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16
M ass shootings at two mosques full of worship- pers attending Friday prayers killed 49 people in New Zealand as authorities charged one person, detained three others and defused explosive devices in what appeared to be a carefully planned racist ter- ror attack. The shooter has been taken into custody. The deadliest attack occurred at Masjid Al Noor mosque in central Christchurch about 1.45 pm, killing 30 people there. There was a second shooting at the Linwood Masjid Mosque that killed at least 10 people. Unconfirmed reports claimed that nine Indian nationals were missing after the shootings. An Indian-origin man was injured in the Christchurch terror attacks, his relatives residing in Hyderabad said on Friday. Khursheed Jahangir, brother of Ahmed Iqbal Jahangir, said his brother was injured during the attack and is currently undergoing treatment at a local hospital in Christchurch. However, India’s High Commission in New Zealand is ascertaining the reports. “Our (Indian High Commission) mission is in touch with local authorities to ascertain more details. It is a sensitive matter and therefore we can't give con- firmed numbers/names till we are absolutely certain,” External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said in New Delhi. The mosque shooter has been identified as a 28-year-old Australian white nationalist who hates immigrants. He was set off by attacks in Europe that were perpetrated by Muslims. The gunman — whose name was not immediately released by police — left behind a 74-page document posted on social media under the name Brenton Tarrant in which he said he hoped to survive the attack to better spread his ideas in the media. And though he portrayed himself in his writings as quiet and introverted, he livestreamed his assault on the worshippers at Christchurch’s Al Noor Mosque. New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern allud- ed to anti-immigrant senti- ment as the possible motive, saying that while many people affected by the shootings may be migrants or refugees “they have chosen to make New Zealand their home, and it is their home”. “It is clear that this can now only be described as a terrorist attack,” she said. The video livestreamed by the shooter shows the attack in horrifying detail. The gunman spends more than two minutes inside the mosque spraying terrified worshippers with bul- lets again and again, sometimes re-firing at people he has already cut down. He then walks outside to the street, where he shoots at people on the sidewalk. Children’s screams can be heard as he returns to his car to get another rifle. The gunman then walks back into the mosque, where there are at least two dozen people lying on the ground. After walking back outside and shooting a woman there, he gets back in his car, where the song “Fire” by English rock band “The Crazy World of Arthur Brown” can be heard blasting from the speakers. Related copies on P12 I ndia and Myanmar Armies conducted a fortnight long joint operation to smash camps of insurgent group, Arakan Army, along the Mizoram- Myanmar border. The co-ordinated action starting February 17 was undertaken to prevent the mil- itants from targeting the Kaladan transit and transport project linking Kolkata with Sittwe port in Myanmar. The joint operation was also con- ducted to protect Indian work- ers working on the strategical- ly important project in Myanmar to improve connec- tivity in the North-East. The Myanmar Army car- ried out the actual operation involving smashing the insur- gent camps and driving away the militants, the Indian Army provided back-up support by sealing the Mizoram border to prevent the insurgents from escaping into India. However, the Indian Army did not cross over into Myanmar but pro- vided intelligence and mount- ed surveillance through heli- copters and drones on its side. Giving this information here on Friday, officials said most of the camps of the Arakan Army were located across the Border Pillars 1 to 9 on the Mizoram-Myanmar international border. The co- ordinated action was launched as these camps posed a threat to both the countries. Intelligence reports indicated there were about 1,000 insur- gents lodged in 10 to 15 camps between Border Pillars 1 and 9. The Assam Rifles guarding the international border along with Army troops sealed the border during the action. Alarm bells started ringing some months back after reports said members of the Arakan Army, trained by Kachin Independent Army, mostly active in areas bordering Yunan province of China, started moving towards south Myanmar from their bases in the north of Myanmar. This movement started in late 2017. Keeping this in view, the two countries decided to go after the insurgent group and launched the operation on February 17 and ended it on March 2. Continued on Page 4 A fter being unable to meet three of her schedules for Uttar Pradesh to initiate the Lok Sabha polls campaign, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi has finally decided to undertake motor- boat journey on the Ganga from Allahabad to Varanasi on a three-day poll campaign dur- ing which she will halt at sev- eral places to interact with people residing along the river. This will be perhaps the first time that any leader will be reaching out to the electorate using the river route in a motorboat. She will start from Prayagraj and reach Varanasi covering a distance of about 110 kms. In between she will interact with the commoners of locality like Mirzapur, Bhadohi etc., and understand their prob- lems, the biggest of which is recurrent floods in these areas as well as the reality of Ganga cleaning, which was first launched by former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. AICC Uttar Pradesh media coordinator Lallan Kumar said Priyanka will use the narrow broken trail taken by the locals to interact with as many peo- ple as possible. Her programme is being worked out as per the huge demands by party men of the region. The Congress is attempting to reach out to the Mallah, Kewat and Nishad communi- ties of boatmen, fishermen and agriculturalists living along the river. Priyanka’s plans for the first phase of her campaign were stated in a letter submit- ted to the Election Commission and permission has been sought for her visit from Prayagraj to Varanasi from March 18 to March 20. Priyanka is likely to arrive in Lucknow on Sunday and move to Prayagraj for her cam- paign the next day. There she is expected to visit the historic Anand Bhawan, the erstwhile official residence of the Nehru family, now dedicated as a museum housing the personal belongings of Jawaharlal Nehru and his father Motilal Nehru. Similar to the line taken by party chief Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka too may offer prayers at Maa Vindhayavasini temple in Mirzapur and Kashi Vishwanath in Varanasi. She may also a visit mosques enroute. D espite being in two minds and vehement opposition by Delhi Congress president Sheila Dikshit, the Congress may stitch up an alliance with the AAP in Delhi for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections if one goes by the indication of party’s Delhi incharge PC Chacko. Speaking to Outlook news website, Chacko on Friday said there were “six Congress pres- idents in Delhi, including Sheila Dikshit, and five of them are in favour of an alliance.” He said, “Similarly, the 14 district committees are also all in favour of a pact. We are of the view that Congress alone cannot win in Delhi. The alliance is a policy decided by the working committee.” Chacko said “Dikshit isn’t the final authority” on the issue as Congress president Rahul Gandhi will take the final call. Sources said former Union Minister and Delhi Congress president Ajay Maken favours truck with AAP as he is eyeing New Delhi Lok Sabha seat which he had won in 2004 and 2009. Sources told The Pioneer that despite Dikshit making her displeasure known against any poll pact with the AAP, her pre- decessors, including JP Aggarwal and Arvinder Singh Lovely, have expressed their readiness to have a tie-up with AAP to fight the BJP, sources said. A Delhi Pradesh Congress leader on the condition of anonymity said a pre-poll understanding with the AAP is required to stop the BJP from repeating 2014 Lok Sabha polls when it won all the seven par- liamentary seats in Delhi. After not finding consen- sus in the party over truck with the AAP despite holding sev- eral internal meetings, the Congress on Wednesday con- ducted a survey on its Shakti App, asking workers for their point of view. The result of the survey is yet to be known. According to sources, AAP may contest on East, Chandni Chowk and South Delhi seats while other four seats could go to the Congress. “Next two days would be crucial as a final pic- ture would emerge,” said a Congress leader. D ifferences within Samajwadi Party first fam- ily came to the fore once again, when party president Akhilesh Yadav snubbed his father Mulayam Singh by denying ticket to sister-in-law Aparna Yadav from Sambhal Lok Sabha seat. Aparna is the wife of Prateek Yadav, the younger son of Mulayam Singh. Sitting MP from Mainpuri and grandson of Mulayam, Tej Pratap Yadav was also a claimant for Sambhal seat. The SP on Friday announced list of five more candidates for Lok Sabha elec- tions taking the number of declared candidates to 15. The friction surfaced after Mulayam Singh asked Akhilesh to field Aparna Yadav from Sambhal. Ignoring his father’s diktat, Akhilesh fielded Shafiqur Rahman Burk from the Sambhal seat. SP rewarded Burk hours before he was about to join the Congress. A known party hop- per and former MP from both SP and BSP, Burk had spoken to UP Congress Committee chief Raj Babbar and his can- didature from Sambhal was almost finalised. In the mean- time, Akhilesh approached and persuaded Burk to stay in the Samajwadi Party. I n a significant development, France, which had made a fresh bid at the UN to get Masood Azhar banned, has decided to impose financial sanctions on the JeM chief, asserting that it has always been by India's side in the fight against terrorism. France along with the US and the UK had moved a pro- posal in the UN Security Council to designate the Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed chief as a “global terrorist”. However, the bid was blocked by China which put a technical hold on the proposal. “A deadly attack took place in Pulwama on February 14, 2019. The JeM, banned terror- ists organisation since 2001, has claimed responsibility for this attack,” said a joint statement by the French Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs, the French Ministry of Economy. T he Supreme Court on Friday agreed to hear the plea of 21 Opposition leaders, led by Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, seeking that VVPAT slips of at least 50 per cent of voting machines in each Assembly constituency be checked randomly in the Lok Sabha elections. The leaders from six national and 15 regional par- ties, claiming to represent 70- 75 per cent of the population, have also sought the setting aside of the Election Commission of India guideline on random verification of one Assembly seat. A Bench, headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, said notice be issued to the Election Commission, and the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) should depute an officer to assist the court in the matter. The Bench posted the mat- ter for further hearing on March 25 and asked the ECI to file its reply in two weeks. The parties include the Congress, NCP, AAP, CPI(M), CPI, TMC, SP, BSP, RLD,, Loktantrik Janata Dal and the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK). Continued on Page 4 A fter several hiccups, the BJP and the Apna Dal(S) on Friday decided to renew their pact to contest the 2019 general elections in Uttar Pradesh. The deal was finalised after a meeting between BJP presi- dent Amit Shah and Apna Dal (S) chief Anupriya Patel. UP in- charge of BJP affairs JP Nadda was also present in the meeting. “With the commitment of ‘phir ek baar, Modi sarkar’, the BJP and the Apna Dal will con- test the polls jointly in UP Lok Sabha polls,” Shah tweeted. The BJP chief also said the Apna Dal would contest on two seats, one in Mirzapur where sitting MP and Union Minister Anupriya Patel would be the candidate. The second seat would be decided later. However, the tweet created some confusion as Apna Dal is led by Krishna Patel, mother of Anupriya, while the outfit of the Union Minister is known as Apna Dal (Sonelal). In 2014, Apna Dal(S) contested and won two seats — Mirzapur and Pratapgath. This time Anupriya was trying to get more seats and was even pressuring the UP Government to make her husband MLC Ashish Patel, a Minister in the Yogi Cabinet.

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Page 1: ˝ 5 !#$% ! &’()* /ˆ ˆ 8 6 71 ,+ -4,˜%˜$˜40 1. ’1(31-˘ .-

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Mass shootings at twomosques full of worship-

pers attending Friday prayerskilled 49 people in NewZealand as authorities chargedone person, detained threeothers and defused explosivedevices in what appeared to bea carefully planned racist ter-ror attack. The shooter hasbeen taken into custody.

The deadliest attackoccurred at Masjid Al Noormosque in centralChristchurch about 1.45 pm,killing 30 people there. Therewas a second shooting at theLinwood Masjid Mosque thatkilled at least 10 people.

Unconfirmed reportsclaimed that nine Indiannationals were missing after theshootings. An Indian-originman was injured in theChristchurch terror attacks,his relatives residing inHyderabad said on Friday.Khursheed Jahangir, brother ofAhmed Iqbal Jahangir, saidhis brother was injured duringthe attack and is currentlyundergoing treatment at a localhospital in Christchurch.

However, India’s HighCommission in New Zealand isascertaining the reports. “Our(Indian High Commission)mission is in touch with localauthorities to ascertain moredetails. It is a sensitive matterand therefore we can't give con-firmed numbers/names till weare absolutely certain,” ExternalAffairs Ministry Spokesperson

Raveesh Kumar said in NewDelhi.

The mosque shooter hasbeen identified as a 28-year-oldAustralian white nationalistwho hates immigrants. He wasset off by attacks in Europe thatwere perpetrated by Muslims.

The gunman — whosename was not immediatelyreleased by police — left behinda 74-page document posted onsocial media under the nameBrenton Tarrant in which hesaid he hoped to survive theattack to better spread his ideasin the media.

And though he portrayedhimself in his writings as quietand introverted, helivestreamed his assault on theworshippers at Christchurch’sAl Noor Mosque.

New Zealand PrimeMinister Jacinda Ardern allud-ed to anti-immigrant senti-ment as the possible motive,saying that while many peopleaffected by the shootings maybe migrants or refugees “theyhave chosen to make NewZealand their home, and it istheir home”. “It is clear that thiscan now only be described asa terrorist attack,” she said.

The video livestreamed bythe shooter shows the attack inhorrifying detail. The gunmanspends more than two minutesinside the mosque sprayingterrified worshippers with bul-lets again and again, sometimesre-firing at people he hasalready cut down.

He then walks outside tothe street, where he shoots at

people on the sidewalk.Children’s screams can beheard as he returns to his carto get another rifle.

The gunman then walksback into the mosque, wherethere are at least two dozenpeople lying on the ground.After walking back outsideand shooting a woman there,he gets back in his car, wherethe song “Fire” by English rockband “The Crazy World ofArthur Brown” can be heardblasting from the speakers.

Related copies on P12

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India and Myanmar Armiesconducted a fortnight long

joint operation to smash campsof insurgent group, ArakanArmy, along the Mizoram-Myanmar border.

The co-ordinated actionstarting February 17 wasundertaken to prevent the mil-itants from targeting theKaladan transit and transportproject linking Kolkata withSittwe port in Myanmar. Thejoint operation was also con-ducted to protect Indian work-ers working on the strategical-ly important project inMyanmar to improve connec-tivity in the North-East.

The Myanmar Army car-ried out the actual operationinvolving smashing the insur-gent camps and driving awaythe militants, the Indian Armyprovided back-up support bysealing the Mizoram border toprevent the insurgents fromescaping into India. However,the Indian Army did not cross

over into Myanmar but pro-vided intelligence and mount-ed surveillance through heli-copters and drones on its side.

Giving this informationhere on Friday, officials saidmost of the camps of theArakan Army were locatedacross the Border Pillars 1 to 9on the Mizoram-Myanmarinternational border. The co-ordinated action was launchedas these camps posed a threatto both the countries.Intelligence reports indicatedthere were about 1,000 insur-gents lodged in 10 to 15 campsbetween Border Pillars 1 and 9.

The Assam Rifles guardingthe international border alongwith Army troops sealed theborder during the action.

Alarm bells started ringingsome months back after reportssaid members of the ArakanArmy, trained by KachinIndependent Army, mostlyactive in areas bordering Yunanprovince of China, startedmoving towards southMyanmar from their bases inthe north of Myanmar. Thismovement started in late 2017.Keeping this in view, the twocountries decided to go afterthe insurgent group andlaunched the operation onFebruary 17 and ended it onMarch 2.

Continued on Page 4

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After being unable to meetthree of her schedules for

Uttar Pradesh to initiate theLok Sabha polls campaign,Congress general secretaryPriyanka Gandhi has finallydecided to undertake motor-boat journey on the Gangafrom Allahabad to Varanasi ona three-day poll campaign dur-ing which she will halt at sev-eral places to interact withpeople residing along the river.

This will be perhaps thefirst time that any leader will bereaching out to the electorateusing the river route in amotorboat.

She will start fromPrayagraj and reach Varanasicovering a distance of about

110 kms. In between she willinteract with the commoners oflocality like Mirzapur, Bhadohietc., and understand their prob-lems, the biggest of which is

recurrent floods in these areasas well as the reality of Gangacleaning, which was firstlaunched by former PrimeMinister Rajiv Gandhi.

AICC Uttar Pradesh mediacoordinator Lallan Kumar saidPriyanka will use the narrowbroken trail taken by the localsto interact with as many peo-ple as possible. Her programmeis being worked out as per thehuge demands by party men ofthe region.

The Congress is attemptingto reach out to the Mallah,Kewat and Nishad communi-ties of boatmen, fishermen andagriculturalists living along theriver. Priyanka’s plans for thefirst phase of her campaignwere stated in a letter submit-ted to the Election Commission

and permission has beensought for her visit fromPrayagraj to Varanasi fromMarch 18 to March 20.

Priyanka is likely to arrivein Lucknow on Sunday andmove to Prayagraj for her cam-paign the next day. There sheis expected to visit the historicAnand Bhawan, the erstwhileofficial residence of the Nehrufamily, now dedicated as amuseum housing the personalbelongings of Jawaharlal Nehruand his father Motilal Nehru.

Similar to the line taken byparty chief Rahul Gandhi,Priyanka too may offer prayersat Maa Vindhayavasini templein Mirzapur and KashiVishwanath in Varanasi. Shemay also a visit mosquesenroute.

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Despite being in two mindsand vehement opposition

by Delhi Congress presidentSheila Dikshit, the Congressmay stitch up an alliance withthe AAP in Delhi for the 2019Lok Sabha elections if one goesby the indication of party’sDelhi incharge PC Chacko.

Speaking to Outlook newswebsite, Chacko on Friday saidthere were “six Congress pres-idents in Delhi, includingSheila Dikshit, and five of themare in favour of an alliance.”

He said, “Similarly, the 14district committees are also allin favour of a pact. We are ofthe view that Congress alonecannot win in Delhi. Thealliance is a policy decided bythe working committee.”

Chacko said “Dikshit isn’tthe final authority” on theissue as Congress presidentRahul Gandhi will take thefinal call.

Sources said former UnionMinister and Delhi Congresspresident Ajay Maken favourstruck with AAP as he is eyeingNew Delhi Lok Sabha seatwhich he had won in 2004 and

2009. Sources told The Pioneer

that despite Dikshit making herdispleasure known against anypoll pact with the AAP, her pre-decessors, including JPAggarwal and Arvinder SinghLovely, have expressed theirreadiness to have a tie-up withAAP to fight the BJP, sourcessaid.

A Delhi Pradesh Congressleader on the condition ofanonymity said a pre-pollunderstanding with the AAP isrequired to stop the BJP fromrepeating 2014 Lok Sabha pollswhen it won all the seven par-liamentary seats in Delhi.

After not finding consen-sus in the party over truck withthe AAP despite holding sev-eral internal meetings, theCongress on Wednesday con-ducted a survey on its ShaktiApp, asking workers for theirpoint of view. The result of thesurvey is yet to be known.

According to sources, AAPmay contest on East, ChandniChowk and South Delhi seatswhile other four seats could goto the Congress. “Next two dayswould be crucial as a final pic-ture would emerge,” said aCongress leader.

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Differences withinSamajwadi Party first fam-

ily came to the fore once again,when party president AkhileshYadav snubbed his fatherMulayam Singh by denyingticket to sister-in-law AparnaYadav from Sambhal Lok Sabhaseat. Aparna is the wife ofPrateek Yadav, the youngerson of Mulayam Singh.

Sitting MP from Mainpuriand grandson of Mulayam, TejPratap Yadav was also aclaimant for Sambhal seat.

The SP on Fridayannounced list of five morecandidates for Lok Sabha elec-tions taking the number ofdeclared candidates to 15.

The friction surfaced afterMulayam Singh asked Akhileshto field Aparna Yadav fromSambhal. Ignoring his father’sdiktat, Akhilesh fieldedShafiqur Rahman Burk fromthe Sambhal seat.

SP rewarded Burk hoursbefore he was about to join theCongress. A known party hop-per and former MP from bothSP and BSP, Burk had spokento UP Congress Committeechief Raj Babbar and his can-didature from Sambhal wasalmost finalised. In the mean-time, Akhilesh approached andpersuaded Burk to stay in theSamajwadi Party.

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In a significant development,France, which had made a

fresh bid at the UN to getMasood Azhar banned, hasdecided to impose financialsanctions on the JeM chief,asserting that it has alwaysbeen by India's side in the fight

against terrorism.France along with the US

and the UK had moved a pro-posal in the UN SecurityCouncil to designate thePakistan-based terror groupJaish-e-Mohammed chief as a“global terrorist”. However, thebid was blocked by Chinawhich put a technical hold on

the proposal.“A deadly attack took place

in Pulwama on February 14,2019. The JeM, banned terror-ists organisation since 2001, hasclaimed responsibility for thisattack,” said a joint statement bythe French Ministry of Europeand Foreign Affairs, the FrenchMinistry of Economy.

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The Supreme Court onFriday agreed to hear the

plea of 21 Opposition leaders,led by Andhra Pradesh ChiefMinister N ChandrababuNaidu, seeking that VVPATslips of at least 50 per cent ofvoting machines in eachAssembly constituency bechecked randomly in the LokSabha elections.

The leaders from sixnational and 15 regional par-ties, claiming to represent 70-75 per cent of the population,have also sought the settingaside of the ElectionCommission of India guidelineon random verification of oneAssembly seat.

A Bench, headed by ChiefJustice Ranjan Gogoi, saidnotice be issued to the ElectionCommission, and the ChiefElection Commissioner (CEC)should depute an officer toassist the court in the matter.

The Bench posted the mat-ter for further hearing onMarch 25 and asked the ECI tofile its reply in two weeks.

The parties include theCongress, NCP, AAP, CPI(M),CPI, TMC, SP, BSP, RLD,,Loktantrik Janata Dal and theDravida Munnetra Kazhagam(DMK).

Continued on Page 4

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After several hiccups, theBJP and the Apna Dal(S)

on Friday decided to renewtheir pact to contest the 2019general elections in UttarPradesh.

The deal was finalised aftera meeting between BJP presi-dent Amit Shah and Apna Dal(S) chief Anupriya Patel. UP in-charge of BJP affairs JP Naddawas also present in the meeting.

“With the commitment of‘phir ek baar, Modi sarkar’, theBJP and the Apna Dal will con-test the polls jointly in UP LokSabha polls,” Shah tweeted.

The BJP chief also said theApna Dal would contest on twoseats, one in Mirzapur wheresitting MP and Union MinisterAnupriya Patel would be thecandidate. The second seatwould be decided later.

However, the tweet createdsome confusion as Apna Dal isled by Krishna Patel, mother ofAnupriya, while the outfit ofthe Union Minister is known asApna Dal (Sonelal). In 2014,Apna Dal(S) contested andwon two seats — Mirzapur andPratapgath. This time Anupriyawas trying to get more seatsand was even pressuring theUP Government to make herhusband MLC Ashish Patel, aMinister in the Yogi Cabinet.

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In one of the biggest everseizure of drugs in recent

times, the Delhi Police onFriday claimed to have recov-ered 82 kilograms of heroinworth �334 crore in interna-tional market.

The Special Cell sleuthscarried out four separate raidsand arrested 10 drug peddlersand recovered the huge con-signment. Police officials saidmore arrests and recovery of contraband will be effected asraids are still going on to break the entire nexus of drugrunners.

In first incident, DelhiPolice have arrested three per-sons including the kingpinwho used to operate interna-tional drug syndicate fromNorth-east region in the coun-try. Police have also recovered44.5 kgs of heroin worth �180 crores in internationalmarket from the possession ofthe trio.

The accused have been

identified as Shamuta Banu(54) the kingpin and resident ofdistrict Nagaon in Assam,Dhanji Gupta (49) and DheerajKumar (24) both residents ofdistrict Rohtash in Bihar.

According to PramodSingh Kushwaha, the DeputyCommissioner of Police(DCP), Special Cell (southernrange), members of this inter-national drug syndicate, whowere involved in supply ofheroin from Myanmar throughManipur and further supplythis drug to Delhi, Rajasthan,Assam, Bihar and West Bengal,were identified and specificinputs were received regardingtwo members of this cartel whowould be coming on March 7,to deliver the consignment totheir contact near IndraprasthaPark, Ring Road, Delhi forsupply to parts of North India.

"A trap was laid and duowas apprehended. Bags of duowere searched and 21 kgs hero-in, that is 15.5 kgs from Dhanjiand 5.5 kgs from DheerajKumar was recovered. On their

instance, the lynchpin Banuwas arrested by police team ather house and police had alsorecovered 23.5 kgs of heroinfrom her possession," said theDCP.

Explaining their modusoperandi the DCP said, duringinterrogation, it has beenrevealed that Shamuta Banureceives crude heroin from a person fromManipur. She has disclosedthat said person from Manipurprocures heroin fromMyanmar.

"Shamuta Banu with thehelp of Dhanji Gupta and otherassociates used to furtherprocess crude heroin into finequality heroin with somechemicals in Bihar and then sheused to supply the preparedheroin to various persons inNorth India, Siliguri in WestBengal, Bihar, UP.

She used to get above pre-cursors from a person ofJhalawar in Rajasthan and shefurther supply heroin to him,"said the DCP.

Members of this syndicatehave links with drug suppliersin Manipur who procured nar-

cotic drugsf r o mMyanmar.They alsod i s c l o s e dthat there iswidespreadillegal culti-vation ofopium inborderingareas ofM a n i p u r.Drug man-ufacturersp r e p a r eheroin fromopium andsupply itfurther inparts ofc o u n t r y, "s a i dKushwaha.

In thesecond raid,t h r e eA f g h a n

nationals and one Nigerianwere arrested for allegedly sup-plying drug in national Capital

and 2.5 kg heroin worth �10crore in international marketwas recovered from their pos-session. The accused have beenidentified as Ehsanullah (28),Mohammad Amin (47) andAbdul Razzak (43), natives ofAfghanistan and NnadozieEmmanuel (32), a native ofNigeria.

"After getting a tip-off onTuesday, police arrested threeAfghan nationals from LajpatNagar. 2 kg of heroin wasrecovered from their posses-sion. Later, it was revealed thatthe heroin was smuggled inIndia through after swallowingthe capsules, which were later extracted from the excreted feces. Each capsulesweigh about 20 grams andeach carrier can carry fewdozen capsules at one go," theDCP said.

"On their instance, policeraided several places onWednesday and on Thursday,one Nnadozie Emmanuel (32),a native of Nigeria, was arrest-ed from Maidangarhi and 550

grams heroin along with over4000 medicines of differentkinds recovered from his pos-session," said Kushwaha.

In another two raids by theteams of DeputyCommissioner of Police(Special Cell) Sanjeev KumarYadad have arrested five per-sons and recovered 36 kg hero-in worth more than �144 crorein the international market.

The accused have beenidentified as MohammadSikandar (30) MohammadUmar (26) both residents ofThoubal in Manipur, Ankush(25) resident of Mangolpuri inDelhi, Amit (34) resident ofsector-15, Rohini, Delhi andMukesh (32) resident of Phase-1 in Delhi's Budh Vihar.

"The twin operations wereconducted by the Delhi Policeto nab the accused. In firstoperation, on March 8, actingon the tip off a trap was laidand two accused Sikander andUmar were apprehended bypolice.

Police recovered 32 kgs of

heroin from the possession ofthe accused," said SanjeevKumar Yadav, the DeputyCommissioner of Police(DCP), Special Cell (northernrange).

"During interrogation, theysaid that the heroin was deliv-ered to them by one Mukandat Guwahati (Assam) at thebehest of one Mamu of Bareillyand it was scheduled to bedelivered to some contacts ofMamu in Delhi. On the otherhand, police received informa-tion about the members of adrug supplying gang who usedto bring high grade heroinfrom Bareilly based suppliers,"said the DCP.

"In second operation, onMarch 13, specific inputs werereceived that two key membersof this inter-state drug cartel,Ankush and Amit, would comein Rohini area to deliver con-signment of heroin to Mukeshfollowing which a trap was laidand the accused were nabbedwith four kgs of heroin intheir possession," said Yadav.

������ ��� ���01231',�

Travelling will be easier forthe people of National

Capital especially who com-mute daily via Palam, DabriMor to reach Central Delhiand Dwarka, as the threeshops situated on the middleof this stretch that causedheavy traffic congestion willbe removed soon.

The Dwarka DistrictCourt has vacated the stayorder given to the DelhiDevelopment Authority(DDA) authority in 2016directing them not to demol-ish the structure. But how-ever, witnessing complaintsand daily traffic hurdles onthe stretch, the court hasasked the authority to paythe compensation to theshop owners and theyshould handover the physi-cal possession of shops toDDA by March 30.

The district court pro-nounced the verdict on thepetition of AAP leader SanjayPuri, who filed a petition firstin 2016 to remove theseshops as that would help in

smooth flow of traffic. Puri was represented by

advocated Rajesh Kaushik andYash Kumar, who made variousapplications and representa-tions to various authorities."DDA which also filed anappeal against the shop ownershave also withdrawn theirappeal and agreed to pay thepay compensation as stated byrevenue department of DelhiGovernment as per circle rate

of category G at the rate hand-held 46,200/- per Square meter.

"DDA shall deposit hand-held 60, 88,508/- by or before30th April and the three shopowners shall hand over thephysical passion of the shops.The court further directedDDA that in case if they fail todeposit the compensationamount by 30th April then theyhas to pay 18% interest on theamount," said the court order.

������ ��� ���<.-.<-(6

The Gurugram traffic policehave prepared an action

plan to tackle traffic mess and

effective policing on the cityroads. The traffic police hasimplemented a shift systemfor its personnel so that theycan take proper rest after theirjob hours.

Apart from this, to curbtraffic violations, personnelwill also be deployed at majortraffic junctions across theentire district. Also, copswill also deploy round theclock to attempt clearingtraffic bottlenecks at differ-ent stretches.

A senior traffic policeofficer said that they havebeen instructed to preparedecongestion plans for mul-tiple roads. More traffic copsare now seen on the cityroads compared to themonth ago.

Recently, the GurugramTraffic Police got an addi-tional 150 traffic personnel.These personnel have beenrecruited as constables and

deployed across the city.At present, the traffic police

have around 400 personnel forthe entire city now the totalstrength of the traffic police willreach 550.

"The strength of the trafficpersonnel has been increased.With their presence, trafficpolice will become more effec-tive and their presence will pre-vent traffic violations across thecity. The traffic police willwork more effectively and over-burdened traffic cop will getrelief " said Subhash Boken,

spokesperson Gurugrampolice.

Besides that, the city policehad recently launched 150 E-challan machines for the E-challan system. Policemen canuse handheld E-challan devicesto issue fines on the spot to traf-fic offenders. "With this tech-nology, the traffic cops manageto save their valuable time andcan focus on the traffic situa-tion. The paperless system helppersonnel for speedy challans,"a traffic officer, said.

"Additional traffic copshave been posted on the Delhi-Jaipur Expressway, MG Road,Old Gurugram area and Statehighways. Traffic personnelare being spotted frequentlynear Kherki Daula toll plaza,Delhi-Gurugram border,Bilaspur, old Delhi Road andKapashera border where anumber of commuters arecaught violating traffic rules,"he said.

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Miffed at raids by DelhiPolice on its call centers,

the workers of Aam AadmiParty (AAP) led by DeputyChief Minister Manish Sisodia,sat on a protest outside theElection Commission onFriday to register their protest.Sisodia minced no words inalleging that raids were beingconducted on call centers hiredby the party to make peopleaware that their names hadbeen deleted from the voters’lists.

Sisodia claimed that evenafter he met the Chief ElectionCommissioner (CEC) SunilArora to lodge a complaintagainst the Delhi police forraiding AAP’s call centers,another raid was conducted.

“After our meeting with theCEC (on Friday), we wereassured that he will look intothe matter but within an hourwe see that a fourth raid is con-ducted on the call centers,”Sisodia said outside the EC,adding this was the fourth raidon the call center in four con-secutive days.

Delhi Chief Minister andAAP national convenor ArvindKejriwal also questioned theCEC. “Why is CEC raiding ourcall centres and asking for ourdata? What is our crime? Pl tellour crime at least,” he said in atweet. Kejriwal also urged allparty MLAs to join the protestoutside the ElectionCommission.”Police has raidedwithout any search warrant

and is barging into serverrooms and interrogating allcall center agents. What isgoing on? What is the crime?”he tweeted.

“We need an answer. Whatis our fault that we are beingraided,” he said in anothertweet. Sisodia was joined byother party members, includ-ing Lok Sabha candidatesAtishi, Raghav Chadha andsenior leader Sanjay Singh.The AAP alleged that BJP gotmore than 30 lakh voters’names deleted in Delhi.

Atishi, AAP’s Lok Sabhacandidate from East Delhi seatsaid, “They are waiting outsideElection Commission till CECmeets them. “It is responsibil-ity of EC to ensure free and fairelections and not let BJP’sDelhi police intimidate ourcall centres,” she said.

Earlier, BJP leaders had

earlier met the CEC and allegedthat the AAP was making“misleading” phone calls aboutthe city’s electoral rolls.

Ahead of the Lok Sabhapolls scheduled to begin onApril 11, the ElectionCommission had directed thepolice to take “necessaryaction” against people making such calls.

The AAP leaders assertedthat they were responsible forhiring the call centre employ-ees to make people aware thatnames had been deleted fromvoters’ lists and the policeshould question the leadersinstead of the workers.

“They are not makingproxy calls, they have beenhired by the Aam Aadmi Party,we have entered into an agreement with them to do it,” Sisodia said after meeting atthe EC.

������ ��� ��� 01231',�

Delhi Police on Friday refut-ed the charges alleged by

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)regarding the raids at the callcenters in Delhi. AAP leadershave alleged that the policeraided the call centers withoutany search warrants and wasquestioning the employees.

“We have registered aFirst Information Report (FIR)following complaints regard-ing the bogus calls about theDelhi’s electoral rolls and itsinvestigations are underway.As far as the allegations against

us (Delhi Police) are con-cerned, we have alreadyresponded about them to theElection Commission,” saidSatish Golchha, Delhi SpecialCommissioner of Police(Crime and Economic OffenseWing).

“Moreover, no call centerowners have filed a complaintregarding harassment by ourinvestigating team members.Relevant facts of the matter arebeing ascertained. The investi-gation is being conductedstrictly in accordance with thelaw,” said the Special CP.

“Nobody has been arrest-

ed in the case so far. We areascertaining facts from the callcenters from where such callshave been made,” the SpecialCP added.

On Tuesday, AAP hadalleged that the BJP was usingDelhi Police to harass peopleappointed by the party forcampaigning through tele-phone calls. Both the BJP andDelhi Police refuted the allega-tions. In February this year, thepoll panel lodged a complaintagainst AAP alleging that in theparty’s telephonic ads Delhiiteswere being told about 30 lakhdeleted votes.

������ ��� ��� 01231',�

Ahead of the Lok Sabhaelection, the Aam Aadmi

Party (AAP) as a part of itscampaigning once again burntthe manifesto of BharatiyaJanata Party (BJP) of 2014 LokSabbha elections. Demandingfull Statehood, the volunteersand AAP MLA’s protestedagainst the BJP by burning itsmanifesto in all 70 Assemblyconstituencies.

“Scared BJP leaders do noteven know what they are talk-ing on Statehood. People ofDelhi are no longer ready tobear the injustice being metedout to them since last sevendecades,” said Gopal Rai, theDelhi Convenor of AAP.

Announcing the details ofwide actions in Delhi, Rai saidthat, “If Delhi will get fullStatehood, the students nolonger have to run for seekingin Delhi colleges despite scor-ing high marks in Class XIIboard examination, EducatedDelhi youth are entitled for jobsand they cannot be deniedthis right, Women safetyremains a major concern forresidents and Delhi Police hasto be made accountable to thepeople of Delhi.”

The AAP leader furthersaid that the residents of Delhicontribute �1.5 lakh crore intaxes to the Centre and they geta meager �325 crore back - thisinjustice will no longer be tol-erated. “Badly baffled and con-

fused BJP is changing its standeveryday on Delhi statehood.”

Rai further claimed thatDelhi BJP Unit PresidentManoj Tiwari is giving lameand laughable excuses in adesperate bid to justify theindefensible u-turn of theBJP.”Manoj Tiwari is sayingthat Delhi cannot be givenstatehood when there is a chiefminister like Arvind Kejriwalwho sat on a dharna near theRail Bhawan in January 2014.If that is the logic, then why didthe BJP promise it in its 2014Lok Sabha manifesto in March2014 ? Tiwari should keep inmind that after that dharna,Delhi people chose Kejriwal byelecting his party on 67 out of70 seats in Delhi Assembly.”

AAP volunteers will nowtake the statehood movement tothe next level by burning the BJPmanifesto in all 272 wards ofDelhi on Sunday, Rai added.

������ ��� ��� 01231',�

Ahead of Lok Sabha elec-tions, heated words were

exchanged between ruling AamAadmi Party (AAP) andBhartya Janata Party (BJP) onthe deletion and addition ofvoters’ name by the DelhiElection Commission (EC).

Talking about allegationson the EC by AAP convener,Arvind Kejriwal, Tiwari saidthat Kejriwal is running a fac-tory of lies.

“Delhi BJP will complain tothe Police Commissioner andElection Commission anddemand registration of a crim-inal case against ArvindKejriwal for misleading thepeople and speaking lies andstern action be taken,” Tiwarisaid.

“By staging Dharna beforethe EC office on Friday, AAPleaders including Kejriwal haveonce again proved that theydonot respect any constitutioninstitutions. “ In last 70 years,EC of India has established itsimpartial image and officials ofElection Commission havebeen deputed in many coun-tries through the UnitedNations,” said Tiwari.

Delhi BJP Vice PresidentRajiv Babbar said that theElection Commission has alsomade it clear that Election

Commission neither deletesnor adds names on the basis ofcaste or community.

In a related development, aDelhi court Friday summonedChief Minister Arvind Kejriwaland others in a defamation casefiled by BJP leader RajeevBabbar. Additional ChiefMetropolitan Magistrate SamarVishal directed Kejriwal andother accused to appear onApril 30.

Babbar has sought pro-ceeding against Kejriwal, RajyaSabha member Sushil KumarGupta, MLA Manoj Kumarand Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)spokesperson Atishi Malenafor harming the reputation ofBJP by blaming it for the dele-tion of the names of “voters”from the electoral rolls inDelhi.

������ ��� ��� 01231',�

The passing percentage ofDelhi schools in class 10 and

12 of Central Board ofSecondary Education (CBSE)board examinations has comedown, reveals a report releasedby a Non GovernmentalOrganisation (NGO) on Friday.

The passing percentage ofClass 10th has been droppedfrom 92.44 per cent in 2016-17to 68.9 per cent in 2017-18 forthe Government schools.

As per the report titled“State of School Education inDelhi” by Praja Foundation,says that 40 per cent of MLAsfrom Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)did not raise a raise a single issueon education from March 2017to January 2018.

As per the data, 11 AAPMLAs did not raise even a sin-gle issue on education in the lastthree years (February 2015 toJanuary 2018). Besides DelhiGovernment schools, In MCD,49 councillors did not raise evena single issue on education in2017-18 and only 11 per cent oftotal councilors in 2017-18 raisedover 10 issues,” the report said.

The enrolment in MCDschools too fell from 8.69 lakhin 2013-14 to 7.24 lakh in 2017-18, a 17 per cent drop, the reportsaid.It said Class 1 enrolments inMCD schools fell by 43 per centfrom 1.69 lakh in 2010-11 to95,817 in 2017-18 and if the cur-rent trend continues, accordingto a time series analysis, enrol-ments would drop to 37,938 in2020-21.

������ ��� ��� 01231',�

Following the summer sea-son around the corner,

arrangements have been firmedup by BSES discoms to sourceadequate electricity to meet thepower demand of over 42 lakhsconsumers in national Capital.These arrangements includelong term ‘Power PurchaseAgreements’ (PPAs) and bank-ing arrangements with otherstates including HimachalPradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Jammuand Kashmir, Meghalaya,Manipur and Sikkim.

According to a senior offi-cial, BSES discoms will getupto 865 Mega Watt (MW) ofpower through bankingarrangements. “Apart from this,BRPL will also get 100 MW ofwind power from April 2019.Of this 50 MW is already beingreceived. In case of unforeseencontingencies because of low

generation and outages inpower plants, the discoms willpurchase short-term powerfrom the exchange,” said thesenior official.

“Delhi’s peak powerdemand during the summers of2019 may clock 7400 MW.Last summers, they breachedthe 7000 MW for the firsttime - peaking at 7016 MW.Peak power demand in BSESRajdhani Power Limited(BRPL) area of South and WestDelhi, which had reached 3081MW during the summers of

2018, is expected to toucharound 3200 MW this year,”said the senior official.

“In BYPL’ area of East andCentral Delhi, the peak powerdemand which had reached1561 MW last year is expectedto touch around 1640 MW.This expected peak powerdemand of 7400 MW is anincrease of over 250 per centover the peak power demand of2879 MW in 2002,” said thesenior official.

However, Tata Power DelhiDistribution Limited (TataPower-DDL) also expects peakdemand to touch 2150 MW insummers.

To ensure uninterruptedpower supply during summers,Tata Power-DDL had exportedpower up to 200 MW to thestates of Madhya Pradesh andAndhra Pradesh during winterof 2018-19 under bankingarrangements.

������ ��� ��� 01231',�

The announcement ofGeneral Elections has gen-

erated excitement among theyoung voters who have enlist-ed themselves this year. Excitedabout their prospect for elect-ing the Government of theirchoice, the young brigadewants more development in thecountry and more opportuni-ties of jobs should come tothem in the coming years. ThePioneer spoke to several stu-dents in national Capital toknow about their preferencesand issues before they go to casttheir votes for the first time.

Going by the 2011 Censusdata, an estimated two croreyoungsters reach the age of 18every year. This time around, asmany as 10 crore first-time vot-ers are expected to cast theirvotes. At the cusp of theircareers, many youths living inDelhi and adjoining statesexpressed their apprehensionsabout expressing themselvesfreely in public or on socialmedia and want future law-makers to change the narrative.

“I want that whicheverpolitical party comes to power,they should focus more on jobsand youth oriented programs,”said Shefali, a student of Delhi

University adding that freedomof expression has been com-promised in many ways todayand the issue of women safetyhas not been really addressed.

Differently-abled Suraj

(19), who hails from Haryana(Bhiwani) and is preparing forSSC exams in Mukherjee Nagarsaid that the main thing we allyouth look forward for is job.“We believe who ever forms the

government should bring morejobs in government and privatesector both,” said Suraj.

“I am a lot excited aboutmy first vote. I have plannedread all parties manifesto andthen decide whom I shouldgive my vote,” said Sandhya(19), a resident of Vasant Kunj.

Many voters said the needof hour was to further developthe National Capital. “There aremany projects which canimprove Delhi in many waysand these should be devel-oped by governments in largescale for city development”,they said.

“Why there is no multi-

level parking here, unlike inother parts of Delhi. I aminclined to vote for a newparty,” said 18 year-old Juhi, aresident of Chattarpur.

Talking about issues in hercolony at GK-II, Mahima said,“It may be a posh area wherepeople might think law andorder is not a problem, but onecould see anti-social elementscreate nuisance after dark.Drugs and traffic are anotherconcern here. We want aGovernment which can dealwith such situation. I will votefor change in city. My first votewill be for change in my city,she said.”

���� 01231',�

Delhi’s publicity divisionDIP has asked various

departments to remove adver-tisements funded by theGovernment after the modelcode of conduct came intoeffect on March 10.

The Directorate ofInformation and Publicity(DIP) has also directed thedepartments to form teams toinspect its premises andremove any such advertise-ments while asking them tomaintain strict vigil in thisregard.

The DIP has directed headsof all the departments to ensure

that such advertisements arenot displayed, aired or broadcastas model code of conduct cameinto force with announcementof the schedule of Lok Sabhaelections 2019 on March 10.

In a letter by DIP SandipMishra earlier this week, the heads of department of the Delhi government havealso been directed to ensurethat no such advertisements aredisplayed at Governmentpremises.

Mishra in the letter stated that if any such adver-tisements are on display, beingaired or broadcast throughradio or television channels, itshould be immediately

removed or discontinued.“Strict vigil is to be main-

tained to ensure that no suchadvertisement comes up duringthe operation of model code ofconduct.

“The department mustconstitute a team to regularlyinspect its premises andremove any such advertise-ment,” said the letter.

During the model code ofconduct, no advertisement canbe displayed in any newspaper,magazine, outdoor media andaired or broadcast on radio andtv channel at governmentexpenses. The use of govern-ment premises for advertise-ment is also not allowed.

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Gearing up for the LokSabha polls scheduled in

phase-1 on April 11 inGhaziabad, city DistrictMagistrate (DM) and UttarPradesh police Deputy Inspector General(DIG) on Friday inspected thecounting centre and staff training centre in the city.They ensured the safety andsecurity of voting machines.

“DM Ritu Maheswariinspected the counting centreat Grain market inGovindpuram where the voting machines would be keptand counting would be con-ducted,” said district informa-tion officer (DIO) RanjanaSharma.

“After inspecting this place,the DM inspected the stafftraining centre in Kamla Nehru

Nagar in Central GovernmentOffices (CGO) complex.

She was accompanied bythe police chief DIG UpendraAgrawal, executive engineerPublic Works Department(PWD), Chief DevelopmentOfficer (CDO) and Sub-Divisional Magistrates,” saidSharma.

“She had also directed theofficials to acquire and secure40 shops in the grain marketwhere the voting machineswould be kept in the safe cus-tody of central forces.

She also directed to sanitizeshops by all means where nosecurity is breached up.

At the Kamla Nehru Nagar staff training centre sheordered to keep the campsclean and proper electrifiedfrom where the election teamswould be dispatched,” saidSharma.

������ ��� ��� 01231',�

Angry over China’s refusal to vote in favour of

a resolution moved at UnitedNations (UN) Security Councilto declare Jaish-e Mohammadchief Masood Azhar as globalterrorist, the traders of Delhidecided to boycott the Chinesegoods on this Holi.

The Confederation of AllIndia Traders (CAIT) has alsoannounced that it will burn allthe Chinese goods on the fes-tival of Holika before Holi.

“The China has placeditself on the list of probable enemies for the national secu-rity of the Country which hasmade citizens and trading com-munity in particular grosslyanguished and resented andtherefore the entire businesscommunity of India has decid-ed to boycott Chinese

products. CAIT has given a call to

boycott Chinese goods to itsmore than 40 thousands tracebodies across Country thereby representing 7 croretraders in India,” said BCBhartia, Secretary General ofCAIT.

The CAIT burn the chinese goods on 19th March, ahead of Holi festivalwhich will be held at about1500 places all over theCountry.

In Delhi, the event will beheld at Sadar Bazar which isone of the hubs for Chinesegoods.

The association has alsodemanded the Government tolevy 300% to 500% customduty on imports from Chinaand also closely scrutinize theimports where more of Hawalatransactions are involved.

It has also demanded toreduce dependency of Chineseraw material and goods specialpackage should be given toindigenous small industries toproduce goods at a competitiveprice.

CAIT National Presidentsaid that imports from China poses some importantquestions which include whatall is imported is in fact nec-essary for the economic devel-opment, whether theGovernment is getting legiti-mate revenue on imports,whether imports are linkedwith Hawala transactions,whether money paid to exporters of China are being used to fund terrorismactivities.

We also demand govern-ment to conduct a high-levelinquiry into import fromChina.

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India has found that Pakistan“surreptitiously usurped”

land belonging to theKartarpur Sahib Gurdwara inthe name of developing the cor-ridor for the convenience of pil-grims even as it objected tomost of the Indian proposalsfor the project.

Accusing Pakistan of “dou-ble speak”, officials in theIndian delegation who hadheld the talks with theirPakistan counterparts onFriday said Islamabad hasencroached lands of theGurdwara in the garb of con-struction of the corridor.

“Pakistan has lived up to itsold reputation of making falsepromises, making tall claimsand delivering nothing. Itsdouble-speak on the KartarpurSahib Corridor has beenexposed in the first meetingitself at Attari on Thursday,” agovernment official, who

attended the meeting, said.The encroached lands weredonated to the Kartarpur Sahibby devotes like late MaharajaRanjeet Singh and others.

“Land owned by the gurd-wara have been surreptitious-ly usurped by the governmentof Pakistan in the name ofdeveloping the corridor. A stri-dent demand was made byIndia for restoration of theselands to the holy gurdwaraurgently, keeping in view thestrong sentiments on the issuewithin India,” the official said.

Pakistan wanted to restrictthe duration of Kartarpuragreement to just two years,despite India making it clearthat it is executing long-lastingand comprehensive facilities atthe border by spending Rs 190crore. While India has madeserious efforts to fulfil the longstanding aspiration of theIndian pilgrims and devotees ofGuru Nanak Dev for smooth,easy and hassle-free access ofpilgrims to Kartarpur Sahib,

Pakistan has scuttled the pro-posals made by New Delhi.

“Against the hype createdby the Pakistan governmentand the Pakistan media, itsactual offer during the talksturned out to be farcical andmere tokenism. There is a seaof difference between whatPakistan, including PrimeMinister Imran Khan, hadannounced, and in what theyoffered at Attari meeting.Clearly, Pakistan is not inter-ested in providing Indian pil-grims easy access to KartarpurSahib,” the official said.

While India is executing astate-of-the-art passenger ter-minal building for visit of over5,000 pilgrims daily and over15,000 pilgrims on specialoccasions like Vaisakhi (falls inmid-April), Pakistan has lim-ited it to mere 700 pilgrims perday. Pakistan did not agree tothe Indian demand of allowingdaily visits of pilgrims and hasrestricted it to “visiting days”which will be specified by it. It

did not agree to permit travelof devotees on foot or as indi-viduals, and has insisted onmovement of groups of 15 andby vehicle, another official said.

Despite having assuredvisa-free passage to KartarpurSahib, Pakistan has nowbrought in, through the backdoor, the requirement ofissuance of special permits bythem to pilgrims, that also at afee, which is “outrageous anddefeats” the very purpose of thecorridor, the official said.

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As Pakistan airspace con-tinues to remain closed

since February 27 in the wakeof the IAF air strike in Balakot, IndiGo’s Delhi-Istanbul plane may have to takea stop at Doha on its inaugur-al flight on March 20.

“The flights on Delhi-Istanbul-Delhi route will bethrough Doha in Qatar ifPakistan does not open its air-space by March 20,” said asenior airline official.

On January 25, IndiGo,India’s largest carrier in termsof domestic market share,announced it would operatedaily non-stop planes betweenDelhi and Istanbul from March20, with A321 aircraft.

IndiGo would be the firstIndian airline to fly to Turkey,and Istanbul would be the 16thinternational destination forthe budget carrier.

As Pakistan keeps its air-space closed since the IndianAir Force strikes on a terroristcamp in Balakot, on February26, the operating cost for AirIndia, which flies to destina-tions in Europe and the US,have increased significantly asit has to take longer routes.

Air India on Thursdayannounced it would combinethe Mumbai-New York flightwith its Mumbai-Newark flightfrom March 16 to May 31.On Wednesday, it hadannounced it is suspending itsflights on the Delhi-Madridand Delhi-Birmingham routes from March 16 “till fur-ther notice” due to “opera-tional reasons”.

Jammu: Representatives of var-ious political parties met thethree-member team of specialobservers, appointed by theElection Commission (EC),here on Friday and reiteratedthe demand for holdingAssembly elections and LokSabha polls simultaneously inJammu & Kashmir.

The three observers —Noor Mohammad, VinodZutshi and AS Gill, appointedto suggest when Assembly elec-tions can be held in the north-ern State, reached Jammu fromSrinagar on the second leg oftheir visit.

“Representatives of differ-

ent political parties met theobservers separately and dis-cussed the timing of theAssembly elections,” an officialsaid. He said the specialobservers will be holding ameeting with the district devel-opment commissioners andsenior superintendents ofpolice later in the day to gettheir feedback.

“We sought a review of theElection Commission’s decisionto defer the Assembly electionsas all parties in the state are onthe same page for simultaneouspolls to provide an opportuni-ty to the people to elect theirown government,” state

Congress vice president andformer minister Raman Bhallasaid after meeting theobservers.

He said the EC had con-ducted the panchayat andurban local bodies elections lastyear despite some parties boy-cotting them. “Today wheneveryone is demanding simul-taneous polls, there is no jus-tification for delaying the statepolls,” Bhalla said.

BJP state general secretaryNarinder Singh said his partyfavoured simultaneous pollsand had conveyed its decisionto the special observers.

PTI

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The Supreme Court onFriday asked the Centre to

respond to a plea challengingthe Constitutional validity ofprovisions in matrimonial lawsempowering courts to ask estranged spouses to“cohabit” and “take part insexual intercourse”.

A three-judge bench com-prising Chief Justice RanjanGogoi and Justices DeepakGupta and Sanjiv Khannaissued notice to the Centre onthe petition which said that these laws treatwomen as “chattel” and areviolative of fundamental rightsincluding the right to privacy.

Ojaswa Pathak andMayank Gupta, students ofGujarat National LawUniversity at Gandhinagar, hadchallenged the validity of sec-tion 9 of the Hindu MarriageAct (HMA), Section 22 of theSpecial Marriage Act (SMA) and certain provisionsof the Code of Civil Procedure(CPC).

They empower courts topass a decree of restitution of

conjugal rights to an estrangedcouple.

The plea referred to thenine-judge verdict that heldprivacy as one of the funda-mental rights and assailed thelegal provisions of the HMAand the SMA, saying that theyforce mostly unwilling womento cohabit with their estrangedhusbands.

“Courts in India haveunderstood ‘Conjugal rights’ to have two key ingre-dients: cohabitation and sexu-al intercourse.

“Under the legal scheme inIndia, a spouse is entitled to adecree directing his otherspouse to cohabit and takepart in sexual intercourse. Heor she is also entitled to coer-cive measures in the form ofattachment of property in casethe spouses wilfully disobeysthe decree of restitution,” theplea said.

The legal framework is“facially neutral” and places a“disproportionate burden onwomen”, the plea said, addingthat it is “based on feudalEnglish law which regarded awoman as ‘chattel’ of his hus-band”.

New Delhi: Union MinisterVijay Goel took out cycle rallyto protest against the AAPGovernment’s failure to controlair pollution. Goel accused theAAP of keeping its politicalinterest above its obligations topeople of Delhi.

“Air pollution was not onlya major issue for the upcomingLok Sabha polls but bigger thanthe demand for full statehoodfor Delhi. But, AAP for politicalgains chose to campaign on theissue of full statehood,” he said.

Along with his supporters,Goel rode a cycle from NirmanVihar Metro station. He said that

he would hold morning meet-ings at local parks with RWAs to“expose” the AAP Government’s“failure” in checking the menace.

“Instead of full statehood,pollution should have beenthe main issue for thembecause it kills 10,000 peopleevery year in Delhi,” he said.

“I will hold cycle rallies andpark meetings to inform thecommon people about howKejriwal has left them to diedue to pollution by taking noremedial action...Pollution isthe real issue in Delhi; full state-hood is just an eyewash byKejriwal,” he alleged. PTI

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Accusing Prime MinisterNarendra Modi of deceiving

people, mainly farmers, withfalse promises, Congress presi-dent Rahul Gandhi on Fridayasserted his party always keepsits words after winning elections.

“We do whatever we say.We have always translated ourwords into action. The Congressdoes not make false promises topeople like Modi does,” he tolda Congress rally in this westOdisha town in the run up tothe Lok Sabha and StateAssembly elections next month.

Gandhi said his party’s trackrecord in fulfilling electionpromises can be seen inChhattisgarh, Madhya Pradeshand Rajasthan where it came topower recently. While farmloans were waived soon after theparty formed its governments inthese states, the MinimumSupport Price (MSP) for paddywas hiked to Rs 2,500 per quin-tal in Chhattisgarh.

“We wanted to give a mes-sage to farmers in these statesthat they are not alone and thatthe Congress is with them. Thesame message is also being sent

out to the farmers of Odishaand they should back ourparty,” he said.

This was Gandhi’s firstvisit to Odisha after theannouncement of the electionschedule. He had earlier visit-ed Bhubaneswar on January 25,Bhawanipatna and Rourkela onFebruary 6 and Koraput onMarch 8 to bolster the pollprospects of the Congress,

which has been out of power inthe State since 2000.

“Modi is in the habit oftelling lies and making falsepromises to deceive people.Farmers across the countryare the worst victims of theBJP’s hollow and deceptivewords,” he said.

Asserting that the Congressis fighting a battle of ideology,Gandhi said his party is trying

its best to unite the country,while Modi is adopting a “divi-sive policy.”

“The Congress is in theprocess of connecting all castes,creeds, provinces and languages,while Modi is trying to spreadhatred and is pursuing a divisivepolicy in the name of caste,creed and religion,” he alleged.

Gandhi appealed to thepeople to vote for the Congressas the party can take the coun-try, and Odisha in particular, onthe path of speedy development.Claiming that the country is wit-nessing farmer suicides everyday, the Congress chief said dis-tressed peasants are forced totake the extreme step as theModi government failed to ful-fil its promise of mitigatingtheir plight.

“Farmer suicides are report-ed every day as the ModiGovernment did not keep itspromises. It made tall claimsabout welfare of farmers, butrefused to waive their loans andhike the MSP of paddy,” Gandhisaid. Though the BJP promisedto provide remunerative pricesfor farm produce, no such stepwas taken after it came to powerin 2014, he claimed.

Bengaluru: Former PrimeMinister and JDS supremo HDDeve Gowda on Fridayrequested Congress chief RahulGandhi to cool the reportedresentment of some partyMLAs over the coalitionGovernment’s seat-sharingarrangment to avoid politi-calacrimony ahead of the com-ing Lok Sabha elections.

Gowda also said he had notmade up his mind on contest-ing from North Bengaluru.

“I am totally satisfied withthe seat-sharingarrangementbetween our party and theCongress. We haddemanded 10seats, but got eight, consideringthat Congressis a major party.All said and done, I do notwant to create any political ten-sion between our parties. ItoldRahul Gandhi to move aheadwith whatever seat-sharingar-rangments we have arrived at.There is hardly any time leftforus. Our main aim is to defeatBJP,” he told PTI in atelephon-ic interview from ArunachalPradesh.

The coalition partners onWednesday had announcedthat the JDS would contestfrom eight Lok Sabha con-stituencies and Congress fromremaining 20 constituenciesin Karnataka. The announce-ment has reportedly sparkedresentment among someCongress leaders, who havedemanded cancellation of theseat sharing arrangement onthe grounds it was impracticaland detrimental to the coali-tion’s electoral prospects.

Gowda said the coalition partners would over-come these ‘minor hiccups’ on

or before the March 19 coor-dination committee meetingandhoped workers of both par-ties would realise BJP is theirmain opponent.

The March 19 meetingwould be attended by ChiefMinister HD Kumaraswamy,Coordination CommitteeChairman Siddaramaiah,KPCC President DineshGundu Rao andDeputy ChiefMinister G Parameshwara, hesaid. The meeting would try tofind solutions to minor prob-lems, including the resentmentin Congress aspirants and laterchalkout dates and places ofpublic rallies,Gowda said.

Asked if he was keen oncontesting from NorthBengaluru, Gowda said “I havehonestly not made up my mind.Last night Dinesh Gundu Raorequested me to fight fromNorth Bengaluru and promisedall help in the election.” PTI

From Page 1The action saw all the

camps located there smashedand burnt down, sources said.

As regards the Kaladanproject, which could be in thedays to come, would have beentargeted by the insurgents, offi-cials said the ambitious projectis likely to be completed thisyear. Once functional, it willprovide the North-East con-nectivity through the sea route.

The total project entailsopening up of sea route fromSittwe port in Myanmar toKolkata, 150 kilometres of riverroute through Kaladan project,62 kilometres of road up to theinternational border betweenIndia and Myanmar andaround 100 kilometres of roadfrom Mizoram capital Aizawlto the international border.The project will also open upthe sea routes to other southAsian countries, which is vitalfor the fast and all round devel-opment of the North-East.

Moreover, after theKaladan project is operational,the distance between Kolkataand Mizoram will be reducedby at least 800 km and also cutdown the travelling time by atleast three to four days.

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From Page 1“The petitioners are pres-

idents/ leaders of 21 differentnational and regional politicalparties (six out of seven nation-al parties and 15 regional par-ties) across the country elec-torally representing about 70-75 percent of the people ofIndia,” the plea said.

It has sought quashing ofthe EC guideline which pro-vides that random verificationof Voter Verifiable Paper AuditTrail (VVPAT) slips shall be conducted in onepolling stations in case ofassembly election and in eachassembly segment in case ofLok Sabha election.

The plea also sought, “afurther direction to the electioncommission for random veri-fication of at least 50 per centelectronic voting machines(EVM) using the VVPAT perassembly segment/ assemblyconstituency”.

The plea referred to the1975 verdict of apex court inthe case of former PrimeMinister Indira Gandhi, whichheld that free and fair electionsare part of the basic structureof the Constitution of India.

It also referred to the 2013verdict of apex court in the caseof BJP leader SubramanianSwamy where it was held thatpaper trail for EVM are an“indispensable requirement”for free and fair elections.

“The impugned guideline

issued by Respondent No.2(Election Commission ofIndia) hits at the basic structureof the Constitution by makingVVPAT completely ineffectiveand merely ornamental innature as it translates to anactual check on less than 0.44per cent of EVMs in the coun-try.

“The said Guideline, there-fore, defeats the entire purposeof introducing VVPAT andrenders the judgment anddirections passed by this courtcompletely otiose,” it said.

The plea further stated thatthe guideline amounts to takingaway from the left hand whatwas given by the right andreduce the safeguards and sub-stantive essence of the judg-ments of this Court to a nullity.

“The petitioners submitthat a procedural or executiveinstruction in the form of guide-lines cannot render the mainsubstantive safeguard nugatory,more so where the latter tracesitself back not only to aConstitutional provision but,indeed, to the basic structure ofthe Constitution,” it said.

The plea further statedthat the directions are beingsought for giving effect to the

judgment of this court declar-ing VVPAT as “integral andintrinsic to free and fair elec-tions which, in turn are part ofthe basic structure of theConstitution of India”.

Naidu, the lead petitioner,had declared in February thatthe parties will be moving theapex court against the use ofEVMs. The move comes afterthe leaders of the oppositionparties met at NCP chiefSharad Pawar’s residence.

The parties had raisedapprehensions in a meetingwith the EC in February aboutthe credibility of EVMs,although the poll panel hasdenied allegations of machinesbeing tampered with.

The EC, while announcingthe Lok Sabha election sched-ule, had said that mandatorychecking of EVMs and VVPATwill be done on the basis of onepolling station for each LokSabha constituency.

Earlier, Kamal Nath andSachin Pilot last year hadapproached the apex court forconducting VVPAT verifica-tion at least 10 per cent of ran-domly selected polling boothsin each assembly constituencyto ensure free and fair electionsin MP and Rajasthan last year.

However, the apex court,which was dealing with otherpoll issues ahead of the assem-bly polls in MP and Rajasthanhad refused to go into theVVPAT issue in its judgementdelivered on October 12, 2018saying these issues were dealt bythe apex court in earlier petitionsand orders have been passed.

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New Delhi: The Congress onlate Friday night released itsthird list of 18 candidates for theLok Sabha elections, fieldingformer Meghalaya chief minis-ter Mukul Sangma from the TuraParliamentary constituency.Among the third list of candidatedeclared by the Congress after ameeting of the party’s centralelection committee are five fromAssam, two from Meghalaya,one from Uttar Pradesh, Sikkimand Nagaland each, besides eightfrom Telangana.

All India Mahila Congresschief Sushmita Dev has beenfielded from the Silchar LokSabha seat and Gaurav Gogoifrom the Kaliabor seat inAssam. Both are sitting mem-bers of Parliament and havebeen fielded from their respec-tive constituencies.

Former Union MinistersVincent H Pala and PabanSingh Ghatowar have also beenfielded from Shillong andDibrugarh, Assam. Pala is alsoa sitting MP and has been field-ed from the same seat.

Senior SC leader PL Punia’sson Tanuj Punia has been nom-inated to contest from Barabanki(SC) seat in Uttar Pradesh. Theparty has also nominated SwarupDas from Karimganj (SC) andSushanta Borgohain from Jorhat(both Assam), KL Chisti fromNagaland and Bharat Basnettfrom Sikkim.

Among those fielded fromTelangana include RameshRathod (Dilabad), A ChandraSekhar (Peddapalle), PonnamPrabhakar (Karimnagar), KMadan Mohan Rao (Zahirabad),Gali Anil Kumar (Medak), ARevanth Reddy (Malkajgiri),Konda Vishweshwar Reddy(Chevella) and Porika BalramNaik from Mahabubabad.

Konda VishweshwarReddy is a sitting Lok SabhaMP from the same seat, but hadcontested as a TRS candidate.He had recently joined theCongress and is married to thedaughter of the ApolloHospital’s founder. PTI

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Thank you Holy Spirit for

all Blessings Celine.

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◆ ◆THANKSGIVING

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As many Opposition partieshave already released their

first list of candidates for theLok Sabha polls, the BJP isexpected to announce its firstlist of about 100 Lok Sabha can-didates on Saturday which mayinclude candidates from UttarPradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar,Assam, Odisha, Uttarakhandand other States slated for firstphase of polling on April 11.

The party is ready to denytickets to a substantial numberof sitting MPs to beat anti-incumbency. The strategy wouldbe a continuation of party’sexercise during the Assemblypolls when it did not repeat over50 per cent of the incumbentMLAs in some of the States.

According to sources, a listof 10 candidates from Assamhas been finalised with BJP’strouble shooter and StateMinister Himanta Biswas Sarmaexpected to replace current MPRP Sharma from Tezpur.

Assam would go to poll inthe first phase on Aril 11 when91 LS seats would go to pollsacross the country.

BJP MP Varun Gandhi,who won from Sultanpur, UP,would be shifting to Pilibhit,her mother Maneka Gandhi’sconstituency. The Congresshas fielded Sanjay Singh, aroyal scion and Rajya Sabhamember, from Sultanpur LokSabha constituency.

Prime Minister NarendraModi is to repeat from VaranasiLok Sabha seat from UttarPradesh and his second seat isyet to be finalised. In 2014 LokSabha polls Modi had won from Vadodara, Gujarattoo. Contesting a second seat isnot ruled out this time also,sources said.

BJP may even again fieldMriganka Singh, a Gujjar, fromthe Kairana LS seat, which shehad lost to an SP candidate ina bypoll. There would be manylike Arjun Singh (West BengalMLA, who crossed over to theBJP from TMC), ArvindSharma (Congress MP fromKarnal, Haryana) and TomVaddakan (Congress leaderfrom Kerala) who joined theBJP on Thursday would also befielded by the party.

The election for 543 par-liamentary seats will be held inseven phases till May 19 andthe counting of votes will betaken up on May 23.

Modi, party president AmitShah and senior BJP leaderswill attend the central electioncommittee meeting onSaturday to consider andfinalise the list approved by theState committees.

All 42 seats in AndhraPradesh and Telangana willgo to the polls in the first phasewith a fraction of constituen-cies in many other States,including Uttar Pradesh, Bihar,

Maharashtra, West Bengal,Odisha and Assam, also towitness polling on April 11.

The Assembly polls inAndhra Pradesh and Odishawill be held simultaneouslywith the general election.

A suggestion has been madethat Modi should be contestingfrom Puri in Odisha, where theBJP is set to give Biju Janata Dal(BJD) a tough fight in theAssembly polls, sources said.

The BJP has done elaborateexercise to zero in on the win-ning candidates after receivingpublic feedback as also makingits own assessment of perfor-

mances of its MPs in therespective States by constitut-ing committees headed by acentral leader. For Delhi’s sevenLS constituencies, senior BJPleader Nirmala Sitharaman wasdeputed to assess performancesof the incumbent MPs. FormerTeam India player GautamGambhir’s name has also beengoing round for one of theseven seats in Delhi.

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Given the cold shoulder bythe Samajwadi Party (SP)

and the Bahujan Samaj Party(BSP) in Uttar Pradesh, theCongress has worked uponanother kind ofMahagathbandhan in the cru-cial State ahead of the LokSabha polls.

The grand old party,according to sources, is likelyto forge an alliance withPragatisheel Samajwadi Party(PSP), headed by estranged SPleader Shivpal Yadav and withBhim Army, led byChandrashekar Azad Ravan,who hogged headlines afterbeing visited by Congress gen-eral secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.

While Shivpal representsthe OBC community, BhimArmy accounts for sizeablenumber of SC votes which theCongress is eyeing to captureafter being sidelined byAkhilesh Yadav-Mayawaticombine. Sources said theCongress, which has so farannounced 25 Lok Sabha seats,may give a share of 10 seats toboth the parties.

Shivpal, who had metPriyanka Gandhi in a closed-door meeting in Delhi onThursday, expressed hisresentment over the delaybut remained hopeful for theannouncement of an alliance soon.

Congress sources saidwhile the State unit cadresounds ok with the alliancewith Shivpal, who is an oldwarhorse of his erstwhile partySP, the national leadership is ofthe opinion that the relations

between Akhilesh Yadav andRahul Gandhi continue toremain cordial that could comehandy post elections results.

Congress sources saidChandrashekhar will make upfor the BSP loss given its con-siderable sway among theDalits who have beenMayawati’s electoral mainstayall these years.

UP Congress media coor-dinator Lallan Kumar said theCongress has always welcomedlike-minded parties for analliance. Several smaller parties,including the PSP, are in touch with the Congress topleadership which has to takethe final call.

Shivpal continues to be aMLA from Jaswantnagar seatbut formed a separate politicaloutfit following resentmentwith his nephew Akhilesh due

to family feuds over the lead-ership of SP patriarch MulayamSingh Yadav.

Either with an alliance orno alliance, Shivpal has alreadyannounced his interest in con-testing from Firozabad LokSabha constituency. The cur-rent MP from Firozabad isAkshay Yadav, who is the sonof Shivpal’s estranged brotherRam Gopal Yadav.

During the Yadav familyfeud in 2016, Ram Gopal hadsided with Akhilesh Yadav.Shivpal is believed to have aninfluence in Firozabad and itsadjoining districts and is capa-ble of giving a tough fight to theincumbent MP. Shivpal is alsoin talks to field two candidatesin Tamil Nadu and two candi-dates in Karnataka.

For his part, Bhim Armychief Chandrashekhar in a rally

with BSP founder Kanshi Ram’ssister on Friday announcedthat he will contest the Lok Sabha electionsagainst Prime MinisterNarendra Modi from theVaranasi seat, a move that islikely to upset the SP-BSPalliance in Uttar Pradesh.

“I will challenge NarendraModi in Varanasi... To protectthe Constitution and the rightsof Dalits. I do not want tobecome an MP or MLA. Hadthat been the case, I would havechosen a reserved seat,”Chandrashekar said.

Until now, the Bhim Armyhad been saying that it won’tcontest elections. It had wel-comed the SP-BSP alliance inthe State and said it would sup-port anyone who’s ready to takeon the BJP and fight for Dalitrights.

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The Election Commission’smulti-department commit-

tee on election intelligence willaim to map almost every LokSabha constituency to checktransportation of smuggledgoods, drugs and liquor, besidescash and fake currency.

The first meeting of theEC’s election intelligence unitsheld on Thursday and topmost on its agenda was “curb-ing covert expenditure” by can-didates and political parties inthe upcoming Lok Sabha elec-tions. More than 15 agenciestopmost officers attended themeeting in an effort to operatein a coordinated manner tocheck economic offences dur-ing elections.

During the meeting, theHeads of Tax Boards, Lawenforcement agencies, CentralParamilitary Forces and repre-sentatives of FinancialInstitutions assured theCommission of prompt 24X7expenditure monitoring andsurveillance action and imple-mentation of instructions toensure curbing of abuse ofmoney power in elections. In2014, as many as Rs 300 croreseized as dubious transactionacross the country during polls.

The issues discussed at themeeting included ways of curb-ing of covert expenditure bycandidates and political parties;sensitisation of the law enforce-ment agencies about their roleduring elections; co-operationand sharing of intelligence ofeconomic offences among lawenforcement agencies for effec-tive action; preparation ofroadmap for action during theelections; mapping of con-stituencies by concerned agen-cies to check transportation ofsmuggled goods, drugs, liquorand cash, including fake cur-rency, through seaports, inter-state borders and internation-al borders and pro-active andpreventive action by each lawenforcement agency.

Sources said the ECintends to cover all areas relat-ed to flow of illegal money dur-ing the elections, from thegeneration of such funds to themovement of funds across bor-ders and states and its ultimatedistribution as bribe to influ-ence voters ahead of elections,so as to ensure free and fairpolls. Sources said the EC haschalked out a stringent planwith different enforcementagencies to ensure that there areno illegal cash transactionsduring campaigning.

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West Bengal has the max-imum number of first-

time voters in the coming LokSabha election, followed byUttar Pradesh and MadhyaPradesh. According to ElectionCommission data, 20.10 lakhfirst-time voters will be exer-cising their franchise in WestBengal. Uttar Pradesh andMadhya Pradesh have 16.70lakh and 13.60 lakh first-timevoters, respectively.

The number of people eli-gible to vote in Lok Sabha pollsbeginning next month hasincreased by 8.4 crore as com-pared to the 2014 general elec-tion, and these include 1.5 crore“young voters” who are in the18-19 age group and wouldexercise their franchise firsttime.

Over 1.5 crore voters are in

the age group of 18-19 years.These “young voters” constitute1.66 per cent of the total electors.

Rajasthan, Maharashtra,Tamil Nadu and Andhra

Pradesh have 12.8 lakh, 11.9lakh, 8.9 lakh and 5.3 lakh first-time voters, respectively. Delhihas 97,684 first-time voters.Rajasthan, Arunachal Pradesh,

Uttarakhand, Sikkim, Manipurhave 12 lakh, 27,342, 85673,20,200, and 28,614 first timevoters respectively.

The number of first timevoters decreased by 30 per centin 2019 in Telangana whencompared to 2014. The numberof first time voters was 2.3 crorein 2014 and is 1.5 crore in 2019.

Nearly 900 million peoplehave so far registered for the17th Lok Sabha elections, outof which 15 million are first-time voters between the age of18-19. This includes the citi-zens who turned 18 on 1January, and have been regis-tered as electors. This first-timevoters account for 1.66 per centof the total electorate, com-pared to the last Lok Sabhaelections in 2014, where thevoter turnout was recorded tobe 814.5 million, including23.1 million new voters.

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Continuing his attack againstthe Congress and its first

family, Finance Minister ArunJaitley on Friday took a jibe atthe entry of Priyanka Gandhiinto politics and targetedCongress president RahulGandhi too in the same breath.“One failed. The other won’ttake off,” he said as he contin-ued the series of his blogs on‘Agenda 2019’.

Generation after genera-tion, the Congress Party’s lead-ership berth is reserved for amember of the preferred fam-ily, he said as he traced thepost-independence history ofthe party from JawaharlalNehru to Indira Gandhi toSanjay Gandhi to Rajiv Gandhi.

He said the Congress triedto remove itself from the shack-les of dynasty for a brief peri-od after the unfortunate assas-sination of Rajiv Gandhi butcould not get out of its clutch-es for long.

“Smt. Sonia Gandhi thentook over as the longest servingPresident of the Indian NationalCongress and thereafter passedon the leadership baton of theParty to her son Rahul Gandhi.“Thus, generation after gener-ation, the Congress Party’s lead-

ership berth is reserved for amember of the preferred fami-ly. When the Party is now indoldrums, another member ofthe family has entered thescene,” said the senior BJPleader who is in-charge ofparty’s publicity committee.

Jaitley was referring toPriyanka Gandhi Vadra, whohas been recently appointed asCongress general secretary in-charge of eastern UttarPradesh.

The Finance Minister fur-ther said: “The key question is- will the dynastic parties learnfrom their 2014 drubbing anda possible defeat in 2019?Possibly not. It is here that thepeople of India will have tobring about a change. India isnot a monarchy. Neither is it akingdom or dynastic democ-racy. Dynasts disapprove per-sons of talent and merit. “Thereal strength of democracywill be realised when myth ofdynasties is finally buried andthese parties are taken over bymen of competence and merit.That will provide Indians witha better choice.”

The another curious fea-ture, he said, is that most fam-ilies where a single dynast cre-ated the party, have moved intothe next generation.

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Countering the Opposition’s“diplomatic failure” jab

after China blocked brandingof JeM chief Masood Azhar atglobal terrorist at the UN forthe fourth time, ExternalAffairs Minister Sushma Swarajon Friday sought to put therecords straight asserting thatthe critics must see that Indiawas alone when the move wasfirst made in 2009 under theUPA rule, while it has world-

wide support in 2019.Her remarks came a day

after Congress president RahulGandhi hit out at PrimeMinster Narendra Modi overChina’s blocking of the UN res-olution to designate Azhar aglobal terrorist, alleging that thePM was “weak” and “scared” ofChinese President Xi Jinping.

Taking to Twitter, Sushmasaid she wants to apprise thepeople of the facts regardingthe listing of Azhar under theUnited Nations Sanctions

Committee.“The proposal has been

mooted four times. In 2009,India under the UPAGovernment was the lone pro-poser. In 2016, India’s propos-al was co-sponsored by US,France and UK. In 2017, US,UK and France moved theproposal. In 2019, the propos-al was moved by US, Franceand UK and supported by 14 ofthe 15 UN Security Councilmembers and also co-spon-sored by Australia, Bangladesh,

Italy and Japan — non-mem-bers of the Security Council,”she said in a series of tweets.

She asserted that India hadsecured “unprecedented sup-port” from the internationalcommunity for listing the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) chiefunder the UN SanctionsCommittee.

“I have shared these factswith you so that leaders whodescribe this as our diplomat-ic failure may see for them-selves that in 2009, India was

alone. In 2019, India has theworldwide support,” she main-tained.

Rahul had attacked theprime minister and said he hasnot spoken on China blockingthe resolution in the UNSecurity Council (UNSC).

Slamming theGovernment, Congress chiefspokesperson RandeepSurjewala had said, “Sadly,Modiji’s foreign policy hasbeen a series of diplomaticdisasters.”

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New Delhi: Three-term Lok Sabha MPArvind Sharma, who joined the BJP onFriday, might be fielded from Karnalin Haryana, a constituency he had rep-resented in the lower House twice. TheBrahmin leader had won from Sonepatas an Independent candidate in 1996and then won from Karnal on aCongress ticket in 2004 and 2009 butlost to the BJP’s Ashwini Chopra in2014. PNS

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New Delhi: The Supreme Court onFriday asked the Election Commissionto respond to the DMK’s plea seeking directions to the poll panel forholding by-elections in three vacant Assembly constituencies inTamil Nadu.

A Bench comprising justices SABobde and SA Nazeer asked the EC tofile its response within two weeks.

The DMK has questioned thepoll panel’s move to not hold by-elec-tions in Tiruparankundram,Ottapidaram and Aravakurichi.

Senior advocate Abhishek ManuSinghvi, appearing for the DMK, toldthe bench that it is “bizarre” that theElection Commission is holding by-elections for 18 of 21 vacant Assemblyconstituencies in the State.

The by-elections are slated to beheld on April 18 along with the LokSabha polls. PTI

New Delhi: A delegation ofCongress leaders on Fridayapproached the ElectionCommission (EC) and sought itsintervention in removing hoard-ings projecting achievements ofthe Narendra Modi Government,claiming it is a violation of themodel code of conduct.

“It has come to our noticethat hoardings and advertise-ments featuring the PrimeMinister and projecting hisGovernment’s achievements arebeing displayed at public placesand most notably petrol pumpstations across the country despite theannouncement of the schedule of the LokSabha elections. “The said display is not onlyin violation of the model code of conduct butalso represent misuse of public funds and offi-cial machinery for campaign purposes,” the

memorandum submitted by the party lead-ers said.

The Congress demanded that the ECissue directions for immediate removal of allsuch hoardings and also seek a compliancereport in the matter. PNS

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Countdown for the April 18election to the Lok Sabha

from Tamil Nadu commencedin style on Friday with theDMK, leading the UnitedProgressive Alliance (UPA)releasing the details of theconstituencies from where itand other alliance partnerswould contest the polls.

The names of constituen-cies were released by MKStalin, president of the DMK,who has been described as thefuture Chief Minister of theState by Congress presidentRahul Gandhi.

Leaders of other partiesfiguring in the UPA were pre-sent at the function held atAnna Arivalayam, the DMKheadquarters and expressedtheir satisfaction over the ami-able way the constituencieshave been allocated. TheAIADMK-led front is expect-ed to release the constituenciesfrom where the parties wouldcontest in a day or two accord-ing to party sources.

As per the list released byStalin on Friday, the DMKwould contest from 20 con-

stituencies. They are NorthChennai, Central Chennai,South Chennai,Kancheepuram, Thenkasi,Sriperumbudur, Arakkonam,Velloor, Arani, Dharmapuri,Thiruvannamalai, Cuddalore,Kallakurichi, Nilgiris, Pollachi,Myladuthurai, Thanjavur,

Thoothukudi, Dindigul andTirunelveli.

The Congress which hasbeen allocated ten seats includ-ing the one from Puducherrywould contest fromKanyakumari, Theni,Virudhunagar, Trichy, Salem,Karur, Krishnagiri, Sivagangai

and Thiruvallur,Nagapattinam and

Thiruppur , centres with storiesof communist uprisings havebeen allocated to the CPI. TheCPI(M) would field candidatesfrom Madurai and Coimbatore.The VCK, a Dalit militant out-fit, has been allocated

Chidambaram andVillupuram. The MDMK ledby the volatile Vaiko wouldfield its candidate from Erode,a district known for itsDravidian militancy.

In an interesting develop-ment, the DMK has acceded tothe demand of Muslin Leaguewhich has been pressing hardfor the Ramanathapuram con-stituency. The KMDK and theIJK, two caste outfits wouldcontest from Namakkal andPerambalur respectively.

T Ramakrishnan, author,commentator and keen observ-er of Dravidian politics saidthat the list was in expectedlines though there are a fewsurprises. “The DMK allocat-ing the Karur constituency tothe Congress is a major devel-opment. Thambi Durai, thedeputy Speaker of the LokSabha, is expected to seek re-election from this constituen-cy. Senthil Balaji, formerAIADMK leader hailing fromthe district had quit the partyand had joined the TTVDhinakaran led AMMK andthen quit it to cast his luck withthe DMK in the hope of tak-ing on Thambi Durai,” saidRamakrishnan. Many political

commentators too pointed outthat the DMK is not strong inKarur.

“Though the DMK hasstrong roots in Karur it left itto the Congress. I would say theDMK could have given SouthChennai to Congress and takenKarur. In these two con-stituencies, the DMK-led frontwould have got better chanceshad the party done the way Ihave suggested,” opinedRamakrishnan.

The Dravidian major hasfocussed more on northernTamil Nadu leaving a majorchunk of the southern parts toits allies. Interestinglym theDMK would field candidates inThoothukudi and Tirunelveliwhere it registered impressivewins in the 2016 assemblyconstituencies.

The fights which wouldsee sparks flying (the directduels between the traditionalrivals DMK and theAIADMK) would be knownonly after the AIADMKcomes out with its list of seatsand candidates.

Tamil Nadu goes to thepolls on April 18 as part of thesecond phase of the Lok Sabhaelection.

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Finally the Left Front onFriday declared its candi-

dates’ list, keeping hopes of apossible alliance with theCongress which had been ask-ing for at least 17 out of 42seats. Even as the alliancetalks had reached a near-deadlock, the Left led by theCPI(M) declared candidatesfor 25 seats keeping away 17contentious seats.

While the Congress hasbeen asking for 18 “or at least17 seats” the Left is reluctantto spare more than 11 “or atthe most 14.”

The CPI(M) has kept foritself Raiganj andMurshidabad from where theparty had won in 2014 elec-tions. It will contest fromanother 17 seats while theallies Forward Bloc, CPI andRSP will contest from theremaining 6 seats. Darjeelingseat will go to an Independentcandidate backed by theCongress and the Left.

The Front had already leftout four seats from where theCongress had won last time.

Chennai: Tamil NaduGovernment has ordered anenquiry on how a college heregave its nod for Congress pres-ident Rahul Gandhi to interactwith its students when theModel Code of Conduct is inforce.

The top Congress leader, inhis interaction with students ofthe Stella Maris College here onMarch 13, promised 33 per centreservation in Governmentjobs for women and answeredseveral of their questions.

The Director of CollegiateEducation, R Sarumathi direct-ed a subordinate official toenquire "immediately" on thematter and submit a report,official sources told PTI.

In a communique (datedMarch 14) to the RegionalJoint Director, Chennai Zone,the director pointed out that inview of the Lok Sabha electionsthe MCC was in force andunder such circumstancessought to know "how permis-sion was granted" by the collegefor the event.

Sources said Stella Maris is

one of the 10 Governmentaided colleges in Chennai.Such institutions are not onlybound by State norms, but arealso expected to follow theMCC.

According to the MCC,dis-played in the ElectionCommission website, "use ofeducational institutions, includ-ing their grounds (whetherGovernment aided, private orGovernment) for political cam-paigns and rallies is notallowed."

When contacted, the col-lege authorities declined to sayif any enquiry was made by thecollegiate department officials.

The Chief Electoral Officeralso did not comment.

In his interaction with thestudents, Rahul had brought upthe issue of the Rafale deal andreiterated his allegations aboutthe pricing of the aircraft andthe process.

To a question on his broth-er-in-law Robert Vadra, he hadsaid that the law must apply toeverybody and not be appliedselectively. PTI

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The Trinamool Congress onFriday started a two-day

Dharna accusing the BJP ofcausing “great humiliation to thepeople of Bengal” by urging theElection Commission ofIndia(ECI) to declare it a“Sensitive State.”

The dharna started hoursbefore Deputy ElectionCommissioner Sunil Jain was tovisit the State to take stock of thesituations.

TMC women’s wing chiefand Panchayat MinisterChandrima Bhattacharya led alarge contingent of party womento start a dharna asking “whohas given the BJP the right toinsult the people of Bengal. It isa great humiliation to ask theECI to declare the is a sensitiveState,” she said the BJP actionsamounted to challenging thepeople’s morality and receptiv-ity to their circumstances.

While State BJP chief DilipGhosh called it a drama to build

pressure on the ElectionCommission, Bhattacharya said“even if the BJP gets theCommission to deploy a CRPFfor every voter the TrinamoolCongress will win because thepeople of this State votes forMamata Banerjee and noneelse.”

There was no problem withthe law and order situation inBengal she said adding “the BJPis trying to malign us for polit-ical reasons.”

Party general secretary andMinister Partho Chatterjee said“the unrealistic demand madeby the BJP is another way ofconceding defeat before theelections.”

Alleging that by engineer-ing defection in the TrinamoolCongress some BJP leaders whohad crossed over to that partyfrom the Trinamool Congresswere stabbing in the TMC’s backChatterjee said “the people arewatching and they will givethem a befitting reply.”

He was apparently referring

to the recent spate of defectionsfrom the TMC into the BJP forwhich the party is holding erst-while TMC leader Mukul Royresponsible. The former RailwayMinister and close MamataBanerjee aide had last yearjoined the BJP and was cur-rently handling the electionaffairs of that party in Bengal.

Party strongman and three-time MLA from Bhatpara inBarrackpore constituency hadon Thursday crossed over to theBJP questioning the ChiefMinister’s style of functioning.

On the BJP leadership’sremark that after the generalelections the TMC will crumblecompletely so that a mid-termState poll would required to beheld in Bengal sometime inDecember, Chatterjee said “firstthe BJP should save its ownempire in Delhi,” adding,“Mamata Banerjee will play avery big role in the days tocome because she is fightingagainst the conspiracy to divideIndia.”

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The speculation is rife inCongress circles that pres-

ident Rahul Gandhi will con-test from Bidar in northKarnataka in the Lok Sabapolls. The Congress leadersare huddled in speculative dis-cussion over the impact oftheir chief contesting fromKarnataka as second seat afterAmethi in Uttar Pradesh.Political circle is also abuzzwith news that Amethi is notsafe for the Congress chief andis expected to contest fromBidar— a safe seat fromKarnataka. Adding to the spec-ulation, a tweet by the formerChief Minister and seniorleader Siddaramaiah invitingRahul to contest fromKarnataka has created morecuriosity and discussion.

Siddaramaiah on Fridaysaid the Karnataka Congresswants party president RahulGandhi to contest the coming

Lok Sabha polls from thesouthern state.

Calling Gandhi the "nextPrime Minister of India", theCongress Legislature Partyleader recalled his grand-mother Indira Gandhi andmother Sonia Gandhi contest-ing the Lok Sabha polls fromKarnataka in the past.

"Karnataka has always sup-ported & encouraged@INCIndia leaders. It has beenproved in case of Smt. Indira ji& Smt. Sonia ji.

We also want our nextPrime Minister of India Shri.@RahulGandhi to contest fromKarnataka & herald new devel-opmental paradigm.# R a G a From Ka r n at a k a , "Siddaramaiah said in a tweet.

A senior BJP leader on thecondition of anonymity saidthe fear of losing has made thecongress to invite Rahul to con-test from Karnataka a safe betin the political change in theensuing polls.

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Former Minister YSVivekananda Reddy,

younger brother of formerAndhra Pradesh Chief Ministerlate Y S Rajasekhara Reddy anduncle of YSRCP chief YS JaganMohan Reddy was found mur-dered at his home inPulivendula in Kadapa districton Friday under mysteriouscircumstances. He was 68. Heis survived by wife Soubhagyaand a daughter.

The dead body bore seveninjuries made with sharp knifeand there were severe damageson head. A murder case hasbeen lodged, SP Rahul DevSarma said.

He was seen last time cam-paigning for the YSRCP inMadduru of Chapadu mandalof Kadapa district till 8.30 pmon Thursday along with MLARaghurami Reddy and his sonAhok Reddy. He had left forPulivendula directly and was

alone at his residence when theincident took place.

A Special InvestigationTeam (SIT) has been formed byDGP RP Thakur on theinstruction of the ChiefMinister N ChandrababuNaidu.

The initial information thatYS Viveka died of heart stroketurned out to be a cooked upone. Only after watching thedead body by Police andDoctors, it was detected that hehas been murdered brutally.

Only the PA of Viveka hasraised doubts over his death

and informed police. Later on,YSRC leaders Vijaya Sai Reddy,YS Avinash Reddy stated thatVivekas' death seemed to besuspicioius and asked forinquiry.

But, after the formation ofSIT by the Government, the sit-uation turned into a big polit-ical war.

Mr.Vijaya Sai Reddy hasalleged that CM Naidu, his sonLokesh and Adinarayana havemurdered YS Viveka and stat-ed that they don't have faith onAP Police and demanded forCBI inquiry.

TDP leaders have coun-tered YSRC allegations statingthat YS family had internal riftsand several times Viveka andJagan had differences.

One more talk is going onthat, Sudhakar Reddy whomurdered YS Rajareddy, fatherof Viveka in 1998, has comeout of jail three months backand few people suspecting himin this case.

Everybody raising ques-

tions that why the first handinformation come out as Heartstroke. There are no CC cam-eras for that big house. WhyViveka is alone in the house isalso a question, though its acampaign time.

According to his personalassistant Krishna Reddy, hecomplained to the police as hishead bore injury marks and apool of blood was noticed bybed side.

He said that he went toVivekananda Reddy’s houseon Friday morning. Nobodyopened the door for long, so hewaited in the lobby of thehouse reading newspaper.Having spent so about half anhour, he said that he had calledup Sowbhagyamma, spouse ofVivekananada Reddy. Sheresponded asking him not towake him up as he might havereturned home very late.

He said that he had waitedfor him for another half-an-hour.

Meanwhile, servant maid

Lachchamma and her sonarrived. He asked them toknock on the window door sothat he will get up. The servantmaid did accordingly and alsothe PA, but there was noresponse from inside.

They thought that he wasfast asleep and felt that hewould get up later.

To their surprise, the back-door remained opened, whenthe main door was bolted frominside. An old man Rangannanoticed it and alerted themabout it. The PA,Lachchamma’s son went insideto find the bed room dooropened. Vivekananda Reddywas found dead in a pool ofblood in the washroomattached to the bedroom.

The PA alertedVivekananda Reddy’s familymembers. He grew suspiciouswhy the backdoor remainedopened and complained aboutthe death to the police. Thepolice sent the body to thepost-mortem.

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Apreliminary inquiry intoThursday’s Foot Over

Bridge (FOB) collapse thatclaimed six lives and left 30others injured, has found thatthe structural audit of theFOB that certified that the ill-fated bridge was in a “goodcondition” had been conduct-ed in an “irresponsible andnegligent” manner and rec-ommended criminal actionagainst a private structuralauditor.

A day after a major por-tion of the FOB connecting theplatforms of the ChhatrapatiShivaji Maharaj Terminus(CSMT) to the lane leading tothe Azad Maidan crashed, apreliminary inquiry reportsubmitted the

B r i h a n m u n i c i p a lCorporation’s Chief Engineer(Vigilance) to MumbaiMunicipal Commissioner AjoyMehta has recommended aFull Fledged DepartmentalEnquiry (FFDE) againstBMC’s five former senior engi-neers(bridges).

The four former officialsagainst whom FFDE has beenordered in the preliminaryprobe report, which has beenapproved by the MunicipalCommissioner— are thenChief Engineer (Bridges) S OKori, then deputy chief engi-neer(Bridges), RB Tare,Executive Engineers(Bridges)A R Patil and A I Engineer andthen AssistantEngineer(Bridges) S F Kakulte.

Alluding to the certifica-tion given in the report of the

audit of the bridge that col-lapsed that said the “bridge isin a good condition and onlyminor repairs required to becarried out, the BMC’s ChiefEngineer (Vigilance), the pre-liminary report stated: “Thereis prima facie reason to believethat the structural audit hasbeen conducted in an irre-sponsible and negligent man-ner.... The structural reportappears to have overlooked thecritical elements of the bridgeand their condition leading tothe sad tragedy”.

“In spite of commissioningthe structural audit of thebridge and spending publicmoney on it, the true condi-tion was not brought out. Thetragedy could have been avert-ed if the structural audit hadbeen done diligently,” the pre-

liminary report stated. In one of the several mea-

sures against the firm that haddone an “irresponsible andnegligent” audit leading tothe collapse of the bridge andloss of human lives, theinquiry report said: “In view ofthe apparent neglect and irre-sponsible nature the auditreport which has led to thecollapse of the bridge and lossof human lives, an FIR be filedagainst the Structural AuditorProf D D Desain‘s AssociatedEngineering Consultants &Analysts Pvt Limited”

“All payments pending tobe made to this structuralauditor be stopped forthwithand for any payments madeearlier, due process of recov-ery be started,” the inquiryreport recommended.

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While rooting for a full-fledged probe into

Thursday’s Foot Over Bridge(FOB) collapse near ChhatrapatiShivaji Maharaj Terminus(CSMT) that claimed six livesand left 30 others injured, NCPchief Sharad Pawar on Fridayasked the MaharashtraGovernment to come out witha white paper on the conditionof Foot Over Bridges and allother bridges in Mumbai.

Releasing a letter written bythe Central Railways onNovember 11, 2015 about thecritical condition of variousbridges in the metropolis, Pawarcharged that both the

Maharashtra Government andthe Brihanmumbai MunicipalCorporation (BMC) did nottake the CR’s letter seriously.

“Whatever happened yes-terday is a matter of serious con-cern. Mumbai is country’scommercial Capital. More thanone crore travel to Churchgateand CSMT from distant likeVirar and Karjat/Kasara respec-tively. At least 15 to 20 mishapstake place every day. At 3000commuters are killed in railwaymishaps every year,” Pawar said.

Taking a dig at PM Modi forhis bullet train project, Pawarsaid: “More than the introduc-tion of bullet trains, whatMumbaikars need is safetyproofsuburban stations”.

�������������� ������������'�����(������� Ahmedabad: Days after quota

agitation leader Hardik Pateljoined the Congress, anunidentified person hackedthe official website of theGujarat Congress anduploaded his photo, whichappears to be a screenshot ofone of his alleged sex videosthat surfaced ahead of the2017 polls.

In the photo, a personresembling Patel can be seensitting on the bed with a girland it is accompanied by a cap-tion — "Welcome our newleader".

According to GujaratCongress spokespersonManish Doshi, the website,"http://www.Gujaratcongress.In", was taken down immedi-ately by the party's IT team

after spotting the "mischief "."Our website was hacked.

Someone put a photo ofHardik Patel on it. We haveshut down the website imme-diately. It will become onlinesoon.

"This might be the handi-work of those who did not likeHardik's entry into theCongress," said Doshi, addingthe party may file a policecomplaint.

Ahead of the December2017 Assembly elections inGujarat, around five videos,purportedly showing Patelwith women, had surfaced onsocial media platforms.

The 25-year-old Patidarquota agitation spearhead hadthen claimed all the videoswere "fake and morphed". PTI

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NCP chief Sharad Pawar’sgrandnephew Parth,

Chhagan Bhujbal’s nephewSameer and reel-life ChhatrapatiSambhaji Amol Kolhe figured inthe second list of five candidatesreleased on Friday, by the NCPfor the Lok Sabha polls.

After 48 hours of intensespeculation, the NCP formallyannounced Parth Pawar’s name.Parth, who is the son of SharadPawar’s nephew andMaharashtra’s former DeputyChief Minister, will contestfrom Maval Lok Sabha con-stituency in Pune district ofWestern Maharashtra.

The NCP has re-nominat-ed senior NCP leader Chhagan

Bhujbal’s tainted nephewSameer Bhujbal from Nashikconstituency. Sameer and hisuncle Chhagan Bhujbal hadbeen arrested in connectionwith a money laundering scam.Sameer and Sr Bhujbal are cur-rently on bail.

Dr Kolhe, who had quitShiv Sena a few weeks ago andjoined NCP, is a popular face inMaharashtra after having por-trayed the roles of ChhatrapatiShivaji Maharaj and ChhatrapatiSambhaji Maharaj in the tele-vision serials. Dr Kohle will con-test from Shirur.

The NCP has fieldedDhanraj Haribahu Mahale fromDindori and Bajrang Sonavanefrom Beed Lok SabhaConstituencies.

Kolkata: The ElectionCommission (EC) on Fridaydeployed seven companies ofcentral paramilitary forces in asmany districts of West Bengal,ahead of the seven-phase LokSabha elections beginning April11.

Three more companies willalso move in by late this eveningfor their deployment in South24-Parganas district andKolkata, Additional ChiefElectoral Officer Sanjay Basusaid.

The seven companies havebeen deployed in the districts ofNorth Dinajpur, Malda,Murshidabad, Birbhum, EastMidnapore, West Midnaporeand North 24-Parganas.

Personnel of these 10 com-panies of the BSF would carryout route marches in "certainvulnerable pockets" to instillconfidence among the voters.

However, the number ofvulnerable pockets, which are

decided on several factorsincluding past incidents of vio-lence, is still being assessed,Basu said.

He said State ChiefElectoral Officer Aariz Aftaband State Government officialsFriday reviewed poll prepared-ness through video conference.

The EC has already com-pleted checking of EVMs in 11out of 23 districts in the State,Basu said adding that the avail-ability of the polling personnelwas sufficient.

Deputy Election

Commissioner Sudeep Jain willmeet representatives of allrecognised political parties ofthe state on Saturday.

Jain will also hold a meet-ing with district election offi-cers, superintendents of policeand police commissioners toreview the poll-preparedness.

He will also meet otherCentral Government officialsfor election purpose.

Basu said the EC's 'cVIGIL'app, through which voters canlodge any poll-related com-plaints to the EC, has so far reg-istered 510 complaints of vio-lation of model code of conductin the state and they werebeing looked into.

The complaints receivedfrom the portals of the ECI andCitizens at National GrievanceServices (NGS) are 184 and 232respectively and they weremainly on defacement issues.

"Most of these complaintsare resolved," Basu said. PTI

Amravati: Maharashtra ChiefMinister Devendra FadnavisFriday said the alliance betweenthe BJP and the Shiv Sena wasvery strong and impenetrable.

Fadnavis was addressing arally in here ahead of the LokSabha elections, where ShivSena chief Uddhav Thackerayand other leaders of both theparties were present.

"The BJP-Shiv Sena allianceis joining of hands of theHindutva parties, which sharea common ideology. It hasstood the ground so far and willdo so in future as well. YehFevicol ka majboot jod hai! (Itis a strong bond like that ofFevicol)," he said at the launchof the poll campaign.

"The alliance is impene-trable...Some people tried toseparate us as they wanted to bein power, but once the alliancewas announced, they startedretreating," he said.

Overcoming their strainedties, the BJP and Shiv Sena hadlast month announced a seat-sharing pact for the ensuingLok Sabha and Assembly elec-tions in Maharashtra. The BJPwill contest 25 seats and ShivSena 23 of the 48 Lok Sabhaseats in Maharashtra.

Thackeray said he neverallowed his party's differenceswith the BJP harm the interestsof the state.

"BJP-Sena alliance hasgrown into a tall tree. In no caseshould we allow pests to eatinto it. I don't believe in (poll)surveys. I trust more my self-confidence, which tells me thatso overwhelming will be thevictory that even 48 seats (inthe state) would fall short."

In a lighter vein, Thackerayasked Fadanvis not to entertainSharad Pawar if he wished tojoin BJP.

"The situation in the stateis such that whenever BJP-Senaleaders criticise the opposi-tion leaders, the next day theyjoin the BJP-Sena. This makesme think if I should criticise ornot? If I criticise Pawar today,he may join BJP tomorrow. Butdon't give him any room in theparty," Thackeray said.

"We need to keep somepeople outside, else there wouldbe no one left out for us to talkabout," he added jokingly. PTI

Patna: In a setback to the RLSPahead of the Lok Sabha polls,one of its founding membersquit the outfit on Friday accus-ing its national presidentUpendra Kushwaha of having"betrayed" the people of Bihar bywalking out of the BJP-led NDAand joining the oppositionGrand Alliance.

Ram Bihari Singh, who heldthe designation of "PradhanRashtriya Maha Sachiv" (chiefnational general secretary) in theRashtriya Lok Samata Party,also rued that he was "nowherenow" despite being "the one whowrote the partys constitutionand moved the ElectionCommission for getting theparty recognised". "I was amongthe few who had supportedKushwaha when he chose topart ways with Bihar ChiefMinister Nitish Kumars JD(U).

But today he has become the allin all and pays lip-service to hiscommitment to inner partydemocracy. I had also opposedhis decision to quit the NDA andjoin the Mahagathbandhan buthe listened to no one and tookthe decision arbitrarily, in effectbetraying the people who hadvoted for him as an NDA ally,"Singh told reporters.

He also alleged thatKushwaha was "playing into thehands of corporates" in distrib-ution of tickets, though he didnot elaborate. The developmentcomes close on the heels of twosacked RLSP leaders Nagmaniand Pradeep Mishra chargingKushwaha with "selling" tickets.The RLSP chief has dismissedthe allegations as "absurd", point-ing out that it was yet to bedecided as to which seats hisparty would be contesting. PTI

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New Delhi: FormerCongress leader SajjanKumar has been using his"large political clout" toderail trial and influencewitnesses in cases relatedto 1984 anti-Sikh riots,CBI told the SupremeCourt on Friday while seeking that life term givento him should be upheld.

73-year-old Kumar has challenged in the topcourt the Delhi High Court's December 17, 2018verdict sentencing him to life term in a case relat-ed to killing of five Sikhs in Delhi Cantonment'sRaj Nagar Part-I area of southwest Delhi onNovember 1 and 2, 1984, and burning down ofa Gurudwara in Raj Nagar Part-II.

In response to Kumar's application seekingsuspension of sentence and grant of bail, CBI hassaid that he is capable of "influencing/terroris-ing witnesses" and fair trial would not be possi-ble in the case pending against him, if he is grant-ed bail. PTI

Wayanad (Ker): A final noticehas been issued by churchauthorities to the nun who tookpart in a protest against rapeaccused Franco Mullakal, for-mer Bishop of the Jalandhardiocese, asking her to leave hercongregation.

In its final notice, theFranciscan Clarist Congregationaccused Sister Lucy Kalapura,belonging to its St Mary'sprovince at Mananthavady, ofleading a life which was againstthe "principles of religious life"and the rule of the congregation.

Kalapura told mediaper-sons Friday that the churchauthorities have given the noticeasking her either to leave thecongregation or to face ouster.

"It's sad that the church hasasked me to leave the congre-gation. I joined the churchwhen I was 17. I have lived a lifefollowing all the principles of

religious life.I don't have any other life.

My reply to the second warningletter earlier was very clear. Ihave explained my stand," shesaid.

The nun has been asked togive her explanation to SuperiorGeneral sister at Generalate ofthe Congregation before April16.

The congregation hastermed as "grave violations", aNun taking a licence, buying acar, taking a loan for it, pub-lishing a book besides spendingmoney without permission and

knowledge of her superiors.The provincial superior had

denied permission to SisterLucy to publish her collection ofpoems.

The nun, however, pub-lished her book"Snehamazhayil".

The congregation alsotermed as a "grave scandal" theNun in discussions in TV newschannels and writing articles fornon-Christian newspapers, "lev-elling false charges against theCatholic leadership and belit-tling it."

The sister had invited thewrath of the Church leadershipby participating in a streetprotest here in September 2018by five nuns belonging to theCatholic religious orderMissionaries of Jesus, demand-ing the arrest of FrancoMulakkal, who was accused ofraping a nun.

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New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Fridaydeclined to entertain a petition by a woman alleg-ing gangrape by four persons in 2008, includingArunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu,questioning the delay in filing the complaint.

However, a bench comprising Chief JusticeRanjan Gogoi and justices Deepak Gupta andSanjiv Khanna granted liberty to the woman toapproach the high court concerned for redressalof her grievances.

The apex court also granted her liberty toapproach appropriate authority for police pro-tection. During the brief hearing in which senioradvocates Kapil Sibal and Krishnan Venugopalappeared for the woman, the bench noted thatthough the alleged incident happened in 2008,there was no complaint filed till 2015.

The woman submitted that she was approach-ing the apex court as the police and the trial courtdeclined to entertain pleas to register a criminalcomplaint against the alleged perpetrators. PTI

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New Delhi: The SupremeCourt agreed on Friday tohear RJD chief Lalu Prasad'sbail plea in three cases relat-ed to the multi-crore-rupeefodder scam, in which he hasbeen convicted.

Prasad told the top courtthat he had been in jail for 22months following his convic-tion in the three cases.

A bench of Chief JusticeRanjan Gogoi and justicesDeepak Gupta and SanjivKhanna issued notice to theCentral Bureau ofInvestigation (CBI) andsought its response withintwo weeks. PTI

New Delhi: The Supreme CourtFriday stayed the MeghalayaHigh Court judgment convict-ing The Shillong Times editorPatricia Mukhim and publish-er Shoba Chaudhuri in a con-tempt case.

The high court had alsoimposed a fine of Rs 2 lakh eachon them and said if they failedto deposit the amount, they willhave to undergo six monthssimple imprisonment and thepaper will be banned.

The case relates to an arti-cle published by the paper onthe perks and facilities forretired judges and their families.

A Supreme Court bench,comprising of Chief JusticeRanjan Gogoi and Justices

Deepak Gupta and SanjivKhanna, also issued notice tothe high court registrar on theappeal filed by the editor and thepublisher of newspaper.

While pronouncing thejudgement in the contemptcase, the high court had onMarch 8 asked both of them toserve the sentence by sitting inthe corner of the court room tillthe rising of the court.

Immediately after the highcourt order was stayed, Mukhimtold PTI, "The Supreme Courthas stayed and suspended thejudgment passed by theMeghalaya High Court onMarch 8, 2019. I have full faiththat judiciary will protect thefreedom of press." PTI

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The introduction of prohibition bythe Nitish Kumar government inBihar has caused tension from thebeginning. It is not surprisingsince the experiment has been ini-

tiated in a state that incidentally bordersNepal, which is an independent country.From the viewpoint of law and order, pro-hibition is a difficult measure to enforce asthe Bihar-Nepal border is porous.Nevertheless, for womenfolk in rural India,a teetotaller husband is a most welcomeintroduction as it enables family life to bemore peaceful as well as comparatively pros-perous. For the middle and poorer classes,money spent by the husband on liquor burnsa big hole in the family budget. So the NitishKumar government, in its bid at social refor-mation, has gone to the absolute limit ofdenial by not even allowing liquor permitsfor the old and the medically weak. This isunlike prohibition in other states, whichallow a monthly quota for spirits certified bya government doctor. This means thatthose people who cannot survive withoutsome alcohol must quit Bihar. What effectsuch a strict prohibition would have is yetto be seen.

It is noteworthy that prohibition hasfailed to endure in India, be it in Tamil Naduor Maharashtra, except parts of Gujarat.There are reports no doubt that illegal drink-ing does take place. So the state exchequermisses out on the revenue except on whatis sold on the permits. On the extra-legalquantities, there are reports of backdoorincomes being earned by those in charge ofimplementation of the measure. In Gujarat,apart from the permit holders, the con-sumers have two other points of relief. TheUnion Territories of Diu and Daman are freefrom prohibition. These two towns, until1961, were under Portuguese rule and wereaccustomed to entertaining customers for amerry evening life. Diu is situated on thesouthern coast of the Saurashtra peninsulawhile Daman is located in south Gujarat.Besides, it is easier for Gujaratis to accept adenial of drinks than Biharis. Since Gandhijioriginated from Gujarat, it became embar-rassing for Gujaratis to insist on alcohol andBapuji’s thoughts shaped their social behav-iour patterns. Bihar has a lesser reason to feelawkward in resisting prohibition.

There is a silent irony of prohibition inGujarat, which has been overlooked by itsown people as well as its observers from out-side. The business of Mumbai was developedlargely by Gujaratis, the trading by theHindus, Khojas and Bohras, while industryand big finance were cultivated by the Parsis.Why is it that the same Gujarati-speakingpeople have not been able to take eitherAhmedabad or Surat to comparable busi-ness benchmarks in Mumbai? Why didn’tGujarati genius flourish in its home state?The clue to the answer lies in a casual remarkof the writer’s co-train passenger many yearsago. In the course of the ongoing conversa-

tion, he happened to say thatwhile he liked to live in Mumbai,he was comfortable runninghis spinning mill in Gujarat.That way he could get dual ben-efits — the industrial peace ofGujarat and all the creaturecomforts of Mumbai. Themetropolis has high society,club life, five-star hotels, schoolsand colleges for his children andthe wondrous seaside in Juhu,Versova, Chowpatty or MarineDrive. Many bank headquartersand financial institutions areheadquartered in Mumbai. Mostinternational flights touch thecity. Where in Gujarat could hefind all these facilities?

Does the key then lie in pro-hibition? Let us see. For a flour-ishing club life, as well as for lux-urious hotels to be sustained, aneasy availability of drinks is anecessary ingredient. A clublife comparable to Mumbai’s isnowhere to be found acrossGujarat. To drink by oneself,perhaps with a friend or two, isnot the same, or even compara-ble. If the owners of industry andthe movers of commerce do notreside in the state, it cannot growor develop in the way they do,say in Mumbai. In the bargain,nor do schools and colleges getestablished on the same scale.All in all, therefore, the state can-not be a destination for the aspi-rant.

The US has a fairly compre-hensive experience of prohibi-tion across the country for 13years, between 1920 and 1933.Fortunately, a good deal wasreported and written on theexperience while it was underway. Moreover, detailed analy-

ses of the experience were madeby social scientists after it wasover. Underneath is quoted asummary of what Prof MarkThornton of Auburn Universitypublished.

National prohibition ofalcohol — a seemingly nobleexperiment — was undertakento reduce crime and corruption,solve social problems, reduce thetax burden created by prisonsand poor houses and improvehealth and hygiene in America.The results of that experimentclearly indicate that it was a mis-erable failure on all counts. Theevidence affirms sound eco-nomic theory, which predictsthat prohibition of mutuallybeneficial exchanges is doomedto failure. The lessons of theProhibition era remain impor-tant today. They apply not onlyto the debate over the war ondrugs but also to the mountingefforts to drastically reduceaccess to alcohol and tobaccoand to such issues as censorshipand bans on insider trading,abortion and gambling.

Although consumption ofalcohol fell at the beginning, itsubsequently increased. Alcoholbecame more dangerous to con-sume; crime increased andbecame organised; the courtand prison systems werestretched to the breaking point;and corruption of public officialswas rampant. No measurablegains were made in productiv-ity or reduced absenteeism.Prohibition removed a signifi-cant source of tax revenue andgreatly increased governmentspending. It led many drinkersto switch to opium, marijuana,

patent medicines, cocaine andother dangerous substances thatthey would have been unlikelyto encounter in the absence ofprohibition. Those results aredocumented from a variety ofsources, most of which, ironical-ly, are the work of supporters ofthe Prohibition era. These find-ings make the case against ourprohibition that much stronger.

Where then lies the solutionor the synthesis to minimise theconsumption of liquor?Prohibition, in a blanket form,may be difficult and expensiveto enforce. On the other hand,the social, family as well ashealth considerations are impor-tant. One suggestion is thatevery adult above 25 years beallowed to acquire an annualpermission to drink, whetherforeign or Indian. The fee couldbe say �50,000 per permission.For someone who cannot affordso much money, he/she shouldbe able to acquire a permissionfor say �10,000 but allowed tobuy and drink only the desi vari-ety. Enforcement should becomparatively less difficultbecause every policeman wouldhave his eye on anyone drink-ing and have the authority tocheck the permit. If such check-ers prove greedy, they would inturn induce the drinker to gethimself permission on paymentof a fee. These fees should be asource of revenue and with theincome, the taxes on liquorcould be reduced. This in turnwould make the sale of spuriousand harmful liquor less tempt-ing.

(The writer is a well-knowncolumnist and an author)

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Sir —In a move that is dismissiveof India’s sensitivity and support-ive of Pakistan’s encouragementof terror against us, China has, forthe fourth time, extended its“technical hold” on our move toget Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azharlisted as a terrorist by the UnitedNations. There is no doubt thatnearly all of the world, barringChina and, of course, Pakistan, isunited in terming Azhar a glob-al terrorist. Ironically, while hisorganisation stands named andshamed, he remains off thehook.The more blatantly Beijingbends over backwards on behalfof Islamabad, the worse thatcountry’s behaviour will becomein the long-term. And, in theshort-term, whatever littleprogress is possible on the India-China front is being sacrificed.

“Higher than the mountains,deeper than the oceans, strongerthan steel, dearer than eyesightand sweeter than honey....” Theseare the words that have been spo-ken time and again, commemo-rating the prestigious alliancebetween the Islamic Republic ofPakistan and the Peoples Republic

of China. No wonder !J S Acharya

Hyderabad����������

Sir — The Australian cricketteam must be commended for amagnificent victory in the fifthOne Day International (ODI)match played at the Feroz ShahKotla Stadium, Delhi. It is aftera decade that the Aussies have

won a bilateral ODI series onIndian soil.

The defeat of Team India inthe series has provoked severalquestions on the selection com-mittee and the Indian Captain.Why was wicketkeeper-batsmanMS Dhoni dropped for the lasttwo ODI matches despite per-forming consistently well thisyear against the Aussies? Whywas KL Rahul given a chance toplay only for a single match (in

the fourth ODI) and why wasleg spinner Yuzvendra Chahalmade to bowl only in the fourthODI despite having an impres-sive record in taking wickets,especially against the Aussies(He took six wickets atMelbourne Cricket Ground inJanuary? One wonders whythere is so much fluctuation inthe precise selection of the play-ers when the ICC Cricket WorldCup is just a few months away.

There is an immediate needto stop the experimentation inthe selection of the nationalsquad. The World Cup is justaround the corner. It’s time wepulled up our socks and show-cased our best.

Tushar AnandPatna

������������

Sir — This refers to the editorial,“Women set agenda”, (March 14).The political debut of PriyankaGandhi Vadra has strengthened therole of women in the current polit-ical scenario of the country. Thistime women leaders like MamataBanerjee and Mayawati stole thelimelight, the former as an archi-tect of the mahagathbandhan andthe latter by mounting a solid chal-lenge in Uttar Pradesh. Eachwoman leader has addressed theaudience with wit and wisdom.They say women can change thedestiny of a nation with their pas-sion, compassion and determina-tion. Hope all three can change thepoll narrative.

DimpleKanpur

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While on a field trip to Mumbai inManiben MP Shah College ofShreemati Nathibai Damodar

Thackersay (SNDT) University in Matunga, I metNithya, a 19-year-old girl, for whom the very ideaof being employed was, until a few months ago,a distant dream. Today, Nithya is on the brinkof a new life, equipped with a letter of intent fromAndromeda Loans that guarantees her a job. Ialso learnt that she will be the first woman in herfamily to venture out for work. What Nithyaneeded most was guidance on how to find theright career opportunities that can help her secureher family’s future.

She received this along with 200 other stu-dents who attended the career guidance coun-selling and employability session facilitated bythe Disha Programme—a partnership of theUnited Nations Development Programme(UNDP) India and India DevelopmentFoundation and supported by the IKEAFoundation. Under this programme, younggirls like Nithya are guided on discovering theirinterests, trained on how to improve theiremployability skills and are connected with thecompanies and local businesses as potentialemployees.

The Indian workforce today needs a formu-la to find the right person with the right skillsfor the right job. It is essential to examine eachcomponent of this requirement, to understandhow to develop a model which will ensure thatjob seekers are connected with the right employ-ers. It has long been believed that the Indianemployment market is supply-driven, withoutconsidering the different aspects of the demand.Aside from the demands of the employer or theprivate sector, not enough focus is being givento the needs and aspirations of the young job-seekers. Today, India is sitting on a goldmine ofraw talent, waiting to be nurtured, developed andadded to the growing human resource pool. Indiahas more than 50 per cent of its population belowthe age of 25, a number that will look for jobsfor the next one decade. As per the Census 2011and the National Sample Survey Office, there isan estimate of over 105 million fresh entrants intothe workforce that would require skill trainingby 2022.

While large-scale skill development pro-grammes today focus on skilling and job place-ment, it also needs to explore what potentialemployees want or excel at. This gap in pro-grammes can lead to entrants resigning fromtheir positions within a few months. It alsobecomes a problem for young women, who areoften pressured to get married in school or earlyin their jobs. The aim must be to find the rightperson for every job by providing counselling andcareer guidance services to young men andwomen, both in school and out of school, toenable job-seekers to become aware of the rangeof opportunities, discover their aptitudes andchoose a skill-set that matches their aspirations.

Second, the alignment of skills with jobs isthe most pivotal factor in determining the growthof the Indian workforce. With the advent of tech-nology, it is becoming clear that skills that aretaught today will become obsolete within the next

few years. Many skills that would berequired in the future are currentlyunknown and large-scale programmesto impart technical skills to the youthtoday may leave them unemployed ina decade or so.

According to the World EconomicForum’s The Future of Jobs Report, by2022, no less than 54 per cent of allemployees will require significant re-and up-skilling. Of these, about 35 percent are expected to require addition-al training of up to six months, nine percent will require re-skilling, lasting sixto 12 months, while 10 per cent willrequire additional skills training ofmore than a year.

In such a situation, “21st centuryskills” become crucial for young peo-ple to ensure sustained employmentand the ability to make dynamic moveswithin different sectors. These transfer-able capabilities are useful in all jobsand include communication, digital,cognitive (computing, critical thinkingand ability to learn) and non-cognitive(social emotional intelligence, team-work, creativity) skills. Such function-al abilities need to be introduced intothe formal education system very earlyon, and not only in the context of job-seeking. Imbibing such skills from a pri-

mary level would equip the youthmuch better for the dynamic nature ofemployment that the market will bewitnessing in the years ahead. Forexample, even if a computer is able tohandle document and loan processing,Nithya will still be essential for cus-tomer relations, due to the communi-cation skills she acquired during hertraining with Project Disha.

The last component is the identi-fication of the right job. Currently, theformal economy in India, representedby large companies, constitutes 10-15per cent of the workforce. The major-ity of employment opportunities liewithin the unorganised sector, andunfortunately these smaller companiescurrently lie completely outside thepurview of the skilling ecosystem.

While all the major governmentschemes are currently geared towardsthe formal economy, it is important tounderstand the requirements of small-er employers within the unorganisedsector and create linkages with theyouth to tap the full potential of theemployment market. This requiresgreater decentralisation to bring togeth-er local employers, skilling institutes,and potential employees.

The UNDP is creating such collab-

orative platforms at the district level forvarious stakeholders in the skillingecosystem, including NGOs, localadministration, schools and colleges,vocational training providers, sector-skill councils, and local businesses. Allof them would benefit from such a plat-form, wherein they understand eachother’s needs much more clearly,enabling the youth to be skilled in those areas where employers requireworkers.

Interventions like Project Dishaaim to create an ecosystem where edu-cation links directly with the needs ofthe market, and such linkages are piv-otal in ensuring that more youngwomen like Nithya can achieve theirgoals. It is clear that the need for theyouth to skill themselves in alignmentwith the needs of India Inc is essentialin preparing India for 2027, when it islikely to have the world’s largest work-force. Merely skilling is not enough; thenature of skills that are being taught, aswell as the motivation and knowledgeof the youth are both crucial factors inensuring the success of all large-scaleskilling programmes in India.

(The author is the chief of Skilland Business Development at

UNDP in India)

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The nation is once again discussingChina’s decision to block efforts atthe United Nations to ban Jaish-e-

Muhammed (JeM) chief Masood Azhar forthe fourth consecutive time. Predictably,China’s intransigence has led to collectiveanger, talk of economic squeeze and apolitical slugfest resulting in a division onmatters of national security.

In diplomatic terms, China has put theproposal on “technical hold,” a strategy ithad adopted before. It allowed time to lapseand finally terminated it. The hold can lastup to a maximum of nine months afterwhich China can again use its veto power.There was a renewed hope that after theBRICS 2018 declaration, and the fact thatfour out of five permanent members in theSecurity Council were backing the propos-al, China would not put any spoke in thewheel. JeM’s owning the responsibility for

the very recent Pulwama terror attack,which had drawn unilateral criticismfrom the international community, includ-ing Muslim countries like Saudi Arabia andthe UAE, had also kindled hope that Chinawould not like to be seen holding a viewcontrary to the international communityin its quest of becoming a global power. Butto humour its ally, which is key to its accessto the Gwadar port and which turns a blindeye to its Uighur Muslims, China boltedfrom taking global action. India waseagerly awaiting the decision of the UN’s1267 Al Qaeda Committee because a banunder it would have led to a freeze onAzhar’s assets and a travel and arms ban,denting the capability of Jaish.

China’s move has set off a full-blownpolitical controversy, with the Oppositionlabelling it as a failure of the Modi govern-ment’s foreign policy. But should we beplaying politics in matters of national secu-rity without knowing the whole truth? Adispassionate look at the entire episodewould suggest a victory for India’s foreignpolicy since for the first time, an unprece-dented number of countries, including thefour permanent members of the SecurityCouncil, were in favour of designatingAzhar a global terrorist. Fourteen of the15 United National Security Councilmembers backed the proposal for Azhar’s

designation as a global terrorist. Thedraft was co-sponsored by Australia,Bangladesh, Italy, Japan — all non-mem-bers of the Security Council. India’s angerand dismay is justified but today it has abigger cushion of support.

China has a very clear strategic visionand its intent and policy have completeconvergence as far as its global interests areconcerned. It is clear that the country isusing its soft power to act against India’sinterests as Pakistan requested it to in pur-suance of mutual strategic objectives.China’s strategic interests demand anaccess to the Indian Ocean and an alter-native to Sea Lanes of Communications(SLOCs), passing through the vulnerableSouth China Sea. The key to both lies withPakistan in the form of the Gwadar Port,which has become a necessity for Chinafor furthering its influence in Asia andAfrica as well. Moreover, in consonancewith Chanakya’s teaching of “enemy’senemy is your best friend,” Pakistan footsthe bill and provides China an ideal“proxy” against India. This clarifies to anextent the reason behind China’s behaviourvis-à-vis Azhar, who is a mere pawn in amuch bigger game. China is not repeated-ly bailing out the dreaded terrorist but iscoming to the rescue of its trusted ally —Pakistan — which stares at the possibili-

ty of being designated a “terror state.”There is no doubt that China and India

do not enjoy the best of neighbourly rela-tions and have an unsettled border dispute,with China already in illegal occupationof Indian territory and staking claim formore. Pakistan in any case is an avowedenemy of India and considers it a quintes-sential threat. Humiliated by the shame-ful defeat suffered by its army in 1971resulting in its bifurcation, Pakistan hasunleashed a proxy war against India withterror as an instrument of its state policy.It, therefore, forms an ideal partner ofChina in the region. As long as animosi-ty continues to exist between India andChina, Pakistan will remain an importantplayer in China’s security calculus.

Moreover, as part of China’s ambitiousBelt and Road Initiative, it has made multi-billion dollar investments in Pakistan,which India is objecting to. China hasrepeatedly tried to convince India that theChina Pakistan Economic Corridor(CPEC) is not India-centric but is a pro-ject of economic cooperation aimed at ush-ering prosperity, peace and stability in theregion. India opposes on the issue of “sov-ereignty” since it runs through the terri-tory of PoK. China at no cost is going tolet its investment go waste and for that, itneeds to keep Pakistan in good humour.

China claims that it has no hegemonicdesigns in the region. By keeping terror-ists like Azhar and others under its pro-tection, China ensures peace at its CPECproject (a quid pro quo).

Another possible reason is that Chinais worried by India’s vigorous efforts toupgrade and build infrastructure on theIndo-China border. Raising of the moun-tain strike corps is one such thorn in theflesh. It would, therefore, like Indo-Pakistan relations to remain in turmoil andhostile so that the government of India’srenewed attention towards developingthe Indo-China border remains diverted,as well as its adverse effect on the grow-ing Indian economy.

Interestingly, JeM is already a bannedorganisation and China should have noobjection to declaring its chief as a glob-al terrorist. But China has always had adubious policy regarding terror and sup-port to rogue nations. Its support ofNorth Korea and its despot ruler is a casein point. China has tried to justify its standby stating that the case against Azhar lacksunanimity. It is a vague argument to cir-cumvent adverse international media. Asfar as the BRICS declaration is con-cerned, China’s stand is that its move is notin contradiction to its policy in the con-text of the BRICS declaration as the

member states have not entered into anysuch agreement. Only banned organisa-tions were discussed during the summitand not individuals as per the Chineseassertion. China considers it is fully jus-tified in putting the proposal on “techni-cal hold” on the plea that it would allowmore time to the Committee and its mem-bers to examine the entire issue andevolve a consensus.

It is in the interest of global peace thatIndia and China must narrow their differ-ences and cooperate with each otherrather than compete to justify 21st centu-ry as the century led by Asia. China alsoknows that as years pass by, it would be dif-ficult to beat back India with its militarypower and, therefore, would resort to softpower. China has a huge trade surplus of$52 billion (2017-18) with India. Whetherwe can afford a trade war with China is anissue which must be deliberated andanalysed in detail before rushing into anyemotion-based decision. This is where theskills of Indian diplomacy would be put toa severe test. Once, the strategic interestsof India and China converge, Pakistan willdiminish from the latter’s security calcu-lus.

(The author is a Jammu based political commentator, columnist,

security and strategic analyst)

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One of the key prongs for thewelfare of ex-servicemen

— the Army Group InsuranceFund (AGIF) — has exposure totoxic IL&FS bonds amountingclose to �210 crore. This meansthat crores worth of insurancepremiums, covering all ranksfrom generals to JCOs andjawans, are at risk of being lost.

Recently, officials of theIndian Army met the newboard of the IL&FS seeking asolution of this issue. There areno direct answers on who willpick up the liability.

IANS sent a questionnaireto IL&FS, asking whether theAGIF had any exposure to itsbonds and what was the quan-tum involved.

Chief CommunicationsOfficer, IL&FS group, said,“Thanks for reaching out to us.We would like to decline com-ments on the same.”

Similarly, a questionnairewas sent to the Army PRO LtCol Mohit Vaishnava and he wasalso spoken to by IANS as well,but he failed to respond toboth.

Here is a primer on theAGIF, from the Army’s own lit-erature on the subject and aconstruct of how it is funded.

Under the banner ofSoldiers2ndLife, the AGIFexplainer is succinct.Maturity Benefits:

The benefit, which is the

accumulation of the savingelement of the amount con-tributed by members alongwith interest and bonus, ispaid on discharge/release of aserviceman. The maturityamount is also paid along withdeath benefits to the next ofkin in case of death of anymember. A member can with-draw 50 per cent from thematurity benefit after 15 yearsof service for the purpose ofeducation/marriage of wards.In addition, a member canwithdraw up to 90 per cent ofthe maturity amount forrepair/renovation of house orfor the purpose of conveyanceduring the last two years of ser-vice before superannuation.Insurance:

Insurance benefits to thefamilies of those Army per-sonnel who may die while inservice is �50 lakh for officersand �25 lakh for JCOs/OR. Themonthly subscription is �5,000and �2,500 respectively.

Extended Insurance (EI):The Army Group

Insurance Fund ExtendedInsurance (EI) Scheme pro-vides insurance cover to ser-vicemen after leaving service.It provides �6 lakh for officersand �3 lakh for personnelbelow officer rank (PBOR)for a period of 26 years afterretirement or 75 years of age,whichever is earlier. Theamount is received by the fam-ily of the ex-serviceman in case

of his death. The amount hasbeen recently revised and isnow �10 lakh for officers and�5 lakh for PBOR for all thosewho joined the scheme afterJanuary 1, 2014. For thosewho joined earlier, the amountwill remain at the earlier rateof �6 lakh and �3 lakh for offi-cers and PBOR respectively.Disability Cover:

This concerns an individualwho becomes disabled out ofservice prematurely due toinjury or disease. The officersand JCOs/OR with 100 per centdisability will get an amount of�25 lakh and �12.5 lakh respec-tively. This amount gets pro-portionately reduced for lowerelement of disability upto 20 percent. An ex gratia disabilityallowance is also granted byAGIF in case a member with100% disability has been rec-ommended a constant atten-dant.AGIF Scholarship Scheme:

AGIF Scholarship Schemesfor the sum of �40,000 perannum are provided for wards ofofficers, JCOs and OR in 12Army Welfare EducationalInstitutions (AWES) institutions.

While the Army chose todeny the earlier IANS story onhow Army welfare funds mayhave been deployed in IL&FSbonds, saying, “It is informedthat welfare funds of the IndianArmy are invested only innationalised; scheduled banks;PSUs as per existing policy.

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Amidst increasing differencesbetween Jet Airways and

Etihad Airways, the only partythat can bailout the beleagueredairline, over the equity cap thatits founder chairman NareshGoyal can hold after his forcedexit,bankers Friday exuded con-fidence of reaching a resolutionplan as early as next week.

After agreeing to cap hisshareholding at 22 percent forperpetuity and completely exitthe airline’s management as aprecondition for a bailout thatEtihad and bankers demanded,Goyal had last Friday wrote toEtihad to remove the perpetu-ity clause from the resolutionplan and also the Gulf carrierimmediately offer a lifeline of�750 crore failing which theairline may get grounded.

This, according to mediareports, has put off the Gulfcarrier which already owns 24percent in the airline which hasgrounded 42 percent of its 119aircraft, most of them due tonon-payment lease rentals tothe aircraft lessors.

According to the draft res-olution plan submitted to thelenders led by the lead lenderSBI, Etihad will bring in around�1,800 crore as fresh equity andincreases its stake to 24.9 per-cent, while Goyal will chip inwith �750 crore and the rest of

the �3,800 crore come fromother investors.

Founder chairman Goyaland his family own 52 percentin the airline now which he hadagreed to pare down to 22 per-cent to secure a financial bailout.

“It is a work in progress.Very soon, say by next week, wewill have a solution plan inplace,” a senior SBI officialsaid here Friday.

The official said the reso-lution plans had started onNovember 1 last. “Any resolu-tion plan for a corporate is avery complex process. Thingsdon’t happen in a day or two orin even 15 days.

“There are various stake-holders, who have to be aligned;there are promoters and jointventure partners, so when thesituation is so complex, it takestime,” SBI explained the reasonfor the delay.

“We are making everyeffort and SBI is leading thateffort. We are clear on onething: to ensure that the airlineruns and not get grounded andnot to stave off our accountsbecoming NPAs. That’s thefundamental differencebetween any other NPA and JetAirways,” he added.

Jet has a debt of over�8,200 crore and needs tomake repayments of up to�1,700 crore by the end ofMarch.

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The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Fridaycame out with guidelines to prevent misuse

of price-sensitive information by participants inmarkets for financial instruments.

“Market participants, either acting inde-pendently or in collusion, shall not undertakeany action with the intention to manipulate thecalculation of a benchmark rate or a referencerate,” the RBI said in a notification.

Also, no market participant would carry outa transaction or initiate any action with the soleor dominant intention of influencing a bench-mark rate or a reference rate.

About regulatory action on market abuse,the RBI said market participants indulging inany such activity are liable to be denied accessto markets in one or more instruments for aperiod that may not exceed one month at a time.

The guidelines have become effective Friday.These directions, the RBI added, would

exclude transactions executed through the recog-nised stock exchanges. Further, the directionswould not apply to banks and the centralGovernment in furtherance of monetary policy,fiscal policy or other public policy objectives.

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Rising for the fifth straightsession, the rupee on Friday

jumped 24 paise to close at69.10 against the US dollar onsustained foreign fund inflowsand heavy buying in domesticequities.

Forex traders said the dol-lar’s weakness against its keyrivals overseas and easing crudeprices strengthened the marketsentiment domestically.

At the Interbank ForeignExchange, the domestic unitopened at 69.28 and advancedto a high of 69.03 during theday. It finally settled at 69.10, arise of 24 paise against the dol-lar over its previous close.

The rupee on Thursdayhad strengthened by 20 paise toclose at 69.34 against the USdollar.

On a weekly basis, thedomestic currency has added104 paise. This is also the fifthconsecutive week of gain forthe local unit.

“The rupee continues toremain on appreciating modedue to FIIs inflow in the debtand equity market. Crude oilprices are stable hence inflationis expected to remain benign incoming months,” said RushabhMaru — Research Analyst ,Anand Rathi Shares and StockBrokers.

Maru further said that theUS Federal Reserve’s patientapproach to raise interest rateshave also improved sentiments.

Forex traders said, the rallyin the Indian markets was ledby strong FII buying onaccount of reduction in geopo-litical risks and opinion pollssuggesting a likely return of theNDA Government in the gen-eral election 2019.

“Market is expecting NDAGovernment to return to thepower after the election. Henceall these factors are supportingthe rupee,” Maru said.

Brent crude, the global oilbenchmark, was trading at$66.96 per barrel, lower by 0.40per cent. Meanwhile, the dol-lar index, which gauges thegreenback’s strength against abasket of six currencies, fell0.15 per cent to 96.64.

Meanwhile, foreign port-folio investors (FPIs) purchasedshares worth Rs 4,323.49 crore,while domestic institutionalinvestors (DIIs) offloaded equi-

ties to the tune of �2,130.36crore Friday, provisional datashowed.

“FII inflows totalled $1.6billion for the past five days,while DII outflows stood at$839 million for the same peri-od,” Sanjeev Zarbade, VicePresident — PCG Research,Kotak Securities, said.

Extending its winning runto the fifth session, BSE bench-mark Sensex settled 269.43points, or 0.71 per cent, high-er at 38,024.32. The NSE Niftyclosed 83.60 points, or 0.74 percent, up at 11,426.85.

The Financial BenchmarkIndia Private Ltd (FBIL) set thereference rate for therupee/dollar at 69.2131 and forrupee/euro at 78.3368. Thereference rate for rupee/Britishpound was fixed at 91.6437 andfor rupee/100 Japanese yen at61.99.

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Boeing in the next 10 dayswill roll out an upgrade to

the MCAS stall preventionsystem for 737 MAX aircraftthat have had two deadly acci-dents in recent months, twoindustry sources told AFP.

The system was impli-cated in the crash of a 737MAX 8 in Indonesia inOctober but the sources cau-

tioned that the cause of thefatal Ethiopia Airlines acci-dent last weekend has not yetbeen determined.

The software fix, whichwas already underway prior tothe latest incident, will onlytake about two hours toinstall, said the sources, whoasked not to be identified.

The MAX aircraft havebeen grounded worldwide inthe wake of Sunday’s crash

near Addis Ababa that killed157 passengers and crew, andBoeing has halted deliveries ofits top-selling model. Theblack boxes from theEthiopian aircraft, which wasonly a few months old andcrashed a few minutes aftertakeoff, are being analyzed bythe French authorities to try todetermine the cause of theaccident.

The Lion Air 737 MAX 8

crashed last October also justminutes after takeoff, killing189 people. The initial inves-tigation indicated it was due toa malfunction on the stallprevention system, a new fea-ture on the MAX planes.

Several American pilotsalso reported issues with theMCAS and the FederalAviation Administration saidit ordered Boeing to issue a fixby April.

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The pilots’ union of crisis-hit JetAirways has approached the govern-

ment flagging concerns about salaryarrears, saying that the situation is lead-ing to extreme tension and frustration,according to a letter. The cash-strappedfull service airline has been makingdelayed salary payment for the last fewmonths and has also defaulted on loanrepayments.

Against this backdrop, the NationalAviator’s Guild (NAG) — a grouping ofover 1,000 pilots of Jet Airways — has writ-ten to Labour Minister Santosh Gangwar.

In the letter, dated March 6, thegrouping has raised concerns about per-sistent delay in salary payment of mem-ber pilots.

“This situation is leading to extreme

tension and frustration amongst ourmembers, hardly an ideal situation forpilots in the cockpit... All pleas to themanagement in this regard have fallenon deaf ears,” the letter said.

A Jet Airways spokesperson said it hasnot received any such communication.The response came to a query regardingthe pilots’ union approaching the LabourMinistry regarding salary arrears.

“The company remains committedto meet its salary obligations towards itsemployees and clearing all pendingdues,” the spokesperson said.

Jet Airways has been looking at var-ious ways to raise funds amid acute liq-uidity crunch that has forced it toground aircraft, cancel flights in largenumbers, shutdown stations and delaysalary payments to its pilots and engi-neers along with other senior staff.

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US stock regulators havesued Volkswagen over the

emissions cheating scandal,alleging the German automak-er committed fraud by raisingbillions in corporate bondswhile lying to investors aboutthe environmental impact of itscars.

In a filing Thursday nightin California, the Securitiesand Exchange Commissionsaid that from April 2014 toMay 2015, Volkswagen issuedmore than $13 billion in bondsand asset-backed securities inUS markets while senior exec-utives knew that more than500,000 vehicles in the USgrossly exceeded legal vehicleemissions limits.

By hiding the emissionsscheme, Volkswagen reapedhundreds of millions of dollarsin benefit by issuing securitiesat more attractive rates, the SEC

complaint alleges.“Issuers availing them-

selves of American capital mar-kets must provide investorswith accurate and completeinformation,” said StephanieAvakian, co-director of theSEC enforcement division.

“As we allege, Volkswagenhid its decade-long emissionsscheme while it was selling bil-lions of dollars of its bonds toinvestors at inflated prices,”the complaint said.

It seeks “disgorgement ofill-gotten gains” with prejudg-ment interest, and civil penal-ties, according to a summary ofthe SEC action.

It also seeks to bar formerVW CEO Martin Winterkornfrom serving as director or offi-cer of any publicly traded com-pany in the US.

VW responded saying theSEC complaint is “legally andfactually flawed” and that it willfight it vigorously.

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India YamahaMotor (IYM)

Pvt Ltd. onFriday launchedthe all new MT-15 (155 cc) inIndia. The newMT-15 (155 cc)mounts a liquid-cooled, 4-stroke,SOHC, 4-valve,6-speed trans-mission, 155cc fuel-injectedengine along with VariableValve Actuation (VVA) systemon a Delta box frame.

Yamaha as a part of itsongoing ‘The Call of the Blue’campaign has introduced MTSeries with the launch of thenew MT-15 that is poweredwith an engine that offers 58.0× 58.7 mm bore × stroke anda 11.6:1 compression ratio pro-ducing a maximum output of

14.2 kW (19.3 PS) at 10,000rpm and maximum torque of14.7 N·m (1.5 kgf·m) at 8,500rpm. The new MT-15 strikesthe ideal balance of agile accel-eration, agile handling andadvanced design and is target-ed for young generation whoare transitioning from lowerend two wheelers and aresimultaneously looking forsnappy rides with maximumfeel of torque and acceleration.

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New Delhi (PTI): Canadian investor Brookfield-led IndiaInfrastructure Trust (InVIT) has agreed to buy billionaire MukeshAmbani’s loss-making East-West gas pipeline for `13,000 crore.The InVIT will acquire 100 per cent equity interest in PipelineInfrastructure Pvt Ltd, owner and operators of the pipeline thattransports Reliance Industries Ltd’s eastern offshore KG-D6 gas tocustomers, according to a statement issued by Ambani’s flagshipcompany. After this, the existing pipeline usage agreement has beenreworked to reduce capacity reserved for RIL gas to 33 million stan-dard cubic meters per day from 56 mmscmd currently. RIL willhave to transport at least 22 mmscmd of gas through the pipelineat the revised tariff, failing which it will be liable to pay the dif-ferential amount to Pipeline Infrastructure, the statement said.

The East West pipeline originates at Kakinada in AndhraPradesh and travels 1,460-kilometre up to Bharuch in Gujarat. Itcommenced operations in 2009 with an original design capacityto transport 85 mmscmd of gas, including 21.25 mmscmd on com-mon carrier basis. The length of the main trunk pipeline is 1,385km from Kakinada to Bharuch and 75 km is the length of the spurlines. East-West pipeline operators in filings to oil regulatorPetroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB) haveclaimed that the pipeline was built at a cost of �16,347.96 crore.

The pipeline primarily transports KG-D6 gas, which has steadi-ly dipped from 69.43 million standard cubic metres per day achievedin March 2010 to under 3 mmscmd. RIL and its partner BP areinvesting USD 4-5 billion in developing three sets of gas fields inthe flagging KG-D6 block. The three sets of discoveries are envis-aged to produce 22-25 mmscmd of gas.

New Delhi (PTI): The country’sexports grew by 2.44 per cent year-on-year to USD 26.67 billion in February onaccount of higher shipments in sectorssuch as pharmaceuticals, engineering andelectronics, according to data from the

commerce ministry. Imports declined by5.4 per cent to USD 36.26 billion in thelast month, narrowing the trade deficit toUSD 9.6 billion. The gap between importsand exports was USD 12.3 billion inFebruary 2018.

Gold imports also fell sharply byabout 11 per cent to USD 2.58 billion inFebruary as against USD 2.89 billion inthe corresponding month last fiscal.

During the April-February period ofthe current fiscal year, exports grew 8.85

per cent to USD 298.47 billion, whileimports rose by 9.75 per cent to USD 464billion. The trade deficit has widened toUSD 165.52 billion during the 11 monthsof the current fiscal from USD 148.55 bil-lion compared to the year-ago period.

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Extending its winning run tothe fifth session, BSE

benchmark Sensex climbed269 points to hit six-monthhigh of 38,024 led by rally inbanking stocks amid soaringforeign fund inflows, strength-ening rupee and positive glob-al cues.

After rallying nearly 500points in afternoon trade, theSensex settled 269.43 points, or0.71%, higher at 38,024.32.The NSE Nifty closed 83.60points, or 0.74%, up at11,426.85.

The 30-share indexbreached the 38,000-mark forthe first time in six months. Ithad ended at 38,090.64 onSeptember 14, 2018.

Broader indices, however,ended on a mixed note, withBSE midcap ending 0.55%higher and BSE smallcap slip-ping 0.34%.

Kotak Bank was the topgainer in the Sensex pack, end-ing 4.31% higher. PowerGrid,TCS, ICICI Bank, SBI, HCLTech, NTPC, Infosys, BajajFinance, HDFC duo, ONGC,Vedanta and IndusInd Bank toorose up to 2.84%.

On the other hand, HUL,Yes Bank, ITC, Bharti Airtel,RIL, Sun Pharma and AxisBank fell up to 2.16%.

Sectorally, the BSE power,bankex, teck, oil and gas, IT andfinance indices gained the most,rising up to 1.94%, while BSEtelecom, FMCG and energyindices fell up to 1.79%,.

“Benchmark indices out-performed with IT index lead-ing from the front amid posi-tive global cues, BREXIT &Trade-deal deadline has beenextended. Besides, PSU banksare moving out of PCA frameand global liquidity is increas-ing supported by dovishFOMC which is positive forIndia. Strengthening rupee anddrop in yield is positive for ratesensitive stocks,” said VinodNair, head of research at GeojitFinancial Services, said.

During the week, Sensexsurged 1352.89 points, or3.68%, while Nifty climbed391.89 points or, 3.54%. TheBSE-30 index gained by around3.5% in the past week.

Rally in the Indian marketswas led by strong foreign insti-tutional investors (FII), buyingon account of reduction ingeopolitical risks and opinionpolls suggesting a likely returnof the NDA government in theupcoming general elections,said Sanjeev Zarbade, vice-president, PCG Research,Kotak Securities.

On a net basis, FIIs boughtshares worth a net of �1,482.99

crore on Thursday, whiledomestic institutional investors(DIIs) were net sellers to thetune of �817.77 crore, provi-sional data available with theBSE showed.

“The flows from overseasfrom the FIIs have helped themarkets, and a stable tostronger rupee has been facil-itated by likely year end repa-triations too,” said JosephThomas, head of research atEmkay Wealth Management.

Strengthening gains, therupee appreciated on Fridayjumped 24 paise to close at 69.10against the US dollar on sus-tained foreign fund inflows andheavy buying in domestic equi-ties. Forex traders said the dol-lar’s weakness against its keyrivals overseas and easing crudeprices strengthened the marketsentiment domestically.

Elsewhere in Asia, HongKong’s Hang Seng rose 0.56%,per cent, Korea’s Kospi was up0.95%, Shanghai CompositeIndex rallied 1.04%, and Japan’sNikkei ended 0.77% higher.Similarly, in the Eurozone,Frankfurt’s DAX gained 0.27%.Paris CAC 40 rose 0.44%.London’s FTSE was up 0.54% inearly deals.

Global crude benchmarkBrent crude futures rose 0.43 percent to USD 67.52 per barrel.

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Script Open High Low LTPRCOM 4.70 4.72 4.35 4.41SUZLON 7.08 7.10 6.71 6.80ICICIBANK 388.10 398.30 388.10 395.70RELCAPITAL 169.60 175.35 165.55 173.95YESBANK 251.80 252.90 243.40 245.05JPASSOCIAT 6.21 6.42 6.06 6.13RELINFRA 123.25 134.00 121.40 131.30SBIN 292.05 300.50 292.05 297.70RELIANCE 1345.00 1358.20 1311.65 1322.60KOTAKBANK 1277.00 1339.00 1271.00 1325.30STRTECH 259.00 259.00 229.00 231.25IFCI 13.80 14.00 13.30 13.65RPOWER 10.80 11.10 10.42 10.78ZEEL 451.00 469.25 441.15 454.80LT 1379.30 1408.90 1379.00 1397.35JUSTDIAL 632.70 633.35 603.95 609.35AXISBANK 743.45 748.50 732.50 735.70INFY 712.85 723.65 709.15 718.85DHFL 132.90 133.40 128.50 132.00TCS 1993.00 2069.00 1993.00 2040.20WESTLIFE 442.05 454.45 425.20 431.75PNB 85.00 87.20 85.00 86.00JETAIRWAYS 237.00 240.40 232.00 234.95CGPOWER 42.05 45.00 41.80 43.90DBL 610.10 663.35 601.20 657.90HINDUNILVR 1741.50 1742.50 1694.75 1698.65IBULHSGFIN 710.00 714.45 694.15 700.25IOC 152.50 158.30 150.85 156.70UPL 905.00 926.00 901.60 921.60M&MFIN 426.85 439.75 423.90 434.50NBCC 65.30 66.50 63.75 65.40INDUSINDBK 1689.50 1718.20 1685.05 1700.75BOMDYEING 141.35 142.25 132.00 133.30RECLTD 137.60 146.00 137.50 144.50TATAMOTORS 180.00 181.80 177.55 180.20IDFCFIRSTB 50.75 52.55 50.75 52.10IDFC 42.10 45.15 42.00 44.30HDFCLIFE 367.40 372.20 366.50 369.85HINDPETRO 268.00 279.90 265.50 276.45BEL 93.50 95.45 92.40 94.80HDFCBANK 2225.00 2260.00 2225.00 2251.50ORIENTBANK 99.70 102.50 98.90 99.95PCJEWELLER 86.90 87.05 82.30 82.95EDELWEISS 187.80 195.10 185.75 187.55IDBI 44.00 44.00 42.50 42.90BANKBARODA 116.60 119.80 116.05 117.95ADANITRANS 206.30 242.50 206.30 236.55COALINDIA 238.65 246.50 238.00 244.55TITAN 1088.00 1112.40 1082.00 1095.45TIINDIA 389.00 432.00 389.00 413.35ASHOKLEY 94.10 94.90 93.50 93.85BAJFINANCE 2808.75 2894.00 2808.75 2859.70NOCIL 143.70 150.40 142.30 145.35NATIONALUM 53.05 55.10 52.80 54.50IBVENTURES 284.00 290.00 275.40 279.15GRAPHITE 466.00 470.00 453.60 458.25BHARTIARTL 344.45 344.45 331.50 337.00TATAELXSI 953.10 985.50 947.35 979.00L&TFH 144.00 148.80 143.95 146.55SUNPHARMA 466.75 469.75 462.50 464.55INFIBEAM 46.05 46.45 43.00 43.75TATASTEEL 518.90 520.75 512.50 515.55FCONSUMER 46.40 46.85 44.10 44.85MEGH 62.45 62.60 58.60 59.10IBREALEST 88.50 89.00 84.40 85.60NTPC 154.50 158.50 152.80 157.65JINDALSTEL 166.00 167.45 163.90 166.00SUNTV 615.95 630.30 610.00 617.65BANKINDIA 93.00 95.00 92.55 92.95DLF 202.00 203.50 195.90 197.55LUPIN 767.00 789.40 767.00 785.30ESCORTS 804.60 810.25 788.30 799.30VEDL 173.50 176.00 170.35 175.25DABUR 438.95 439.85 423.30 425.35WIPRO 257.10 263.50 257.10 262.70GRUH 279.00 288.55 279.00 281.40ITC 296.00 296.75 289.50 290.95BHARATFORG 535.00 547.90 526.80 533.55ONGC 151.50 156.80 151.50 155.65SAIL 53.40 53.40 51.10 51.55UJJIVAN 343.00 347.85 335.00 337.45UNIONBANK 82.95 85.00 82.30 82.95MARUTI 7100.00 7154.35 7058.70 7092.05SPICEJET 80.15 81.00 77.05 77.90FEDERALBNK 91.45 92.75 90.20 91.35NAVKARCORP 45.05 47.50 41.50 42.60LAURUSLABS 381.00 394.00 379.00 385.75BEML 970.05 978.85 955.25 963.85M&M 688.00 696.20 687.55 693.10BPCL 392.60 398.00 389.65 396.50TVSMOTOR 495.00 507.90 486.50 492.70RBLBANK 637.10 651.80 637.10 647.00CADILAHC 332.00 349.40 329.50 342.25INDIACEM 101.00 102.80 97.10 97.65DISHTV 38.00 40.00 37.25 39.45NCC 106.30 108.95 105.10 105.85STAR 446.90 449.85 436.00 437.80CANBK 263.20 269.60 262.50 264.85MINDTREE 957.90 966.00 941.25 946.00TECHM 788.95 807.00 787.85 799.75ALBK 55.00 56.50 54.10 54.70ABCAPITAL 96.05 100.10 96.00 99.15HEG 2215.00 2229.00 2158.35 2169.20BATAINDIA 1364.00 1383.75 1358.05 1373.90JAICORPLTD 113.70 117.00 111.00 111.80HDFC 1913.75 1992.90 1913.75 1977.00JUBLFOOD 1352.00 1357.85 1333.10 1343.05ADVENZYMES 181.20 193.10 180.50 183.10

SPARC 198.85 203.00 197.00 199.75PRESTIGE 214.00 220.60 211.75 215.10WOCKPHARMA 432.95 438.50 426.00 429.40GAIL 354.90 362.90 349.00 358.70HEROMOTOCO 2785.00 2785.00 2720.10 2739.05DCBBANK 199.90 207.30 197.65 201.10MOTHERSUMI 164.25 167.30 163.20 165.25DELTACORP 251.40 252.25 244.55 246.25JUBILANT 863.10 882.80 862.00 872.45POWERGRID 187.00 193.80 187.00 192.35GREAVESCOT 141.60 147.50 141.60 144.45HCLTECH 1017.00 1034.50 1009.85 1028.10EVEREADY 213.00 216.00 208.00 209.40MCX 783.00 796.00 764.00 785.40ASIANPAINT 1435.05 1456.65 1430.00 1432.25LICHSGFIN 512.00 516.20 506.75 510.15MGL 926.45 941.95 926.40 935.80TATAPOWER 73.35 74.65 72.65 73.75FSL 44.55 45.70 43.85 44.25BHEL 66.90 67.95 66.20 67.70RAIN 111.00 112.00 104.00 105.35VIPIND 432.25 450.00 430.25 435.45JSWENERGY 68.80 69.00 66.35 67.30JMFINANCIL 89.00 92.40 88.40 89.25AVANTI 426.00 435.60 415.00 416.80RNAM 192.25 197.50 188.65 194.35RAYMOND 817.00 833.15 813.00 816.70HINDALCO 201.20 202.55 197.35 199.00HFCL 23.70 24.25 22.50 22.75SOUTHBANK 15.14 15.80 15.12 15.56JKTYRE 96.25 96.25 92.00 92.80FORCEMOT 1755.60 1774.00 1716.00 1721.80DCMSHRIRAM 471.00 482.00 425.00 446.10DMART 1479.00 1489.30 1471.80 1477.75KEC 295.50 303.90 295.00 298.70KTKBANK 128.10 129.80 127.10 127.85NLCINDIA 74.30 79.50 72.85 77.60BHARATFIN 1059.55 1074.95 1058.45 1062.35TATAMTRDVR 90.10 90.95 88.25 89.85ADANIPORTS 366.00 368.15 361.65 366.10PFC 111.00 112.75 110.10 111.90ADANIPOWER 50.80 51.20 50.10 50.60BAJAJELEC 507.00 526.75 505.00 515.25TATAGLOBAL 208.00 208.35 202.65 203.45SRF 2367.95 2429.00 2359.45 2412.15CEATLTD 1151.95 1178.00 1149.00 1164.85GRANULES 112.85 115.95 111.60 114.10JSWSTEEL 285.90 291.00 285.45 288.35CHOLAFIN 1362.85 1401.05 1362.85 1388.45ABFRL 232.50 232.90 226.10 227.50TRENT 375.75 397.00 364.65 384.55

RELAXO 762.00 778.40 734.60 750.80EMAMILTD 402.50 404.15 387.00 392.20HEXAWARE 336.70 345.60 336.35 341.30BAJAJFINSV 6920.00 7001.60 6904.65 6929.75SUVEN 252.00 259.80 246.25 248.90BANDHANBNK 515.00 521.45 509.80 511.05MUTHOOTFIN 600.00 606.75 593.50 597.80CORPBANK 29.15 29.65 28.45 28.65APOLLOTYRE 223.95 225.05 221.20 221.95PNBHOUSING 896.75 900.80 871.10 876.15TAKE 124.00 128.60 121.50 122.80CANFINHOME 321.40 324.55 311.90 314.55BRITANNIA 3158.65 3164.85 3055.00 3070.25MANPASAND 118.80 123.00 118.00 118.55NESTLEIND 10746.00 10746.00 10241.00 10329.00AMBUJACEM 223.00 229.45 223.00 225.35GRASIM 835.00 845.35 825.00 829.65PHILIPCARB 177.00 179.75 171.15 173.45AUROPHARMA 779.50 785.50 768.30 771.20ACC 1526.35 1558.85 1526.35 1532.75MANAPPURAM 118.10 120.35 118.10 119.30GUJGAS 156.00 156.05 148.95 149.85AUBANK 593.00 612.00 593.00 609.35CASTROLIND 167.00 169.10 160.25 163.85INDIGO 1303.00 1311.80 1287.70 1296.80GODREJCP 714.95 722.00 700.05 704.50MPHASIS 965.65 993.00 955.05 984.80CHAMBLFERT 165.50 170.15 163.50 165.80GLENMARK 635.00 651.50 634.80 639.60JAMNAAUTO 64.00 65.35 60.65 61.70CHENNPETRO 264.30 270.05 262.50 264.30APOLLOHOSP 1133.95 1150.95 1109.50 1124.90JINDALSAW 94.75 96.00 88.55 90.05GNFC 311.00 313.65 306.00 307.35PETRONET 238.05 244.00 234.50 236.40SRTRANSFIN 1253.15 1275.00 1245.85 1267.30INTELLECT 200.00 206.95 197.55 200.95

BAJAJ-AUTO 3004.65 3030.00 2984.75 3022.30RCF 58.00 59.25 57.80 58.10LTI 1661.00 1670.00 1620.00 1627.55IDEA 33.95 34.15 33.15 33.85MARICO 347.00 347.40 338.00 339.45PEL 2654.00 2681.65 2635.50 2643.25VOLTAS 604.80 607.10 596.40 599.95NMDC 115.00 115.20 113.90 114.60BIOCON 620.00 629.10 618.55 622.80DIVISLAB 1690.05 1722.70 1690.05 1708.40KSCL 442.00 447.00 436.20 438.60ICICIGI 948.10 985.00 948.10 968.70NIITTECH 1320.00 1347.70 1320.00 1336.05RAJESHEXPO 619.50 629.60 617.50 628.00OIL 177.05 179.25 177.05 178.85JISLJALEQS 62.00 63.10 61.40 62.00ISEC 257.45 264.50 254.00 256.00VENKYS 2278.05 2300.00 2209.95 2235.20EQUITAS 137.20 137.55 133.40 134.50INDIANB 266.00 272.15 264.60 266.20PIDILITIND 1176.70 1193.00 1162.20 1166.95ECLERX 1159.45 1159.95 1113.00 1116.40INOXWIND 73.50 74.60 66.35 68.20PRSMJOHNSN 96.80 97.00 90.00 91.15ULTRACEMCO 3974.20 3985.95 3910.00 3916.70VGUARD 215.00 223.65 215.00 219.85HIMATSEIDE 228.00 229.15 214.40 217.45RADICO 399.00 402.60 391.75 393.05BALKRISIND 944.40 948.05 928.00 931.15HAVELLS 750.00 755.00 742.65 745.70CENTURYTEX 896.35 901.00 880.20 886.70ASTRAL 1160.00 1229.00 1125.55 1142.75EXIDEIND 230.00 233.60 228.50 229.10DRREDDY 2650.20 2691.50 2643.00 2659.80CIPLA 533.00 535.10 528.40 531.75FRETAIL 438.00 450.00 433.40 446.05TATACHEM 579.80 587.50 577.95 584.15GODFRYPHLP 1087.75 1094.35 1073.90 1079.65TRIDENT 71.00 71.80 67.55 68.15MAGMA 116.55 120.00 116.55 117.35VMART 2672.40 2691.90 2570.00 2611.75UBL 1380.00 1402.00 1379.30 1383.75LTTS 1510.00 1518.00 1494.90 1502.05SCHNEIDER 107.00 113.45 106.40 111.90NHPC 25.00 25.20 24.85 25.15SYNGENE 585.55 604.25 575.25 578.00LAKSHVILAS 66.90 69.00 64.20 65.70SUNTECK 462.20 468.20 457.00 464.30EICHERMOT 22651.15 22822.20 22440.25 22631.60ICICIPRULI 338.00 342.95 335.35 340.15GODREJPROP 698.05 705.45 687.00 693.55KEI 429.95 435.00 389.95 404.10ALLCARGO 123.80 124.45 118.80 120.05ALKEM 1737.25 1775.00 1727.50 1749.95ADANIGREEN 39.20 39.60 37.30 37.95GODREJAGRO 516.65 520.60 493.00 503.55INFRATEL 314.95 318.55 311.50 313.70WELCORP 119.00 123.00 118.95 120.35SREINFRA 31.40 31.40 29.40 29.85CONCOR 513.20 518.15 507.15 514.45KANSAINER 460.05 471.55 454.15 465.05DEEPAKFERT 136.70 138.70 132.20 134.10NATCOPHARM* 576.20 589.20 572.00 585.45BAJAJCON 328.80 328.80 321.10 322.15EIDPARRY 220.00 222.00 210.55 215.20SUNDRMFAST 533.15 548.25 529.20 544.55HSCL 123.00 124.95 116.30 117.50BERGEPAINT 307.00 310.85 306.40 308.90PVR 1638.20 1657.00 1625.15 1633.40HUDCO 45.00 45.60 44.35 44.50MFSL 438.20 442.90 435.65 438.90FORTIS 135.10 138.40 135.10 137.80MOTILALOFS 624.20 638.00 621.50 627.95SHANKARA 448.05 457.00 438.85 449.30OFSS 3375.95 3416.25 3336.00 3358.70GMDCLTD 86.80 86.80 81.05 82.60WELSPUNIND 63.60 63.75 61.15 61.55MAXINDIA 63.70 66.40 63.40 64.95PERSISTENT* 676.00 692.00 656.00 666.10IGL 293.15 295.80 289.60 290.45BBTC 1330.25 1343.80 1304.05 1310.00TATAMETALI 657.05 660.20 622.30 631.70SYNDIBANK 38.85 39.60 38.10 38.40GICRE 254.35 258.15 252.90 253.65COFFEEDAY 308.00 308.00 298.05 300.65INDHOTEL 149.70 151.90 148.10 148.60FINCABLES 476.00 500.00 471.75 487.80RALLIS 161.75 164.85 159.00 161.05LEMONTREE 84.05 84.65 78.20 80.10NIACL 196.00 197.40 183.00 196.10JSL 39.80 40.10 38.20 38.65SCI 37.60 37.90 36.65 36.80TV18BRDCST 36.45 36.55 35.35 35.55DEEPAKNI 261.80 264.90 252.25 261.70OBEROIRLTY 481.05 489.95 480.00 486.75AJANTPHARM 1034.00 1042.50 1009.70 1015.55GUJFLUORO 1073.00 1092.45 1039.50 1054.20PTC 78.20 79.05 76.20 76.60NAUKRI 1886.00 1916.65 1848.00 1869.95WABAG 326.80 334.65 320.00 322.95CUMMINSIND 745.85 751.90 737.00 740.55KAJARIACER 586.40 586.80 567.70 571.50ENGINERSIN 115.50 115.50 113.25 113.95IRB 151.85 152.95 149.95 150.90ASHOKA 138.55 140.15 135.65 136.80SIEMENS 1038.90 1045.60 1031.45 1034.20HEIDELBERG 174.35 176.90 171.50 173.00IPCALAB 906.75 908.05 875.00 886.20BASF 1435.00 1435.25 1382.50 1391.25

OMAXE 209.45 210.40 206.10 206.65TATACOMM 610.70 614.00 601.00 608.60GSFC 104.45 104.45 102.25 103.00REPCOHOME 454.90 459.65 450.90 453.90BLISSGVS 174.60 174.60 166.50 169.05COLPAL 1284.80 1293.00 1269.85 1273.00GMRINFRA 17.15 17.20 16.75 16.95UFLEX 219.35 228.00 217.65 222.90AARTIIND 1422.70 1448.80 1400.00 1417.10MRPL 73.40 74.10 72.20 73.40MINDAIND 358.00 373.00 358.00 370.55WHIRLPOOL 1617.50 1617.50 1580.00 1591.45GESHIP 293.00 293.00 282.05 283.75PARAGMILK 257.00 258.50 245.95 254.05CARERATING 1010.00 1010.00 981.05 993.30TORNTPHARM 1841.80 1868.05 1825.50 1858.20J&KBANK 46.70 47.90 46.20 46.80SOBHA 435.05 462.00 426.40 438.65SUPREMEIND 1140.00 1140.00 1126.30 1130.20SONATSOFTW 333.95 334.00 318.00 322.65HINDZINC 275.00 275.65 271.45 274.90MAHLOG 494.95 502.00 489.00 498.95ITI 95.95 95.95 94.10 94.30GHCL 247.75 247.95 230.00 234.75CYIENT* 679.00 681.00 656.00 669.15HSIL 262.90 268.75 260.00 262.65INOXLEISUR 305.35 321.30 305.35 313.65NAVINFLUOR 700.55 724.85 700.05 706.75MOIL 161.40 161.55 158.00 159.05TTKPRESTIG 9022.00 9022.00 8430.10 8549.05SWANENERGY 106.25 107.00 101.05 102.05SBILIFE 618.15 619.55 612.00 615.05TATACOFFEE 95.35 96.90 94.00 94.30FLFL 467.50 476.55 466.05 471.80CROMPTON 228.90 229.40 227.00 228.15TNPL 215.60 217.05 207.00 209.15IOB 14.50 14.64 13.60 13.73LAOPALA 215.00 215.90 209.50 210.10SADBHAV 255.15 255.15 242.10 246.00VBL 825.85 829.50 814.10 821.35EIHOTEL 201.05 207.30 195.60 199.55DCAL 216.20 216.20 206.30 211.30ENDURANCE 1157.90 1168.65 1145.00 1150.60ZENSARTECH 218.65 237.00 217.95 229.65BAJAJHLDNG 3376.55 3377.00 3321.00 3330.80PNCINFRA 161.20 162.00 158.45 159.65GODREJIND 532.00 536.70 528.60 533.90CAPPL 426.00 437.90 417.85 422.60ESSELPRO 117.00 121.50 117.00 118.45TORNTPOWER 256.35 258.40 254.75 256.00GSPL 181.50 184.00 179.05 180.80REDINGTON 100.00 101.45 98.70 100.25BOSCHLTD 18790.00 18790.00 18350.00 18448.90MAHINDCIE 243.40 248.00 242.00 243.85GICHSGFIN 265.35 265.95 253.40 258.00HINDCOPPER 48.10 49.30 48.10 48.40ISGEC 5660.00 5760.00 5555.05 5600.95GDL 127.85 133.90 126.00 127.70MERCK 3442.50 3442.50 3355.00 3374.25BALMLAWRIE 188.35 194.75 188.05 192.20UCOBANK 18.80 18.95 18.40 18.50GILLETTE 6490.00 6664.10 6363.00 6520.75ITDCEM 131.20 135.85 131.20 132.90AMARAJABAT 746.80 752.75 743.60 746.10MHRIL 243.10 255.00 243.10 250.15PIIND 1003.95 1023.90 1000.20 1010.10MRF 57379.90 57920.50 56860.50 57480.10RAMCOCEM 709.00 719.85 702.00 704.30MMTC 27.90 28.25 27.20 27.50QUESS 779.50 798.00 768.50 793.70SJVN 24.55 24.85 24.35 24.40HERITGFOOD 542.00 545.30 537.90 541.30TEJASNET 166.00 180.85 166.00 177.65CENTURYPLY 194.35 197.20 191.80 192.35ABB 1315.20 1315.20 1296.00 1303.85GPPL 93.30 94.00 92.00 92.90CENTRALBK 34.00 34.60 33.70 34.00KALPATPOWR 405.05 449.85 405.05 447.20JSLHISAR 92.10 93.10 89.65 90.55MAHABANK 13.39 13.55 13.00 13.36ANDHRABANK 26.40 26.95 25.50 25.95PFIZER 3155.00 3220.00 3119.55 3200.20SUDARSCHEM 345.85 347.80 340.05 341.95HAL 688.10 688.10 671.10 674.70LUXIND 1297.20 1308.95 1265.05 1278.05LALPATHLAB 1040.00 1065.40 1030.00 1047.80GLAXO 1316.65 1316.65 1296.20 1298.50

FORBESCO 2250.00 2370.00 2250.00 2319.50MAHLIFE 373.00 373.00 352.00 363.40GREENPLY 151.85 152.75 144.00 147.50CARBORUNIV 379.20 385.85 371.00 378.30NILKAMAL 1370.00 1407.70 1350.45 1375.40PAGEIND 23823.00 23980.00 23511.05 23615.35GUJALKALI 518.75 525.00 518.00 522.85THERMAX 1038.00 1038.00 1010.10 1015.50THOMASCOOK 222.10 224.10 219.85 222.15KRBL 365.35 368.00 352.50 359.35NETWORK18 35.85 35.85 33.90 34.40CRISIL 1470.45 1480.00 1431.00 1446.40VINATIORGA 1683.60 1693.30 1630.20 1641.55ASTRAZEN 2000.00 2026.00 1960.15 1980.10PHOENIXLTD 656.95 682.00 655.00 677.00ATUL 3310.00 3331.55 3267.70 3286.40TEAMLEASE 2914.60 2980.30 2720.00 2787.00JCHAC 2078.95 2078.95 1860.00 1925.55SOMANYCERA 385.00 387.60 376.00 381.25ITDC 285.15 286.65 275.05 278.00LINDEINDIA 505.05 510.95 496.10 502.903MINDIA 24030.00 24400.00 23425.00 23770.10BDL 286.05 291.00 284.05 286.20AEGISLOG 204.50 205.90 203.00 204.10JKCEMENT 832.00 845.50 823.45 830.15CENTRUM 35.25 36.00 34.45 34.80JKLAKSHMI 349.90 357.00 345.00 352.35COCHINSHIP 385.60 385.60 378.00 379.70BLUEDART 3243.45 3288.00 3227.15 3262.70APARINDS 636.85 659.70 630.00 656.40SYMPHONY 1350.00 1350.00 1286.05 1294.80PGHH 10406.25 10525.00 10220.00 10294.35ELGIEQUIP 246.35 246.35 241.80 242.70BIRLACORPN 538.10 544.80 530.10 536.15APLLTD 552.50 552.50 546.25 547.10CUB 185.75 189.60 185.75 188.50NBVENTURES 105.55 105.55 101.85 102.35GSKCONS 7074.25 7100.00 7033.00 7069.70MINDACORP 145.50 145.50 142.30 143.45KNRCON 257.15 257.20 252.45 255.60IFBIND 970.00 999.00 970.00 981.45IBULISL 321.50 331.35 312.55 322.55JBCHEPHARM 337.60 343.00 326.15 332.50VTL 1077.00 1097.65 1070.10 1087.85NESCO 454.00 471.00 450.00 459.10BAYERCROP 4307.50 4332.50 4280.95 4311.45APLAPOLLO 1373.00 1390.00 1337.00 1368.00UNITEDBNK 10.95 10.95 10.65 10.70SANOFI 5820.25 5869.40 5602.00 5720.70SHILPAMED 366.30 371.00 362.50 366.90COROMANDEL 483.00 486.35 475.75 479.75IEX 164.95 165.40 162.40 163.65DBCORP 203.00 205.00 199.20 200.75THYROCARE 542.90 543.50 520.10 523.95MONSANTO 2640.15 2640.15 2578.00 2590.25FINOLEXIND 535.00 539.85 529.85 536.70LAXMIMACH 6220.00 6299.95 6150.00 6171.35SHREECEM 17767.60 17829.60 17222.00 17575.55SUPRAJIT 231.20 233.00 223.00 228.45FDC 180.15 182.00 177.15 179.00GAYAPROJ 162.40 164.25 158.00 160.70KPRMILL 592.35 592.35 584.00 585.05SHK 153.25 153.25 150.00 150.50SHARDACROP 381.00 381.00 350.00 358.35CCL 290.95 291.55 288.35 289.10BLUESTARCO 684.45 684.45 651.00 665.15JYOTHYLAB 188.80 188.80 184.40 184.90JAGRAN 114.10 114.10 110.05 111.50NH 222.55 229.00 222.55 228.15AKZOINDIA 1760.90 1763.75 1736.30 1744.25TVTODAY 338.25 341.10 329.00 332.30GET&D 297.00 298.20 291.10 293.10STARCEMENT 104.50 105.25 101.85 102.35SIS 857.65 858.70 850.00 851.80SUNCLAYLTD 3194.00 3221.05 3125.00 3138.50NAVNETEDUL 110.40 110.85 108.10 108.85TIMKEN 573.50 579.70 568.25 569.80ERIS 656.00 657.60 649.30 655.40TVSSRICHAK 2272.00 2318.00 2233.00 2262.05TIMETECHNO 101.00 104.00 101.00 101.55WABCOINDIA 6450.00 6450.00 6375.00 6419.65INDOSTAR 344.15 352.00 340.00 346.80SUPPETRO 223.15 230.40 223.10 225.20SKFINDIA 1956.00 1956.75 1930.55 1935.10TATAINVEST 846.50 847.60 840.05 841.35ABBOTINDIA 7370.25 7371.75 7290.00 7310.40KIOCL 147.00 149.05 143.00 144.25GEPIL 836.20 846.00 825.00 839.60HONAUT 22473.00 22573.40 22100.00 22145.40GALAXYSURF 1107.50 1126.50 1090.10 1121.25ASTERDM 157.70 158.50 155.25 155.25MAHSCOOTER 3353.00 3372.90 3324.90 3329.25SCHAEFFLER 5449.10 5475.00 5389.50 5459.60HATSUN 714.00 719.95 713.00 713.45SHRIRAMCIT 1759.85 1780.00 1740.00 1763.00DHANUKA 433.00 435.00 426.75 431.90GULFOILLUB 835.00 853.00 835.00 851.25ORIENTCEM 86.30 88.55 85.50 86.40ZYDUSWELL 1286.00 1297.90 1286.00 1292.50CERA 2644.95 2644.95 2620.00 2625.85SFL 1330.00 1357.90 1330.00 1340.00TRITURBINE 118.35 118.35 112.50 113.45TIFHL 498.95 498.95 481.70 495.05AIAENG 1761.00 1766.00 1746.00 1757.85SHOPERSTOP 469.30 473.00 468.55 469.25ASAHIINDIA 270.50 271.00 266.00 266.50SOLARINDS 1038.95 1038.95 1030.00 1032.55GRINDWELL 589.80 590.00 582.70 584.60RATNAMANI 882.00 887.85 880.05 885.00

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SCRIP OPEN HIgh LOW LTP CHANGENIFTY 50 11376.85 11487.00 11370.80 11426.85 83.60KOTAKBANK 1271.90 1339.35 1270.00 1328.00 59.05IOC 152.70 159.20 150.70 155.95 4.85HINDPETRO 268.10 280.00 265.40 275.00 7.85POWERGRID 187.10 194.20 187.10 193.00 5.40WIPRO 258.00 264.25 257.20 263.70 6.85HCLTECH 1012.00 1033.85 1008.80 1032.00 25.25TCS 1998.90 2068.95 1991.00 2036.00 48.60UPL 904.00 928.40 902.40 924.10 20.35GAIL 355.65 362.00 350.00 361.00 7.40ICICIBANK 388.85 398.25 388.10 395.80 7.90ONGC 151.90 157.45 151.20 154.10 3.05NTPC 154.60 159.25 152.65 156.75 3.10SBIN 292.60 301.30 292.50 297.80 5.90BAJFINANCE 2818.80 2899.00 2815.00 2862.80 54.70INFY 712.00 723.75 709.60 720.00 11.65TECHM 794.00 807.50 787.00 800.50 12.05M&M 688.25 697.00 687.00 696.30 10.40HDFCBANK 2231.00 2259.90 2228.05 2258.00 33.25BPCL 391.00 398.30 389.40 396.00 5.70ZEEL 452.00 469.70 440.80 455.40 5.60HDFC 1960.00 1991.70 1955.90 1976.80 23.35INDUSINDBK 1686.00 1718.00 1685.10 1701.00 18.30TITAN 1087.00 1113.80 1082.00 1098.00 11.65VEDL 173.20 176.50 170.20 175.00 1.40LT 1386.00 1410.80 1378.60 1390.65 10.90DRREDDY 2655.50 2693.75 2640.95 2657.95 10.05BAJAJ-AUTO 3002.10 3032.20 2980.00 3026.00 9.15TATAMOTORS 180.20 181.40 177.60 180.00 0.45MARUTI 7109.00 7157.00 7060.00 7103.60 17.30JSWSTEEL 287.40 291.25 285.30 287.50 0.60ASIANPAINT 1434.00 1457.00 1428.65 1437.00 2.25IBULHSGFIN 708.90 714.35 693.25 701.95 0.05COALINDIA 238.85 246.15 238.00 243.05 -0.15SUNPHARMA 466.20 469.95 462.30 465.80 -0.35CIPLA 534.10 535.40 528.95 532.20 -0.55BAJAJFINSV 6920.00 7004.00 6900.00 6924.35 -7.75ADANIPORTS 366.25 368.95 361.50 365.05 -0.95EICHERMOT 22838.00 22838.00 22426.00 22527.00 -92.90AXISBANK 742.95 748.95 731.70 736.50 -4.10INFRATEL 316.00 320.00 311.25 312.55 -1.80HEROMOTOCO 2771.00 2771.00 2717.10 2735.85 -15.85TATASTEEL 518.00 520.95 512.45 514.50 -3.15HINDALCO 201.50 202.55 197.25 199.40 -1.35GRASIM 838.10 845.80 824.05 826.70 -6.20ULTRACEMCO 3990.00 3990.00 3905.00 3920.00 -44.15BHARTIARTL 344.00 344.85 331.20 337.95 -4.45ITC 295.95 296.55 289.35 291.60 -3.90RELIANCE 1345.00 1358.80 1311.20 1323.75 -17.80YESBANK 251.70 252.80 243.50 245.05 -4.80HINDUNILVR 1745.00 1746.50 1694.45 1701.00 -36.30

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SCRIP OPEN HIgh LOW LTP CHANGENIFTY NEXT 50 27983.50 28128.55 27866.50 27907.65 -34.45CADILAHC 331.15 349.45 329.40 341.30 10.65LUPIN 767.00 789.60 767.00 786.00 21.80ICICIGI 937.40 983.95 937.40 972.35 25.20L&TFH 144.20 149.00 143.60 147.00 3.60ABCAPITAL 96.75 100.45 96.05 98.25 2.35SRTRANSFIN 1248.05 1272.50 1245.20 1272.10 25.30NHPC 25.05 25.30 24.80 25.25 0.50BEL 93.05 95.45 92.35 94.75 1.55ICICIPRULI 337.00 343.30 335.10 340.50 4.25BANKBARODA 116.40 119.85 116.00 117.95 1.40HDFCLIFE 367.00 372.25 366.25 370.90 4.30MOTHERSUMI 163.90 167.15 162.85 164.90 1.70BIOCON 620.10 628.90 618.00 623.80 6.30BHEL 66.25 68.05 66.10 67.90 0.65MRF 57200.00 58000.00 56911.00 57710.00 548.55CONCOR 512.00 517.60 507.25 513.00 4.25AMBUJACEM 223.90 229.50 223.55 225.50 1.35NMDC 115.45 115.45 113.85 114.90 0.65SUNTV 617.40 630.75 610.20 618.05 3.40DMART 1474.00 1490.00 1471.95 1475.00 7.70IDEA 33.95 34.25 33.65 33.95 0.15ABB 1317.40 1317.40 1296.10 1315.00 5.40SBILIFE 613.10 619.75 611.00 617.05 2.15NIACL 192.60 199.00 192.60 196.45 0.40INDIGO 1305.90 1314.90 1286.00 1301.00 1.20HINDZINC 273.10 276.10 270.50 274.05 0.10SIEMENS 1035.00 1045.00 1031.45 1037.00 0.15ASHOKLEY 93.95 95.00 93.65 93.85 -0.10HAVELLS 747.30 754.00 742.00 746.00 -1.20OIL 179.45 179.45 177.30 178.10 -0.55PIDILITIND 1171.00 1193.85 1160.00 1165.00 -4.95PEL 2651.00 2684.00 2627.00 2636.95 -14.60BANDHANBNK 516.85 521.40 510.00 510.50 -3.10PETRONET 238.40 244.30 235.20 236.05 -1.50ACC 1540.50 1559.30 1526.45 1528.30 -11.00LICHSGFIN 515.00 516.75 506.50 508.10 -3.75SHREECEM 17602.00 17856.10 17451.40 17569.20 -131.05GICRE 256.00 258.05 253.15 254.00 -2.00MCDOWELL-N 594.00 595.90 580.60 581.05 -4.95OFSS 3394.90 3420.00 3335.50 3351.00 -29.50PGHH 10250.00 10579.95 10205.55 10205.55 -89.35AUROPHARMA 782.00 785.00 768.40 771.60 -7.05COLPAL 1278.00 1293.05 1268.00 1270.10 -12.30BOSCHLTD 18689.90 18689.90 18305.55 18329.10 -230.40GODREJCP 711.00 722.90 696.90 704.85 -10.20SAIL 53.30 53.35 51.05 51.70 -1.00DLF 202.15 203.75 196.55 197.40 -4.45MARICO 347.45 347.90 336.95 338.70 -7.80BRITANNIA 3160.00 3169.00 3054.70 3070.00 -79.40DABUR 438.00 439.15 423.50 426.65 -12.25

Atowering 13-floor HostelBlock, named after for-mer Prime Minister Atal

Bihari Vajpayee and a 5-floorAdministrative Block, namedin the memory of MahatmaGandhi, was recently inaugu-rated at the Vellore Institute ofTechnology (VIT). The man-aging director and chief exec-utive officer of Indian Bank,Padmaja Chunduru, dedicatedthe buildings as part of cele-brations of InternationalWomen’s Day in the presenceof the founder and chancellorof VIT, Dr G Viswanathan. Thevice president, Delivery andSupport (ERP), RamcoSystems, and a former studentof VIT, G Muthazhagi, was theguest of honour on the occa-sion. The Hostel Block hasbeen built at a cost of �105crore, while the AcademicBlock has been built at a costof �51 crore.

In his address, DrViswanathan said that womenformed 49 per cent of India’spopulation and were the back-bone of saving money in thecountry. He spoke aboutincreasing the age limit for chil-

dren for free education from 14to the age of 18 and advocatedthat the government shouldincrease its investment onhigher education. “PrimeMinister Narendra Modi spokeabout accessibility, affordabil-ity and equity in higher edu-cation. To implement this, thegovernment should come for-ward to spend more money inthe education sector.”

Chunduru commentedthat India possessed a betterculture of encouraging womenwithout judging them based ontheir looks and complexion.She pointed out that 33 per

cent of the employees of theIndian Bank were women.“Today there are so manyoptions for jobs, education,marriages, to choose how youwork and where to work.Hence, options are good butmaking a decision is equallyvery difficult. That decisionmaking is what you need toempower yourself for,” shesaid.

Addressing the female stu-dents at VIT, Muthazhagiadded that work life balancewas the key. “Stay focused,plan and execute with priori-ties, be it at home or at work.”

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An Australian gunmanwhose assaults on two New

Zealand mosques on Friday leftat least 49 people dead, pub-lished a racist manifesto onTwitter before livestreaminghis rampage.

The New ZealandGovernment said it could beillegal to share the video, whichshowed the gunman repeated-ly shooting at worshippersfrom close range.

The Facebook Live video,taken with a camera thatappeared to be mounted on thegunman’s body, shows a clean-shaven, Caucasian man withshort hair driving to the Masjidal Noor mosque in centralChristchurch. He enters thebuilding and fires repeatedly atworshippers as he moves from

room to room. AFP deter-mined the video was genuinethrough a digital investigationthat included matching screen-shots of the mosque takenfrom the gunman’s footagewith images available online

showing the same areas.The “manifesto” detailing

motivations for the attack wasposted on Friday morning ontoa Twitter account with thesame name and profile imageas the Facebook page that

streamed the attack. In thevideo, the shooter parks his carnext to the mosque and gets outof the vehicle with a rifle. Heslowly goes to the boot of hiscar and retrieves another

firearm. He then walks into thecompound of the mosque andfires at a person standing nearthe doorway before droppingthe rifle and shooting repeat-edly with the second weapon as

he moves inside.The gunman fires dozens

of bullets at people trying torun away or lying down in hud-dled groups in corners of therooms.

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In a stunning rebuke toDonald Trump, a dozen

Republican senators brokeparty ranks and sided withDemocrats to terminate the USPresident’s declaration of anational emergency onAmerica’s border with Mexico.

In a 59-41 vote, 12Republicans joined everySenate Democrat on Thursdayin a rare move to block thepresident’s effort to divert bil-lions in funding to build hislong-promised border wallwithout congressionalapproval.

Kuala Lumpur: A Vietnamesewoman accused of murderingthe North Korean leader’s half-brother was given a mentalhealth check-up Friday, a dayafter she lost a release bid andbroke down in a Malaysiancourt, her lawyer said.

Doan Thi Huong is ontrial for the 2017 Kuala Lumpurairport assassination of KimJong Nam. Her Indonesian co-accused was released this weekafter prosecutors dropped amurder charge, but authoritiesThursday refused to do thesame for Huong.

The 30-year-old wasbrought from prison to a KualaLumpur hospital in a van

accompanied by several policecars and heavily armed officerswearing balaclavas, accordingto one of the officers escortingher. She left after about an hour.

“Our client Doan isstressed, she has been taken toa public hospital. She is under-going a psychiatric assessment,”her lawyer Hisyam Poh TehPeik told AFP.

“Let us all pray for herhealth and immediate free-dom.” On Thursday the suspectsobbed in the dock and had tobe helped out of court by twopolice officers after a prosecu-tor announced the attorney-general had refused to drop amurder charge against her.AFP

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Melbourne: With anAustralia-born man emerg-ing as the prime suspect in oneof the two terror attacks inNew Zealand, AustralianPrime Minister Scott Morrisonon Friday said he cannotunderstand how anyone whowould engage in such hate andviolence can be called a“human”.

At least 49 worshipperswere killed in attacks on the AlNoor Mosque in centralChristchurch and the LinwoodMosque in the city’s outer sub-urb, in what appeared to be theworst attack against Muslims ina western country. PTI

Washington: President DonaldTrump on Friday called the ter-ror attacks on two mosque inNew Zealand a “horrible mas-sacre” and offered US assistance.

Condemning the attacks,President Trump tweeted, “Mywarmest sympathy and bestwishes goes out to the people of New Zealandafter the horrible massacre inthe Mosques.”

“49 innocent people haveso senselessly died, with somany more seriously injured.The US stands by New Zealandfor anything we can do. Godbless all!” Trump tweeted.PTI

Islamabad: Pakistan PrimeMinister Imran Khan on Fridaysaid that increasing“Islamophobia” after the 9/11terror attacks in the US wasresponsible for the attack on twomosques in New Zealand thatkilled at least 49 worshippers.

“Strongly condemning” theterror attack on the mosques inNew Zealand, Prime MinisterKhan tweeted: “This reaffirms

what we have always main-tained: that terrorism does nothave a religion. Prayers go tothe victims and their families.”

At least 49 people werekilled in attacks on the AlNoor Mosque in centralChristchurch and the LinwoodMosque in the city’s outer sub-urb, in what appeared to be theworst attack on Muslims in awestern country. PTI

London: Scotland Yard onFriday said that officers will beundertaking extra patrolsaround mosques in the UK inthe wake of the terror attacks onNew Zealand mosques in which49 people have been killed.

The Metropolitan Police ismonitoring the situation sincethe mass shootings atChristchurch and remained onstand-by to offer support to its

counterparts in New Zealand,Scotland Yard’s Indian-originNational Policing Lead forCounter-Terrorism Neil Basusaid.

“We will be stepping upreassurance patrols aroundmosques and increasingengagement with communitiesof all faiths,” the UK’s senior-most counter-terrorism officialsaid. PTI

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From the South Pacific to theedge of the Arctic Circle,

students mobilised by word ofmouth and social mediaskipped class on Friday toprotest what they believe aretheir Governments’ failure totake thorough action againstglobal warming.

The coordinated ‘schoolstrikes,’ were inspired by 16-year-old Swedish activist GretaThunberg, who began holdingsolitary demonstrations outsidethe Swedish parliament lastyear.

Since then, the weeklyprotests have snowballed froma handful of cities to hundreds,fuelled by dramatic headlinesabout the impact of climatechange during the students’lifetime.

Thunberg, who was recent-ly nominated for the NobelPeace Prize, a rally inStockholm that the world facesan existential crisis.

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EU leaders on Friday calledfor clarity from Britain

before considering any delay toBrexit after a series of chaoticvotes by MPs just two weeksbefore the deeply divided coun-try is due to leave the bloc.

Quitting the EU after 46years on March 29 remains thelegal default unless EU leadersunanimously grant Britain anextension, with the issue like-ly to dominate a March 21-22EU summit in Brussels.

The length of any possibledelay will depend on the out-come of another parliamentaryvote on the twice massivelyrejected Brexit deal struck by

Prime Minister Theresa Maywith EU leaders.

The government said itwould ask for a “technical”delay until June 30 to pass nec-essary legislation if MPs final-ly approve the deal next week.

If MPs vote against it for athird time, the government

has warned it will be forced toseek a much longer delay.

“It is very clear that thenext steps, the next proposal onhow to move forward mustcome from Britain,” GermanChancellor Angela Merkel’sspokesman Steffen Seibert saidin Berlin on Friday.

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Sixty years after the DalaiLama fled into permanent

Indian exile, the cause ofTibetan freedom that earnedhim a Nobel prize and acelebrity-studded internation-al following has lost much of itsmomentum — neutralised,analysts say, by the passage oftime and China’s rising globalpower.

Inside Tibet, Beijing haseffectively wiped out anyorganised opposition to itsiron-clad rule, while outside,the once-vocal support of sym-pathetic governments and

world leaders has dwindled tonear-silence in recent years despite the 14thDalai Lama’s enduring per-sonal popularity.

“The fate of Tibet is in thehands of the Chinese state...Tibetans outside the regionare not very relevant to the fateof Tibet, and this includes theDalai Lama”, said Nathan Hill,convener of Tibetan studies atthe School of Oriental andAfrican Studies (SOAS) inLondon.

In 2007, the Buddhist spir-itual leader said his homelandwas facing its “darkest period in2,000 years”.

Berlin: A group of Europeannations is urging Russia not toabandon a nuclear weaponstreaty with the United States.

Germany, Sweden and theNetherlands are also calling fornew arms control agreementsto address the rising power ofChina and other nations.

The US gave notice of itsintention to withdraw from theIntermediate-Range NuclearForces treaty a month ago, cit-ing Russian violations. TheEuropean countries opened anarms control conference inBerlin on Friday urgingMoscow “to return to completeand verifiable compliance” tosave the treaty. AFP

Washington: The United Statesannounced its first sanctionsagainst the InternationalCriminal Court Friday, threat-ening visa restrictions for any-one involved in a potentialprobe of American soldiers’actions in Afghanistan.

“If you’re responsible forthe proposed ICC investigationof US personnel in connectionwith the situation inAfghanistan you should notassume that you still have, orwill get, a visa or that you willpermitted to enter in the US,”Secretary of State MikePompeo told reporters. AFP

F�������������������London: Queen Elizabeth II,New Zealand’s head of state,said she was “deeply saddened”by the attacks on two mosqueson Friday which left 49 peopledead.

“I have been deeply sad-dened by the appalling eventsin Christchurch... At this trag-ic time, my thoughts andprayers are with all NewZealanders,” she said in a mes-sage.

“Prince Philip and I sendour condolences to the familiesand friends of those who have

lost their lives,” she said, pay-ing tribute to emergency work-ers and volunteers providingsupport to the injured.

Queen Elizabeth, 92, theworld’s oldest and longest-serving living monarch, isqueen of 15 other realmsbesides Britain, includingAustralia, Canada and NewZealand.

She last visited NewZealand in 2002 as part of cel-ebrations to mark the 50thanniversary of her accession tothe throne. AFP

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Germany on Friday said theball remained in Britain’s

court to propose a viable exitplan from the European Unionas the Brexit deadline looms.

Ahead of a crunch summitnext week, Chancellor AngelaMerkel’s spokesman SteffenSeibert said Berlin welcomedthe British parliament’s vote onWednesday against a no-dealBrexit.

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Bill Blass once said, ‘When indoubt, wear red.’ Well, theday three at the Lotus

Make-up India Fashion Weeksomewhat defied this. By bring-ing a range of colours, and mod-ern designs to the fore, itembraced the idea of confluenceof variants, and mix and match.

Through a feminine, flirta-tious, and romantic range, design-er Suneet Varma’s collection titledAnaya was an inspiration fromthe incredible traditional motifsand embroidery from the decora-tive arts of India. The largeabstract-shaped mirrors withmulti-coloured thread embroi-dery was a modern and fresh takefor the contemporary bride.Ranging from dark shades ofmidnight blue and burgundywith silver accents in lehengaswith off-shoulder blouses andshort jackets, his collection show-cased draped skirts wornwith capes and ruffledorganza shirts withh i g h - w a i s t e dpalazzo pants.

The collec-tion in shinysilver and goldmetallic foilwas a perfectmix of glam-our with tradi-tional silhou-ettes. The crystaltassel collectionwas inspired from themagnificent Indian jeweltones. Emerald green, ruby redand sapphire blue in teardrop andtriangular crystals were used cre-atively in three dimensionalembellishment which was wornwith dramatic and draped skirts.

Designer Sanjukta Duttashowcased her new collectionMorom. It was an eclectic mix oftraditional design in modern sil-houette, pared down in the choic-est of characteristic AssameseSilk, which is locally produced bygetting cocoons of a particularlineage of worms found only in asingle village in Assam. Inspiredby the butterfly and natural floraof the state, her range comprisedof Mekhala Chador, the tradition-al sari of Assam. The beauty of thedesigns was how she has used theage-old silk and created modern

designs including jumpsuits, skirtand crop top, saris with cape andpant suit. Dominated by black,creme and beige, the collectionwas highlighted with motifs inred, silver and gold. ActressKarisma Kapoor looked elegant ina stunning black Mekhala Chadorhighlighted with red embroideryas she walked the ramp forSanjukta. The look was complet-ed with exquisitely designed jew-ellery by Narayan Jewellers byKetan and Jatin Chokshi.

Karisma said, “It is such awonderful cause and Sanjuktadoes a lot of work to promotewomen empowerment. She hasdone a lot for women in Assam.She has given 500 women anopportunity to work and makethese wonderful handloompieces. I love bright colours andI see today as the perfect occasionto wear it.”

Amrich’s collectionaimed to create an

immaculate conflu-ence of shapes,

fabrics, coloursand surfaces,informed bytheir r ichrepository ofengagementwith Indianhandloom and

craft traditions.The exquisite

hand-loomed andhand-crafted natural

textiles were speciallydeveloped in different parts of thecountry in khadi cotton, wool,silks and silk blends.

They focussed on a fun takeat mixing and matching or un-matching of sheer and opaquethrough different textiles andfabric construction in the line.They used thick khadi cotton yarnwoven with desi tussar silk on anopen weave to create translucentfabrics whilst also making use ofthe khadi yarns to play withchecks and stripes. A newnesswas created in the shibori patternsby way of introducing interestingfabric manipulations in theprocess. Through hand-embroi-deries with threadwork and beadsand hand-made metal sequins,they added an element of inter-est to the elegant textiles. With

bold shades of black, red, blue andgreen, the colour palette was sub-dued.

The collection, by channelisingthe timeless elegance of the hand-made into garments that are versa-tile, modern and evocative, was acelebration of the juxtaposition ofmultiplicities and its exciting off-shoots.

Designer Charu Parashar pre-sented her collection titled AvantGardiste, which was inspired by theChintz floral Calico textiles of 19thcentury. She cleverly brought theconcept and transformed it totallyon a deep luxurious background ofcolours, creating a stunning AW’19look. The collection featured age-old techniques of hand embroideryand Indian handlooms fabrics tocreate prêt and diffusion look.With floral and Chintz prints, shere-invented the old silhouettes tocreate a new look. Through navyblue, red and sea green, her colourpalette included all shades of dark.

Known for her nature-inspireddesigns, her collections stood forhigh quality of craftsmanship andinnovation of Indian ethnic luxu-ry. Keeping the Indian sensibility inmind, her designs yet gave a glob-al vibe.

With this collection, she contin-ues to work towards a more sustain-able fashion future, keeping the oldart and techniques of block print-ing alive. The designs were allmade with sustainable fabric suchas khadi silk, raw silk, satin silk, silkvelvet, georgettes, and organza.There were a range of clothesincluding Indian waistcoats, drapedhoti’s, jackets, skirts, capes, offer-ing a fine balance between the sim-ple styles with few details, in whichthe colours like navy blue, red andsea green alone create the expres-sion and other well- known stylesthat are rich details.

This year she also showcasedher first ever menswear look.

Designer Dolly J brought ahyper feminine collection injectedwith loud, saturated, pop colourslike mint green and candy pink.The collection’s seductive appealwas offset by the 70s’ florals, pleat-ed skirts and big fur sleeves. Bowsand pleated frills formed an integralpart of her red carpet-worthy,evening ensembles.

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Psychology suggests that ifyou have a sixth sense andstrongly feel in a certain

way about something, you shouldbelieve it.

As a part of its third edition,the Chivas is back with theChivas 18 Alchemy with fivealchemists and maestros from theworld of art, design and fashionto discover the Sixth Sense.Showcasing the art of story-telling through scintillating andunparalleled expressions ofcraftsmanship defying formu-lae, the alchemists will presentsome immersive and interactiveinstallations.

Actress Malaika Arora,designers Manish Malhotra andRahul Mishra, artist SudarshanShetty and jeweller SiddharthKasliwal have curated immersiveexperiences exploring the unusu-al, creative expressions of fanta-sy, love, intuition, déjà vu andmemory, respectively.

Shetty, through the idea oflove, tries to put together theabstract and transforms it into atactile idea reflecting feelings,curating memories and express-ing freedom. He calls the processas “gathering life’s scattered frag-ments into a kaleidoscope.”

Explaining why did hechoose the feeling of love as hissixth sense, he says that it issomething that he has beenthinking about since quite a longtime. For him, there are a lot ofthings that “represent love as it isthe most primary emotion.”

He feels that love is also akind of an “oversold” idea. Hesays, “It is oversold to such anextent that it becomes meaning-less at times. I am interested toknow that how love can alsosometimes render itself meaning-less. So, how do you reconcileand address that idea as a basichuman emotion which is a partof your life in many ways.? I havebeen trying to find out theanswer to this through a lot of my

works. And this is one way ofexploring it.”

In his curation, a group of sixmusicians and vocalists will pre-sent the love song, Bandish,which is also an old song. “It isbecause I am also playing withthe what is contemporary andsomething that is classified as tra-ditional. This also addresses thequestion of what contemporaryreally is? It’s questioning thatsince everything in life has a res-onance with the past, so how doyou get trapped in these every-day reminisces? Through this, Iwant to be able to make contem-porary life more meaningful,”

says Shetty.He will create a mosaic of

love, loss, mortality and infinitythrough voices, ragas, video andinstallation art, and make it intoone. He says, “I believe in thepower of magic, art, and love. Iam looking to not only extendmy limitations but also trying tobring out something throughthat process which wasn’t therebefore. It is also a way to discov-er a new aspect of life. It’s aneffort that is trying to chart var-ious categories that are unchar-tered.”

For him, the five senses arethe means to be able to reach that

Sixth Sense, “if there is one.”He further explains that

through his installation, apartfrom soulful music, there is ablend of cinema, art and sculp-ture. “There is a film that showsa setup of a chandelier above adinning table. And by the end ofthe film, the chandelier falls onthe table and then that is how itis standing.”

For Shetty, the falling of thechandelier acts as a metaphor forlove, that cannot exist without asense of it being lost. He explains,“If you are in love, you are alsoalways aware that it could be lost.It’s a cycle of finding and losing.

So, to represent the loss, I havedropped the chandelier. Lovealso needs bed rest sometimes.”

While Sudarshan presentsthe idea of love as the most intri-cate and precious emotions oflife, designer Manish Malhotrabrings his idea of Sixth Sense as‘Intuition.’

He dabs into amber depthsto paint a mirage of visions withmirrors and reflections — fleet-ing, lasting, diffused, sponta-neous yet startling in clarity.

For Malhotra, intuitionmeans the “perception” ofthings. “It’s your mind and theinner self that is sensing things.

It’s your mind that speaks to youand let’s you perceive certainthings like a reflection in themirror.”

The designer who is very“fond of mirrors,” intuition ismulti-faceted and reflects ele-ments that are true. “They act asmetaphors of reality. There’snothing to hide when you arestanding in front of the mirror,they show, reflect and speakwhat is true. In a certain atmos-phere or among a group of peo-ple, it’s your intuition which actsas a mirror and let’s you perceiveit clearly,” he explains.

Since it is Chivas, he says, inhis curation, there has to be abar, and in it, he has used a lotof mirror work. “It’s also areflection of what is there with-in you. It represents a fearlessapproach of being your trueself.”

Talking about how he blend-ed his individual style and pro-fession of designing fashionwith the alchemy, he exemplifieshis experience in the film indus-try which is of more than 29years, “I am 52, but my label isa lot more younger — 14 yearsold. Now is the time when I amstarting on a lot more differentvertical and experimenting withvarious kinds of productionwork for design and decor.Hence, I wanted it to be reflect-ed by something new that I havestarted now. It should be underalignment to my thoughts andvision.”

He believes that in life, expe-riences signify how blessed one is.“In my case, it has been a lot ofwork and I am blessed to be stillworking with the third generationof actors. There is so much of expe-rience, which helps your intuition,mind, heart and thought process.I am grateful for so many experi-ences to be a part of me. And it’sall because of my intuition that Icould make the right choices in mylife,” he says as he signs off.

Fashion house Louis Vuitton said it willremove those items from its Michael

Jackson-inspired menswear collection “thatdirectly feature” the late pop singer.

The luxury French fashion house debutedits autumn/winter 2019 men’s collection inJanuary in a show that paid homage to Jackson’slegacy with pieces including sequin-encrustedtops and a T-shirt with an image of his feet mid-dance move.

The show took place in the Tuileries gar-den in Paris in a set that had been inspired bythe singer’s “Billie Jean” 1982 music video. Theinvitations, meanwhile, were a sparkly whiteglove, a nod to the ones famously worn byJackson.

However, the brand has now revised itsoriginal collection following the release of thecontroversial “Leaving Neverland” documen-tary, in which two men accuse the late popsinger of child abuse, say reports.

Louis Vuitton said it would not produce anyitem that specifically features Michael Jacksonelements, insisting that by the time the collec-tion hits the stores, it will “purely reflect the truevalues of the brand and of our artistic director”,in reference to Virgil Abloh.

Abloh added, “I am aware that in light ofthis documentary the show has caused emotion-al reactions. I strictly condemn any form of childabuse, violence or infringement against anyhuman rights.

“My intention for this show was to refer toMichael Jackson as a pop culture artist. Itreferred only to his public life that we all knowand to his legacy that has influenced a wholegeneration of artists and designers.”

Michael Burke, Vuitton’s Chairman andChief Executive Officer, said that the compa-ny finds the allegations detailed in the docu-mentary “deeply troubling and disturbing”.

“Child safety and welfare is of utmostimportance to Louis Vuitton,” he said. “We arefully committed to advocating this cause.”

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The national award-winning screenwriter JuhiChaturvedi who penned the story of one of thecelebrated films like Vicky Donor says that

writing is a time-consuming process and pressure ofdelivering quantity affects the quality.

During an interactive session at the 20th editionof Ficci Frames, the global media and entertainmentconclave highlighting one of the problems writersare facing these days, Juhi said, “Writing processtakes a lot of time. Purely for financial reasons, writ-ers sign multiple projects taking the signing amountsto run their houses.”

“The dagger is then on their head. In theprocess, the quality suffers. It would be great if agood lump sum is given for those one or two pro-jects that a writer sign in one year,” said the writerwho delivered some of the acclaimed films like Pikuand October and also wrote the story of forthcomingfilm The Sky Is Pink featuring Priyanka Chopra.

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You don’t have to be from theindustry to be good enoughfor a leading role material,”believes actress ShraddhaSrinath who is gearing up for

her Bollywood debut with TigmanshuDhulia’s venture, Milan Talkies.

The actress never planned to get intothe film industry, however, she feels thatshe was destined to be a part of it.

She says, “I was someone who did-n’t even know how to put a lipstick, Ididn’t own a single one at that time. Andthis was when I was working as a lawyer.From there to now, it has been a lot oflearning with each day.”

She says that It’s like always lookingout for yourself because there’s nobodyto tell you — do this or don’t do that,however there will be 100 of peopleinstructing you that you should behavelike this but at the end of the day howyou take your decision, or what youthink is right, is all what matters. “It’s likeowning your business and handling it.I’m a business woman and I’m handlingShraddha Srinath enterprises,” she adds.

The actress who gained wide acclaimfor her role in the Kannada psycholog-ical thriller U Turn, says that the tran-sition into acting from the world of lawmight seem drastic, but she believes itis a composition of her talent, luck anddestiny.

Incidentally, Milan Talkies is her firstfull-fledged romantic drama in hercareer. She describes it as a very filmy

film. “As Bollywood as it can get. Thiswill also show a different side of me tothe audience who have only seen me inserious roles,” she says.

Talking about how she grabbed therole in the film, she tells us, “When Ispoke to Tigmanshu, he asked me toenact a scene and send him my auditionvideo. I couldn’t believe that it was actu-ally happening. I’ve been a huge fan ofhis work right from the time I sawHaasil. It was a matter of five minutes,

he called me and said you’re on. And Iwas so excited.”

With increasing competition inBollywood, Shraddha doesn’t feel inse-cure at all. She says, “I’m not here to bea part of the race. I am in no rush. I willdo the best that I can. And whoever see’sthe potential in me may call me. I amactually quite happily busy in the south.”

It has been quite the transition forthe actress with a new industry. But theactress is quite comfortable in

Bollywood as she didn’t feel therewas much of a change betweenthe two industries. She explains,“Honestly, There’s no such differ-ence, language is the only obviousdifference. And they also vary inscale and but apparently not in con-tent. Bollywood’s reach is muchhigher. But I must say each indus-try is equally professional. Itdepends on the director or the pro-ducer. So who’s heading the teammatters the most. Industry reallydoesn’t matter at all. But I feel for-tunate enough to work here becauseseveral people aspire to be a part ofthis industry, and I have achieved it.”

Shraddha who also stars in theTamil remake of Pink, says thatinterestingly she hasn’t evenwatched the film yet. “Before I gotselected for the film, every timewhen the topic would pop up, I saythat I haven’t watched it. Peoplewere like you must watch it... Andwhen I was finally the cast, theywere like ‘ab toh’ you have to watchit. So I told them ‘ab toh I am definite-ly not going to watch it.’”

The actress is playing the role whichTaapsee (Pannu) originally played. Shesays, “Taapsee has done an excellent jobbut while I shoot my part I don’t wantto remember her performance. Now thatI’m done with my part for the film. I ameager to watch it.”

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Joe Wright set out to explore theman behind the myth in his film,Darkest Hour, with Gary

Oldman delivering a tour-de-forceperformance as Winston Churchill.

One of the most importantfigures of the 20th century,Churchill is hailed around theworld as one of the heroes of theSecond World War. The film is aremarkable, true story of Churchill’sfirst days as Prime Minister ofBritain when the country stoodalone as Nazi Germany swept allbefore it across Europe. It focuseson a pivotal moment in world his-tory, in May 1940, when the Nazishave conquered Europe and Britishforces have retreated to Dunkirkwhere 3,00,000 of its soldiers arestranded on the beaches.

Oldman plays Churchill andKristen Scott Thomas is his much-adored wife, Clementine. Lily Jamesis Elizabeth, Churchill’s secretary.Wright has long admired Oldmanbut admits that at first, the actor wasa little wary of taking on the role.

“When I was a kid growing upin London in the ‘80s, ‘90s, Garywas the man. He was the actor who,as soon as I knew he was making afilm, I’d go and rush out and see it,because he would always surprise,”he says.

“His imagination was so extra-ordinary, and his skill at realising hisimagination was so exacting thatyou knew you were in for some-thing very special. The interestingthing about Gary is that he, likeChurchill, is filled with self-doubt.He didn’t know that he could do it,which I find amazing, really. Iwent to LA to meet him. We dis-cussed who we thought Churchillwas and might be in our movie, andwe were just quite quiet. There wasnone of that bravado, or sort ofcomparing the length of our swords;it was about a sort of, ‘Okay, shallwe take this leap together?’”

Excerpts:What was it like taking DarkestHour to Telluride and TorontoInternational Film Festival

(TIFF)?I’d never been to Telluride, and

it is a kind of heaven for filmmak-ers. There’s no press, no publicity,no red carpets and no competition.It’s one high street with varioussports halls and about seven ofthem turned into cinemas. You getthe grand masters like WernerHerzog and Francis Coppola, all theway down to first time short film-makers and student filmmakersand so on, and everyone inbetween. There’s a completely egal-itarian atmosphere. Everyone goesfor like five days and you watch allthe films, and you all talk to eachother. It was like being, finally, sortof allowed in to this cineaste campwhere everyone just got to talkabout and love and appreciate eachother’s work.

The response to Darkest Hourthere was tremendous. It was real-ly great. Suddenly we kind of went,‘Ooh, this is fun. People seem to begetting this.’ So, on the back of that,we rode into Toronto and again theresponse was wonderful. When Imade Pride & Prejudice andAtonement, someone said to me, ‘Itwon’t always be like this. Youshould enjoy it!’ I thought to myselfwith the arrogance of youth, ‘Oh yesit will. It will for me.’ And I waswrong. There have been some filmsthat have been really well receivedand others that haven’t, and so nowto be with a film that seems to begetting a lot of fantastic responses,I can view it with a kind of appro-priate amount of enjoyment, dis-tance, and boundaries.

Did the script come to you fullyformed?

Not fully formed. It came to meand it had the inherent structure. Iwas surprised by how much itmade me laugh at the beginning,and I was surprised by how movedI was at the end. But with all myfilms I try and make sure that thereare never goodies and baddies,because that’s not really how I seethe world around me. I think that

we’re all fairly ambivalent andflawed and also we all have amaz-ing qualities about us, and I tried tobring a bit more of that to thescreenplay.

I tried to make sure thatHalifax’s argument was as persua-sive as possible, because I reallywanted to pull the audience’s alle-giances one way and the other. Ata certain point they’d be thinking,‘well absolutely, Halifax is right. Thepriority is to save lives, and the wayto do that is to sign a deal withHitler.’ Then we’d pull back theother way and have to think aboutwhat one would sacrifice for one’sprinciples, and the responsibility oftaking those decisions. Inherent inthat seemed to be the drama.

Did this process change your viewof Churchill?

Yeah, very much. I grew upwith Churchill the icon, standing upthere on his plinth in ParliamentSquare, untouchable, and thereforeun-relatable, really. What I wantedto do was take him down from thatplinth and meet him face to faceand explore him as a human being,

with his flaws, his bad decisions –of which there were many – andthen how those flaws became theattributes that led us to our mostheroic moment. I was really inter-ested in those ideas. I was reallyinterested in finding someone whowas dynamic and had this amazingenergy, and I was really interestedin finding someone who had a lotof self-doubt. I relate to that, and Ithink that any wisdom must comethrough self-doubt, and what wewant in our leaders is wisdom. Ithink he was really able to minethat. I want my leader to questioneverything, especially themselves.

You show him as a very eccentricman in many ways, like holdingmeetings in his bedroom whenhe’s still in his bathrobe. Didthose bathrobe meetings reallyhappen?

Yeah, that’s what he did! That’swhat he was like. Obviously therehad to be a lot of research about thepolitical machinations, and so on,but there was also a kind of people’shistory going on, written by thosethat worked closest with him,

including his secretaries and his dri-ver and all of those kind of people.Those I found to be often the mosttelling in terms of the intimate por-trait of the man.

Did you involve the Churchillfamily in your process?

Yeah, the family have beeninvolved right the way throughfrom the beginning. That was veryimportant to myself and also toAnthony (McCarten) and EricFellner, and they’ve been huge sup-porters of the movie.

I read that you’ve always been abig fan of Gary’s. Is that true?

Yeah, when I was a kid grow-ing up in London in the ‘80s, ‘90s,Gary was the man. And he kind ofstill is the man, really. He was theactor who, as soon as I knew he wasmaking a film, I’d go and rush outand see it, because he would alwayssurprise. His imagination was soextraordinary, and his skill at real-ising his imagination was so exact-ing that you knew you were in forsomething very, very special.

So how did you approach this withhim? Was he hesitant?

He was a bit hesitant about tak-ing this on. The interesting thingabout Gary is that he, like Churchill,is filled with self-doubt. He didn’tknow that he could do it, which Ifind amazing, really. At the begin-ning he was tempted, he wanted it,he wanted to do it, but he was kindof scared of it, and my job was tolet him know that I completely, 100per cent believed that he was capa-ble of doing something really extra-ordinary with the role.

Do you think there was a turningpoint that made him realise hecould do it?

I think just the first time wemet, really. I went over to LA tomeet him and we sat and we talked.We discussed who we thoughtChurchill was and might be in ourmovie, and we were just quitequiet. It was a lovely first meeting.There was none of that bravado, orsort of comparing the length of ourswords; it was really about a sort of,‘Okay, shall we take this leap togeth-er?’

Did he talk to you during hisintensive research phase?

Yeah, very much so. I’m alwaysgratified to hear that all the greatgeniuses have to work really hard.He spent four or five monthspreparing for the role, and we

spent a lot of time working togeth-er with Kazuhiro (Tsuji), the pros-thetics guy, and so that was a longand delicate process. And thenGary would prepare in his studio athome, and would send me record-ings. We’d discuss inflection andhe’d say, ‘I think I’ve got this justabout right, and this isn’t quiteright.’ We talked about humour a lotand the right energy. We started bytalking about how he breathed andgetting his breathing right, and thenwe started talking about how hewalked and what kind of walk hemight have, and we built the char-acter very slowly like that.

After such an involved process,how does it feel to see him walk-ing onto set as Churchill on dayone of shooting?

In a way it’s funny, because it’sbeen such a slow process up to thatpoint. I demand rehearsals from allthe actors prior to shooting. I do thaton all my films, which isn’t partic-ularly usual. And in fact, I don’tthink Gary had done it sinceDracula, or something, but I thinkhe got a lot out of rehearsals,because it took the pressure off thatfirst day.

Does the story of Darkest Hour res-onate with the world we live intoday?

I think very much so. My jobwas to make a film that presented aset of questions to the audience. It’sup to them to – and I hope they will– take those questions and discov-er the answers that might help usdecipher what is going on in theworld at the moment. It’s not my jobto be didactic, and I try very hard notto be, but I think there might verypossibly be a crisis of leadership inthe world. So it feels that to make afilm about a leader who, despite hisflaws, despite his mistakes, was gov-erned by a true moral compass andacted upon principle rather than per-sonality, is really important.

(The film premieres on March 17at 1 pm on Sony PIX.)

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Newly-crowned All EnglandOpen champion Chen Yufei

and defending men's singleschampion Shi Yuqi have beengiven the top billing at theYonex Sunrise India Openwhich begins at the IndiraGandhi Stadium here on March26.

After eight successful yearsat the Siri Fort Sports Complex,this time the $ 350, 000 tourna-ment will not only have a brand-new address but is also set towelcome the biggest everChinese Contingent.

Having upset World No 1Tai Tzu Ying in the final of theAll England Open last week,World No 2 Yufei will commanda lot of attention as she battlesit out with India's very best at

this premier World Tour Super500 event.

The main draw of women'ssingles has as many as sixChinese shuttlers, with WorldNo 7 He Bingjiao and World No14 Han Yue receiving the thirdand seventh seeding respective-ly.

Former champion and 2012Olympic gold medallist LiXuerui makes her return whileChen Xiaoxin and Cai Yanyanare the other Chinese in thedraw.

The Indian challenge will bespearheaded by second seedand 2017 winner PV Sindhu andtwo-time champion SainaNehwal, seeded fifth this time.

Shi Yuqi, whose All Englandtitle defence ended in the semi-finals to Viktor Axelsen, willhope to rebound at the India

Open.The World No 2 Chinese,

who begins his challengeagainst compatriot HuangYuxiang, could meet hiscountryman Zhou Zeqi in thequarter-finals. World No 19Lu Guangzu and the 37thranked Zhao Junpeng willclash in yet another thrillingall-Chinese face-off.

The highly popularViktor Axelsen, second seedthis time and winner in 2017,will look to continue the fire-works after reaching the finalof the All England Open.

India has handsome rep-resentation in the men's sin-gles section with six shuttlersvying for the title. While2015 champion KidambiSrikanth has been seededthird, BWF World Tour Finals

semi-finalist Sameer Verma isthe fifth seed.

Sai Praneeth, HSPrannoy, Parupalli Kashyap,Subhankar Dey will carrythe home hopes as well.

The third-seeded men's'doubles pair of SatwiksairajRankireddy and ChiragShetty will begin their 2019season at the India Openamid a lot of expectations.Former National ChampionsManu Attri and SumeethReddy are the only otherIndian pair to have beenseeded at sixth.

2018 WorldChampionships quarter-f inalists SatwiksairajRankireddy and AshwiniPonnappa are the eighthseeds in the mixed doublesdraw, which is led by the

Chinese pair of Wang Yilyuand Huang Dongping, the2018 BWF World Tour Finalschampions.

Pranaav Jerry Chopraand Sikki Reddy are unseed-ed and could face the fourthseeds Hafiz Faizal and GloriaEmanuelle Widjaja in thesecond round.

Commonwealth GamesBronze medallist combine ofReddy and Ponnappa willlook to pull off an upsetover the sixth seeds LiWenmei and Zheng Yu in thewomen's doubles.

Indian shuttlers failed toperform as according toexpectations in recently con-cluded All EnglandChampionship and will beeager to make a mark in frontof home fans.

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The Bangladesh cricketteam escaped unhurtdespite being in close

vicinity of a shooting attack ona mosque here but its ongoingtour of New Zealand was calledoff owing to the "unprecedent-ed act of violence" in which 49people were killed.

The attack took place ontwo mosques in the city and alsoinjured more than 20 people,according to the police.

The Bangladesh team,which was about to enter theMasjid Al Noor mosque inHagley Park to offer prayers,escaped unscathed but the sit-

uation led to the authorities call-ing off the third and final Testmatch starting on Saturday.The match was the tour finalefor the visitors.

"We are very thankful thatwe weren't caught in the cross-fire, but what we saw wasstraight out of a movie scene.We could see bloodstained peo-ple staggering out of themosque," Bangladesh teammanager Khaled Mashud toldreporters.

"Maybe for about eight-tenminutes, we were all inside thebus and were sitting with ourheads bowed, just in case some-one fires at us," he added.

The team's Indian

Performance analyst ShrinivasChandrasekeran, a Mumbai-based computer-engineer-

turned-cricket-analyst, wasthere in the bus at the time ofthe incident. The side's spin

consultant Sunil Joshi, also anIndian, was however at theteam hotel.

"We couldn't react initially.In such a horror situation, yourbrain automatically freezes asyou are terrified. That's exactlywhat happened to all of us,"Chandrasekaran, who has beenwith the team for the past oneyear said.

On being contacted, Joshisaid, "I am safe, I will be back inIndia on Wednesday next week.I cannot talk on the incidentright now."

New Zealand PrimeMinister Jacinda Ardern saidthe incident marked "one ofNew Zealand's darkest days"

"It is clear that this can nowonly be described as a terroristattack," Ardern said.

Bangladesh's senior openerTamim Iqbal said it was a fright-ening experience for the team.

"...Please keep us in yourprayers," he tweeted.

Ardern issued a strongstatement condemning theattack.

"This is significant and I cantell you now this is and will beone of New Zealand's darkestdays. I would describe it as anunprecedented act of violence,an act that has absolutely noplace in New Zealand. This isnot who we are," she said.

The players were initially

barred from leaving the bus but,after several minutes, disem-barked and made their waythrough to the Hagley Parkground. They later went back tothe hotel.

The bus carried 17 mem-bers of the team with Liton Das,Nayeem Hasam and spin bowl-ing consultant Joshi stayingback at the hotel.

Mashud said the players arebound to be affected afterescaping death by a whisker.

"It is natural to be affected.When you see something like aterror attack in front of you, andyou see blood spilled in front ofyou, this will affect any humanbeing. It wouldn't have

occurred to us then that wewould be safe later. Some of theboys inside the bus were cryingas well, because they were allworried about how to get out ofthere."

The International CricketCouncil (ICC) said it "fully sup-ports" the cancellation of thethird Test.

"Our thoughts and sincerecondolences go out to the fam-ilies and friends of those affect-ed by this horrendous incidentin Christchurch. Both teams,staff and match officials are safeand the ICC fully supports thedecision to cancel the Testmatch," ICC Chief ExecutiveDavid Richardson said.

���� 01231',�

If Leander Paes can win GrandSlams at 42, I can at least play

some cricket at 36," India crick-eter S Sreesanth said after theSupreme Court set aside the lifeban imposed on him by the BCCIfor his alleged involvement in the2013 IPL spot-fixing scandal.

Sreesanth, along withMumbai spinner Ankit Chavanand Haryana's Ajit Chandila,were suspended for life by aBCCI disciplinary committee in2013, a decision that the playerhad challenged in court.

Speaking after a favourableverdict by the apex court onFriday, a relieved Sreesanth said:"I don't know what life has in storefor me after all these years. It's sixyears and I haven't played crick-et, which was my life."

"I hope that the BCCI respectsthe verdict of the country's high-est court and allows me to at leastget back to the cricket field. I hopethat at least now I can walk to aschool cricket ground and trainthere without being told that I amnot allowed. I just want to playwhatever cricket I can," saidSreesanth, who has been a part ofthe 2007 World T20 and 2011ODI World Cup winning squads.

But age is not something thathe feels will be a factor in tryingto make a comeback to compet-itive cricket.

"Your age is as much as youfeel. I would again like to play club

cricket in Scotland. I wanted toplay last year but didn't get per-mission. I can't play club cricketin England at the moment as Ihave not played first-class crick-et for six years now," saidSreesanth, who has representedthe country in 27 Tests, 53 ODIsand 10 T20 Internationals, respec-tively.

Sreesanth said in his "darkdays", it was the unshakeablefaith of his parents, wifeBhuvaneshwari, in-laws and hisloyal fans that kept him going.

"I want to thank my in-laws,the Shekhawats. They trusted meand let their daughter marry mewhen the whole world didn'ttrust me. My parents have gonethrough a lot during all theseyears. Trust me it wasn't that easyall these years," said Sreesanth,who is still in touch with some of

his Indian teammates."Yes, I do get calls or whatsapp

messages from some of them.Bhajju paa (Harbhajan Singh)has spoken to me, Viru bhai(Virender Sehwag), Suresh(Raina) have kept in touch. I keepspeaking to Robin (Uthappa)who is a dear friend," he said.

Once considered the enfantterrible of Indian cricket with seri-ous attitude issues, for the past fewyears, the song that would infuselife in him is 'Rise Up' composedby Swedish DJ Yves 'Larock'Cheminade.

For Sreesanth, the moto of lifeis

"Rise up!Don't fall down againRise upLong time I broke the chainsI try to fly a while so highDirection - sky".

���� 01231',�

The Supreme Court on Fridayset aside the BCCI's discipli-

nary committee's order imposinga life ban on former Indian crick-eter S Sreesanth for his allegedinvolvement in the 2013 IPLspot-fixing scandal.

A bench comprising justicesAshok Bhushan and K M Josephsaid the disciplinary committee ofthe Board of Control for Cricketin India (BCCI) may reconsiderwithin three months the quantumof punishment to be given toSreesanth.

The bench made it clear thatSreesanth will get the opportuni-ty of being heard by the commit-tee on the quantum of the pun-ishment.

The apex court also said thatits verdict shall have no effect onthe criminal proceedings pendingagainst the former cricketer in theDelhi High Court, where theDelhi Police has challenged a trialcourt's order discharging allaccused, including Sreesanth, inthe IPL spot-fixing case.

The bench passed this orderon Sreesanth's plea challengingthe decision of a division benchof the Kerala High Court whichhad restored the life ban imposedon him by the BCCI.

���� 01231',�

The life ban on S Sreesanthwill be discussed when the

Committee of Administratorsrunning Indian cricket meetsnext after the Supreme Courtasked the BCCI to reconsiderthe punishment handed to thepacer for his alleged involve-ment in the 2013 IPL spot-fix-ing scandal.

A bench said the BCCI'sdisciplinary committee mayreconsider, within three months,the quantum of punishment tobe given to Sreesanth.

The bench made it clearthat the 36-year-old must beheard by the committee on thequantum of the punishment.

"Yes, I have heard about theSupreme Court order. We willneed to get the copy of the order.We will definitely take up theissue at the COA meeting,"COA chief Vinod Rai said.

The COA is scheduled tomeet on March 18 to discuss theanti-doping policy of the Boardwith the International CricketCouncil officials. The issue ofSreesanth's ban might come upamong the COA on that day.

BCCI now has a newombudsman in Justice (Retd )

DK Jain and amicus curiae PSNarsimha, it is expected that thedecision will be fast-tracked.

BCCI acting president CKKhanna made it clear that it willbe completely COA's call as theonus is on it to implement theapex court's order.

"This is a Supreme Courtorder and obviously a call needsto be taken. I am confident thatthe issue will come up for seri-ous deliberation at the nextCOA meeting. As far asSreesanth being brought back tomainstream cricket, I have nocomment to make," Khannasaid.

Former BCCI vice-presi-dent and Kerala CA senior offi-cial TC Matthew, someone whohas seen Sreesanth as a young-ster, "welcomed the verdict".

"I am very happy forSreesanth. He has lost six mostprecious years of his life. I don'tthink even if the ban is lifted hecan play first-class cricket.

"But obviously if the BCCIlifts his ban after the SC verdict,he can have an alternate careerin cricket, whatever that is. Hecan be a coach, mentor, may betake up professional umpiring,play club cricket in England,"Matthew said.

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The Bangladesh cricket teamescaped unhurt and was not

even the target but violence hasbeen specifically directed atsportspersons in the past, leadingto bloody repercussions. Here isa look at instances when sport,often a tool to propagate the ideaof world peace, found itself caughtin the crossfire.

�1972 Munich Olympics: Themost gruesome incident of target-ted violence against sportsperonshappened on September 5, 1972.Eleven Israeli athletes and coach-es were taken hostage and even-tually murdered by terrorists dur-ing a 16-hour ordeal, duringwhich the world was witness tochilling images of athletes heldcaptive on gunpoint.

�1987 New Zealand tour of SriLanka (cricket): It was to be athree-Test tour but New Zealandabandoned it after just the firstmatch when a bomb planted byseparatists exploded near theteam hotel in Colombo, killing113 civilians.

�2002 New Zealand tour ofPakistan (cricket): New Zealand'scricket team was touring Pakistanin 2002 when a bomb went offoutside their hotel, killing 12people. The players wereunscathed but the Black Caps'Board decided to call back theteam. A year before this, NewZealand were on their way toPakistan for a series before head-ing back midway owing to theSeptember 11 terror attack in theUSA. The series was eventuallyabandoned.

�2009 Sri Lanka tour ofPakistan (cricket): The SriLankan team was on its way toplay what was to be the third dayof the second Test against Pakistanat the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore.The team bus was, however, inter-cepted by at least a dozen terror-

ists who fired at the bus, resultingin injuries to six Sri Lankan play-ers and the death of the bus dri-ver. Six policemen died protectingthe players while two civillianswere also killed. The Lankanteam returned home and Pakistanhas not hosted an internationalmatch since then.

�2010 African Nations CupFootball Tournament: Togo'snational football side was travel-ling through the Angolanprovince of Cabinda for theAfrican Nations Cup when theteam bus came under gun firefrom separatists. The side's assis-tant manager and media officerwere killed in the attack.

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Pierre-Emerick Aubameyangspearheaded Arsenal's revival byscoring twice in a 3-0 win over

Rennes to reach the Europa Leaguequarter-finals 4-3 on aggregate, asChelsea and Napoli also booked a last-eight spot on Thursday.

The Gunners cancelled out their 3-1 deficit from last week's first leg inFrance inside 15 minutes asAubameyang swept home fromclose range before teeing upMaitland-Niles to head home.

However, Rennes had causeto complain as Aubameyangshould have been flagged offsidebefore the second goal.

With VAR not in use forthe Europa League unlike theChampions League, there was norecourse for Rennes and the Ligue 1side will also reflect on missed oppor-tunities after the break as a historicEuropean run came to an end.

M'Baye Niang struck the post andSead Kolasinac's last-ditch tackle deniedIsmaila Sarr before the Bosnian wing-back crossed for Aubameyang to giveArsenal breathing space.

Winning the Europa League alsooffers Arsenal and Chelsea the safetynet of Champions League qualification

should they fail to make the top fourin the Premier League.

Chelsea also cruised into the lasteight with greater ease.

After a 3-0 victory in last week's last16, first leg at Stamford Bridge, Chelseawere even more dominant in Kiev asOlivier Giroud scored his first hat-trickfor the club.

Giroud netted a first-half double,before Marcos Alonso slid home a thirdon the stroke of half-time. He complet-

ed his hat-trick before teenagewinger Callum Hudson-Odoirounded off the scoring.

� ��������F i v e - t i m e

winners Sevillawere beaten 4-3

after extra time tolose a thrilling tie

against Slavia Prague 6-5on aggregate.

Twice the Spanishside came from behindto take the tie to extratime thanks to goals fromWissam Ben Yedder andMunir El-Haddadi.

However, after Franco Vazquezhad given Sevilla a 3-2 lead on thenight, Slavia hit back and IbrahimTraore's winner a minute from time

sealed a famous win forthe Czechs.

Napoli wrapped up a4-3 aggregate victory over

last season's semi-finalistsSalzburg despite a 3-1 sec-

ond-leg loss in Austria.Another Serie A giant

fell, though, as the highly-rated Luka Jovic scored the onlygoal of the night and the tie asEintracht Frankfurt beat Inter

Milan at the San Siro.Russian outfit Krasnodar suf-

fered heartbreak as Goncalo

Guedes scored a dramatic injury-timeequaliser to send Valencia through 3-2 on aggregate after a 1-1 second-legdraw.

Spanish sides have dominated thiscompetition in recent years and despiteSevilla's defeat will have two represen-tatives in the last eight as Villarreal beatZenit St Petersburg 2-1 to seal aresounding 5-2 aggregate victory.

Benfica, runners-up in 2013 and2014, were also taken to extra-time byDinamo Zagreb but eventually over-turned a 1-0 firs leg deficit with a 3-0win in Lisbon.

����� 0?40

Arsenal will take on Napoli inthe pick of the ties in the

quarter-finals of this season's fol-lowing Friday's draw, as Chelseawere paired with outsiders SlaviaPrague.

Unai Emery's team will hostNapoli at the Emirates Stadiumin the first leg on April 11, withthe return in Italy a week later.

It is a tough draw for theGunners, with Carlo Ancelotti'sNapoli currently second in SerieA — they were eliminated fromthe Champions League in thegroup stage despite beatingLiverpool at home and drawingtwice with Paris Saint-Germain.

The winners of that tie willgo on to a semi-final against thewinners of an all-Spanish quar-ter-final between local rivalsValencia and Villarreal.

Both La Liga sides defeatedRussian opposition in the last 16.

Emery and Ancelotti areboth former PSG coaches, butthe latter may have wished fora match-up with another of hisold sides, Chelsea.

Instead, the west Londonclub will face Slavia, heading tothe capital of the Czech Republicfor the first leg on April 11.

Chelsea, winners of theEuropa League in 2013, willfancy their chances of advanc-ing, although they would be wiseto beware a Slavia side who aretop of the Czech league andknocked out Sevilla in the last16.

The winners of that tie willgo through to a semi-finalagainst either Benfica or darkhorses Eintracht Frankfurt.

Benfica, who dropped outof this season's ChampionsLeague at the group stage, lostto Chelsea in the 2013 EuropaLeague final and were thenbeaten by Sevilla on penalties inthe final a year later.

Eintracht are a dangerousprospect, and the only Germansurvivor in any European com-petition this season.

This year's Europa Leaguefinal will be held in Baku,Azerbaijan, on May 29. Thewinners will secure passage tonext season's ChampionsLeague group stage.

����� 0?40

Manchester United will faceBarcelona in the

Champions League quarter-finals while Manchester Cityand Tottenham Hotspur clashin an all-Premier League tie fol-lowing Friday's draw.

Liverpool weredrawn to play FCPorto in the knockoutrounds for the sec-ond year in succes-sion, as Ajax's reward foreliminating the holdersReal Madrid is a two-leggedtie against Cristiano Ronaldoand Juventus.

English hopes are high thatthis could be their year inEurope's elite club competitionafter all four of their represen-tatives made it through to thelast eight.

However, Ole GunnarSolskjaer's United will havetheir work cut out if they are togo any further as they takeon the Barcelona of LionelMessi in the headline tie.

For Solskjaer, the sec-ond leg will bring backmemories of the 1999final, when theNorwegian came offthe bench to score a stop-page-time winner for Unitedagainst Bayern Munich atBarcelona's Camp Nou stadium.

With City and United notallowed to play their home legin the same week, United willentertain the leaders of La Ligaat Old Trafford on April 9 or 10,with the return a week later.

The last time the PremierLeague had four teams in thequarter-finals, in 2008/09,Barcelona beat the Old Traffordside 2-0 in the final in Rome.The clubs clashed again in thefinal at Wembley in 2011, withBarca winning 3-1 on that occa-sion.

� � �����B/)������UEFA also drew the semi-

finals on Friday, meaning thewinners of the Barcelona vUnited will face either Liverpoolor Porto in the last four.

Jurgen Klopp's side, freshfrom knocking out BayernMunich in the last 16, will beconfident of beating thePortuguese champions afterdefeating them 5-0 on aggregatein the last 16 on their way to the

final last season.Liverpool will host two-

time European Cup winnersPorto at Anfield in the first legbefore heading to the Estadio doDragao in the return on April16 or 17.

There is guaranteed to beone English team in thesemi-finals after Tottenhamand City were pairedtogether, with the first leg

to be played inLondon.

With PepGuardiola's team top of

the Premier League, 13 pointsahead of Spurs in third, City willbe the favourites to advance totheir first semi-final since 2016.City have also won their lastthree meetings with MauricioPochettino's team.

The draw means there willbe three clashes between thesides in 10 days — they are alsodue to meet in the PremierLeague at the Etihad Stadiumon April 20.

The winner of that tie willhost either Ajax or Juventus inthe first leg of the semi-finals.

The latter tie is a repeat ofthe 1996 final, which the Italianclub won on penalties against anAjax team who had won the tro-phy the previous year.

Juventus have lost five finalssince then but are hopingRonaldo can fire them to glorythis season after his hat-trickknocked out Atletico Madrid onTuesday.

That result ended Atletico'sdreams of reaching the final,which will be played at theirWanda Metropolitano stadiumon Saturday, June 1.

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