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I n a landmark judgment, the Supreme Court has paved the way for “passive euthanasia” by allowing withdrawal of life support to a patient if s/he slips into irreversible coma. The doctors treating such a patient will withdraw medical sup- port provided the patient has left behind a “living will” for pulling the “plug” in such sit- uations. The Friday judgment of the five-judge Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court will be in operation till Parliament enacts a suitable law. While right to take one’s life is not recognised under the right to live enshrined in Article 21 of the Constitution, by this judgment the apex court has also said that in the absence of a “living will” by the patient, the family can request the hospitals treating him to constitute a medical board to determine on withdrawal of life support in case of irreversible coma. The judgment came on a PIL filed by NGO Common Cause and was argued by noted lawyer Prashant Bhushan. So far, pulling the plug on a terminally-ill patient posed a grave moral and ethical dilem- ma to the family as also to the treating doctor and hospital who ran the risk of criminal prosecution for abetting mur- der. Realising this, the Bench said that the “living will” must be an informed consent by an adult while in a sound state of mind before a Judicial Magistrate of First Class and in the presence of two indepen- dent witnesses who will attest. The said instruction will unam- biguously indicate when med- ical treatment is to be with- drawn and even name a guardian or close relative who will execute the said “will” in the event the patient slips into coma or persistent vegetative state (PVS). A copy of the will shall be restored in the office of the Judicial Magistrate and the local municipality or panchayat. The decision, given by the Bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra, Justices AK Sikri, AM Khanwilkar, DY Chandrachud and Ashok Bhushan, said, “The right to live with dignity (a component of right to life and liberty under Article 21) also includes the smoothening of the process of dying in case of a terminally-ill patient or a per- son in PVS with no hope of recovery. A failure to recognise advance medical directives (or living will) may amount to non-facilitation of the right to smoothen the dying process and the right to live with dig- nity.” When the living will or medical directive is produced by the family to the treating doctor, the hospital shall con- stitute a Medical Board of three doctors of minimum 20 years standing to examine the patient and the feasibility of executing the “living will”. Their preliminary opinion will be forwarded to the District Collector who will constitute another Medical Board head- ed by Chief Medical Officer of the district and three other doc- tors. The Board will visit the patient and give its view on the opinion of the first medical board. If both the boards concur, the Collector will communicate the decision to the Judicial Magistrate, who will issue orders to execute the living will. However, in case of difference of opinion or rejection by the Medical Board on account of ambiguity in the advanced directive, the family or Continued on Page 4 D isregarding warnings, President Donald Trump has signed two proclamations, slapping import duties on steel and aluminium, and held out the possibility of imposing a “reciprocal tax” on countries such as India and China “at some point”. Trump exempted US neighbours Canada and Mexico from his controversial tariffs order in the light of talks to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). He left open the possibility of exempt- ing some other countries that he did not immediately identi- fy except for Australia. The tar- iffs, signed on Thursday, will come into force in 15 days. Trump, who has been irked by India’s 50 per cent duty on America’s Harley-Davidson motorcycles, brought up the “reciprocal tax” issue after reading out a tweet from Tesla founder Elon Musk, who point- ed to China charging 25 per cent import duty on an American car as against the US charging just 2.5 per cent on a Chinese car. “So we send our car over there, pay 25 per cent. They send their car over here, 2.5 per cent ...It has to change,” Trump said, adding: “We’re going to be doing a reciprocal tax pro- gramme at some point. If China is going to charge us 25 per cent or if India is going to charge us 75 per cent and we charge them nothing, if they’re at 50 or they’re at 75 or they’re at 25, we’re going to be at those same numbers.” “It’s called reciprocal, it’s a mirror tax. So they charge us 50, we charge them 50. Right now they’ll charge us 50, we charge them nothing,” he said with reference to Harleys sold in India and Indian motorcy- cles sold in US, adding: “Doesn’t work. So that’s called a reciprocal tax or mirror tax. We’re going to be doing a lot of that.” Trump sought to defend his tariffs push not only in terms of protecting American workers and industry, but also from the standpoint of nation- al security. “A strong steel and aluminum industry are vital to our national security. You don’t have steel, you don’t have a country,” he said. Continued on Page 4 A fter maintaining that it was not aware how Canada-based convicted Khalistani terrorist Jaspal Atwal had got a visa to enter India, in a bizarre twist of events the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Friday said Atwal was given a valid visa for entry to India and his entry was allowed keeping in line with Government’s outreach policy towards misguided elements who have in the past har- boured anti-India sentiments. Atwal had travelled to India thrice in the past one year, The MEA also said. The dinner invitation to Atwal by the Canadian author- ities during the visit of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had caused a major uproar. When the controversy had first erupt- ed, the MEA had said it was not aware how he was granted a visa. However, on Friday, MEA said India has nothing against him as of now to prohibit his entry. “This was not his first visit to India. He has visited India on earlier occasions since January 2017. The Government of India has a conscious policy of out- reach to the Indian diaspora, including misguided elements who in the past may have har- boured anti-India sentiments which they have since renounced. There are well established procedures for grant of visa to foreign travellers which have been followed in this case as well,” MEA Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said while responding to queries on how Atwal got a visa. Atwal’s presence at the events of Trudeau during his visit to India last month result- ed in a lot of criticism by both Canadian and Indian media. As a result the Canadian High Commissioner to India, Nadir Patel, had to cancel the invita- tion issued to Atwal for the reception he had hosted in the honour of Trudeau. Atwal later said he was a friend of Trudeau and had voluntarily bowed out of the reception. Later, Trudeau’s office gave a new spin to Atwal’s presence by saying rogue elements in India had planted Atwal in his events to embarrass him. Prior to his conviction, Atwal was associat- ed with banned terrorist group —International Sikh Youth Federation . He was sentenced 20 years in prison for an attempt to assassinate Punjab Minister Malkiat Singh Sidhu in Vancouver in 1986. He had completed his 20 years of sen- tence in a Canadian prison for his act. Continued on Page 4 I n a freak accident, a 17-year- old boy accidentally pulled the trigger of a loaded pistol while taking selfie, killing his 23-year-old cousin in Southeast Delhi’s Sarita Vihar area on Thursday evening. According to police, the deceased has been identified as Prashant Chauhan, 23, who was working as a teacher in a Government school on con- tractual basis. A native of Baghpat in Uttar Pradesh, Prashant recent- ly shifted to Delhi and started living in Shahdara after he got the job, said police, adding that as his maternal uncle lived in Sarita Vihar, the deceased often used to visit him. “We received information on Thursday from Apollo Hospital regarding a boy sus- taining a gunshot injury,” said Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), Southeast district Chinmoy Biswal. “On further enquiry, the pistol belonged to the minor’s father, Pramod Chauhan, a property dealer, who was out at work at the time of the inci- dent,” said Biswal. Police said on hearing the gunshot, family members rushed and found Prashant lying in a pool of blood. They immediately took Prashant to Apollo where he was declared brought dead. The bullet pierced through his chest. The DCP said, “We have registered a case under relevant Sections of the IPC and Arms Act.” “We have apprehended the minor boy on Friday. We will also investigate the negligence on the part of the father and have seized the pistol, the lead and the empty shell,” added Biswal. “On the fateful day, Prashant had to attend a distant relative’s wedding and came to his uncle’s house,” said a rela- tive of Prashant. In 2017, there have been several instances where people were killed while taking selfies on the railway tracks. In October last year, a teenager last seen taking a selfie on rail- way tracks died after being run over by a train near the Welcome railway station in Northeast Delhi. Police suspect he was walking along the tracks with earphones on and did not hear the train coming. The victim, Arbaz, 18, studied at a Government school in the neighbourhood and had left home for tuition classes. His body was found next to the tracks on next day. Cops found a pair of ear- phones next to the body. They suspect his mobile phone was stolen after the accident. GRP personnel said Arbaz was ear- lier seen stopping on the tracks to take a selfie. In 2016 in Ludhiana, a 15- year-old boy was killed while he accidentally pulled the trig- ger of his father’s revolver. The bullet stuck in the head of the minor boy who later suc- cumbed to injuries. F ormer Finance Minister P Chidambaram’s son Karti got interim protection from Delhi High Court from arrest by Enforcement Directorate till March 20, but the trial court extended his CBI custody by three more days in the INX Media bribery case. In trial court, Karti’s lawyer Abhishek Singhvi on Friday accused the CBI of harassing his client and playing all Continued on Page 4 A day after Hasin Jehan, the wife of fast bowler Muhammad Shami, met senior officers at Lal Bazar police head- quarters accusing her husband of domestic violence, adultery and trying to kill her, Jadavpur police station in South Kolkata on Friday lodged a formal FIR against the quickie and his fam- ily members under several Sections of the Indian Penal Code, saud sources, adding that “investigations have started”. Cases have been registered under Section 498A for cruel- ty by a husband and his rela- tives to his wife apart from Section 307 (IPC) — for attempt to murder, Section 323 (IPC) — causing voluntary hurt, Section 376 (IPC) - rape, Section 506 (IPC) — criminal intimidation,Section 328 (IPC) — causing hurt by means of poison and Section 34 (IPC) Continued on Page 4 I n a move that will bring some relief to family or group whose travelling plan got changed, the Indian Railways has allowed passengers to transfer their confirmed tick- et to another person or family member. The Railways has released guidelines for transfer- ring a confirmed ticket. As per the guidelines, Chief Reservation Supervisor of important stations are autho- rised by Railway Administration to permit the change of name of a passenger having a seat or berth reserved in his name. However, the per- son would need to make a writ- ten request 24 hours prior the scheduled departure for trans- ferring the confirmed ticket to another family member. Likewise, if the passenger is part of a marriage party then the confirmed ticket can be transferred to another person with a written request by an individual deemed to be the head of the group 24 hours before departure. Continued on Page 4

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In a landmark judgment, theSupreme Court has paved the

way for “passive euthanasia” byallowing withdrawal of lifesupport to a patient if s/he slipsinto irreversible coma. Thedoctors treating such a patientwill withdraw medical sup-port provided the patient hasleft behind a “living will” forpulling the “plug” in such sit-uations. The Friday judgmentof the five-judge ConstitutionBench of the Supreme Courtwill be in operation tillParliament enacts a suitablelaw.

While right to take one’slife is not recognised under theright to live enshrined inArticle 21 of the Constitution,by this judgment the apexcourt has also said that in theabsence of a “living will” by thepatient, the family can requestthe hospitals treating him toconstitute a medical board todetermine on withdrawal of lifesupport in case of irreversiblecoma.

The judgment came on aPIL filed by NGO CommonCause and was argued by notedlawyer Prashant Bhushan.

So far, pulling the plug ona terminally-ill patient posed agrave moral and ethical dilem-

ma to the family as also to thetreating doctor and hospitalwho ran the risk of criminalprosecution for abetting mur-der.

Realising this, the Benchsaid that the “living will” mustbe an informed consent by anadult while in a sound state ofmind before a JudicialMagistrate of First Class and inthe presence of two indepen-dent witnesses who will attest.The said instruction will unam-biguously indicate when med-ical treatment is to be with-drawn and even name aguardian or close relative who

will execute the said “will” inthe event the patient slips intocoma or persistent vegetativestate (PVS). A copy of the will shall be restored in theoffice of the Judicial Magistrateand the local municipality orpanchayat.

The decision, given by theBench of Chief Justice DipakMisra, Justices AK Sikri, AMKhanwilkar, DY Chandrachudand Ashok Bhushan, said, “Theright to live with dignity (acomponent of right to life andliberty under Article 21) alsoincludes the smoothening ofthe process of dying in case of

a terminally-ill patient or a per-son in PVS with no hope ofrecovery. A failure to recogniseadvance medical directives (orliving will) may amount tonon-facilitation of the right tosmoothen the dying processand the right to live with dig-nity.”

When the living will ormedical directive is producedby the family to the treatingdoctor, the hospital shall con-stitute a Medical Board ofthree doctors of minimum 20years standing to examine thepatient and the feasibility ofexecuting the “living will”.

Their preliminary opinion willbe forwarded to the DistrictCollector who will constituteanother Medical Board head-ed by Chief Medical Officer ofthe district and three other doc-tors. The Board will visit thepatient and give its view on theopinion of the first medicalboard.

If both the boards concur,the Collector will communicatethe decision to the JudicialMagistrate, who will issueorders to execute the living will.However, in case of differenceof opinion or rejection by theMedical Board on account of

ambiguity in the advanceddirective, the family or

Continued on Page 4

������ ����������� ��

Disregarding warnings,President Donald Trump

has signed two proclamations,slapping import duties on steeland aluminium, and held outthe possibility of imposing a“reciprocal tax” on countriessuch as India and China “atsome point”.

Trump exempted USneighbours Canada andMexico from his controversialtariffs order in the light of talksto renegotiate the NorthAmerican Free TradeAgreement (NAFTA). He leftopen the possibility of exempt-ing some other countries thathe did not immediately identi-fy except for Australia. The tar-iffs, signed on Thursday, willcome into force in 15 days.

Trump, who has beenirked by India’s 50 per cent dutyon America’s Harley-Davidsonmotorcycles, brought up the“reciprocal tax” issue afterreading out a tweet from Teslafounder Elon Musk, who point-ed to China charging 25 per

cent import duty on anAmerican car as against the UScharging just 2.5 per cent on aChinese car.

“So we send our car overthere, pay 25 per cent. Theysend their car over here, 2.5 percent ...It has to change,” Trumpsaid, adding: “We’re going to bedoing a reciprocal tax pro-gramme at some point. IfChina is going to charge us 25per cent or if India is going tocharge us 75 per cent and wecharge them nothing, if they’reat 50 or they’re at 75 or they’reat 25, we’re going to be at thosesame numbers.”

“It’s called reciprocal, it’s amirror tax. So they charge us50, we charge them 50. Rightnow they’ll charge us 50, wecharge them nothing,” he saidwith reference to Harleys soldin India and Indian motorcy-cles sold in US, adding:“Doesn’t work. So that’s calleda reciprocal tax or mirror tax.We’re going to be doing a lot ofthat.”

Trump sought to defendhis tariffs push not only interms of protecting Americanworkers and industry, but alsofrom the standpoint of nation-al security. “A strong steel andaluminum industry are vital toour national security. You don’thave steel, you don’t have acountry,” he said.

Continued on Page 4

��� ��������

After maintaining that itwas not aware how

Canada-based convictedKhalistani terrorist Jaspal Atwalhad got a visa to enter India, ina bizarre twist of events theMinistry of External Affairs(MEA) on Friday said Atwalwas given a valid visa for entryto India and his entry wasallowed keeping in line withGovernment’s outreach policytowards misguided elementswho have in the past har-boured anti-India sentiments.Atwal had travelled to Indiathrice in the past one year, TheMEA also said.

The dinner invitation toAtwal by the Canadian author-ities during the visit of PrimeMinister Justin Trudeau hadcaused a major uproar. Whenthe controversy had first erupt-ed, the MEA had said it was notaware how he was granted a visa.However, on Friday, MEA saidIndia has nothing against him asof now to prohibit his entry.

“This was not his first visitto India. He has visited India onearlier occasions since January2017. The Government of Indiahas a conscious policy of out-reach to the Indian diaspora,including misguided elementswho in the past may have har-boured anti-India sentiments

which they have sincerenounced. There are wellestablished procedures for grantof visa to foreign travellerswhich have been followed inthis case as well,” MEASpokesperson Raveesh Kumarsaid while responding toqueries on how Atwal got a visa.

Atwal’s presence at theevents of Trudeau during hisvisit to India last month result-ed in a lot of criticism by bothCanadian and Indian media.As a result the Canadian HighCommissioner to India, NadirPatel, had to cancel the invita-tion issued to Atwal for thereception he had hosted in thehonour of Trudeau. Atwal latersaid he was a friend of Trudeauand had voluntarily bowed outof the reception. Later,Trudeau’s office gave a new spinto Atwal’s presence by sayingrogue elements in India hadplanted Atwal in his events toembarrass him. Prior to hisconviction, Atwal was associat-ed with banned terrorist group—International Sikh YouthFederation . He was sentenced20 years in prison for anattempt to assassinate PunjabMinister Malkiat Singh Sidhuin Vancouver in 1986. He hadcompleted his 20 years of sen-tence in a Canadian prison forhis act.

Continued on Page 4

������� ������ ��������

In a freak accident, a 17-year-old boy accidentally pulled

the trigger of a loaded pistolwhile taking selfie, killing his23-year-old cousin inSoutheast Delhi’s Sarita Vihararea on Thursday evening.

According to police, thedeceased has been identified asPrashant Chauhan, 23, whowas working as a teacher in aGovernment school on con-tractual basis.

A native of Baghpat inUttar Pradesh, Prashant recent-ly shifted to Delhi and startedliving in Shahdara after he gotthe job, said police, adding thatas his maternal uncle lived inSarita Vihar, the deceased oftenused to visit him.

“We received information

on Thursday from ApolloHospital regarding a boy sus-taining a gunshot injury,” saidDeputy Commissioner ofPolice (DCP), Southeast districtChinmoy Biswal.

“On further enquiry, thepistol belonged to the minor’sfather, Pramod Chauhan, aproperty dealer, who was out atwork at the time of the inci-dent,” said Biswal.

Police said on hearing thegunshot, family membersrushed and found Prashantlying in a pool of blood. Theyimmediately took Prashant toApollo where he was declaredbrought dead. The bulletpierced through his chest. TheDCP said, “We have registereda case under relevant Sectionsof the IPC and Arms Act.”

“We have apprehended the

minor boy on Friday. We willalso investigate the negligenceon the part of the father andhave seized the pistol, the leadand the empty shell,” addedBiswal.

“On the fateful day,Prashant had to attend a distantrelative’s wedding and came tohis uncle’s house,” said a rela-

tive of Prashant.In 2017, there have been

several instances where peoplewere killed while taking selfieson the railway tracks. InOctober last year, a teenagerlast seen taking a selfie on rail-way tracks died after being runover by a train near theWelcome railway station in

Northeast Delhi. Police suspecthe was walking along the trackswith earphones on and did nothear the train coming.

The victim, Arbaz, 18,studied at a Governmentschool in the neighbourhoodand had left home for tuitionclasses. His body was foundnext to the tracks on next day.Cops found a pair of ear-phones next to the body. Theysuspect his mobile phone wasstolen after the accident. GRPpersonnel said Arbaz was ear-lier seen stopping on the tracksto take a selfie.

In 2016 in Ludhiana, a 15-year-old boy was killed whilehe accidentally pulled the trig-ger of his father’s revolver. Thebullet stuck in the head of theminor boy who later suc-cumbed to injuries.

��� ��������

Former Finance Minister PChidambaram’s son Karti

got interim protection fromDelhi High Court from arrestby Enforcement Directorate tillMarch 20, but the trial courtextended his CBI custody bythree more days in the INXMedia bribery case.

In trial court, Karti’s lawyerAbhishek Singhvi on Fridayaccused the CBI of harassinghis client and playing all

Continued on Page 4

���������� ���� ����

Aday after Hasin Jehan, thewife of fast bowler

Muhammad Shami, met seniorofficers at Lal Bazar police head-quarters accusing her husbandof domestic violence, adulteryand trying to kill her, Jadavpurpolice station in South Kolkataon Friday lodged a formal FIRagainst the quickie and his fam-ily members under severalSections of the Indian PenalCode, saud sources, adding that“investigations have started”.

Cases have been registeredunder Section 498A for cruel-ty by a husband and his rela-

tives to his wife apart fromSection 307 (IPC) — forattempt to murder, Section323 (IPC) — causing voluntaryhurt, Section 376 (IPC) - rape,Section 506 (IPC) — criminalintimidation,Section 328 (IPC)— causing hurt by means ofpoison and Section 34 (IPC)

Continued on Page 4

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In a move that will bring somerelief to family or group

whose travelling plan gotchanged, the Indian Railwayshas allowed passengers totransfer their confirmed tick-et to another person or familymember. The Railways hasreleased guidelines for transfer-ring a confirmed ticket.

As per the guidelines, ChiefReservation Supervisor ofimportant stations are autho-rised by RailwayAdministration to permit the

change of name of a passengerhaving a seat or berth reservedin his name. However, the per-son would need to make a writ-ten request 24 hours prior thescheduled departure for trans-ferring the confirmed ticket toanother family member.

Likewise, if the passengeris part of a marriage party thenthe confirmed ticket can betransferred to another personwith a written request by anindividual deemed to be thehead of the group 24 hoursbefore departure.

Continued on Page 4

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Unmanned and secluded spots of theDelhi Metro stations will now be

monitored by special “flying squads” of theCentral Industrial Security Force (CISF),a step taken by the paramilitary force tocheck criminal activities in these vulner-able pockets in the wake of the molesta-tion of a woman passenger near a metrostation last year.

On the sidelines of the 49th RaisingDay of the CISF on Friday, CISF AdditionalDirector General (ADG) Alok K Pateriasaid the special teams, comprising men andwomen personnel, would patrol, monitorand scan these “no man’s land-like areas”to thwart any nefarious activity. “Thesestretches of the Delhi Metro are calledunpaid areas as there is no presence of theCISF or any other security personnel. Butnow, we have deployed our flying squadsat these vulnerable spots.”

Pateria said the mandate of the CISFat these stations started from the paid areas,where the commuters were frisked by thepersonnel of the force.

Until now, the CISF had vehicle-borne quick reaction teams (QRTs) torespond to any security threat at a clusterof stations, the flying squads would keepan eye on the vulnerable spots at select sta-tions, the ADG said.

A reporter of an English daily wasmolested by a man at the ITO metro sta-tion in November last year and the thenCISF chief O P Singh had asked his per-sonnel to enhance the vigil in the unpaidareas of the metro.

A senior CISF officer said that the

force had also sought a sanction of about5,000 more personnel as the Delhi Metronetwork was expanding in the nationalCapital region.

About 9,000 CISF men and women arecurrently deployed to secure the stationsof the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation(DMRC). “Over 9,000 CCTV cameras arealso helping us secure the metro network,”said the officer.

The official added that the CISF andthe DMRC might soon put in place a per-manent system, wherein the passengerswould not be allowed to take oversized trav-el bags to the stations. A pilot project thatwas run at seven stations in this context hadbeen successful and the passenger responsehad also been good, the DIG said.

CISF officials had earlier said oversizedbags were a security risk to the metro sys-tem and that these bags also led to frequentbreakdowns of the X-ray scanningmachines. The Delhi Metro, which hasover 150 operational stations, carriesabout 28 lakh passengers every day on anaverage. The CISF is the nodal agency toguard the Delhi Metro, but some areas likethe entry and exit points.

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In their bid to start a nation-wide debate on the burning

issue of mandatory attendancein Jawaharlal Nehru University(JNU), teachers favouringcompulsory attendance inclasses, claimed to have gar-nered support from severaleminent scientists and wellknown academicians fromacross the board.

According to this group;eminent agricultural scientistMS Swaminathan ; Dr. GirishSahni, Director-General ofCSIR ; eminent nuclear scien-tist Dr Anil Kakodkar ; Dr GMadhavan Nair ; “Metro man”E Sreedharan ; Omkar Rai,Director General of STPI ; DrKG Suresh , Director IIMC;Prof Govardhan Mehta (for-mer director IISC) and 12others have “agreed in princi-ple that there should be com-pulsory attendance in JNU,”said Professor Atul KumarJohri of School of Life Sciences, JNU.

Teachers favouring manda-tory attendance came out inopen after JNU Students Union(JNUSU) claimed support of 98percent students who areopposed to this policy. JNUSUis backed by JNU TeachersAssociation (JNUTA) on theissue.

The teaching communityof JNU is of the opinion thatthe support from the acclaimedscientists and academiciansfrom across the board will“potentially ignite” a nation-wide debate on issue of com-

pulsory attendance with acad-emic community of differentuniversities and institutionsbeing its part.

“It seems that in the com-ing day’s academicians from allover the nation will be the partof the popular debate that hasoriginated from JNU,” said asenior professor who does notwish him to be named.

The above group of teach-ers claims to have support of120 faculty members rallyingbehind their cause. This grouptacitly supported by adminis-tration is gaining fast in num-bers presenting a counter-narrative to the traditionallyleft dominated JNUTA’s viewpoint.

“Some of the teachers arein illusion that they are the realvoice of JNU. Such teachersout-rightly reject any counter-view or narrative different totheirs. These teachers are insti-gating JNUSU and other stu-dents to go to any extent foropposing the compulsoryattendance,” said Professor AtulJohri. Some of these teachersnarrated their ordeal sayingthat they were manhandled bythe students who are opposingcompulsory attendance at fewincidences recently.

“What is happening now inJNU has never happenedbefore. Classes and agitationhave gone hand in hand butnow they are threatening, push-ing and abusing their ownteachers who don’t supportthem and want to take classes,”said Professor Hari RamMishra, JNU.

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A54-year-old Assistant Sub-Inspector, posted in a

Police Control Room (PCR)unit, shot himself in the headinside a PCR van in NorthDelhi’s Civil Lines area onFriday. He later succumbed tohis injuries.

Harender Singh,Additional DeputyCommissioner of Police(North) said the the ASI iden-tified as Hanuman Sahay.

The official said that thePCR van, with which he wasattached, was out of order andit was taken by staff to OldPolice Lines for repair. It wasthere that the policeman shothimself in the head. Policesuspect that Sahay was allegedto be under depression. Policefurther said that they have notrecovered any suicide notefrom the spot.Further investigation is on, addedpolice.

In another case, wife of aHead Constable committedsuicide by hanging herself ather house in the presence of hertwo and a half year old daugh-ter in West Delhi’s Hari Nagararea on Thursday evening.According to the police, the

deceased has been identified asDeepshikha.

According to a seniorpolice officer, the incidentwas reported on Thursdayevening when Ravi, postedwith the PCR unit, returnedhome and found the doorlocked. When he rang thebell, his wife did not answer.He then raised an alarm andinformed his neighbours whothen barged open the door andfound Deepshika hangingfrom the iron grill of a windowusing a rope.

Police said that beneath thebody of Deepshikha, her twoand half year old daughter wasfound crying.

The officer said that Ravihad married Deepshikha in2011 and had been living withher and their daughter in arented accommodation in theHari Nagar area.

The case has been trans-ferred to the DistrictMagistrate. The senior policeofficer said that no suicidenote has been recovered fromthe possession of the deceasedand that they are waiting for thefamily members of the womanto come. Accordingly based ontheir statement, further actionwill be taken.

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Almost three months after anAssistant Sub-Inspector was

found dead inside the barracksof the Rohini (South) police sta-tion, the Crime Branch is stillawaiting a forensic report toestablish whether he committedsuicide or was killed.

Alok Kumar, Joint Commis-sioner of Police (Crime) told ThePioneer, “We are waiting for thereport from the Forensic ScienceLaboratory. Accordingly, actionwill be taken,”

On December 28, the bodyof Ramesh Kumar was foundwith a bullet wound in his

chest. The inquest proceedingswere being carried out by theCrime Branch. Police hadfound blood stains on the doorand outside the room wherethe body was found. A medicalboard constituted to carry out

the postmortem submitted itsreport a fortnight ago.

According to the report,there was a muzzle wound inhis chest. An officer privy tothe probe said they are await-ing the gun residue report toestablish if he shot himself orwas shot by someone else. “If

the report finds gunpowderon his hand or the sleeves ofhis shirt, it would establishthat he shot himself. If gunpowder is not found, we willinvestigate further. The reportwill take at least a month,” said

the officer.The family of the deceased

had claimed that he was killed.The officer, however, said theyhad not found any evidence tosuggest someone entered thepolice station and killed him.“There were blood stains foundoutside the room but they

might be there since someonemight have tried to revive andhelp him. It is likely that per-son is posted in the police sta-tion and is not coming forwardsince he might be scared,”added the officer.

The officer said nearly 25police personnel, who were atthe police station on that day,were questioned but none ofthem said they heard a gunshot.Police are also probing the rea-son behind Kumar’s death.“There was no suicide notefound. Neither was he facingany issue on the family front norhe was having problems on theprofessional front” he added.

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The environment depart-ment on Friday granted

long-pending clearance toGhaziabad’s prestigious elevat-ed road project from UP Gateto Raj Nagar Extension.

According to the seniorofficials of the DistrictAdministration, Chief Ministerof Uttar Pradesh YogiAdityanath is expected to inau-gurate this project. Details ofChief Minister’s visit are beingworked out.

Atul Sharma, PROGhaziabad DevelopmentAuthority ( GDA) said , theState level committee of envi-ronment has given the clear-ance to the 10 kilometer longelevated stretch starting from

UP Gate to newly developedtownship of Raj Nagar exten-sion.

The GDA ViceChairperson and the DistrictMagistrate Ritu Maheswari hadannounced that the inaugura-tion of this elevated road,which will shorten the journeyto national Capital to 18 min-

utes from the city.Highlighting the project’s

importance, Ms Maheswarisaid that the elevated road hadbeen constructed on TransitOriented Development (TOD)basis which took five years tobe completed.

On September 20, 2013,the GDA Board cleared pro-posal to built elevated road forwhich detailed project report(DPR) for �1142/- was pre-pared. On January 30, 2014,GDA Board approved the pro-ject. On June 2, 2014 revisedDPR for �1147/- was approvedby the GDA board. OnOctober 18, 2014, contract wasawarded to Hyderabad basedNavyug Enterprises. And final-ly the road was made ready toply vehicles in January 2018.

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In a major relief, East DelhiMunicipal Corporation

(EDMC) announced ‘PropertyTax Amnesty Scheme 2017-18,extending the benefit of waiv-er of 100 percent interest andpenalty on previous pendingoutstanding property tax in allareas in the jurisdiction ofEDMC i.e. authorised colonies,industrial colonies, residentialcolonies, commercial areas etc.

Mayor of East DelhiNeema Bhagat said this is a bigrelief to property owners.

“The waiver was earlieravailable to only unauthorisedcolonies and now it has beenextended to all areas underEDMC’s jurisdiction to facili-tate general public.

Bhagat further informed allproperty tax offices will remainopen between 10 am and 5 pm.

The last date to avail of thiswaiver is 31st March, 2018.

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A21-year-old man hasbeen arrested while a

juvenile has been appre-hended by the South districtpolice for the murder of a 35-year-old cook in South Delhi’sChitranjan Park area onMarch 4. The accused con-fessed that it was due to theminor reason that they acci-dentally touched the cook,Dashrath Mukhia, which gotconverted into a heated argu-ment and eventually led thetwo to kill the 35-year-oldman.

Romil Baaniya, DeputyCommissioner of Police(South) said, “One Sunny, ane-rickshaw driver has beenarrested for the murder of acook near the Alaknandaapartments last week. Alongwith Sunny, a juvenile, whoalso stabbed the cook, hasbeen apprehended.”

Police said that onMarch 4, Dashrath Mukhia,who works as a cook inGreater Kailash was waitingat a bus stand in CR parkarea. While he was waiting ata bus stand to go home, twomen stabbed him and fled,said a senior police officer.When the local pol icereached the spot, they foundthat Mukhia, a resident ofTughlaqabad Extension,inflicted with sharp injuries.He was found near the foot-path and was taken to theAIIMAS trauma center,where he was declaredbrought dead.

“Doctors informed us thatMukhia sustained two stab

wounds on his chest.Accordingly, we registered acase of murder at the CRPark police station,” saidBaaniya.

Investigations into themurder led the seven teamsto prepare a list of 89 peoplewho were suspected to beinvolved in the murder. Ateam under ACP AmbedkarNagar led the teams. Basedon the eyewitness account,police finally traced Sunnyand the juvenile in the slumclusters of the Govindpuriarea.

During sustained interro-gation Sunny revealed that atthe time of stabbing Mukhia,while he was heading to hishouse, he accidentally collid-ed with Mukhia near St.George’s School footpath dueto which one of the accusedfell down, which led to a heat-ed quarrel between the two.The quarrel escalated whenthe juvenile caught hold ofMukhia while Sunny tookout a knife and stabbed himtwice in the chest,” saidBaaniya.

Police said that they haverecovered the knife, used tostab Mukhia and the clotehsworn by the accused.

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Hit hard by the ongoingsealing drive by the munic-

ipal corporations on the rec-ommendations of the SupremeCourt-appointed monitoringcommittee, aggrieved traders onFriday passed a unanimous res-olution in a meeting anddemanded 'Amnesty Scheme' toprotect their interest. The meet-ing was attended by trade lead-ers of about 250 leading tradeassociations spread across thenational Capital.

Traders demanded an'Amnesty Scheme' to protectDelhi on "As is Where is basis"as on December 31, 2017 anddemanded strict action for anyviolation in future and notonly the traders but even offi-cials should also be heldresponsible.

They also demanded thatthe Union Governmentshould bring a MoratoriumBill on sealing in current ses-sion of Parliament and DelhiChief Minister should con-vene a one-day SpecialSession of Assembly and passa Bill to stop sealing in Delhiand forward the same toCentral Government for its

approval.Confederation of All India

Traders (CAIT) secretary gen-eral Praveen Khandelwal saidthe situation has become sopathetic that "there is no plat-form where we can go and nar-rate our problems". We are noteven made party to the judicialprocess, he added.

He further said that in acountry, which upholds highesttradition of democratic andhuman rights , the traders arebeing uprooted without takingthe ground realties into con-

sideration and that too withoutgiving any opportunity ofdefence.

The CAIT has alreadyannounced to observe a daylong 'Delhi Trade Bandh' onMarch 13 to lodge their strongprotest and resentment againstsealing drive.

The officials of CAIT alsocondemned police lathichargeon Thursday on traders atLajpat Nagar where at least 350shops sealed.

Several local businessmenled by the CAIT have beenprotesting against the drive,saying it was unfair anddemanding UnionGovernment to bring anOrdinance in Parliament toprovide succour.

The CAIT has been alleg-ing that the municipal corpo-rations are sealing propertiesin "utter violation" of theDelhi Municipal CorporationAct, 1957, which was passedby Parliament as a statutoryAct.

In the sealing drive, thou-sands of shops have been sealedsince last December and there isstill no sign of relief amid all thecoordinated efforts put up by allthe regarding stakeholders.

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The Delhi High Court grant-ed bail to AAP MLA

Prakash Jarwal in ChiefSecretary Anshu Prakashassault case with a warning thatany such illegal activity infuture would lead to cancella-tion of his bail.

The judge also noted thatthe case was a reflection of"trust deficit to the hilt"between the members of theDelhi Assembly and thebureaucrats and suggested thatthe Delhi Government shouldvideograph the meetingsbetween legislators and bureau-crats to see that no unforeseenincident occurs in future andmaintain transparency.

Justice Mukta Gupta madeit clear that if Jarwal himself orthrough someone else intimi-dated, harassed or obstructed thelawful activities of AnshuPrakash, the Delhi Police and theChief Secretary would be entitledto seek cancellation of his bail.

The court also asked himnot to tamper with evidence orintimidate or approach thewitnesses in any manner.

"This FIR being the thirdFIR against the petitioner

(Jarwal) for assault on a pub-lic servant, in case the peti-tioner indulges in any such ille-gal act in future, the bail grant-ed to him would be liable to becancelled," it said.

The High Court imposedother general conditions thatJarwal will not leave the coun-try without prior permission ofthe court and in case of changeof his residential address it shallbe intimated to the concernedcourt through an affidavit.

It directed that Jarwal bereleased on bail on furnishing apersonal bond of � 50,000 andtwo sureties of the like amount.

The court noted that theoffences invoked against theMLA entailed maximum pun-ishment of up to three years

and said his custodial interro-gation was not required aspolice remand has not beengranted by the trial court.

"In view of the nature ofallegations, the sentence pro-vided for the offences invokedif convicted after trial and thefact that there is no likelihoodof the petitioner fleeing awayfrom justice, this court deems itfit to grant bail to Jarwal," it said.

"The concern of the com-plainant (chief secretary) thatefforts are being made to harasshim can also not be said to bewithout any basis for the reason(that) though initially the seniorcounsel for Jarwal stated that heis not a member of the com-mittee which issued notice tothe complainant, however, on

being confronted with thenotice of the meeting eventhough not signed by him, itnotes the petitioner to be mem-ber of the said committee.

"Faced with this situation,the senior counsel for Jarwalstated that he is willing to fur-nish any undertaking asrequired by this court, toensure that no harassment willbe caused to the complainantby the petitioner or any otherperson through him. Thus thebail, if required to be grantedto Jarwal, has to be with strin-gent conditions," it said.

The bail plea of OkhlaMLA Amanatullah Khan, whowas also arrested in the case onFebruary 21, is pending beforethe court.

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In its endeavour to develop a"happiness curriculum" for

its students, the DelhiGovernment has now invitedproposals from organisations,universities and individuals topartner with its Educationdepartment for the noble cause.

Deputy Chief Minister andEducation Minister ManishSisodia had announced lastmonth that the Governmenthas planned to introduce acourse named "Happiness" inthe next academic session. Thecourse will be introduced fromNursery to Class VIII.

"The proposals are beingsought for developing an activ-ity-based curriculum for thenew subject. The proposalscan be sent by March 15 to hap-piness. [email protected]," stat-ed an official statement issuedby the Government on Friday.

"The Directorate ofEducation (DoE) will inviteselect entries to participate ina national-level workshop thatwill be held towards the end ofthis month," it added.

The curriculum willinclude components that willinstil self-awareness and care inthe students, reduce stress andanxiety, help manage depres-sion, build ability to focus oneducation and work andencourage creative and criticalthinking.

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Taking on the officials forshielding the advertising

hoarding mafia, North DelhiMayor Preety Agarwal onFriday directed them to removeall illegal unipole hoardingsand illegal advertisements withimmediate effect. Taking aserious note of brazenness ofthe officials, the Mayor held ameeting with the officials of theRemunerative Project CellCommittee.

In the meeting, she said itcomes to her notice that theofficials concerned are involvedin corruption resulting in hugeloss to the exchequers of thecorporation.

"The revenue has gonedown to 50 per cent which isfar less than compared to theprevious year as more than 90per cent hoardings and adver-tisement are illegal," she toldThe Pioneer.

She said that North DelhiMunicipal Corporation (NMC)is witnessing a financial crunchas a result monthly salaries ofmany employees have not beenreleased and are delayed.Adding that, the loss due tocorruption in advertisementhoarding has impacted theoverall revenue collection of thecorporation.

The fourth grades employ-ees are suffering due to the neg-ligence and irresponsible atti-tude of the officials of the RPCell, she said.

The Mayor also said, "I ampained and concerned at theway the officials are workingand it seems that they are notanswerable to anyone." Shealso warned that in case of vio-lation, strict action will betaken against both the officialsresponsible and the contractorinvolved.

The Mayor further saidstrict action will be taken

against those who are foundguilty of harbouring such cor-rupt and malafide practices.

She also grilled officials fornot making on time at themeeting. She said the officialsmust be punctual and attendthe meetings on time as per theschedule.

"No negligence in theworking of RP Cell departmentwould be tolerated as thedepartment has potential to liftout the corporation out offinancial crunch," Agarwal said.It may be noted that the Mayoris ex-officio chairperson of RPCell Committee.

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As many as 74 shops/properties were sealed

by all the three municipalcorporations in Delhi. NorthDelhi MunicipalCorporation (NMC) sealed33 shops in Inderpuri,Panjabi Bagh, Rohini sectoe7, 8 nad 16, Shalimar Bagh,Outram Line and GijrawalaTown.

East Delhi MunicipalCorporation (EDMC) sealeda total of 39 shops. 12 shopssealed in Anand Vihar, 18 inBalbir Nagar and nine inShakarpur. However, SouthDelhi MunicipalCorporation (SDMC) sealedonly one property inMahavir Nagar.

A senior corporation offi-cial said that all the shops andproperties were sealed for anumber of reasons includingunauthorised construction ofoffices and rooms at differentfloors and ongoing commer-

cial activities at basement andstilt parking areas, non-pay-ment of conversion charges,and encroachment.

The SC-appointed moni-toring committee visited themarket and instructed officialsof building department of theSDMC to seal the shops run-ning at unauthorised con-structions.

"The order to seal theshops was issued by the com-mittee appointed by the SCand we have acted accord-ingly. There is no need forsending any prior notice justbefore the action in that case,"said a senior official fromSDMC.

The monitoring commit-tee, which was revived onDecember 15 last year, hasthree members including for-mer adviser to the ElectionCommission KJ Rao, chair-man of EnvironmentPollution (Prevention &Control) Authority (EPCA)Bhure Lal and Major General(retd) Som Jhingan.

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From Page 1As for other countries look-

ing for exemptions like Canadaand Mexico, indications are thatthe White House will give othernations an opportunity to justi-fy why they should be spared.

“If the same goals can beaccomplished by other means,America will remain open tomodifying or removing the tar-iffs for individual nations, as longas we can agree on a way toensure that their products nolonger threaten our security,”Trump said.

In respect of Canada andMexico, it has been pointed out

that the exemptions are linked toongoing negotiations to revampNAFTA to make it “fair” to allthree partners, the third beingthe US. “I have a feeling we’regoing to make a deal onNAFTA,” Trump said.

Trump issued the twoproclamations, exercising hisauthority under Section 232 ofUS law that gives the President“the ability to address any threatsto national security by restrict-ing imports through tariffs”, theWhite House said.

“President Trump is takingaction to protect America’s crit-ical steel and aluminum indus-

tries, which have been harmedby unfair trade practices andglobal excess capacity,” a WhiteHouse release said, noting thatthe tariffs on steel and alu-minum are anticipated to reduceimports to levels needed for thedomestic industries to achievelong-term viability.

“As a result, these industrieswill be able to re-open closedmills, sustain a skilled workforce,and maintain or increase pro-duction. The strengthening ofour domestic steel and alu-minum industries will reduceour reliance on foreign produc-ers,” it said.

From Page 1— acts done by several per-

sons in furtherance of commonintention, sources said. All butSection 323 (IPC) are non-bail-able.

Though the Shami contin-ued to refute the charges say-ing someone is trying to insti-gate his wife and there is aneffort to ruin his career, hiswife, a mother of one, said shehad been facing the “torture formore than two years and havetried to adjust to the circum-stances but he has refused tosee reasons and dared her to goahead with raising the issue toher own peril”.

Despite her father trying toplay down the matter as a rou-tine incident of family dis-cord, Jehan said things hadcrossed all limits. She earliersaid “physical and mental tor-ture had been continuing formore than two years and Inever got the status of a wifefrom him.”

She alleged how the fastbowler was “constantly chatting

with other women throughFB, Twitter, instagram etc,using objectionable words”. Shesaid her allegations were sub-stantiated by screenshots ofpictures and chats that hadalready gone viral on the socialmedia.

“Though I raised the issuewith him hoping he wouldcorrect himself he refused to doso and continued with his dirtyways,” Jehan said. “When Iwarned him with legal actionhe said nothing would happento him and that it was she andnot he who would be on thelosing side.”

Jehan said there wereattempts by Shami’s familymembers even to kill her.

Also, Jehan said she isgoing to take up the issue withthe BCCI “if already my lawyerhas not done so.” She said, “IfI do not take up the matter withthe BCCI then other playersmay be encouraged to repeatsuch acts. I will request theBoard to take some actionagainst him.”

From Page 1sort of tricks to increase the

duration of his custody. He saidpowerful light was turned onhim at night in the lock up andhe was woken up for interro-gation at odd hours. Singhvialso alleged that the CBI pur-posefully did not filed reply tothe bail petition so that hecould be kept in custody.

Singhvi said Karti’s bloodpressure (BP) levels are fluctu-ating between 140 and 190 andhe is in bad shape.

Countering Singhvi,Additional Solicitor General(ASG) Tushar Mehta said Kartimay be given a room but lightscan’t be switched off due to secu-rity reasons. Chidambaram andwife Nalini was present duringthe entire proceedings in thecourt and judge allowed them 15minutes of interaction with theirson. During the hearing, Mehta,said Karti’s custodial interroga-tion was necessary as “newincriminating materials” havebeen found against him. He saida CD has been recovered fromthe office of Advantage StrategiesPvt Ltd in Chennai in connec-tion with the case. He said theCD has been sent to the CentralForensic Science Laboratory(CFSL) for examination. Earlierthe trial court extended thejudicial custody of Karti’sChartered Accountant BhaskarRaman for 14 days. Karti toldBhaskar to “stay strong” inTamil, while he was being takenout of court by ED officials.

The court allowed the CBIto confront Karti with his CABhaskar .Meanwhile in themorning Karti got a breather in

a money laundering case, withthe Delhi High Court restrain-ing the ED from arresting himtill March 20. A Bench ofJustices S Muralidhar and ISMehta, which heard the matterin a packed courtroom for closeto three hours, also made it clearthat if the special court grantedKarti bail in the corruption caseregistered by the CBI againsthim, the ED will not arrest himtill the next hearing by theHC.”If the CBI court grants bailto the petitioner in the CBI case,no coercive steps shall be exer-cised against the petitioner bythe ED under section 19 (Powerto arrest) of the Prevention ofMoney Laundering Act(PMLA),” the Bench said.

Also, it issued notice andsought response of the ED andthe Centre on Karti’s plea seek-ing quashing of summons andchallenging the proceedingsin the money laundering case.It impleaded the Centre as anecessary party in the case asin the original plea Karti hadonly made ED a party.

The Bench said if the trialcourt decides to grant bail toKarti in the CBI case, it shallimpose conditions such as theaccused shall appear before theED as and when called by theinvestigating officer and coop-erate in the probe. He shall alsobe directed not to leave thecountry and surrender his pass-port, it said.The ASG TusharMehta said the matter was at acrucial stage of probe, andshould not be granted any inter-im relief as there was “cogent,substantial, reliable and unim-peachable material” against him.

From Page 1If the passenger is a

Government servant, proceed-ing on duty, he/she can makewritten request 24 hours beforethe scheduled departure oftrains. The name on the ticketwill be changed to anotherperson’s name for whom theticket transfer is sought.

In case a student of arecognised educational institutewants to transfer his or her tick-et, then they will need to get theapproval of the head of theinstitution. A written requestby that authoritative figure willallow the transfer of the ticketto another student from thesame institution.

This facility has also beenextended to the National CadetCorps.

A cadet or a group ofcadets can get reservation tick-et or tickets transferred toother cadets with a writtenrequest by any officer who isthe head of such a group, 24hours before departure.

However, this transferrequest will be granted onlyonce. In case of marriage party,NCC cadets and students, theserequests in excess of 10 per centof the group’s strength wouldnot be granted.

From Page 1the hospital can approach

the High Court that will expe-ditiously hear and decide thecase. It will be open to the HCtoo to constitute a MedicalBoard of its own.

The court also consideredsuch cases where no livingwill or directive is left behind.The treating doctor, on therequest of the family members,may ask the hospital to form aMedical Board. Taking intoaccount above safeguards, thesame process will be adopted.Here too, the final decision towithdraw life support will bethat of the Judicial Magistrateof First Class. In cases wherethe matter come up before theHigh Court, the Magistratewill intimate withdrawal of lifesupport and the said ordershall be preserved in courtrecords for three years after thepatient’s death.

With the advancement inmedical technology and the factthat medical directive achievedlawful recognition in the US,Australia, Canada and otherjurisdictions, the Bench feltthat it was time for India torecognise this right as part of acitizen’s right of self-determi-nation, dignity, autonomy andprivacy as well by choosing notto suffer a painful death.

The landmark decision sawfour out of the five judgespenning separate judgmentseach arriving at the same con-clusion but with different rea-soning. Justice Sikri whotermed the issue at hand to be“thorny and complex” comingwithin the category of “hardcases” that a judge has toencounter, captured the emo-tion of his judgment by quot-ing the lyrics of a popularBollywood number “Rote hueaate hain sab, hasta hua jojayega…” from the movie“Muqaddar ka Sikandar”.Making an interesting analysisof how passive euthanasia isopposed in the country bothmorally and religiously, thejudge voted in its favour citinghuman dignity and the costbenefit involved in opting forthe same.

Justice Chandrachudweaved the right to privacy intothe issue by saying,“Continuing treatment againstthe wishes of a patient is notonly a violation of the princi-ple of informed consent, butalso of bodily privacy andintegrity recognised as a facetof privacy.” He further clarifiedthat while active euthanasia isa crime, same is not the casewith passive euthanasia as theelement of good faith andobjective assessment of thecaregiver of the patient willprotect doctors performingthis task.

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India on Saturday termed as“very shocking” a Pakistani

court’s order to the country’selection commission to hearthe case of JuD chief HafizSaeed’s political party for reg-istration and said it was anattempt to “mainstream” hisactivities.

Ministry of ExternalAffairs Spokesperson RaveeshKumar also said that the order“exposes Pakistan’s duplicity” intaking action against terroristsand terror groups operating outof its soil.

Yesterday, the IslamabadHigh Court set aside a decisionby the Election Commission ofPakistan (ECP) to reject theapplication of Jamaat-ud-Dawah’s political front MilliMuslim League (MML) forregistration as a political party.

It sent the case back to theECP asking it to proceed fur-ther on the application by giv-ing the party an opportunity of

hearing.Responding to a question

on the issue, Kumar said, “Itseems, this is an attempt byPakistani establishment tomainstream him, his system asa political party. And this is away of shielding the activitieshe earlier indulged in.”

“It is a very shocking devel-opment which completelyexposes Pakistan’s duplicity intaking action against terrorists

and terror groups operatingout of Pakistani soil,” he said.

He said that Saeed is a UNproscribed terrorist and theprime organiser of the Mumbaiterror attack, who has has“blood on his hand of notonly several innocent Indiancitizens but also from any othercountries across the world”.

Last month, a decision wastaken at a plenary session of theFinancial Action Task Force(FATF), an international taskforce mandated to combat ter-ror funding and money laun-dering, to put Pakistan in thegrey list. It will be placed in thegrey list in June.

Kumar said Pakistan ismandated under the UN law totake action against Saeed.

“I think, the true face ofHafiz Saeed and true face ofPakistan is for all to see. Notonly India but also the inter-national community feels thatthe action which should betaken against Hafiz Saeed hasnot been taken,” he said.

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The Centre approached theSupreme Court on Friday to

quash the FIR against ArmyMajor Aditya Kumar, who isaccused by the Jammu andKahsmir Police of having led anArmy convoy that fired at a mobof stone pelters at Shopian lead-ing to death of three civilians.

The Centre’s plea has comedespite the order by the apexcourt on Monday stalling fur-ther investigation into the case.Although J&K Police hadinformed the Court that MajorAditya Kumar has not beennamed as an accused in the FIR,the Centre took the precautionas the contents of the FIR namehim as the officer who ordered

the firing on the mob at theincident on January 27, 2018.

The Centre’s move is alsoinspired by the observationmade by the apex bench head-ed by Chief Justice Dipak Misrathat was not keen to go by theassurance offered by the J&KPolice. Going through the con-tents of the FIR, CJI remarked,“The FIR states that firingtook place under his (Kumar)command. This means he canbe roped in at any point oftime.” The order came on apetition filed by Major Kumar’sfather, serving LieutenantColonel Karamveer Singh. Hislawyer Aishwarya Bhati con-firmed that the Centre had filedthe fresh plea in support of theofficer.

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Agroup of Bengali intellec-tuals on Friday urged

President Ram Nath Kovind totake constitutional steps againstTripura Governor TathagataRoy, for some of his recentcomments on after Assemblyelection results were declared.

In a letter addressed toKovind, they claimed thetweets by Roy on March 6 trig-gered tension in Tripura andelsewhere in the country.

The signatories includeBengali authors SirshenduMukhopadhyay, Nabanita DevSen, theatre personality ManojMitra, painter Shuvaprasanna,singer Kabir Suman, poet Joy

Goswami and filmmakerGoutam Ghosh, among others,writer Prasun Bhaumik toldPTI. “I gave my consent to theletter as I believe that anyoneholding constitutional postshould not make comments onthe razing down of a statue, andsuch comments were inappro-priate,” Mitra said.Mukhopadhyay said, “We arepassing through a phase whenpassion is running high. So anytweet should take into accountthe present circumstances.” Astatue of Communist icon Leninwas pulled down by some peo-ple with an excavator machine atCollege Square in Belonia sub-division of South Tripura districtearlier this week.

The Tripura Governor hadsaid in a tweet on March 6,“From the telephone calls Ireceive, it appears that a con-certed and motivated cam-paign is afoot to spread a canardthat murder and mayhem havebroken out in Tripura.Nonsense! Even the uprootingof the statute has not precipi-tated any breach of peace.”

In a subsequent tweet, Roysaid, “We removed George Vfrom India Gate, New Delhi,Queen Victoria from front of hermemorial in Kolkata, renamedAurangzeb Road, all byGovernment fiats. What if thegovernment similarly decides toremove Lenin’s statue, renameLenin Sarani? Any answers?”

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The Madras High Court hasissued a notice to the censor

board on a PIL seeking removalof a scene, which allegedly den-igrates women, from a recent-ly released Tamil film.

A bench of Chief JusticeIndira Banerjee and JusticeAbdul Quddhose issued anotice to the Central Board ofFilm Certification (CBFC) andJSB Film Studio, the producerof the film “Merlin” whichreleased on February 23.

The bench posted the PILto March 16 for further hearing.

Praveena CharumathiSampathkumar, in her publicinterest litigation, contendedthat a dialogue in the sceneinsulted women and sought adirection to the CBFC forremoving it. The woman saidshe was shocked to find such adialogue in the ‘U’ certificatefilm, written and directed byKeera, adding that it amountedto showing disrespect to women.

Her counsel submittedthat the Cinematography Acthas laid down elaborate guide-lines under which women char-acters in any form should notbe degraded and denigrated.

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Geetanjali Group promotorMehul Choksi who is the

main accused in the allegedfraud of �12, 700 crore PunjabNational Bank had pledgedsame properties and brand ascollateral to various banks toget loans. Surprisingly none ofthe bank officials even thoughtof verifying those propertydocuments.

Sources in the investigatingagencies stated that Choksihad pledged his “SanginiDiamond” jewellery as a col-lateral while collecting loans forhis two different companies–Gili India Limited andGitanjali Gems Limited–fromICICI Bank. The officials saidthat once the owner of thecompany is declared fraud thebrand value becomes zero.

Choksi had pledged a res-idential property for two dif-

ferent sets of loans fromAllahabad Bank in March 2013and subsequently modified it inMarch 2016 and has an expo-sure of �375 crore. The bankagain gave another loan of Rs750 crore to Choksi on thesame flat. The total exposure tothe Allahabad Bank is �1125crores. This much amount waslent to him for a 7510 squarefeet residential properties, com-prising of flat number 101, 201,203, 301 and 303, in Kalina inMumbai. Shockingly, the flatnumber 203 measuring 940square feet that was pledged toAllahabad Bank was alsopledged to two other banks -PNB and Axis Bank. ThePNB lent Rs 175 crore to whileconsidering flat number 203 atKalina as collateral which wasalready pledged to the sub-sidiary of Allahabad Bank.And the same flat has beenpledged to Axis Bank.

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I, Deepti Vij W/o Sh.Vikas Vij,R/o BU-158, Pitampura Delhi- 110034 have changed myname from Deepti Seth toDeepti Vij for all Purposes

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From Page 1The MEA had at that point

of time said it was examininghow Atwal was given a visa toenter India. However, theMinistry of Home Affairs(MHA), had said that follow-ing the completion of his sen-tence, Atwal’s name wasremoved from the blacklist ofpeople who were forbiddenfrom entering India.

On Thursday, Atwal in astatement before media inVancouver apologised for caus-ing an embarrassment to Indiaand Canada and offered a longexplanation for his presence atthe events and visit to India.

“Canada is my home.Indiais my homeland. I am veryproud to be a Canadian ofIndian heritage. I am sorry forany embarrassment this matterhas caused to Canada, India,my community and my fami-ly,” Atwal said.

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India on Friday welcomedthe positive strokes from

China and said the two coun-tries can walk together keepingin mind each other’s sensitivi-ties, concerns and aspirations.

Responding to ChineseForeign Minister Wang Yi’sstatement that despite sometests and difficulties, the China-India relationship continuesto grow and that the Chinese‘dragon’ and the Indian ‘ele-phant’ must not fight eachother, but dance with eachother, Ministry of ExternalAffairs spokesperson RaveeshKumar said the good relationsbetween the two countries alsohave global significance.

“As two major countriesand large economies, relationsbetween India and China arenot just important bilaterally,but also have regional andglobal significance. During themeeting between PrimeMinister Modi and PresidentXi Jinping in Xiamen inSeptember last year, the twoleaders agreed that sounddevelopment of relationsbetween India and China are afactor of stability amidst today’sglobal uncertainties, and thatthe two countries should notallow their differences tobecome disputes,” Raveesh said.

“Since then, both sideshave maintained regularexchanges at all levels, whichhave helped in strengtheningbilateral communication. Weare willing to work with theChinese side to develop ourrelations based on commonal-ities, while dealing with differ-ences on the basis of mutualrespect and sensitivity to eachother’s interests, concerns andaspirations,” he added.

Yi during a press confer-ence in Beijing on Thursdayhad stressed that despite diffi-culties, China has both upheldits legitimate rights and inter-ests and taken care to preservethe relationship with India. Headded that China and Indiamust do everything toempathise with and supporteach other and to avoid mutu-al suspicion and attrition.

“In this sense, mutual trustis the most precious commod-ity in China-India relations.With political trust, not even theHimalayas can stop us fromstrengthening friendly

exchanges; without it, not evenlevel land can bring us togeth-er. Let me put this to our Indianfriends: our shared under-standings far outstrip our dif-ferences and our common inter-ests far outweigh our frictions.China is willing and ready toinherit and take forward our tra-ditional friendship and be afriend and partner of the Indianpeople. I hope the two sides willbe free from mental inhibitionsand meet each other halfway. Letus replace suspicion with trust,manage differences through dia-logue, and build a futurethrough cooperation,” Yi said.

In an attempt to soothe thebruised relations, the MEA ina letter to all government offi-cials had urged them to keepaway from Dalai Lama’s eventsin India as the relationsbetween the two countries areat a sensitive stage. MAE, onthe other hand, maintainedthat Dalai Lama is a respectedreligious figure in India and hasthe freedom to carry out hisreligious activities.

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Responding to fugitivePunjab National Bank

Scam accused jeweller MehulChoksi’s statement that he can-not travel to India as his pass-port is revoked, MEAspokesperson Raveesh Kumaron Friday said there are otheroptions available to him if hewants to come back.

Countering Choksi’s argu-ment that he cannot return inthe absence of a passport,Raveesh said there are provi-sions to allow Indian citizenscome back home in case theylose their passports or havesome other issues regarding it.Raveesh said Choksi can go tothe nearest Indian Embassyand get an EmergencyCertificate issued to travel back.

Choksi is accused in the Rs.12,600 crore PNB fraud. In aletter to the Central Bureau ofInvestigation Choksi said it is“impossible” for him to returnto India since his passport hasbeen suspended.

“It is impossible for me totravel back to India. I wish topoint out that the RegionalPassport Office Mumbai hasnot given me any explanationas to why my passport has beensuspended and as to how I ama security threat to India,”Choksi said in a letter to CBI.

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With Friday too being nodifferent as Parliament

continued to be marred byprotests and adjournments forthe fifth consecutive day, thefirst week of the post-recessBudget Session has been acomplete washout.

Agitated members vocifer-ously raised issues includingPunjab National Bank(PNB)scam, granting special status toAndhra Pradesh and constitu-tion of Cauvery ManagementBoard and did not allow boththe houses to function.

In the second leg of theBudget Session, the Finance Bill2018 and Demands for Grantsare slated to be passed.Unabated agitation by themembers forced Rajya SabhaChairman M Venkaiah Naiduto remark “one week has gonewaste. This is no good. This issad,” before he adjourned theproceedings.

Ashok Gajapati Raju(TDP), who had resigned onThursday as civil aviation min-ister along with Y S Chowdaryto mark his party’s protest on theissue of special status to AndhraPradesh, was seen standing inthe well of the Lok Sabha withhis party colleagues. Like oth-ers, he too was wearing a stoledepicting his party’s colour.

While Congress andTrinamool Congress were protest-ing against the government overthe �12,700 crore PNB fraud,Andhra Pradesh parties–TDPand YSR Congress – continued topress for special status to begranted to the State. AIADMKwas demanding setting up of theCauvery Board to settle water dis-putes with neighbouring States.

When the Lok Sabha metfor the day, Speaker SumitraMahajan welcomed a parlia-mentary delegation from SouthKorea. Tributes were also paidto former members PrabodhPanda, Shyama Singh andBhanu Kumar Shastri who diedrecently. Soon after, the mem-bers from various partiestrooped into the Well holdingplacards. Amid the din, theSpeaker first adjourned theHouse till noon and thereafter

for the entire day. Similar scenes were wit-

nessed in the Rajya Sabhawhere the proceedings weredisrupted as members of sev-eral parties stormed the Wellover various issues. Afterobserving that one week waswasted due to agitations, Naidudid not wait long enough andadjourned the proceedings till1430 hours. The House wasfinally adjourned for the dayshortly after it met again due tounrelenting din by members.

However, before the firstadjournment, Naiduannounced the nomination ofJD(U) member KahkashanParveen on the panel of pre-siding officers to conduct theproceedings of the House,making her the first woman tobe included in the panel in therecent times. This move came

a day after the InternationalWomen’s Day when the mem-bers had expressed concernthat there was no womanmember in this panel, whichwas agreed to by the Chairman.She will assume the new rolefrom April 3 after anothermember Basvaraj Patil’s termcomes to an end on April 2.

According to the UpperHouse rules, the Chairmannominates from amongst themembers up to six vice-chair-persons or presiding officerswho preside in the absence ofthe chairman and the deputychairman. At present besidesNaidu and P J Kurien asDeputy Chairman , the panelincludes SatyanarayanJatiya(BJP), Tiruchi Siva(DMK), T K Rangarajan (CPI-M), Bhubaneswar Kalita(Congress), Basawaraj Patil(BJP) and Sukhendu SekharRay (Trinamool Congress).

When senior Congressmember Viplove Thakur, whohad demanded the inclusion ofa woman in the presiding offi-cer’s panel on Thursday, rose tothank him, Naidu, in a lightervein, said he wanted to nomi-nate Thakur, but she wouldhave lost her voice in the panel.“Viplove, in our language,means revolution,” he said.Naidu’s native language isTelugu.

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Conceding to the long-pending demand of the

Services, the Government hasfinally extended the ambit ofan “exclusive” pension schemeto cover the personnel killedor injured while guarding the4,000 km long Line of ActualControl(LAC) facing China.This “liberalised pension” wasearlier only sanctioned tothose deployed on the Line ofControl(LOC) borderingPakistan and the InternationalBorder.

The liberalised pensionprovides for 100 per cent ofthe last “reckonable” emolu-ments in comparison to nor-mal family pension of 30 percent of the last emoluments,officials said here on Friday.The family pension schemewill come into effect fromMarch 7, adding cases whichwere settled prior to the issueof the notification will not be“reopened,” as per aGovernment notification.

Defence Minister NirmalaSitharaman On December 20last year had accorded in-

principle approval to extendthe liberalised family pen-sion to those guarding theLAC. Officials said the armywas in favour of implement-ing the scheme with retro-spective effect, at least fromJune last year.

Officials said this is anexclusive family pension andthe armed forces weredemanding that thosedeployed along the borderwith China be included underit. There are indications thatthe Army may take up thematter with the defence min-istry as it feels implementingthe scheme with retrospectiveeffect from middle of lastyear will benefit a sizeablenumber of army men.

The scheme stipulates thata soldier getting injured orkilled due to natural calami-ties, fire or while performingoperational duties againstenemy forces will get familypension. The notificationsaid, ‘Liberalised FamilyPension’ covers accidentaldeath or injury sustained dueto natural calamities such asflood, avalanches, landslides,

cyclone, fire and lightening ordrowning in river while per-forming operational duties ormovements in action againstenemy forces and armed hos-tilities in operational area. Itsaid an amendment was madeto the order dated February 3,2011, relating to the scheme.

In fact, this demand forexclusive pension for thosedeployed on the LAC wasfirst raised in 2011and thefamilies of those killed whilepatrolling the border withChina from 2011 till March 6this year may take legalrecourse. The Armed ForcesTribunal had also issuednotices to the Government onmatter.

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Raking up the Rafale deal yetagain, the Congress on

Friday accused the ModiGovernment of “compromisingnational security” and brewinga “huge scam” by not disclos-ing the purchase price of thefighter aircraft.

Senior Congress leaderGhulam Nabi Azad alsoaccused the Modi Governmentof shoddy cover-up, self-defeat-ing assertions and deliberatelies on part of Governance todivert the scam.

Quoting from the annualreport of Dassault Aviation,makers of the fighter aircraft,Azad alleged that the companysold each jet to India at �351crore higher than those sold toQatar and Egypt 11 months ago.

Speaking to the media onthe Rafale Deal, Congress lead-ers Azad, Jitendra Singh andRandeep Surjewala said thatshoddy ‘cover-up’, ‘self-defeat-ing assertions’ and ‘deliberatelies’ are being dished out to‘divert’, ‘dupe’ and ‘deceive’”.

Claiming that the ModiGovernment’s tactics on ‘RafaleDeal’ have left more questionsthan answers, the Congressleaders said while 36 Rafale jetswere sold to India at 7.5 billionEuros in 2016, 48 jets were soldto Qatar and Egypt at 7.9 billionEuros in 2015. “This amountedto �1,670.70 crore per aircraft forIndia and �1,319.80 crore toEgypt/Qatar. There was a dif-ference of �351 crore for eachaircraft”, the Congress leadersclaimed. “The Government had

adopted complete opaquenessin the purchase of the Rafalefighter aircraft,” they said. Azadasserted that had the ModiGovernment not cancelled thedeal struck by the UPA dis-pensation for 126 Rafale jets, itcould have saved �41,212 crore.

Accusing the prime minis-ter of compromising on nation-al security and interests, Azadasked why were only 36 fight-er jets purchased instead of 126jets for which internationalbids were called for.

“Is this not compromisingwith national security? Why arePrime Minister and defenceminister hiding the purchaseprice (of the jets)? Is it correctthat per aircraft pricing ofRafale as per bid dated12.12.2012 (during the UPA-Congress Government) was�526.1 crore as against theModi Government’s per aircraftpurchase price of �1,670.70crore?” he asked.

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Prime Minister NarendraModi will digitally inaugu-

rate the National LegislatorsConference on the theme “WeFor Development” in theCentral Hall of ParliamentHouse on Saturday.

Addressing media here onFriday, Lok Sabha SpeakerSumitra Mahajan said the con-ference is hosted by IndianParliamentary Group and the

aim is to provide a platform toMPs, MLCs and MLAs fromacross the country to sharetheir experiences and to learnfrom each other’s success sto-ries, and to develop a per-spective on developmentalissues.

The inaugural ceremonywill be attended by the UnionCabinet Ministers, ChiefMinisters, Ministers of State ofthe Union, Presiding Officers ofState Legislatures, Members ofParliament and Members ofState Legislatures, saidMahajan.

“The Conference offersspecial opportunity to those

Delegates whose constituencieshave greater possibilities andaspirations of development.The Conference will compriseof a Plenary Session on thetheme “We For Development”and two Working Sessions on‘Role of Legislators inDevelopment Process’ and‘Optimum Utilisation ofResources in Development’,

“she said. The Plenary Session will be

held in the Central Hall ofParliament House on 10 March2018. Shri Amitabh Kant,CEO, NITI Aayog will make apresentation on aspirationaldistricts and Shri SureshPrabhu, Union Minister ofCommerce & Industry willaddress the Plenary Session. DrM. Thambi Durai, DeputySpeaker Lok Rajya Sabha willchair the Plenary Session.

Vice President VenkaiahNaidu, Deputy Speaker M.Thambudurai and CabinetMinisters Arun Jaitley NitinGadkari and JP Nadda willaddress the legislators on var-ious subject.

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On the occasion of WorldKidney Day and

International Women's Daythat coincided on Thursday,nephrologists advised womento be more cautious about theoverall health of their kidneysas they are more vulnerable tokidney-related ailments likeChronic Kidney Disease(CKD) in various stages oftheir life.

"Women have certain aswell as added risks for chron-ic kidney disease (CKD) thatmen do not," Dr Prof (Dr)Himansu Sekhar Mahapatra,HoD Nephrology, RMLHospital said. He attributed itto lack of awareness, limitedaccess to healthcare and otherunderlying health conditions.They should undergo health

screening early in life so as toavoid complications later, hesaid.

Various researches haveshown that the risk for CKD isslightly greater in women thanin men - 14 per cent womenversus 12 per cent men. CKDis a worldwide public health

problem with adverse out-comes of kidney failure andpremature death. It affectsapproximately 19.5 crorewomen worldwide and is cur-rently the 8th leading cause ofdeath in women, with close to6 lakh dying annually.

For women, early diagno-sis is more important as itmeans avoiding or delayingother potential health issuesincluding menstrual irregular-ities, sexual dysfunction, bonedisease, depression and preg-nancy complications.

Prof (Dr) DipankarBhowmik, Department ofNephrology, AIIMS,Delhi,explained that women withCKD have many more prob-lems with pregnancy, causingincreased risk to the motherand the child. Even womenwithout CKD may be at risk

during both pregnancy andbirth because of pre-eclampsiaand other problems that resultsinto hypertension and put astrain on the kidneys. Hence,prenatal care is crucial for allpregnant women.

According to doctors, dia-betes, obesity and hypertensionare risk factors contributing toCKD which is predicted toincrease by 17 per cent over thenext decade.

Dr Sandeep Mahajan, Profof Nephrology, AIIMS, Delhi,said that women should notignore certain diseases such asUrinary tract infections (UTIs).If it is not treated early, thegerms can travel up to the kid-neys and cause a worse type ofinfection, called pyelonephritis.

Also, there is threat of dis-eases like Lupus Nephropathy(inflammation of the kidney

that is caused by systemic lupuserythematous (SLE)), anautoimmune disease. Withlupus, the body's immune sys-tem targets its own body tis-sues. Lupus nephritis (whenlupus involves the kidneys)and Chronic Pyleonephritis(chronic pyelonephritis is char-acterised by renal inflamma-tion and fibrosis induced byrecurrent or persistent renalinfection, vesicoureteral reflux,or other causes of urinary tractobstruction) are unique towomen, he added.

Doctors noted that whiledialysis and transplant are theend treatment, women haveremained deprived lot fromthese treatment because of thelack of awareness, social rea-sons, psycho-socio economicbarriers and lack of medicalfacilities in rural areas.

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On a day when the SupremeCourt uttered powerful

words that the State cannotdeprive an individual the rightto end life with dignity, two outof the five judges who authoredthe judgment did not miss outto question if the advancedirective or living will actual-ly benefit the masses given thata large segment is deprived ofeven basic medical care.

Justice DY Chandrachud inhis separate but concurringopinion observed that anadvance directive or living willis based on the hypothesis thatmedical care is available to cit-izens as only then can theychoose to refuse treatment."The stark reality in our societyis that medical facilities arewoefully inadequate. Primarymedical care is a luxury inmany places. Public hospitalsare overwhelmed by the gapbetween the demand for med-

ical care and its supply. Advancedirectives may have little sig-nificance to large segments ofIndian society which are deniedaccess to basic medical care."

His views were echoed byanother judge on the bench,Justice AK Sikri who noted,"Right to health is a part ofArticle 21 of the Constitution. Atthe same time, it is also a harshreality that everybody is not ableto enjoy that right because ofpoverty, etc. Thus when citizens

are not guaranteed the right tohealth, can they be denied rightto die in dignity?"

He observed that a dread-ful, painful death to an inca-pacitated terminally ill patientis an affront to human digni-ty. But it is also true that 90 percent of intensive care unit in thecountry is located in the privateheathcare sector. The judgequoted a study that revealedIndia's position at 67th out of80 countries in the ranking of

Quality of Death Index. India'sspending on health of citizensis a pitiable 1.4 per cent of GDPand the 2017 National HealthPolicy promises no good resultas by 2025, the health expen-diture is projected to rise to 2.5per cent of GDP. JusticeChandrachud also noted risingcosts of medical care in urbanareas threatens to ruin financesof a family whose member isstruck by a terminal illness.

He observed, "In theabsence of a social security net,universal medical coverage,and compulsory insurance, it isthe family to which a patientturns to in distress….To them,advance directives may providea measure of assurance when acrucial decision as to whetherto prolong artificial support inan irreversible medical situa-tion is to be taken." However,he recommended that advancedirective needs periodic reviewand revision to ensure it is notutilised as a "subterfuge" forfacilitating a succession toproperty.

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Congress president RahulGandhi's interactions at a

discussion in Singapore haveled to a controversy with a par-ticipant threatening the grandold party of legal action forposting a ‘doctored’ video of hison social media.

Professor PK Basu, theauthor of 'Asia Reborn', hadasked Rahul, "Why is it that dur-ing the years that your familyruled India, India's per capitaincome was growing less thanthe world average? And yet, inthe years since your familyrelinquished the PrimeMinistership of India, India's percapita income has grown sub-stantially faster than the worldaverage," Basu is seen asking thequestion in the video.

The Congress tweeted avideo saying, "With political dis-course hitting new lows every-day, Congress president RahulGandhi shows how to graceful-ly handle detractors and call theirbluff." The video, however, does-n't show Rahul's answer to Basu'squestion, cutting to anothermember of the audience whohails the Congress. Basu said thatRahul repeatedly failed to answerhis question and accused theCongress of posting an editedand doctored video portraying asif the latter had convincinglygiven the answer.

"This is a classic fake newsvideo. You are using my imageto falsely advertise your politi-cian, showing a sequence ofevents that did not occur.Withdraw this false video, orprepare for prosecution inSingapore's courts," he coun-tered. He later retweeted anoth-er video posted by another user,saying, "Here's the full video ofmy succinct question to Rahuland his repeated failure toanswer."

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In a most severe castigation ofthe Narendra Modi

Government, former Congresspresident Sonia Gandhi saidhere on Friday that “our coun-try, our society and our free-doms” were currently under“systematic and sustainedassault”, parliamentary major-ity was being used to “stifledebate and bulldose legislation”and the investigative agencieswere being “misused” to targetpolitical opponents.

Speaking at the “IndiaToday Conclave-2018” here,Sonia Gandhi tore into PrimeMinister Narendra Modi bysaying: “Our very social DNAis being re-engineered. Theresulting churn will unleashpent-up frustrations, resent-ment and anger with devastat-ing consequences. Individualscan mesmerise for a while, butour republic needs impartialand robust institutions”.

“Long-standing precedentsthat have stood the countrywell are being violated.Parliamentary majority is beinginterpreted as a licence to sti-fle debate and bulldose legisla-tion. Political opponents arebeing targeted through themisuse of investigative agency.The judiciary is in turmoil.Civil society is being silenced.University and students arebeing straight-jacketed,” shesaid, during her nearly hour-long speech.

Later, during a question-

answer session with IndiaToday’s Editor-in-Chief of theIndia Today Group AroonPoorie, Gandhi debunked theruling BJP’s “skilfull packagingand lavish marketing” of its ini-tiatives and said that its “huge,fantastic” but failed promiseslike “�15 lakh for every per-son’s bank accounts and jobs”might boomerang on the ModiGovernment. “I am confidentthat the BJP’s Achhe Din willturn into “Shining India” thatbrought us to power (in 2004),”she said.

Responding to a pointedquery as to what did she thinkof Modi, the former UPAchairperson referred to herearlier speech and said: “I havejust read out full Ramayan, youare now asking me: what aboutSita and Ram?”. Listening toher tongue-in-cheek remark,the audience at the conclavebroke into peals of laughter.

Attributing the recent dis-ruptions by the Opposition in

Parliament to theGovernment’s determinedefforts to scuttle its voice onissues of public importancelike PNB Bank fraud, Gandhisaid that she did not expect thestalemate between theGovernment and Oppositionin Parliament to end as long asthe Modi dispensation did notchange its approach towards itspolitical rivals. “It (the dis-ruptions in Parliament) cannotbe fixed with the way the pre-sent Government is runningParliament. It is impossible. Itis because they (Government)are not willing to allow us tospeak in Parliament. Thenwhat is Parliament for? Is it notforum where debates takeplace? (if that is not the case),we might as well shutParliament and go home”.

Gandhi said she wasaware that the people at largewere possibly angry with theCongress because its mem-bers were making noise in

Parliament “(If we are dis-rupting the proceedings),there is a serious reason for it.Parliamentary rules are notfollowed. In the present setup, there is not spirit ofaccommodation on the partof the Government. As far asOpposition is concerned, it isour r ight (to demanddebates). Things worked wellwhen the Prime MinisterVajpayee was there”.

When asked to compareModi with former PrimeMinister A B Vajpyaee, Gandhisaid: “Vajpayee had greatrespect for parliamentary pro-cedure. The Speaker then wasa Speaker who ought to be. Youhave to hear both sides”.

Earlier, in her speech,Gandhi charged that the ‘ourcountry, our society, our free-doms — all are now under sys-tematic and sustained assault.Make no mistake about it’.“This is a well sort-out projectlong in the making to refash-ion the very idea of India. Itinvolves rewriting history, fal-sifying facts, slander nation-builders and fanning prejudiceand bigotry,” she said.

She demanded to know ifIndia was “really a giant blackhole before May 16, 2014 anddid India’s march to progress,prosperity and greatness beginonly four years ago”. “Is thisclaim not an insult to the intel-ligence of our people? Thisdeliberate unwillingness toacknowledge and commendwhat our country has achieved

is nothing but arrogance. Thiscynical running down of ourpast accomplishments, whichhave been a huge collectiveendeavour of the people ofIndia, is nothing but conceit. Itis not here a matter of takingcredit. It is simply a matter ofrecognising India’s strengthand strenuous efforts over thepast decades,” she said.

Expressing serious concernabout the happenings across thecountry after the advent of theModi Government in 2014,Gandhi said: “The foundation-al principles and values of ourConstitution are being willful-ly shredded. Callous remarksabout changing the Constitutionpoint to a deliberate attempt tosubvert the essence of Indiathat it enshrines. Provocativestatements from the rulingestablishment are not randomor accidental. They are part ofa dangerous design. Fear andintimidation are the order ofthe day”.

“Alternative voices arebeing silenced, literally in fartoo many cases through vio-lence, even murdered. Thefreedom to think for oneself, todiffer and disagree, to eataccording to one’s choice, tomeet or marry, according toone’s wishes - all this and moreis under attack.

Where amity and harmo-ny were encouraged, religioustensions are being fuelled.Vigilante mobs and privatearmies have been let loosewith state patronage,” she said.

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Once again delivering amasterstroke before the

Rajya Sabha elections, MamataBanerjee on Friday declaredher party’s support forCongress nominee AbhishekManu Singhvi. The moveamounts to hitting two birds ina shot: By bringing Kalighat(Banerjee’s official residence)and Janpath closer and drivinga wedge between the Left andthe Congress which weretogether fighting the Trinamoolin Bengal.

At the end of a TrinamoolCongress core committee meet-ing Banerjee said her partyhad decided to support Singhvi.“Both Mr Singhvi and Mr KapilSibal had been fighting manycourt cases for us. This was thebest way through which wecould show our gratitude,” shesaid adding “of course theCongress approached with arequest to support him andthen we decided to considerhim for the fifth seat.”

In the other four seats theTrinamool will field NadimulHaq whose term will end on April2, Subhasis Chakrabarty a lawyer,Abir Biswas and Dr Shantanu Sena medical practitioner.

By dint of its overwhelmingnumber of MLAs the TMC issure to win the four seats. For thefifth seat there was a talk goingon between the Congress and theLeft who jointly have 65Legislators. Bengal PradeshCongress president Adhir

Chowdhury had gone on recordoffering his party’s support to aconsensus candidate from theLeft and the Congress followingwhich the Left had started toyingwith names of actor SabyasachiChakrabarty and senior advocateBikash Bhattacharya.

However with Congressfinalizing on Singhivi’s nameand Mamata Banerjee backingit “we have no other way but tofield our own candidate though

we may not win the elections,”said a senior CPI(M) leader.

Banerjee’s move boreimmediate results with theCPI(M) announcing the nameof Rabin Deb for the fifth seataccusing the Congress of break-ing the talk process. “Talks werebetween the two sides when theCongress unilaterally decided tofield Abhishek Singhvi withoutinforming us,” Left Front chair-man Biman Bose said.

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The Trinamool Congressgoons continued to attack

their BJP counterparts thistime battering a bevy of themat Serampore in Hooghly dis-trict on Friday even as a teamof saffron workers were tryingto consecrate the figurines ofMahatma Gandhi, ShyamaPrasad Mukherjee and BRAmbedkar.

“Though the BJP’s proces-sion led by its Hooghly districtpresident BhaskarBhattacharya reached the spotearly hordes of Trinamoolgoons armed with rods andsticks pounced on them, beatthem up and drove them awaybefore bathing the statuesthemselves with milk,” a localBJP worker said.

They did not even sparethe district party president. “Adozen of TMC men pouncedon him, threw him on theground and beat him up mer-cilessly,” sources said allegingthe police did not intervene.

The Friday’s incidentcomes a day after a dozen ofBJP men were attacked atKeoratala, barely a km awayfrom Chief Minister MamataBanerjee’s house when theywent to consecrate the statue ofShyma Prasad Mukherjeewhich was defiled and dam-aged by a group of extremeLeftists.

On Thursday evening theBJP workers were beaten up bya band of CPI(M) cadres atJadavpur even as a local HinduJagaran Manch was holding ameeting, sources said.

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Four days ahead of a dinnershe is planning to host for

various Opposition leaders inan effort to forge unity amongvarious non-BJP parties,Congress Parliamentary partychairperson Sonia Gandhi saidhere on Friday that all theOpposition parties should comein “larger interest” of the coun-try to take on the Narendra

Modi-led ruling NDA in the2019 Lok Sabha polls.

Interacting with AroonPoorie at the “India TodayConclave-2018”, Gandhi wasboth pragmatic and circum-spect when she said: “ It is diffi-cult for all the parties, includingours, to forge an understanding.Because, we can come togetherat the national level on someissues or matters relating to leg-islation. But, at the ground level,

we are opponents. So there is lotof pressure on every party,including my party or the onesin West Bengal and other States.It is difficult task. But, I think ifall of us think of a larger pictureand if we think or really care forthe country, we can rise about theState politics and come togeth-er at the national level”.

Alluding to the dinnerplanned for the Oppositionleaders of various parties on

March 13, Gandhi said: “I amno longer the president of theCongress. Yes. I am still thechairperson of the CongressParliamentary party” But I dohave regular meetings withleaders of like-minded partiesto see if we can together. InParliament, especially in RajyaSabha, there is good coordina-tion among various oppositionleaders. We are holding a din-ner meeting with all the

Opposition leaders”.Asked as to what advice she

had given to Congress presi-dent Rahul Gandhi, Gandhisaid: “He is now the Congresspresident. He knows what hisresponsibilities are. I am alwaysthere if he needs any sort ofadvice. I have tried not volun-teer advice to my son. We areparents always try to keep ourchildren under. But, it is notadvisable”.

Asked if Rahul’s style offunctioning was different fromhers, Gandhi said: “Everyleader of a party his or her ownstyle of working. He has hisstyle. I had my style. Both havethe same goal of of imple-menting the policies of the con-gress. Rahul wants to revitalisethe party by having youngerpeople in his team even whilenot doing with elder people. Hewants to have a balance of bothyounger and elder people.”

“India is very very youngcountry. I agree with Rahulthere. It is not going to be aneasy task. I am sure he will beable to do the job. He alwaysto have new people in histeam. If you do not haveyounger and new people, howwill the party is going to grow?That is his argument. Veryvalid argument. Then youseniors in the party who say wehave been struggling for theparty for years. They are con-cerned as to what will happento them.

“But, at the party’s stand-ing committee meeting wehad, Rahul said very clearly hestrongly believes we needyounger people in the partybut that does not mean doingaway with elderly people,” shesaid.

Asked if she would contestthe 2019 Lok Sabha, Gandhisaid: “I will do whatever myparty tells me to do”, she said.

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Former Congress presidentSonia Gandhi revealed here

on Friday that she was cur-rently in midst of puttingtogether and digitising the let-ters exchanged between hermother-in-law late IndiraGandhi and son Rajiv Gandhiduring the latter’s school days.

Participating in “IndiaToday Conclave-2018”, Gandhidisclosed that after relinquish-ing her post as the President ofthe Congress party, she wasrelieved very much.

“(After quitting as the partypresident)I am actuallyrelieved. Huge weight off myshoulder. I have much moretime to do things like readingor watching a movie which Inever could do before,” shesaid.

“Now I have a lot of workat home in terms of tidying upold papers belonging to myhusband Rajiv and his motheri.e., my mother-in-law. I amtrying to put the letters togeth-er and digitise them. These areletters that my mother-in-lawused to write to Rajiv in schooland his replies. From the sen-timental point of view, they areimportant. They have just beenkept for so long. I am now try-ing tidy them up,” Gandhi said.

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Bollywood actorNawazuddin Siddiqui has

found himself in a unsavourycontroversy, with the Thanepolice accusing him of spyingon his wife.

Siddiqui’s name cropped inthe investigations into what hascome to be known as theThane Call Detail Records(CDR) scam, after the policearrested 11 persons–mainlydetectives–in connection withthe scam.

The investigations haverevealed that Siddiqui hadallegedly acquired CDRs ofhis wife’s phone through anadvocate who had hired a pri-vate detective to keep an eye onher contacts and whereabouts.

Confirming the allegedinvolvement of Siddiqui in theCDR scam, Thane Crimebranch’s senior Police InspectorNitin Thakare said: “One of thearrested persons revealedSiddiqui’s name during the

custodial interrogation. Wehave issued summons to theactor, but he has not appearedbefore us for questioning”,

Informed official sourcessaid the investigations hadthrown up the names of sev-eral other Bollywood person-alities, businessmen and evenpoliticians who are likely to bequestioned soon.

Among the detectivesarrested in connection with theCDR scam are MakeshPandiyan, Pratik Mohpal,Prashant Palekar, JigarMakwana, all from Thane,Prashant Sonawane andSantosh Pandagle, both fromNavi Mumbai.

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At least three persons werekilled and 14 others injured

in a massive fire triggered by achain of blasts at a chemicalfactory at Tarapur’s industrialarea in the neighbouringPalghar district, 110 km fromhere, late on Thursday.

The fire, which originatedat Novaphene SpecialtiesPrivate Limited (E-107 unit) ofTarapur MIDC at 11.45 pm,spread to five other nearby fac-tories -Prachi Industries, BharatRasayan, Arti Industries,Unimax and Darbar.

Local residents said thatthey heard “30 to 40” explosionsand they came out of their hous-es in panic, apprehending thatthere might have been an earth-quake.

Before long, red and yellowfireballs emanating from theaffected factories brightenedthe skies in the area. More than25 fire tenders from Vasai-Virar, Bhiwandi-Nizampur,Palghar, Tarapur Atomic PowerStation (TAPS), Reliance Power,Dahanu, Thane and Palgharrushed to the scene to douse theraging blaze.

The fire fighters managed tobring the blaze under control at8 am on Friday.

The police identified thethree persons killed in themishap as Pintu Kumar

Gautam, Janu Adaria and AlokNath, all employees of ArtiIndustries, a drug firm whichwas among the six factoriesaffected by the fire.

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Airbus, one of the leadingmanufacturer of aircrafts

has made a forecast that air pas-senger traffic in India willgrow over the next 20 years asfast as the world average and tomeet the demands of thisgrowth the country will need1750 aircrafts.

The projections were madeby the top officials of theAirbus at a media conferenceon the sidelines of the WingsIndia 2018, the biennial con-ference of civil aviation inHyderabad on Friday.

Joost Van Der Heijden,vice president, Marketting, Asiaand North America said thatthe aircrafts India would needwill include 1320 single aisleand 430 wide bodied aircraftsvalued at $255 billion. “By2019-20 India will become thethird largest aviation market inthe world”, he said.

Airbus now had the biggershare of Indian market with60% of in service fleet and 70%of the order backlog , he added.

According to the projectionsof Airbus the domestic air pas-senger traffic in India will reg-

ister an average annual growthof 8.1% over the 20 years againstthe global average of 4.4%.

“Domestic Indian traffic isexpected to grow five and a halftimes over the next 20 years(2017-36) reaching the samelevel as US domestic traffictoday making it one of thefastest growing markets”,Airbus’ India Market Forecastsaid.

While much of the air traf-fic was expected to be driven bythe fast expanding economy,rising wealth and urbanisa-tion, ambitious Government

backed regional connectivityprogrammes are also set toenhance demand for air travel.

“By 2036 Indians will eachmake four times as many flightas today”, the forecast said.

The company also project-ed that on an average one Airbusaircraft will be delivered to Indiaevery week for the next ten years.

Noting that to meet thisgrowth India will require 24000new pilots and maintenanceengineers, Dwarkanath saidthat the construction work ofAirbus’ Flight Training Centrein Delhi will start next month

where 800 pilots will be trained.Srinivasan Dwarkanath,

President, Airbus CommercialAircraft, India said that everycommercial aircraft of airbuswas partly made in India as thecompany’s sourcing from Indiahad increased 16 times over thelast ten years, companiessourced the parts and servicesworth $3 billion over the lastthree years and it stood at $ 550million last year. The sourcinghas created 6000 jobs directlyor indirectly across India. Thesourcing will increase furtheras the company was looking forthe opportunities to work withmore partners specially indesigning, innovation andemerging technologies.

The engineering and ITservices companies partner-ing with the Airbus includeHAL, Infosys, Wipro amongothers. HAL had provided 6600front passenger doors to theAirbus, he added.

“Make in India is at theheart of Airbus India strategy.Airbus has the largest footprintin India of any internationalaircraft manufacturer, nationwide across all aircraft pro-grammes”, said Dwarkanath.

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Even as the world was cele-brating International

Women’s Day and honouringwomen for their contributionto the family and the society, awoman in Hyderabad had toface the rough side of the life.

She was badly thrashedand left battered by her hus-band just because she hadobjected to his habit of surfingthe Internet on his mobile tilllate into the night and watch-ing obscene films.

“When I tried to switch offthe router of wifi, he got angryand started beating me with astick. When I tried to leave thehome he continued to attackme and dragged me from thehouse to the car and laterdumped me outside my moth-

er’s home,” she told the police.Punjagutta police in

Hyderabad have filed a case ofdomestic violence against 30-year-old Omer Pasha on thecomplaint of the wife ReshmaSultana who was admitted to aprivate hospital with seriousinjuries.

Inspector of policeRavinder Kumar said afterbeating Reshma Sultana with astick and biting her at manyplaces Omer Pasha dumped theinjured woman outside her

parent’s house in Maqta area ofPunjagutta in Hyderabad lateon Wednesday night.

Reshma’s mother Shabanafound her in a battered condi-tion and immediately rushed herto Yashoda hospital and lodgeda complaint with the police.

Shabana said that herdaughter was facing harass-ment from husband for a longtime and after she delivered agirl 8 months ago, OmerPasha gave away the child tosomebody without informinghis wife.

This is second violent inci-dent in the city involving theInternet usage. Last week afather had chopped the righthand of his teenaged son whenhe refused to stop watchingporn films on his mobile phonein the Old city.

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Senior Telangana Minister THarish Rao has once again

become target of a vilificationcampaign on WhatsApp on afake news that he was planningto join the BJP.

The State irrigationMinister Harish Rao, who isalso the nephew of the ChiefMinister K Chandrasekhar Raohas sought the help of theState Director General of Policeto track down the elementsresponsible for the misleadingpropaganda. He spoke to theDGP over phone and request-ed him to take action againstimpostors who had used thelogo of a local Telugu TVchannel to create a false head-line about his political plans.The headline said that HarishRao will soon defect to BJPalong with his followers amongthe TRS MLAs.

Addressing a press confer-ence Harish Rao said, “mypolitical career was born in theTRS and it will end in the TRS.My loyalties remain with theTRS and the party president KChandrasekhar Rao”, he said.

Harish Rao, who is one ofthe senior most leaders of TRSis largely seen as a rival to KTaraka Rama Rao, anotherimportant Minister and son ofKCR. With KCR announcinghis plans to enter the nationalpolitics, speculations have start-ed that his son KTR will suc-ceed him as the Chief Minister.

Whenever such specula-tions increase, Harish Rao’sfuture also become subject ofconjectures. Earlier also therewere rumors that the BJP andthe Congress leaders hadapproached him to switch overto their parties in case of KTRbecomes the successor.However Harish Rao hadstrongly rejected such propa-ganda and ruled out changingthe loyalties.

������������� �����4+4

The Special InvestigationTeam (SIT) of Karnataka

Police on Friday arrested KTNaveen Kumar, the suspect inthe murder of Kannada tabloidEditor Gauri Lankesh who wasmurdered brutally in front ofher house on the outskirts ofBengaluru nearly six monthsago. Meanwhile a city court hasgranted the custody of theaccused to SIT for further inves-tigation. Opposing the bail pleaof KT Naveen Kumar alias‘Hotte Manja’, the Governmentadvocate informed the courtthat the police need to interro-gate him further.

The Government advocatealso gave details of the investi-gation to the court in a sealedcover, marking a major devel-opment in the sensational case.The police also wanted permis-sion from the court to carry outlie detector test, brain mappingand narco test on the “accused”.However, court posted the mat-ter for deciding whether tests

can be allowed for March 12.Earlier, SIT, tasked with

probing Lankesh murder case,had Naveen in its custody forquestioning, which ended onFriday. The police, thereafter,sought time from court for fur-ther questioning. The courtallowed the custody till March 15.

The Opposition BJP hasalleged that the State’s CongressGovernment is trying to “pinthe murder” on Naveen Kumarbecause of his affiliation withHindutva organisations.

Kumar was arrested by theBengaluru Police near the mainbus terminus at Majestic area

a few days ago. Police sourcessay the suspect either directlyinvolved in Gauri Lankesh’smurder or had suppliedweapons to the killers. One ofthe men caught on the CCTVcameras at Lankesh’s housebears resemblance to him, thesources claim.

Kumar, 37, was taken intocustody for questioning lastweek. Kumar, who hails fromBirur town in Chikmagalur dis-trict, was taken into custody bya Special Investigation Team ofthe Karnataka Police on March2. He was booked by theBengaluru Police on February 19

under the Arms Act for illegalpossession of 15 bullets of arevolver. He had allegedly trainedtwo other suspects Abhi and Aniin shooting. He allegedly madetrips to Pune and Mumbai toprocure and sell guns.

Police had earlier releasedsketches of two suspects andasked for public help to put aname to their faces but therehadn't been much of headway.A reward of �10 lakh had alsobeen announced for leads thatlead to the arrest of the mur-derers. Gauri was shot dead byunknown by assailants outsideher residence in Bengaluru onSeptember 5, last year. She wasthe editor of the Gauri LankeshPatrike, a tabloid known for“anti-establishment” views.

Following her murder, sev-eral protests, across the coun-try and especially in prominentparts of Karnataka, had takenplace. Gauri Lankesh, 55, theEditor of “Lankesh Patrike”, wasshot dead outside her resi-dence on September 05 lastyear by unidentified men.

��� . �

With the rising graph ofNOTA (none of the

above) in the elections in thecountry, the Association forDemocratic Rights (ADR) andNational Election Watch(NEW) have recommendedthat in any constituency if thevotes polled for NOTA arehigher than all the contestingcandidates, no candidateshould be declared as electedand fresh election should beheld in which none of the ear-lier candidates should beallowed to contest.

Incidentally Bihar top onthe list of States where NOTAwas polled maximum votes inAssembly election in 2015.Among the 28 States and UTssurveyed Bihar gave 9.47 lakhvotes to NOTA which was 2.08percent of the total votes polled.

Introduced in 2013 follow-ing a Supreme Court judgment,the NOTA in the last five yearssecured over 1.33 crore votes in

State Assemblies and Lok Sabhaelection in 2014. In the by-elec-tions in Goa, Delhi and AndhraPradesh, a large number of peo-ple voted for NOTA making itsvote share the third or fourthhighest in the respective con-stituencies. In bypolls in Panajiand Valpoi in Goa NOTAsecured third position and in by-polls in Bawana in Delhi andNandyal in Andhra Pradesh, itwas placed fourth position.

NOTA was introduced inLok Sabha election in 2014 and

it secured. 60.03 lakh voteswith highest number of votesin one constituency was 46,559votes in Nilgris constituency inTamil Nadu.

The report suggested thatNOTA was more popular andfavourite button on EVM inRed Alert constituencies wherethree or more candidates withcriminal cases contest. NOTAsecured 22.95 lakh votes insuch constituencies since elec-tions after the Supreme Courtorder on September 27, 2013directing the Election com-mission of India for makingprovision of NOTA in theEVM so that the voters whocome to polling stations anddecide not to vote for any of thecandidates in the fray are ableto exercise their right not tovote while maintaining theirright to secrecy. The provisionof NOTA button was firstimplemented in the Assemblyelections of Chhattisgarh,Mizoram, Rajasthan, Delhi andMadhya Pradesh in 2013.

��� ������+

Relief given to suspendedIAS officer Pradeep Sharma

by Gujarat High Court provedto be temporary as anti-cor-ruption bureau (ACB) person-nel again arrested him themoment he came out ofSabarmati jail on Friday.

The High Court onThursday granted Sharma con-ditional bail in a money laun-dering case registered by theEnforcement Department. Inthat connection he was releasedfrom the jail, but ACB arrest-ed him on the charges of dis-proportionate properties.

Former Kutch collector wasarrested on July 31, 2016, underthe provisions of Prevention ofMoney Laundering Act (PMLA)after the apex court vacated an

interim stay on his arrest.He is facing serious charges

of land scam and ‘Hawala’scams. The cases relate to analleged sanction of Governmentland at cheaper rate to WelspunIndia Limited and its groupcompanies Welspun Power andSteel and Welspun Gujarat StyleRohran in Kutch district as partof the suspected quid pro quo.The probe agency stated thatSharma had sanctioned the landto the company in 2004 when hewas Kutch collector.

At that point of time he wasalso chairman of district landevaluation and pricing com-mittee of Kutch.

As per the probe agency’sclaim Sharma’s decision causeda loss of �1.2 crore to Stateexchequer. It also alleged thatin lieu of clearing land deal at

a cheaper rate Sharma received�22 lakh on his wife Shyamal’sname.

ED also claimed thatShyamal invested hardly �1lakh in a company namedValue Packaging and in returnshe constantly received croresof rupees in her and their chil-dren’s accounts in USA viaDubai through ‘hawala’.

Sharma got bail as theSupreme Court had read downSection 45 of the PMLA thatrestrained courts from granti-ng bail considering proof ofburden to convince the court ofinnocence lay on the shouldersof the accused.

The ED had registered acase against Sharma basis caseslodged by CID (Crime) andAnti-Corruption Bureau of theState Government.

���������������+8

Andhra Pradesh ChiefMinister Chandrababu

Naidu appreciated “Team AP”which worked hard in thedevelopment of the Statethough there was no UnionGovernment support. Day afterwithdrawal from the ModiGovernment, on Friday, Naiduhas conducted a long videoconference with the “Team AP”comprised of Chief Secretary,Special Chief Secretaries,Principle Secretaries,Secretaries, HoDs, MunicipalCommissioners, DistrictCollectors among others.

“I personally thank youall for standing behind theState in hard times faced afterbifurcation. Since four years wehave been waiting for Centralassistance. Though we arefriendly party, the UnionGovernment’s inimical behav-ior put Andhra Pradesh atcross roads. Even, Team AP hasdone wonderful job using lat-est technologies with a greatcoordination. Andhra Pradesh

stood in first place in ease ofdoing business, agriculture,MNREGA, Energy, PanchayatRaj, Rural Developmentbecause of the best coordina-tion among administration. Itis proved if efficient leaderplaced for any State or thecountry, we will get very goodresults, even if you don’t haveCentral support”, Naidu said.

Naidu briefed in detailabout all political develop-ments taken place at the timeof bifurcation, after APReorganisation, base for join-ing NDA, Modi Governmentinimical behaviour, withdraw-al of two TDP Ministers fromthe Modi Cabinet and futureproblems. “We May face fur-ther harsh times with theCentre. We need not afraid of.When bitter times come, but,there will be plenty of oppor-tunities at the same time”,Naidu tried to fill more confi-dence among Administration.“If you look at e-Pragathi,Bhudhar, Real TimeGovernance etc. we are doingwonders in TransparentAdministration. We have

become role model to thecountry. RecentComprehensive FinanceManagement System has putthe State at peak in technolo-gy usage. We will get patent toCFMS. We will be acting asConsultant and providing ser-vices to other States in imple-mentation of CFMS andBhudhar and will earn addi-tional funds. We need notdepend only on CentralAssistance by wasting time.We can develop our State withour intelligence, intellectualexpertise and enterprenuer-ship”, Naidu detailed.

Adding further targets forfuture , he directed, “Though weare submitting UtilisationCertificates against Centralfunds, Union Government lyingand has reverted back �350crores already released. Focus onUCs submission. Get all Centralfunds as scheduled”. Further headded, “For construction of theCapital, the Centre has given just�2,500 Crores whereas the farm-ers have given 33,000 acresworth of �40,000 crores withouttaking single paise.

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President Mohammad Abdul Hamidwill be representing Bangladesh atthe International Solar AllianceFounding Conference in New Delhifrom March 10 to 12, 2018. Before

coming to Delhi, he will be visiting Assamand Meghalaya to relive memories of the 1971war where he had fought as a brave freedomfighter. These visits are most befitting asBangladesh-India bilateral cooperation hadbegun in the battlefields of 1971.

Emotional bonds, stemming from theinvaluable contributions of the Governmentand the people of India during Bangladesh’sWar of Liberation, led by our Father of Nation,Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, remain a dominantfactor in the country’s political, cultural andsocial wave. Crucially, as a gesture fromBangladesh in recognising the supreme sac-rifices made by 1,661 Indian martyrs for theliberation of Bangladesh, a specialSommanona programme was jointly organ-ised by the Government of India andBangladesh during Prime Minister SheikhHasina’s last visit to India. The programmewas unique in the sense that never in the his-tory of the world has a country recognisedthe contribution of another country by hon-ouring the martyrs at their motherland.

A stable, strong and friendly neighbour-hood is a necessity for any country, big orsmall, and especially in our region where sev-eral armed terrorist groups are eager to exploitdifferences between the two countries to fur-ther their objectives. It is natural to have bilat-eral problems with one’s neighbours, moreso, for India and Bangladesh which share hugeland and maritime boundaries, use commonrivers and rail and road and river networks.However, it is heartening that the earlier mis-trust and tensions between Bangladesh andIndia have been largely cleared. As closeneighbours, both countries should take noteof each other’s sensitivities and vulnerabili-ties and demonstrate a greater political willto establish mutually cooperative ties.

Since assumption of power for the sec-ond time in 2009, Prime Minister SheikhHasina has consistently tried to improvemutual trust and cooperation and she hasbrought a change in our mindset in our bilat-eral ties. There is now a greater recognitionon both sides that the destinies of our twoneighbouring countries are inescapablyintertwined and we must grow together. Ourstability and prosperity are inextricablylinked with each other.

Happily, on the other hand, PrimeMinister Narendra Modi, after assumptionof office little over three years ago, had alsoexpressed his keen desire to promote all-round bilateral cooperation. His historic visitto Bangladesh in June 2015 has taken our tiesto newer heights. Sixty eight years after thePartition of 1947, and 41 years after the con-clusion of the Indira-Mujib Border Accordof 1974, the Land Boundary Agreement

(LBA) between the two countries was con-cluded and ratified. Modi had demonstrat-ed how a long-standing complex bilateralissue could be resolved unanimously throughconsultation, compassion and consensus-building. The successful conclusion of theLBA also signalled fulfilment of the vision ofSheikh Mujibur Rahman who had taken theinitiative after Bangladesh’s independence.

During the last summit-level meetings,our two Prime Ministers Sheikh Hasina andNarendra Modi have taken our bilateral tiesto a new level which is well beyond the ‘strate-gic partnership’. The 11 agreements and 24Memorandum of Understandings (MoU)signed during the visit virtually encompassevery important sector in our bilateral coop-eration namely security, trade, connectivity,energy, civil nuclear agreement, defenceand introduction of new bus and train ser-vices etc. In addition to the two earlier Lineof Credits (LoCs), India also extended a freshLoC to Bangladesh during the visit to the tuneof five billion dollar which also includes $500million for defence purchase.

Bangladesh will utilise this credit for theprojects that it needs on a priority basis. Lik-ewise, it will utilise the defence credit on thepurchase of the items it requires. Private se-ctors also made their valuable inputs whenthey signed MoUs for the investment to thetune of $13 billion primarily in the energy sec-tor. Security issue had bedevilled Indo-Bangladesh ties in the past. Hasina, sinceassumption of power, has firmly controlledthe situation and did not allow any terroristactivities, or any terrorist group to useBangladesh’s soil to launch an attack againstIndia or any neighbouring country. Sincethen, security cooperation has been the highpoint of our relations. It is the principled and

unequivocal position of Bangladesh to not tol-erate terrorism in any form and to not allowits soil to be used against the interest of anycountry, particularly India, and has strength-ened the confidence of both sides.

Cooperation in the energy sector is thehallmark of our renewed engagements andHamid’s visit will mark the beginning of ourcooperation in the solar energy sector. inrecent years, there has been a positivemomentum in cooperation between the twocountries in the power sector and achieve-ments so far have been highly encouraging.Currently, India has been supplying 660 MWof power through the Bheramara-Bahrampurand Tripura-Comilla inter-connection.

Both countries have also started coop-eration on renewable energy and nuclearpower. India will be providing Bangladeshtechnical assistance for the construction ofthe 2,400 MW Rooppur Nuclear Power Plantin Pabna. Another coal-based plant namelyMaitree Super Thermal Power Project of1,320 MW at Rampal, Bagerhat of Bangladeshby Bangladesh-India Friendship Power PlantCompany (Pvt) Ltd is also progressing well.

In the private sector, major Indian con-glomerate like Adani and Reliance Groupsconcluded the agreement on supply of elec-tricity. Several other projects in the power sec-tor have been included in the new LoC of $4.5billion which was announced during the visitof Hasina to India in April 2017. Agreementsworth $13 billion of Indian investment werealso signed during the visit, which is in thepower and energy sectors of Bangladesh,nearly nine billion dollar.

(The writer is the High Commissioner ofBangladesh to India)

(To be continued; the second part of thisarticle will appear on Sunday)

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Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “Southern discomfort” (March9). Andhra Pradesh ChiefMinister Chandrababu Naiduplayed a master stroke by break-ing ties with the BJP. Special cat-egory status is important for thedevelopment of the State, butapart from procedural hurdles,the BJP feared this would lead toother States, such as Bihar mak-ing similar demands.

Besides, there is also thepolitical compulsion of makingsuch a move since the mainOpposition in the State, YSRCongress, showed an aggressivestance on the same issue. Thisbold step will grant TDP an over-whelming public sympathyacross the State.

AJ QasmiBihar

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Sir — This refers to the article,“Disowning a vile practice”(March 9) by Hiranmay Karlekar.To solve the intractable problemof useless cow abandonment andalso gau-rakshak violence, onceand for all, the BJP should set upa cow corporation and under itcreate ‘desi cow sanctuaries’ ineach State as a ‘buy-back’ systemfor unproductive native cowsand bullocks.

Alternatively, the Gobar-Dhan Scheme, which inter aliaaims at increasing farmingincomes through the sale ofgobar (cow dung), must offer aremunerative Minimum SupportPrice to incentivise the mainte-

nance of ‘unproductive’ cows.Cows, even if useless, yield pre-cious products of dung and urinewhich are crucial to organicagriculture and bio-energy.

CV Krishna ManojHyderabad

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Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “Meaningful empowerment”(March 8). The world was busycelebrating InternationalWomen’s Day but for the rest ofthe days, countries all over mustfocus on the plight of women andthe challenges they face. Whilethere is a long list of issues thatstand in the way of the realisa-tion of women’s rights, it isimperative that we, in India,focus our energies and funds onempowering our young girlsthrough education.

Today, India still has 8.4crore out-of-school children and49 per cent of them are girls. Afew fortunate girls, who do endup going to school, fail to com-plete their studies beyond the pri-mary level. Education is a basichuman right that should be exer-cised fully by every nation. Whenit comes to global developmentgoals, evidence shows that noth-ing else has so wide-rangingimpact as educating the girls.

When women are includedin the economy, results are phe-nomenal. Higher authoritiesmust ensure that all girls haveaccess to quality education.

Md Rustam Parwez Hyderabad

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The Democratic Republic of theCongo (DR Congo) is at the

point of no return as it is stuck inbloody battle among Governmentforces, rebels and Opposition groups.

The local media apprehends ifthe volatile situation is not containedsooner, Congo may slip into majorchaos leading to more deaths andmajor refugee crisis.

But before discussing thehumanitarian crisis, it is importantto understand the root cause of thecrisis. Congo watchers hold currentPresident Joseph Kabila Kabangesolely responsible for the politicalstalemate by simply refusing to con-duct election in the country sinceNovember 2016, when his secondfive-year term came to an end.

Kabila’s lust for power has trig-gered the ongoing civil war which inthe past year forced nearly 1.7 mil-lion people to flee the nation for safeshelters in neighbouring countries.

Though no exact account of dis-placed people is available, rough esti-mate is that about 5,500 people areleaving their homeland each day.

The inter-communal fightingthat is coming up in the north east-ern Ituri region has forced around44,000 Congolese to flee to the bor-dering Uganda since the beginningof this year. But then the journey toUganda is no cakewalk. Reports sayfleeing residents are going throughharrowing experience as they areforced to use rickety boats andcanoes to cross dangerous waters ofLake Albert. Moreover, the journeyto the new country is tiring as it takesup to 10 hours to reach Uganda.

All told, the ongoing crisis hascaught the attention of internation-al humanitarian agencies and mostimportantly the UN.

By the last week of February, theUN declared that Congo is facing a“humanitarian disaster of extraor-dinary proportions” as mass violenceand record displacement are fastengulfing the south east part of thecountry. A spokesperson of theUNHRC highlighted that entrenchedinter-communal clashes among eth-nic groups in Tanganyika province“triggering spiraling displacementand human rights abuses”.“Moreover, fierce clashes between theCongolese armed forces and the mili-tias have continued since the end ofJanuary, while new armed groupsthreaten to wreak havoc in theprovince,” it said. This current surgein ethnic violence is disturbing forCongo as the country had witnessedsuch tragedies in the past also.

What causes more concern is

that the capital city of Kinshasa hasbecome the hub of protest againstPresident Kabila. Led by the CatholicChurch, the protesters have beendemanding Kabila to step downand make way for early election inthe country.

But all the demand and regularprotests have fallen on deaf ears ofKabila, who after finishing his five-year term has completed another twoyears in office in violation of theConstitution of Congo (as amendedin 2006).

The Opposition has accusedKabila — holding power illegally —of making lame excuse to delay theelection since November 2016. And,with the death of the country’stallest Opposition leader EtienneTshisekedi, Kabila is able to wedgedivision among the rest of the lead-ers with his armed might.

The weakened Opposition,known as “Rassemblement”, is fastlosing its grip over restless popula-tion. Its main demand of forming atransitional Government withoutKabila at the end of 2017 has notyielded any positive results.

Kabila continues to comfortablydivert people’s attention as incidentslike widespread insurgencies, massiveprison breaks and atrocities by secu-

rity force concern residents morethan the ruler’s mis-governance.

As the Kabila Government los-ing its grip on power, it intends to useheavy handed tactics and disregardthe rule of law while invoking theunrest to further delay the presi-dential election. These lead to morediscontent and chaos in the countryto the discomfort to its neighbour-ing countries, like Angola.

What ails Congo today is notentirely a different saga from mostof the African countries. Most ofthese nations were ruthlessly ruledby European colonial powers till theend of the Second World War. Whenit comes to Congo, it was underBelgian rule till 1960, when the coun-try became independent. Its new anddemocratically elected PrimeMinister Patrice Lumumba was inoffice barely for two and a halfmonths when he was ousted in acoup by Mobutu Sese Seko, who thenorchestrated Lumumba’s murderwith the blessings of CIA agents, asmedia reports claim. And after-wards, the misrule and corruption inCongo, which was then known asZaire, continued till 1997 for morethan three decades till he was over-thrown by senior Kabila.

In the last 17 years of his rule,

Kabila has presided over a decrepitstate, delivering nothing to his coun-trymen. There has been completedecay in every institution startingfrom Parliament to those at grass-roots. These institutions are servingthemselves, mostly the ruling eliteand very specifically the extendedfamily and relatives of Kabila.

More than 77 per cent of thepeople of Congo live on less than$1.90 per day, which as per the stan-dards of the World Bank can becalled as “extreme poverty”. Majorparts of the country are eitherungoverned or governed sporadicallyby the rebels and militias for theirown benefit. These militias are vyingfor both territory and resources,independent of the control ofKinshasa. Thus an archaic system ofadministration runs in almost onethird of its provinces wherein its pop-ulace see a dark future with peoplefleeing the resource-rich country.

As record shows, in the past twoyears, the number of displaced peo-ple has more than doubled to near-ly four million. It’s an alarming andthe international community mustturn its eye on this country and findan immediate solution.

Today, 10 out of 26 provinces ofCongo are in the grip of armed con-

flict. In rural areas, violence hasreached its peak. More than 70 rebelgroups fighting with the Governmentarmed forces. By now the UN pre-dicts that an army offensive launchedlast month against the Islamic mili-tias near the border with Ugandamight drive away another 37,00,00from their homes. This might leadto huge crisis in Central Africa. Hopethis does not push Congo to its har-rowing days of the war between 1998and 2003.

Kabila has taken the help of,what the Congolese people say,‘Glissement’, meaning ‘slippage’ — aseries of smart administrativemanoeuvres — to prolong his mis-rule. He is under extreme pressure,with the rise of violence and econ-omy slipping into the point of noreturn. But somehow, he has beenable to manage his cronies, sup-porters and most importantly thearmed forces. What has emboldenedKabila is absence of formidableOpposition which can force him togo out of the political space. He hasreadily subverted the December2016 Saint Sylvester Agreement thatset out a path towards democraticelection by 2017 in the country. Andhis Election Commission now sayselections may be possible only in late

2018. It is likely that elections maybe further postponed. The SylvesterAgreement clearly says Kabila shouldleave power and make way for elec-tions. He is losing legitimacy fasteras unlike Mobutu, he does not havea cult figure in Congo. And he isdetached from the common people.Thus his unpopularity is now help-ing the Opposition to organise peo-ple against him.

Congo being at the heart ofAfrica, from all corners, its man-agement truly affects the health of thecontinent. At mid-40s, Kabila is, infact, too young to retire — hiscountry leaders such as Mobutoruled for 32 years, before his fatherLaurent Kabila took over the presi-dency in 1997. If harnessed, Congocould feed the whole of Africa.Underneath its soil lie rich reservoirsof diamond, gold, cobalt, copper, zincand tin which could easily transformnot only the fate of Congo, but alsothe entire continent. Its wide rainforests can be of great use for thedevelopment of the nation, but todaythe forests are either left unused orunder the control of ragtag militias.

Finally, what Kabila has, ofcourse, learnt not only from his pre-decessors but also from other Africantyrants is that “to stay alive is to stayin power as long as possible”.

Once a new ruler comes, Kabilais surely going to end up in prison.Also if he continues in power, hisfamily assets will always remainsafe and if Kabila goes into exile, hemay lose hundreds of millions of dol-lars of both movable and unmovableproperty across the country. Apartfrom bringing a bloody end to hisregime, he may face criminal pros-ecution for his alleged role in theslaughter of tens of thousands ofHutu refugees near a town calledTingi Tingi.

Weighing all these options,Kabila may continue to hold on topower and may amend theConstitution to remove the two-termrestriction for the office of thePresident. But then what can Africawitness is nothing but a vile scram-ble for loot in Congo, leading intokilling of innocent civilians andrushing of refugees to neighbouringUganda, Tanzania, Angola andZambia. Hence, the internationalcommunity must act swiftly to bringan end of Kabila regime and make asmooth transfer of power to a demo-cratically elected Government atthe earliest.

(The writer is an expert on international affairs)

1�"�( ������� ����:2#��� (�� ����� India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal

Nehru called a university a temple of learn-ing. Unfortunately, a university establishedin his name is no more a temple of learningand has fallen prey to Left politics. Strikesand lockdowns by Left-wing students —covertly under the aegis of Left-leaningteachers’ association — against the manda-tory 75 per cent attendance have defiled aca-demic atmosphere at Jawaharlal NehruUniversity (JNU). The protests have leftmany stupefied as all other universities —including Banaras Hindu University,Hyderabad University and Delhi University— have successfully implemented themandatory 75 per cent attendance for post-graduate as well as research courses. Themoot point is why Left-wing students of JNUare defying the rule?

Ironically, this year NAAC praised JNUand accredited it with an A++, the highestrating. Therefore, it is expected the best uni-versity should prove its mettle. Besides,known for its academic credibility andexcellence, JNU has been receiving the suf-ficient grants and facilities from theUniversity Grants Commission (UGC), astatutory body under the Union HumanResource Development Ministry. Most ofJNU teachers enjoy cushy academic benefits.Many of them have been to foreign trips ontaxpayers’ money.

It is utter nonsense that a handful ofextreme Left brigades are holding the JNUcampus to ransom and not allowing smoothacademic discourse on the campus. Thereare many apolitical students who have noissue with the mandatory attendance; all theywant is classes in peaceful ambience. TheLeft faction has been trying to propagate newnarrative falsely projecting that the JNUadministration is working against the inter-est of the student community by bringing inthe mandatory attendance provision.

There are fundamental questions whichneed to be addressed in the context of therecent unrest in JNU. Is the protest againstmandatory attendance a students’ movementor an ideological food poisoning? Second,does JNU impart lesser academic lessons andfocus more on how generate a mob of anar-chists? Third, is there an end to this menace?

There has been deliberate attempt by theLeft-wing student unions to malign the

image of JNU as if the Modi Government iswilfully targeting the university. The protestis reflection of the utter frustration of theLeft-wing politics. The Left dominanceover the intellectual establishment has itsroots in the systematic “ethnic cleansing” ofall non-Left thinkers since the 1950s.

In the political sphere, Left parties haveresorted to incessant violence to grind theiraxe. While West Bengal, Kerala and Tripura

for long showcased Communist ideology andits politics, JNU became the ideological hub to provide sophisticated justification to things that went horribly wrong in these States.

Leftists are known to be the most intol-erant. There are many instances when theLeft-wing student union did not allow otherideologies to be heard and spoken on thecampus. Arvind Gupta, Deputy National

Security Adviser, was not allowed in JNUrecently. In 1997, BJP veteran LK Advani wasbarred from the university campus. Indeed,the separatists and ultra-Leftists are speak-ing the same language in certain other cam-puses. The radicals on JNU campus demandbeef in messes and worship Mahishashur.Ideas of Ambedkar and Gandhi are com-pletely misrepresented by theses Leftist stu-dent union, as both of the leaders fought for

the cultural identity of India. It is importantto see why it has been happening on JNUcampus. It is not only the students of a par-ticular ideology, but a large number of JNUteachers are involved in this subversive nar-rative. They are desperate and frustrated withthe current BJP Government at the Centre.The desperation is not merely ideological buttheir social and economic predominance areat risk. Over the period of time, they havecarved a safe haven for their academic lux-ury. Ever since its inception in 1969, the uni-versity has been a breeding ground for theLeftists. The process of turning institutionsof higher education into Marxist fiefdom had started under the tutelage of thenEducation Minister S Nurul Hasan and JNUfell in that trap.

Commenting on the recent unrest inJNU, Professor Makarand Paranjape, fromthe School of Language, Literature andCulture Studies, rightly concludes, “Nowherein the world do a small band of disruptivestudents force the whole university to shutdown, crashing its teaching & academicschedule.”

There has been deliberate attempt todiminish stature of JNU Vice Chancellor ProfJagdish Kumar, who is an outstandingteacher and scholar. However, a group ofteachers from different schools and back-ground rallied behind the VC whose polite-ness and humility are acknowledged by all.They supported the administration’s decisionfor 75 per cent “compulsory” attendance.They have gathered courage to stand againstJNUTA and the JNUSU, who are mislead-ing the common students.

Fortunately the Left grip is weakening.Other ideologies are gaining strength. Thatis why Left leaders are desperate. Their lastconstituency is JNU, which is also getting outof their hand. Left-wing newspapers accusedthe JNU administration of irregularities inrecent recruitment. Series of concocted sto-ries were written to showcase that quality isgoing down.

There is need to cleanse the bad prac-tices and retain the quality of outstandingresearch at the august house of learning.

(The writer is Head of the Department ofPolitical Science, Central University ofHaryana)

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The Reserve Bank of India(RBI) has imposed a penal-

ty of �5 crore on AirtelPayments Bank for violatingoperating guidelines and KnowYour Customer (KYC) norms.

The fine was imposedafter RBI scrutinised thebank's documents relating toopening of accounts withoutany specific or clear consentfrom the customers.

“The RBI has imposed, onMarch 7, 2018, a monetarypenalty of �50 million onAirtel Payments Bank Limited(the bank) for contraveningthe ‘Operating Guidelines forPayments Banks' and direc-tions issued by RBI on KnowYour Customer (KYC)norms,” the central bank saidin a statement.

Based on the complaintsand adverse media reports alleg-ing that the bank had openedcustomer accounts without aclear/specific consent of thecustomers, RBI conducted asupervisory visit to the bankfrom November 20-22, 2017.

According to reports, morethan 23 lakh customers hadreportedly received as many as�47 crore in their Airtel bankaccounts, which they did notknow had been opened.

The supervisory visit reportand other relevant documents,revealed contravention of‘Operating Guidelines forPayments Banks' and the direc-tions issued by RBI on KYCnorms, RBI said.

Subsequently, RBI issued ashow cause notice to the bankon January 15 saying whypenalty should not be imposedfor non-compliance withguidelines and directionsissued by the central bank.

“After considering thebank's reply and oral submis-sions made in the personalhearing, RBI came to the con-clusion that the aforesaidcharges of non-compliancewith RBI guidelines/directionswere substantiated and war-ranted imposition of monetarypenalty,” RBI said.

It further said that the actionwas based on deficiencies in reg-ulatory compliance and was notintended to pronounce upon thevalidity of any transaction oragreement entered into by thebank with its customers.

Airtel Payments Bank hadcommenced operations inJanuary last year.

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Equities ended the day withmodest losses as early gains

were erased by a bout of fag-endselling, led by metal stockswhich came under heavy sellingpressure after the US imposedtariffs on some steel and alu-minium imports, fanning fearsof a global trade tussle.

The BSE Sensex finished 43points lower at 33,307.14, whilethe broader NSE Nifty shed 16points to 10,226.85.

The BSE metal index wasthe biggest loser in Friday's ses-sion after US President DonaldTrump signed two proclama-tions that imposed tariffs onsome steel and aluminiumimports, sparking fears of retal-iatory moves by other countries.

The 30-share Sensex, whichremained in the positive zonefor the major part of the ses-sion, hit a high of 33,519.49 butsuccumbed to a late sell-off toend at 33,307.14, down 44.43points, or 0.13 per cent.

The broad-based NSENifty, after shuttling between10,296.70 and 10,211.90, final-ly ended 15.80 points, or 0.15per cent down at 10,226.85.

Meanwhile, foreign port-folio investors (FPIs) soldshares worth �364.80 croreon net basis while domesticinstitutional investors (DIIs)bought shares worth �675.26crore on Thursday, provi-sional data showed.

This was the secondstraight week of losses for thebenchmarks. The BSE Sensexlost 739.80 points or 2.17 percent, while the Nifty shed231.50 points, or 2.21 percent during the period.

“Market started off in apositive territory but absence of

major triggers influencedinvestors to sell on rally. Globaltrade fears continue to pull thedomestic metal index lowerwhile weakening trend on rupeesupported IT companies.Market participants are cau-tiously awaiting CPI and IIPdata. Inflation is expected tocome down to 4.74 per cent inFebruary which will ease bondyields in the near term,” saidVinod Nair, Head of Research,Geojit Financial Services.

In the metals pack, SAILtumbled 6.40 per cent, JindalSteel 5.24 per cent, Tata Steel4.66 per cent, Nalco 2.19 percent, NMDC 1.85 per cent,Vedanta 1.59 per cent andHindalco 1.26 per cent.

Banking stocks continuedtheir weak run. Axis Bankdeclined 2.85 per cent, Bank ofBaroda 2.12 per cent, ICICIBank 1.43 per cent, Yes Bank1.41 per cent, SBI 1.40 per centand PNB 1.24 per cent.

Other laggards includedAdani Ports, Sun Pharma,Tata Motors, NTPC, MarutiSuzuki, Dr Reddy's, CoalIndia, ONGC, Power Gridand Hero MotoCorp, fallingup to 2.21 per cent.

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Telecom major Bharti Airtelplans to raise up to �3,000

crore through non-convertibledebentures for refinancing debtand meeting spectrum liabilities.

A meeting of committee ofdirectors is “scheduled onTuesday, March 13, 2018 tointer-alia consider and subject tomarket and other conditions,issue listed, unsecured, rated,redeemable, non-convertibledebentures (NCDs Series I andII) on private placement basisaggregating up to �3,000 crore”,the company said in a BSE filing.Besides, the board will meet onMonday to consider fund raisingopportunity for the company.

Referring to both the pro-posed meetings, a Bharti Airtelspokesperson said: “It is clar-ified that the Company is seek-ing approvals in the usualcourse of business.

Any funds raised undersuch approvals, if granted, areto be used for routine treasuryactivities including refinancing ofdebt and spectrum liabilities.”

As on December 31, 2017,the company's consolidated netdebt stood at �91,714 crore.

Shares of Bharti Airtelclosed 0.19 per cent higher at�401.95 apiece on BSE.

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State-owned Oil and NaturalGas Corporation (ONGC)

may sell stake in its mega petro-chemical project in Gujarat tofund acquisition of HindustanPetroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL), asenior official said.

ONGC had borrowedmoney from banks to buyGovernment's 51.11 per centstake in HPCL for �36,915 crore.

“We traditionally have beena debt-free company and wouldlike to return to that status assoon as possible. We have assetswhich can be monetised to pay-off the debt,” he said.

ONGC holds 13.77 per centstake in nation's biggest refinerIndian Oil Corp (IOC), which atFriday's trading price is worthclose to �26,000 crore. It alsoholds 4.86 per cent stake in gasutility GAIL India Ltd, which isworth over �3,600 crore.

“We will sell shares in IOCand GAIL only when the price isright. And it is not possible to sellall the shares in one go,” he said,adding that an alternative to it isselling stake in ONGC-Petro

Additions Ltd (OPaL).OPaL's 1.1 million tonnes

capacity petrochem plant atDahej in Gujarat was commis-sioned last year and has reached100 per cent capacity in February.

“We have invested �30,000crore in the project and alwayshad plans to sell a minimum of26 per cent stake in the projectto a strategic investor,” the officialsaid. “Now that the plant hascome up well and stabilised, thisis the time to monetise it.”

The official said several com-panies including some globalgiants have evinced interest intaking equity in the project. Hehowever refused to name thefirms due to commercial reasons.

Saudi and Kuwaiti firms aresaid to be interested in taking astake in the project.

The project was originallyconceived in 2006 and has wit-nessed cost and time overruns. Itwas initially planned to be builtat a cost of �12,440 crore butended up with actual investmentof �30,000 crore.

ONGC was originally sup-posed to keep just 26 per centstake while gas utility GAIL wasto take 19 per cent. 5 per centwas to be taken by Gujarat StatePetroleum Corp (GSPC) andthe remaining was to be soldto a strategic investor.

But GAIL ended up pay-ing for only 9 per cent andGSPC for only 0.2 per cent.The remaining cost wasborne by ONGC.

The official said ONGCalready has governmentapproval to sell its shareholdingin IOC and GAIL but the com-pany is waiting for the rightprice to offload the shares.

ONGC, which completedHPCL acquisition at the end ofJanuary, has been a zero-debtcompany and wants to retainthat status. The short-term loanit availed of has provision topre-pay without any penalty.

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The gross non-performing assets(NPAs) of all the banks in thecountry amounted to �8,40,958

crore in December, led by industry loansfollowed by services and agriculture sec-tors, Government said on Friday.

The gross NPAs or bad loans ofscheduled commercial banks as onDecember 31, 2017 due to loans toindustry were at �6,09,222 crore,accounting for 20.41 per cent of thegross advances.

That was followed by �1,10,520crore (5.77 per cent) dues from servicessector; �69,600 crore (6.53 per cent)from agriculture and allied activities;�14,986 crore from other non-foodcredit and �36,630 crore (2.01 percent) from retail loans, Minister of Statefor Finance Shiv Pratap Shukla said ina written reply in Lok Sabha.

The highest amount of gross NPAswas for country's largest lender StateBank of India (SBI) at �2,01,560 crore.

Among others, Punjab NationalBank (PNB) was at �55,200 crore;IDBI Bank �44,542 crore; Bank of India�43,474 crore; Bank of Baroda �41,649

crore; Union Bank of India �38,047crore; Canara Bank �37,794 crore andICICI Bank �33,849 crore.

Indian Overseas Bank had grossNPAs of �31,724 crore; Central Bank ofIndia �32,491 crore; UCO Bank �24,308crore; Allahabad Bank �23,120 crore;Andhra Bank �21,599 crore andCorporation Bank �21,818 crore.

Shukla said there are as many as8,457 cases pending in the NationalCompany Law Tribunal and 264 inthe National Company Law AppellateTribunal as on December 31, 2017,through which banks seek to recov-er their dues.

In reply to a question on write off

by banks, of which SBI has the highestamount, the minister said that the coun-try's largest lender had written-off�20,339 crore (including through com-promise) in 2016-17.

“This is 24.9 per cent of the amountwritten off by all PSBs in 2016-17, whichis marginally lower than SBI's share inthe total business of PSBs (26.3 percent),” he added.

SBI has apprised that it has two-foldstrategy for controlling fresh slippagesand resolution of existing NPAs.

Further, the Government hasrecently announced PSBs reforms agen-da for responsive and responsible bank-ing, which encapsulates a synergistic

approach for ensuring prudential andclean lending, better customer service,enhanced credit availability, focus onmicro, small and medium enterprisesand better governance, he said.

Also, the Reserve Bank has issueda Prompt Corrective Action (PCA)framework to maintain sound finan-cial health of banks.

RBI has placed eleven PSBs —Dena Bank, Central Bank of India,Bank of Maharashtra, UCO Bank,IDBI Bank, Oriental Bank ofCommerce, Indian Overseas Bank,Corporation Bank, Bank of India,Allahabad Bank and United Bank ofIndia — under the PCA framework.

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Crisis-hit Shree Renuka Sugars’ promoter andvice chairman Narendra Murkumbi has

stepped down as part of ceding control to co-promoter Wilmar Sugar Holdings under adebt restructuring plan.

As part of the rejig, Singapore-basedWilmar Sugar on Friday acquired addition-al shares worth �785 crore of the company.With its stake now rising to 38.57 per centfrom 27.24 per cent, Wilmar Sugar has alsolaunched a �811 crore open offer for existing share-holders of Renuka Sugars, according to regulato-ry filings. Post the open offer, Murkumbi group enti-ties would no longer continue as promoters ofRenuka Sugars.

Renuka Sugars has signed a binding debtrestructuring agreement with banks. Lenderswould snap up substantial stake in RenukaSugars in lieu of outstanding debt. The com-pany had a consolidated net debt of around

�9,000 crore at the end of March 2016.Wilmar Sugar Holdings has acquired additional

48.18 crore equity shares of Wilmar Sugar Holdingsfor a consideration of around �785 crore. Its stake

in Renuka Sugars has increased to 38.57 percent, triggering open offer.

Wilmar Sugar launched an openoffer of up to 49.83 crore shares, con-stituting 26 per cent of the emergingfully diluted voting equity share capi-tal of Renuka Sugars. The open offer

price is �16.29 per share, taking the total sizeat up to �811 crore.

“Narendra Murkumbi has tendered hisresignation from his executive position as ViceChairman and Managing Director of the com-pany,” the filing said. The board has accepted hisresignation. However, Murkumbi will continueto hold this position during the notice period,which extends for 90 days or until completionof the open offer being made by Wilmar SugarHoldings (WSH), whichever is later.

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Union Minister NitinGadkari on Fridaywarned companies,

especially in the cement andsteel sectors, of stern action ifthey formed cartels toincrease the prices of keyinfrastructure commodities.

With infrastructure sectorwitnessing an upswing inactivities in recent years,Gadkari said the emphasis ofnew technologies should be onreducing the cost of projectswithout compromising quali-ty.

“The cost of constructionhas increased due to cartels.And I will not hesitate in mak-ing allegations against them(the companies) Now the ratesof cement have increased,”

said Gadkari, who is theMinister of Road Transport &Highways, Shipping, WaterResources, River Developmentand Ganga Rejuvenation.

Gadkari observed thatthere was no increase in theroyalty, labour charges, yet thecosts spiralled.

“Steel industry rates havealso increased. Now the cost ofsand is equal to the cost ofcement,” he said. He noted thatthe government does not haveany problem in companiesearning profits but they shouldbe “reasonable” in it.

“If somebody is going to

exploit then it is not good. It isthe duty of the government tocontrol it and we are serious-ly thinking on it,” he said.

If the people are takingdisadvantage of all the con-struction that is taking place inthe country by making a car-tel then it is time for the gov-ernment to take stern actionagainst them, he said.

Gadkari, who also holdscharge of the ShippingMinistry, was addressing aworkshop on ‘Use of LargeDiameter Pipes for MegaWater Conservation’.

He said talks are also on

with power companies to usetreated sewage water that goesinto Ganga, polluting the waterbody.

The Minister also battedfor the use of big undergroundpipes to transport water overtraditional canal systems whichinvolves high cost, displace-ment of people, water theftsand its wastage.

Calling himself the “son ofa farmer”, Gadkari said wateris the most precious com-modity and the government’sthrust has been on effectivewater management that couldhelp irrigate farms.

He said lack of water is oneof the major reasons for cropfailure, which results in farmersuicides. The problem has tobe addressed by transportingwater from where it is availableto scarcity-hit places.

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Over 1.03 crore businesseshave registered under the

Goods and Services Tax (GST)regime and the implementa-tion of the biggest indirect taxreform has been smooth sofar, Parliament was informedon Friday.

As on March 2, a total of1,03,99,305 taxpayers are reg-istered under GST, whichinclude 64.42 lakh taxpayerswho have migrated from theerstwhile tax regimes and39.56 lakh who have takennew registration under GST,Minister of State for FinanceShiv Pratap Shukla said.

“As a result of the sus-tained efforts made by thegovernment to make GSTtrade friendly, the implemen-tation of GST in the countryhas been smooth so far,”Shukla said in a written reply

to a question in the Lok Sabha.GST was rolled out from

July 1, 2017, and based on thefeedback received from stake-holders the GST Council,headed by Finance MinisterArun Jaitley and comprisingstate counterparts, has madea host of changes in GSTnorms and procedures.

GST has subsumed over adozen local taxes, includingexcise duty, service tax andVAT. The Central Board ofExcise and Customs (CBEC)has set up a national call

centre to reply to querieswhich is functional roundthe clock, Shukla said.

“The tax payer can raise aquery via toll free phonenumber 18001200232 or bysending an email to [email protected],”he said.

In addition, GST Networkhas set up a help desk withphone number 0120-4888999to answer software relatedqueries. Shukla said the rev-enue collections from CentralGST, State GST, IntegratedGST and compensation cesswas �93,590 crore for July,�93,029 crore for August,�95,132 crore for Septemberand �85,931 crore forOctober.

The mop up forNovember stood at �83,716crore, December (�88,929crore) and January (�88,047crore).

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Government has entrustedstate-run BSNL with var-

ious telecom network projectsaround �25,000 crore in works,Parliament was informed onFriday.

The big projects includelaying of optical fibre basednetwork dedicated for use byDefence worth �13, 334 croreand �6,500 crore for executionof second phase of BharatNetProject, as per details shared byTelecom Minister Manoj Sinha

in Rajya Sabha on Friday.“Optical Fibre Cable based

Network for Defence Services(NFS Project) has been givento BSNL on nomination basisat the cost of �13,334 crore. Forexecution of Bharat Net pro-ject, government has provided�5,744 crore in Phase-I and hasearmarked �6,500 crore inPhase-II for BSNL,” Sinha said.

The state-run firm hasbeen awarded rolling outmobile networks in uncov-ered villages in ArunachalPradesh and two districts of

Assam at an estimated projectcost of �1,975.38 crore, imple-mentation of transmission-

media plan for North EasternRegion at an estimated cost of�295.97 crore, laying of sub-marine optical fiber cableproject at the cost of �1,900crore for providing connec-tivity to the Andaman andNicobar Islands (ANI) andaugmenting of satellite band-width in ANI andLakshadweep Islands at anestimated cost of �120.49crore.

“Work of setting up of25000 Wi-Fi Hotspots at RuralTelephone Exchanges at the

cost of �940 crore has beengiven to BSNL on nominationbasis,” Sinha said. He wasreplying to question overrevival of state-run telecomfirm BSNL and MTNL.

Both public sector tele-com firms have been incur-ring losses continuously sinceFinancial Year 2009-10 and asper Department of PublicEnterprises (DPE) guidelines,both CPSEs (Central PublicSector Enterprises) have beendeclared as “Incipient Sick”,Sinha said.

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Debt-laden RelianceCommunications’ (RCom)

proposal to sell infrastructureassets including towers, opticfibre cable and spectrum toReliance Jio has been cleared bythe Competition Commissionof India (CCI).

“CCI India approvesacquisition of RCOM’s towers,optic fiber cable, right to usespectrum and media conver-gence nodes by RJIO,” theanti-trust regulator tweeted.

In December 2017, MukeshAmbani-led Reliance Jio hadsigned a pact to acquire themobile business assets thatincludes spectrum, mobile tow-ers and optical fibre network ofRCom-owned by his youngerbrother Anil Ambani.

While neither Jio norRCom had divulged the size ofthe deal, sources have peggedthe transaction value at�18,000 crore.

RCom statement, at thattime, had said the deal packs in122.4 MHz of 4G spectrum in

the 800/900/1800/2100 MHzbands, over 43,000 towers,1,78,000 kilometres of fibreand 248 media convergencenodes. At the time of the dealannouncement, the compa-nies had also said that thetransaction is likely to becompleted in a phased man-ner by March 2018.

However, an arbitrationpanel in an interim orderrecent ly, has restrainedRCom from asset sale ortransfer, without its “specificpermission”.

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KOLKATA: IFC and IFC FIG,which have a total stake of fiveper cent in Bandhan Bank,would sell 1.2 per cent throughthe proposed IPO of the lenderthat opens from March 15.

IFC and IFC FIG wouldoffer 1.4 crore and 75.65 lakhshares for sale, respectively. Thebank would also offer freshissue of 9.76 crore shares to thepublic.

MD and CEO of BandhanBank Chandra Shekhar Ghoshsaid the lender’s focus wouldcontinue to be on micro-cred-it and MSME, retail, affordablehousing, loan against proper-ty, gold loan and loan againsttwo-wheelers.

The price band of the issuehas been fixed between �370 to�375 per share. The merchantbankers would announce thelist of anchor investors onMarch 14, and there is no dis-count on offer for retailinvestors. PTI

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Kabul: A suicide bomber blewhimself up in a Shia area ofKabul on Friday, killing at leastnine people, officials said, asmilitants dial up pressure onthe war-weary Afghan capital.

The third suicide attack inthe city in a fortnight comes asthe Taliban face growing pres-sure to take up the AfghanGovernment’s recent offer ofpeace talks to end a more than16-year insurgency that hasclaimed thousands of lives.

There was no immediateclaim of responsibility for theblast, which happened near ahigh-profile gathering to markthe 23rd anniversary of thedeath of Abdul Ali Mazari —a prominent former leader ofthe mainly Shia Hazara ethniccommunity who was killed bythe Taliban.

The event was attendedby some of the country’s toppoliticians, including ChiefExecutive Abdullah Abdullahand his deputy Mohammad

Mohaqiq, a senior Hazara fig-ure. The Sunni Islamic Stategroup typically targets Shiiteswho it regards as apostates.

“The death toll has gone upto nine,” deputy interior min-istry spokesman Nasrat Rahimitold AFP, adding 18 otherswere wounded.

Among the dead were twopolicemen, he said. The restwere civilians.

Officials said the attackerwas on foot.

Afghan officials gave awide range of figures for thenumber of casualties: a securi-ty source told AFP 13 peoplewere killed and more than 30wounded.

But Kabul police chiefMohammad Daud Amin toldTolo News that five peoplewere killed and 22 otherswounded.

Amin said the bomber det-onated his explosive device ata checkpoint “after being iden-tified by police”. AFP

Islamabad: Pakistan ForeignMinister Khawaja Asif onFriday said that the situation onthe Line of Control andWorking Boundary with Indiahas been rapidly deterioratingsince 2017.

Responding to a query inthe National Assembly, thelower house of parliament, healleged India has committedmore than 400 ceasefire viola-tions along the LoC and theWorking Boundary since

January in which 18 civilianshave been killed.

“Heavy weapons, includingmortars are frequently beingused by the Indian forces on thecivilian population on thePakistani side of the LoC andthe Working Boundary,” hesaid.

Asif said the LoC violationswere an attempt to divert theattention from the “deteriorat-ing” humanitarian situation inthe Valley. PTI

Islamabad: Mumbai terrorattack mastermind HafizSaeed’s political ambitions havereceived a boost after a topPakistani court ordered theelection commission to hear hisparty’s case for registrationahead of this year’s election.

The Islamabad High Court(IHC) on Thursday set aside adecision by the Election

Commission of Pakistan (ECP)to reject the application ofJamaat-ud-Dawah’s politicalfront Milli Muslim League(MML) for registration as apolitical party.

The order came days aftera Pakistani court extended astay against the “possible arrest”of the JuD chief till April 4.

Justice Aamer Farooq sent

the case back to the ECP ask-ing it to proceed further on theapplication by giving the partyan opportunity of hearing,Dawn newspaper reported.

The MML through its pres-ident Saifullah Khalidapproached the IHC and madethe ECP and the interior sec-retary respondents in the matter. PTI

Colombo: Sri Lankan troops onFriday guarded mosques andfacilitated Friday prayers asauthorities stepped up securityin the violence-hit Muslimneighbourhoods in Kandy dis-trict after four days of riots thathave left at least two people dead.

Several homes, businessesand mosques in the hilly Kandydistrict have been damaged inanti-Muslim riots, since Monday.The violence erupted after thedeath of a Buddhist Sinhaleseman last week. To rein in com-munal violence, a state of emer-gency has been imposed byPresident Maithripala Sirisena’sGovernment.

Muslim-owned businessesin the island nation remainedshut in protest, but some shopsin the Muslim neighbourhoodopened on Friday. PTI

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In an extraordinary develop-ment after months of sabre-

rattling and trading of personalinsults, US President DonaldTrump and North Korea’s reclu-sive dictator Kim Jong Un are setto hold a face-to-face meeting“by May” over Pyongyang’s con-troversial nuclear and missileprogrammes.

Much to everyone’s sur-prise, it was Kim who extendedthe invitation through SouthKorean officials on Thursday,pledging to refrain from furthernuclear tests. And Trump read-ily agreed for the meeting at atime and place still to be deter-mined.

“Great progress being made

but sanctions will remain until anagreement is reached. Meetingbeing planned!” Trump tweeted,after South Korea’s NationalSecurity Advisor Chung Eui-Yong conveyed the invitation toTrump.

Kim’s invitation is beingviewed as a big diplomatic vic-tory for Trump’s muscular pushagainst North Korea by intensi-fying the sanctions regime thatis thought to have virtually crip-pled Pyongyang lately -- and a farcry from the time Trump calledKim a “little rocket man” andthreatened to “totally destroy”North Korea, and Kim hit back,calling Trump a “dotard” and a“lunatic” and threatening tobomb Washington.

Trump, in his tweet, notedthat Kim had spoken aboutdenuclearization with the SouthKorean representatives. “Notjust a freeze,” he noted, adding:“Also, no missile testing by North

Korea during this period oftime.”

“President Trump greatlyappreciates the nice words of theSouth Korean delegation andPresident Moon,” the WhiteHouse said in a statement, not-ing: “He will accept the invitationto meet with Kim Jong Un at aplace and time to be deter-mined. We look forward to thedenuclearization of North Korea.In the meantime, all sanctionsand maximum pressure mustremain.”

Chung, the South KoreanNSA, delivered a statementoutside the White House WestWing, saying: “President Trumpsaid he would meet Kim JongUn by May.” In Seoul, the pres-idential Blue House clarifiedthat the meeting would occurby the end of May. Chung didnot say where the meetingwould be held.

“I explained to President

Trump that his leadership andhis maximum pressure policy,together with international sol-idarity, brought us to this junc-ture. I expressed (SouthKorean) President Moon Jae-in’s personal gratitude forPresident Trump’s leadership,”Chung said.

Stating that Kim had voicedhis commitment to denu-clearization at his meeting withSouth Korean officials, Chungsaid the North Korean leaderalso pledged that his countrywould refrain from any furthernuclear or missile tests.

“He (Kim) expressed hiseagerness to meet PresidentTrump as soon as possible,”Chung said. As for the US’s jointmilitary exercises with SouthKorea, he said Kim “under-stands” that these routine exer-cises “must continue”.

Chung said South Korea,along with the US, Japan, and

many partners around the world,remain fully and resolutely com-mitted to the complete denu-clearization of the KoreanPeninsula, adding: “Along withPresident Trump, we are opti-mistic about continuing a diplo-matic process to test the possi-bility of a peaceful resolution.”

Reflecting on the develop-ments, a senior administrationofficial said: “Part of that message(conveyed by the South Koreanofficial) was a commitment todenuclearize. It also was a com-mitment to refrain from testingnuclear weapons or missiles.”

Questioned on the negotia-tions, the US official said: “Look,at this point we’re not even talk-ing about negotiations, right?What we’re talking about is aninvitation by the leader of NorthKorea to meet face to face withthe President of the UnitedStates. The President has accept-ed that invitation.”

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Over 1,000 people have beenkilled and 4,800 others

injured in Syria’s rebel-heldarea of Eastern Ghouta in justtwo weeks, MSF or DoctorsWithout Borders announcedon Friday.

The group said the num-bers, dating from the start ofthe renewed SyrianGovernment assault onFebruary 18 until March 4,were an “underestimate” anddo not include the data of allMSF-supported medical facil-ities or facilities not supportedby it, reports CNN.

MSF’s toll was last updat-ed on Sunday. Monitoringgroups have reported scoreskilled daily this week asactivists reported “apocalyptic”scenes in the streets of EasternGhouta, on the outskirts of cap-

ital Damascus.Fifteen out of 20 MSF-

supported facilities have beenshelled or bombed in the con-tinuing government offensive,according to the NGO.

“MSF urgently repeats itscall for an immediate ceasefireto be implemented and formedical supplies to be allowedinto the besieged area to treatthe sick and wounded,” CNNquoted the organisation as saying.

Reports of malnourish-ment were also rampant andmany of Eastern Ghouta’s res-idents were living in poorlyequipped basements for somerespite from nearly incessantshelling.

On Wednesday alone, 90people were killed in strikesacross Eastern Ghouta, accord-ing to the Syrian AmericanMedical Society.

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Asigned vintage photo ofMahatma Gandhi, walking

alongside Madan MohanMalaviya, was auctioned for$41,806 in the United States.

Signed in fountain pen,“M K Gandhi,” the rare photowas taken after the secondsession of India’s Round TableConference in London inSeptember 1931, according toBoston-based RR Auction.

As the delegate acting onbehalf of the Indian NationalCongress, Gandhi attendedthe second session of theBritish-organised round tableconference, a three-part con-ference series held in Londonfrom 1930 to 1932, with theaim of discussing the ongoingconstitutional reforms inIndia, a media release said.

Malaviya, who had for-merly been president of theCongress and played a sig-nificant role in the Gandhi-led non-cooperation move-ment, joined him as a repre-sentative advocating for afree India.

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Washington: The US on Fridayannounced a $5 million rewardfor information leading to thearrest of Maulana Fazlullah, thechief of the banned terror out-fit Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistanwhich has carried out severaldeadly attacks, including the2014 Peshawar school massacrein which over 150 people, most-ly students, were killed.

The announcement by theState Department came a day

after Fazlullah’s son was report-ed killed in a US drone strike inAfghanistan.

In 2012, Fazlullah orderedthe assassination of Pakistanischool girl Malala Yousafzai forpromoting girls’ right to edu-cation and publicly criticizedFazlullah and the TTP, it said.Malala was seriously injured inthe attack and had to be shift-ed to the UK for specialisedtreatment. PTI

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The UK Government todaydeployed chemical warfare

and decontamination specialistsfrom the military to assist thecounter terror police in its probeinto the poisoning of a formerRussian spy and his daughterwith a deadly nerve agent.

About 180 military per-sonnel from the Royal Marines,the Royal Air Force (RAF)and other military establish-ments were deployed inSalisbury in the south-westEngland, where the former

Russian spy Sergei Skripal, 66and his daughter Yulia, 33were found collapsed afterbeing poisoned on Sundayafternoon.

Skripal and Yulia remain ina serious condition along witha police officer who came incontact with the same sub-stance. The Counter TerrorismPolicing Network has request-ed assistance from the militaryto remove a number of vehiclesand objects from the scene inSalisbury town centre as theyhave the necessary capabilityand expertise.

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This is us, a show that has you long-ing for a family was the brainchild

of Dan Fogelman. Apart from creat-ing ripples across the globe and tak-ing the stars to new heights of fame,Fogelman also roped in good writ-ers and gave new producers to theshow business. Isaac Aptaker andElizabeth Berger are individuals whodo the double duty of writing andproducing episodes, including thewidely talked about one where MiloVentimiglia’s patriarch Jack Pearsondies. They also penned the finale ofseason one and other importantepisodes.

In this interview, Isaac Aptakertalks about the show’s past, present,and future.He gets into details ofworking different timelines and whatmakes it appealing to all.

�Does Dan Fogelman delegate theday-to-day running? Is he asinvolved as you people?

Yeah, he’s very involved.Elizabeth and I have been workingwith Dan for about eight or nineyears in some capacity, whether it’sa movie or a different show. We allknow each other very well and sortof have very similar tastes when itcomes to writing in the show. So wedivide up stuff. You know, he weighsin on everything, he reads everyscript, gives notes on every cut. He’sstill very day to day involved in theshow.

�You have other seasons picked upalready, did it change the dynam-ics in relation to the beginning ofthe show now that you can plan howstories will unfold?

What was so nice, is last year,NBC picked us up for season two andseason three all at once. And, dfur-ing the first season of the show, wedidn’t know whether we were doing12 episodes or were we doing 24episodes. We had no idea. But oncewe were told that we were doing 36episodes spread out over two seasons,we have been able to plot it out so

carefully and craft it almost like anovel where we know exactly wherewe want things to fall. Because wehave our airing schedule for the nexttwo years which really helps.

�And presumably, with this show,that’s more essential than othershows because of the very compli-cated timeline structure.

Yes, because we’re jumpingaround so much, we have so manyreveals, and characters’ lives. Reallybeing able to look ahead and decidewhen we want to parse out informa-tion and dive into different storieshave been helpful for us.

�How do you manage all the fam-ily drama and the mystery?

I think we believe and careabout these mysteries if you really arein love with the characters is what wefound. Also the cast makes it easy.They’re all so incredible and somuch fun to write for. But we cometo it from a sort of a personal fami-ly place first. Pretty much every storystarts with someone in the writers’room or one of their friends or fam-ily members, you know, a real expe-rience that happened to them, andthen we kind of build out from there.So we’re never coming and going like,what’s a big twist that we can add in?That sort of comes in more organi-cally from these real grounded sto-ries.

�Because you’re afraid of the mys-tery being the focus. Is it?

Exactly, andto a certainextent, there’sgoing to besome people,and that’s fine,who are excitedto find out. Andwe do, we defi-nitely, we give clues,and that’s part of thefun of the show. Buthopefully, people are gettingmore from that, that people are see-ing their own experience reflectedback at them in these characters.

�This show has been probably themost successful network show forsome years. To what do you creditthat to?

If you look at the network,there hasn’t been sort of a qualityfamily drama on for a while. Andalso, like, our country is in a bit ofturmoil right now. I think there’sa lot of bad news, there’s a lot ofdivision. Even within families,there’s a lot of division. And peo-ple, you know, we should be ableto come home after work and turn

on some-thing thatreaf f i r msthat event h o u g hw e ’ r eflawed and

we struggle,like humanity

at its core isgood and people

are trying to dotheir best. I think that’s

a really, a nice thing to be able tocome home and watch on TV. Andalso, I mean, we never intended to,like, be the cry show. It just hap-pened.

�Is there a point where it’s not goingto be too much? If someone is notwatching for three weeks, how canyou drag them back in with somuch stuff happening?

The show is very serialised. It’sthe kind of thing where if you missa couple weeks. I mean, we dothese previously on things wherewe try to pack in a week, twoweeks’ of content into 20 seconds.But yeah, it’s something —I mean,

we found that our fans are prettyloyal and tend to watch every weekbecause it is so, you do fall behindso quickly. But yeah, it is the kindof thing that it definitely rewardspeople who watch closely.

�You mentioned there hasn't beena quality family drama like this fora while, what is the thing youaspire to, the work you aspire to?

I think, in terms of worldview,at least — I mean, I’ll only speakfor myself, but those guys I thinkare great. We do believe that peo-ple are inherently good. There's anoptimism to sort of the stuff thatwe want to put out into the world.And so much of what’s on TV rightnow is a little bit bleak. You know,they’re wonderful shows.

We love them and we watchthem. But it’s like, Walking Deadand Breaking Bad, which I’mobsessed with, are great shows, butthey don’t necessarily leave youfeeling like, ah, people are greatdeep down. They’re a little bitdarker.

(The season will be ending onMarch 24 on Star World)

Not many are aware of the factthat Urvashi Rautela is pro-fessionally qualified in five

dance forms which are Kathak,Bharathanatyam, Jazz, Belly dancingand hip-hop. The actress, who com-menced her journey as a supermod-el when she was just 15, shared amemoir of the modelling phasewhich resembles the character sheplayed in Hate Story 4. “Starting mycareer from the same profession, Iwas very comfortable and had a nat-ural approach towards my character.But yet the mannerisms of Tasha iscomparatively different from realUrvashi. It seems as a very glam-orous role but honestly it is the mostexhausting and challenging charac-ter I ever played so far.”

The franchise is renowned forhaving huge dose of romance alongwith sensual scenes in between andmusic plays yet another factor in gar-nering eyeballs for the series. Thisfilm has some of the remix versionsof old songs of Himesh Reshammiya,Director Vishal Pandya asserted,“Music plays a vital role in the suc-cess of films today. The music scoreis also dependant on the section ofaudience the filmmaker is targettingto. Some focus more on the contentof the film whereas youngsterscomes to theatres impressed by themusic only. In this movie particular-ly, the music is seamlessly fitting intothe mood of the storyline than justbeing there to exaggerate on the inti-mate scenes.”

But what makes the sequel moreappealing to eyes this time is thesocial message attached to it.Though the team has been mumabout the message the movie isdelivering but gave us a glimpse ofit. “The social message which ourfilm conveys is happening in everycity. Women will certainly connectwith it easily. But what different themovie has to offer is the ‘action’.Things are still happening withwomen but very rarely one confrontsto fight back. This film will empow-er women about the possible actionthat could be taken against anymishappening”, Rautela said.

Revealing one more surprisingelement in the film, Rautela who isherself a professional dancer shared,

“The another crip aspect of the filmis the passionate dance moves. Theremix version of Aashiq BanayaAapne encompasses rarely heard‘heels choreography’ dance whichhas not been adopted in anyBollywood songs before. Also, theremake of song Naam Hai Tera Teraholds ‘Backing’ dance form which isperformed with the help of armsmovements.”

The movie purely spins aroundsensual and bold scenes, the actressshared how sometimes it becomesdifficult to do the intimate scenes asshe was constantly surrounded bymale crew members. “We knowthat the earlier sequels emphasisedon such scenes but this installmentis more than just eroticism. For me,the emotional breakdown sceneskept playing in my mind time andagain making it difficult for me toget out of the character. It was amental exertion that resulted in mesuffering from sleep paralysis as

well”. The model turned actress who

considers Priyanka Chopra as herparagon doesn’t wish to be stereo-typed to the ultra-glamorous rolesonly. “Appearing on the silver screenas a Punjabi Kudi in a de-glam light,I did not want the audience to beskeptical about my creativity. That’swhy I instantly picked a glamorouscharacter in my next film. As anactor, if one is evolving, changingand learning with every act, I thinkthat is doing justice to the tag of aHindi film actress. I always tryplaying experimental characters”.

Hate Story series is consistentlygarnering moderate success on box-office. However, the present instal-lation will have two debutants —Karan Wahi who has been seen invarious reality shows and IhanaDhillon who previously worked inBollywood films. Said Rautela, “Ithink when your co-actors are real-ly supportive it becomes a nice

journey which I will always cherish.They were really supportive and pro-fessional throughout the shooting.”Asked if she considers herself supe-rior, having done few films before,in comparison to debutants, shementioned, “I don’t consider myselfneither superior or experiencedamongst the debutants in any man-ner. Vivan Bhatena and Karan Wahihave been in the industry for alonger period of time. So I think,they are seniors to me. Collectively,it’s a great cast to share screen-spacewith.”

However, bagging a female-cen-tric film which is a dream-come-truefor Rautela, she shared her excite-ment with us regarding Hate Story4, “Being a part of a revenge dramafor the first time and that too in awomen-centric film was no lessthan a good opportunity for me. Idid not know how Bollywood func-tions when I entered into the indus-try for the first time. But, I never did

any hardcore struggle to bag my ini-tial projects. Throughout the jour-ney, I have learnt the art of acting.So now, I just keep myself focussedtowards experimenting with everycharacter I take on.”

When asked about the pressureand audience expectations that comealong with a franchise, she revealed,“Yes, there is some sort of pressurebut with every sequel, we try raisingthe bar. This time, the movie is dark-er, more on the revenge side andhigh on hatred.” Talking about thenitty and gritty of the film, the teamwas tightlipped over the deaththreats controversy rolling outagainst Rautela for showingDraupadi, a mythological characterin a poor light. “It’s true that I havebeen getting such threat calls whichcould really affect the mind and artof any artist. Once the movie will bein theatres, people would get toknow in what context the signaturedialogue has been used. I do respectour holy scriptures and relevanceattached to it.”

From modelling to acting to nowbringing her dancing skills to theforefront, the actress has certainlydone justice to the song and dancesequences.

Rautela shared what propelledher to go back to one of the clubs inLondon to learn strip dance.“Though this dance form appears tobe an easier one but actually requiresa lot of perfection to ace the moves.Yes, I especially visited a club inLondon to get my body languageright to performing it as per the bestof my capabilities. Meanwhile, Ialso did a lot of study of this danceform not just for a small scene butto learn it for life.”

Shedding light on the digitalplatform which has now become atool for grabbing eyeballs for thefilm, Director Pandya shared, “HateStory4 is a youth-oriented film andwhen one is targeting a specific audi-ence, digital platforms become a anessential part of the process. Even ifa small number of people would bewatching it, the audience will be new.The trailer plays a major part in thedecision-making process of the audi-ence.”

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Aprominent American newspaperhas doffed its cap to Bollywood

legend Madhubala who is among 15remarkable women across the worldit pays homage to. The New YorkTimes has gone back in time toremember the contribution of thesewomen by writing their obituary ina new segment called ‘Overlooked’.“Since 1851, obituaries in the NewYork Times have been dominated bywhite men. Now, we are adding thestories of 15 remarkable women,” thenewspaper wrote. “Obituary writingis more about life than death: the lastword, a testament to a human con-tribution. Yet who gets remembered— and how — inherently involvesjudgment.” Madhubala, who hasoften been compared to another trag-ic screen icon — Marilyn Monroe,has been profiled by Aisha Khan inthe newspaper.

“Madhubala (born as MumtazBegum) often portrayed modernyoung women testing the limits oftraditions,” the newspaper said whilerecalling her first major role as theleading lady in 1949 film ‘Mahal’opposite Ashok Kumar. She was 16at the time.

“She died 20 years later as anicon of beauty and tragedy — herdazzling career, unhappy love life andfatal illness more dramatic than anymovie she starred in,” it said.

Madhubala was born with a ven-

tricular septal defect, a hole in herheart. The condition was diag-nosed in 1954 and there was notreatment for it.

The obituary also chroniclesher tragic romance with DilipKumar (Muhammad Yusuf Khan,who like Madhubala was discov-ered and rechristened by DevikaRani).

“They had been eager tomarry, but Madhubalas father hadset conditions, including that theystar in movies he would produce.Kumar demanded that she choosebetween him and her father. Shechose her family. An ugly lawsuitover another movie hastened theirbreakup,” the newspaper said,adding that it was the big story ofher life and added to her legend.Madhubala married singer-actorKishore Kumar but they becameestranged, it said.

As her health deteriorated,the star withdrew from public eye.She died on February 23, 1969, justnine days after her 36th birthday.

The segment also features namessuch as Margaret Abbott, the firstAmerican woman to win an Olympicchampionship, writer-poet SylviaPlath, Ada Lovelace, a gifted math-ematician credited as the first com-puter programmer, Henrietta Lacks,whose cancer cells were taken fromher body without permission and ledto a medical revolution; transgenderpioneer Marsha P Johnson; photog-rapher Diane Arbus and feministpoet Qiu Jin.

—PTI

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For a generation raised on AgathaChristie and Conan Doyle, MaxwellPereira presents Indian readers with

a real-life ‘whodunnit’, straight from theheart of the capital city,” declared veter-an journalist Rajdeep Sardesai whileintroducing The Tandoor Murder. Thebook chronicles Naina Sahni’s grue-some murder at the hands of her hus-band, Sushil Sharma, early in July 1995.A Congress youth leader and MLA,Sharma was primed for a meteoric risein the political sphere. “Had I not mur-dered her I would have been a unionminister today,” lamented Sharma to acolleague of Sardesai’s back when theUPA government was still in power.Suspecting his wife of infidelity, Sharmashot her with a revolver while enraged.This became pretext for the politician'sdefence of his act as ‘a crime of passion’.In an attempt to cover his tracks, Sahni’sbody was chopped up by Sharma and setablaze in a tandoor at Baghiya restaurant— giving the case its notorious title.

Most readers first encounteredPereira’s writing at a Times of India col-umn called ‘The Middle’, published lit-erally in the middle of the newspaper.“Witty, ironical, irreverent, Pereira wasa skilled writer. The spark he showed inhis ‘Middles’ has became a flame in thisbook,” remarks Sardesai. Having sampledthe book beforehand, the journalistexpresses incredulity at the attention todetail present in the chronicle. Uponinquiry, Pereira disclosed the secretbehind the vivid details preserved in hisbook, despite being published 22 yearsafter. “As it turns out,” reveals Sardesai,“the book was written at the time of themurders itself! Fresh from the eyes ofPereira, the investigating officer, TheTandoor Murder is a real page turner.”Sushil Sharma was sentenced to lifeimprisonment by the Supreme Court inOctober 2013, commuted from the deathsentences passed by lower courts.Previously unpublished in interest of fairtrial, Pereira’s gripping chronicle was readout loud in Sardesai’s resounding voiceto the audience gathered at the booklaunch.

Before exiting the stage, Sardesaiobserved how the Tandoor case was dis-tinct when viewed from the lens of 2018.“Sharma was a relatively powerful politi-cian, photographed with even morepowerful politicians. Yet, Sushil Sharmawas viewed as a criminal, not a politician.In today’s age, this would inevitably havebecome a Congress versus BJP tussle,”noted Sardesai to a round of laughterfrom the gathering. “Private news tele-vision had just emerged then, growingslowly,” continued Sardesai, countingthe news channels present in 1995 on hisfingertips, “This put the Tandoor Murderbefore the ‘breaking news’ era. Themedia didn’t broadcast the lurid detailsof Naina and Sushil’s lives to the public.Thus, one could say the Tandoor Murderoccurred in an age of innocence.” No onehas written about the Tandoor case insuch vivid detail hitherto, and nor was itpossible for anyone else to produce sucha work. Sardesai sealed the stamp on thenovelty of Pereira’s book, concluding,“Pereira’s is a book for the age of thebreaking news era about a story from thepre-breaking news age.”

Sardesai’s enthralling introductionwas followed by a panel discussion, fea-turing Pereira in conversation with jour-nalists Rini Simon Khanna and SunetraChoudhury. Early on, Choudhury high-lighted, “The media was very much a partof the Tandoor case.” Pereira’s respons-es corroborated this instantly :“Influenced by tabloid media, the foren-sic specialist in-charge ruled out the pos-sibility of firearms being used on Sahni’sbody. This created yet another hurdle forus in establishing Sharma’s culpability —

representative of the problems faced byIndian policemen.” On that note, Pereiraadded, “There’s a great lesson to all inves-tigative officers in this book: how impor-tant the links are.” It appears the police inIndia are often content to merely havetraced the origins of a crime after due inves-tigation. Pereira’s remarks pointed out thatfrequent negligence in duly documentingall the links and evidence caused a lot ofsolved cases to see culprits walking scot-free once the matter reached criminalcourts.

Choudhury went on to ask, “SushilSharma has behaved really well during hisinternment, lobbying now for release after22 years. Would you support it?” With this,discussion had reached an inevitable junc-ture. As is often the case in Indian polity,the definition of life imprisonment —Sharma’s sentence — is not taken on face

value by many. The Criminal ProcedureCode provides for state governments toremit life sentences to a shorter duration,a minimum of 14 years. In the face of ris-ing maintenance costs, many state gov-ernments exploited this feature to remitall life imprisonments under their ambitin this manner. Such widespread mal-practice had, in earlier years, given riseto the misconception that all life sen-tences are a duration of 14 years. Suchmisuse of the provision has, to somedegree, abated. However, it remains acontinued practice to reduce life sen-tences on a case-to-case basis. “It’s a tra-dition in Tihar jail [where Sharma liesimprisoned] to not detain an inmate formore than 25 years,” mentioned Pereira.Sunetra interviewed Sharma while writingBehind Bars: Prison Tales of India’s MostFamous. In this context, she expressed sym-pathy towards the pleas of a man who hasspent over two decades imprisoned. Alas,the panel conceded that no conclusion couldbe reached on the matter until the courtsgive their verdict on Sharma’s appeal.

The outcomes of this case were two-pronged. For her part, Choudhury prudent-ly observed that Naina Sahni was often vil-ified in the media outcry that ensued afterthe murder. “Vilification of the woman vic-tim remains a consistent aspect of crimescommitted in India till date,” said an exas-perated Choudhury while recounting sim-ilar instances. Adding to Choudhury,Pereira exclaimed, “One needn’t even goas far as murder. Every time a rape is dis-cussed on television news, one or theother party unfailingly finds faults in thevictim.” Pereira went on to elaborate onthe other major outcome,“Criminalisation of politics, whichbecame a feature of this case, has notchanged.” In 2018, nearly half the cabi-net and over a hundred MP’s have crim-inal records. Thusly expressed, the out-comes mentioned serve to render theTandoor case into a lynchpin of featureswhich have gone on to characterisecrime in India. “We are complacent,” saidPereira wistfully, “nobody cares aboutcrime until it comes knocking on their door.”

Angelina Jolie first portrayed LaraCroft in 2001 film Lara Croft:

Tomb Raider. It was directed bySimon West. Now, 15 years later, theconcept was picked up again by aNorwegian director, Roar Uthaug, bestknown for Fritt Vilt (2006), Flukt(2012), and The Wave (2015). Hehopes Alicia Vikander will be a muchdifferent Lara Croft.

�What was your overall vision forthe film and the character of LaraCroft?

We’re doing a gritty and authen-tic take on Tomb Raider and creatinga Lara who is a badass but is also vul-nerable and imperfect. That makes hervery relatable to the audience.

As a gamer and fan of the TombRaider game, I really enjoyed direct-ing the film, and it was a real pleasureworking with Alicia Vikander. At thesame time, I’m also very humbled bythe responsibility of creating a newversion of such an iconic character.

�What qualities does Alicia bring tothe reinvention of the characterthat the two of you created togeth-er?

Alicia Vikander is special anddedicated to her craft. She has workedincredibly hard on all her physicaltraining and preparation with thestunt team. As an actress, Alicia hasunique presence and authenticitywhich give her scenes a grounded feel-ing and an emotional connectionthat we’re not used to experiencing ina movie like this. Of course, we havethe big scope, scale and action one’dexpect, but there’s an engaging char-acter — Alicia’s Lara — at the film’score.

�How do you create the balancebetween the intimate character workand the vast scale of the production?

The spectacle doesn’t work if youdon’t care about the character. So, firstyou must create a character that theaudience will root for. And, when youhave that, the audience becomesengaged. They can easily experienceeverything that’s happening to thatcharacter.

�Where is Lara Croft when wemeet her in the film?

When we meet Lara, she’s a bikecourier in East London, trying tomake ends meet. Her father, RichardCroft, had disappeared seven years agowhich has taken Lara to an emotion-al troll. She’s been pushing that partof her life away, not wanting to be apart of the Croft legacy because thatwould mean accepting that he’s gone.To stop a downward spiral, she beginsto pull at the threads of what has hap-pened to him. Lara discovers that

there was a lot more to Richard thanwhat she knew, which propels her onher journey.

�What does Dominic West bring tothe character of Lara's father,Richard Croft? Same question forDaniel Wu as Lu Ren, and WaltonGoggins as Mathias.

Dominic brings a warmth to thecharacter, who is torn between whathe feels he must do and the love forhis daughter. Dominic portrays thatin a very emotional and charmingway.

Daniel created this strong butdown-and-out Hong Kong fisher-man who captains a rusty boat.When the audience meets Lu Ren, heseems a kind of carefree, but afterone get to know him, they will findthat there’s a lot more to him thanwhat was initially expected.

Walton is fun, energetic andbrings the set alive. He has a greatpresence in front of the camera whichwell fits him in the space of danger-ous villain.We discussed creating thisvillain character that is not a tradition-al bad guy with a scheme to destroythe world. Mathias is a man on a mis-sion and he is the hero of his ownstory. He has layers which Waltonbrought to the character. He can bevery intimidating on screen but oncontrary he’s super fun off-screen.

�Did you have a favorite or mem-orable moment during filming?

There is a sequence where Larais hurled down the river and landsin a Japanese World War II bomber.We shot the part of that sequence ina whitewater rafting facility outsideLondon. I remember holding mybreath as Alicia whose hands wereliterally tied, was going down thoserapids. Her dedication really paid offin that scene, and in so many otherstoo.

�What do you hope for audienceexperience when they see TombRaider in the cinema?

This is a standalone movie andan origin story about Lara Croft. Wemade it for everyone so one doesn’tneed to know the game to enjoy it.Audiences will love the large-scaleaction which unfolds in an authen-tic way. There’s a powerful human-ity at the heart of the film. Havingsaid that, fans of the game willenjoy seeing some special ‘Eastereggs’ that we have placed through-out the film.

Sarod maestro Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, who performed atthe Arab Music Institute here, said there are many cul-

tural and musical similarities between India and Egypt.The event, which was a part of the Mega cultural fes-

tival India by the Nile, was attended by many musicenthusiasts from Egypt. Ambassador of India SanjayBhattacharyya and other dignitaries were also present atthe concert.

“I feel at home in Cairo. Music of Egypt and India havemany similarities. There is a historical connection betweenArabic music, Egyptian music and Indian music. We haveso much in common,” he said.

The sarod maestro, who had earlier performedin Egypt in 1978 and in the 1990.

Music does not belong to any religionlike flowers, air, water, fragrance andcolours. But every religion needsmusic to express your emotions andfeelings. Music is a precious gift ofGod.

“With sarod, I don’t dealwith language becausethrough sound I can-not manipulate. If I’mout of tune, you’llknow. Other typesof music are basedon language andtexts.

Through lan-guage you canalways manipulate.

And unfortunately language is ruling the world, Khan added.The veteran musician said he is “worried about world

peace.”“The 21st century should have been very peaceful and

full of harmony. I think it is the worst time in the historyof music. Because today people are killing each other onaccount of religion.

My father who is my guru he taught me the way of life.He told me that all of us have a common god and we are of

common race. We have racial problems. I wish the priest ofevery religion should give this message, that we have a com-

mon God and we have a common race... humanity, headded.Khan will next perform at Syed Darwish

Theatre tomorrow.����

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An artist who proudly holds the tag ofbeing an actor, thespian and now apolitician under his belt, Paresh Rawal

discussed about the relevance of theatre.Though the actor wasn’t much aware ofTheatre Olympics but he believes that it’s agreat platform to present the art of differentnationalities coming from theatre artists ofdiverse backgrounds. Being a part of the playKishan v/s Kanhaiya, Rawal stressed on therelevance of his character. “My character is ofa person who do believes in God but not inthe rituals that are carried with the intent ofbuttering our desires.”

However, the well-experienced artist does-n’t leave a stone unturned to essay his role withperfection. “We had and have been working sohard that the final output comes so naturallyin front of the audience. Also, I think it’s notjust about perfection but also about simplify-ing the act to express it in an effortless form.”

Elaborating on one of his statementswhich emphasises on his love for theatre, hesaid, “Theatre has been my first love. Throughit, I have learned the art of acting and this jour-ney has been a meaningful both as an actor anda human being.” Theatre has today carved aniche audience for itself yet there is a lot morewhich goes into its making. Elaborating on thesame, the veteran actor asserted, “Theatreencompasses many elements collectively at thesame time. From writing to acting to produc-tion to consistently improvising one’s own skillswith every performance. This also forms thevery essence of a theatre artist. As an actor, Itry injecting my life experiences into any genreI perform in order to always keep it appealingto real lives of the audience. A fresh approachto every act is what I always ensure to add tomy work.” He will be seen acting in Kishan v/sKanhaiya which is a part of the ongoing DelhiTheatre Festival.

Besides different kinds of films he has been

part of, Rawal asserted on reading and learn-ing as the key guide for honing the skills. “Ialways try keeping myself engaged in readingbecause that’s how I keep a check on the sur-roundings and accordingly imbibe the emotionsinto my performances.” The actor who is knownfor his perfect one-liners and comic timingsbelieves that, “It’s not something which comesfrom within, but with experiences and build-ing command over words with passage of time.I don’t consider it as a special aspect of my work

but it’s something that every actor must be goodat. If I talk about the essence of acting, timingsplay a pivotal role in it.”

Comparing acting in films with theatre, theartist asserted, “Theatre acting in itself is a dif-ficult art. Once the curtain is up, the artist ison his own and has no other opportunity forre-take unlike Bollywood. It is based on aninstant approval or rejection from the audience.Ideally a film is director’s medium whereas atheatre is an actors-medium.”

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Manchester United boss JoseMourinho has the tough task of

keeping Liverpool's Mohamed Salahquiet as Jurgen Klopp's entertainersroll into town at the weekend — withsecond place in the Premier Leaguethe prize on offer.

With Pep Guardiola's ManchesterCity virtually assured of the title,northwest rivals United and Liverpool— the two most successful clubs in theEnglish game — are left fighting forthe scraps.

United's impressive fightback from2-0 down on Monday to beat CrystalPalace 3-2 maintained their slendertwo-point lead over Liverpool in thebattle for the runners-up spot behindrunaway leaders City.

Nemanja Matic bailed outMourinho's men with a stunningstoppage-time strike in London butanother three points papered over thecracks in the latest in a series ofunconvincing performances fromUnited.

"We have to be honest, we have toplay better," Matic admitted once theeuphoria of his first United goal dieddown.

"We have to do more if we want towin as Liverpool is a team with greatquality."

�����������The onus will be on Mourinho to

take the game to the visitors at OldTrafford on Saturday but thePortuguese manager, criticisedfor keeping his array ofattackers firmly on theleash, is unlikely torisk throwing cau-tion to thewind.

Liverpool had scored 20 goals intheir previous seven games before amuch-changed side drew 0-0 withPorto in midweek, a result that sealeda place in the Champions Leaguequarter-finals for the first time in nineyears.

With January signing Virgil vanDijk settling in well at the back andLoris Karius impressing in goal, thepieces are falling into place for Klopp'steam, who have lost just once in 20Premier League games.

But it is their forwards, led by theirrepressible Salah alongside RobertoFirmino and Sadio Mane, who havescored a combined 68 goals this sea-son, that will give Mourinho sleeplessnights.

There was a palpable sensationaround Anfield on Tuesday thatLiverpool minds were already focusedon United, with the free-scoring frontthree all rested at different spells of thegame.

�������������� ��< �����>The match against Liverpool is the

first of three games in eight days forManchester United at Old Traffordthat will define their season.

Sevilla visit in thelast-16 of theC h a m p i o n sLeague on

Tuesday with the tie delicately bal-anced at 0-0 after the first leg, beforein-form Brighton head north for an FACup quarter-final.

Mourinho conceded recently "toplay Liverpool has a special meaning"for Manchester United, so reservinghis stars' energies for midweek is outof the question.

However, he does have a big deci-sion to make over whether to persistwith Alexis Sanchez on the left side ofUnited's attack, with the likes ofAnthony Martial and MarcusRashford in his armoury.

The Chilean has scored just oncesince moving from Arsenal in January.

�������@����Elsewhere, Chelsea need to

bounce back from four defeats in fiveleague games if they are to retain anyrealistic hope of a top-four finish whenthey host struggling Palace andTottenham must pick themselves upafter being dumped out of theChampions League by Juventus atBournemouth.

A heavily rotated City side werealso beaten for just the fourth time thisseason by Basel in Europe in midweek,but still progressed to the quarter-finals and can move to within threewins of mathematically sealing the titlewhen they visit Stoke on Monday.

Arsenal, trailing fourth-placedSpurs by 13 points, look to haveblown their hopes of qualifying fornext season's Champions League butArsene Wenger will be desperate toreverse an alarming slump whenWatford visit the Emirates.

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Henrikh Mkhitaryan scored his first Arsenalgoal as the London club rebounded from four

successive losses with a 2-0 win at AC Milan inthe first leg of the Europa League last 16 onThursday.

There was another surprise in Germanywhere two goals from Valon Berisha led Salzburgto a 2-1 victory at Borussia Dortmund.

Atletico Madrid recorded a comfortable 3-0home win over Lokomotiv Moscow while CSKAMoscow were beaten 1-0 in Russia by Lyon.

Fredy Montero's two goals guided Sportingpast Viktoria Plzen 2-0 and Leipzig, who knockedout Serie A leaders Napoli in the round of 32,defeated Zenit 2-1.

Lazio were held to a 2-2 home draw byDynamo Kiev while Marseille struck in the firstminute on the way to a 3-1 victory over AthleticBilbao.

A minute's silence was observed at everymatch in honor of Davide Astori, the Italy andFiorentina player who died last week at the ageof 31.

����������1In a tussle of two heavyweights with proud

histories, Arsenal went ahead after 15 minuteswhen Mkhitaryan, signed from ManchesterUnited in January, saw his right-foot shot deflectinto the net off Milan captain Leonardo Bonucci.

Mkhitaryan also hit the crossbar towards theend of the first half.

Bonucci almost leveled for Milan two min-utes before the interval when he rose in the penal-ty area to head a corner narrowly wide.

Mesut Ozil then laid on the second goal infirst-half stoppage time for Aaron Ramsey, whowent round goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarummato give his team a healthy advantage to take intothe second leg at the Emirates Stadium nextThursday.

"Our best away performance for a long time,"Ozil tweeted.

�������������Saul Niguez fired a spectacular shot from 25

meters to put Atletico in front against Lokomotivin the 22nd minute before Diego Costa added hissixth goal in 13 matches since rejoining the clubfrom Chelsea.

Costa pounced to score after AntoineGriezmann's goalbound effort was saved beforecaptain Koke made it 3-0 in the final minute.

Atletico have reached two Champions Leaguefinals since winning the Europa League in 2012.

����1������Marseille didn't waste any time against

Bilbao as Lucas Ocampos netted inside the firstminute after collecting a pass from FlorianThauvin.

Captain Dimitri Payet made it 2-0 after 14minutes. Aritz Aduriz pulled one back for Bilbaofrom the penalty spot in injury time beforeOcampos struck again in the second half afterPayet had set him up.

���������Berisha was twice on target early in the sec-

ond half, his opener coming from the penalty spot,to put Salzburg on top before Andre Schurrlepulled one back for Dortmund.

Lyon were indebted to a 68th-minute head-er from Marcelo as the French team triumphedat CSKA.

Leipzig squandered numerous chances againstZenit before Armindo Bruma scored in the sec-ond half after Timo Werner’s brilliant backheelassist.

Werner lobbed in a second over goalkeeperAndrei Lunev but Domenico Criscito got one backfor Zenit from a free kick.

After a hat-trick in the last round, CiroImmobile equalized for Lazio with his 32nd goalof the season two minutes after Viktor Tsygankovhad put Kiev 1-0 up.

Felipe Anderson made it 2-1 to Lazio beforesubstitute Junior Moraes leveled 11 minutes fromtime.

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There is very little to separate the two teams asFC Goa host Chennaiyin FC in the second

semi-final of the Hero Indian Super League (ISL)here on Saturday.

The great rivals were all-square in the leaguestage as FC Goa scored a stunning 3-2 victory intheir opening match in Chennai, scoring threegoals in the first 45 minutes, while ChennaiyinFC fought back and levelled things out with a 1-0 victory in Goa.

The teams face each other knowing there hasnever been a draw between them. In the ninematches the two sides have played, Goa won fourand Chennaiyin five, including the famous finalin 2015.

A total of 35 goals have been scored in theseencounters and if Goa's head coach SergioLobera stays true to his style, then there will cer-tainly be lots more entertainment.

"We understand the importance of the awaygoal, but this rule will not make us change ourstyle of play. In the last game, even when a drawwas enough, we went for the win. The team hasto continue with the same mentality. In the lastthree games, we have great numbers in terms ofthe goals we've scored," Lobera said during thepre-match media interaction.

Goa have scored 12 goals in the hat-trick ofwins that they stitched up to enter the semi-finals,but the big change is that they have also conced-ed just once in 270 minutes of football.

Lobera said that while his attackers took awaythe plaudits, he knew the entire team was work-ing hard offensively and defensively to perform

better, and even praised his backline."If we don't function as a team it is impossi-

ble to achieve success but the way football worksis that the scorers make the headlines. For me thereare people within the team who work hard andit is their work that permits others to shine a lit-tle bit more.

"If only 11 players would have been good, Idon't think we would have been in the semi-finals,"said the Spanish coach."

Chennaiyin enter the game on a patchy runof just two wins in their last five games, but arestatistically one of the soundest traveling teamsthis season.

They have the most number of clean sheetsin total (7) and have conceded the least amountof shots away from home (78).

Their goals are also spread across the teamover 11 players, unlike Goa, who are heavily relianton Ferran Corominas and Manuel Lanzarote inthat department (18 of the 22 home goals Goahave scored have come from these two players).

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Serena Williams shook off therust from a 15-month layoff

due to pregnancy to win heropening match at the WTAIndian Wells event with a 7-5,6-3 victory over Zarina Diyas.

The unseeded Williamswas the top-ranked player inthe world when she began herlong layoff following her vic-tory at the 2017 AustralianOpen, where she was alreadyexpecting daughter AlexisOlympia who was born inSeptember.

Williams entered the courtThursday night to a loud ova-tion, with many in the half fullstadium standing and applaud-ing as she came out of the tun-nel for just her third appear-ance in Indian Wells in the last17 years.

After that it was a matter ofgradually asserting herself bytaking control of the rallies, andshe got the first break of serve

in the 11th game of the first setand secured the set in the next

game on her third set point.The 36-year-old American

is the star attraction in IndianWells, but behind her popu-larity this year was the mysterysurrounding her match fitnessand ball-striking ability.

The 23-time Grand Slamwinner answered some of those

questions Thursday by blastingfour aces and winning 63 per-

cent of her first-serve pointsagainst a tough opponent whoclaimed her first WTA title lastyear in Tokyo.

Williams also won anwhopping 64 percent of hersecond serves and broke Diyas,ranked 53rd in the world, fivetimes in the 92 minute match.

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Hosts Sri Lanka will aim to continue theirrecent domination against a beleaguered

Bangladesh when the two teams meet in theNidahas Twenty20 Trophy here on Saturday.

Sri Lanka will be high on confidence goinginto their second game after they surprised Indiain the tournament opener.

Their recent record against Bangladesh isimpressive, having beaten them in the away Testand Twenty20 series besides the final of the tri-series, which also included Zimbabwe.

The way Sri Lanka played against India waseven more impressive, comfortably chasing a stiff175-run target courtesy of a Kusal Perera special.

On the bowling front, pacer DushmanthaChameera stood out while the Indians struggledto read the wrong-un of leggie Jeevan Mendis.

The openers, Kusal Mendis and DanushkaGunathilaka, began well but failed to make a sub-stantial contribution, something they will lookto change on Saturday.

After the India win, captain DineshChandimal said the the players are feeling goodabout their game and also gave credit to coachChandika Hathurusingha, who was earlier withBangladesh.

"This isal l abouttransferringconfidencefrom theBangladesh series. The management have donea wonderful job at training sessions. ChandikaHathurusingha has been amazing. This resultshows how good we are as a team," Chandimalhad said.

Bangladesh, on the other hand, are under thepump after a string of losses. The batsmen havenot been able to rotate the strike enough in themiddle overs, stopping them from putting upcompetitive scores.

The absence of star player and captainShakib Al Hasan is bound to hurt them.

"We should have scored a lot more runs,probably 30 more runs. They (India) executedtheir plans very well but we should have foundways to make more runs.

“We need to rotate the strike more often. Thedot balls created a lot of pressure.

"I think we are just one win away from get-ting a boost. We're still searching for it and I thinkwe'll get it," said captain Mahmudullah after thesix-wicket loss to India on Thursday.

India chased down a target of 140 easily withBangladesh spinners Mehidy Hasan and NazmulIslam not posing any threat to the India by bowl-ing flat more often than not. They will have tocome up with a fresh strategy against theLankans.

It is also a must-win game for Bangladesh asanother loss will make it very difficult for themto make the final on March 18.

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India pacer Mohammed Shami facescharges of attempting to murder his

wife by poisoning her after the crick-eter's wife Hasin Jahan accused him ofphysically and mentally torturing herand having extra-marital affairs, policesaid on Friday.

A First Information Report filed atthe Jadavpur police station charges thecricketer and four others with varioussections of the Indian Penal Codeincluding attempt to murder, rape,criminal intimidation and causinghurt by means of poison.

"On the basis of a written com-plaint from Hasin Jahan, a case wasrecorded at the police station onMarch 8 against Shami and four oth-ers," a police official said.

Shami, 27, and his family have alsobeen charged with subjecting his wifeto cruelty, voluntarily causing hurt andacting in furtherance of common

intention.An emotionally drained Hasin

Jahan made journalists listen to anaudio clip where Shami purportedlyaccepts his infidelity. "Yesterday Shamisaid that my mental condition is notstable," the anguished woman said.

"Till now, I have not given any con-tradictory statement. I made you lis-ten to the recording where he hasaccepted all his extra-marital affairs.Now, whose mental condition is unsta-ble, you judge," she said.

She went on: "I have suffered a lot.Previously, I did not get any helpregarding this. I tried a lot. So I decid-ed to post all of Shami's wrongdoingon FB (Facebook). I never had anyintention of spreading dirt on FB or toentertain people. This is my fightagainst his unacceptable acts."

Hasin Jahan vented her ire over herposts being removed from Facebook,saying her intentions were to seek a wayout of her prolonged suffering.

"I have tried to save many girls'

lives by posting all of that. I tried to helpboys not go the same way. But why didFB block my account and remove allthe posts without my permission?

"My life has been spoiled. Myfuture has gone down the drain, alsomy daughter's."

Asked if Shami's relatives or fam-ily contacted her during this period,Jahan said: "Shami's relatives did nothelp me when I was being tortured.They only told me to sacrifice as he isa man and has the license to playaround. They knew everything."

Hasin Jahan said she tried tomake peace with her star husband butthe latter would never talk to her andrepeatedly ignored her and theirdaughter. "I tried to reconcile withhim but he never used to answer mycalls. He never cared about me andour daughter. He threatened tomarry a second time."

Hasin Jahan had posted screen-shots of Shami's alleged WhatsAppand Facebook Messenger conversa-tions with multiple women on herFacebook account. She alsouploaded photos and phone num-bers of the women.

� �� .�+ ���A�� �

Kagiso Rabada roared through Australiastoking the animosity between the teams on

the way as South Africa bowled the tourists outfor 243 on day one of the second test on Friday.

Rabada took five wickets in the space of 18balls in a blistering spell just before and after teaat St. George's Park, sending the Australiansslumping from 161-3. They were saved from aworse fate when Tim Paine made 36 and put on61 with Australia's last two batsmen.

Rabada took three of his wickets in an overand removed Australian batsmen on the last ballbefore tea and first ball after it to suddenly turnthe tide in the home team's favor.

South Africa was 39-1 after batting through12 overs at the end of the day, losing first-testcentury-maker Aiden Markram for 11. Rabada,following up on his bowling heroics, helpedSouth Africa to the close with 17 not out asnightwatchman.

Warner, under scrutiny following the unsa-vory incident with de Kock in the first game,made 63 at the top of the order only for Australiato slip up badly in the second session, when itlost five wickets for 72 having been 98-1 at lunch.

Bancroft fell on the brink of lunch for 38.Usman Khawaja (4), Warner, Smith (25), ShaunMarsh (24) and Mitchell Marsh (4) were outafter lunch. Rabada came back after the breakto remove Pat Cummins first ball after tea, andfollowed up with the wicket of Mitchell Starc for

figures of 5-96.Fellow pacemen Lungi Ngidi had three

wickets and Vernon Philander two.Warner was back in the spotlight straight-

away on the first day at St. George's Park, com-ing through a tricky opening spell when thetourists scored just 18 runs in the first 13 oversafter winning the toss and choosing to bat.

South Africa made an important break-through when Warner was bowled by Ngidi tofollow Khawaja back to the dressing rooms afterlunch.

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Former India captain BishanSingh Bedi urged the BCCI to

take the Cricket Association for theBlind in India (CABI) under itsaegis, which they said will be a bigboost for India's visually chal-lenged cricketers.

Heaping praise on the achieve-ments of blind cricketers, Bedi said,"You all are inspirations for mil-lions. I would expect the BCCI totake CABI under its fold and giveall the assistance they require. Youall have shown that even if youdon't have eyesight, you can havevision. We need to learn from themand not give excuses."

Both Bedi and former wicket-keeper Syed Kirmani were presentduring the IndusInd Bank BlindCricket Conclave 2018, where thevictorious national team whichwon the World Cup for the Blindwere also present.

Bedi in fact gave them theexample of Tiger Pataudi, who rep-resented India despite losing an eye

in a car accident."Tiger lost eyesight before he

made his Test debut. He hated ifanyone sympathized with him. Henever considered it as a physicaldisability and went on to becomeIndia's finest captain. He was aNawab but never behaved likeone," Bedi said during the event.

Madan Lal inspired everyonewith stories of their 1983 triumphagainst all odds.

Sharing his own experience,Madan Lal said, "In order to per-form well one should keep work-ing in the right process with focusand should prepare forever and notjust one particular game."

"Our World Cup victory isnothing compared to what youpeople have achieved. You all aremy heroes," Madan Lal said.

Remembering the 1983 WorldCup memories, Lal said, "It was amoment to cherish for lifetime. Wewent to the tournament as anunderdog and no one used toconsider us seriously but that winagainst West Indies in the Finalchanged everything and turned thescenario of cricket in India. "

Praising the success of blindcricketers, Ajay Jadeja said, "Theboard needs you and not you needthem. This game has a lot to offerand more to teach."

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All-rounder Vijay Shankar says hedoesn't want to put himself under

pressure by drawing comparisons withIndia regular Hardik Pandya and wouldrather focus on improving his ownskills.

Shankar claimed two crucial wick-ets to bag the Man of the Match awardas India defeated Bangladesh by six wick-ets in the second T20 international in thetri-series on Thursday night.

"For me, what is more important isto get better and better everyday. Becausethe pressure or comparing me withHardik because he is also an all-rounder,I think most cricketers don't like com-parison but it is important for us to showwhat we have and give our best insteadof putting ourselves under pressure," hesaid.

He was answering a question on howhe plans to enhance his chances ofcementing a place in the team as an all-rounder, considering that Pandya has astronghold on that position.

Shankar's maiden internationalwicket was delayed after Suresh Rainadropped a catch at mid off andWashington Sundar also missed anattempt in the bowler's first over.

Asked if those dropped catchesaffected him, Shankar said: "That didn'taffect me much because dropping catch-es is part of the game.

"Obviously I would have loved to getmy first wicket at that time but as crick-eters we know it is not easy to field underlights with the white ball. I didn't givemuch importance to that, I was justfocusing on bowling the next ball," hesaid.

Shankar, one of just six players tohave 1500 runs and 25 wickets indomestic cricket, said his hard workfinally paid off and it is a good start forhim.

"It feels really great, I have beenworking really hard. I think the inten-sity with which I have been working, allthat paid off with this and I feel it is justa start for me. As a cricketer, the constantthing is to keep improving and learningand I am really looking forward to thecoming weeks," he said.

"I think the inner strength that I havehelps me stay calm. Obviously when youare playing for India is special but I try

to play each and every game seriouslyand my only thinking is to improveeveryday, so it has been good for me."

Shankar acknowledged the role ofthe team management, who gave him thefreedom to express.

"I think the team management playsa huge part, they give us the freedom toexpress ourself which is very importantat this stage," he said.

"The pressure will always be there,if we enjoy the pressure then we will beable to do well but if we put ourselvesunder pressure then we can get into trou-ble."

India restricted Bangladesh to 139for eight in 20 overs after electing to field.

"I think we bowled really goodlength. The important thing we kept tak-ing wickets and was able to restrict themto 138-139 and that is more important,"

Shankar said.India skipper Rohit Sharma lauded

the team for its clinical show."It was a great performance - some-

thing that was expected from us. Till thelast ball of the game was bowled, it wasclinical," he said.

"We looked into what went wrong

against Sri Lanka and we thought hittingback of a length was a good option. Wewanted them to go after the long bound-aries. I thought the bowlers executedtheir plans really well. Came out and didwhat was asked. We kept it simple."

Sharma, however, said India have toraise their fielding performance after

being sloppy during the second T20match.

"We need to improve out catching.We want to get better as a fielding sideevery game we play. We are much bet-ter than that. Hopefully we won't makethe same mistakes again."

His Bangladesh counterpartMahmudullah blamed his batmen fornot putting enough runs on board.

"It's obvious that we didn't bat well.We should've scored a lot more runs,probably 30 more runs," he said.

"They executed their plans verywell but we should have found ways tomake more runs. We need to rotate thestrike more often. The dot balls createda lot of pressure. I think we are just onewin away from getting a boost. We're stillsearching for it and I think we'll get it,"he added.

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