Kharge on
Sunday said he would talk to
AICC president Rahul Gandhi
on filling the remaining six
ministerial berths allocated to
the party in the Congress-JDS
coalition government to pre-
vent dissident activity.
Under the power sharing
agreement, the Congress has
been allotted 22 berths and the
JDS 12. The JDS-Congress cab-
inet was expanded on June 6
with the induction of 25 new
ministers, after intense bar-
gaining for ministerial berths.
The Congress has left six vacan-
cies to be filled under its quota
and the JDS one.
5[^^SP[Tac
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A flood alert has been sound-
ed along river Bhavani in
the district, as surplus water is
being released from Pilloor
dam, official sources said today.
People living on the banks
of the river have been asked to
move to safer places, they said.
With the onset of the
southwest monsoon,
Coimbatore and neighbour-
ing districts, particularly
Nilgiris district, have been
experiencing heavy rains for
the last two days.
Besides, 12,000 cusecs
of water is being released to
Pilloor from Kunda dam in
Nilgiris district, which is full,
district collector T N Hariharan
said in a press release here.
In view of this, 6,000 cusecs
of water is being released from
Pilloor through each of the two
sluice gates, due to which there
is a possibility of Bhavani to be
in spate. Considering the situ-
ation, the collector asked the
people living on the banks and
low-lying areas to move to
safer places.
?C8
the group completed their trav-
el safely.
Every Kashmiri regretted
the incident including those in
the travel trade, who even held
a press conference to condemn
it, he said.
Assuring that Kashmir
continued to be safe for travel,
Shah urged travel agents in
Chennai to keep promoting the
destination.
South India, especially
Chennai, was emerging as a
good market and J&K receives
good flow of tourists from
these places, Shah said.
He said under the Centre’s
‘Ek Bharat, Shreshtha Bharat’
scheme, both states were pro-
moting tourism in each other’s
destinations.
=4F34;78k<>=30H k9D=4 ! '
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t least 16 people were
A reportedly killed in rain-
related incidents in Kerala in
the past two days as south-
western monsoon activity
intensified causing landslides,
sea erosion, swelling of rivers
and widespread power and
traffic disruption due to
uprooting of trees in strong
winds and mudslides.
According to the Indian
Meteorological Department
(IMD), the monsoon activity
will remain intense with heavy
rain and wind with speed up to
60 KMPH may occur in the
State till Wednesday. Fishermen
have been warned not to ven-
ture into the sea during the
period and people living in the
mountainous areas of the State
have also been advised to
remain alert.
Intense sea erosion was
reported from Tirur and Tanur
in north Kerala, where fisher-
men lost nets and other fishing
implements and Chellanam
near Kochi while the entire
coastline of the State remained
under the threat of swelling
waves on Saturday and Sunday.
Several houses in Chellanam
1LSDKVSUHDGFKHFNHG 2<PbZbR^_bc^RaPRZS^f]^]ad\^da\^]VTab
.HUDODOLIWVKLJKDOHUW
EA90H0A09Q :>278
he Kerala Government on
T Sunday decided to lift the
high alert sounded in
Kozhikode and Malappuram
districts that were hit by the
deadly Nipah virus last month
as the virus has been brought
under control and its spread
has been stopped. Nipah has
claimed 17 lives so far in the
two northern Kerala districts.
“No new cases of Nipah
infection have been reported.
In this context, we can con-
clude that the spread has
ended. Therefore, we are relax-
ing the high alert that has
been in force so far,” Health
Minister KK Shailaja told
newsmen on Sunday after
chairing an all-party meeting
held at the Kozhikode District
Collectorate for assessing the
Nipah situation.
“As the situation has come
under control, educational
institutions will reopen on
<RJLKRQHVW0LQLVWHUV "R^PRWTb^U<d\QPX7^faPW<PX[STaPX[bTaeXRTbWXc 1[XY\UcXµcfQ^TQ\YcUT
FRUUXSWVD\V%-303
S
?=BQ ;D2:=>F
fter legislators from the
A ruling party, a BJP MP says
Ministers in the Yogi
Government are corrupt but in
the same breath claimed that
no one can raise a finger at
Prime Minister Narendra Modi
and Chief Minister of Uttar
Pradesh Yogi Adityanath.
BJP MP from Kaiserganj,
Braj Bhushan Sharan Singh,
during a Gram Swaraj cam-
paign held in Gonda to high-
light the achievements of the
four year rule of the NDA gov-
ernment said that Prime
Minister Narendra Modi and
UP chief Minister Yogi
Adityanath are honest in true
sense but the same cannot be
said but UP ministers.
The statement of the MP
came during his interaction
with the media after holding a
chaupal at Haldarmau block. “I
can give honesty certificates to
PM Modi and CM Yogi but it
ETWXR[TbU^aScWa^dVWPfPcTa[^VVTSbcaTTcPUcTaWTPehaPX]UP[[X]=PV_da^]Bd]SPh
were flooded due to sea erosion
and people were shifted to
safer places.
According to reports, three
persons each were killed in
monsoon-related incidents in
the past two days in
Thiruvananthapuram, Kannur
and Alappuzha districts, two
each in Kasaragod and
Wayanad and one each in
Idukki, Pathanamthitta and
Kozhikode districts on
Saturday and Sunday. Reports
indicated that the death toll
could still go up.
Most of the deaths
occurred due to drowning in
swollen rivers and waterlogged
pits and uprooting of trees. Two
children, Muhammad Shahil
(8) and Sana Fatima (7),
drowned in a pond at Cheeral
near Sultan Bather y in
Wayanad district on Sunday.
The tragedy occurred after the
children, who were relatives,
slipped into the water while
playing near the pond.
A four-year-old LKG stu-
dent, Fatima, had died at
Kushal Nagar in Kanhangad,
Kasaragod on Saturday after
she fell into a waterlogged pit.
An eight-year-old boy Akshay
of Aranmula, Pathanamthitta,
Tuesday as announced earlier
by the District Collector,” said
the Minister. Schools in Kerala
had reopened after the two-
month summer vacation on
June 1 but this was postponed
to June 12 in Kozhikode,
Malappuram and some adja-
cent areas of Kozhikode district
in the context of the virus
scare.
Restrictions on holding
public functions also were
being relaxed but it would be
better to continue the vigil till
June 30 as decided earlier,
Shailaja said, adding, “As the
situation stands now, there is
no need to isolate those under
observation or to avoid talking
to them. They should be able
to lead normal life.”
Of the total 379 blood and
body fluid samples subjected to
analyses, only 18 had tested
positive for Nipah and 16 per-
sons in whom the virus was
confirmed had died. “We
expect the remaining samples
Re^WQ\_g*E@ =Y^
TU]Q^Tc`b_RU
cannot be given to the minis-
ters. There are complaints
about ministers minting money
and this everyone knows,” he
said adding the time has come
for the Yogi to take action
against the corrupt ministers.
During the chaupal, the
BJP MP heard the grievances of
the villagers and assured them
to solve it while highlighted the
achievements of the four years
of the Modi government.
Earlier, Suheldeo Bharatiya
Samaj Party president and UP
cabinet minister Om Prakash
Rajbhar too continued to raise
his voice against the BJP gov-
ernment over mis-governance
and prevailing corruption.
Earlier two BJP MLAs one
from Ballia and another from
Hardoi had blamed Yogi
Government for failing to con-
trol corruption which led to this
defeat. Shyam Prakash, BJP
MLA from Gopamau assembly
segment in Hardoi, alleged that
state officers are corrupt.
on Sunday reportedly suc-
cumbed to the injuries he had
suffered in an incident of tree
uprooting on Saturday.
Two persons — one in
Idukki and the other in
Thiruvananthapuram — died
on Sunday after coming to
contact with live power lines
that were snapped in the
winds. At least five persons
suffered injuries in two inci-
dents of tree uprooting on
Sunday in Idukki district.
Dozens of houses have been
destroyed or damaged in the
rains and winds in the State
since Friday.
Reports from the moun-
tainous districts of Wayanad
and Idukki said that people liv-
also to prove negative. Nobody
under observation has tested
positive since May 31. We
don’t expect any further spread
now,” the Minister said.
The total number of Nipah
deaths is considered as 17
because the blood and body
fluid samples of Sabith (26), the
first person to die with Nipah
symptoms, had not been sub-
jected to analysis. The two per-
sons who were confirmed to
have contracted the virus have
recovered and one of them will
be out of the hospital on
Monday and the other on June
14.
A total of 2,649 persons,
who might have come into con-
tact with affected persons, had
been placed under observation
but that number had now come
down to 1,430 and it would fur-
ther come down to 849 after
Tuesday. They will remain
under observation for 42 days
considering the incubation
period of the virus.
C=A067D=0C70Q <D<108
everal trains were either
cancelled or diverted on the
Central Railway after three
coaches of 12809 Mumbai-
Howrah Mail via Nagpur
derailed near Igatpuri station in
the small hours of Sunday.
The coaches — S-12, S-13
and pantry car — of the
Mumbai-Howrah Mail at 2.05
am between TGR 1 and
Igatpuri before the train
entered the platform 2 at
Igatpuri on Mumbai division.
“There are no injuries to any
passenger,” a CR spokesperson
said.
The track restoration work
began soon after the mishap.
The front portion of the engine
and eight coaches of the
mishap-hit train left the site for
Igatpuri at 03.50 am. At 05.45
am, 9th coach from engine S-
13 was re-railed, while the s-12
coach was put back on the rails
at 6.35 am. At 7.05 am, the rear
portion of the train (10 coach-
es) left the mishap site for
Igatpuri, the rear portion of the
train arrived Igatpuri at 7.15 am
At least four incidents of
landslides were reported from
Idukki district in the past two
days. Four tourist resorts were
ordered to be shut down at
Pallivasal near Munnar fol-
lowing a landslide on Saturday.
Traffic along the Kochi-
Dhanushkodi National
Highway came to a standstill
following a landslide on the
Adimali-Munnar Road in
Idukki district.
A one-and-a-half acre
farmland was washed away
ing in the higher reaches were near View Point at Kallimali
in panic following reports on near Rajakkad in Idukki district
the possibility of landslides as on Sunday. However, no casu-
heavy rains were expected to alties were reported in the
continue till Wednesday. Four incident. Reports said that
milk vendors were injured at many areas of the district like
Ayyanpuzha, Angamaly near Rajakkad and Bison Valley had
Kochi on Sunday morning in been out of electricity since
an incident of tree uprooting. Friday due to uprooting of
Extensive damages in trees in rains and winds.
heavy rains and winds were The Idukki District
reported from Collector on Sunday declared
Thiruvananthapuram, Idukki, Monday as a holiday for all
Thrissur, Kozhikode and educational institutions except
Kannur districts. Control professional colleges in the
rooms have been opened in all district in view of the intense
Taluks and three relief camps monsoon activity. Tourists and
have started functioning in others were advised to avoid
Kozhikode districts. Control travel through the high ranges
rooms have also been opened of Idukki district after evening
in Idukki district. till Wednesday.
0=D?B70A<0Q 6DF070C8 order and peace in the State.
Referring to the killing of
ssam Chief Minister two, he maintained that the cul-
A Sarbananda Sonowal on prits should be brought to
Sunday reviewed the law and book and no leniency should
order situation with top police be exhibited in dealing with the
and civil administration official incident. The Chief Minister
in the aftermath of the lynch- further asked the police to be
ing of two youths in Karbi on their toes to defeat any evil
Anglong district agenda of
and asked police 0BB0<;H=278=6 rumour and
to go all out trouble
against the rumour mongers, mongers.
which led to the incident on Later Assam DGP
Friday. Kuladhar Saikia and Chief
The Assam Police have Secretary TY Das addressed a
already arrested 16 people for joint press conference and said
their alleged involvement in that while 15 people have been
lynching the two youths at a arrested for their involvement
village under Dokmoka police in the crime, one more person
station on late Friday evening was arrested for posting fake
on mere suspicion that they information about the inci-
were child snatchers. dent on social media around
The Chief Minister also same time when the mob was
held a threadbare discussion on lynching the two youths.
all aspects of law and order in “While 15 of them have
the state and asked Assam been arrested for their
DGP Kuladhar Saikia to ensure involvement in killing the
that the police force maintain youths, one person was arrest-
constant vigilance on all activ- ed for posting objectionable
ities and put spanner on any and fake information on the
canards likely to vitiate public social networking site while the
The railway authorities CSMT Rajya Rani Express,
made arrangements to attach 12109 CSMT-Manmad
three sleeper class coaches at Panchvati Express, 12110
Manmad and 3 general second Manmad-CSMT Panchvati
class coaches at Bhusaval. “The Express, 12117 LTT-Manmad
affected train — front portion Godavari Express, 12118
and rear portion — was Manmad—LTT Godavari
attached at Nasik Road and the Express, 99902 Pune-Talegaon
train left Nasik Road at 09.15 EMU, 99903 Talegaon-Pune
hrs for its onward journey,” the EMU, 99810 Pune-Lonavala
spokesperson said. EMU, 99809 Lonavala-Pune
After the mishap, a dozen EMU, 51318 Pune-Karjat
trains were cancelled, while Passenger and 51317 Karjat-
seven trains diverted. The Pune Passenger.
trains that were cancelled were: The three trains that were
22101 CSMT-Manmad Rajya diverted via Trains Diverted via
Rani Express, 22102 Manmad- Pune-Daund-Manmad were:
?daX\TTcb_T^_[TX]U^a\b
cWT\PQ^dc<^SX6^ec´bf^aZ
?=BQ ;D2:=>F
ighlighting the achieve-
H ments of the Narendra
Modi Government, Minister of
State for Urban Development
Hardeep Puri met intelligentsia
class of the State Capital on
Sunday and apprised them of
the development work being
carried out by the Government
in last four years.
He met under the party’s
“Contact for Support” cam-
paign under which leaders will
meet prominent citizens to
educate them about govern-
ment policies and seek their
support for the coming Lok
?C8 Sabha elections. Over 4000
5HOLHIIRU:HVW3DNLVWDQL
UHIXJHHVOLYLQJLQ- .
<>78C:0=370A8Q 90<<D
Silieseventy years long struggle
waged by thousands of fam-
of West Pakistan refugees
to earn their citizenship rights
has finally helped them earn
compensation of C21 per day.
Over 3 lakh West Pakistan
refugees had migrated to India
during the 1947 partition and
a large number of them settled
in the State were deprived of
citizenship rights given to per-
manent residents of the State.
The compensation package
at C5.50 lakh per family was
announced by the Union
Home Minister Rajnath Singh
during his two-day long visit to
the State on Friday.
If calculated on daily basis
5764 West Pakistan Refugee
families have been compensat-
ed C21 per day for a period of
70 long years.
Despite receiving step
motherly treatment at the
hands of successive
State/Centre Governments
President of the West Pakistan
Refugee Action Committee
Labha Ram Gandhi told The
H^dcWbSdaX]VP_a^cTbcaP[[hPVPX]bcd]XST]cXUXTS_T^_[TaTb_^]bXQ[TU^a[h]RWX]Vcf^\T]X]2T]caP[0bbP\´b:PaQX0]V[^]V
SXbcaXRc^]bdb_XRX^]^UQTX]V³RWX[S[XUcTab´X]6dfPWPcX^]Bd]SPh
mob fury was on on Friday,”
said Assam DGP Kuladhar
Saikia. He said that police have
identified more persons
involved in the crime and
search is on to nab them.
Narrating on the incident
on Friday, the DGP said that the
two youth seemed to have
become victim of some rumour.
“There was a rumour about
sopadhara or child snatchers
11057 CSMT-Amritsar Express
(JCO 9.6.2018), 15645 LTT-
Guwahati Express (JCO
9.6.2018) and 12167 LTT-
Varanasi Express (JCO
10.6.2018)
The trains that were divert-
ed via Vasai Road-Surat-
Jalgaon were: 11093 CSMT-
Varanasi Mahanagari Express
(JCO 10.6.2018), 12141 LTT-
Patliputra Express (JCO
9.6.2018), 15066 Panvel-
Gorakhpur Express (JCO
9.6.2018) and 12811 LTT-Hatia
Express (JCO 10.6.2018).
Vishal Agarwal, Additional
General Manager, along with
Divisional Railway Manager,
Mumbai Division, Central
Railway and other officials
supervised the restoration
operation. The passengers of
the affected coaches were
adjusted in other coaches.
Sunday’s was the second
train derailment witnessed in
Maharashtra during the past
three months. Earlier, nine
empty wagons of a goods train
had derailed between Jejuri
and Daundaj on Pune-Miraj
section March 26 this year.
party leaders will contact over
1 lakh people, who matter, in
last one year.
“In last four years the
Central Government has
launched various development
schemes with a single aim to
ensure that its benefits reach
the poor.
The sole aim of this
Government is ensure that
poor should get all the basic
facilities of life which he
deserves. The policies are being
implemented without any bias
because the spirit behind
implementation is `Sabka saath
sabka vikas’,” Puri said in his
interaction with the intelli-
gentsia class.
]PcX^]&
Pioneer, “We welcome the
announcement of the union
Government but I want to
make it clear we will continue
to struggle for our citizenship
rights till our last breath”.
Gandhi said, “More than
three generations of West
Pakistan refugees have sacri-
ficed every thing to fight for
their identity and after waging
a 70 year long struggle we are
going to receive a sum of C5.50
lakh per family”.
He appealed to the Union
Government to immediately
appoint nodal officer to ensure
speedy distribution of com-
pensation package among the
refugee families. At the same
time he also raised the issue of
exact number of families enti-
tled for compensation package.
Gandhi claimed there were
a total number of 19960 fami-
lies but as per Government
records only 5764 families were
registered with them.
Initially, the state govt had
registered claims of 5764 fam-
ilies while rest of them failed to
complete the formalities and
have been left out.
being circulated by some
rumour mongers in the village.
The villagers were scared about
the child snatchers and seeing
the two youth they mistook
them to be child snatchers and
attacked,” said the DGP while
adding that police are also try-
ing to find out if there is any
other angle to the incident.
“Our additional DGP
Mukesh Agarwal is camping in
?=BQ ;D2:=>F
day after former Chief
A Minister Akhilesh Yadav
vacated his official bungalow in
a vandalised State, he had been
occupying for last over one year
Minister of State for Transport
, Swatantra Dev Singh on
Sunday demanded a high-level
probe into the incident. He said
the former Chief Minister has
violated the Supreme Court
orders by damaging the official
accommodation and the probe
will bring out the truth.
“Leaders like Akhilesh
Yadav claim to represent the
poor and the downtrodden
masses. His claim is bogus as he
is used to luxurious and lavish
life at the cost of the state
exchequer. Akhilesh Yadav and
other leaders of his ilk who
have amassed huge wealth and
now coming together to escape
from the corruption charges
spent hundreds of crores of
people’s money for their luxu-
ry and comfort’’, said Swatantra
Dev Singh here on Sunday.
“Removing of air condi-
tioners and Italian tiles and
marbles should not have been
done because these are
Sukhdev Singh,Vice
President of the West Pakistan
Refugees Action committee
said, after announcing the com-
pensation package the
Government should fulfill our
demand for grant of Permanent
Resident Certificate. He said in
the absence of same our chil-
dren cannot apply for State
Govt jobs, exercise their right to
franchise in the State Assembly
elections and cannot purchase
land.
Bihari Lal, a resident of RS
Pura said, “majority of refugee
population,living in pathetic
conditions,want us to contin-
ue to fight for their citizenship
rights”.He said, “we are living in
houses which we cannot call
our own as none of us can own
State land”. He said our children
continue to struggle to get gov-
ernment jobs, they face dis-
crimination for want of State
subject. He said we have been
pleading before every centre
and State Govt to acknowledge
our plight and treat our cases on
humanitarian basis to deliver
justice to us.
?C8
Karbi Anglong and monitoring
the situation closely. We have
instructed to the police in all
districts to take action against
those who are spreading these
rumours,” he said .
Saikia further informed
that police have also instituted
a special team headed by
Additional DGP Harmeet
Singh to strengthen cyber
patrolling across the State.
Government properties. He
has violated SC order. An inves-
tigation is needed,” Singh said.
Yadav, who recently vacated a
Government bungalow in com-
pliance with Supreme Court’s
order and shifted to a private
villa, has allegedly taken away
imported tiles, ceiling, ACs, gar-
den lights and bathroom fittings
among others.
The minister said “Chief
Minister Yogi Adityanath too
shifted to the official residence
of the Chief Minister in March
last year but nothing was
changed there. There was nei-
ther any demolition nor any new
construction’’, said the minister.
On June 2, Yadav vacated
his official residence, complying
with the SC’s order on the mat-
ter. Akhilesh now resides at the
Ansal township on Sultanpur
road in Lucknow. The Supreme
Court in May 2016 quashed the
law passed by the then
Samajwadi party Government,
which granted permanent resi-
dential accommodation to for-
mer Chief Ministers of the state.
The apex court, in its order, said
former chief ministers of the
state were not entitled to
Government bungalows.
=4F34;78k<>=30H k9D=4 ! ' ^_X]X^]'

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T ed the last date for the receipt
of Expression of Interests for
Air India’s disinvestment due
to a lukewarm response. Air
India was once one of the preferred air-
lines all over the world when late JRD
Tata established it in 1932 and over time,
RT]caTX]b_XaX]VPfTP]SUTPaP\^]VR^\\^]STe^cTTbaPcWTacWP]aTb_TRc1dccWT under his visionary leadership, it made
a brand name for itself. Tata, himself an
BcPcT6^eTa]\T]cP[[^fTScWXb\X]SbTc ace pilot, flew its first single-engine De
c^UTbcTa=TXcWTaSXSXcX]eXcT]TdcaP[Rd[ Havilland Puss Moth on October 15,
cdaTXR^]b^]cWTQ^PaS 1932, carrying air mail from Karachi to
0ad]cWa^dVW^UcWT[PbcUTfWTPS Bombay’s Juhu airport and continued fly-
[X]TbWPb^][hQTT]PQ^dcR^]ca^eTabXTb ing to Chennai. After World War II, it
became a public limited company and
cWT[PcTbcQTX]VPQ^dcP]0B8cTP\eXb was renamed Air India. It required deep
XcX]VcWTbP]Rcd\bP]Rc^ad\U^aaT_PXab commitment and hard labour to make an
P]SUX]SX]VcWPccWTZThbc^cWTcT\_[T international airline at that time. The
caTPbdaT ca^eT WPeT QTT] \XbbX]V U^a commitment of service and quality it
hTPabCWT?daXZX]VP]SbTaeXc^abWPeT offered once is best explained by the con-
duct of JRD Tata himself, who refused to
ST]XTSZ]^f[TSVT^UcWTZTh^aXcb_^b travel even in the long haul flights in the
bTbbX^]cW^dVWcWTRWXTU_aXTbcWPb\PX] Business class and always traveled in the
cPX]TScWPcXcPdc^\PcXRP[[hS^Tb]^cX\_[h Economy class.
[^^c Pb cWT bTP[ ^] cWT [^RZ aT\PX]b Apart from the personal example he
d]Qa^ZT]1dcXcSTUX]XcT[haPXbTS`dTb set, it also had a management signal to
keep the crew on their toes. The country
cX^]bP]SS^dQcbPQ^dccWTbPUTZTT_X]V must know the history of the takeover of
^Ub^\TcWX]VcWPcfPbQTbc^fTS^]cWT Air India and the internecine fights it had JRD as the idea of public sector as people to higher positions. Some of should analyse this operational prof-
cT\_[TU^aQT]TUXccX]VSTe^cTTbaPcWTacWP] with the Government before its privati- panacea for all had taken over the these people behaved like headless chick- itability claim and assess how and when
QTX]VdbTSPbR^[[PcTaP[U^aad]]X]VPcT\ sation. India must act in its national inter- nation’s psyche then. ens during tense situations when it can repay the loan and recover the
est while privatising the national carrier Though Tata opposed the manner in thoughtful decisions were the need of the ground.
_[TTR^]^\hCWTaTWPeTQTT]UdacWTaT_Xb^STb^UaTeTabX]VaXcdP[bPcfWX\ST]h considering that Air India provides a ser- which the takeover took place, he was hour. You cannot pitch a tent by fitting What is needed here is a decentralised
X]V_aPbPSPaQXcaPahdbPVT^U^UUTaX]VbP]SPaa^VP]RTP]S\XbQTWPeX^daQhbTaeX vice; it is not just to make profits but to convinced by Nehru to chair it and Tata, square pegs in round holes. Besides, efficient management of resources by
c^abCWTX]RXST]cfWTaTPh^d]VVXa[fPbeXRX^db[h\P]WP]S[TSU^aW^[SX]V^]c^cWT make travelling accessible to the many thus, continued as its Chairman till many competent airline professionals competent professionals with excellent
a^_T^UcWTRWPaX^c^U;^aS9PVP]]PcWSdaX]VaPcWhPcaP TeT]SaTfRT]bdaTUa^\cWT who can’t afford to fly. The decision to dis- 1978, after which then Prime Minister were sidelined in the war of favoritisms track records. Hire the world's best air-
?daXBWP]ZPaPRWPahPWX\bT[U1TbXSTbcWTd_ZTT_^UcWTcT\_[TXcbT[U[TUc\dRWc^ invest should not look like cutting off the Morarji Desai removed him unceremo- and with both of the merged airlines suf- line professional as the CEO and give him
head for treating a headache. niously. He was brought back again in fering from incompetency. This is con- the freedom and resources. Other than
QTSTbXaTSfXcWSTe^cTTbR^\_[PX]X]V^Ub[X__TahVaX\TP]STgc^acX^]U^aPePX[X]V Around 300 letters written by JRD 1980 for a few years by former Prime sidered to be the most valid point when Tata, no one in this country had the hon-
_aPbPS ^aSPabWP]8]P[[cWXbcWTQTPdcXUd[TbbT]RT^UcWT?daXcT\_[TPbPR^]RT_c were published in 2004 on the occasion Minister Indira Gandhi. it comes to selling off Air India. esty, grit and business sense to steer an air-
PbPQTPR^]^U9PVP]]PcWRd[cdaTP]SXcbRXeX[XbPcX^]P[R^]cTgcPbPVP]PSWPa\P\Pbb of his 100th birth anniversary. In one of The objective of narrating these facts However, whenever, competent line of Air India’s size and reach. If at all
aT[XVX^]WPeTQTT][^bc;^aS9PVP]]PcWfPb]TeTaPQ^dca^hP[_Pca^]PVTcW^dVWcWT the letters, JRD explains the pain and is to recall history to learn from it and Chairman and Managing Directors were Government is bent upon it, it should rec-
a^hP[bPS^_cTScWTU^[Z]XaVd]P U^a\^UcWTcaXQP[b7TT\TaVTS^dc^UR^\\^]\T] agony of the takeover of his airline. In the make well thought-out decisions. A at the helm of the affairs in the past, both tify its mistake committed many decades
letter, he described how the then thoughtful decision is necessary for a of the Government-owned airlines did ago and hand it over to Tata through a
P]SPbP[^aS^UcWTd]XeTabTT\QaPRTSP[[cT]Tcb^U7X]SdXb\9PX]Xb\1dSSWXb\ Communications Minister, Rafi Ahmed strategic financial entity like Air India to well. The most compelling argument for mutual agreement and by assessing the
EPXbW]PeXb\c^T\Q^ShP\Pbb[XeX]V_WX[^b^_WhCWPcXbfWhP[[cT\_[TaXcdP[bPaT Kidwai made disparaging comments in ensure that we have a strategic vision of the present sell-off is the massive debt of ongoing national consensus. Alternatively,
X]cWTU^a\^U_a^RTbbX^]bP]Sb_TRcPR[Tbc^T]PQ[TcWT_PacXRX_PcX^]^UcWTSTe^dc* the Constitution Assembly in 1949 about controlling machines flying in our sky. more than C52,000 crore and an annual it would be wise to consider separating the
cWThWPeTQTT]WXbc^aXRP[[hX]R[dbXeTaPcWTacWP]TgR[dbXeT_[TQTXP]aPcWTacWP]T[Xc the airline. Now let us discuss why the Government interest burden of C4,000 crore. The two merged airlines and cut down the
XbcCWTP_TgR^dacaT\X]STSdb^UcWXbTcW^b JRD wrote to former Prime Minister was forced to sell it off despite investing Government must thus,must also review manpower per aircraft at par with inter-
Jawaharlal Nehru that “by resorting to huge amount of money in purchaseing the social service quotient of private air- national standards.
7^fTeTacWTad[X]VcW^dVWb_TRXUXRc^cWT7X]SdbWaX]TbW^d[SQTd]STabc^^S incorrect and unfair statements and next generation aircrafts. It was a massive lines like Jet Airways, SpiceJet and Indigo The best option here would be to
X]XcbfXSTaX\_[XRPcX^]bAXVXSXch^UR[TaVhP]SX]cTa\TSXPaXTb\P]SPcTSQhWTaTSX allegations, Mr Kidwai has convinced the foolishness in going for huge loans with- before privatising Air India. appoint a committee of experts to find
chP]ScaPSXcX^]XbR^bcX]VcWTSTe^dcX]^cWTaUPXcWbWaX]TbPRa^bbcWTR^d]cahP]S majority of the members of the Assembly out monetary backing and can aptly be The performance of private airlines is out how to undothe mistakes of of the
R^]bXV]X]VcWT\c^cWTbcPcdb^UbdQYTRcbaPcWTacWP]bcPZTW^[STab0]ScWTVPcTZTT_ that the airlines in general, and Air-India described in a British proverb: “Penny nowhere near the net accretion value to past. Similarly, the wrongs committed by
Tab^UUPXcWQheXacdT^UcWTXa_bhRW^[^VXRP[R[^dc^aSPX]TSQhcWT^UUXRTcWThW^[S in particular, are dishonest and greedy, wise, pound foolish.” Due to this, the air- public good and faith. The splendid people must be investigated and a fledg-
cannot be trusted, and fully deserve their line is reeling under debt. However, this example of evacuation by Air India dur- ling airline's rescue attempt through sell
WPeTQTR^\TWTPeX[h_^[XcXRXbTSc^^8c³bcX\TU^aaXcdP[R[TP]bX]VP]Sb^\TaTP[R^\ present plight.” Being pragmatic, Nehru is not the only reason for its bad shape. ing the Gulf War is for all to see. The on off should be the last resort. As the say-
\d]XchbTaeXRT replied and tried to clear the air and.in The merger of Indian and Air India in time performance and profitability of ing goes, “to address a wrong it is not
1948 Hence, Air India International was 2007 was the biggest folly committed at Indigo can be good from their own man- good to commit another wrong to be
set up in 1948 as the country’s first joint the time and at best can be described as agement point of view but not from the lamented later on.” After all “discretion

>R]T`_eV_edXR]`cV
sector project between the Government a tragic error. larger people’s welfare angle. The fate of is the better part of valour.”
and the private sector to start overseas The Government-controlled airline Kingfisher Airlines is for all to see and (The writer is former Director-
flightsbegin international flights. business has always been a victim of there is no guarantee that the sell-off will General, Indian Council of Forestry
However, after five years, the crony capitalism and is treated as a fief- not ground the airline after privatisation. Research Chancellor, FRI University and
0DRLVWVLPSDWLFRGLVFRXUVHQHHGVWREHFRQIURQWHG Government decided to nationalise it and
without having any consultation with
dom of politicians and bureaucrats for
appointing and promoting undeserving
The airline claimed a 20 per cent jump in
the revenue recently and the Government
Principal Secretary to Government
of Tripura)
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headquarter and the erstwhile
D_\UbQ^SU^UUTUT Congressman’s eulogy of KB
Hedgewar as a ‘great son of Mother
Sir — This refers to the article, India’ at a time when secular par-

6RceYYRdcf_R^`\
P[XPcWTXabcPcTSSTbXaTc^PbbPbbX]PcTcWT?aX\T<X]XbcTa^U8]SXPQ[^RZcWT19?b\PaRW QbUcQVUQ^TdXUYbc_SY_ “Soul of India in pluralism, toler- ties are uniting against the Hindu
^UT[TRc^aP[bdRRTbbTbP]SX]VT]TaP[UTTSX]c^cWT]PaaPcXeT^UeXRcX\W^^SRd[cXePcTS bU\YWY_ecS_^cdYdedY_^Q\ ance: Pranab” (June 8). Former revivalist challenge mounted by it.
QhcWTbX\_PcXR^Pa^d]ScWTXaRPdbT1dcQTU^aTfTVTcc^cWTWTPac^UcWTXbbdTbcWPc bYWXdcQbUcQVUbXUbUdXQ^ President of India Mukherjee, Mukherjee would now do
X]U^a\cWTSXbR^dabTQTX]V_TSS[TSQhcW^bTbf^a]c^cWT^eTacWa^f^UcWT8]SXP] Q^i_dXUbS_e^dbi WXbaTUTabc^cWTPacXR[T°BTPb^Uca^dQ[T)FT]TTSc^PRc]^f±9d]T

C
first accepted the invite from the well to clarify how his tribute to the
bcPcTXcf^d[SdbTUd[c^ZTT_X]\X]ScWPcTeT]cWT[PfhTab^UcWTPRcXeXbcbfW^WPeT Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (Qh7XaP]\Ph:Pa[TZPa:dS^bc^cWTfaXcTaU^a_PX]cX]VP]Tg_[XR RSS founder was not inconsistent
E^Y_^=
=Y^YcdUb (RSS) and attended its conclave at Xc_XRcdaT^UcWTP]cWa^_^VT]XRTgRTbbTbcWPcQa^dVWccWXbQ[dT_[P] with his advocacy of Nehruvian
QTT]PaaTbcTSWPeT]^cbPXScWPcSdT_a^RTbbfPb]^cU^[[^fTSX]TUUTRcX]VcWTPaaTbcb ±=e[XdQb Nagpur the other day. Tcc^cWXb_PbbFWT]1dRZ\X]bcTa5d[[TadbTScWTcTa\²B_PRTbWX_4PacW secularism, an antithesis to Hindu
0]SfTf^d[SP[b^S^fT[[c^aT\T\QTacWPc_^[XRTbdQ\XccTSQTU^aTPBTbbX^]b2^dac 1RRQc>QafY Despite some reservations WTR[TeTa[hbPXScWPccWTaTb^daRTb^UcWXbbWX_fTaT[X\XcTS5^a\X[[T] nationalism. It has now fallen
cWT[TccTabP]S^cWTaX]RaX\X]PcX]VS^Rd\T]cbXcWPbbTXiTSUa^\cWT[P_c^__^bbTb from Congress leaders, his bold ]XPcWTe^hPVT^UcWXbb_PRTbWX_fPbb\^^cWP]SX]dccTaQP[P]RTPbP[[ upon the ‘elder statesman’ to prove
5fU^RUV_bUdXUC47 b_TRXTbU^[[^fTScWT[Pfb^U]PcdaTP]SP[[fPb_aTcchWd]ZhS^ah0cb^\T
bX^]^U^]T^a\^aT^UcWT<P^Xbcbh\ step needs deserves applause. His in the backdrop of his ‘association’
W_Q\cgUbUSbicdQ\\YjUT speech there was more bolder and _^X]cW^fTeTacWT²7^\^bP_XT]bQa^ZTcWTad[TbP]Sd_bTccWTP__[T with RSS that ‘secular’ inheritors
_PcWXiTab P]S cWT R^dac X] cda] WPb 9^TYQµc_g^TUfU\_` louder. He was quite right in RPacCWTRaTfSXSfWPc_[TPbTSXcd]RPaX]VPQ^dcfWPcWP__T]TSc^cWT of privilege are not indistinguish-
PRRT_cTS_aX\TUPRXTcWTXaVT]dX]T]Tbb ]U^dUVV_bdcbUV\USdUT claiming that the soul of the _aTRX^dbaTb^daRTbP]S^cWTab_TRXTbfW^bTbcPZTbX]cWTe^hPVTfTaT able from ‘sacred’ inheritors of
P]SaT\P]STScWTUXeTPRRdbTSX]_^[XRT ]Q^i_VdXUcQ]U`bY_bY nation resides in pluralism and ]^\TP]TacWP]cW^bT^UcWTWd\P]bCWT_^fTaSad]ZRaTfWPb]^f privilege.
Rdbc^ShU^aX]cTaa^VPcX^] dYUc9^TYQYcV_bQ\\_Vec tolerance. His love for KB ad]QTabTaZATbcXbU^aP[[c^bTT Nevertheless, it should be
8cXb]^c^daRPbTcWPc_^[XRTX]8]SXP Q^Y^c`YbQdY_^ Hedgewar seems to be humanitar- 0Xa fPcTa TPacW b_PRT P]S ^RTP]b PaT ]^f RW^ZTS P]S cWT \P] comforting to the Congress that
ian and simple. 1WPb\PbdaP^UcWT7X]Sd\hcW^[^VhXb^]cWTeTaVT^UbcPacX]VWXbSP]RT Pranab Mukherjee deployed his
S^Tb]^c[T]SXcbT[Uc^UaP\X]VX]]^RT]cb
E>SSXYUV His concern for secularism is FXcWcWT[Pfb^U]PcdaTP]S\^aP[P]STcWXRP[eP[dTbQTX]VcPccTaTS\P] verbal repertoire for the defence of
^]^RRPbX^]^acWPccWT[^fTaYdSXRXPah ±1^d_^Y_ understandable in the present XbQTh^]SaTST\_cX^]1aX]VP]h[PfbP]SWTfX[[UX]SfPhbc^RXaRd\eT]c secularism and other ideals that
XbTgT\_[PahX]cWTSXb_T]bPcX^]^UYdb 7edUbbUc day context. But some pseudo-sec- cWT\CWT\^aTPSeP]RTSP]SaXRW]PcX^]bPaTcWT\^aTbcdQQ^a]cWThVTc sprang from the freedom move-
cXRTPcP[[cX\TbCWPc^dc^UcWTfPhW^f ular politicians vitiate the atmos- 8Ub^\T^]T^ab^\TX]b_XaPcX^]R^d[SQaX]VbP]Xchc^cWXb\PSf^a[SfT ment. He wore the secular cap and
TeTa[TcbP[b^QTR[TPacWPccWTaTPaTcW^d 9RU\YUfUQW__TcSbY`d phere of a true democracy. This bW^d[SUTT[Q[TbbTS>cWTafXbTcWTRPdbTXb[^bcP]SfTbWP[[]^cWPeTcW^bT not the Hindu nationalist cap
cX_e\TRU\Y[UdX_cU should end. Wd]SaTShTPab^UBcT_WT]7PfZX]Vc^\XVaPcTc^^cWTa_[P]Tcb while delivering his keynote
bP]Sbd_^]cW^dbP]Sb^UWPaSf^aZX]V R__[cdXQdi_ebUQTdY\\$ Sravana Ramachandran ?aPZPbW23XgXc address and wrong-footed the
_^[XRT_Tab^]]T[P]S^UUXRTab^UcWTR^dac Q]Q^Ti_e[^_gi_e Chennai AXbWXZTbW doubters (secular sentinels). It
fW^S^PeTahcahX]VY^Qd]STaRXaRd\ XQfUd_WUde`Q^TW_d_ would be churlish of us to under-
bcP]RTbX]fWXRW\P]h^Udbf^d[SVXeT g_b[9dYcQR__[dXQdYc CUSe\QbTU]_SbQSi rate his speech as an inter-
d_fXcW^dcPUXVWc e^`edT_g^QR\U minable reiteration of defini-
tions of nation, nationalism and
0bU^acWTd[caP[TUcaPSXRP[bP]ScWTXa Sir — This refers to the article, patriotism.
1Sd_b
daQP]P]Sb^\TcX\TbdaQP]Tbh\_PcWXi ±;QZ_\ “Soul of India in pluralism, toler- The clash between inclusive
TabcWTUXabcXbbdTcWTh]TTSc^aTb^[eTXbcWPc^UcWTXabd__^ac¯X\_[XRXc^a^eTac¯ ance: Pranab” (June 8). The Indian nationalism represented
U^acWTeX^[T]c\TP]bTb_^dbTSQh<P^XbccTaa^aXbcbc^PRWXTeTcWTXa_da_^acTST]Sb @bQ^QR=e[XUbZUUQdBCC Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh by the secular-minded people and
8cXbX]Pf^aSd]PRRT_cPQ[T8]SXPXbP[XQTaP[ST\^RaPcXRbcPcTP]SU^aP[[XcbU[Pfb X_]UYcQcYW^YVYSQ^d (RSS) event in Nagpur, as usual exclusive Hindu nationalism rep-
UfU^dY^XYcd_biDXUbUgQc went without hoisting the nation- resented by the Sangh Parivar is
cWTbcPcTP__PaPcdbWPbP[TVP[[hR^]bcXcdcX^]P[[hbP]RcX^]TS\^]^_^[h^eTaeX^[T]RT al flag and the singing of the central to contemporary Indian
CWTaTXbP]SRP]]TeTaQTP]hT`dXeP[T]RTfXcW]^]bcPcTPRc^abBTR^]S[hRaTPZX]V cYW^YVYSQ^dS_^S_bTQ^T
bUc_^Q^SUY^dXUfYUgc national anthem despite a former politics and the former’s triumph
P]SSTRaT_XcXc\PhbTT\^]^RRPbX^]cWT[TVP[bhbcT\Xb^_T]c^P[[R^\TabX]R[dS Uh`bUccUTRiR_dX\UQT
President’s presence. Nationalism, is crucially important for India’s
X]VcW^bTd[caP[TUcPRcXeXbcbfW^\PhUTT[WPaSS^]TQh1dcP[[TVX]VR^]b_XaPRhfWT] Ubc2_dX_VdXU]XYWX\YWXd
as defined by RSS and practised by continued existence as a secular
STRXbX^]bV^PVPX]bc^]TXbbWh_^RaXbhcPZT]c^PfW^[T]Tf[TeT[;PbcQdc]^c[TPbc it the organisation, could do with- democracy.
UTdXUUccU^dYQ\ out them. G David Milton
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T concluded almost after 20

months of negotiations
between Iran and P5 1 was
annulled on May 8, 2018,
after US president Donald Trump
announced the withdrawal of US
from the Iran nuclear deal.
Both countries declared their
strong positions on the issue.
President Trump stated that the US
will undertake any measures,
including imposing more sanctions
and even military action if needed,
to prevent Iran from nuclear
enrichment.
On the contrar y, Iranian
President Hassan Rouhani said, “If
Iran and other countries in the
agreement cannot agree on a way
forward, Iran might start enriching
uranium at uncapped levels.”
Now under this circumstance,
US withdrawal from the deal can risk
the peacemaking efforts of
Afghanistan and the US against ter-
rorism and state-building in the
country. This piece evaluates the
potential role that Iran can play in
Afghanistan and the possible impli-
cation of the US policy towards Iran
for Afghanistan.
Considering the fragility of sit-
uations in Afghanistan and the
influence of Iran in these countries
as a close neighbour, Afghanistan is
the only place that can be easily
turned into a battle field between
Iran and the US.
Realistically, Iran has a huge
sphere of influence in Afghanistan,
ranging from security and econom-
ics, to refugees and regional politics.
Iran has established deep links
with the Taliban in Afghanistan. It
was in 2016 that ties between Iran
and Taliban became public when a
vehicle was struck by a US drone
transporting Taliban chief Mullah
Mansour from Iran to the
Baluchistan area of Pakistan.
Iran has been a great supporter
of the Shiite militant groups in
Afghanistan for the last couple of
decades.
More recently it has been
unveiled that Afghan refugees are
recruited and trained by the Iranian
Revolutionary Guard Corps to fight
in Syria under the title of
Fatemiyoun. There are possibilities
that Fatemiyoun’s focus could be
turned to Afghanistan and lead to
the establishment of their sanctuar-
ies in the country after ending the
war in Syria.
Moreover, in the economic
sphere, the Chabahar port in Iran
became a lucrative alternative for the
Afghanistan imports and exports.
Expanding trade, attracting invest-
ment, creating job opportunities
and, seizing connectivity are the
expectations that Afghanistan bears
in mind from Chabahar and
Turkmenistan–Afghanistan–Pakista
n–India Pipeline (TAPI) projects.
Today, almost three million
Afghan refugees are in Iran, making
this country home to the world’s
fourth largest refugee population.
The Afghan refugees in Iran will be
another potential source of Iranian
influence in Afghanistan.
Iran often utilises Afghan
refugees as an instrument to put
pressure
Government.
on Afghanistan’s
Now Afghanistan is more unsta-
ble that it has been in years and its
economy continues to stagnate, so
the repatriation of refugees would
increase the challenges before for the
government of Afghanistan and its
supporting countries for providing
appropriate shelters and services to
the repatriates.
Since its formation, the National
Unity Government of Afghanistan
has compiled its efforts to create a
regional consensus towards fighting
terrorism and maintaining peace in
Afghanistan and the region.
Such efforts are perceivable in
President Ashraf Ghani and Chief
Executive Abdullah Abdullah’s
speeches during their foreign visits
since 2016.
Currently, the Afghan diploma-
cy is still active in this arena, it urges
all the countries in South Asia,
Central Asia and Gulf region to leave
their antagonistic interest aside and
help the Government in Afghanistan
with a strong collaboration.
To this end, Iran is one of the
main countries with acentral role to
help Afghanistan build a regional
consensus on peace and stability.
Thus, in Afghanistan, Iran possess-
es all necessary tools in hand to retal-
DB?D;;8=6>DC iate against any US action vis à vis
the Iran nuclear programme.
5A><C74=D2;40A Impact on Afghanistan
340;0=3C74 US pulling out from the nuclear
deal and the imposition of more
8<?>B8C8>=>5<>A4 sanctions on Iran may have the
B0=2C8>=B>=8A0= opposite effect to that intended. It
may provoke Iran to act potentially
<0H70E4C74 beyond the agreement and expand its
support to regional armed factions
>??>B8C445542CC> like Taliban and Shiite groups in
C70C8=C4=343 Afghanistan.
It largely hampered the develop-
8C<0H?A>E>:4 ment of political and economic rela-
tion between Iran and Afghanistan
8A0=C>02C as well as other strategic allies of
?>C4=C80;;H Afghanistan in the region like India.
Furthermore, the extraction will
14H>=3C74 shrink the level of confidence
between Afghanistan, Iran and India
06A44<4=C0=3 under the framework of trilateral.
4G?0=38CBBD??>AC Moreover, the reimposition of
sanctions on Iran by US will hamper
C>A468>=0;0A<43 the regional consensus toward fight-
ing terrorism and assisting
502C8>=B;8:4 Afghanistan to overcome its securi-
C0;810=0=3 ty and economic problems.
Similarly, Afghanistan’s region-
B788C46A>D?B8= al initiatives, mainly Chabahar and
TAPI projects may fail to materialise.
05670=8BC0= Sweeping sanctions against Tehran
do not only condemn Afghanistan’s
campaign of “creating regional con-
sensus” to failure, but could result in
the so-called new Great Game con-
cept in the region.
Therefore, Iran’s role in
Afghanistan could be changed from
spoiler to an all-out destabiliser and
could create great challenges to the
peacemaking efforts of Afghanistan
and US against terrorism.
The attack on the Farah province
by Taliban can be counted as an
Iranian reaction to US withdrawal
from its nuclear deal.
The message was clear, Iran
wanted to show to the United States
that it can retaliate in many ways,
and supporting the Taliban is one of
those ways.
What are the preventive
measures for Afghanistan, how could
Afghanistan manage the state of
affairs?
One can argue that Afghanistan’s
Government may undertake cer-
tain measures instead: First,
Afghanistan could announce its
position on US withdrawal from the
Iran nuclear deal.
Second, it could work to keep a
high level of confidence with Iran,
both through reiterating its commit-
ment that Afghan soil will never be
used against Iran and likewise,
continue holding the bilateral, trilat-
eral and multilateral interactions
with Iran.
Third, communicate the negative
impacts of this withdrawal by US on
Afghanistan and the entire region
with P5 countries.
Fourth, Afghanistan could work
on a scenario that may possibly help
Afghanistan it remain a white zone
at least in between the US-Iran and
Iran-Saudi Arabia conflicts.
(The writer is First Secretary-
Political Incharge, Embassy of the
Islamic Republic of Afghanistan)
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T[T\T]cb^UV^^S n a two-day visit to the state to Rajnath Singh will gather from secu- ahead. Therefore, most peace-loving death and violence needs to be bro- ac call for the self-styled 'Islamic state' heritage — Kashmiriyat — the great-
\P]PVT\T]cQdc
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h^dX]b_XaTcWPc
O review the security situation
amid an ongoing Ramzan
ceasefire, Home Minister Rajnath
rity and intelligence agencies, such
chances are rare and must be taken
to mitigate the mayhem and decrease
youths in the valley are strongly plead-
ing for an extension of the truce.
Mehbooba Mufti has rightly pointed
ken and fractured.”
The Srinagar-based writer-
activist offers a historical account of
of Zakir Moosa or blame the forces for
lying about the ceasefire call. We as a
population are so confused about this
est gift of sufis and rishis, the mystics
of the land.
Notably, the Union Home
Singh asserted that the Centre will the chaos insurgency causes. out that “these children want to live, how violence in the valley has been struggle now that nobody knows who Minister directly reached out to the
h^dQdX[SSdaPQ[T change the “face and fate” of Jammu & While the Ramazan ceasefire has they want to play, they want to romanticised with the flawed notion is running all this. children and youth by meeting
cadbc5^aP] Kashmir. In this context, it is important brought great relief to the belea- smile...like elsewhere in the country”. of Islamic state. He further writes: On the other hand, Pakistan is players of different sports and
to argue why Rajnath Singh’s visit to the guered people of Jammu & Kashmir, This has put Rajnath Singh’s visit “The romanticism and tryst for the promoting leaders like SAS Geelani youths at a separate event in
^aVP]XiPcX^]c^ valley will turn out to be a crucial step militants and insurgents continue to to the valley in a renewed focus amid Islamic state is not new. In 1990s, who loudly claims to achieve the goal Srinagar. Speaking at the Jammu &
QT]^cYdbcV^^S towards breaking the political logjam unleash mindless violence, desperate- speculations that the centre may extend most pro-Pakistan militant organi- of ‘Azadi Baraa-e-Islam’ (freedom for Kashmir Sports Conclave 2018, the
Qdcc^fX] in Jammu & Kashmir. Considerably, the ly trying to sabotage the peace the Ramazan ceasefire. But this truce sations declared their aim as estab- Islam). These perverse minds don’t Home Minister rightly stated:
Home Minister’s visit has now assumed process.Jammu & Kashmir Chief has also left many Kashmiri intellectu- lishment of Islamic state, once the understand that Muslims since ages “Children can be misguided easily,
[TPSTabWX_ significance in the wake of the exten- Minister Mehbooba Mufti has opti- als entangled with questions like these: accession with Pakistan is com- have lived and prospered with peo- but we know the truth, which is why
\TP]bTe^ZX]V sion of the ceasefire announced earli- mistically tweeted that the militants Is azadi (freedom) of Kashmir a call for plete…..The discourse in Kashmir ple of all communities and religions. we have withdrawn all stone-pelt-
_PacXRX_PcX^] er by the Home Minister during the will, soon, realise the “futility of their violence? Why has Kashmir never been for establishing an Islamic state But in the name of Islam and ing cases against them.”
[PaVTacWP]cWT ongoing holy month of Ramazan. actions”, wholeheartedly welcoming allowed to settle down and take a became vibrant once again with the Jihad, what Pakistan wants to achieve The delegate bubbled with excite-
Thus, the two-day visit to Jammu the reiteration of the commitment to breather from violence? Those who rise of Pan Islamist insurgent move- is extend its borders and influence on ment when a nine-year-old kickbox-
Y^QSTbRaX_cX^] & Kashmir was reportedly focused on the ceasefire on the border by both objectively analyze and review the ments like ISIS and Al Qaeda. This either side, be it creating Taliban or ing sensation, Tajamul Islam hugged
R^\\Xc\T]c conditional ceasefire announced by DGMO’s. “This brings great relief to ongoings in the valley are now highly discourse is being represented by interfering in Kashmir. Inevitably, the Union Home Minister and even
STT_TacWP]P]h Rajnath Singh on May 16 for the holy the people residing in the vicinity. critical of the insurgent ideology of vio- Ansar Ghazwatul Hind organisation Pakistan’s state-sponsored militants took a selfie with him and other dig-
month of Ramazan. Now, the closure Peace on our borders is the first lence. MHA Sikander, a young headed by Zakir Moosa.” creating radical Islamist states on its nitaries including the Chief Minister.
Y^QR^]caPRcb of Ramazan is around the corner. It is essential step to a larger understand- Kashmiri writer-activist based in The rise of the Ansar Ghazwatul borders are fuelling Islamophobia Kashmir is too diverse, too multicul-
f^aSX]V the month of peace, reconciliation, non- ing and I truly hope it sustains…”, her Srinagar, has penned a moving schol- Hind forced many militants to ponder around the world. In the past 30 years, tural, a land, to imagine turning into
violence and ceasefire — a move of tweet remarked. arly article in which he asks: Is violence on whether Kashmir is fighting a ter- aspirations were never heard, roads a radical Islamist state. This visit of
°BcP][Th0 hope and opportunity that was taken Of course, Centre’s announce- the only way out in Kashmir? ritorial war or a religious war? The were never paved, now that the oppor- the Home Minister seems to go
<R2WahbcP[ in the beginning of Ramazan in the val- ment of a unilateral ceasefire during the Sikander writes: “Since last one whole of the Kashmiri insurgency is tunity in form of ceasefire has present- down well in the wake of fierce polit-
ley of Jammu & Kashmir. ongoing Ramzan has given the decade gun culture has gained new now divided on this. Now the common ed itself, something else has to happen. ical turmoil in the Valley.
0\TaXRP]b^[SXTa Though the extension of the Kashmiris in general and youths in currency as a tool of resistance in Kashmiris are left with only two pos- It’s about time the mainstream (The writer is a freelance
ceasefire would depend on inputs particular an atmosphere to move Kashmir....The vicious cycle of sible options: Either support this mani- Kashmiri people focused on their lost contributor)
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lapses involving ICICI Bank’s
chief Chanda Kochhar and her
family members, the matter has
also come under the scanner of
the US markets regulator SEC.
Besides, the Indian regu-
lators and investigative agencies
are mulling seeking help from
their overseas counterparts
including in Mauritius as part
of their own probes, officials
said.
When asked about its
probe into matters related to
ICICI Bank and Kochhar, a
spokesperson for the SEC
Office of Public Affairs
declined to comment.
The queries sent to ICICI
Bank also remained unan-
swered. The bank has already
instituted an independent
enquiry into allegations of ‘con-
flict of interest’ and ‘quid pro
quo’ in Kochhar’s dealing with
certain borrowers.
Earlier in March, when
the reports first surfaced in this
regard, the bank had said that
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E nthused by the successful
resolution of Bhushan Steel,
Nirav Modi fraud-hit Punjab
National Bank (PNB) is hope-
ful of C8,000 crore recovery
from bad loans in the first
quarter of the current fiscal.
The bank, with its focus
on recovery of dues from
defaulters, has managed to sur-
pass the total amount recovered
in the last fiscal in the first two
months of this financial year, a
senior PNB official told PTI.
“This is due to renewed
focus on recovery by PSB banks
including referral of many
cases to NCLT under the bank-
ruptcy code is forcing many of
the defaulting companies to
settle their NPAs. While PNB
had recovered C5617.55 crore
in the whole of last year, the
bank’s recovery stands at C6,000
crore by first week of June,” the
official said.
5]RQcciWb_e`d_\Qe^SX 4gA186deATSShb[P\b6^ec^eTa?=1 UaPdS
B59DdXYciUQbd_bQYcU!R^
?C8Q =4F34;78 they added. Its REIT is already ormer RBI governor Y V light in the recent months involv- es due to such banking frauds.
registered with Sebi. The FReddy has slammed the ing thousands of crores in regard
ealty firm Embassy group Bengaluru-based Embassy Government for the multi- to one particular bank. It is clear entrusted their money to the
R plans to launch its real group has over 30 million sq ft crore fraud at state- run Punjab that it is a fraud. Who should be Government-owned banks
estate investment trust (REIT) of leased office space and has National Bank (PNB) and said worried most about the fraud? should be asking the government
this year to raise about $1 bil-
lion as part of its strategy to
monetise rent-yielding com-
mercial assets, sources said.
Global investment firm
Blackstone-backed Embassy
Office Parks is likely to file the
draft prospectus with market
regulator Sebi by next month to
launch the country’s first REIT,
8]eTbR^´b4`dXch1^]S5d]SQTbcQTcU^aX]eTbc^ab´aTcda]
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Iandnvesco Mutual Funds, which
has a wide range of equity
equity-oriented schemes,
has now launched Invesco
India Equity Bond and Fund to
mitigate the turbulent market
as well as providing security to
the investors. The new fund
offer or NFO will open on
Monday and will close on June
25.
This product is the balance
mixture of debt and equity and
CWTTR^]^\hXbX]PbfTTcb_^caXVWc
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[PaVT[hbcPQX[XbTSP]SX]SdbcahXbaTPSh
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its board has “full confidence
and reposes full faith” in
Kochhar.
Sources said the SEC
(Securities and Exchange
Commission) is actively look-
ing into the matter as ICICI
Bank is listed in the US also
and it may seek further details
from its Indian counterpart the
Securities and Exchange Board
of India (Sebi), which has
already issued show-cause
notices to ICICI Bank and
Kochhar as part of its probe.
Officials said the Sebi has
been approached for some clar-
ificatory details which would be
provided to the bank and its
CEO, among others to whom
notices have been served.
Those looking into the
matter also include the bank-
ing regulator RBI and the
Corporate Affairs Ministry,
while the CBI had earlier reg-
istered a preliminary enquiry
against Kochhar’s husband,
among others, and extensively
questioned her brother-in-law
in April.
The cases under scanner
include the bank’s Rs 3,250
crore loan to Videocon Group
in 2012 and the involvement of
Kochhar family members in
restructuring of the loan.
Last week, Interim Finance
Minister Piyush Goyal said the
law will take its own course in the
By the time, this quarter
(April-June) ends, PNB expects
to complete recovery of almost
C8,000 crore, the official said,
adding that large corporates like
Religare, Arcotech and Surya
Alloys have recently settled
bad loans worth C350 crore in
the last two months via the
recovery camps setup by PNB.
It is to be noted that PNB
posted loss of C13,416.91 crore
for the fourth quarter ended
March, 2018, the biggest ever
by any domestic lender.
The bank last month said
it provided for C7,178 crore, 50
per cent of the total amount of
C14,356 crore in the fourth
quarter of 2017-18, with
regards to the loss incurred on
account of Nirav Modi fraud.
According to the bank, the
remaining amount will be cov-
ered in the three quarters of the
current fiscal year. PNB further
said it has paid C6,586.11 crore
to other banks to discharge its
a pipeline of about 22 million
sq ft across major cities.
According to sources, the
Embassy group is in the process
of finalising the total office assets
that would form part of REIT
platform. The size of the REIT
would be about $1 billion and the
amount raised would be utilised
to retire debt, they added.
works like an open hybrid
scheme to invest in infrastruc-
ture-related equities. Bond
gives a stable return and is less
riskier than equity, besides
perform well at every stage of
the market.
Actually, Invesco India has
successfully tried to provide
double benefit to the investors
by introducing such a product
which can not only handle the
choppy market but also gives
sustainable return. “This will
ensure investors to reap the
benefits of growing equities as
well as from the stable debt.
The longer you stay invested in
equity, it paves the way for big-
ger asset creation. Moreover, an
exposure in bond protects the
?aTbXST]c
alleged case of nepotism at ICICI
Bank, even though it is a good
bank with “very robust process-
es” and there was no cause for
concern for any of the stake-
holders of ICICI Bank per se.
There are allegations of
impropriety in ICICI Bank
extending loans to some com-
panies and enjoying reciprocal
benefits.
It has been alleged that
family members of the bank’s
chief, including her husband
Deepak Kochhar, got financial
favours from the borrowers
liabilities towards Letter of
Undertakings (LoUs) and
Foreign Letter of Credits (FLCs)
issued fraudulently and in unau-
thorised manner to certain over-
seas branches of Indian banks
through the misuse of SWIFT
system of the bank, which was
then not integrated with CBS
(core banking solutions).
Modi and his associates in
connivance with some offi-
cials of PNB defrauded the
bank of over $ 2 billion dollar.
To focus on recovery, PNB
has moved over 3,000 person-
nel from operations across the
country into the stressed assets
vertical, the official said.
“The stressed assets verti-
cal has started operating from
June 1. Four General Managers
from the Corporate office have
been tasked with heading the
recovery vertical as part of the
bank’s management strategy
to fast track recovery of NPAs,”
the official said.
?C8Q :>;70?DA branches in Mumbai.
“A big fraud has come to taxpayers who pay for the loss-
as the owner of public sector
lenders, it is answerable to tax-
payer losses rising out of such
financial scams.
In February this year, PNB
detected a over C13,000- crore
fraud allegedly involving dia-
mantaire Nirav Modi and his
uncle Mehul Choksi, a billion-
aire jeweller, at one of its
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investors to handle the ups and
downs of the market,” said a
Mumbai based fund manager.
“This works as cushion for
the risk of the portfolio and prof-
it propositions. This fund will
invest across all the sectors and
market capitalisation,” he added.
Invesco India Equity Bond
and Fund have so many things
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against the loans sanctioned by
the bank.
It was also alleged that
Videocon Group pumped
money into NuPower
Renewables, a firm owned by
Deepak Kochhar.
Sebi has served a notice on
Kochhar on dealings of the
bank with Videocon Group
and Nupower.
There are also allegations
that NuPower got investments
of Rs 325 crore from Mauritius-
based Firstland Holdings, a
company owned by Nishant
,QGLD&KLQDVKRXOGVHWXS 8`]UacZTV^Rj 368EDQNVVXIIHUZKRSSLQJ
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Chinese General Administration cfaVV+2_R]jded Lcrossed a whopping C87,300 QP]ZbR^[[TRcXeT
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of Customs in March.
resident Xi Jinping has sug-
P gested to Prime Minister rose by 18.63 per cent year-on-
Narendra Modi that China year to reach $84.44 billion. The
and India should set up a new two countries had earlier set a Gup to C34,000 per 10 grams
bilateral trade target of $100 bilateral trade target of $100 bil- during Diwali mainly on the banks, only two banks, Indian PRR^aSX]V c^ cWT
billion by 2020, as Beijing is
looking at importing non-
Basmati rice as well as sugar to
address the huge trade deficit.
PM Modi had detailed dis-
cussions with President Xi on
bilateral and global issues on the
sidelines Shanghai Cooperation
Organisation (SCO) summit
here on Saturday.
Addressing a press briefing
after the Modi-Xi meeting, the
second in nearly six weeks,
Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale
said that President Xi suggest-
ed to Prime Minister Modi that
India and China should set up
a new bilateral trade target of
$100 billion by 2020.
The India-China bilateral
trade reached $84.44 billion last
year, according to data of the
from 2003 to 2008, said it is the
“The taxpayers who have
“Its the owner of the bank who
stands to lose the most. The
owner (in the PNB case) is the
Government,” Reddy said in a
speech at the Shivaji University
at Kolhapur on Saturday.
He was speaking on the
topic `Keeping Banks Safe’.
The former RBI Governor,
who headed the central bank
and benefits to offer. It will
work in all the circumstances
of the market that will ensure
the growth as well as the value
of the invested fund. Debt
securities portfolio will give
priority to AAA ratings while
65-80 per cent investment will
be made in equity and rest of
20-35 per cent investment will
Kanodia, son-in-law of Essar
Group co-founder Ravi Ruia.
An independent
probe was ordered by ICICI
Bank board after fresh
allegations of quid pro quo
were levelled by activist and
whistle-blower Arvind Gupta,
who also accused Ruia broth-
ers of Essar group of having got
undue favours from the bank
for “round-tripping” invest-
ments into NuPower Group.
The allegations have been
dismissed as “motivated” by the
Essar Group, which maintains
it has no business interest in
Firstland Holdings.
The Ministry of Corporate
Affairs is looking into compa-
nies involved in the ICICI
Bank controversy of alleged
conflict of interest in Chanda
Kochhar’s dealings with certain
borrowers, according to a
senior official.
The official also said the
affairs of ICICI Bank are not
being looked into by the min-
istry as that is completely under
the purview of the Reserve
Bank of India (RBI).
“The ministry is looking at
allegations with respect to
fraudulent, preferential or
under-valued transactions...
(related to) those companies
which have come into contro-
versy in the light of ICICI
Bank issue,” the official said.
The bilateral trade in 2017
old prices are likely to rise of nearly C12,283 crore.
lion by 2015. Gokhale said that
India has allowed China’s state-
owned Bank of China to open
its branch in Mumbai.
“There were some discus-
sion on trade and investment
related issues. And in that con-
text Xi told Modi that China is
looking at enhancing agricul-
tural exports from India
including non-Basmati rice
and sugar,” Gokhale said.
An agreement was signed
between China’s General
Administration of Customs
and India’s Department of
Agriculture, Cooperation and
Farmers Welfare on
Phytosanitary requirements for
exporting rice from India to
China, world’s biggest rice mar-
kets.
to explain why, as the custodian
of their money, it failed to pre-
vent the fraud,” Reddy said.
He said as the majority
shareholder of public sector
banks (PSBs), the Government
should be worried about what
the directors it nominated on the
their boards were doing (when
irregularities were taking place).
be made in debt and money
market. The fund managers of
this fund are Taher Badshah
and Amit Ganatra.
If seen as an asset class,
then equity has given better
returns to the investors, how-
ever, it’s fluctuating trend some-
times dents its performance. In
such circumstances, if investors
get a product which is kind of
blend of debt and equity, then
it will certainly be not only
popular but will eventually be
proved as the most wanted
product. However, Invesco
Limited offers its hosts of ser-
vices to the customers speed-
ing across 120 countries and
currently enjoys an AUM of
$937.6 billion.
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T he country’s largest lender
SBI will conduct auction of
12 non-performing accounts
(NPAs) later this month to
recover dues of over C1,325
crore.
The e-auction of these
accounts will take place on June
25, according to an SBI notice.
The NPA accounts that
have been put under the ham-
mer include Ankit Metal &
Power Ltd (C690.08 crore),
Modern Steels Ltd (C122.61
crore), Good Health Agrotech
Pvt Ltd (C109.14 crore), Amit
Cottons Pvt Ltd (C84.70 crore),
and Ind-Swift Ltd (C80.49
crore).
The remaining are Nikhil
Refineries (C52.85 crore),
Bhaskar Shrachi Alloys (C 51.48
crore), Sri Ganesh Sponge Iron
Pvt Ltd (C38.96 crore), Asmita
Papers (C37.23 crore), Forel
Labs (C22.86 crore), Karthik
Agro Industries (C20.82 crore)
and Abhinandan Interexim
(C14.15 crore).
State Bank of India (SBI)
said interested bidders can
conduct due diligence of these
assets with immediate effect
after submitting the expression
of interest and executing a
non-disclosure agreement with
osses of public sector banks 6^eTa]\T]cad]
crore in 2017-18 fiscal, topped
?C8Q <D<108 by scam-tainted Punjab [h _^bcTS P ]Tc
National Bank which took a hit [^bb^UC'&"$&Ra
Of the 21 state-owned
back of depreciating rupee and
geo-political concerns, accord-
ing to analysts.
Gold prices are likely to
hold in the range of C30,000-
34,000 per ten grams until
Diwali in the domestic market,
and internationally the yellow
metal might be in $1,260-1,400
an ounce level, Commtrendz
Risk Management director
Gnanasekar Thiagarajan told
PTI here.
“Price would have
absorbed the effect of rate
hikes and rate hikes would
only confirm inflationary
expectations, which could
increase the appeal for bullion
as a inflationary hedge then.
And with domestic currency
poised to weaken further prices
could test previous highs
around Diwali,” he added.
In India, gold on June 8
closed at C31,010 per 10 grams
and while in New York it
closed at $1,302.70 an ounce.
Globally, Thiagarajan said,
gold prices have been in a range
being capped by rising yields
and dollar, and supported by
global uncertainties and geo-
political tensions, but it is hold-
ing well in spite of a strength-
ening dollar.
“With more rate cuts, the
dollar could eventually come
under pressure as cost of doing
business increases in the US.
So, I see the possibility of
investors moving towards gold
by the end of the second quar-
ter in a big way,” he added.
6Y^=Y^]QidbQ^cVUb%cYS[3@C5
cXQbUcd_QVe^Td_]UUdCURY^_b]
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T he Finance Ministry is
planning to transfer shares
of five sick CPSEs, including
HMT and Andrew Yule &
Company, to the SNIF fund to
meet Sebi’s minimum 25 per
cent public shareholding.
The Central Public Sector
Enterprises (CPSEs) whose
shares would be transferred to
the Special National Investment
Fund (SNIF) are Fertilizers &
Chemicals (Travancore)
(FACT), Hindustan Photo
Films Manufacturing Co.,
Scooters India, HMT and
Andrew Yule & Company, an
official said.
\^]Th 
the bank.
The lender’s gross non-
performing assets or bad loans
as on March 31, 2018, reached
C2.23 lakh crore, which was
10.91 per cent of gross
advances by the end of 2017-18.
SBI reported a record net
loss of C7,718 crore in the
fourth quarter ended March,
and of C6,547 crore for 2017-
18 due to higher provisioning
for bad loans.
The net NPAs were
C1,10,855 crore (5.73 per cent of
net loans) by end of March, 2018.
SBI said that the recovery
in its written-off accounts
improved to 21.18 per cent in
March quarter and the losses
during the past fiscal were
mainly because it was required
?C8Q =4F34;78
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SdaX]VcWTUXbRP[
Bank and Vijaya Bank, posted
profits during 2017-18. Indian
Bank posted the highest prof-
it of C1,258.99 crore and Vijaya
Bank’s profit was C727.02 crore
in the fiscal.
So, the net loss posted by
state-owned banks was about
C85,370 crore in 2017-18 as
against a net profit of C473.72
crore in the previous fiscal.
The 19 Government-run
banks collectively posted a net
loss of C87,357 crore during the
fiscal, according to the latest
quarterly numbers posted by
these lenders.
Punjab National Bank,
which is reeling under more
than C14,000-crore scam
allegedly perpetrated by Nirav
Modi and associates, posted a
net loss of C12,282.82 crore last
fiscal. In 2016-17, the Delhi-
headquartered bank had post-
ed a profit of C1,324.8 crore.
PNB was followed by IDBI
Bank, whose net loss widened
to C8,237.93 crore in the fiscal
ended March 2018 from
C5,158.14 crore in the previous
year.
India’s largest bank State
Bank of India too added huge-
ly to the combined losses of
PSBs. SBI’s net loss in 2017-18
stood at C6,547.45 crore as
against a net profit of C10,484.1
crore in 2016-17.
Indian banking sector is
grappling with mounting non-
performing assets (NPAs) and
host of scams and frauds.
The NPA in the banking
The Finance Ministry
would be discussing with mar-
ket regulator Sebi to allow
transfer of shares in these com-
panies to SNIF to meet the 25
per cent public holding norm
for listed companies. These
companies have time till August
21 to meet the 25 per cent pub-
lic share holding norm.
“Since these CPSEs were
not financially sound, meeting
the minimum public share-
holding norm by following
Sebi’s method to reduce stakes
would have been difficult.
Hence, we are planning to
transfer the shares to SNIF on
a case-to-case basis,” the official
told PTI.
to make provisions at a high-
er rates in respect of advances
to stressed sectors of the econ-
omy.
The Reserve Bank’s revised
framework has earmarked
specified norms for early iden-
tification of stressed assets,
timeline for implementation of
resolution plans and a penalty
on banks for failing to adhere
to the prescribed timeline.
These guidelines came
after the banking sector reg-
ulator scrapped the previous
mechanisms such as the
Corporate Debt Restructuring
S cheme, Strategic Debt
Restructuring Scheme (SDR)
and Scheme for Sustainable
Structuring of Stressed Assets
(S4A).
(
[PcTbc `dPacTa[h
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sector stood at C8.31 lakh crore
as of December 2017.
Weak financials due to
mounting bad loans have
already pushed 11 banks, out of
21 state-owned banks, under
the Prompt Corrective Action
(PCA) framework of the
Reserve Bank.
The recent tight prudential
norms released by the RBI on
February 12 have added to the
NPA woes.
Interim Finance Minister
Piyush Goyal has announced
setting up of a committee to
give recommendations in two
weeks on formation of an Asset
Reconstruction Company for
faster resolution of stressed
accounts.
The committee under Sunil
Mehta, non-executive chair-
man of PNB, will make rec-
ommendations in two weeks
on setting up of an Asset
Reconstruction Company or
Asset Management Company
for faster resolution of stressed
accounts.
The finance minister said
the committee will consider
whether such an arrangement
will be good for the banking
system and, if any such sug-
gestion is advisable, it will also
consider the modalities by
which such an ARC and/or and
AMC should be set up.
Currently, government
holds 89.25 per cent stake in
Andrew Yule & Company, 90
per cent each in FACT and
Hindustan Photo Films, 93.69
per cent in HMT and 93.74 per
cent in Scooters India.
Accordingly, shares would
be transferred on a propor-
tionate basis to the fund to
bring down government stake
in these CPSEs to 75 per cent.
The government had in
2013 approved setting up of the
SNIF with the specific objective
of meeting the minimum pub-
lic shareholding of 10 per cent
as was then mandated by the
Securities and Exchange Board
of India (Sebi).
=4F34;78k<>=30H k9D=4 ! '
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0?Q B8=60?>A4 VWDWHPHQWDWWDFNV7UXGHDX
resident Donald Trump
P landed in Singapore on
Sunday evening, joining North
Korean leader Kim Jong Un in
the island city-state ahead of
one of the most unusual and
highly anticipated summits in
recent world history, a Tuesday
sit-down meant to settle a
standoff over Pyongyang's
nuclear arsenal.
Air Force One touched
down at a military air base,
travelling from Canada, where
Trump had attended a meeting
of the Group of Seven Nations.
Hours earlier, a jet carrying
Kim landed, and after shaking
hands with the Singapore
Foreign Minister, Kim sped
through the city's streets in a
massive limousine, two large
North Korean flags fluttering
on the hood, surrounded by
other black vehicles with tint-
ed windows and bound for the
luxurious and closely guarded
St Regis Hotel.
Kim smiled broadly today
evening as he met with
Singapore Prime Minister Lee
Hsien Loong.
"The entire world is watch-
ing the historic summit
between North Korea and the
United States of America, and
thanks to your sincere efforts ...
We were able to complete the
preparations for the historic
summit," Kim told Lee through
an interpreter.
Trump is set to meet with
Lee on Monday.
Trump has said he hopes to
win a legacy-making deal with
the North to give up their
nuclear weapons, though he
has recently sought to manage
expectations, saying that it may
take more than one meeting.
The North, many experts
believe, stands on the brink of
being able to target the entire
US mainland with its nuclear-
armed missiles, and while
there's deep scepticism that
Kim will quickly give up those
hard-won nukes, there's also
some hope that diplomacy can
replace the animosity between
6&2DFKLHYHV
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80=BQ @8=630>278=0
C hinese President Xi Jinping
on Sunday said new
progress has been made by the
Shanghai Cooperation
Organisation (SCO) since the
arrival of India and Pakistan.
On behalf of leaders of the
SCO member States, Xi made
the remarks at a joint press
conference in the coastal city
of Qingdao in China's
Shandong Province, Xinhua
news agency reported.
Several documents were
issued during the summit,
including the Qingdao
Declaration of the Council of
Heads of Member States of the
SCO, and the Joint Statement
of the Heads of Member States
of the SCO on Promoting
Trade Facilitation, Xi said.
The summit also ratified a
five-year action plan for imple-
menting the Treaty on Long-
Term Good-Neighbourliness,
Friendship and Cooperation of
2WTa]^Qh[SXbPbcTaR^]cX]dTb )LUVWPRQVRRQ E`_dZ]cV^`gR]
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ilk in parts of Ukraine has
radioactivity levels up to
five times over the country's
official safe limit — a conse-
quence of the catastrophic
Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant
explosion that took place over
30 years ago, scientists say.
Scientists from the
University of Exeter in the UK
and the Ukrainian Institute of
Agricultural Radiology sam-
pled cow's milk from private
farms and homes in the Rivne
region, about 200 kilometres
from the site of the Chernobyl
explosion in 1986.
They found levels of
radioactive caesium in milk
above Ukraine's safe limit for
adults of 100 Becquerel per litre
at six of 14 settlements studied,
and above the children's limit
of 40 Becquerel per litre at eight
sites.
The highest levels found
were about 500 Becquerel per
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:^aTP][TPSTa:X\9^]VD]X]BX]VP_^aT^]Bd]SPh
A`aVacRjdW`c
dfTTVddWf]df^^Ze
Singapore: Pope Francis has
prayed that the summit this
week between the US and
North Korean leaders succeeds
in laying the groundwork for
peace.
Francis expressed hope
today that Tuesday's talks
between US President Donald
Trump and North Korea's
leader Kim Jong Un in
Singapore will "contribute to the
development of a positive path
that will assure a future of
peace for the Korean Peninsula
and the entire world."
He invited the thousands of
faithful in St Peter's Square to
pray with him so that the Virgin
Mary "accompany these talks."
Francis said he wanted yet
again to send "a special thought
in friendship and prayer" to the
beloved Korean people. AP
the US and the North.
This will be the first sum-
mit of its kind between a leader
of North Korea and a sitting US
President. The North has faced
crippling diplomatic and eco-
nomic sanctions as it has
advanced development of its
nuclear and ballistic missile
programs.
The North Korean auto-
crat's every move will be fol-
lowed by 3,000 journalists who
have converged on Singapore,
and by gawkers around the
the SCO Member States, he
said.
"We have agreed to abide
by the goals and principles of
the SCO Charter, carry for-
ward the Shanghai Spirit of
mutual trust, mutual benefit,
equality, consultation, respect
for diversity of civilisations
and pursuit of common devel-
opment, and jointly pursue
regional peace, stability and
development by promoting
good-neighbourliness and
friendship and deepening
practical cooperation," Xi said.
^RjfaW]f
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WHFKQLTXHFDQFDSWXUH
dRjddTZV_eZded RYHUNJHQHVDWRQFH
litre - five times over the limit
for adults and more than 12
times that for children.
"More than 30 years after
the Chernobyl disaster, people
are still routinely exposed to
radioactive caesium when con-
suming locally produced staple
foods, including milk, in
Chernobyl-affected areas of
Ukraine," said Iryna Labunska,
at the University of Exeter in
the UK.
"Many people in the area
we studied keep cows for milk,
and children are the main con-
sumers of that milk," said
Labunska.
"Though the level of soil
contamination in the studied
areas is not extremely high,
radioactive caesium continues
to accumulate in milk and
other foods, such that the res-
idents of these villages are
chronically exposed to
radioactivity that presents
health risks to almost every
system in the body — espe-
0?
F^aaXTSW^_TUd[P]SfPah)
=TXVWQ^dabPfPXcbd\\Xc
0?Q C>:H>
orth Korea’s East Asia
N neighbors — Japan, China
and South Korea — have a
shared goal of denuclearizing
the peninsula, but what may
come out of Tuesday’s summit
in Singapore between
President Donald Trump and
North Korea’s Kim Jong Un
has different and possibly con-
flicting implications for their
security, economic and geopo-
litical interests.
WORRIED JAPAN
Japan, a U.S. ally whose
diplomatic policies largely mir-
ror Washington’s, is relying on
Trump because Prime
Minister Shinzo Abe has been
world, up until he shakes hands
with Trump on Tuesday. It's a
reflection of the intense glob-
al curiosity over Kim's sudden
turn to diplomacy in recent
months after a slew of North
Korean nuclear and missile
tests last year raised serious
fears of war.
Part of the interest in
Tuesday's summit is simply
because Kim has had such
limited appearances on the
world stage.
He has only publicly left
2P]PSPb?aX\T<X]XbcTa9dbcX]CadSTPdbWPZTbWP]SbfXcW1P]V[PSTbWb?aX\T<X]XbcTaBWTXZW7PbX]PPbWTfT[R^\Tb
aT_aTbT]cPcXeTbUa^\^dcaTPRWR^d]caXTbP]SX]cTa]PcX^]P[^aVP]XbPcX^]bSdaX]VcWT6&bd\\XcX];P<P[QPXT@dTQTR^]
BPcdaSPh
cially among children," she
said.
Some simple protective
measures could be taken to
bring radiation exposure levels
below limits at a cost of less
than 10 euros per person per
year for the 8,300 people living
in the six villages with the high-
est contamination.
Such measures include
applying a caesium binder,
called Ferrocyn, to cows, min-
eral fertilisation of potato fields
and feeding pigs with uncont-
aminated fodder.The cost of
this would decrease each year
as radiation levels fall - but if
no action is taken, the experts
warn that milk contamination
will continue to exceed the 100
Becquerel per litre adult limit
in parts of Ukraine until at least
2040.
"This situation should also
act as a warning and a
reminder of just how long the
legacy of nuclear accidents can
be," said Labunska.
=^acW:^aTP][TPSTa:X\9^]VD]PaaXeTbPccWT2WP]VX8]cTa]PcX^]P[0Xa_^acX]
BX]VP_^aT^]Bd]SPh
unable to meet Kim. Japan
worries about being margin-
alized by other regional play-
ers who have increased their
interaction with North Korea.
Abe doesn’t want Trump to
strike a compromise on North
Korea’s missile program that
would leave Japan exposed to
shorter-range missiles that do
not reach the U.S.
HOPEFUL BUT SKEPTI-
CAL SOUTH
South Koreans have been
split between hope and doubt
after seeing the seesaw devel-
opments leading up to the
summit. They hope that
improved relations between
the U.S. and North Korea
would ease tensions, adding
his country three times since
taking power after his father's
death in late 2011 — twice
travelling to China and once
across his shared border with
the South to the southern part
of the Demilitarized Zone in
recent summits with the lead-
ers of China and South Korea
respectively.
But it is Kim's pursuit of
nuclear weapons that gives his
meeting with Trump such high
stakes. The meeting was ini-
tially meant to rid North Korea
05?Q 370:0
he first monsoon rains
T have hit camps in
Bangladesh housing around a
million Rohingya refugees,
triggering floods and land-
slides but no casualties or
major damage so far, officials
said on Sunday.
Aid agencies have been
warning that the monsoon sea-
son could prompt a humani-
tarian catastrophe in coming
months at what is the world's
biggest refugee camp, shelter-
ing people fleeing violence in
Myanmar.
The sites in southeastern
Bangladesh are predicted to be
hit by powerful cyclones and by
more than 2.5 metres (eight
feet) of rainfall over the com-
ing three months of monsoon
— roughly triple what Britain
0?
momentum for inter-Korean
reconciliation and coopera-
tion. Some even speculate that
Trump and Kim may discuss
a peace treaty formally ending
the 1950-1953 Korean War,
replacing the current
armistice.
CAUTIOUS CHINA
Trump has long leaned
on China to convince North
Korea to moderate its actions
despite protests from Beijing
and some experts that China’s
influence may be overstated.
But the success or failure of the
summit will be seen by some
as an indication of China’s sta-
tus as a major player in
Northeast Asia, something
Beijing has long craved.
of its nuclear weapons, but the
talks have been portrayed by
Trump in recent days more as
a get-to-know-you session.
Trump has also raised the
possibility of further summits
and an agreement ending the
Korean War by replacing the
armistice signed in 1953 with
a peace treaty. China and South
Korea would have to sign off
on any legal treaty.
It's unclear what Trump
and Kim might decide
Tuesday.
0?
gets in a year.
Bangladesh's meteorologi-
cal office said the Cox's Bazar
area where many of the
refugees live in makeshift shel-
ters on bare hillsides had 138
millimetres (5.4 inches) of rain
since last evening.
"Some areas like the foot-
ball field areas are flooded.
Some houses have been inun-
dated with water.
There have been a few
landslides. The conditions are
bad," UN refugee agency
spokesperson Caroline Gluck
told AFP.
The monsoon season "is
going to be big test for every-
body involved in the humani-
tarian response in support of
the Government of
Bangladesh", she said.
More heavy rain is forecast
for coming days.
6Ta\P]2WP]RT[[^a0]VT[P<TaZT[b_TPZbfXcWDB?aTbXST]c3^]P[SCad\_ SdaX]VcWT6&;TPSTabBd\\XcX];P<P[QPXT
@dTQTR2P]PSP^]BPcdaSPh
0?Q ;0<0;1084@D4142
he annual G-7 summit
T appeared to have weathered
tensions over President Donald
Trump’s threats of a tariff-
fueled trade war until the mer-
curial American pulled out of
a joint statement while citing
“false statements” by Canadian
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
It was an unprecedented
attack on the leader of the U.S.
neighbor and ally.
Trump was aboard Air
Force One heading to an his-
toric summit with North
Korea’s Kim Jong Un when he
issued a pair of tweets Saturday
criticizing the G-7 host and
stepping back from the gener-
ally positive tone that had
ended the two-day meeting. A
few hours earlier, Trudeau had
told reporters that all seven
leaders had come together to
sign the joint declaration.
Trudeau said he had reiter-
ated to Trump that tariffs would
harm industries and workers on
both sides of the U.S.-Canada
border. He said unleashing retal-
iatory measures “is not some-
thing I relish doing” but that he
wouldn’t hesitate to do so
because “I will always protect
Canadian workers and
CibYQcdbY[Uc[Y\\!!
SYfY\YQ^cQVdUbZYXQTYcd
QddQS[*=_^Yd_b
05?Q 148ADC
leven Syrian civilians were
E killed on Sunday in regime
strikes in the country's north-
west, a monitor said, in appar-
ent retaliation for a jihadist
attack on two besieged
Government-held villages.
The bombing raids hit a
string of towns and villages in
the northwest province of Idlib,
which is almost entirely con-
trolled by various jihadist and
hardline rebels.
"Nine civilians, including
three children, were killed in
the raids on the town of
Taftanaz," said the Britain-
based Syrian Observatory for
Human Rights.
Observatory head Rami
Abdel Rahman said strikes
had also hit near a children's
hospital, putting it out of ser-
vice.
Two more civilians,
including a child, were killed
in other raids nearby. The air
strikes came a day after
?C8Q <4;1>DA=4
emoving tonsils and ade- n a breakthrough, scientists
R noids in childhood increas- Ihave developed a new tech-
es the risk of diseases like nique that enables them to
asthma, influenza and pneu-
monia, say scientists who have
examined the long-term effects
of these common paediatric
surgeries for the first time.
The researchers suggest
renewed evaluation of alterna-
tives to these surgeries that
include removal of tonsils (ton-
sillectomy) to treat chronic
tonsillitis or adenoids (ade-
noidectomy) to treat recur-
rent middle ear infections.
The adenoids and tonsils
are strategically positioned in
the nose and throat respectively
to act as a first line of defense,
helping to recognise airborne
pathogens like bacteria and
viruses, and begin the immune
response to clear them from the
body.
f^a[S
²5Xcb^UP]VTaRP]]^cSXRcPcT
V[^QP[R^^_TaPcX^])5aP]RT
Paris: France warned today
that "fits of anger" could not
dictate international coopera-
tion after US President Donald
Trump abruptly rejected a joint
statement agreed after a bad-
tempered G7 summit in
Canada.
"International cooperation
Canadian interests.”
“As Canadians, we are polite,
we’re reasonable, but also we will
not be pushed around,” Trudeau
said, and he described all seven
leaders coming together to sign
a joint declaration despite hav-
ing “some strong, firm conver-
sations on trade, and specifical-
ly on American tariffs.”
In the air by then, Trump
tweeted: “Based on Justin’s false
statements at his news confer-
ence, and the fact that Canada
is charging massive Tariffs to our
U.S. farmers, workers and com-
panies, I have instructed our U.S.
Reps not to endorse the
Communique as we look at
Tariffs on automobiles flooding
the U.S. Market!”
jihadists from Al-Qaeda's for-
mer Syrian affiliate launched
an attack on Fuaa and
Kafraya, two villages held by
the regime but cut off by
hardline forces.
Late Saturday, Hayat Tahrir
al-Sham (HTS) and allied fight-
ers shelled Fuaa and Kafraya
heavily and clashed with local
fighters.
"This is the fiercest attack
in around three years," said
Abdel Rahman. Six Syrian pro-
regime fighters and at least
three from HTS were killed in
the fighting, which continued
today.
Syrian state news agency
SANA also reported yesterday's
attack, and said local fighters
were able to push back the
jihadists.
Fuaa and Kafraya are the
only two places in Syria cur-
rently designated as besieged by
the United Nations after the
government recaptured the
Yarmuk Palestinian camp in
southern Damascus.
?C8Q ;>B0=64;4B
image 10,421 genes at once
within individual cells.
The technique, called intron
seqFISH (sequential fluores-
cence in situ hybridisation), is
a major advance in being able
to identify what goes on across
the genome in hundreds of dif-
ferent cells at once.
"This technique can be
applied to any tissue," said Long
Cai, research professor at
California Institute of
Technology in the US.
"Intron seqFISH can help
identify cell types and also what
the cells are going to do, in addi-
tion to giving us a look at the
chromosome structure in the
same cells," said Cai.
Previously, researchers
could only image four to five
0?
cannot be dictated by fits
of anger and throwaway
remarks," President Emmanuel
Macron's office said in a state-
ment to AFP, adding that
reneging on the commitments
agreed in the statement
showed "incoherence and
inconsistency."
He followed up by tweeting:
“PM Justin Trudeau of Canada
acted so meek and mild during
our @G7 meetings only to give
a news conference after I left say-
ing that, “US Tariffs were kind
of insulting” and he “will not be
pushed around.” Very dishonest
& weak. Our Tariffs are in
response to his of 270% on
dairy!” A spokesman for
Trudeau did not address Trump’s
insults in a statement. “We are
focused on everything we
accomplished here at the #G7
summit,” spokesman Cameron
Ahmad said. “The Prime
Minister said nothing he hasn’t
said before — both in public,
and in private conversations
with the President.”
6;>14
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genes at a time in cells with
microscopy.
Scaling seqFISH up to a
genomic level now enables the
imaging of over 10,000 genes -
about half of the total number
of genes in mammals - within
single cells, according to the
research published in the jour-
nal Cell.
In order for genetic instruc-
tions to be turned into an actu-
al functioning protein, a process
called transcription must first
occur. This process often occurs
in pulses, or "bursts."
First, a gene will be read and
copied into a precursor mes-
senger RNA, or pre-mRNA,
like jotting a quick, rough draft.
This molecule then matures
into a messenger RNA, or
mRNA, akin to editing the
rough draft. During the "edit-
ing" process, certain regions
called introns are cut out of the
pre-mRNA.
=4F34;78k<>=30H k9D=4 ! '
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8]TeTaUTPaTS
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bcTaT^ch_TbBWTbPXS
t has been the most challenging journey for me but
°FWT]8RP\Tc^cWT
UX[\X]Sdbcah_T^
_[TPSeXbTS\T
I probably the most interesting one too. This by far
has been the biggest learning curve for me. There
were challenges I faced at almost every step of the
]^cc^_[PhcWT process,” actor, director Nandita Das said about her lat-
bXbcTa^aQTbc est outing, Manto, which premiered at the recent
UaXT]S^UcWT_a^ Cannes Film Festival.
“It took me four years to research and write the
cPV^]XbcPb8 script and two years to get funding, cast, crew, loca-
f^d[S^][hQT tions and all the preparation to shoot and get the film
^UUTaTSbTR out. The genesis of the idea of the film was in 2012,
^]S[TPSb8 Manto’s centenary celebration, and now it finally pre-
miered in Cannes.”
fPbc^[S]^c After having helmed Firaaq in 2008, Nandita went
c^_[Ph behind the camera to trace the life of writer Saadat
eP\_P]S Hasan Manto, to be portrayed by Nawazuddin
\^cWTaPcP Siddiqui in the film, expected to release in September.
h^d]VPVT Manto, who died in 1955 at the age of 43, penned
an impressive body of work touching various genres.
=^fh^d He churned out about 22 collections of stories com-
Z]^ffWPc prising a novel, essays, personal sketches and movie
PaTcWT scripts. One of his literary gems was a story on Mirza
RWPaPRcTab Ghalib, a poet who is often compared with the stature
8WPeT of Shakespeare. His work also gained attention for
weaving stories around the ordeal of Partition as well
_[PhTSX] as sexuality. The film provides a window into his life
UX[\b8 during the tumultuous partitioning of British colonial
cW^dVWcXUcW^bT India into two new nations — India and Pakistan.
PaTcWTad[Tbc^VTccWT[TPSa^[T Manto, co-produced by HP Studios, Filmstoc and
fWh]^cQaTPZcWT\. Viacom 18 Motion Pictures, was the only Indian film
in Un Certain Regard category at the 71st Cannes Film
Festival. It will also be screened at the Sydney Film
Festival, which started on June 6 and will go on till June
17.
³8cXbP]Tf Nandita said she was “deeply involved with every
Tg_TaXT]RT department and have learnt so much in the process.
P]S8P\ After all I never went to a film school or assisted any
VTccX]Vc^ director, so everything was being learnt on the job and
I was relying mostly on my creative instinct and life
[TPa] experiences.”
b^\TcWX]V On her experience at the fest, she said, “I have been
]Tf attending Cannes since I was invited in the main jury
TeTahSPh in 2005. Then again in 2013 in the short film jury.
Including more recently, to raise funds for Manto. Other
1^[[hf^^S than these two opportunities, I have been there sev-
]^S^dQcWPbPfXSTa eral times as a film lover. Apart from it being the most
PRR[PX\P]SXcUTT[b celebrated festival, it truly manages to combine great
c^_^UcWTf^a[Sc^ cinema and is a thriving platform for filmmakers and
bTT_T^_[TUa^\P[[ film lovers from all over the world. While you, of
course, wish your film to be premiered in Cannes, one
Pa^d]ScWTf^a[S is aware that every filmmaker wishes that too. The com-
SP]RX]Vc^\hb^]Vb petition is extremely fierce. And Manto is not a typi-
8c´bPV^^S_WPbTU^a cal festival film”.
cWT7X]SX\dbXR There is more which made the movie an unlike-
X]SdbcahfXcWcWTaXbT ly candidate for Cannes according to Nandita. “The
references and contexts are not always easy for foreign-
^UX]ST_T]ST]c ers to understand. I didn’t know till the day they offi-
bX]V[Tbc^^´ cially announced the list. It was the only Indian film
°6dadAP]SWPfP in the main official section and so it is a huge honour.
I am most delighted that Manto has started its jour-
ney in Cannes.”
=>A050C478´B[PcTbcaT]SXcX^]^U Nandita also discussed the recent attacks on films
cWT (((WXcb^]V3X[QPaUa^\ and media and drew comparisons of Manto with the
current scenario. The director said: “Manto was tried
cWT\^eXTBXaUCd\bPfWTa for obscenity six times because he wrote about sex
fTPaX]VP2[T^_PcaPX]b_XaTSR^b workers, giving them dignity that was rare and used
cd\TfWXRWfPb the language of the street, deemed inappropriate. He
TgcaT\T[hWTPehC^ said, ‘If you can’t bear my stories, it is because we live
\PZTbdaTcWPccWT in unbearable times’.”
She quoted Martin Luther King Jr. to highlight the
SaTbbSXS]³cfTPa point further. “He said, ‘Our lives begin to end the day
WTaS^f]cWTbch[ we become silent about things that matter.’ These days
XbcbbcXcRWTScWT whether it is media or individuals, people are being
SaTbb^]=^aPaXVWc censored by self-proclaimed vigilante groups or are self-
censoring themselves, out of fear,” Nandita said.
QTU^aTcWTbW^^c “Conservatives are increasingly becoming the
CP[ZX]VPQ^dccWT moral police. At the same time, official censoring bod-
fW^[TTg_TaXT]RTbWTbPhb°CWXb ies are becoming more bigoted and their rulings are
f^d[SQT^]T^U\hP[[cX\T getting more and more subjective and arbitrary,” added
UPe^daXcT[^^Zb± Nandita, who had faced protests over her socially mov-
ing and bold film Fire.
The actress noted that artists, writers, rationalists
are all being attacked in some form or the other and
<PabST]Y^X]b
CPaP]cX]^´b\^eXT
are being silenced. “A society can grow and develop
only when it gives space for dissent and free thinking.
And this shrinking space threatens democracy and
human progress,” she said.
When questioned about how far we had moved
away from Partition, she replied, “Far from it. The
Partition remains a very important part of the sub-con-
tinent’s narrative. It has been invoked for all kinds of
reasons. Sometimes for political agenda, sometimes to
understand the pain and trauma some still feel today.
Close to 14 million people were displaced, hundreds
of thousands of people were killed, women raped... it
spanned all the heinous crimes that come with sectar-
ian violence. It is bound to have a lasting impact. But
I am not sure we have learnt all the lessons that we
needed to learn.”
°80=B
1WPcc´b_W^c^)?P]ZPY:d\Pa
F 4 1 1
?>>90170CCQT[XTeTbX] Mukherji’s Uma and it was beyond marvellous.
Apart from the story of a father and daughter,
ad[X]VTeTahcWX]VcWPccWThcT[[
it also celebrates the spirit of a city like Calcutta.
Also, some time ago, I watched Secret Superstar
WTa]^cc^P]ScWXbcX\TXc³b and it was a gem of a film. But you do need a
QPbZTcQP[[bPhb0?0A=0 170;;0 backing of Aamir Khan to tell a story like that.
ou need to leave Mumbai regularly to keep
QDo you follow basketball and what has been
your involvement with FIBA?
Y your soul intact. Otherwise you just get We live in an attention-deficient time when
caught up in its pace and you lose your con- a sport like basketball has been made more con-
science,” says the bold and audacious Pooja cise and simpler to understand with 3BL which
Bhatt, the first woman producer of Bollywood, is a 10-minute high speed version. I am going
who is now endorsing basketball. She was in the to watch my first live basketball match today and
capital for the launch of The Delhi Hoopers, one I am looking forward to it. It gives me some-
of the teams of the 3×3 basketball tournament thing new to immerse myself into. I think life
that will be held at The Great India Place Mall, begins when you constantly will yourself to
Noida, on June 9 and 10. The winners of the unlearn and relearn and the process goes on. I
tournament will get a chance to represent India have zero knowledge on basketball but I guess
at the FIBA. it is a great place to start with zero.
QHow has cinema changed since the time you QWhat has been your affiliation with the
began and what is your take on women-cen- undermined sports of India?
tric films? It was one day that Ritvik (former number
Whether it is my battle with alcohol, or one squash player, owner of team Delhi
whether it has been being an actor or a film- Hoopers) visited us and he talked about how he
maker, I was always told that you have no busi- wanted to open a squash institute. That dream
ness in either of them ever since I was 21 — and became a reality. So slowly but surely, Munna
the industry was fairly male-dominated at that (Munish Makhija, former VJ and owner of team
time. When I began directing movies, people Delhi Hoopers) and him identified the land and
told me “tum acting karo na, why do you want collected the money or rather saved it and built
to be like us?” I used to be like, excuse me? You the place without an architect. It was just local
tell me not to do it and I will put my foot into contractors, where we used people who built for
that box. Don’t tell me I can’t belong to that club the village really and got to do things our way.
because I will rule that club and jump over you They have this beautiful institute now where
and form my own club. That’s the way I am. there are not only kids from all over India who
come from privileged backgrounds but also
QHow did you hold on to your creativity in a from villages. Ritvik said I want to find the next
hostile atmosphere? champ from this village. That is the day I would
Creativity is something that anybody who have achieved something. I would have achieved
is remotely original has to guard very fiercely something the day when I have an young adi-
and passionately because people just want you vasi kid becoming the next champion of India.
to be run-of-the-mill. Whatever is new and peo-
ple can’t put into a slot, they will dismiss. I
Through squash and boxing, I then met Rohit
(3BL, League Commissioner) who has a passion
remember when I had got Rahat Fateh Ali Khan for basketball.
to sing Man ki lagan for my film Paap, experts
in the movie industry said it wouldn’t work. Now QBasketball has not had conspicuous support,
look at the singer’s career. Our audience is far
more evolved than we will ever be.
what is your take on that?
Like I said, Rohit himself plays and he said
why are Indians not a part of this, why are we
QYou were denounced for getting actors like not staking our claim here? With his own
Sunny Leone in the film business... How did resources, dignity and his entire being, he devel-
you hold out? oped this format. What binds these people are
I work for the people. They not only
accepted Sunny but loved her work and gave her
the underdogs in a crick-
et-obsessed nation.
an eminent career. Apparently, it has never hap- You will be amazed
pened in the world ever before where an adult how kids naturally
film star has made a mark for herself in main- take to basketball
stream entertainment. It has not even happened in our country.
in America which talks about being very mod-
ern and forward but is actually very conserva-
tive. I guess that in itself was an answer for my
critics.
QWhat is your take on content-driven films?
We like everything glamorous and
whatever makes a lot of money. It is right-
ly said, “Jo dikhta hai voh bikta hai.” We
all understand that whether it is media,
entertainment or newspapers, it is
finally a business. So people make
movies that they know the audi-
ence is going to watch.
But what is good now is that all
kinds of stories are getting heard
and seen thanks to a strengthened
distribution network. Regional
cinema like Marathi is pack-
ing some wonderful sto-
ries in tiny budgets
and creating a far
bigger impact.
Even for that mat-
ter Tamil and
Bengali films have
amazing stor y-
telling. I recently
watched Srijit
4 3

0Rc^a90<4B<0AB34= XbcWT nternet is a strange place where
[PcTbcPSSXcX^]c^cWTRPbc^U I anybody can become famous. If
you have talent, great! There is a
@dT]cX]CPaP]cX]^³b>]RTD_^]P slight chance for you. But if you
CX\TX]7^[[hf^^S are trying hard without talent,
CWT##hTPa^[SPRc^a Internet guarantees you success.
fW^RdaaT]c[hbcPabX] That’s what happened to these
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worldwide known personalities.
bTPb^]cf^Y^X]bcWT
They simply uploaded their pho-
tos or videos and became famous
bcPabcdSSTSRPbc with their meme characters.
^U;T^]PaS^ Who would have thought
3X2P_aX^1aPS that a young girl from East Delhi,
who is nowhere close to what a
?Xcc<PaV^c singer would be like, could be
A^QQXTP]S0[ such a huge sensation and pock-
?PRX]^X] et millions? Or take the young-
CPaP]cX]^³b ster in the US, who made millions
]X]cWUTPcdaT by just saying three magical
words, “Cash me out.” Here we
UX[\ take a look at the four biggest
0\TaXRP] internet sensations, who became
7^dbTfXUT famous by chance
PRc^a9d[XP
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7^fTeTacWTSTcPX[b being a web sensation after his
^U<PabST]³P]S video of singing his grandfather
1dccTab³RWPaPRcTab Hank Williams’ tune Lovesick
Blues (recorded very nearly 70
PaT]^cZ]^f]hTc years earlier) in a Walmart store
CWT\^eXTXbQPbTS went viral on YouTube. The
^]cWT\daSTa^U energetic music kid, who aston-
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P]ScWaTT^cWTabPccWTWP]Sb^U breaking out into a stellar chat-
ter at a store in Harrisburg,
cWT<P]b^]UP\X[hRd[cCWTUX[\ ended up being a shinning inter-
fX[[aT[TPbT^]0dVdbc (]Tgc net star. Inside a few days he got
hTPaR^\\T\^aPcX]VcWT$cW 25 million+ views and became a
P]]XeTabPah^UcWT\daSTab viral meme.
Due to his new-found pop-
ularity Mason Ramsey also
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appeared on the Ellen DeGeneres
Show. After he became a
YouTube sensation, he was pro-
moted to the Coachella (a Valley
Music and Arts Festival) and
shared the stage with an
American DJ and music produc-
er from Chicago, DJ Whethan.
With a dream of showing up on
Grand Ole Orpy one day, the kid
signed his first record deal with
Atlantic Records and Big-Loud
Records and made his debut
song Famous entering at number
62 on the US Billboard 100.
B0<<H6A8=4A°C74
5>A<D;05>ABD224BB
You must be living under the
rock if you haven’t seen the pic-
ture of a boy clenching a fistful of
sand with a determined facial
expression. The picture, which is
probably the most popular meme
on the internet, is of Sammy
Griner. His mother Laney clicked
that picture when Sammy was just
11 months old and was playing on
the beach. The boy became a sym-
bol to demonstrate success that
made a person’s day. But the
story doesn’t end here.
Sammy Griner’s fame was
used again when he was 10 years
old to save his father’s life. His dad
fell sick and experienced kidney
failure and required kidney trans-
plant. The family set up a
GoFundMe page, a platform
which allows you to raise money
for life events. In a few days Griner
raised more than $100,000. He
said after his father’s treatment, “I
am happy my fame went for a
good cause and don’t want to go
viral again.”
30=84;;41A46>;8°
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A teenager, Danielle became
popular after she made an appear-
ance on Dr Phil (an American
tabloid talk show) with her moth-
er Barbara. On the show, the
mother revealed that she wanted
to hand over Danielle to the
authorities after she found her to
be a drug user and uploaded a
video of her attempting to hit her.
Barbara also said that her daugh-
ter had been stealing credit cards
and cash, even taking cars of oth-
ers for a “joyride.”
The 13-year-old told the
audience boldly, “Cash me ous-
side”, a phrase that transformed
into a music recording by DJ
Suede. It entered the Billboard
Hot 100. The song led to a series
of funny dance videos on
YouTube and made Danielle
another sparkling star of the
Internet. Branding herself as a
rapper, she recorded her first
music video These Heaux pro-
duced by an American Grammy-
nominated singer Brittany B.
Furthermore, the song entered
the US Billboard Hot 100 chart
at number 77 in 2017 making
Danielle the third youngest artist
of all time to make it to the chart
on Hot 100. The success of her
song encouraged Atlantic
Records to sign a multi-album
recording contract. With more
than 4.5 million subscribers and
seven successful songs, Danielle
made it to the 2017 MTV movie
and TV Awards in Trending cat-
egory and Billboard music
awards nominations.
?>>90908=° 378=270:
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The swagger girl turned out
to be a YouTube sensation after
her cringe music videos got viral
on social media. The self-
approved singer got famous with
her popular song Swag Wali Topi
which she uploaded and shared
on several social media accounts.
The precise next tune of her Selfie
Maine Leli Aaj ran uncommon-
ly popular with more than 35
million views and marked her
cringe pop genre in the history
of social media.
Not just popularity but cash
also flew her way. Her YouTube
channel revenue was above C50
lakh as per reports. But the
question is where she spent that
much money? Instead of making
new “out of the world songs” she
started making Vlogs and
travelling around the world like
other YouTubers. Her latest Vlog
shares the experience she had
in Dubai.
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hen you talk of technology,

W phones, WhatsApp and educa-

tion in the same breath, it is often
to discuss the debilitating effects of the first
three on the last one. But in a three-year
remote-monitoring project run by Amrita
Vishwa Vidyapeetham at 18 study centres
called Amrita rural education centres and
government schools in Uttarakhand’s
Rudraprayag and Uttarkashi districts, the
idea has been turned on its head.
The implementation of two simple,
accessible technologies — Android tablets
and monitoring apps such as eAttendance
and WhatsApp — has reduced absenteeism
in schools in rural areas, increased teach-
ers’ effectiveness and improved student per-
formance. The technology-enhanced
model for learning and teacher monitor-
ing was envisioned by Sri Mata
Amritanandamayi Devi, chancellor, Amrita
Vishwa Vidyapeetham, to improve student
performance in rural areas.
Constant availability of facilitator and
learning anytime anywhere has made
social media a new and convenient tool for
learning activities. Though there is no sig-
nificant difference between gain of knowl-
edge online or didactic lectures, advantages
(technical, educational or instructional) out
pars the disadvantages.
Monitoring school teachers is challeng-
ing, particularly in remote, rural areas that
lack infrastructure and resources. Methods
like maintaining attendance registers or
physical inspections have not proven to be
very effective and teacher and student
absenteeism remains high in the Indian
hinterland. Said Dr Prema Nedungadi,
director, Amrita Centre of Research in
Analytics & Technologies for Education,
“Teacher and student absenteeism is a big
challenge in public schooling. Studies
show that in many places in India, there is
a high teacher-absenteeism rate, estimat-
ed to be as high as 42 per cent in places like
Jharkhand. Our remote monitoring project
in Uttarakhand gives us an innovative way
to solve this problem. Android tablets,
loaded with apps to gather and send data,
along with WhatsApp, form a user-friend-
ly platform to get real-time data about the
teachers’ activity at the study centre and
eliminate both teacher and student absen-
teeism. These inexpensive, readily available
tools can help remotely monitor teachers
and classrooms, substantially improving
outcomes.”
As part of the programme, teachers at
the participating study centres have been
given tablets with a 2G SIM card for online
connectivity. Students are given tablets with
educational content, which can connect to
the teachers’ tablets through bluetooth. The
teachers’ tablets have WhatsApp installed
as well as a couple of apps for attendance
and teacher training to act as classroom
monitoring tools. The study centre works
in close collaboration with teachers at the
local government schools, exchanging
notes on student improvement and atten-
dance. In many cases, this monitoring of
students indirectly corrects the teacher
absenteeism in the local schools as well.
“Cluster coordinators” monitor educa-
tional activities for a cluster of four to five
villages. They periodically conduct surprise
visits to centres for physical inspection, dis-
tribute tablets for WhatsApp communica-
tion to each centre, collect information
from each teacher and take decisions. Five
such cluster coordinators report to a cen-
tral coordinator. Teachers use the apps to
send daily attendance reports of students
along with performance reports. They take
a time-stamped photograph of them-
selves, along with their students, at the
beginning and end of each class and send
C74DB4>5CF> these to cluster coordinators using
B8<?;4 WhatsApp. Teachers also keep a record of
what was taught in the class each day.
0224BB81;4 Photos and records can be logged every day
for every class to keep track of teacher
C427=>;>684B¯ attendance and accomplishments. As data
sent by one teacher is visible to all others
0=3A>83C01;4CB in the group, there is peer pressure to per-
0=3<>=8C>A8=6 form.
Assessments taken by the study cen-
0??BBD270B4 tres along with student grades from local
government schools are also sent to coor-
0CC4=30=240=3 dinators. When any centre needs some
learning material for the class, it is made
F70CB0??¯70B available to teachers through a virtual plat-
A43D243 form for download on tablets. The coor-
dinators can also watch videos of how indi-
01B4=C448B<8= vidual teachers enunciate a concept and
then provide supportive feedback.
B27>>;B Creating and conducting tests, gather-
ing the data and measuring improvement
8=2A40B43 involves continuous monitoring and sup-
C40274AB³
port from the central monitoring team
through social media. Extra-curricular
45542C8E4=4BB activities are also implemented in local
schools by teachers and tracked through
0=38<?A>E43 chats by the coordinators.
Improvements in reading, writing,
:=>F;4364 mathematics and science among students
A4B>DA24B
are measured through weekly and quarter-
ly assessments. This approach has result-
ed in increased teacher and student atten- room activities, teacher attendance gets
dance, as well as improvements in lessons automatically tracked as teachers send mul-
and other educational activities. Attendance
and assessment reports of students are
tiple reports daily. As achievement at each
centre is acknowledged to the entire group,
analysed by the central coordinators and
feedback provided to the centres on the list
teachers have reported an increase in
motivation.
of children who are at risk of dropping out
and failing.
Added Dr Nedungadi, “Of the teach-
ers interviewed, 96 per cent commented on
Said Dr Nedungadi, “With this the improvement in their own teaching
approach, significant improvements have
been seen among students in studies. For
strategies, such as small group instruction
and periodic assessments. And feedback
example, at Uddalka in Uttarakhand, only
24.8 per cent of class III students could do
from local schools shows that there is 82
per cent improvement in student grades.
math at grade level in an assessment con-
ducted in February 2016. In September
Teachers who were once isolated in a small
region in remote and rural India are now
2017, as many as 75.3 per cent of students able to communicate with teachers in other
could complete math assessments at grade
level, showing a big leap in student out-
villages. Occasional face-to-face training is
supplemented by ongoing mentoring using
comes in math.”
The approach provides substantial
tablet technology. Cluster coordinators
keep the central coordinators informed.
benefits to teachers by supporting their
training as well as sharing of content and
This data is cross verified with the teacher
chat data and information from apps to
experiences. The central coordinator helps determine the authenticity of teacher
plan lessons, sends lesson plans and short reports.”
instructional videos and provides feedback The success of this remote monitoring
on teaching and learning in the classroom
after watching class videos. The fact that
project shows that multiple low-cost chan-
nels for rural classroom monitoring that
teachers play a critical, active role in
monitoring, combined with the accessible,
include customised apps, social media such
as WhatsApp, along with periodic field vis-
tailored in-service benefits they receive, its, can help enforce accuracy in reporting
contribute to a sense of empowerment. and accountability, empower teachers and
Though the monitoring is for entire class- improve the quality of education.

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t is a common belief in Indian cul-

I ture that pilgrimage or tirtha as

they call in Hindi is a great reli-
gious endeavour, is essential for the
true devotees of God and that it helps
soul in liberation from the past sins.
Many devout people undertake pil-
grimages to holy places hoping that
the visit will fill them with inner
power or cleanse them of their sins.
Even the old and infirm undergo
hardships to visit such places, many
of which are in areas that are hard to
access even in good weather.
The original purpose of pilgrim-
age is to live in spiritually refined and
sacred environment of the places
where great rishis and saints had per-
formed long-term sadhanas to awak-
en divine sentiments. That’s one rea-
son why on a pilgrimage, most peo-
ple abstain from certain foods and
sensual indulgences. this is a fact that no one would com- they fail to understand a fact that such souls as well as the Supreme Soul. It Father, the Supreme Soul, who lives when performed even for a short other material resources or physical
People who go on a pilgrimage pletely deny, because once they are kind of transformation takes place is a region of eternal peace and puri- there. When the soul establishes this while daily, gradually makes the soul strain. In fact, it can be performed in
have a desire to get some religious back from the pilgrimage, people only in the soul and cannot be ty from where all souls come down link of love with its home and Father, strong enough to resist all that is the comfort of one’s home, any time
experience from which they hope to resume their old ways of living and brought about by a physical exercise to this planet to play their roles in this the qualities of peace, purity, love and harmful to its well-being. It also gets one likes and for as long as one wants.
benefit either in terms of getting rid any uplifting or elevated experience of going on a pilgrimage. We must world. The practice by which the soul power begin to flow into it. This rid of vices that give it sorrow. It is And above all, at the end of it, one
of their sins or finding more peace or that they have had on pilgrimage, understand that a subtle transforma- journeys to that abode is called unique experience nourishes the then able to go through life in a state does not return exhausted but
having other wishes fulfilled. But remains just a temporary experience tion requires spiritual effort, and for Rajyoga. One must understand that soul, empowers it and cleanses it of of peace and happiness, enriching refreshed. So what are you waiting
rarely does it bring about a perma- that may, at the most, be cherished that the soul has to travel to the holi- the soul itself does not travel there, all the impurities that it has acquired itself and others with positivity. for? Let’s embark on this wonderful
nent change in their life or in their by them all their life. Thus, it does not est of abodes which is called the soul but goes there by a thought, by by coming under negative influ- Remember, this journey does not journey of self-transformation and get
way of thinking or behaviour. And elevate their consciousness because world — which is the home of all remembering that abode and its ences of this world. This journey, require any money, prior bookings, empowered from within.

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orld Cup’s Group B has
W attracted much interest and
deservedly so — this being the
group where two of the four contenders
have won three European titles between
them from 2008 to 2016: Spain in 2008
and 2012 and Portugal — the reigning
Champions since 2016. A battle between
the two, which will be the 36th Iberian
derby, shall mark the highlight of the
group's fixtures but only after the other
two teams — Morocco and Iran — kick-
off their World Cup campaign against
each other. Morocco are back in the
World Cup after their third appearance
20 years ago while Iran's fifth partici-
pation in the tournament also marks
their involvement in two consecutive
World Cups for the first time.
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After chiming in a European
Championship to their trophy cabinet
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fter finally breaking through with
A its first major title at the European
Championship two years ago, Portugal
will use the same formula at the World
Cup.
The European champions will
travel to Russia with many of the play-
ers from the squad that won Euro
2016, including Cristiano Ronaldo,
and it will also carry the same low-key
mentality it had when it succeeded in
France.
"We are fully aware that we are not
the favorites," Portugal coach Fernando
Santos said. "History shows it, as do all
the titles of the other teams that will
be playing at the World Cup. Before
the European Championship I also
didn't believe we were the favorites."
Santos said Portugal can be con-
sidered a "candidate" for the title but
it still shouldn't be included among the
top contenders despite being European
champions.
"We have the same three or four
teams that were favorites in the
European Championship - Germany,
Spain, France - and now we add Brazil
and Argentina. These teams are the
favorites, then there is a group of can-
didates in which we can naturally
include Portugal," he told Portuguese
television channel RTP.
Portugal won its first major title in
2016 - after coming close a few other
times in the Ronaldo era - by avoid-
ing all those traditional favorites until
the final against host France, when it
won in extra time. It played Hungary,
Iceland and Austria in the group
stage, then faced Croatia, Poland and
Wales in the knockout matches.
Santos said this time he can make
the same type of promise he made to
two years ago, the Portuguese have clear-
ly shirked off the disappointing brand
of being the dark horses at major inter-
national events. Complacency in Russia
will be the death for this team, and there-
fore a policy best left unattended —
which is why head coach Fernando
Santos will need to come up with a rem-
edy to fill up the cracks. The team's
defence, with an ageing Pepe cutting a
solitary figure (in terms of a fearsome
reputation) at the centre of it, can use
some of that.
The offensive front, on the other
hand, has little worries with Cristiano
Ronaldo leading the lot and Bernardo
Silva and Andre Silva expected to get
involved in creative displays. Moreover,
Ricardo Quaresma, who is likely to be
summoned off the bench, might have
lost a bit of pace in recent years, but the
outlandish magic on his feet remains
intact.
MOTION PICTURE
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the Portuguese people before the
European Championship.
"We will give our best and we will
be a contender to win every match,"
he said. "I have the same confidence
in my players and in my team that I
had before the European
Championship. We will have the same
goal now that we had then."
Nine of the players who started in
the final against France are back with
the World Cup team, with the only
absences being veteran forward Nani
0B?0B?DCB78B=0<48=C74
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The best way to sum up La Roja's
chances this summer in Russia would
be to simply quote that they look like
themselves again. There were doubts —
of humongous proportions — when
Spain, the defending champions after
attaining catharsis in South Africa,
were toppled out of the World Cup in
Brazil at the group stage. Further mis-
ery followed after Italy drove them out
of the 2016 Euro Championship — the
tournament which their first group
rivals in Russia eventually won.
But then on came Julen Lopetegui,
picking up the pieces and composing
from the fragments a new poetry. The
theme, nevertheless, appears familiar,
bringing its own dosage of nostalgia
from eight years ago: the Ramos-Pique
confluence at the heart of the defence
and Andres Iniesta and Sergio Busquets
and young midfielder Renato Sanches.
In total, 13 players from the Euro
2016 squad will be in Russia. Among
those not going to Russia are Ricardo
Carvalho, Andre Gomes and Eder,
who scored the title-winning goal in
the extra time against the hosts.
"It hurts not to be able to include
all the players who were with us in the
European Championship," said Santos,
who opted to add a few younger play-
ers to the World Cup squad. "All of
them helped us write a brilliant page
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at the heart of the entire formation.
Moreover, there is another piece that
floats perfectly in Spain’s fluidity and
can become their hero this year — Isco.
The only disturbing note is the lack of
a natural striker up ahead, with the likes
of David Villa and Fernando Torres no
more available to sneak past defences —
a worrying aspect that could prove to
be the grain in the shoe for Spain beyond
the group stage.
<>A>22>
Coach Herve Renard has struck
the right chords in the Morocco
national team — instigating the
emotions of a group frustrated by their
failures and channeling them into a
spirit befitting of warriors. Renard's
side conceded only a single goal in
their World Cup qualifying campaign
and now have passionate stars in their
ranks in the form of Ajax's Hakim
0?
in the history of Portuguese football."
The team was drawn into Group
B at the World Cup, along with
Morocco, Iran and Iberian rival Spain.
Portugal's opener will be against the
Spaniards on June 15 in Sochi in one
of the most anticipated matches of the
tournament.
"It will be the game between the
favorite and the candidate," Santos said.
"We will need to be very careful in this
group, but if Portugal doesn't advance
it will be disappointing.
Ziyech and a 19-year old Achraf
Hakimi, who at Real Madrid has been
under the watchful eye of Zinedine
Zidane.
8A0=
Despite doubts in central defence
with Jalal Hosseini being dropped and
the team struggling to find an efficient
defensive partnership, Iran look stronger
than they did in Brazil four years ago.
Their key strength depends on the form
of players like Alireza Jahanbakhsh and
Sardar Azmoun. The latter, in particu-
lar, will be closely watched after being
dubbed as the 'Iranian Messi' and can
prove to be a crucial factor in Iran's fin-
ish at group stage, with number three
being the realistic aim for Carlos
Queiroz's men. A future beyond that
seems highly questionable, considering
that the top two slots will be gobbled up
by the Iberian nations.
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e made his senior international debut in the year 2015. He has

H represented Brazil in U-17 and U-21 levels after which he was
called by the squad manager Dunga for the first two matches of the
2018 World Cup qualification campaign against Chile and Venezuela.
=^cb^QaX[[XP]c^aP]VT
Alisson completed 90 mins in a World Cup friendly against Croatia at
Anfield which Brazil won 2-0. He is very strong in saving close range
shots with his fast reflexes. His long passing abilities can be seen in
PR[^dSTSPidaTP]ScWT
matches, and he also comes off his line very often. Brazil’s number one
received coaching from childhood hero Claudio Taffarel, a veteran
who has gone through three World Cups. Alisson also drew
³RWX[X´cWPc[^bcXcbWTPc
inspiration from older brother Muriel who was a keeper for Brazilian
club Internacional. He even followed Muriel there, collecting a 8C0;H
hundred caps and winning the Campeonato Gaucho at each of his CWXbfPbcWTUXabccX\TU^a8cP[h]^cc^
four season there before he was ultimately signed by Italian Serie A \PZTXcX]cWT5850F^a[S2d_CWT"
side Roma for 7.5 million euros. During the last season, Alisson [^bbX]<PSaXSfPbPSaP\PcXR
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D Russia without their sweeper-keeper — his recursive

fractures furrowing German brows, until a stem-cell based
his national team just like he has been for Jose
Mourinho’s Manchester United in the English Premier
League last season where the tall, lanky Spaniard
treatment got Manuel Neuer back on course to be able to join made the fifth most saves in the League and equalled
the fray this summer. Winner of the Golden Glove in 2014 as his
a record for most saves in a match — 14 — in
country won the World Cup, Neuer has been touted by many as December. He has also contributed with precision
the best goalkeeper in the world today. His prowess does not stay kicks which assume the role od assists for his
restricted close to the goal posts as he usually wanders forward teammates up ahead in the offensive. De Gea is
to thwart the opponent’s cheeky attempts of sneaking in a known in particular for his outstanding reflexes,
through ball past the German defence, in which case, the six-feet
agility, and shot-stopping ability between the posts
four- inch Neuer will always have the upper hand to gain along with acrobatic dives and excellent saves. He got
advantage on the intruding ball. The 32-year old has an excellent selected in Spain's 30-man provisional squad for the
sense of positioning himself to defend the goal-line even under 2014 FIFA World Cup and later made the final squad
nerve-wrecking pressure. His built and stature further allows but was not featured in any of the games. However,
him to block even the most perfectly placed shots sent rocketing this year has been his in almost every sense and in
through the air with all intent to damage.
Russia, he can prove to be the heir of Iker Casillas.
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Bleus earn a spot in the 2010 FIFA summer of 2014 earned him a Brazil. Courtois managed to keep a total of
World Cup finals, 31-year old Hugo six clean shees out of ten matches through
Lloris is the captain of both the English
move to vjoined Real Madrid F0;4B
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the French national team. He is often World Cup in 2014 was also the first time in 16 years. Courtois has ]PZXRZX]cWT2WP\_X^]b;TPVdT
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group stage against Uruguay, cWTF^a[S2d_CWTcTP\fPbX]PbcP
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made his debut for France in a single goal across the three Group recentremarks upon him have been critical TabX]R[dSX]V1P[TfTaTbWPS^fTS
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against Uruguay. He the tournament with three clean Messi in the Champions c^QTUPcP[U^acWTFT[bWbXSTfW^
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0?Q ?0A8B than doing so against this particular So that's what Thiem tried. He his visit from the doctor, Nadal was back
opponent at the French Open, where pounded huge serves, topping 135 mph to playing his unmistakable brand of
s Rafael Nadal and Dominic Nadal is now 11-0 in finals and 86-2 over- (220 kph) - about 25 mph (40 kph) more nearly unbeatable clay-court tennis.

A Thiem warmed up before the

French Open final, the booming
voice of an announcer at Court Philippe
Chatrier called out each player's bona
fides.
Nadal's introduction included a year-
by-year accounting of every time he'd
already won the title at Roland Garros.
The crowd responded, initially offering
polite applause, then adding their voic-
es, rising into a full-throated roar.
Go ahead and 2018 to the lengthy list.
Nadal won his record-extending 11th
championship at the French Open on
Sunday, overcoming a late problem with
a finger on his racket-swinging hand and
displaying his foe-rattling best for a 6-4,
6-3, 6-2 victory over No 7 seed Thiem,
the only person to beat the Spaniard on
clay over the past two seasons.
Up a break at 2-1 in the third set,
Nadal stopped serving after a fault
because he couldn't straighten his left
middle finger. At the following
changeover, Nadal was given a salt pill by
a doctor and had his left forearm mas-
saged by a trainer.
"Tough moment in the third set
when I got a little bit cramped on the
hand," Nadal said. "I was very scared."
Nadal's form never wavered, though,
and soon enough he was celebrating his
17th Grand Slam title overall, second
among men only to Roger Federer's 20.
The two stars have combined to win the
past six majors.
The victory also allowed the 32-year-
old Nadal to hold onto the No 1 ranking,
just ahead of Federer.
Nadal called it "not even a dream" to
gather 11 titles in Paris, saying it was
"impossible to think of something like
this."
Thiem, a 24-year-old from Austria,
was appearing in a major final for the first
time. Not much more of a daunting task
all. The only losses came against Robin
Soderling in the fourth round in 2009
and Novak Djokovic in the quarterfinals
in 2015.
"What you did and what you are
doing," Thiem told Nadal during the tro-
phy ceremony, "is one of the most out-
standing things that any athlete is doing
in any sport."
If there were any reason for a bit of
intrigue entering Sunday's match, it was
this: Thiem beat Nadal in two sets on red
clay at Rome in May 2017 and again at
Madrid last month.
cX\Tb5aT]RW>_T]fX]]TaB_PX]bAPUPT[=PSP[
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"I am sure you will win here in the
next couple of years," Nadal told Thiem
afterward.
Nadal is so dominant and so imper-
vious on clay, in general, and at this tour-
nament, especially, it made sense for
Thiem to go for broke as much as pos-
sible, accepting that there would be
risks along with the rewards. If standard
play would likely lead to a loss, why not B_PX]bAPUPT[=PSP[W^[SbcWTca^_WhPbWTRT[TQaPcTbfX]]X]VcWT\T]bUX]P[\PcRWPccWTA^[P]S6Paa^b
try for the spectacular, instead?
than Nadal's fastest - and that translat-
ed into seven aces, but also five double-
faults. He attempted drop shots; some
worked, some didn't. And he took the
biggest of big cuts on his groundstrokes,
his feet leaving the ground as he threw
his whole body into them, as if the very
outcome of the match - not any individ-
ual point, but the whole shebang -
depended on the strength of that one
whip of his white racket. That led to 34
winners (eight more than Nadal), but also
42 unforced errors (18 more than Nadal).
It worked. For a bit.
Thiem stayed with Nadal in the
early going on a cloudy and steamy after-
noon; the temperature was 77 degrees (24
Celsius), the humidity approached 70
percent. Midway through the opening set,
Nadal's aqua T-shirt was so soaked with
sweat it stuck to him, so he changed into
a fresh one at a changeover, drawing cat-
calls from spectators.
From 4-all, 15-all in the opening set,
Thiem faltered. After Nadal held there for
5-4, Thiem basically handed over the next
game - and the set - by making four mis-
takes in a row. A volley into the net. A
forehand wide. A forehand into the net.
A forehand long. Just like that, Nadal was
off on a five-game run that put him up
3-0 in the second set.
Soon, Nadal was finding his spots.
0? One down-the-line forehand winner
landed right at the baseline and Thiem's
shoulders sagged as he muttered to him-
self. Another forehand winner from
Nadal followed, and this time Thiem
looked up toward his coach and yelled.
The conditions might have con-
tributed to the cramping that affected
Nadal about two hours into the final. His
finger bent awkwardly and he pulled at
it. He removed the taping from his left
forearm, and maybe that let the blood
bcPSXd\X]?PaXb^]Bd]SPh 0? flow better. After guzzling water during
<07DC74A14ACF8=
Once again, Nicolas Mahut fell on his
back on the red clay of Roland Garros.
This time it was to celebrate a joyful
moment, and not because his doubles
partner Pierre-Hugues Herbert knocked
him down the way he did two days ago
at the French Open.
Having recovered well from the inci-
dent, Mahut captured the French Open
title with Herbert on Saturday by defeat-
ing Oliver Marach and Mate Pavic 6-2,
7-6 (4) in the final.
During Thursday's semifinals, Mahut
was accidentally hit in the left temple by
a ball from Herbert. Mahut left the court
for a little while to recover, and managed
to advance to the final with his fellow
Frenchman.
"You can't imagine how happy I
am," said Mahut, who lost in the final five
years ago to the Bryan brothers when
playing with Michael Llodra. "Five years
ago it was so difficult I could not talk, I
did not know if I would get another
chance."
With their Davis Cup captain
Yannick Noah in the stands, Herbert and
Mahut claimed their third Grand Slam
title after saving six of seven break
points.
As the only local players to win a title,
their victory was celebrated by French
Open spectators, who rendered France's
national anthem, La Marseillaise, a cap-
pella.
Mahut and Herbert, who also won
the US Open and Wimbledon together,
became just the third all-French team in
the Open era to win Roland Garros.
Marach and Pavic, an Austria-Croatia
combination, were trying to win their
second Grand Slam title of the season
after claiming their first major title at the
Australian Open.

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?C8Q <D<108 half was their custodian Gurpreet
Singh Sandhu, who ensured a clean
?C8Q =4F34;78
Iselfnspirational Indian captain Sunil
Chhetri scored a brace to put him-
on par with Lionel Messi and lead
sheet with some of his diving and
breath-taking saves.
In the 46th minute came Kenya's ormer Australia captain
the home side to Intercontinental Cup
title triumph with a 2-0 win over Kenya
best chance when Ovella Ochieng
took a shot from a distance but
F Ian Chappell feels that
India have the best opportu-
in the summit clash here on Sunday. Gurpreet made a diving save and the nity to win the five Test
Playing in his 102nd internation- rebound went over the bar. series against England,
al match, Chhetri struck in the eighth Chances kept coming for Kenya, exposing the multiple chinks
and 29th minutes to hand a dominant but they were not able to convert them. in the home team's armoury.
India the trophy to the wild celebration In the 60th minute, Ochieng launched "There's a rare opportu-
another long-ranger but Gurpreet nity beckoning for India - the
Football Arena here. came to the rescue as he pushed the ball chance to beat both England
The 33-year-old Chhetri's double back to be cleared by his defenders. and Australia in away Test
strike capped a brilliant tournament Whenever it looked like Kenya had series. England are in a state
which saw him score eight out of a chance, Gurpreet stood in their way. of flux after a devastating loss 8P]2WP__T[[X]PUX[T_XRcdaT
India's 11 goals and put him on par In the 76th minute, Ochieng hit from at Lord's and then a less-
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strikes for the country to be the joint 8]cTaR^]cX]T]cP[2d_UX]P[\PcRWX]<d\QPX^]Bd]SPh 0? India custodian palmed it away. the predictably inconsistent laudable but the early signs are
second highest international goal scor- The Indian defence, which was Pakistan at Headingley," that his offspin won't threaten
er among active players. by Pritam Kotal. The 20-year-old Kibwage before firing in a low left-foot- shaky in their 1-2 loss against New Chappell wrote in his col- an Indian team bred on facing
He had scored three against Thapa took the free-kick just outside er from inside the box which gave Zealand, was solid today as they kept umn. this type of bowler regularly. In
Chinese Taipei, two each against Kenya the box and Chhetri connected the ball absolutely no chance to keeper Patrick the Kenyan strikers at bay. Especially, Chappell listed a number one over at Headingley, Bess
in the league game and the final on into the left-corner of the net. Matasi. Holicharan Nazary and Sandesh of weaknesses in the England delivered more full tosses than
Sunday and one against New Zealand. The talismanic Indian captain Chhetri had a chance to make it 3- Jhingan were simply outstanding. line-up from Alastair Cook's R Ashwin offers up in a year,
Chhetri gave India the lead off a doubled the lead just before the half- 0 and score another hat-trick but he India were back as a full strength side performance suffering due to a prospect that players like
set-piece, assisted by Anirudh Thapa. hour mark. Anas Edathodika lofted the shot over the bar off a free-kick in the for the final after the head coach not having a stable Virat Kohli and M
Kenyan defender Bernard Oginga ball to Chhetri who controlled the ball 43rd minute. At the half-way stage, Stephen Constantine effected seven opening partner to Vijay should be rel-
2WP__T[[
gave away a silly free-kick to India for nicely on his chest between Kenyan India were 2-0 ahead. changes in the last league game against predictability in [XbcTSP ishing."
a high-boot on Chhetri after throw in defenders Jockins Atudo and Micheal The star for India in the second Nwe Zealand. their pace attack Lack of variation
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top-order collapses _TaU^a\P]RT Jimmy Anderson in
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ain played spoilsport on Afghanistan's first practice session is not surprising X]Tg_TaXT]RT openers' batting,
I ndian women faced abject
humiliation after
R ahead of its historic Test debut against India as the minnows
were forced to wind up its nets 45 minutes ahead of the sched-
when both open-
ing positions are
England's other
major problem on the
Bangladesh beat the six- uled time, here on Sunday. under a cloud. If it weren't for tour of Australia and New
time champions by three Afghanistan team arrived at NCA on time and started prac- the fact that Alastair Cook's Zealand was that the pace
wickets to win their maiden tising from 2 PM but had to wind up its session at 4.15 PM fol- numerous partners have been attack comprised all right-
Asia Cup trophy here on lowing a heavy downpour. under intense scrutiny, Cook arm bowlers of similar speed.
Rain threat also looms large over the match starting on June himself would be in jeop- "Their inability to unearth
The tournament turned 14 as weathermen had forecast wet conditions during one or two ardy," Chappell wrote. a genuine pace bowler is a
days. "Two classic Cook double- greater problem when they are
Afghanistan players looked in good shape as they batted and centuries can't mask the fact overseas, but if the late UK
Blue' as they lost to the bowled in the presence of their support staff led by coach Phil that in his last 29 Test innings summer is hot and dry, they
minnows twice inside a Simmons. - a period of 12 months - he will also need someone who
week. The batsmen, including Ashgar Stanikzai, Mohammad has had 19 scores under 20, can shake things up on home
Needing two off the last 1P]V[PSTbWXf^\T]bRT[TQaPcTPUcTaR[X]RWX]VF^\T]b0bXP2d_PUcTa Shazad, Mohammad Nabi and Rahmat Shah, who all have scored including ten single-figure dis- pitches in an attempt to dra-
delivery of the match, QTPcX]V8]SXPX]UX]P[b^]Bd]SPh ?C8
first-class tons, had a good hit at the nets. missals. If an opener isn't matically change the course of
Jahanara Alam hit rival skip- agreed that the batters let the Harmanpreet's innings, Afghan bowlers, especially spinners Rashid Khan and making centuries regularly a game," Chappell opined.
per Harmanpreet Kaur team down. India who had slumped to Mujeeb ur Rahman also swung their arms in the net. then he has to ensure the "There is no doubt that the
towards deep mid-wicket "It was a pressure game 62 for 5, would have been Rashid, who is numero uno bowler in the world in T20 for- opposition doesn't get at the swing bowling of Jimmy
and scampered home for a and we have to control our shot out for less than 100. mat, was at his best at nets by bamboozling batsmen as they failed middle order while the ball is Anderson will present the
double to chase down a nerves. We had to bat Chasing a modest total, to read his well-disguised googlies. still new. Too often Cook is Indian line-up with a serious
modest target of 113. according to the situation. spinners Poonam and Ekta On Saturday night, the 15-member Afghan squad had arrived doing neither," the legendary challenge, and if there's move-
For India, it was The batswomen did not Bisht (0/13 in 4 overs) did at Kempe Gowda International Airport with their tails up after Aussie captain observed. ment off the seam, Stuart
Harmanpreet (56 off 42 handle the nerves. Credit try to bring India back in the decimating Bangladesh 3-0 in a T20 International series in Talking about spinners, Broad will also be a handful.
balls, 2/19) and leg-spinner goes to Bangladesh. They match but middle-order Dehradun. Chappell wrote: "Smith's Nevertheless India have the
Poonam Yadav (4/9), who were excellent in all depart- batswomen Nigar Sultana In a mind game battle, Stanikzai has called his spinners - (Chairman of selectors Ed stronger batting line-up of the
put up a semblance of fight ments of the game," (27 off 24 balls) and Rashid, Mujeeb, Mohammad Nabi, Rahmat Shah and Zahir Khan Smith) other notable choice in two teams and their variety in
as a below-par batting effort Harmanpreet, who was Rumana Ahmed (23 off 22 - better than Indian tweakers. his selection debut was off- attack could help negate
once again became their adjudged Player of the balls) were the ones instru- Stanikzai is hopeful of a great show from his spinners in their spinner Dom Bess, an ener- England's middle-order
undoing. Tournament, said. mental in Bangladesh's suc- inaugural Test. The match will be played at the M Chinnaswamy getic and effervescent cricketer. strength if the openers con-
India skipper Kaur Had it not been for cessful chase. Stadium from June 14 to 18. "His batting and desire to tinue to fail."