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After giving the BJP a han-dle to beat the Congress,

Sam Pitroda, the close associ-ate of party president RahulGandhi, on Friday apologisedfor his controversial “hua tohua” (so what) comment on1984 anti-Sikh pogrom even asPrime Minister Narendra Modilatched on to the commentssaying these words reflect the“character, mentality and inten-tions of the Congress”.

“What I meant was moveon. We have other issues to dis-cuss as to what the BJPGovernment did and what itdelivered. I feel sorry that myremark was misrepresented, Iapologise. This has been blownout of proportion,” said Pitrodaafter his remarks on Thursdayprompted attacks on him byBJP leaders led by the PrimeMinister himself.

While apologising for hisremark, Pitroda accused theBJP of “distorting the truth”and said things of the past arenot relevant in this election andthe saffron party has nothingpositive to offer and is attack-ing the Congress with lies.

Referring to Pitroda’sremarks, Modi told a rally inHaryana, “Congress, whichruled for a maximum period,has been insensitive and that isreflected by the three wordsspoken yesterday...These words

have not been spoken just likethat, these words are characterand mentality and intentions ofthe Congress. And which werethese words, these were ‘hua tohua’.”

Pitroda, Modi said, was“very good friend” of RajivGandhi, and is very close toGandhi family and is “Guru ofCongress ‘naamdar’ (dynast)president” Rahul Gandhi.

The BJP deployed itsUnion Ministers andspokespersons saying the partyhas no remorse on the genocideof patriotic community andsought to know whether Rahulwould dismiss his “Guru” whois “rubbing salts on thewounds” of Sikhs.

The Congress on its parthas distanced itself fromPitroda’s “so what” remarks onthe anti-sikh riots and askedthe leaders of the party to becareful and sensitive in future.

Congress’s chief spokesper-son Randeep Surjewala said theparty abhorred violence of anykind against any person orgroup of people on the basis ofcaste, creed, colour, region orreligion, adding that riots andviolence had no place in theIndian society.

“Violence and riots areunacceptable and unpardon-able in our society... Any opin-ion or remark made by anyindividual to the contrary,including Sam Pitroda, is not

the opinion of the Congressparty. We advise all leaders tobe careful and sensitive,”Surjewala said in a statement.

Stating that the Congresshad strived to ensure justice forthe 1984 riot victims, Surjewalasaid the party continued to sup-port the quest for justice andstern punishment for thosefound guilty in the anti-Sikhriots, as also the subsequentacts of violence, including the2002 riots in Gujarat.

The Congress spokesper-son added that unlike the rul-ing BJP, which had fielded acandidate charged with terrorcrimes and who was beinglauded as the saffron party’sface by Modi himself, theCongress had shown the moraland political courage to punish

the leaders accused of vio-lence or involvement in the1984 riots.

Pitroda, a US-based long-time adviser of then PrimeMinister Rajiv Gandhi andnow that of Rahul, has appar-ently made a similar gaffesome time back while speakingon the IAF strike in ‘Balakot’ inPakistan giving the BJP a han-dle to attack the Congress.

This time round whenseven seats of Delhi and 13 LokSabha seats of Punjab and oneof Chandigarh, with sizeableSikh population, are to go topolls on the last two phases ofelections on May 12 and May19, Pitroda seems to have againstirred the poll pot by sayingSikh riots “hua to hua”.

Continued on Page 4

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Aday after controversyinvolving distribution of

“obscene and derogatory” pam-phlets against her, Aam AadmiParty (AAP) East Delhi candi-date Atishi on Fridayapproached chairperson ofDelhi Commission for Women(DCW) Swati Maliwal andlodged a formal complaintagainst BJP candidate fromthe seat Gautam Gambhir.

Stepping up his counter-offensive, Gambhir on Fridaysaid he will “hang” himself inpublic if the AAP can provethat he has any link to thederogatory pamphlets.

Gambhir tweeted,“Challenger Number 3 to@ArvindKejriwal and @aap. Ifhe can prove that I have any-thing to do with this pamphletfilth, then I will hang myself inpublic. Otherwise @ArvindKejriwal should quit politics.Accepted?”

Gambhir had sent defama-tion notices to Kejriwal, hisdeputy Manish Sisodia andAtishi on Thursday night ask-ing them to withdraw theircharges against him and tender

unconditional apology or facelegal action. Meanwhile,Gambhir’s former teammatesVVS Laxman and HarbhajanSingh defended Gambhir andsaid they can “vouch for hisintegrity, character and therespect he has for women”.

The BJP also approachedEast Delhi parliamentary seatreturning officer K Maheshseeking a police probe into theaccusations. The complaintwas lodged by BJP's KrishnaNagar councillor SandeepKapoor, said Delhi BJPspokesperson Harish Khurana.

The returning officer hasalready asked the Delhi Policeto register a complaint in this case.

Continued on Page 4

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Indrani Mukerjea, an accusedin the INX Media case, is all

set to turn an approver againstKarti Chidambaram, the son offormer Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram, afterthe CBI on Friday said it has no objection to her plea.The agency told the BombayHigh Court that it would pro-duce Mukerjea at Patiala HouseCourt in Delhi on May 23.

Indrani has alreadydeposed before the CBI and theED that she was forced to give�5-crore bribe to Karti on rec-ommendation of PChidambaram to tackleIncome Tax probe in a �300-crore money laundering case.

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With the United Nations(UN) declaring Jaish-e-

Mohammad chief MaulanaMasood Azhar a designatedglobal terrorist, the outfit haschanged its name to Jaish-e-Muttaqi (army of the pious) atthe behest of Pakistan Army-ISI in order to hoodwink theinternational community intobelieving that Islamabad is act-ing against terror groups.

The tactical shift comesdays after the UN designatedAzhar as a global terroristunder the 1267 Sanctions List.

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The silent day for the LokSabha elections 2019

scheduled on May 12 will startfrom 6 pm on Friday till 6 pmon Sunday. The microphonesand the videograph and socialmedia sites of political partieswill go on the relax mode asthe poll campaigning endedon Friday at 6 pm. Candidatesand their supporters willembark upon door to doorcampaigning.

“The campaigning willend this evening as the 48-hour silence period will kickstart from 6 pm today till 6pm on Sunday,” said RanbirSingh, Chief Electoral Officer(CEO), Delhi.

The Delhi poll authorityalong with Delhi Police haveidentified about 16 hamlets asvulnerable and have arrested128 persons from these areaswho has been observed aprobable source of intimida-tors/trouble mongers.

Besides, about 523 criticalpolling stations have beenidentified across the entireconstituency.

Among all the criticalpolling stations, there areabout 67 such locations inChandni ChowkConstituency, 82 has beenidentified in North East, 62 inEast, 120 in New Delhi, 44 inNorth West, 50 in West andtotal 100 in South Delhi seat.

“Special arrangementssuch as Paramilitary forces,CCTV cameras, webcasting,micro observers will bedeployed in all these critical

polling stations. All necessaryarrangement has been madeto conduct a smooth polling,"said Singh.

Delhi CEO also said,“candidates with criminalantecedents (convicted orpending cases) have beenasked by the ROs to publishthe details of cases in leadingnewspapers at least threetimes before the date of poll.”

A total of 13,819 pollingstations will be set up in2,700 locations in the nation-al Capital. Out of these, about124 locations will have morethan 10 polling stations andthere will be 70 model pollingstations. “A special polling sta-tions in Laxmi Nagar (EastDelhi constituency) and apolling booth in Tahirpurhas been completely dedicat-ed to assist the persons withdisabilities voters and thiswill be all PwD voters pollingstations as there are largenumber of people withLeprosy lives here,” said Singh.

Besides, this total of 17pink polling stations mannedby all woman staff will bethere across the entire con-stituency. There are total14,316,453 voters in thenational Capital, out of which78,73,022 are male, 64,42,762are female and 669 are trans-gender. Delhi will vote onMay 12.

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In a bid to help the voters toexercise their franchise in

Delhi on Sunday, the DelhiTransport Corporation (DTC)and Delhi Metro Rail

Corporation (DMRC) will startits bus and metro services ear-lier than the usual timing onthe day of Lok Sabha polls inthe city.

DTC will begin its servicesfrom 4 am on Sunday, said a

DTC spokesperson. The earlymorning bus services will beavailable on 35 major routesacross the city, he said.

The DMRC services willalso begin from 4 am on thepolling day. However, trains on

the Blue Line, going fromDwarka Sector-21 towardsVaishali and Noida, will beginoperations at 4.30 am.

The Delhi Metro startsfunctioning from 6 am on nor-mal days. “On the day of the

Lok Sabha elections in Delhi onSunday, May 12. The DelhiMetro train services on alllines will start from 4 am, sothat the staff deployed for elec-tion duty can avail the facility,”said the DMRC.

The trains will run with afrequency of 30 minutes on allthe lines till 6 am.

Later, metro trains will runas per the normal Sundaytimetable throughout the day,it said.

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The die is cast after the highdecibel but acrimonious

campaigning ended at 6 pm onFriday. Delhiites will vote onSunday to elect their seven rep-resentatives in the Lok Sabha.However a lot has happenedduring one of the most bittercampaign bordering on slan-der, personal acquisitions.

As many as 164 candidates,including 18 women, are in thefray in for the seven Lok Sabhaseats in Delhi which goes topolls on Sunday. It is expectedto be three-cornered fightinvolving the BJP, AAP and theCongress in all the seats.

The general election 2019witnessed acrimoniousexchanges between the AAPand the BJP over allegations ofhorse-trading, rivals jabbing atone another over alleged dis-crepancies in affidavits andeven a candidate of the rulingparty in Delhi breaking downin a Press conference and anattack on Delhi Chief Ministerand national Convener of AAPArvind Kejriwal.

The campaign which gotoff to a slow start as alliancetalks between the AAP andCongress lingered on till thelast days of nomination, gainedmomentum over the last fort-night with senior leaders draw-ing huge crowds at mega ralliesand road shows in the nation-al Capital.

The campaign reached acrescendo in its last lap withPrime Minister Narendra Modiholding a massive rally at theiconic Ramlila Maidan,Congress president RahulGandhi addressing two public

meetings, while his sisterPriyanka Gandhi Vadra takingout two roadshows in the city.

BSP supremo Mayawati,BJP president Amit Shah andhis party’s Chief Ministers YogiAdityanath, Vijay Rupani,Pema Khandu, SarbanandaSonowal, Union MinistersRajnath Singh, Sushma Swaraj,Nitin Gadkari and GirirajSingh canvassed for their partycandidates.

The campaign also sawcine stars — Hema Malini,Sunny Deol, Prakash Raj,Swara Bhaskar — garneringsupport for the candidates.

While the BJP’s campaignrevolved around the party’shigh-pitched nationalism nar-rative and the popularity ofPrime Minister NarendraModi, the Congress kept him inthe cross hairs and sought tohard sell its minimum incomeguarantee scheme — Nyay.

The AAP, on the otherhand, focussed on the demandfor full statehood for Delhi.AAP candidates Atishi andRaghav Chadha sought rejec-tion of nomination papers oftheir BJP rivals GautamGambhir and Ramesh Bidhuri.

Poll officers were also hard-pressed as several Model Codeof Conduct violations werereported. Allegations of horsetrading flew thick and fast astwo AAP MLAs — Anil Bajpaiand Devinder Sehrawat —crossed over to the BJP.

AAP alleged that rivalGautam Gambhir was behindthe circulation of pamphletscontaining derogatory and abu-sive remarks against Atishi, acharge the former cricketervehemently denied.

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Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)ended the last phase of

campaigning with demonstra-tion on sealing, pension toDISCOM employee, air pollu-tion, and water related issues incolonies through roadshowand jansabhas in Delhi onFriday.

Union Defence Ministerand Delhi State Election incharge Nirmala Sitharamansaid the enthusiasm of BJPworkers and the general pub-lic on the last day shows thatBJP is going to win all the sevenseats in Delhi.

Delhi BJP president, sittingMember of Parliament (MP)from North East Delhi and Lok

Sabha candidate Manoj Tiwarisaid that only BJP has workedtirelessly to resolve sealingissue.

Echoing amendments inMaster Plan by DelhiDevelopment Authority (DDA)to provide relief to traders’community, Tiwari said thatthe Congress and the AamAadmi Party (AAP) both havepoliticised sealing issue butdid nothing.

“BJP Government hadmade changes in MPD 2021 toincrease the Floor Area Ratio(FAR) of the Local ShoppingComplex and given them 100per cent commercial use per-mission, these changes providesome relief to traders,” Tiwarisaid.

Targeting AAP, Leader ofOpposition (LoP) in DelhiAssembly, Vijender Gupta saidthat Delhi Government hasenhanced the fixed charges onelectricity Bills by a huge 6times, in a span of just one yearfrom 2018, from �20 to �125per connection , which hasseverely impacted the low andmiddle class customers, who

often uses minimum amount ofelectricity.

“In the year 2002, the AAPGovernment and DISCOMSestablished the “Pension TrustFund” for the purpose of dis-bursing pension to the employ-ee. However, the current DelhiGovernment has disbandedthat fund and started penalis-ing the customers by collectingthe 3.8 per cent of electricity billas pension fund from the cus-tomers, perhaps to benefit theDISCOMS,” said Gupta

Dr. Harsh Vardhan,Chandni Chowk, answeredhundreds of questions of thevoters for an hour throughtweeter Chaupal in SindhoraKalan village. Delhi will vote onMay 12.

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Delhi Excise Departmenton Friday announced that

all liquor shops,clubs, bars andother suchestablishmentswill remainclosed in the cityfrom Fridayevening to 6 pmon Sunday.

D e l h i ,which sendsseven members to Parliament,goes to polls on Sunday.According to an order issued bythe department, “In pursuanceof the provision of Rule 52 ofthe Delhi Excise Rules, 2010, itis hereby ordered that ‘Dry

Days’ shall be observed asunder on account of generalelections to Lok Sabha 2019.”

Meanwhile, the chief elec-toral officeFriday issued astatement, say-ing that till dateIndian MadeForeign Liquor(IMFL) in 1984bottles, 109 halfand 2,23,865quarters andCountry liquor

in 2,104 bottles, 2,228 half and4,97,199 quarters and 9,115bottles of beer have been seized.

A total of 1,378 FIRs havebeen registered and 1,381 peo-ple arrested under the ExciseAct.

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Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)national convener Arvind

Kejriwal on Friday claimedthat if the Bharatiya JanataParty (BJP) comes back topower then the party presidentAmit Shah would be the UnionHome Minister.

He said in a tweet peopleshould think what will happento a country who has Shah asthe home minister. “Pleasethink about that before voting,”he tweeted.

Kejriwal also tagged a postwith his tweet of a pollingagency tracking Indian elec-toral trends which claimedAmit Shah is positioning him-self for the role of home min-ister if Modi returns, and said

ex Chief Economic AdvisorArvind Virmani and formerRBI Governor Bimal Jalan canmake a good finance minister.

Delhi goes to polls thisSunday in the sixth phase ofparliamentary elections andthe results will be declared onMay 23.

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Noida and Greater Noidaauthorities on Friday told

the Supreme Court that theydon’t have the requisiteresources and expertise to con-struct the stalled projects of theembattled Amrapali Groupand favoured handing over theproperties to a reputed builderunder the supervision of ahigh powered committee.

They also said that theycould not take any action likecancellation of lease agree-ments against the group whichregularly defaulted on pay-ments due to “bulk of homebuyers” and “political weight”.

Both the authorities toldthe apex court that there wasaround �5,000 crore pendingfrom Amrapali Group towardsthe principal amount and inter-est component besides thepenal interest.

They said that asGovernment entities keepingthe interest of home buyers inmind they had not cancelled

the lease agreements withAmrapali despite repetitivedefault of payment.

The top court on May 8had said that it may give own-ership rights of all the 15 primeresidential properties of embat-tled Amrapali Group to Noidaand Greater Noida Authoritiesas it has failed to fulfil its oblig-ations towards 42,000 hassledhome buyers.

A Bench of Justices ArunMishra and UU Lalit, reservedits verdict on the question as towho will take over the man-agement control and whichbuilder should finish the stalledprojects of Amrapali.

The court asked Noidaauthority to explain whataction it has taken against

Amrapali Group which was a“chronic defaulter” in paymentof lease amount.

Senior advocate DebalKumar Banerji, appearing forNoida said that under theirjurisdiction they have sevenprojects of Amrapali and theyhave an outstanding of nearly�2,000 crores while they havereceived only �505 crore tillnow.

He conceded that besidesissuing repetitive show causenotices to Amrapali Group fordefaulting in payments toNoida, they have not doneanything.

“We have issued a series ofshow cause notices for repeti-tive default by Amrapali Group.We are public sector entity andthere were a bulk of home buy-ers involved. Had we were aprivate body we could have eas-ily cancelled their lease agree-ment and proceeded further,”Banerji said.

“Due to the bulk of homebuyers, political weight andlooking at the consequenceswhich would have followedafter cancellation of Amrapali’slease no strong action wastaken,” he said.

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Over one million trees thatonce stood tall and pro-

vided green cover to the Odishacapital have been felled by theraging winds of Cyclone Fani,the uprooted trunks and barebranches testimony to theintensity of the storm that bar-relled through the State lastweek.

The extremely severecyclonic storm on May 3 didnot result in major casualtiesbut the environmental damagein the city is immense and itwill take more than a decade torecover, officials said.

Uprooted trees and fallenelectricity poles can be seenthrough the city, which is pick-ing up the pieces from thestorm that killed 29 people,mostly in the coastal town ofPuri.

Over one million treeshave fallen in this city, addingto the herculean clean-up task.Many in Bhubaneswar had anemotional attachment with thetrees, carefully tended for overtwo decades.

“We were in tears seeing

these trees lying on the roads.We raised them like our kids.We are now working hard to rehabilitate the remain-ing trees. Our 40-member teamhas rehabilitated 800 trees inlast 4 days, “ Ashok Mishra,divisional forest officer, toldPTI.

“It is impossible to assessthe environmental damage asof now. The entire greenery hasgone. In just Patrapada locali-ty, one lakh trees have beendestroyed,” he added.

Shipra Mohanty, a resi-dent of Nayapalli area, ismourning the loss of themango tree planted by hergrandmother.

“It will now take 15 to 20years to grow new trees to thatheight. It was my grandmoth-er’s memory. We are feeling likewe have lost her again. Wecould not eat anything the dayour tree fell,” she said.

The challenge ahead is toinitiate a large-scale plantationdrive. The forest departmentwants to plant cyclone resistanttrees given the recurringinstances of natural calamitiesin the State.

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From Page 1Attacking Congress,

Finance Minister Arun Jaitleysaid it was a matter of disgracethat the party did not have anyremorse, and wondered ifRahul Gandhi would “oust hisGuru” for the remark.

In a series of tweets, Jaitleysaid it was a “matter of dis-grace” that the Congress partyhas “no remorse” over the Sikhkillings of 1984.

“Sam Pitroda’s ‘hua to hua’reaction to the 1984 anti-Sikhkillings is reflective of the lackof remorse on the part ofCongress with respect to the1984 genocide. Will theCongress president oust his‘Guru’, who rubbishes the geno-cide of India’s most patrioticcommunity in 1984?” Jaitleysaid. Another Union MinisterMukhtar Abbas Naqvi hit outat Pitroda saying he had rubbedsalt into the wounds of the vic-tims of the tragedy.

Describing the Congress asa “caucus of mentally bankruptintellectuals”, Naqvi allegedthat the Opposition party,through its “criminal silence”on Pitroda’s remarks, was once again trying to justi-fy the brutal killings of Sikhs in1984. Union Minister PrakashJavadekar demanded that UPAchairperson Sonia Gandhi and

Congress president RahulGandhi apologise to the nationover their leader Sam Pitroda’s reported remarksabout the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.Javadekar said Pitroda has made a very “irre-sponsible” statement about theriots.

“Congress leaders SoniaGandhi and Rahul Gandhimust apologise for SamPitroda’s irresponsible state-ment that the ‘1984 Sikh geno-cide happened, so what’,” hetold reporters.

Javadekar said that RahulGandhi’s guide and Rajiv Gandhi’s colleaguePitroda had made “a very con-demnable” remark in publicdiscourse. He also claimed thatPitroda said Rajiv Gandhi andRahul Gandhi would nevertarget a group of people. “Thenhow he can explain Rajiv’s jus-tification of 1984 Sikh genocideby saying ‘when a big tree falls, Earth tremors’. Ifthis is not a justification then what it is,” heasked.

“He will say the communalpolitics by Rajiv Gandhi onShah Bano issue is also not rel-evant,” the Union Ministerclaimed, adding that it was rel-evant, because these issueswere being faced by the nation.

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The Supreme Court onFriday issued a notice to the

Centre on a plea challengingthe validity of a section whichprescribes for mandatory deathsentence in a case where aninnocent member of aScheduled Caste (SC) or aScheduled Tribe (ST) is con-victed and is executed as a con-sequence of false and fabricat-ed evidence given by theaccused.

The action of a Benchheaded by Justice SA Bobdecame on a public interest liti-gation (PIL) challenging themandatory death penalty undersection 3(2)(i) of the ScheduledCastes and the ScheduledTribes (Prevention ofAtrocities) Act.

The plea was filed by advo-cate Rishi Malhotra.

The advocate told the courtthat the provision is “manifestlyarbitrary, disproportionate,excessive, unreasonable, unjust,unfair, harsh, unusual andcruel”.

Under Section 3(2)(i) ofthe Scheduled Castes and theScheduled Tribes (Prevention

of Atrocities) Act, whoever,not being a member of SC/ST,gives or fabricates false evi-dence intending thereby tocause any member of SC/ST tobe convicted of an offencewhich is capital by the law forthe time being in force shall bepunished with imprisonmentfor life, and with fine, and if aninnocent member of SC/ST isconvicted and executed in con-sequence of such false or fab-ricated evidence, the personwho gives or fabricates suchfalse evidence, shall be pun-ished with death.

The petitioner requestedthe court to strike down theprovision with regard tomandatory death penalty asprescribed under Section3(2)(i) of The Scheduled Castes& The Scheduled Tribes(Prevention of Atrocities) Act1989.

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Aclose aide of one of themost dreaded terrorist,

Zakir Moosa, was eliminatedby a joint team of securityforces at Ram Nagri area ofHerpora in South Kashmir’sShopian district on Friday.

This is the first encounterbetween the security forcesand the terrorists in the holymonth of Ramzan in KashmirValley. No collateral damagetook place during the exchangeof fire, police said.

Two pharmacists were tar-geted by the “unidentified”terrorists on the second day ofRamzan in Zainapora area of

Shopian. The slain terroristwas identified as Ishfaq AhmadSofi alias Umar Resident ofModel Town Sopore, by thelocal police after the recoveryof his dead body from theencounter site.

Unofficial reports claimedIshfaq was popularly known byhis code name “Abdullah Bhai”.

He was also associatedwith the Islamic State Jammuand Kashmir (ISJK), an IS-inspired module. However,none of the State Police author-ities confirmed these reports.

According to a policespokesman, “after receivingcredible inputs , “a cordon &search operation was launched

early Friday morning at RamNagri area of Herpora in dis-trict Shopian. During thesearch operation, the hidingterrorists fired on the searchparty. The fire was retaliatedleading to a brief exchange offire in which one terrorist waskilled”.

According to the Policerecords, Ishfaq had a long his-tory of terror crime records andwas initially affiliated with pro-scribed terror outfit HuM. Healong with his other terroristassociates were involved inseries of terror crimes includ-ing grenade attacks on CRPFbunker at Safa Kadal, Souraand Police Station Khanyar.

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Joining issue with theEnforcement Directorate

(ED) over its allegation thatdespite no sources of income hehad transferred �49 crore to hisaccounts in Indian banks dur-ing a six-year period, contro-versial Islamic preacher andabsconding accused Zakir Naikon Friday wondered as to “whyis ED lying” about his earningswhich reflected in his taxreturns filed till 2016.

Two days after a Mumbai-based special court took cog-

nisance of a charge-sheet filedagainst him by the ED in amoney laundering case, Naik ina statement issued here said:“Why is ED lying? Wheneveryone — including all thegovernment agencies - knowthat I have multiple business-

es and revenue streams and myearnings have always reflectedin the tax returns I’ve filed”.

“Is the pressure so hugethat they need to lie to achievethe goal set out by their polit-ical bosses? For once, can theystart showing some spine andbe truthful in treating mycase?,” Naik asked.

“I’ve filed my tax returnsdutifully every year till 2016and the ED has access to all mytax papers. The papers clearlyshow that I have multiple busi-nesses and revenue streams,”Naik said.

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From Page 1Indrani and her husband Peter Mukerjea are

currently lodged in Byculla jail and are facingcharges in the murder of their daughter SheenaBora. Both of them were accused in the INXMedia bribery case also. CBI filed FIR againstthem along with Karti for the irregularities in theFDI clearance for the INX TV channel.

In 2007, the Foreign Investment PromotionBoard (FIPB) cleared only foreign investment inthe TV channel for �5 crore. But they illegally rout-ed �305 crore and were caught by Income Tax in2008, said CBI. After Income Tax served notice,Indrani and husband approached FinanceMinister Chidambaram and a bribe of Rs 5 corewas given to Karti. The bribe was deposited in twofirms controlled by Karti and FIPB provided post-facto clearance to INX Media, accused CBI.

Enforcement Directorate had already attachedRs 50 crore worth properties of Karti in Delhi,Ooty, London and Spain. CBI and ED have beenpressing for custodial interrogation ofChidambaram, who has obtained interim pro-tection from Delhi High Court. With Indraniturning an approver, the agencies are expected tofile chargesheet soon.

The CBI moved an application before JudgeJC Jagadale requesting him to issue suitable direc-tions to jail authorities for her production in aDelhi court on May 23. The judge said IndraniMukerjea is required to be present before the courtin Delhi as a production warrant is issuedagainst her. He then directed the Byculla jail super-intendent to transfer her custody to CBI officers.

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The National DairyDevelopment Board

(NDDB) has developed world’sfirst complete parent-wisegenome assembly called“NDDB_ABRO_Murrah” ofriverine buffaloes. This comeson the back of successfullaunch of INDUSCHIP, a cus-tomized genotyping chip forindigenous cattle and theircrosses.

Seen as a milestone for thedairy body, for the first time atrio binning was used for sep-arating haplotypes of a buffa-lo, using a father-mother-off-spring trio aimed at ensuringbetter accuracy. The genomeassembly developed by NDDB

has achieved more than 99 percent genome coverage.

An NDDB statement quot-ed Dr. Michael Schatz, arenowned scientist in genomics

research as saying: “This willcertainly be a valuable resourcefor the world.” This Buffalogenome shall be India’s contri-bution to genetic improvement

of buffalo in the world.World buffalo population

is estimated to be 224.4 million,of which 219 million (97.58 percent) are in Asia.

And India has 113.3 mil-lion buffaloes, which compriseapproximately 50.5 per cent ofthe total world.

Of the 13 buffalo breeds inIndia, the Murrah, native tocentral Haryana, is the mostsought after and acknowledgedas the best ‘breed-improver’with its gene pool now extend-ing across the globe in SouthAsia, South America, Mexicoand West Asian countries.

The breed is particularly indemand for its milk yield, thehighest recorded at 32 litres ina single day.

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The IAF on Friday made a cargo plane fromGeorgia to force-land at Jaipur on Friday

after it entered the Indian airspace from Karachithrough an undesignated route in Gujarat.Fighter jets including SU-30s were scrambled tointercept the plane after it initially did notrespond to radio call from Indian controllingagencies. The incident took place at a time whenthe entire western border with Pakistan is onhigh alert post Pulwama terror attack and sub-sequent events and the IAF is on full alert.

“Investigations by various agencies are nowon about the incident on Friday. It was learntthe Indian radars picked up the plane enteringnorth Gujarat from Karachi through an undes-ignated route at about 3.15 pm and after not get-ting any response, the IAF finally made the planeto force land at Jaipur at about 4.30 pm . Theplane is operated by Motor Sich airlines regis-tered in Ukraine and most probably deviatedfrom its designated flight path while coming toIndia.

Giving details, the IAF said in an officialstatement later that an unknown aircraft enteredIndian Air Space in North Gujarat Sector at 15.15hours with its IFF (Identification, Friend or Foe)‘on’. The aircraft did not follow the authorisedAir Traffic Services (ATS) route and was notresponding to Radio calls from Indian control-ling agencies.

Since ATS routes in the area were closed dueto the current geopolitical situation, and theaircraft entered Indian Air Space from anunscheduled point, the Air Defence interceptoron operational readiness was scrambled and vec-tored towards the unknown aircraft for inves-tigation. On visual contact, the aircraft was iden-

tified as Georgian An-12 flying at 27,000feet.The aircraft neither responded on interna-

tional distress frequency nor to visual signalsduring interception. However, when challenged,the aircraft responded and informed that it wasa non scheduled An-12 aircraft that had got air-borne from Tbilisi (Georgia) for Delhi viaKarachi. The aircraft was shadowed and forcedto land at Jaipur for necessary investigation, offi-cials said.

While the probe will find out the facts,Rajasthan and Gujarat besides the entire Northincluding Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir inter-national border is on heightened alert after theFebruary 13 Pulwama attack followed by Indianair strikes in Balakot on February 26 andPakistan retaliating the next day in Rajouri sector by trying to hit Indian military establishments by its jets.

At least two unmanned aerial vehicles usedby the Pakistan Army to gather intelligence aboutIndian positions on the international border inRajasthan were shot down by the IAF jets andthe Army early last month. Both the UAVscrashed on the Pakistani side.

Also, Pakistan closed several entry and exitpoints in its airspace for commercial flights com-ing from India since the Balakot attack and theseroutes remain closed even now forcing the inter-national flights to take longer route for Europeand US as the Pakistani airspace is blocked.

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After locals and environ-mentalists, it is now

researchers, including thosefrom the Government, whohave Gambhir manifesto: BJPcandidate vows to convertGhazipur landfill into green,clean Yamuna the ambitious5,040-MW Pancheshwarmulti-purpose project pro-posed on the Kali river bor-dering northern Nepal andIndia’s environmentally-sen-sitive Uttarakhand region.

A pet project of PrimeMinister Narendra Modi, thedam will be the world’s tallestdam (315m high) on comple-tion and is expected to sub-merge land owned by close to30,000 families spread over 62villages in the Hill State.

After “evaluating risksassociated with the project in

the light of environmentalimpact observed for the Tehridam in the region and the geo-logical understanding devel-oped over the years”, a team ofresearchers has called for “re-assessment of its (project’s)geo-environmental implica-tions in the ecologically sensi-tive Kaliganga valley.”

The study has been pub-lished in the recent issue ofCurrent Science. Theresearchers analysed in detailthree major factors related tosediment mobilisation fromglacial-paraglacial zones andunstable slopes, infrastructuredevelopment and seismicityand their likely impacts. Theyconcluded since there has beenno major earthquake inUttarakhand Himalaya regionfor long now, the next one to hitthis area could be a really bigone with magnitude above 8.

The researchers were SPSati from the Department ofEnvironment Science,Uttarakhand’s VCSGUniversity of Horticulture andForestry and Shubhra Sharma,from the Department of Earthand Environmental Science,IISER-Mohali, Naresh Ranafrom National Centre forSeismology, Ministry of EarthSciences, Harsh Dobhal fromthe School of Media andCommunication Studies, DoonUniversity, Dehradun andNavin Juyal, who is associatedwith the Physical ResearchLaboratory in Ahmedabad.

Citing various studies, theypointed out that while duringthe last 100 years, earthquakesof magnitude more than 7.5jolted Assam (1950), Bihar(1934) and Kangra (1905),Uttarakhand Himalaya is yet toface high magnitude earth-

quakes (more than 7.5 on ritch-er scale) as being part of theCentral Himalayan seismic gap.

“The probability of a highmagnitude earthquake in thegap areas is more, yet the pre-cise timing of the earthquakecannot be predicted accurately,”said the researchers as theypointed out that in the NepalHimalaya most of thehydropower projects are run-of-the river type and lack anymajor reservoir and yet major-

ity of them were damaged dur-ing the 2015 Gorkha earth-quake. Keeping this probablethreat in mind, the researchersnoted that as the project arealies in Zone IV of seismic zonemap of India where variousfaults around the proposed siteare suggested to be currentlyactive, it therefore highlights theincreased vulnerability of thesite to seismic hazard.

The dam will have adrainage area of 12,000 square

km, out of which 2700 squarekm lies in the glacial andparaglacial zones. The rock filldam will create a reservoir of116 square km, out of which 76square km would be in India.There have been doubts regard-ing the impact of this project onthe terrain and its ecosystembesides concerns on the dis-ruption of the socio-economicconditions of the people livingin Uttarakhand’s Pithoragarhand Champawat districts.

Finally, said theresearchers, we are yet to devel-op a reasonable understandingof the behaviour of theHimalayan cryosphere inresponse to climate variabilityand changing precipitationtrends. “This calls for a com-plete re-evaluation of themethodology employed forassessing hydropower poten-tials of the glacial and snow fed

Himalayan rivers. “This is important consid-

ering that majority of thehydropower projects areplanned in higher Himalaya,implying that these would besustaining largely on the meltwater discharge with subordi-nate contribution from ISM (asthe contribution of ISMdecreases northward of MCT).”

This is also true forPancheshwar dam project.Recent study from Hindu KushHimalaya region indicates thata majority of the glaciers hasretreated and lost ice masssince the mid-19th century. Asa consequence, the melt watercontribution into rivers wouldbe adversely impacted, whichif, not accounted for, will leadto under-performance of thehydropower project.

Besides locals in the affect-ed region, various green

activists and organisationsincluding South Asia Networkon Dams, Rivers and People(SANDRAP), a network oforganisations and individualsworking on issues related to thewater sector, have been up inarms against green signal givento the project.

Himanshu Thakkar, coor-dinator of the SANDRP said,“Seismicity and ReservoirInduced Seismicity(RIS) arenot the only hazards that thePancheshwar Dam faces.

Key point is to first assessthe inherent disaster potentialof the area. The next stepwould be how the project con-struction and operation wouldchange the disaster potential ofthe area and third step wouldbe to assess how the project willperform in these circum-stances. None of these areincluded in the EIA.”

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The panel of mediators is“optimistic” about an ami-

cable solution to the political-ly sensitive RamJanmabhoomi-Babri Masjidland dispute at Ayodhya, theSupreme Court said on Fridaywhile extending till August 15the time for completion of theprocess.

A five-judge Constitutionbench, headed by Chief JusticeRanjan Gogoi, said it receiveda report from former apexcourt judge Justice F M IKalifulla, who is the chairmanof the panel, in which the com-mittee has sought extension tillAugust 15 to complete themediation proceedings.

“If the mediators are opti-mistic about the result and areseeking time till August 15,what is the harm in grantingtime? This issue has been pend-

ing for years and years. Whyshould we not grant time,” thebench, also comprising JusticesS A Bobde, D Y Chandrachud,Ashok

Bhushan and S AbdulNazeer, told the counsel appear-ing for the parties concerned.“They (panel) have submittedto the court to consider exten-sion of time, which we areinclined,” the bench said at theoutset. The apex court had onMarch 8 referred the matter tothe panel of mediators forexploring possibility of an ami-cable settlement and appoint-

ed Justice (retd) Kalifulla, spir-itual guru and founder of Artof Living foundation Sri SriRavishankar and senior advo-cate and renowned mediator Sriram Panchu asmembers of the mediationcommittee.

During the brief hearing onFriday, the counsel appearingfor both the Hindu and Muslimparties expressed confidenceover the ongoing mediationproceedings and said they arefully cooperating with theprocess.

When one of the lawyersraised the issue of translatedcopies of several documents invernacular languages, thebench said they have receiveda report on May 7 from thechairman of the panel and“the member of the commit-tee have not expressed anysuch difficulty”.

“We have perused and con-

sidered the report of May 7 ofJustice F M I Kalifulla indicat-ing the progress made in themediation proceeding.Chairman of the mediationcommittee has sought exten-sion of time till August 15 toenable the committee to find anamicable solution.

We are inclined to granttime till August 15,” the benchsaid, adding that the panelwould submit its report to thecourt after that.

One of the advocatesappearing in the matter said theapex court had earlier giveneight weeks time to the panelof mediators to complete theproceedings and now nineweeks have gone by.

“We had given eight weeksand the report has come. Weare not inclined to tell you whatis there in the report of the committee,” thebench said.

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The Supreme Court onFriday asked for the

Centre’s response on a pleaseeking guidelines to regulate the functioning of online mediastreaming platforms like Netflixand Amazon Prime Videowhich display “uncertified and sexually explicit” content.

A bench of Chief JusticeRanjan Gogoi and JusticeSanjiv Khanna issued noticesto the ministries of broad-casting, law and communica-tions on an appeal challengingthe February 8 order of theDelhi High Court order which had dismissed it.

The high court had reject-ed the petition by NGO, JusticeFor Rights Foundation, afterthe Ministry of Informationand Broadcasting hadinformed it that online plat-forms are not required toobtain any licence from it.

The plea, filed through advocate H S Hora in the apex court,said these online web plat-forms are functioning in Indiawithout obtaining licencewhich has been admitted by theministries concerned in theiraffidavit filed beforethe high court on February 4.

“The said online platformsare displaying unlicenced,unregulated, uncertified con-tent and collecting subscriptionamounts from Indian con-sumers whereas the contenttelecasted on the online plat-forms is illegal to the extentthat certain movies bannedunder the provisions of theIndian Cinematograph Act andnot even passed by the CentralBoard for Film Certificationbut are allowed to be telecast-ed for the general populace bybypassing the law of the land,”the plea said.

It added that due to lack ofany licence or regulating body,the respondents via their inac-tion are creating a special classof broadcasters and thereforediscriminating against the cus-tomers, regular movie produc-ers, Cable-TV operators andD2H operators.

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Fani cyclone that left theeastern coast in Odisha bat-

tered on May 3 did not causeany significant structural dam-age to the Sun temple inKonark, a high-level centralteam that visited the historicalmonument said on Friday.

The team said that themonument will be opened topublic in next 2-3 days. Thecentral team of ArcheologicalSurvey of India (ASI) officialsled by its DG, Usha Sharma, isin Odisha to also assess theJagannath Temple in Puri andwill submit its report soon.

A statement from theUnion Culture Ministry saidthat the “team visited theKonark in forenoon on May 10,2019. The team observed thatby and large there is no structural damage to themonument”.

The team has informedthat there is some dislocationin the scaffolding provided forchemical cleaning at upper

level which is being set right.More than 200 trees have beendamaged which are beingcleared.

The electric and illumina-tion system including internetaccess has gone out of order,restoration of which will takesome time. The monumentwill be opened to public in next2-3 days. The chemical clean-ing and consolidation of east-ern face will be completed onpriority. The monument will berestored back to normal with-in about a fortnight, said astatement here.

The team is now in theprocess of visiting Sri JagannathPuri Temple to assess the dam-age. The State Government

had sought help from the ASIto assess the damage caused tothese world heritage monu-ments. The team will also suggest restoration exerciseneeded for the monumentsand the surrounding areas.

Earlier, the SuperintendingArchaeologist, BhubaneswarCircle ASI had inspectedMonuments including ShriJagannath Temple at Puri. Hefound certain damages on thesurface but no major damage tothe structure of the temple, saidthe statement here.

The office of Odisha ChiefMinister Naveen Patnaik, in atweet on Friday, said that hehad drawn attention of UnionCulture Minister MaheshSharma to damage to thesetemples.

The State Government hadsought direction to the ASI fordeputing a high level team toassess damage and implementremedial measures ahead ofimportant cultural event ofRath Yatra in Puri, which isslated for July 4.

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North West (NW)Delhi reserved con-stituency has over 23lakh voters, the

Scheduled Castes and Jats arethe two big communities here.Much of the constituency has

a rural character, with thousands ofmigrant workers living in unautho-rised colonies, JJ clusters and slumsspread across Mangolpuri,Sultanpuri, Sultanpur Majra. WhileJats form a large vote bank, the mid-dle and upper-middle classes have apresence in areas like Rohini.

The constituency compriseslarge rural belts where locals rely ondairy farming and traditional farm-ing and has three types of residents— original habitants who rely onfarming, migrant population, com-prising rickshaw pullers and indus-trial workers and the set of peoplewho reside in housing societies thathave sprung up in the last few yearsin Rohini.

NW Delhi constituency cameinto existence in 2008 as a part of theimplementation of the recommen-dations of the DelimitationCommission of India constituted in2002. This constituency is reserved

for the candidates belonging to theScheduled castes. NW Lok Sabhaconstituency comprises of tenVidhan Sabha segments such asNarela, Badli, Rithala, Bawana,Mundka, Kirari, Sultan Pur Majra,Nangloi Jat, Mangol Puri and Rohini.

Congress has fielded RajeshLalothia, Aam Aadmi Party hasfielded Gugan Singh whereasBharatiya Janta Party’s (BJP) HansRaj Hans is also in the fray.

Other than Rohini and limitedareas in North West where there isDelhi Metro connectivity, civic issuesplague most portions of this con-stituency. Haphazard, unplanneddevelopment has created its ownproblems too, especially in rural andunauthorised areas.

There is, therefore, a sense ofunhappiness across the 10 assemblysegments that make up the seat:Narela, Badli, Rithala, Bawana,

Mundka, Kirari, Sultan Pur Majra,Nangloi Jat, Mangol Puri and Rohini.

In 2014, BJP’s candidate Udit Rajbested AAP’s Rakhi Birla by over onelakh votes. Former Union ministerand Congress leader Krishna Tirath,ran in third, while BSP’s BasantPanwar got 21,485 votes. The resultthis year could parallel the last elec-tion’s.

While the candidates arepromising to resolve all issues in theconstituency but the residents saysotherwise. The rural populationrued about the lack of sanitationfacilities which also mean that thereis a threat to women when they stepout to attend nature’s call, which iseither early in the morning or late inthe evening.

The constituency has a sizeableSC population, with the roughly 19.1percent. According to CEO data,NW Delhi constituency has23,77,604 electors in the con-stituency — 13,04,555 (men);10,72,891 (women) and 158 (thirdgender). The number of electors insome of the other constituencies are— West Delhi (23,67,509); NorthEast Delhi (22,89,493); South Delhi(20,65,755).

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Political parties in thenational Capital haveblamed each other forplaying caste and com-

munity cards during electionsbut the reality is that caste affil-iations of voters as well as can-didates seem to play a crucial

role in the Delhi politics despite thepolitical party’s campaigns hingingupon issues such as infrastructuredevelopment, price rise, water crisisand corruption. Going by caste arith-metic in the West Delhi constituen-cy, communities such as Jat, Gujjar,Punjabi, Sikh and Vaish continue todominate area’s electoral fortunes.

There are two Jat candidates —Parvesh Varma from BJP and BalbirSingh Jhakhar from AAP. Congresshas fielded Purvanchali candidateMahabal Mishra who had won thisseat in 2009. Purvanchali, Jat, Sikhand Punjabi voters will ultimatelydecide the outcome.

It is believed that the Jat votesmay split. “Purvanchalis who forma formidable vote block, too, cansplit, mainly between Congress andBJP. Earlier, the constituency wasconsidered to be very important forthe Jats, when Sajjan Kumar, a for-mer Congress leader, was in power.

Later, Purvanchali voters became avital part of the West Delhi seat,” saida political analyst.

After the delimitation of par-liamentary constituencies in 2008,West Delhi was constituted with 10Assembly segments-Madipur,Rajouri Garden, Hari Nagar, TilakNagar, Janakpuri, Vikaspuri, UttamNagar, Dwarka, Matiala andNajafgarh.

West Delhi has a population of25.43 lakh and a population densi-ty of 19,563 inhabitants per squarekilometer. While neighbourhoodssuch as Dwarka, Janakpuri andRajouri Garden are considered afflu-ent and middle class, areas such asMadipur, Hari Nagar and Matialaare considered home to migrantsand working-class families who livein unauthorised colonies whereasNajafgarh is considered as a placewhere one can see a glimpse of ruralareas.

Pockets such as Rajouri Garden,Tilak Nagar, Janakpuri and HariNagar have a large Sikh population,while Jharoda, Dichaun Kalan, andDhansa are Jat strongholds.

Varma, the son of former DelhiCM Sahib Singh Varma, belongs tothe Jat community and the partybelieves it would help him win a sec-ond term but Jakhar, who alsobelongs to Jat community, is anative of Mitraon village inNajafgarh area in the constituency.Though Both Varma and Jhakhardoes not give much weight to thecaste but the reality is that the con-stituency which has also a stronghold of Jats in several areas may seevote division. Whereas, Congresscandidate Mishra, a migrant isbanking on Purvanchali voters torepeat his 2009 performance.According to political pundits, thePurvanchali votes also divided herebetween Congress and BJP.

Though, the economic and cul-tural make of the area is varied butthe demands of people are largelythe same which we can see in othersix Lok Sabha constituency inNational Capital. The residents ofDwarka rued lack of water and con-nectivity in the area.

North-East constituency, astronghold of BharatiyaJanata Party (BJP) and erst-while Jan Sangh since its

formation in 1966, is headed for aninteresting but tough battle among thesitting MP Manoj Tiwari of the BJP andformer Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit.AAP’s Dilip Pandey is also in the fray.The constituency boasts of a sizeablenumber of Hindu and Muslim votes.The Purvanchalis also have a formi-dable presence with 40 per cent voters.

Tiwari, the Bhojpuri film star, com-mands a strong following amongPurvanchali voters and had won com-fortably in 2014. However, with the arrivalof Sheila Dikshit, the contest has queeredthe pitch for the Delhi State BJP president.

The constituency comprises 10Assembly segments - Burari, Timarpur,Seemapuri, Rohtas Nagar, Seelampur,Ghonda, Babarpur, Gokalpur,Mustafabad and Karawal Nagar and has19,57,707 number of voters in which 40per cent voters are Poorvanchalis.Interestingly, out of the ten Assemblyseats, nine has AAP MLAs.

The Pioneer visited these areas toread the mood of the voters and foundthat Poorvanchalis are sure of to whomthey want to win the seat but otherswere waiting till the last to clear the airover the selection of the candidate tocast their vote. In some of the Assemblyconstituencies such as Seelampur,Babarpur and Mustafabad, Hindu vot-ers appear to be inclined towards theBJP but Muslim voters are divided asto whom they should support.

However, these voters in Timarpur,

Burari and Gokalpur favoured AAP, cit-ing the development works carried outby the party in the area but they said theywill decide a day before the election aboutto whom they are going to support.

The constituency has a large popu-lation of Muslims and after that comesBrahmin in the area and Purvanchalies.AAP and Congress largely depend onsimilar vote bases - Muslims, Dalits andthose living in unauthorised coloniesand JJ clusters among others.

It is the same vote bank which pro-pelled AAP to power with an unprece-dented mandate in the 2015 DelhiAssembly elections but with alliancebetween the two failed to materialised;it may divide the votes between theAAP and the Congress which will ben-efit Manoj Tiwari. Though all the par-ties have termed election as non-castebut in the fray to win battle AAP hasalso fielded Dilip Pandey who is alsofrom Purvanchal.

The BJP candidate is riding on thesupport of the Purvanchalis voterswhich is more than 40 per cent in thisconstituency.

Further division of Muslim votesand those living in juggi clusters willdirectly benefit BJP. Whereas the AAPcandidate Pandey also has a share of thepurvanchalies votes in the area votes.

However, with Sheila Dikshit’sentry into fray has made the contest tri-angular. Seelampur, Babarpur andMustafabad have a sizeable Muslimpopulation. AAP and Congress candi-dates have launched a massive door todoor contact to lure voters to cast theirvotes in their favour.

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In this constituencyissues that dominatingthe poll discourseinclude the Goods and

Services Tax (GST), demon-etisation, bad infrastructure,irregular water supply andthe sealing drive.

A large section of peoplein this constituency areaffected of these issues andclaiming to elect the candi-date who has potential toaddress these issue on pri-ority basis.

Law and order is alsoone of the issues in the con-stituency.

Residents said that chainsnatching and harassment ofwomen are common and itmust be addressed on prior-ity basis.

With 15,62,268 voters,Chandni Chowk is thesmallest parliamentary con-stituency in Delhi in terms ofelectorate.

The constituency com-prising 10 Assembly seg-ments — Adarsh Nagar,Shalimar Bagh, Shakur Basti,Tri Nagar, Wazirpur, ModelTown, Sadar Bazar, ChandniChowk, Matia Mahal andBallimaran.

Traders and Muslimvotes will hold the key.

In 2008, when a delimi-tation exercise was under-taken, several North Delhineighbourhoods such asModel Town, Tri Nagar,Wazirpur, Shalimar Baghand Shakur Basti were madepart of this constituency,which accounted for about15 per cent Muslim votersthat was 30 per cent beforedelimitation.

The percentage of votersof the SC and OBCs has goneup to about 25 and 20respectively post delimita-tion while the Vaish com-munity accounts for 10 percent voters.

The constituency is wit-nessing a three-corner fightbetween the BJP, theCongress and the AamAadmi Party. Incumbent BJPMP Harsh Vardhan is pittedagainst Congress’ old-timerJP Agarwal, who represent-ed the seat in 1984, 1989 and 1996.

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High-octane politicalbattle is expected inEast Delhi con-stituency among the

AAP’s ‘education reformer’Atishi, cricketer-turned-politi-cian Gautam Gambhir andturncoat Arvinder SinghLovely of the Congress.

Gambhir, the new entrant inthe political pitch attacked therivals AAP and Congress.Gambhir was severe in his attackon AAP’s national convenerand Delhi Chief Minister ArvindKejriwal for his persistentdemand full statehood Delhi.

After the delimitation ofparliamentary constituenciesin 2008, East Delhi parliamen-tary the constituency wasdivided into ten Vidhan Sabhasegments namely Jangpura,Okhla, Trilokpuri, Kondli,Patparganj, Laxmi Nagar,Vishwas Nagar, Krishna Nagar,Gandhi Nagar and Shahdara.

In 2014 Lok Sabha election,Bharatiya Janata Party’sMaheish Girri had won theEast Delhi Lok Sabha con-stituency with a margin of1,90,463 votes.

The East Delhi seat has seensome of the biggest names ofDelhi politics fight elections.These include former DelhiCM Sheila Dikshit and her sonSandeep Dikshit. The seat wasformed in 1966 and witnessedits first election in 1967.

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In South Delhi constituency, casteand community are playing animportant role. Keeping the castearithmetic, the Congress has field-

ed champion boxer Vijender Singh —who is a Jat and also won bronze medalat the 2008 Beijing Olympics. He willtake on BJP’s sitting MP RameshBidhuri also a Gujjar and Aam AadmiParty’s (AAP) Raghav Chadha whobelongs to a Punjabi community. TheGujjars and Jat voters dominate anumber of Assembly segments in the seat.

The seat is witnessing a triangularcontest among AAP’s Raghav Chadha,sitting BJP MP Ramesh Bidhuri andCongress’ Vijender Singh. The AAP,which is seeking to wrest the seat fromthe BJP, has been raising local issuesbefore the people.

The constituency has a total of 42villages out of which 18 are dominat-ed by Jats and 12 by the Gujjar com-munity. Gujjars are predominantlypresent in Chhatarpur, Badarpur andTughlakabad areas while Jats also havea sizeable presence in the villages bor-dering West Delhi constituency.

Problems facedWater supply remains one of the

biggest concerns for the residents ofSouth Delhi. Some places in Mehrauli,Chattarpur and Sangam Vihar stillexperience water scarcity. While thepeople admit that the supply hasimproved a lot over the last two years,yet, they say, a lot remains to be done

While political parties are raising

the issues of nationalism, unemploy-ment and full statehood status forDelhi, the residents of the high-profileconstituency insist that they needsomeone who takes care of their day-to-day problems first.

While people admit that the sup-ply has improved a lot over the last twoyears, yet, they say, a lot remains to bedone.

The civic issue of parking and traf-fic congestion in the heavily-populat-ed constituency also weigh on people’smind. Many complain about theunending jams that they have to nego-tiate, especially during rush hour, andsay these matters haven’t been paidheed to.

It has 10 Assembly segments —Chattarpur, Palam, Bijwasan, Kalkaji,Mehrauli, Deoli, Ambedkar Nagar,Sangam Vihar, Tughlaqabad andBadarpur.

The constituency currently has20,65,755 voters. A split in the votebank between Congress and AAP anda new face of Congress Vijender Singhgives BJP an edge in the constituency.While AAP’s vote share has registereda decline in elections held since 2015,Congress’ has been growing slowly.AAP and Congress largely depend onsimilar vote bases — Muslims, Dalitsand those living in unauthorisedcolonies and JJ clusters among others.It is the same vote bank which pro-pelled AAP to power with an unprece-dented mandate in the 2015 DelhiAssembly elections.

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As Delhi goes to vote on May 12, campaigning in the national Capital came to end on Friday evening. The contenders have left no stone unturned to reach out to the last of the voters. Local issues seemto be at forefront in deciding the fate of the candidates who are in the fray. Water supply, sealing, developing basic amenities, infrastructure are some of the key issues that is going to be a decisivefactors in electing parliamentarians. All the candidates of three major parties — the Congress, the Aam Aadmi Party and the BJP, in the national Capital pulled up their socks raising local issues toturn voters in their favour. In a separate constituency based manifesto issued by the respective candidates also suggested way to address these issues affected the residents directly.

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The main issue in thisconstituency is seal-ing drive which was conducted by the

Municipal Corporations on the direction of Supreme Court MonitoringCommittee.

It largely affected tradersand all the party’s candidatehave promised in its mani-festoes to address sealing issueafter voted as an MP.

Besides, water supply anddysfunctional street lights andtraffic chaos are other issuesthat the residents are suffer-ing from.

The constituency whichhouses the residences andworkplaces of all the keydepartments of the countryhas a number of local issuesto deal with prominently.

New Delhi constituencywas formed in 1951, is theoldest of the seven con-stituencies of Delhi with16,17,470 voters. It compris-es 10 assembly seats KarolBagh (SC), Patel Nagar (SC),Moti Nagar, Delhi Cantt,Rajinder Nagar, New Delhi,Kasturba Nagar, MalviyaNagar, R.K. Puram, GreaterKailash.

Congress Ajay Maken,BJP’s Meenakshi Lekhi andAAP’s Brijesh Goyal are infray from the seat.

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Mamata Banerjee on Fridaycame down heavily on the

BJP for smuggling cash to pur-chase votes after the policerecovered Rs 1.13 lakh from thevehicle of Bharati Ghosh theBJP candidate from GhatalLok Sabha seat.

While Ghosh claimed thatshe had been framed by theState police another caseinvolving a second candidateburst in the saffron party’sface with the West BengalCommission for Protection ofChild Rights booking BJP con-testant from Diamond Harbouron charges of child abuse.

Close on the heels ofGhosh being booked for car-rying money in excess to whatshe was permitted the ChiefMinister told an election rally

at Ashok Nagar that the “BJP isbringing boxes loaded withcash to purchase votes,” addingthe “central forces were notchecking the boxes being car-ried in the convoys of PrimeMinister Narendra Modi orother BJP leaders while thevehicles of other oppositionleaders, including the ChiefMinisters, were being checkedwithout following the mini-mum decorum.”

Referring to cash seizedfrom Ghosh’s vehicle she said“this is one case that has cometo light,” adding “howsoevermoney they spend to buy votesthe result on May 23 will showthat the TMC has won 42 outof 42 seats from the State.”

Earlier the police said thatGhosh’s was vehicle was chasedfor several kilometers onThursday night and she wasintercepted. Ghosh a former

IPS officer and the SP of thesame district however said shehad been framed as she wascarrying cash withdrawn frombank and that the remainingcash in excess of the prescribedRs 50,000 belonged to her fel-low passengers.

At Diamond Harbouranother BJP candidate NilanjanRay was reported against by theWBCPCR for abusing a girlchild. The panels chairpersonAnanya Chakrabarty said “theincident took place on April 26but it came to our notice yes-terday and we have directed thepolice to lodge an FIR againsthim.” She said the victim in thecase was 17-year-old girl.

Incidentally Ray was con-testing against TrinamoolCongress outgoing MPAbhishek Banerjee who wasalso the nephew of ChiefMinister Mamata Banerjee.

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Nandigram continues toremain where it was 12

years ago when a police firingin March 2007 claimed the livesof 14 who were protestingagainst illegal land acquisitionby the then Left FrontGovernment.

“There is hardly any devel-opment except the newly builtroads and street lights.Otherwise the political situa-tion continues to remain thesame,” said Isfaq Alam a localfarmer who was involved in themovement being a member ofanti-land grab committee.

“In those days our rightswere trampled upon. Todaythey are in our place,” says he.Asked who were referred to as“they” he says “‘they mean theCPI(M) cadres who carried outmaximum oppression on us.”

Today the Marxists arehardly allowed to speak letalone follow their politicalactivities. “‘They are given totaste the same medicinetoday.They have no right to vote, theycannot perform any politicalactivities, their guests are thor-oughly scrutinized and theystill have to pay ‘taxes’ for theoffence they committed.”

Asked to comment on whythey are subjected to similartorture and what is the differ-

ence between the people inpower then and those in powernow, he says “this is done by‘order’ from above.” Asked toname on whose ‘order’ thingsare done he falls silent.

At Sonachura village SuinaBanerjee a job aspirant says “Ipaid Rs 3 lakh for a schoolteacher’s job but nothing hashappened. A court case hasdone us in. The CPI(M) peo-ple were haughty, arrogant butnot thieves.”

At Garchakrabaeria villagea farmer says he has no prob-lem with the present dispensa-tion as “Didi has ensured thatour land remains with us. Noone can take our land till she isthe Chief Minister.”

His neighbour however

says ensuring that your publi-cation is from Delhi and thatthe story will be published faraway from Bengal, “at time itseems that industry was a bet-ter option because we growonly crop of Masuri rice herein a year. That does not takecare of our family well. Weneed an industry but the peo-ple are confused. No one daresto talk about an industry here.”

On who does the windfavour the TMC, BJP or theLeft, the locals speak in whis-per. “The Left has no chance asmost of them have gone to theBJP. The TMC will win becausethey will remain inGovernment here for anothertwo years. So who will want toearn enmity with them.”

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Terming his rivals from the AAP andthe BJP as political tourists,

Congress candidate from East DelhiLok Sabha constituency ArvinderSingh Lovely said that these “para-chuted” candidates visit the con-stituency only at the time of the elec-tion and never turned back among thepublic after winning election to listenand solve residents’ plights.

In an interview with The Pioneer,Lovely talked about the various issues,challenges and priorities of this con-stituency and asserted to solve it ami-cably after being elected as an MP.

Lovely said that the Congress partyneeds to score just six per cent morevotes to win the East Delhi Lok Sabhaseat, as after 2015, in all the elections,the Congress had either come first orsecond with the AAP candidates fin-ishing a distant third.

“I am a resident of this constituen-cy while the BJP and the AAP has field-ed outsiders as their candidates who arereluctant to meet the people of EastDelhi even during the elections cam-paigns while he personally interactswith the people and understands theirissues and problems,” he said. “The realissue is unavailability of the candidatesfrom the constituency. That is the rea-son the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) wasforced to deny ticket to its sitting MPfrom here,” Lovely said when asked

about the issues of theconstituency.

Lovely also accusedthe Delhi Governmentfor failing to curb pollu-tion. “Anand Vihar is themost polluted point inDelhi because of failureof public transport sys-tem in last five year. Thegocernment has reducedthe buses and failed toimplement Mono Railproject Shastri Park toMayur Vihar that was sanctioned by theCongress in Delhi.

He said that pollution was a bigissue in East Delhi, and Anand Viharand the Gazipur landfill areas were theworst affected, and people are strug-gling to breathe. “Almost 80 per centof the air pollution was on account ofvehicular traffic and the rest due to theconstruction dust and garbage accu-mulation, and in the last five years, pol-lution in East Delhi has reached dan-gerous levels,” he said.

“Garbage crisis in Delhi is one ofthe major issues. Gazipur landfill sitewhich was exhausted years back caughtfire frequently. The AAP governmentdid nothing to solve the problem. Thethird and fourth phase expansion of themetro project has been progressing ata snail’s pace, as neither the KejriwalGovernment nor the ModiGovernment at the Centre take any

interest in the metrowork,” he said.

When asked aboutthe problem of unautho-rized colony, he said in2013, we regularise 1200colonies but the presentGovernment has notgiven any attention inproviding facilities in theunauthorized colonies.“My priority would be toregularise these coloniesand provide all civic

amenities to residents of thesecolonies,” he said.

Lovely said that whatever develop-ment East Delhi witnessed was carriedout during the 15-year Congress ruleunder the leadership of Sheila Dikshit,and after that, all the development workshave been stalled. “I have detailed 25main points that require his immediateattention, including replacing the oldiron bridge across the Yamuna river,which has outlived its utility. “

Expressing concern at the plight ofthe families of small traders and indus-trialists who have been worst affectedby the sealing and demolition drives,said that as soon as the Congress comesto power, the people of Delhi would begiven relief on a priority basis from the‘sealing and demolition’ drives so thatthey can earn them livelihood withouthardships, and also end the unem-ployment crises the people are facing.

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Avitriol-filled campaignended on Friday for the

sixth and penultimate phase ofLok Sabha polls to be held in59 constituencies in six Statesand Delhi with barbs flyingthick and fast as leaders madeevery effort to sway voters intheir favour.

On Sunday, elections willbe held in 14 seats in UttarPradesh, 10 seats in Haryana,eights constituencies each inBihar, Madhya Pradesh andWest Bengal, seven seats inDelhi and four in Jharkhand.

In 2014, the BJP had won45 of these seats, the TrinamoolCongress 8, the Congress twoand the Samajwadi Party andthe LJP one seat each amongothers. Prime MinisterNarendra Modi once again ledthe BJP’s campaign holdingseveral rallies and stepping uphis attack on Opposition par-ties, particularly the Congress.BJP chief Amit Shah, Congresspresident Rahul Gandhi and ahost of Union ministers amongothers canvassed for their partycandidates in the past few days,undertaking whirlwind tours ofconstituencies.

Microphones fell silent andweeks of high-octane poll cam-paigning by parties came to endon Friday evening in thenational capital as the 48-hour

silence period kicked in from6 pm ahead of the Lok Sabhaelections.

All seven parliamentaryconstituencies in Delhi will goto polls on Sunday. As many as164 candidates are in fray in thepolls, which are largely beenseen as a three-way contestamong the BJP, Congress andAAP. Prominent candidates inthe contest include, veteranCongress leader Sheila Dikshit,Olympian boxer VijenderSingh, Union minister HarshVardhan, cricketer-turned-politician Gautam Gambhirand Atishi from AAP.

In Uttar Pradesh, the can-didates whose electoral fate willbe decided include SP presidentAkhilesh Yadav and Union min-ister Maneka Gandhi. Of the 14constituencies going to polls inthe state, the BJP had won 13 in2014 with Azamgarh being theonly exception from where SPpatron Mulayam Singh Yadavhad been victorious. InHaryana, Union ministersKrishan Pal Gurjar and RaoInderjit Singh are seeking re-election while former chiefminister Bhupinder SinghHooda is once again enteringthe race to the lower house.

The high-voltage election-eering saw a galaxy of leadersfrom the ruling BJP andCongress campaign for theirrespective parties in Haryana.

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General-turned PakistaniPresident, Pervez Musharraf,never moved into the Aiwan-e-Sadr (official presidentialpalace) of Pakistan but chose

to stay in the real centre of power in thePakistani military establishment ie, theArmy House at Rawalpindi. The currentArmy House was taken over by thePakistani military after disposing of itsprevious resident in the form of itsdemocratically elected Prime Minister,Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto. Today, it remains thecynosure, epicenter and the final pit-stopfor all significant approvals and substan-tial decision-making. The Army House ofthe Pakistani Chief of Army Staff (COAS)is practically the more important addressas compared to the Chaklala residence ofthe nominally higher Pakistani ChairmanJoint Chiefs of Staff Committee (CJCSC).Frequently, the occupants of the ArmyHouse have tended to overstay their man-dated tenures. The Pakistani Army isunder its 16th head (10th Chief of ArmyStaff and six previous Commander-in-Chiefs); whereas its genealogical other-half of the Indian Army is already underits 26th Chief of Army Staff (not count-ing the earlier four Commander-in-Chiefs). In the Pakistani narrative, themilitary chiefs who extended theirtenures, like Ayub Khan, Yahya Khan,Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq and PervezMusharraf, too, appropriated the role ofPresidents; whereas the more recentones like Ashfaq Parvez Kayani andRaheel Sharif preferred to pull the stringsfrom behind the façade of a civilian anddemocratically-elected Government.

The current Pakistani Chief of ArmyStaff, General Qamar Javed Bajwa, isseemingly following the footsteps of hispredecessor, Gen Raheel Sharif, and haspromised to “retire” on time at the endof his three-year tenure in November2019. On November 28, 2016, the fourthin seniority, General Qamar Bajwa fromthe 16th Baloch Regiment, supersededtwo other officers to start his three-yeartenure as the Chief of Army Staff. GeneralRaheel Sharif, too, had superseded twosenior officers — in both these cases theirappointment was initiated by formerPrime Minister of Pakistan Nawaz Sharif,ostensibly to get a “non-political” officer.

However, all five Pakistani COASs,who were sworn by Nawaz Sharif, gavehim subsequent grief, including GenWaheed Kakar (forced Sharif to resign),Gen Jehangir Karamat (forced him intopremature retirement), Gen PervezMusharraf (ousted him) and later RaheelSharif and Qamar Bajwa, who bore nosubsequent favour or loyalty to Sharif tobail him out politically. In fact, theunmistakable hand of the Pakistani Armyunder Gen Qamar Bajwa wasomnipresent in ushering in the Pakistan

Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)Government of Imran Khan.Earlier, murmurs of PakistaniArmy’s handiwork in creatingcivic disturbances, then play-ing mediator and finally man-aging political perceptionswere the hallmark of Bajwa’slooming, though silent shad-ow from Rawalpindi. Yet hekept on reiterating that irre-spective of the incumbent,the COAS — the institution ofthe Pakistani Army —remains independent, decisiveand wholly non-interferingin non-military matters.

Like his immediate prede-cessor, Gen Bajwa, too, hasmaintained public reticenceand only allowed his work todo the talking. In his tenure,there has been no realisticbreak from the past on thepart of the Pakistani Armyand its machinations inAfghanistan and India, muchto the consternation of boththe countries.

Pakistan’s continuedpatronage of the likes of JeMchief Masood Azhar remainedintact till it became imperativeto publicly disavow the terror-ist in the face of pressure fromthe international communityand multilateral agencies likethe UN and the latest Achillesheel, the Financial Action

Task Force (FATF), whichthreatens to “blacklist”Pakistan.

Now, Gen Bajwa is in thelast leg of his mandated three-year tenure and would be in a“legacy mode” to leave adefinitive imprint of his reign.If Gen Raheel Sharif couldappropriate ‘Operation Zarb-e-Azb’ as his legacy, GenBajwa could stake claim to therelative success of ‘OperationRadd-ul-Fasaad’ and to thewhispered ‘Bajwa Doctrine’that ostensibly counter-positsthe Pakistani perspective inthe Afghan-US-Pakistan triad.

Despite the recent embar-rassment emanating from theMasood Azhar episode andthe grovelling for interna-tional finances towards itsempty coffers (done by thecivilian Government), thePakistani military is back inthe saddle on the crucialAfghan front, with the USforced into co-opting theeager Pakistanis in the thatnation’s future.

Gen Bajwa has also man-aged to keep the Chinese ingood humour with a dedicat-ed division of 15,000 soldiersto secure the various infra-structural elements of theChina–Pakistan EconomicCorridor (CPEC). Spin-doc-

toring the narrative to suit thePakistani ears, the claimed“capture” of Indian command-ing officer Kulbhushan Jadhavand Indian fighter pilotAbhinandan Varthaman hasretained the halo for the “apo-lit ical” and professionalPakistani Army.

Within its own “uni-formed” fraternity, the bud-gets towards the Pakistanimilitary and its expansivecommercial activities remainas healthy as ever with thetemplate of plausible-deniabil-ity readily available for any actof misdemeanour, for whichthe politicos carry the publiccan. The formula of frontingIslamabad (civil politicians),while retaining the essentiallevers in Rawalpindi (militaryheadquarters) has been work-ing flawlessly, post the PervezMusharraf era of direct mili-tary takeover.

Lt General Sarfraz Sattar(Corps Commander, Multan)would be the senior most forthe appointment as the nextPakistani COAS or CJCSC inNovember, though historical-ly, seniority is no guarantee forthe appointment and essen-tially Imran Khan will toe theadvice of the Pakistani mili-tary. Like his predecessor andpossibly his successor (who-

ever that is), Gen Bajwa per-sonified the professional faceof the Pakistani military withno supposed personal affilia-tion to overt politics or reli-giosity, whilst simultaneouslypandering to the duplicitousinstincts of retaining the “ter-ror industry” that is outward-ly facing towards India,Afghanistan and Iran. Thisposturing retained the rele-vance, credibility and emo-tions in the face of a tangible“enemy”, ie, India.

Gen Bajwa and his succes-sor are expected to keep thewaters boiling selectively aspeace delegitimises the edi-fice, rationale and scale of thePakistani militar y. Theproverbial “bleed with thou-sand cuts” has been the suc-cessful formula as opposed toa full-on or even a “theatre -level” confrontation that couldend up embarrassingly forthe Pakistanis as did Kargil.Now, three Chiefs in a rowwould have walked a consis-tent pattern and as Gen Bajwamakes way for the 11thCOAS, more of the same isexpected, “Naya Pakistan”notwithstanding.

(The writer, a military vet-eran, is a former Lt Governorof Andaman & Nicobar Islandsand Puducherry)

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Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “Poll panel under fire” (May6). This election season has beenunique in several ways.Allegations, counter-allegations,half truths and absolute lies havetaken the political discourse to anew low. It is disgraceful thatpolitical leaders, who wish tooccupy the centre-stage in thecorridors of power, have becomeobscenely rash and impetuous intheir choice of words.

The Election Commission’s(EC) silence in the face of thiscontinuous electoral hate-mon-gering is one of the most alarm-ing aspects of the current gen-eral election. The EC, which isthe watchdog of the electoralprocess, should have been morevigilant so as to take punitiveand remedial action againsterring leaders.

Devendra KhuranaBhopal

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Sir — When the EVMs replacedthe ballot system to ensure theconduct of free and fair polls as

also accuracy, the move was wel-comed by almost all parties. It isunfortunate that the same partiesare now crying foul over theirfunctioning and have raiseddemands to revert to the ballotbox system.

However, when doubts per-sisted, Opposition leadersapproached the Supreme Court,urging it to direct the ElectionCommission for random verifi-

cation of at least 50 per cent ofthe EVMs using the voter verifi-able paper audit trail (VVPAT) inevery Assembly segment orAssembly constituency.

The three-judge Bench,headed by Chief Justice of India,took the right stand by stickingto its earlier order and rejectedthe Opposition plea outrightly.

The top court’s ruling shouldbe an eye-opener for all political

parties that they cannot take thecourt for granted and knock itsdoor at their whims to get afavourable ruling for their super-fluous demands. It is time that allpolitical parties cooperate withthe EC to get EVMs upgradedwith foolproof technology goingforward and remove any iota ofdoubt about their functioning.

KR SrinivasanSecunderabad

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Sir — Former Chief of Navy, retiredAdmiral L Ramdas, has claimedthat former Prime Minister RajivGandhi went on an official duty toLakshwadweep to chair a meetingof the Islands Development author-ity. Retired Vice Admiral VinodPasricha confirmed the same bysaying that Rajiv Gandhi was on anofficial visit — not on holiday —when he used Indian warship INSVirat. Contrary to their versions,retired Navy commander VK Jaitelysaid that Rajiv Gandhi and SoniaGandhi had gone on a vacation toBangaram Island and Navy’sresources were used extensively .

It is beyond comprehensionthat the former Prime Minister useda Navy warship to go to an islandeven for an official visit when somany other means were available.Not the retired officers but the Navyneeds to come out with facts whichshould clarify whether a warship hasever been used by any other PrimeMinister to go to an island while onofficial duty.

MC JoshiLucknow

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Mamta hurries towards the bushes, glanc-ing over her shoulder frequently. Sheavoids eye contact with a passer-by,

holds her chunni close, her hand clasped tight-ly with that of her daughter’s. Her head down,her posture almost apologetic, she makes her waythrough the bushes to relieve herself. After somerespite, she watches her daughter imitate her. Shecan’t help but wonder if her daughter’s future willbe the same. If she will also have to go throughher days, uncomfortable, bloated, weak and inpain. After a few moments, she cleans herself andher daughter, gathers her clothes quickly, grabsher bucket, her daughter and begins her journeytowards home. She only hopes that she will makeit for the next 12 hours without any major dis-comfort. In many rural areas of the country,women like Mamta have watched their mothers,grandmothers and even great-grandmotherspractise open defecation with complete resigna-tion. Taught from a very young age that toiletsare not meant to be part of the household infra-structure, they dutifully walk several kilometresevery day to relieve themselves. Many find it dif-ficult and de-humanising, some even feel threat-ened and uncomfortable. However, now almostall such women have embraced it.

According to a 2017 report by WaterAid,titled, Out Of Order: The State of the World’sToilets, India had the highest number of people(732 million) without access to toilets, out ofwhich, 355 million were women and girls. As amatter of fact, women and girls often face seri-ous threats to their life and safety. When they goto the fields to relieve themselves, they are oftenfollowed, stalked and ogled at. In a few horrificcases, women have been beaten and raped whileconducting private business.

Therefore, to protect their dignity, they avoidgoing to the toilet repeatedly during the day byminimising their intake of food and water. Thisoften causes several health problems like anaemiaand stunted growth among others. Additionally,the sheer humiliation women face when theyhave to defecate openly leads to irreparable psy-chological damages, too. Other than poor health,the lack of toilets has caused women and girlsto drop out of school and get limited educationor face harassment. In rural areas, most girls dropout of schools at an early age because of the lackof toilets.

India is a country of over a 1.3 billion peo-ple, out of which over 320 million defecate in theopen. What’s more startling is that the countryaccounts for 60 per cent of the world’s popula-tion that lives without sanitation. While no othercountry has taken a decisive stance on sanitation,the Government has been addressing this infra-structural challenge on a mission mode. Butmuch more needs to be done.

Given the complex nature of India’s sanita-tion problem, initiatives geared towards toiletconstruction and behaviour change need to bestrengthened, in addition to other infrastructur-al and skilling issues. The Government cannotbe held solely responsible for this. In order tomake these more effective and increase collec-tive ownership, public-private partnershipbecomes an obvious solution, especially interms of financing and providing technology

interventions. The underlying idea is toidentify localised systems and translaterelated knowledge and research intoeffective and widespread action.

The conceptualisation and imple-mentation of the Swachh Bharat mis-sion in 2014 created a movement tosolve infrastructural issues and fulfillthe goal of universal sanitation cover-age. Data from the Swachh BharatMission (SBM) portal suggests that 27out of India’s 36 States and UnionTerritories are now open defecation free(ODF) with 98.6 per cent of Indianhouseholds having access to toilets.While the Government must be con-gratulated for this remarkable feat, itmust also realise that for India toachieve 100 per cent open defecationfree status, a comprehensive behaviour-al change strategy is a must. The focusof future communication strategiesmust be on changing the mindset of thepeople, who still hold on to puritan reli-gious beliefs and refrain from installinga toilet within their premises as theyview them as impure.

People in rural areas even mock thetoilet culture itself. Under coercion,many have built toilets in their homes,consoling themselves by using it as astorage space. Many do not evenunderstand why toilets have to beused when vast forest areas are at theirdisposal. How does one explain tothose, who have grown accustomed todefecating openly since their childhood,that a toilet experience is much morethan just building and using them? It

is inclusive of diverse aspects such ashuman waste management, smart tech-nology for sanitation, data collectionand maternal health management.

Campaigns need to be designed tochallenge societal norms and culturalattitudes by bringing men and womentogether to understand the requirementof a toilet. Once these campaignsestablish a cause-and-effect relationshipbetween access to toilets and betterhealth and financial outcomes, peoplemay become more accustomed tousing toilets.

What must not be forgotten is thatmany campaigns have actually beendesigned for base of the pyramid con-sumers. Affordability is always anissue. Toilets in any rural household,whether rich or poor, are consideredlow on priority. At times, women arenot even consulted even if what is atstake is their comfort. This is mainlybecause of prevailing mindsets, most-ly in rural India. This is why men needto be part of the process and madeaware of how toilets can provide andprotect dignity of their women.Progress can only be deep and endur-ing when the community itself isinvolved in the planning, decision-mak-ing and implementation process.Wherever the devolution of powerhas happened at the level of commu-nity women, the Swachh Bharat hasbeen an empowering tool of not onlychange but women’s health.

While behaviour change is theAchilles heel of a successful campaign,

women can become the cornerstones orfoundation of success for such drives.If the woman, as a primary caregiver,is aware of safe sanitation and the toi-let culture, she will be able to inculcatethe same in her children.

Take the case of Mamta. She has adaughter, who needs to be toilet-trained. Should Mamta resort to teach-ing her in the bushes, or explain to herwhy she needs to use a toilet? What ifMamta herself is unaware of how to usea toilet? Or why exactly she needs a toi-let? What if there is no toilet in the vil-lage? How will Mamta help her daugh-ter toilet-train in a healthy manner?

Between the ages of one and six, achild’s perception of right and wrong,his/her ability to adapt and respond tosituations, primary responses and reflexactions are determined. A mother’s abil-ity to position a toilet as a safe space,where her child can go and relieve her-self without being stared at, withoutfeeling humiliated, without being vio-lated, is what makes her so indispens-able to the sanitation movement.

In essence, India will move forwardone mother at a time, one child at atime. This is critical not just for thenation’s social and economic prosper-ity but also for the progress of the nextgeneration. It is important for cam-paigns and policies to pay heed to thefact that as primary caregivers, moth-ers are indeed the fore-runners of thesanitation movement in India.

(The writer is Asia Pacific head ofpublic affairs of a Japanese firm)

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At least once in her career,every working mother isasked: “How do you maintain

work-life balance?” With a progres-sive Indian society forcing mothersto “have it all”— career, love, fam-ily and me-time — achieving work-life balance is easier said than doneeven though the concept of “work-ing mothers” has come into exis-tence since decades.

However, there are manywomen who have perfected the artof doing both at once, that, too, suc-cessfully and conveniently. Thanksto digitisation, the boundariesbetween work and personal timehave blurred. Yet, there are somewomen, who take breaks from work

to fulfill the responsibility of beinga full-time mother. After all, the struggle of striking abalance is real.

The term “work-life balance”indicates the distinct nature of workand life. It also suggests that oneneeds to delegate equal time for both. From jugglingbetween the house and office work,surpassing in managing offices,running an organisation and man-aging children at home, ensuringthat nothing is ignored — all of itcan just be chaotic. In the melee,there comes multiple momentswhen meeting all the obligationsseems impossible. But not giving upon the integration of both career andfamily is the key to deal with strug-gle. Mompreneurs, as women inleadership roles are called today, willdefinitely swear by this mantra.

Being open to making boldchoices: Entrepreneurial duties arechallenging and in a competitiveindustry, everyone wants to moveahead that, too, at a fast pace.Technology has created choices thatdemand quicker decision-making. It

may just be about skipping a corpo-rate socialising event to attending aschool function for the kids ormissing out a family brunch to flyfor an important investment meet.There will be plenty of momentswhen life will give some harshoptions to choose from. But one hasto do the best with what is available.There’s no need to go on a guilt tripafter making bold choices. Being awoman entrepreneur and a motherat the same time, it’s okay to bestrong enough to lead in times ofmodifications. After all, sacrificeshave always been a fact of life. Forages, men have been making suchsacrifices on the personal front forwork commitments but when itcomes to women entrepreneurs,they often end up feeling guilty.Gladly, times have changed and soshould mindsets.

Being mindful about theschedule: There is always enoughtime for work, being with familyand friends, exercising and binge-watching Netflix. It all depends onbeing mindful while planning theweek ahead, focussing on all set

commitments. Maintaining a timelog for a week or two can reveal thehours being spent involuntarily,considering humans have the ten-dency to overestimate the timespent on working and underesti-mate the number of hours spent forfun or leisure. The important partis to keep the family members in theloop about the schedule so that evenif someone has to hit the gym in theevening, she can arrange childcarein advance and avoid unnecessarystress.

Remain focussed: Whether it isabout taking charge of the entrepre-neurial responsibilities at work orbeing an ideal mother to the kids athome — every role demands hun-dred per cent focus. While it maysound impossible for many mom-preneurs, it is the key to making lifeeasier eventually. Keeping the lap-top aside and focussing on childrenand other family members at home,talking about things that matter tothem even if it is for a short period,can work wonders. What does notis spending hours with them withhalf a mind. It’s far from having

quality time and does no good onboth ends — be it professionally orpersonally.

Being smart in setting bound-aries: This is something no one elsecan do for a person. As the boss lady,one is required to be smart in mak-ing commitments. Rather thanpleasing everyone around by agree-ing to all requests, she must stayselective and keep “no” as an option,too. While at work, instead of blind-ly following deadlines, identify theirimportance; offer to send updatesthrough emails if possible instead ofattending long meeting hours whereyou are not a key stakeholder.Saying “no” to certain things isn’talways a negative deal. It can oftenlead to opportunities for others topitch in, learn and let you say “yes”to other crucial things in life.

Learning to embrace the chaos:Life of a mompreneur can beextremely erratic and unpredictable.Despite meticulous planning, thingsmight seldom fall out of place. Onecan fail to meet even daily goals,regardless of them being real. Beinga CEO or a co-founder of a start-up

may sound glamorous but one hasto build the resistance power ofbearing the blows life throws.

One has to keep calm even aftermissing a few deadlines sometimesor when a fever-ridden kid isscreaming his heart out while youare attending a conference call.The sooner you accept this reality,the easier it will be to eliminate alot of stress. Not only will it makeyour life easier but also of those youare surrounded by.

It goes without saying thatmompreneurs are superheroes forcommendably handling householdchores and professional leadershipduties with aplomb but while work-life balance may seem like an endgoal, in reality, it is probably impos-sible.

So, instead of striving to makeit happen, mompreneurs mustembrace the integration of both toachieve tremendous success in theboardroom while being able toraise and enjoy a healthy generation.

(The writer is CEO and co-founder of a leading training, skillingand consulting organisation)

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Atrade war between theworld’s two largest

economies escalated on Fridayafter the US more than doubledtariffs on $200 billion worth ofChinese products and Beijingvowed to retaliate.

The Trump administra-tion’s move comes as high-levelofficials from both sides areattempting to salvage a tradedeal in Washington.

The higher tariffs will beapplied to relevant US-boundgoods exported from China onor after Friday, according to anotice from the US FederalRegister.

Tariffs are taxes paid byimporters on foreign goods, sothe 25 per cent tariff will bepaid by American companieswho bring Chinese goods intothe country.

The US imposed a 10 percent tariff on $200 billionworth of Chinese products —including fish, handbags, cloth-ing and footwear — last year.

The US raised tariffs on$200 billion worth of Chineseimports from 10 per cent to 25per cent on Friday, China’sMinistry of Commerce said inBeijing.

“China expresses deepregret over the developmentand will have to take necessarycountermeasures,” the min-istry said in a statement.

“We hope the United States

will meet us halfway, and workwith us to resolve existingissues through cooperation andconsultation,” the statementsaid.

A Chinese delegation ledby Beijing’s top trade negotia-tor Vice Premier Liu He arrivedin Washington on Thursday forthe latest round of trade talks.

Under the current circum-stances, Liu said he “hopes toengage in rational and candidexchanges with the US side,” hewas quoted as saying by China’sstate-run Xinhua news agency.

Liu said that China believesraising tariffs is not a solutionto the problems and is harm-ful to China, to the UnitedStates and to the whole world.

Talks between the twosides will resume inWashington on Friday, hoursafter the tariffs took effect.

Reactions in Asia marketsto the US move were mixed.

Having started the day inpositive territory, Japan’s NikkeiIndex fell nearly 1 per cent inafternoon trading. TheShanghai Composite Indexrose more than 2 per cent andHong Kong’s Hang Seng Indexwas up around 1 per cent.

Even though PresidentTrump has downplayed theimpact of tariffs on the USeconomy, the rise is likely toaffect some American compa-nies and consumers as firmsmay pass on some of the cost,analysts said.

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Beijing on Friday slammedthe US for the “unreason-

able suppression” of ChinaMobile after US regulatorsdenied the telecom giant’srequest to operate in the USmarket over national securityconcerns.

The FederalCommunications Commissionon Thursday said that becauseof China Mobile USA’s owner-ship and control by the Chinesegovernment, allowing it intothe US market “would raisesubstantial and serious nation-al security and law enforcementrisks.”

China Mobile — theworld’s largest mobile operatorwith nearly 930 million cus-tomers as of February — firstfiled an application for per-mission to operate in theUnited States in 2011. Thefive-member FCC said in astatement that the decisionwas made after “extensivereview” and “close consulta-tion” with national securityand law enforcement agencies.

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Shares of Jet Airways rose bynearly 3 per cent Friday

after SBI chairman RajnishKumar said the lenders havereceived two “unsolicited” bidsfor the company and “one”more is expected by the end ofthe day, keeping the hopes forthe revival of the grounded car-rier alive.

The scrip went up by 2.85per cent to close at �151.80 onthe BSE. During the day, itgained 6.91 per cent to �157.80.

In terms of traded volume,21.26 lakh shares were tradedon the exchange during the day.

The consortium of 26lenders, led by State Bank ofIndia, which now owns 51 percent in the airline, had invit-ed expressions of interest(EoIs) between April 8 and 12and had received four prelim-inary bids.

“Two unsolicited biddershave submitted EoI for Jet andwe are expecting one more bidby the end of the day,” Kumartold reporters at the earningsconference in Mumbai.

Jet Airways stopped oper-ations on April 17 due to acutefinancial distress.

The BSE had sought clari-fication from Jet AirwaysThursday with respect to newsthat regional director reportfinds instances of siphoning offunds.

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State Bank ofIndia chair-

man RajnishKumar onFriday said thelenders havereceived two“unsolicited”bids for JetAirways and“one” more isexpected by theend of the day, keeping thehopes for the revival of theg r o u n d e dcarrier alive.

The consortium of 26lenders, led by State Bankwhich now owns 51 percent inthe airline, had invited expres-sions of interest (EoIs) betweenApril 8 and 12 and had receivedfour preliminary bids.

Friday is the last day tosubmit financial bids andmedia reports said none of thefour bidders — private equityfirms IndiGo Partners andTPG, and Jet’s strategic partnerEtihad and the country’s sov-ereign wealth fund NIIF — arelikely RPT likely to submitfinancial bid.

“Two unsolicited biddershave submitted EoI for Jet and

we are expecting one more bidby the end of the day,” Kumarsaid told reporters at the earn-ings conference here.

The lenders are offering31.2-75 percent stake in thecompany on a fully dilutedbasis. Currently, the airlineowes �8,000 crore to thelenders.

Jet Airways stopped oper-ations on April 17 due to acutefinancial distress.

Jet founder Naresh Goyal,who was forced to step downfrom the airline on March 25 aspart of a deal with lenders, hadearlier partnered with FutureTrend Capital to submit a bidfor investing in the airline. Butlater he reportedly withdrewthe offer, as others threatenedto walk away.

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With use of smart tech-nologies like ‘Advanced

Distribution ManagementSystem’ (ADMS), ‘GeographicalInformation System’ (GIS),‘Field Force Automation’, and‘Digitalization of Services’, TataPower Delhi Distribution (TataPower-DDL) has released over10,000 electricity connectionsin this year within an averagetime of 48 hours.

A senior Tata Power-DDLsaid that the technologies are help-ing the company to track con-sumer service request instantly, doremote diagnosis, coordinate withproject managers and find the bestsolution all the while keeping thecustomer updated in real time.

Besides drastically improv-ing several processes andenhancing consumer experi-ence across all touch points theintegration of these advancedtechnologies have also signifi-

cantly improved the ‘GettingElectricity’ process reducing thenumber of steps involved andsimplification of the documentprocedure through acceptanceof self-certified declaration alongwith two documents namelyownership, rent proof and iden-tity proof, he said, adding thatapplicants can get a new con-nection within seven workingdays tracking the status of theirconnection in real time.

Sanjay Banga, CEO, TataPower-DDL said, “Tata Power-DDL has made significanttechnological advancementsand process simplification forproviding faster electricity con-nections to consumers. Nowapplicants can get the connec-tion with minimum docu-mentation by following simplesteps. I believe, this initiative ofours will not only result inenhanced customer experiencebut also contribute towardsthe ease of doing business”.

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Small IndustriesDevelopment Bank of India

(SIDBI) and Equifax, collabo-rated to launch a first-of-its-kind newsletter “MicrofinancePulse” to track the lendingtrends in the microfinance sec-tor. The first edition of thenewsletter reported that Non-Banking Financial Company –Microfinance Institutions(NBFC-MFIs) continue tomaintain their market domi-nance with the market share of38% in third quarter of finan-cial year 2018-19 (Q3-FY19).Gross Loan Portfolio (GLP) forthe industry stood at Rs.1,57,644 crore as at end Q3-FY19, registering a quarter-on-quarter (Q-o-Q) growth of 7%.

The total number of activeloans as at end Q3-FY19 were8.22 crore showing a growth of24% over as compared to theprevious financial year.

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New Delhi: Letstrack launched App and Devices in India for B2Cand B2B consumption. A mix of artificial intelligence and IoT,Letstrack has solutions like LTSafe, LT Claim, LT Profit, LT School,LT attendance; LT Insurance. It provides analyzed, detailed andquality information served on our Smart-phones, Web Browsersand Emails informs of push notifications, updates, reports andlives feeds through easy to understand info-graphics and text foreveryday consumption. PNS

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Snapping its four-session los-ing run, the rupee ticked

higher by 2 paise to finish at69.92 against the US dollarFriday.

Forex traders said thedomestic unit recovered in thelater part of the day amidreports that the US is expect-ed to remove India from itscurrency manipulation watch list.

According to mediareports, the US TreasuryDepartment may nameVietnam as a currency manip-ulator and is expected toremove India and South Koreafrom its watch list.

However, rising crude oilprices in the overseas market,sustained foreign fund out-flows and continuing sell-off inthe domestic equity marketweighed on the rupee, forextraders added.

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Fresh sanctions by the USagainst Iran’s steel and min-

ing sectors are expected toimpact Indian manufacturersin the Persian Gulf nation,TPCI said Friday.

US President DonaldTrump on Wednesdayannounced tougher-than-eversanctions against Iran’s steeland mining sectors, hours afterTehran said it would suspendsome curbs under a denu-clearisation deal rejected byWashington.

The restriction may impactthose Indian manufacturerswho are into steel, billets andbars for export purposes, in

Iran, Trade Promotion Councilof India (TPCI) ChairmanMohit Singla said in a state-ment.

“This fresh restriction willnot impact India immediatelyas the import of metals andother mining products fromIran are not much. However, itwill surely deter India’s poten-tial investor sentiment inChabahar port and also impactthe Indian manufacturers inIran who are into steel, billetsand bars for export purposes,”he added.

India imports iron andsteel, machinery, mechanicalappliances, nuclear reactors,boilers, and electrical machin-ery from Iran.

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Benchmark indices buck-led under selling pressurefor the eighth straight

session on Friday — markingtheir longest losing streak sinceFebruary — as investorsremained on the sidelines amidgrim global cues and lacklus-tre corporate earnings.

After a highly volatile ses-sion, the 30-share BSE Sensexclosed 95.92 points, or 0.26%,down at 37,462.99. Similarly, thebroader NSE Nifty shed 22.90points, or 0.20%, to settle at11,278.90. During the week, theSensex lost a hefty 1,500.27points, or 3.85%, while the Niftydived 433.35 points, or 3.69%.

On the global front, the UShiked tariffs on USD 200 bil-lion worth of Chinese imports,prompting Beijing to threatenretaliation.

However, investors pinnedtheir hopes on an eventual tradedeal as the two sides remainedon the negotiating table.

Tata Steel was the biggestloser in the Sensex pack onFriday, tumbling 6.10%, fol-lowing reports that Germanindustrial conglomerateThyssenkrupp expected theEuropean Commission to“block” its plan to merge itsEuropean steel business withthe Indian steel giant.

Other losers included HCL

Tech, Yes Bank, IndusInd Bank,TCS, ONGC, Bajaj Finance,PowerGrid, Vedanta, AsianPaints, NTPC and HeroMotoCorp, which shed up to4.07%.

SBI was the top gainer, up2.94%, after the country’slargest lender reported a netprofit of �838.40 crore for thefourth quarter of 2018-19 on astandalone basis as non-per-forming assets (NPAs)declined. Bharti Airtel, ICICIBank, HDFC twins, Axis Bank,Kotak Bank, M&M and TataMotors too ended in the green,rising up to 2.09%.

“The earnings season hasnot panned out well going bythe numbers of auto, consumerand private banks’ quarterlyresults. We have started to seesigns of slowdown in the econ-omy, going by managementcommentary of consumercompanies,” said SanjeevZarbade, vice-president, PCGResearch, Kotak Securities.

Sectorally, the BSE metal,IT, oil and gas and teck indicesdeclined up to 1.54%.Consumer durables, bankexand finance rose up to 1.51%.

Broader indices outper-formed benchmarks, with theBSE midcap and smallcap gain-ing up to 0.24%.

Persistent outflow of for-eign funds too weighed oninvestor sentiment, traders said.

Foreign institutionalinvestors (FIIs) net sold sharesworth �655.36 crore onThursday, while domestic insti-tutional investors (DIIs) pur-chased equities to the tune of�677.91 crore, provisional dataavailable with stock exchangesshowed.

The Indian rupee appreci-ated marginally to 69.86 againstthe US dollar intra-day.

Ahead of the outcome ofthe two-day talks inWashington aimed at endingthe trade war between theworld’s two largest economies,US President Donald Trumpon Thursday accused China oftrying to renegotiate a tradedeal that has been negotiatedafter months of efforts andasserted he will not let thathappen. However, Trump saidhe received a “very beautifulletter” from the ChinesePresident Xi Jinping, and thatit is possible that the US andChina will ink a trade deal.

Bourses in China endedsignificantly higher, withShanghai Composite Index ral-lying 3.10% and Hang Sengending 0.84% higher.Elsewhere in Asia, Nikkei fell0.27%, while Kospi rose 0.29%.European stocks were alsotrading higher in early trade.

Global oil benchmarkBrent crude was trading 0.38%higher at USD 70.66 per barrel.

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Script Open High Low LTPRPOWER 6.19 6.34 6.08 6.16SUZLON 5.57 6.50 5.49 6.40TATASTEEL 522.45 526.00 479.75 487.30YESBANK 172.30 174.15 163.05 164.00SBIN 301.95 310.70 292.20 308.05RELIANCE 1264.90 1277.90 1245.00 1250.50JETAIRWAYS 150.90 157.80 145.00 151.80JPASSOCIAT 4.95 4.99 4.90 4.94PCJEWELLER 119.95 129.70 119.85 127.10PNBHOUSING 723.00 792.80 723.00 782.35SPICEJET 124.50 126.75 122.70 123.50TATAMOTORS 188.00 190.45 184.40 186.00VOLTAS 539.80 585.25 537.00 579.70RELCAPITAL 118.90 123.10 116.80 117.90MARUTI 6620.95 6655.00 6573.90 6624.25ZEEL 361.10 372.80 360.85 370.30DHFL 118.00 119.45 115.10 116.35IBULHSGFIN 688.10 707.95 686.35 696.40INFY* 723.00 723.00 714.50 716.05KAJARIACER 566.00 593.00 544.75 583.90HCLTECH 1126.70 1126.70 1074.45 1086.05ASIANPAINT 1310.05 1355.00 1310.05 1340.95RELINFRA 102.55 108.40 102.35 107.05KOTAKBANK 1375.00 1405.40 1370.00 1392.35ICICIBANK 384.00 389.00 382.35 384.80STAR 485.80 506.00 479.25 485.70VEDL 158.80 159.60 153.90 155.25IDEA 14.35 14.35 13.60 14.00MGL 924.70 928.00 882.00 888.95TCS 2174.35 2193.60 2125.00 2135.55HINDUNILVR 1700.00 1709.90 1678.90 1687.10HINDALCO 198.00 201.05 194.50 196.95CANBK 259.00 268.60 256.40 265.45BAJFINANCE 2980.00 2995.00 2902.25 2921.45J&KBANK 52.90 57.75 52.80 54.10DELTACORP 231.20 233.35 202.00 213.45IBREALEST 102.50 104.90 100.00 101.00HDFCBANK 2292.00 2325.00 2290.00 2296.75LT 1364.40 1364.40 1345.80 1355.25DMART 1256.00 1285.90 1250.00 1254.25JINDALSTEL 166.50 167.00 161.30 161.30WIPRO 291.80 292.45 290.10 290.55PNB 84.70 87.15 84.40 86.20INDUSINDBK 1495.00 1495.00 1430.00 1440.60BANKBARODA 112.30 114.90 110.70 113.75BHARTIARTL 319.45 328.10 315.20 322.30TITAN 1102.00 1137.05 1094.35 1131.80SOUTHBANK 14.85 14.95 13.65 14.05NOCIL 123.00 123.00 111.65 118.00DISHTV 34.20 35.40 33.70 34.80VENKYS 1945.00 1964.20 1807.00 1809.00MOTHERSUMI 129.95 131.30 127.15 127.95ITC 299.80 300.55 296.95 297.70ASHOKLEY 85.45 86.25 84.90 85.75SAIL 52.40 53.50 51.65 52.45GRAPHITE 374.00 377.75 362.00 364.00BIOCON 531.15 545.15 531.15 540.60EDELWEISS 153.00 159.80 152.75 158.60AXISBANK 732.05 738.50 730.00 731.85M&M 627.10 631.70 619.60 629.35JSL 35.15 39.85 34.40 38.40ESCORTS 612.00 615.65 591.00 598.30IOC 150.85 150.85 147.20 147.80DLF 169.90 172.50 166.05 166.75EQUITAS 124.30 128.20 123.60 125.35HEG 1689.00 1692.00 1647.00 1657.75RBLBANK 668.00 677.35 659.50 674.00JSWSTEEL 286.55 289.20 283.00 286.90WESTLIFE 361.00 379.00 361.00 376.00FEDERALBNK 98.00 98.20 96.05 96.90L&TFH 120.50 122.90 119.75 121.00IRB 114.90 124.10 114.90 123.05BHEL 63.00 63.55 61.90 63.15SHANKARA 474.70 530.30 454.00 520.95BAJAJ-AUTO 2978.00 3008.55 2959.95 2972.00CGPOWER 37.60 38.30 36.60 37.20PFC 111.90 111.90 107.05 108.65GRANULES 114.20 115.20 109.00 110.60HDFC 1919.00 1956.00 1912.00 1931.15SUNPHARMA 437.45 442.10 434.70 438.00INDIACEM 99.05 100.75 98.10 99.20DCMSHRIRAM 497.95 513.60 497.95 507.40LUPIN 866.00 866.00 831.65 836.85INDIGO 1555.00 1555.00 1513.60 1537.20BANKINDIA 84.30 86.60 84.30 85.40PVR 1808.00 1808.00 1696.50 1713.45INFIBEAM 43.00 44.40 42.50 43.10BOMDYEING 119.45 119.70 116.00 117.00WELCORP 143.10 144.90 141.50 143.55TATAMTRDVR 90.00 90.50 87.95 89.00NCC 91.40 96.80 91.05 95.85IBVENTURES 263.40 267.70 261.60 263.35PEL 2185.00 2226.00 2167.70 2195.40WOCKPHARMA 382.30 384.90 378.00 380.50AMBUJACEM 214.70 216.00 213.30 214.35APOLLOTYRE 185.00 193.00 184.00 191.20IDFCFIRSTB 48.95 49.60 48.55 49.25BPCL 368.00 368.00 360.00 362.95HINDPETRO 275.00 275.00 269.90 271.45SRTRANSFIN 1030.10 1049.00 1010.20 1013.00NMDC 95.60 95.90 93.05 93.80BEML 823.05 849.00 823.05 843.60JAICORPLTD 103.35 106.30 102.85 104.70IGL 318.00 321.00 308.90 310.90BEL 90.40 90.65 88.85 89.50COLPAL 1155.00 1155.00 1126.15 1131.60SYNDIBANK 37.00 38.30 36.75 37.90TATAPOWER 64.25 65.30 63.65 63.65

VGUARD 206.35 211.25 198.30 208.50STRTECH 186.60 187.00 182.25 182.75PERSISTENT* 614.70 615.85 609.10 610.00ADANIPOWER 41.30 42.25 40.95 41.35GODREJPROP 798.95 808.85 784.00 789.25CEATLTD 1025.00 1025.10 990.00 991.90UNIONBANK 82.60 84.60 82.10 83.95EVEREADY 87.00 89.50 84.25 86.95ADANIPORTS 365.00 378.25 363.65 371.05TECHM 815.50 815.50 800.60 803.00NTPC 128.45 128.70 126.45 127.15JUBLFOOD 1283.85 1293.75 1260.50 1263.90HEROMOTOCO 2550.00 2558.25 2500.00 2511.65VIPIND 432.00 440.00 429.20 436.90ONGC 168.95 169.40 165.65 166.35JUSTDIAL 553.00 568.60 553.00 564.95RAIN 111.00 113.15 109.00 109.85DBL 469.65 484.95 460.85 484.95COALINDIA 242.60 244.95 240.35 241.55BRITANNIA 2668.10 2720.00 2668.10 2688.60OBEROIRLTY 509.00 527.30 509.00 520.00SUNTECK 439.00 458.60 434.35 441.45ALBK 45.30 45.80 43.70 45.00AVANTI 346.85 355.70 342.05 352.10LICHSGFIN 477.10 484.60 472.10 476.80CIPLA 558.50 562.55 551.10 551.10INDIANB 239.50 246.70 237.70 244.05AUROPHARMA 758.90 762.40 745.00 745.90NATIONALUM 50.45 50.55 49.50 49.60DABUR 366.00 371.50 366.00 369.50DIVISLAB 1617.00 1657.55 1555.60 1651.20POWERGRID 187.95 187.95 185.00 185.50KTKBANK 121.50 123.50 121.00 122.80ABCAPITAL 98.40 98.40 96.90 97.70GSPL 172.10 180.60 172.00 175.60UJJIVAN 313.00 318.80 311.15 312.75SREINFRA 23.50 24.05 23.30 23.75MANAPPURAM 113.90 117.75 113.10 116.25ABB 1390.80 1393.05 1340.00 1389.95TATAELXSI 867.00 875.00 859.75 863.05JISLJALEQS 49.45 51.10 48.75 50.55DEEPAKNI 275.80 283.50 273.00 281.10UPL 948.35 962.80 947.80 955.15HDFCLIFE 409.60 411.65 409.00 409.05NBCC 55.70 56.05 55.05 55.60TEJASNET 178.00 183.00 173.55 181.90RECLTD 136.75 137.50 134.75 136.25SBILIFE 649.95 666.95 639.05 643.50ICICIGI 1090.00 1098.60 1080.05 1082.80

BHARATFORG 462.00 465.75 454.00 456.60ORIENTBANK 92.80 96.60 92.65 95.45PIDILITIND 1166.85 1177.00 1154.00 1166.75JUBILANT 619.95 627.50 613.00 616.00BATAINDIA 1356.10 1362.30 1328.55 1349.90BANDHANBNK 574.70 580.90 568.00 569.25MUTHOOTFIN 572.00 581.00 568.00 574.00GRUH 307.40 309.75 302.30 306.70CADILAHC 285.40 294.15 285.40 289.70IDBI 37.70 38.35 36.90 37.10PETRONET 237.00 239.40 234.40 235.90CENTURYTEX 927.00 934.00 918.00 926.15ACC 1595.55 1612.95 1595.10 1603.15SPARC 158.60 160.50 153.35 156.95OMAXE 206.55 206.55 204.75 205.35DCBBANK 214.10 217.70 214.10 216.40GLENMARK 610.05 626.30 607.55 617.60BAJAJFINSV 7518.95 7531.85 7354.00 7389.45DRREDDY 2905.05 2917.20 2868.40 2870.00ULTRACEMCO 4488.70 4497.00 4426.05 4434.20HFCL 21.90 22.15 21.75 21.90NHPC 22.60 23.05 22.35 22.40RCF 56.25 56.75 55.70 55.85SIEMENS 1095.00 1102.30 1062.00 1072.05GNFC 293.60 296.55 291.00 293.20RADICO 340.90 346.95 336.55 345.40APOLLOHOSP 1178.25 1192.00 1168.30 1183.85HAVELLS 738.45 741.55 725.80 738.10BHARATFIN 910.00 915.85 886.00 888.00ICICIPRULI 361.00 361.00 350.00 351.15JYOTHYLAB 162.00 162.00 155.50 155.90TATACHEM 593.35 593.95 588.05 590.30CANFINHOME 319.00 323.15 314.00 319.35NESTLEIND 10410.00 10435.60 10152.55 10200.00RNAM 190.55 192.60 187.50 191.10M&MFIN 392.00 392.00 378.00 381.70KEC 289.90 295.00 284.30 286.00GODREJCP 641.00 646.50 634.80 645.70PRSMJOHNSN 87.60 87.60 84.20 86.55NAUKRI 1925.80 1976.60 1915.90 1948.95SUNTV 502.00 553.40 502.00 541.90

TV18BRDCST 29.00 29.55 29.00 29.40TRIDENT 65.50 67.25 64.80 67.05GSFC 93.90 97.40 93.55 96.80RAYMOND 800.00 813.20 795.55 805.00PHILIPCARB 138.00 142.00 137.00 138.50BLISSGVS 163.50 165.65 160.25 161.65MINDTREE 980.00 984.60 971.00 973.25BAJAJELEC 526.05 548.45 521.70 542.95INTELLECT 224.95 228.40 224.00 224.90FSL 50.50 51.00 49.95 50.70SWANENERGY 100.25 104.00 97.80 102.00HEXAWARE 347.90 349.85 343.70 347.80EXIDEIND 209.90 213.50 209.00 211.05HINDCOPPER 43.55 43.65 42.85 42.95FORCEMOT 1570.95 1591.95 1560.00 1567.40KEI 368.45 378.00 365.85 377.00TVSMOTOR 486.00 488.35 474.70 477.65OFSS 3452.55 3499.85 3359.55 3390.00KANSAINER 424.30 425.85 412.00 418.65MERCK 3667.05 3742.30 3667.05 3719.00GAIL 340.00 343.50 338.70 339.50ABFRL 208.00 213.00 207.00 210.45ENGINERSIN 108.05 109.50 107.55 109.20LTTS 1689.05 1708.40 1680.00 1680.00CHOLAFIN 1321.70 1327.80 1285.50 1289.00GMRINFRA 16.10 16.30 15.85 16.05WELSPUNIND 51.05 52.90 51.05 52.90IDFC 37.00 38.25 37.00 38.00GUJFLUORO 955.00 972.00 916.60 943.50EICHERMOT 20273.90 20450.00 20271.35 20348.80MCX 835.50 835.50 815.05 816.00BLUESTARCO 752.70 755.00 741.15 745.00CASTROLIND 147.95 148.75 146.30 146.35JINDALSAW 78.35 78.50 76.70 76.90GRASIM 869.95 872.05 850.00 856.55GREENPLY 147.50 147.50 140.60 143.35RAJESHEXPO 671.00 678.40 663.00 671.95AUBANK 634.80 646.20 634.80 643.95INFRATEL 264.50 266.00 261.35 262.35IPCALAB 972.75 982.30 961.15 971.85SUVEN 258.95 260.65 254.50 260.50SADBHAV 225.60 230.95 217.05 217.05OIL 178.05 178.05 174.95 175.50KALPATPOWR 468.50 474.60 456.25 459.30MPHASIS 943.10 951.80 938.25 950.50CHENNPETRO 235.00 237.75 229.00 229.55SRF 2420.00 2465.00 2411.75 2447.20ANDHRABANK 24.10 25.80 24.10 25.05HSCL 103.05 103.85 100.05 100.05TORNTPHARM 1673.65 1696.00 1658.40 1686.90BERGEPAINT 303.00 303.55 296.00 301.25MFSL 411.30 414.65 408.40 414.50GUJGAS 165.00 166.50 162.50 162.90JKTYRE 84.00 84.50 83.30 83.80MANPASAND 111.30 114.40 110.00 110.70MARICO 356.70 358.40 355.10 357.20ASTRAZEN 2191.30 2253.05 2168.00 2216.65MEGH 62.95 63.05 61.90 62.50AJANTPHARM 1078.00 1081.30 1056.85 1067.00BIRLACORPN 534.00 549.45 534.00 547.65JSWENERGY 68.95 68.95 67.00 67.00MRPL 64.30 65.10 63.00 63.85IFCI 9.45 9.65 9.35 9.53TATAGLOBAL 200.40 201.20 198.00 198.45NIITTECH 1240.50 1251.00 1238.45 1245.65LTI 1682.45 1700.00 1682.10 1689.00ADANITRANS 208.30 212.40 205.75 209.00COROMANDEL 413.35 419.00 410.05 412.45GODREJAGRO 505.00 505.90 495.00 504.65GMDCLTD 74.00 74.90 73.25 73.65PAGEIND 21500.00 21552.15 21207.10 21280.00AARTIIND 1586.90 1590.00 1564.40 1582.00GODREJIND 485.00 485.00 468.50 470.50JMFINANCIL 82.00 82.50 79.10 80.05LINDEINDIA 514.00 519.80 504.50 518.00GODFRYPHLP 1024.95 1041.60 1013.40 1026.30AMARAJABAT 639.15 645.35 633.10 634.30TATACOMM 550.75 564.40 550.75 556.00ECLERX 989.95 1001.50 988.00 990.00NAVKARCORP 30.05 30.10 29.10 29.35LAKSHVILAS 74.75 77.90 74.75 75.85LAURUSLABS 384.05 392.35 384.05 386.20ADANIGREEN 39.95 39.95 38.60 39.05PARAGMILK 236.00 240.25 236.00 239.50INOXLEISUR 320.75 320.75 306.00 307.35INDHOTEL 147.65 148.55 145.20 145.65MAHABANK 16.10 16.40 15.40 15.80CENTURYPLY 163.00 165.00 160.00 160.00UBL 1380.00 1380.00 1347.00 1351.35BALKRISIND 845.30 847.35 836.75 840.95CHAMBLFERT 140.35 143.95 140.15 142.25ZENSARTECH 249.00 250.75 240.00 240.20HINDZINC 264.00 264.35 259.50 260.25HIMATSEIDE 204.45 206.00 198.00 201.00GICHSGFIN 242.75 242.75 235.10 235.50GREAVESCOT 140.55 142.10 139.60 141.70IOB 13.24 13.32 13.10 13.24SHRIRAMCIT 1465.40 1498.80 1410.00 1450.00NATCOPHARM* 545.00 547.70 535.00 535.30TATACOFFEE 86.30 86.80 85.50 86.00LAXMIMACH 5405.00 5559.80 5356.00 5515.00MINDAIND 343.20 349.60 340.20 348.65ADVENZYMES 178.60 178.60 175.00 175.00EMAMILTD 368.00 374.00 359.00 373.00GILLETTE 7036.05 7036.05 6837.65 6906.00GHCL 240.50 244.25 240.00 244.00RAMCOCEM 751.20 751.35 740.65 742.00IBULISL 264.00 268.05 256.65 260.95JKLAKSHMI 347.85 350.00 342.15 345.45

HUDCO 38.90 39.40 38.80 39.20ISEC 216.45 219.75 215.30 218.00TIMETECHNO 80.00 83.65 79.55 79.75JAMNAAUTO 52.55 52.80 51.75 51.90MRF 54600.00 54696.20 53544.15 53722.00REDINGTON 92.90 93.75 90.00 90.00EIDPARRY 187.00 190.50 185.75 186.35VINATIORGA 1788.00 1836.00 1771.00 1790.00FRETAIL 416.50 421.00 413.55 417.50GESHIP 271.55 272.65 261.00 263.80DEEPAKFERT 135.35 135.50 132.00 132.20FCONSUMER 40.25 40.70 40.00 40.15HEIDELBERG 176.40 181.20 175.40 179.95APLLTD 542.15 542.15 520.85 530.05CONCOR 475.00 480.55 472.00 476.05JSLHISAR 81.50 81.50 79.00 79.75ITI 86.00 86.60 85.00 85.40KSCL 455.00 455.05 443.45 446.65CUMMINSIND 706.65 707.20 697.15 697.65NILKAMAL 1258.40 1305.85 1255.35 1261.00BBTC 1181.80 1187.30 1171.00 1171.05PHOENIXLTD 593.00 593.00 574.65 578.45REPCOHOME 405.50 406.40 396.00 400.75CROMPTON 226.90 227.40 221.25 224.00THOMASCOOK 240.40 246.00 239.60 244.50TORNTPOWER 248.45 252.20 248.45 251.15INDOSTAR 364.85 364.90 357.00 357.45MMTC 24.70 25.05 24.60 24.60COCHINSHIP 366.05 370.00 362.05 364.55GLAXO 1267.85 1277.95 1245.50 1269.90SUDARSCHEM 313.10 314.15 306.95 309.95MAHINDCIE 222.10 224.85 222.00 223.85LALPATHLAB 985.00 990.00 969.05 975.00WHIRLPOOL 1343.95 1388.95 1341.00 1377.05FDC 167.70 169.00 165.30 165.65WABAG 269.65 272.60 266.00 266.95CENTRALBK 28.80 29.15 28.70 29.00LEMONTREE 73.10 73.10 70.55 70.55BOSCHLTD 17230.00 17337.45 17115.25 17247.05ORIENTCEM 108.60 109.60 107.05 108.15HSIL 276.60 277.35 274.00 274.00KRBL 318.10 327.95 318.10 324.10PIIND 1029.75 1033.80 1022.30 1024.50GICRE 236.40 238.85 232.55 232.65GUJALKALI 515.00 517.80 503.50 505.40FORTIS 132.90 133.45 131.05 131.05TAKE 138.65 141.00 136.65 139.00SIS 849.45 875.00 833.65 854.30SUPREMEIND 1005.10 1012.20 980.00 992.45SYNGENE 606.90 611.25 595.75 598.70SCHNEIDER 95.15 95.15 91.85 92.10DCAL 202.30 207.25 202.10 204.00NAVINFLUOR 674.10 681.50 674.05 676.00RALLIS 144.45 144.80 143.00 143.70CARERATING 939.95 943.00 932.05 943.00TRENT 372.00 377.00 368.40 373.30SUNDRMFAST 534.00 535.00 525.20 526.00MOTILALOFS 682.70 683.35 663.00 663.55TATAMETALI 604.85 608.40 591.75 599.90RCOM 2.36 2.36 2.36 2.36SHREECEM 19250.00 19296.35 18918.15 19099.00SYMPHONY 1337.35 1339.00 1300.00 1301.50SCI 32.35 32.80 32.25 32.50SONATSOFTW 333.30 334.00 330.65 334.00FLFL 463.00 464.95 456.35 462.00MAHSCOOTER 3698.25 3708.95 3558.25 3701.90NETWORK18 30.35 30.35 29.35 30.15SCHAEFFLER 4860.00 4927.10 4790.00 4806.00UCOBANK 17.25 17.60 17.20 17.40BAJAJCON 341.90 343.25 329.00 330.35JBCHEPHARM 323.00 325.20 307.00 325.00SHARDACROP 387.70 399.45 380.30 392.50PNCINFRA 152.55 159.70 151.00 156.40CYIENT 576.90 579.95 575.05 578.00GSKCONS 7136.00 7136.00 7001.00 7012.05PTC 67.30 68.10 67.05 67.10GALAXYSURF 991.50 1029.95 991.50 1023.45ITDCEM 113.40 114.25 112.05 113.00QUESS 656.95 662.40 652.05 655.00ISGEC 524.00 532.50 491.40 507.05PFIZER 2997.50 3042.40 2991.75 3028.45FINCABLES 420.00 429.50 418.00 427.00BDL 272.05 273.25 268.00 271.95NIACL 171.75 177.00 170.35 173.40GRINDWELL 594.50 595.00 586.10 593.00CORPBANK 25.65 26.55 25.60 26.15RELAXO 889.95 889.95 861.70 877.00KNRCON 226.80 236.15 226.80 231.00GPPL 84.25 85.50 84.20 85.00VBL 921.00 921.00 904.15 915.00FINOLEXIND 445.50 459.95 445.15 458.00THYROCARE 457.10 462.00 455.45 460.30VTL 1105.40 1120.00 1097.20 1120.00MOIL 147.05 148.80 147.05 147.75SOBHA 447.65 449.25 444.50 445.00BAJAJHLDNG 3060.00 3199.00 3054.95 3080.00VMART 2656.90 2666.00 2537.70 2544.20ASTRAL 1160.00 1174.00 1142.00 1161.30UFLEX 221.15 221.30 216.55 218.15ABBOTINDIA 7300.00 7390.00 7251.05 7390.00PGHH 10425.00 10445.10 10286.00 10363.00SHK 148.40 148.85 145.60 148.00GULFOILLUB 824.15 848.85 824.15 827.00SOMANYCERA 377.00 381.95 369.25 376.05APARINDS 668.40 671.00 645.00 649.30AIAENG 1735.00 1754.00 1735.00 1740.60BALMLAWRIE 168.00 171.00 167.05 167.10ASHOKA 116.05 117.75 114.65 117.05TIINDIA 365.15 374.00 365.00 369.00

SANOFI 5401.55 5535.00 5401.55 5440.00HERITGFOOD 445.00 445.00 431.10 439.95PRESTIGE 261.20 266.00 261.10 262.90EIHOTEL 173.70 175.40 173.05 175.40AKZOINDIA 1679.50 1687.70 1662.00 1669.00ZYDUSWELL 1298.05 1322.95 1296.10 1300.00FORBESCO 2146.00 2160.05 2081.20 2100.00CARBORUNIV 353.85 355.00 350.00 352.55COFFEEDAY 251.05 251.45 247.00 249.95NAVNETEDUL 107.80 107.80 105.50 105.95CAPPL 331.20 342.10 331.20 336.00NBVENTURES 91.50 91.60 89.65 89.85MHRIL 232.50 232.50 223.70 227.00ESSELPRO 132.90 133.50 132.50 132.50TEAMLEASE 2927.95 2976.00 2876.40 2907.25ALLCARGO 106.10 106.10 102.00 104.55ITDC 245.25 253.55 245.25 253.45JKCEMENT 837.95 853.00 837.65 850.00MINDACORP 112.55 114.80 112.35 112.90SJVN 24.05 24.10 24.00 24.10BASF 1248.00 1260.00 1248.00 1248.00HAL 640.60 644.60 636.05 637.00ATUL 3537.10 3598.30 3537.10 3595.00JAGRAN 110.90 111.65 110.00 110.00SHILPAMED 375.00 384.30 375.00 381.80NLCINDIA 65.50 65.50 64.35 65.20IEX 154.40 156.50 153.00 156.50TRITURBINE 105.00 106.50 101.45 103.25CUB 200.05 200.25 198.80 199.85TATAINVEST 854.05 859.50 851.00 856.35NESCO 494.00 495.00 483.05 483.05MAXINDIA 73.00 73.00 71.10 71.50ALKEM 1740.00 1740.00 1703.30 1727.50DBCORP 185.00 190.10 185.00 189.00INOXWIND 60.25 61.00 59.25 60.25IFBIND 786.65 818.90 775.00 818.90CENTRUM 29.50 29.55 28.85 29.50ENDURANCE 1138.60 1154.15 1125.05 1127.75TTKPRESTIG 8000.00 8010.00 7960.05 7986.90TNPL 183.25 186.25 182.20 185.90GDL 131.45 132.00 129.05 129.05UNITEDBNK 10.80 10.85 10.75 10.76TVTODAY 295.55 301.00 294.10 299.10ERIS 595.45 633.00 594.15 621.00THERMAX 959.55 959.55 948.25 949.00MONSANTO 2524.00 2574.00 2521.15 2538.85MAGMA 127.35 127.95 124.55 127.95APLAPOLLO 1481.35 1481.35 1421.55 1439.20SUNCLAYLTD 2685.00 2685.00 2520.00 2561.00CHOLAHLDNG 506.60 515.00 505.00 509.10GET&D 232.00 232.00 226.30 226.30NH 191.10 197.95 189.70 194.85CCL 266.00 270.80 266.00 269.25DHANUKA 369.40 375.20 364.85 367.10MAHLOG 481.00 481.90 476.70 476.70LUXIND 1242.80 1254.00 1230.45 1231.10SUPPETRO 201.90 206.00 201.90 206.00TIMKEN 537.65 543.30 532.00 541.75CERA 2765.25 2765.25 2700.00 2700.003MINDIA 23200.00 23200.00 22655.10 22931.75GEPIL 911.85 911.85 885.00 885.10KIOCL 120.00 124.70 120.00 120.10WABCOINDIA 6249.90 6249.90 6179.00 6186.60SOLARINDS 1055.20 1085.50 1055.05 1055.05ASTERDM 143.40 143.40 140.00 140.55MAHLIFE 374.05 374.15 370.05 370.05SFL 1255.85 1265.00 1248.95 1248.95KPRMILL 596.80 600.00 593.00 595.40SHOPERSTOP 459.50 464.80 451.20 461.10LAOPALA 202.00 210.00 200.50 207.70JCHAC 1736.00 1795.05 1736.00 1770.00CRISIL 1404.50 1409.85 1401.75 1405.00SKFINDIA 1845.00 1877.85 1838.85 1854.15BAYERCROP 4087.00 4100.65 4080.00 4080.05HONAUT 23875.00 24044.90 23850.00 24044.90STARCEMENT 108.65 109.50 108.25 109.25BLUEDART 3000.00 3053.15 2986.10 3007.85ELGIEQUIP 257.00 260.40 254.55 260.40GAYAPROJ 161.80 161.80 156.00 156.00RATNAMANI 870.00 870.20 865.00 867.00AEGISLOG 194.25 195.50 194.10 195.50TVSSRICHAK 2129.95 2129.95 2090.10 2091.00HATSUN 730.00 730.00 724.00 730.00ASAHIINDIA 226.00 226.00 222.00 222.05SUPRAJIT 214.00 214.00 214.00 214.00

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SCRIP OPEN HIgh LOW LTP CHANGENIFTY 50 11314.15 11345.80 11251.05 11278.90 -22.90ZEEL 361.90 373.90 360.00 370.50 12.60SBIN 301.80 310.75 292.45 306.90 7.60TITAN 1108.00 1137.85 1094.30 1129.45 25.00BHARTIARTL 318.90 328.40 315.20 321.50 6.05IBULHSGFIN 688.00 708.45 686.00 694.30 12.70ADANIPORTS 363.90 378.70 363.90 370.00 6.10UPL 951.00 962.95 947.00 955.50 6.60HDFC 1915.25 1956.00 1910.75 1926.80 12.20ICICIBANK 383.50 389.20 382.25 383.65 2.25KOTAKBANK 1370.00 1406.50 1368.10 1393.05 7.55TECHM 810.40 813.40 800.40 813.40 3.75HDFCBANK 2291.35 2324.90 2291.35 2296.50 5.60AXISBANK 734.40 738.50 729.50 732.55 1.55BRITANNIA 2680.00 2725.00 2673.00 2675.00 2.60GAIL 341.00 343.80 338.20 340.75 0.35MARUTI 6623.00 6664.90 6575.00 6630.00 5.05M&M 626.25 631.85 619.00 625.85 0.40JSWSTEEL 286.00 289.30 283.00 285.55 0.10LT 1359.65 1362.50 1345.10 1356.65 0.20COALINDIA 242.00 244.95 240.00 242.30 0.00EICHERMOT 20390.00 20417.55 20301.00 20361.35 0.45WIPRO 291.50 292.40 290.00 290.10 -0.95SUNPHARMA 437.00 442.65 434.45 437.65 -1.70BAJAJ-AUTO 2980.50 3008.00 2954.35 2970.05 -12.85INFY 720.80 726.00 715.00 716.50 -4.55ASIANPAINT 1314.10 1350.00 1314.10 1345.00 -9.20TATAMOTORS 187.00 190.60 184.30 184.95 -1.40RELIANCE 1265.00 1277.70 1245.00 1245.75 -10.70CIPLA 557.75 562.70 551.00 552.80 -4.95ITC 300.00 300.45 296.90 297.15 -2.70BAJAJFINSV 7495.00 7528.95 7351.00 7399.00 -68.30DRREDDY 2908.00 2917.20 2866.35 2873.00 -27.60HINDUNILVR 1708.95 1709.00 1678.50 1686.00 -17.75NTPC 128.45 128.75 126.25 126.30 -1.40VEDL 158.40 159.55 153.85 155.40 -1.75ULTRACEMCO 4508.70 4508.70 4422.60 4425.00 -53.40HEROMOTOCO 2535.00 2560.00 2500.05 2506.05 -31.70POWERGRID 188.40 188.45 185.05 185.50 -2.40BPCL 367.05 367.50 359.80 362.45 -5.60HINDALCO 199.10 201.05 193.60 195.05 -3.10ONGC 168.40 169.40 165.70 166.75 -2.65BAJFINANCE 2970.10 2996.00 2900.00 2922.00 -49.35GRASIM 874.95 875.00 853.30 853.50 -15.50TCS 2175.00 2192.00 2125.85 2130.25 -42.30INFRATEL 266.30 267.00 260.75 261.75 -5.35IOC 149.90 150.25 147.05 147.50 -3.10INDUSINDBK 1478.55 1492.50 1430.00 1431.00 -45.55YESBANK 172.75 174.25 162.80 164.40 -5.90HCLTECH 1111.00 1111.00 1072.80 1085.05 -51.55TATASTEEL 522.00 525.75 479.05 486.95 -32.20

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SCRIP OPEN HIgh LOW LTP CHANGENIFTY NEXT 50 26643.35 26718.10 26500.80 26558.95 -73.65MCDOWELL-N 525.80 540.45 525.30 536.00 10.20DIVISLAB 1609.20 1657.80 1603.00 1652.80 27.25BANKBARODA 112.30 114.95 110.75 113.20 1.85ASHOKLEY 84.85 86.25 84.85 85.80 0.95BIOCON 532.00 544.85 531.40 537.00 5.75GODREJCP 639.80 646.70 634.05 644.50 5.40NIACL 172.65 177.55 172.65 174.00 1.35BHEL 62.70 63.50 61.85 62.90 0.45DABUR 368.20 371.45 367.45 369.25 1.95PIDILITIND 1160.00 1178.75 1153.00 1165.20 5.70PEL 2181.65 2230.00 2166.45 2190.95 9.30HDFCAMC 1634.00 1646.95 1625.55 1639.10 6.35SAIL 52.60 53.50 51.60 52.35 0.20CONCOR 473.50 480.50 471.85 475.55 1.65BOSCHLTD 17162.00 17351.30 17113.75 17218.80 57.95ACC 1595.00 1614.95 1592.40 1601.00 4.65MARICO 353.50 358.65 353.50 356.30 0.65HDFCLIFE 410.40 411.95 408.95 410.00 0.45PGHH 10410.00 10511.50 10280.00 10400.00 8.55AMBUJACEM 213.95 215.90 213.10 214.10 0.15ABB 1380.50 1398.80 1341.65 1385.00 -0.90DMART 1259.80 1283.00 1245.15 1250.40 -1.20ICICIGI 1090.00 1099.00 1070.00 1089.00 -1.85INDIGO 1549.10 1551.90 1512.10 1533.95 -2.85L&TFH 120.50 122.95 119.60 120.50 -0.25BANDHANBNK 575.00 582.50 567.00 570.05 -1.85CADILAHC 288.00 294.90 286.65 289.00 -1.55GICRE 236.20 241.95 233.00 233.60 -1.45BAJAJHLDNG 3098.95 3100.00 3036.05 3054.20 -18.90PETRONET 237.05 240.00 235.10 235.55 -1.80NHPC 22.65 23.00 22.35 22.45 -0.20MRF 54600.00 54798.95 53751.60 53905.00 -526.20DLF 168.50 172.50 165.75 166.10 -1.70HAVELLS 735.00 742.55 725.25 734.10 -7.60NMDC 95.30 95.90 92.85 93.70 -1.10HINDZINC 263.00 264.60 259.00 259.10 -3.05PAGEIND 21472.45 21599.00 21125.00 21220.00 -266.85COLPAL 1154.90 1154.90 1125.25 1131.00 -17.40MOTHERSUMI 130.60 131.40 127.00 127.05 -2.00UBL 1370.10 1379.80 1346.60 1350.75 -21.25SBILIFE 650.10 668.00 639.20 642.00 -10.25AUROPHARMA 756.95 762.65 743.25 744.20 -12.45HINDPETRO 275.00 275.00 269.80 271.90 -4.80SRTRANSFIN 1025.00 1049.90 1012.20 1014.00 -19.05SHREECEM 19250.00 19366.00 18900.00 18953.70 -365.20SIEMENS 1089.85 1104.95 1061.45 1069.00 -20.85OFSS 3489.95 3500.00 3355.70 3371.00 -80.55ICICIPRULI 361.65 361.70 351.00 351.10 -8.40IDEA 14.30 14.30 13.55 13.95 -0.35LUPIN 867.00 867.00 831.45 833.00 -32.00

India is going to be the bright spotin the steel world, said N

Baijendra Kumar, chairman-cum-managing director of the NationalMineral DevelopmentCorporation (NMDC). He wasspeaking at the Iron Ore Week(IOW) at Singapore which wasorganised by SCX India.

Kumar explained that steelproduction and demand is peggedto grow at a healthy rate of over6-7 percent, whereas the produc-tion and consumption in majorcountries/regions like China,Japan and the European Union(EU), is likely to stagnate in thenear future. “The Governmentpush on infrastructure and alliedindustries would ensure that thetargets of the National Steel Policy(NSP) 2017 would be achieved.The per capita consumption ofsteel and steel production capac-ity is increasing in line to meet theNSP targets of 300 million tonnesby FY31,” said he.

According to Kumar, cur-rently, $14-15 billion investment isunderway in the steel sector whichwould substantially increase thesteel-making capacity. “NMDC isfully geared to meet the increasediron ore demand and is investingin mines and evacuation capacityfor augmenting capacity to almostdouble in the next 3-4 years.NMDC is India’s largest produc-er of iron ore and 10th largest inthe world. It has the best qualityore, with highest Fe content in the

world and more than adequatereserves to cater to India’senhanced needs. NMDC opera-tions are comparable to the best inthe world and on several indiceslike the cost of production,employee cost and others its per-formance is comparable withinternational giants like Vale, RioTinto, FMG and so on.”

Kumar also pointed out thatthe company also has an excellenttrack record on environmentalprotection, social responsibilityand regulatory compliances.Indian ore is cheaper by 50-55 per-cent than imported ore, whichgives Indian steel industry a greatcompetitive advantage. NMDC isalso exploring the opportunity toexport its tailings from Bailadilasector as the current internation-

al prices of ore would make it fea-sible and profitable to do so.

Keen interest was shown bymany participants of the IOW in

this regard and several tradeinquiries were made. It was the firsttime that a chief operating officerof an Indian public sector enter-prise participated in panel discus-sions in such a prestigious inter-national event.

On the sidelines of theevent, during the round tableconference of CEOs, Kumarmentioned that his experience ofhaving worked as a seniorbureaucrat in ChhattisgarhGovernment, which is difficultterrain to mine and where thecompany’s big mines were situ-ated, had helped him immense-ly to act as the CMD of NMDC.“It’s important for a miningcompany to take care of the localcommunity and our focus hasbeen on the same since I took

over the helm of NMDC.” Thediscussion also focused on howenvironmental protection, socialinitiatives, and complianceregimes are key to the success ofany mining company, as point-ed out by another panelist,Cynthia Carroll, the formerchief executive officer of aninternational giant, AngloAmerican.

NMDC’s chairman alsoinformed the gathering that thecompany has won the Platt's awardfor CSR last year and had beenshortlisted for the same awardagain this year. He also mentionedthat NMDC would be happy toparticipate in such global events ona regular basis so that visibility ofthe company improves andinvestor confidence is generated.“NMDC has largely not been vis-ible in the world community andrecall is much less than should bekeeping in view its commendablefinancial and physical perfor-mance. I assure that I will take per-sonal initiative to communicateand interact with the global steeland iron ore community andinvestors so that NMDC gets therespect and recall it deserves.”

At the event, Kumar alsoassured that NMDC is fully gearedup to take over any mine that itmay be offered to it in any state ofIndia, in the eventuality of any dis-ruption in the allocation of minesthrough auction to be held nextyear in India.

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Colombo: A Sri Lankan courthas ordered a DNA test beforeMay 15 to verify the death ofMohamed Cassim Zahran, thering leader of the local Islamistextremist group NTJ which theGovernment blamed carriedout the devastating EasterSunday bombings killing over250 people.

Zahran, the mastermindbehind the Easter blasts, led theattack on the Shangri-La hoteland was accompanied by a sec-ond bomber identified as IlhamAhmed Ibrahim. He was killedinside the hotel where he blewhimself up. The Colombo FortMagistrate also ordered theDeoxyribo Nucleic Acid (DNA)verification of Ibrahim, the sec-ond bomber. Nine suicidebombers carried out a series ofdevastating blasts that torethrough three churches and asmany luxury hotels on April 21,killing more than 250 peopleand injuring 500 others. PTI

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The Sri Lankan Governmenton Friday said the trustees

of all the mosques in the coun-try should not engage in orallow any gathering to promoteor propagate hatred and alsodirected them to send theaudio recordings of the ser-mons to authorities.

The Government’s move came after security forces recovered swords andother weapons from mosquesduring search operations following the April 21 bomb blasts in which over 250 people, including 44 for-eigners 10 of whom wereIndians, were killed and 500others injured.

All trustees of Mosquesshould not engage in or permitany gathering to promote orpropagate hatred or extremism

in any form, doing so willresult in the Board of Trusteesbeing held fully responsibleunder may laws including thePenal Code, according to astatement issued by theMinistry of Muslim ReligiousAffairs.

“In view of the prevailingsituation in the country, theTrustees are directed hereby tosend audio records all sermons of Jumma (Friday) orotherwise on their Masjids and to forward them to theministry,” said the statementsigned by Muslim Religious Affairs MinisterMHA Haleem.

Muslim theologists andcivil society organizations havewarned radicalisation ofMuslims with support frommosques in some places, par-ticularly in the island nation’seastern province.

Nine suicide bombers car-ried out a series of devastatingblasts that tore through threechurches and as many luxury

hotels on April 21.The ISIS terror group

claimed the attacks, but thegovernment blamed the localIslamist extremist groupNational Thawheed Jammath(NTJ) for the bombings. Thevictims included over 40 for-eigners, 10 of whom wereIndians.

Mohamed Cassim Zahran,the mastermind of the blastsand NTJ leader, was runninghis own mosque in the easternKathankudi region, police said,adding that his extreme reli-gious sermons had attractedfollowers.

Two weeks ago, Zahran’sfamily members committedsuicide by triggering a blast ata safe house in Sainthamuruthuarea of Kathankudi following agun-battle with the securityforces.

Police on Friday recovereda stockpile of explosives,belonging to the suicide gang,hidden on the beach atKathankudi.

Baghdad: The Islamic Stategroup has claimed responsibil-ity for a suicide bombing at aBaghdad market the previousday that killed 8 people.

The extremist groupreleased a statement early onFriday saying the bomber det-onated his explosives vest at theJamila marketplace in Baghdad’ssprawling Shiite neighbour-hood of Sadr City on Thursdayevening. Fifteen people werewounded.

Iraq’s security agencies haveinvested heavily in securingBaghdad, the country’s capital,even as insurgents continue tostage attacks in the countryside.

Iraqis are out late during theholy month of Ramadan, whenobservant Muslims fast fromdawn till sundown. Hakim al-Zamily with the Sadrist politi-cal movement, which enjoyswide support in Sadr City, saidlax security was to blame andthat IS cells are taking advantageof slackened security measuresin Baghdad. AP

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The US said Thursday it hasseized a North Korean

cargo ship that was used to vio-late international sanctions, afirst-of-its kind enforcementaction that comes tensemoment in relations betweenthe two countries. The “WiseHonest,” North Korea’s secondlargest cargo ship, was detainedduring an April 2018 stop inIndonesia and will be moved toAmerican Samoa, JusticeDepartment officials said.

Officials made the

announcement hours after theNorth Korea fired two sus-pected short-range missilestoward the sea, a secondweapons launch in five daysand a possible signal that stalledtalks over its nuclear weaponsprogram are in trouble.

Justice Department lawyerslaid out the case for confiscat-ing the ship in a complaint filedin New York, arguing that pay-ments for maintenance andoperation of the vessel werechanneled through US finan-cial institutions in violation ofAmerican law.

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US President Donald Trumpbranded his chief

Democratic rival"SleepyCreepy" Joe Biden onFriday, framing the 2020 nom-inations race as a battlebetween the former vice pres-ident and "Crazy Bernie"Sanders.

The Republican presidenttook to his favourite publicplatform, Twitter, to announcethe stinging new epithet forBiden, who enjoys a strong leadin Democratic polls, andreprise his favorite sobriquetfor Sanders, the liberal USsenator who for months hasbeen number two in the run-ning. "Looks to me like it'sgoing to be SleepyCreepy Joeover Crazy Bernie," Trumptweeted.

"Everyone else is fadingfast!" he added, referring to thecrowded field of 21 candi-dates, including seven US sen-ators, four current and formercongressmen and two gover-nors. Biden and Sanders areruling the race, although it isstill nine months before thefirst votes are cast in the state-by-state nominations process.

Biden is grappling withhis reputation as an especiallytactile politician. He has beencriticised recently for invadingpersonal space or otherwisemaking women feel uncom-fortable over the years, but heinsisted he never intentionallyengaged in inappropriatebehaviour.

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Scotland Yard has launched aninvestigation after a gunshot

was fired outside a mosque ineast London during Ramadanprayers on Thursday evening.

The Metropolitan Policesaid the firearm discharge atSeven Kings Masjid in Ilford isbelieved to be related to a pre-vious altercation and is notbeing treated as an“Islamophobic hate crime or ter-ror-related incident”.

The Met Police’s firearmsofficers attended the scene andconfirmed there were no report-ed injuries or damage to thebuilding. “At this early stage, bal-listic evidence recovered from thescene suggests that the weaponwas a blank firing handgun.Officers from Trident SpecialistCrime investigate. There havebeen no arrests and enquiriescontinue,” a Met Police statementsaid.

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France opposes “repeatedextensions” for Britain’s exit

from the European Union, apresidential official said Friday,keeping to the hard line of Parison Brexit.

France does not want toenter into “a cycle of Brexitsummits” following thismonth’s European parliamentelections which Britain willtake part in after the deadlinefor its departure from the blocwas extended to the end ofOctober, the official said.

The official, who askednot to be named, added thatLondon should “have a solu-tion before October 31” whenBritain is due to leave the EU.

“The European electionscould create a political shockthat ends in a bipartisan agree-ment before June 30,” the offi-cial said.

“But if the situation is notclarified before October 31, asthe new commission is takingits place, we are not going tohave a cycle of Brexit summits.”

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Moscow: Russia and Japan’s topdiplomats said Friday there wasa way to go before their coun-tries could resolve a World WarII-era dispute over a chain ofislands, following a meeting inMoscow. Ahead of talks, Russia’sSergei Lavrov said “significantdifferences” remained betweenMoscow and Tokyo’s positions,despite several previous roundsof negotiations.

“The task is not easy, it’sclear it will only be solved bylong, painstaking and creativework,” Lavrov told journalistsfollowing his meeting with

Japanese counterpart Taro Kono.The territorial dispute cen-

tres on four islands, between theSea of Okhotsk and the PacificOcean, seized by the Sovietarmy in the last days of WorldWar II. The string of volcanicislands are called the Kurils byRussia and the NorthernTerritories by Japan.

“Solving a problem that remains unresolved morethan 70 years on from the endof the war is not easy,” Kono said at a joint press conference,in remarks translated intoRussian. AP

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Clearly, we weren’t prepared forthis — a combination of lobster,pumpkin and fermented trufflehad with a 15-year-old singlemalt. Clearly it defied all logic,

grammar and imagination till a tentativenibble here and a shy sip there resulted inan unknown explosion of flavours. It allcame together, the luscious prawns embed-ded in translucent tortelli, with a relish ofDelica pumpkins, all caramelised and but-tery, lifted like a magic carpet with theheather honey and vanilla fudge feel of theGlenfiddich 15 year-old. The lingering trailof sweetness left by each is the reason thatthe juicy lobster bursts forth in a gush ofsealed-in flavours.

We never imagined the humble egg-plant as an accompaniment of an 18-year-old single malt. Yet who would havethought that its warming and fruity aromat-ics and finish would invest the vegetablewith such character and lend itenough courage to wipe off thesmoked yolk sitting coylyaround it? Such is theartistry by chef restaura-teur Beppe De Vito, theMichelin-starred chefof his signaturekitchen Braci, whichhas become some-what of aSingaporean bench-mark.

Beppe De Vito’spassion for foodfirst began to takeform while he wasstill a child, living inItaly and working athis neighbourhood cafe.All he remembers fromthose days is how we wouldsource fresh, the fruit from atree, the fish from a river, meatfreshly cut by the butcher...something thatdominates his produce-based kitchen evennow. From then it was an around the worldtrip where he imbibed the spirit of a glob-al traveller, collecting rich experiences anddistilling them into his food. And it isbecause he values every distinct encounterthat his commitment to his craft shinesthrough, be it in the menu, to the design,service, the plating and beyond. So it is thaton his India trip, he got the yeast which hadbeen cultured for over 2,000 years in Italyto make a crispy, crunchy bread. And heloves not only serving food but readingyour reaction to it. Over the years, he hashad the opportunity to personally cook forlocal distinguished guests, which includesthe late founding Prime Minster Lee KuanYew, President Tony Tan, Prime MinisterLee Hsien Loong, as well as foreign VIPs,such as former President Bush, Sting andmany more. He has also collaborated onmultiple four-hands dinners with respect-ed Michelin star chefs from all over theworld, from Chef Massimo Bottura (3Michelin star), Chef Andrea Berton (2Michelin star), Chef Tom Sellers (1Michelin star), and world-renowned ChefTetsuya Wakuda. But clearly he is not look-ing at VIPs. “They come to our restaurantsalways. Honestly, I am looking for some-one who is just coming for fine dining forthe first time ever and I can impress theperson and that person will remember itforever,” says the maestro, who has madescience look artful as never before.

Normally Italian food and flavours arealways complemented with wine. Peoplehave that expectation... how difficult wasit to work on a combination with whisky?What was the logic in your pairing as itseemed to work on similarities ratherthan contrasts?I am always looking for new ways to exper-

iment with unconventional ingredients. Ihave experimented with whisky pairings inthe past and I find the flavours very ver-satile, which is why I enjoy using it so much.People have set expectations when itcomes to Italian food especially, and to me,this is where I like to have fun and chal-lenge people’s perceptions. When trying outnew components, I always ask myself “howcan this elevate my dishes” and “how doesthis take my cuisine to the next level?”

You’ve always blended your home coun-try traditions into your food with hintsand accents. Do you think progressivecuisine can actually save cooking tradi-tions more effectively?Traditions work well to set the foundationsand essence of any strong cuisine but thatdoes not mean they alone should define orlimit a chef. Rather, they should be used as

an inspirational tool for elevation. Tome, modern Italian cuisine is one

that honours classic traditionsby exemplifying them

through a contemporarylens in a way that bringsout a dish’s full potential.This has always been theapproach I have takenwith my cuisine andone of the drivingforces that conceptu-alised Braci as ourculinary playground— creating a space

where we could reallydive into our craft and

push the boundaries ofthe perceptions of Italian

gastronomy. I focus on theessence of our very own

version of Italian cuisine,which we are constantly dissect-

ing and reinventing, through acontemporary lens. This keeps the spark

of curiosity alive with diners, without com-promising our identity and to me, is keyto successful progressive cuisine —keepingtraditions alive but constantly evolving.

What shaped your food logic whilegrowing up? What are your inspirations?Any anecdotes to share?My experiences at home, learning andobserving the way people react to each dish.I find myself inspired by the places I’velived, the places I’ve travelled to and the dif-ferent cultures I had the opportunity tolearn about.

Nobody would usually think of a lobsterwith pumpkin relish... how much timeand research goes into working thesecombinations in your menu?My eyes and mind are always open for newways to be inspired. I get many customerscoming to me and telling me how intriguedthey are with some of the combinations ofmy dishes. Inspiration is not much of anissue for me, but the execution does takea little more thought and experimentation.With my cuisine at Braci, I really do lookfor ways to keep things as simple as pos-sible when it comes to presentation and thenumber of components of my dishes, butit is important to me that each element ofmy dishes makes a powerful impact,which is why I like to experiment withunusual combinations. The process can belengthy at times but it is always rewardingonce you’ve created something that makescustomers light up.

How do you adapt your dishes to localingredients while travelling? Any Indianspices or dish that may have caught yourfancy?I am always inspired by my travels. Newsights, smells, sounds, conversations andemotions. I am inspired by everything; tra-

ditions, flavours, sourcing of ingredientsand, of course, how cultures respecttheir produce. Japan, in particular,is a place that I always findmyself going back to — I love therespect the people have forseasonal and quality ingredi-ents and is something I verymuch ascribe to in my owncuisine and Italian traditions.The Japanese minimalist phi-losophy is also something I findmyself reinforcing. Sometimes adish can appear simple, elegantand beautiful, but there is so muchtechnique behind it, and it is definite-ly quality over quantity when it comes tothis school of thought. Japan is one of myfavourite locations to travel. I will go theresix-seven times a year and always comeback with new ideas and ingredients I wantto implement in my dishes, which is whyour menu is continually evolving.

I like to adapt elements from travelswithin my cuisine in a way that makes adish their own as opposed to fusion cui-sine. To me, inspiration is about taking inthe best from all around you and makingthings your own. We didn’t use any Indianspice in our menu but we had the oppor-tunity to learn about some fantastic spicesin India and will incorporate this knowl-edge for future recipes. Before returning toSingapore, we went to a spice bazaar andbought quite a bunch, including green andblack cardamom. Green cardamom isvery hard to find in Singapore. We also tookback saffron and star anise, which ismuch sweeter and aromatic than ingredi-ents used in Italian cuisine.

Which cuisine in the world would you saycomes closest to the perfect sensory and

nutritional balance?Italian and Japanese. Especially the cuisinefrom southern Italy, which is always sea-sonal, uses only fresh ingredients, is lightand well-balanced.

With a Lancet study predicting a short-age of livestock and animal protein by2050 and advising rationing, how will theway we eat food change? As a chef, wheredo you see the global food movementheading to?We are living in a fascinating time for food;faced with challenges and innovations thatwe’ve never seen before. People these daysare now open to more options than everwhen it comes to cuisines, diets and evensustainability, all of which have a role toplay in the global food movement.Sustainability, in particular, is somethingI foresee becoming very popular in theculinary world and is something that weare already implementing at Braci —finding ways to use sustainable cooking

methods in ways that elevate our dishes.For example, our popular Roasted Pigeonwith Green Asparagus and Sumac is made

by utilising the whole bird. With meat-less movements becoming so promi-nent, I have also made it a point toprovide vegetarian and veganoptions across all of my menus,without compromising on qualityand to me, that is an opportunityto get creative.

What is your guilty pleasure andwhat is your at-home meal?

Caviar. On very special occasions I feedit to my children as well. Otherwise, weeat quite simply, but always organic witha lot of different vegetables and goodJapanese brown rice.

How do you make the most humble veg-etable exotic?You must know your produce inside outand never turn your nose up on ingredi-ents. The simplest things in life turn outto be the most incredible, and the samegoes with food. You have to find ways tomake ingredients bring out the best out ofeach other, and even the most humble veg-etable can have one element within it thatcan be transformed and reinvented. It canalso do the same for the most prestigiousof ingredients. It is important to keep yourmind open to everything when it comesto produce and elevating cuisine — themost humble vegetable could be a hiddengem.

A good trick is to create several tex-tures from the same ingredient. Forinstance, we may cut the best part andblanch it or grill it while making a creamysauce with the trimmings, and pickle otherparts to make a tart pesto.

Vito’skitchen

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Where did the inspiration forthe film begin from?

The very first inspiration waswhen we made Fantastic Mr Fox, another animated movie which weshot at Bromley-By-Bow in EastLondon. On the way, there was asign at the road for the turnoff tothe Isle of dogs, which is kind ofan industrial island on the Thames.It always seemed very mysteriousto me. I love dogs and I looked itup and it was supposedly the placewhere the king kept his huntingdogs in the 16th century (or some-thing related) and that was thebeginning of this movie, so I justhoped there’s something in that forus, which was this. Then I went toJason and Roman, my two goodold friends and said I have this ideaof of five dogs — Chief, King,Duke, Boss and Rach on a garbagedump islands — and that was all Ihad. I had that information and wehad also been hoping to make afilm together in Japan. So, we sortof mixed them together and sud-denly we started to get some ideas.

Can you talk about the voice cast-ing of this film because the voic-es are just beautiful. How did youtake the final call for the voicecast?

Yes, well I think for someparts, the casting of every role is a

bit different, for some parts are thepeople I have known or have beenfollowing for years. We were audi-tioning people and seeing peoplelike Akira. I didn’t really knowAkira has been in one other filmand Koyu hasn’t been in any otherfilms and I just like their voices andperformances; really casting themthe way you cast an actor.

C ould you talk about theresearching put into the Japaneseculture in this movie?

Well, I think our first inspira-tion was Japanese cinema, that’swhy we wanted to do a film andthat was why we were thinking ofJapan in the first place and for usit was Kurosawa and Miyazaki.Those were the two very differentkind of filmmakers but those arethe ones who were really inspiringus and making us want to makethis story in the first place. Theother two masters I would say are

the woodblock print makers —Hiroshige and Hokusaiand —those became our kind of guidesas well. But all four of thoseartists, I can’t really put my fin-

ger on what we were looking forand what we were taking fromthem. It was more sort of steepingourselves in their work, putting thepictures on the walls, sharing it and

seeing how it came into our ownstory.

As a filmmaker, who makes ani-mated films, why do you think weare so weary of animation as amedium that we can take serious-ly to tell adult stories?

Well, that’s a very good ques-tion. My answer is just going to beexactly the same thing as yours.But here, I didn’t put children intoconsideration, but only the fam-ilies. Not the way we really steera thing for an audience and for anage group. My earlier animatedfilm was based on a book that waswritten with a particular agegroup in mind, not ours.

The film was not necessarilywritten that way but the book was.So we were working with some-thing that I already had built. Wedidn’t write this one with anybodyin mind and as we went alongevery now and then, we askedourselves, can we do this? Is itgoing to be alright and will peo-ple accept this? Since it’s not real-ly a children’s film at all and forsome children it might be disturb-ing. You know it has a PG-13 rat-ing which animated films don’tusually get and when it got thatway it made sense to me becausethe dog hanged himself by his ownleash.

Correct me if I am wrong... werethere three different sizes forevery puppet?

You can’t really break it downquite that way. What you have isbased on what you need for somepuppets. There is one scale andthat’s going to be sufficient for whatthis puppet needs to do but forother ones there are different sizes.If we are taking a very wide shot,we have some small puppets but Iwas always trying to push us in thedirection of smaller scale. I likedthe idea of using smaller puppetsand having a larger scope to the setbecause that would include every-thing. Everybody said that we aregoing too small and I kept push-ing it. However, I was wrong, weshould have had bigger puppetsbecause often it became very chal-lenging to animate at that scale. Wealso reached a certain point wherethe puppet would not hold up at along distance. In the frame, thepuppet was not right and it turnedout to be my fault. I had kept pup-pets smaller but then we had to attimes produce larger scale puppets,change the schedule and so on...not that everybody is dying to hearthe details of our schedulingprocess but it was quite complicat-ed in the stop motion film.

(The show premieres on StarMovies Select HD on May 25.)

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Actress Patralekhaa, whofeatures in the forth-coming film Badnaam

Gali alongside DivyenduSharma, says the dull phase inher career has taught her notto live on someone’s mercyand only sign up for films sheis convinced with.

Patralekhaa of Citylightsfame said, “One of the mostimportant lessons that I havelearnt from the tough phase ofmy career is that if I am notconvinced, I won’t play thecharacter. I think for a per-former, for an actor, convic-tion is one of the most impor-tant elements and if I am notfully convinced, it shows inmy performance.

“So from now on, every-thing I will do, I will do it withconviction. Also I havestopped taking nonsense frompeople because we actors arehere by choice and we cannotbe on anybody’s mercy... Noone should make us feel inse-cure or vulnerable just becausean artiste has a sensitivemind.”

Releasing on the OTTplatform ZEE5 on Friday, thefilm Badnaam Gali tells thestory of a young surrogatemother named NoyonikaGanguly, played by the actress.

The film was shot inDelhi. “We shot in summer.The temperature was around

42 degrees and I was wearingthat prosthetic belly as youknow I have played a pregnantgirl. It was physically exhaust-ing under that heat. I wassweating all over and I wasgetting tired, but everythingwas worth it when we saw theend result,” she said.

Asked about how thestory of a surrogate motherhas become acceptable forthe audience, she said: “Thegood thing is that time ischanging. An unmarried preg-nant girl is always a taboo inthe society and that is whyearlier when actresses likePreity Zinta did that film KyaKehna, it was an example.

“Now it is great to see thatthe audience is receptivetowards these kind of stories.That is how actors like us aregetting chances to work ongood stories. I always choose

my films as an audiencebecause I am the first audienceof my film. Though it is astory told in a lighter manner,it raises some important ques-tions. She is a surrogate moth-er, an independent girl with avery unapologetic attitude andhow society treats her... Digitalplatforms really have given usthe opportunity to some ofthese progressive stories.”

After Badnaam Gali ,Patralekhaa has another filmin her kitty. It is directed byPradeep Sarkar, and theactress says it is quite dark anddifferent. “We have room forversatility too,” she said.

Starting her career inBollywood with the filmCityLights, Patralekhaa hasalso appeared in the web seriesBose: Dead/Alive.

She has been through fewyears of struggle to get goodfilm offers, though criticsalways praised her perfor-mance. While she has an incli-nation towards playing astrong woman on-screen, sheknows that as an actor, sheshouldn’t say that “I only wantto play such character.”

“Yes, my character shouldhave a strong opinion, but shecould be vulnerable too. Ithink that is the intriguingpoint for me that I look for inevery good script,” addedPatralekhaa. >�&�

What if your homehad a spare roomyou’d never noticedbefore? Yourgarage, even if it

has one or more cars in it, can pulldouble-duty as a gym, a craftingroom and even a place to socialise.

Designers and architects tell usthat gaining more living space with-out putting an addition on yourhouse can make the effort worth-while, even if it means investing inthings like upgraded lighting, floor-ing and heating. We shouldn’t be“treating the garage as a big box,”says Bethesda, Maryland-basedarchitect Jim Rill. “Make it anoth-er room. It’s a lost opportunity if youdon’t.”

Marina Case, founder of theWarwick, New York-based designfirm The Red Shutters, agrees, “Agarage,” she says, “can be anythingyou need it to be.” We’ve asked Rill,Case and interior designer AnnaMaria Mannarino of New Jersey-based Mannarino Designs foradvice on creating a well-organisedgarage that can also function as aflexible spare room.

FLOORS AND WALLSUpgrading the look and feel of yourgarage can start at the bottom: Paint

the floor, says Case. Painting acement floor a dark taupe or graycan have a big impact, she says, orchoose an even bolder colour.“You’ll feel like you’re in this fresh,fun space,” she says.

But do test the colour by paint-ing a piece of foam core that’s at leasta few square feet, she says, and leav-ing it on the garage floor for a fewdays to make sure you like it.

Another option: Showroomflooring is available for as little as $5per foot, says Rill. And if you won’tbe parking cars in the garage and areinstead using it as a “man cave or ashe-shed,” Mannarino says, consid-er upgrading the flooring withsomething you’d normally use insidethe house. Walls come next, “Whyis the garage always just a drywallbox?” Rill asks.

If your garage walls aren’t sheet-rocked, Mannarino says you canadd that and give it a coat of paint.Or put up paneling, Rill says, mak-ing it easier to hang items like rakesor hoses. You can add a flat hang-ing system that includes space forhanging baskets and brackets forshelves. Many closet-design brandsoffer flat systems that will holdheavy outdoor items.

If you prefer freestanding stor-age along the walls, add several tall,

sturdy shelving units. You can linethem with large, clear bins neatlylabelled or fancier storage bins,Case says. Or go an extra step andhave built-in cabinetry installed.

And if your garage ceiling ishigh and has ample space away from

where the garage door opens, con-sider adding storage on the ceiling,Mannarino says.

“It gives you that much morereal estate,” she says. But don’t cutcorners: Have ceiling shelving orstorage racks mounted properly by

a professional.

HEATING AND LIGHTINGIf your garage gets cold in the win-ter, you can add a separate heatingsystem that’s inexpensive to run.These “mini-split” heating systems

can be turned on only when you’respending time in the garage. Addinginsulation also helps control the cli-mate, making the garage feel morelike an indoor room. And don’t set-tle for a bare bulb in the ceiling.Replacing it with a larger, moreattractive fixture can dramaticallychange the way a garage feels.

ENTERTAINING OPTIONSAlthough it’s common to have aworkshop in a garage, and manypeople use the space for messycrafting projects or as a home gym,a garage can also become an enter-tainment space. If you’re a carenthusiast who works on a vintagecar or hotrod, Rill says, why notuse part of your garage as a placeto hang out with friends talkingabout cars? Case suggests addinga bar area with comfortable seat-ing, even if it’s small, to make thegarage an inviting place to hangout with guests. You can also hangup a flat-screen TV and add arefrigerator.

Rill has a vintage cooler,reclaimed from a supermarket, inhis garage for soft drinks, water andbeer. It’s used all summer when thefamily is outdoors. Along withyear-round entertaining inside agarage, these designers point out

that an open garage can be a greatplace to set up a buffet table duringan outdoor summer party.

Case suggests adding ceiling-mounted tracks for curtains in anindoor/outdoor material likeSunbrella, so you can draw thembehind a serving table in youropen garage. Barn doors or othertypes of upgraded garage door canmake the space more attractiveand accessible during parties. Andupgrading your garage door doesmore than just add beauty to theexterior of your home, Mannarinosays. It also gives you the option ofadding more windows, bringingnatural light into your garage.

IS THERE AN ATTIC?Many detached garages have a tinysecond-floor attic or loft space,Rill says. Even if its ceiling is low,that space can become a furnishedclubhouse for younger kids, a placeto practice musical instruments oreven a cozy guest suite.

On one garage project, Rillreplaced the solid wooden ceiling ina large detached garage with a per-forated metal floor. That gave addednatural light to the attic spaceabove, which was then transformedinto a kids’ clubhouse.

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Arsenal will play Chelsea in theEuropa League final after aPierre-Emerick Aubameyang hat-

trick ended Valencia's hopes of anoth-er dramatic European comeback onThursday.

Trailing 3-1 from the first leg,Valencia made the perfect start atMestalla when Kevin Gameiro finishedat the back post but goals fromAubameyang and Alexandre Lacazetteleft the home side needing four in 40minutes.

Gameiro scored again, sparkinghopes of a revival to trump even theefforts of Liverpool and Tottenham thisweek, before Aubameyang hit his sec-ond and then completed a brilliant hat-trick to seal a 4-2 win, 7-3 on aggregate.

There will be a London derby for thefinal in Baku on May 29 and, for the firsttime in history, four English teams com-

peting in both the Champions Leagueand Europa League finals, withLiverpool and Spurs meeting in Madridthree days later.

It also keeps alive Arsenal's chanceof securing a place in the ChampionsLeague next season and, realistical-ly, their last chance, given theyneed to overturn three pointsand an eight-goal swing onTottenham in the PremierLeague this weekend.

Valencia had been relyingon the Europa League forChampions League qualifica-tion too, given they sit threepoints behind Getafe,who face a demoralisedBarcelona on Sunday,with two games left in LaLiga.

But over the two legs, Marcelino'sside could have few complaints. Theywere second best at Emirates Stadium

and defensively frantic here.Arsenal, usually so fragile away

from home, picked them off withease as Aubameyang andLacazette, boasting 48 goalsbetween them this season,proved themselves to be a first-class attack in a second-tiercompetition.

"Auba was unbelievabletonight," Lacazaette toldBT Sport.

"Congratulations toArsenal," said Marcelino."They had a bigger punch."

There will also be no Spanishteam in either European final for the firsttime since 2013, and only the secondtime in 10 years.

��■ )4&/4&

Kepa Arrizabalaga wasChelsea's hero as the

Spanish goalkeeper sent hisside to the Europa Leaguefinal with two penalty saves ina dramatic 4-3 shoot-out winagainst Eintracht Frankfurt onThursday.

Chelsea took the lead inthe semi-final second legthanks to Ruben Loftus-Cheek's first half strike atStamford Bridge.

But Luka Jovic equalisedsoon after the interval as atense clash finished 1-1 afterextra time and 2-2 on aggre-gate.

Cesar Azpilicueta's penal-ty was saved by Kevin Trappin the shoot-out, but Kepakept out Martin Hinteregger'seffort and then turned awayGoncalo Paciencia beforeEden Hazard slotted home thedecisive kick to spark wild cel-ebrations.

It was a sweet moment ofredemption for Kepa after hewas widely criticised for hisastonishing mutiny in theLeague Cup final againstManchester City when herefused to be substitutedbefore the Blues lost on penal-ties.

Hazard also relished hiscrucial contribution in whatcould be his last kick at theBridge amid rumours of aclose-season move to RealMadrid.

"I am only thinking towin something for this club,"said Hazard when asked if thefinal will be his last game forthe club.

"If it is my last game I willtry to do everything. In my

mind I don't know yet."Having already qualified

for next season's ChampionsLeague when they guaranteeda top-four finish in the

Premier League last weekend,Chelsea can bring an upliftingend to Sarri's troubled firstseason in charge by lifting theEuropa League.

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Liverpool manager JurgenKlopp hopes to have

Mohamed Salah, AndyRobertson and JordanHenderson fit for Sunday'sPremier League finale againstWolves as the Reds aim to enda 29-year wait to win the title.

Klopp's men trailManchester City by one pointat the top of the table andneed the champions' 13-gamewinning run to come to anend at Brighton if they are towin the league.

Liverpool are in high spir-its after a stunning 4-0 winover Barcelona on Tuesdaybooked their place in a secondconsecutive ChampionsLeague final.

Klopp confirmed RobertoFirmino remains out with agroin tear as Wolves visitAnfield. Klopp said he hopesthe Brazilian will be ready forthe Champions League finalagainst Tottenham on June 1.

Salah missed the

Barcelona game after sufferingconcussion in a 3-2 win atNewcastle last weekend.

"Mo looked good aroundthe celebrations after thegame, to be honest," said

Klopp."The day before yesterday

and yesterday he was runningoutside and will be part oftraining today."

Robertson had to bereplaced at half-time againstBarca and Hendersonrequired a pain-killing injec-tion at the break after takinga kick on the knee late in thefirst half.

"The famous three wordsof this week in the dressingroom: 'It's only pain,'" addedKlopp.

"Very important for all theyoung lads to learn, I've saidthat already to the boys.Hendo said, 'It's only pain',Robbo said, 'It's only pain' -but it was real pain, wow!

"Unfortunately, Robbocould deal with the pain butonly the rest of his bodycouldn't because he couldn'treally activate the muscle any-more, some nerve hit or what-ever.

"They should be fine (forSunday)."

��■(� �*

Paris Saint-Germain strikerNeymar was banned for

three matches on Friday with afurther two-match ban sus-pended for lashing out at a fanfollowing the club's shock defeatin the French Cup final.

Announcing the ban, theFrench football federation saidthe sanction would go intoeffect from May 13 allowing theBrazilian superstar to appear forthe French champions againstAngers in Ligue 1 on Saturday.

But he will miss the last twogames of the domestic seasonand the French ChampionsTrophy pitting PSG againsttheir cup final conquerors win-ners Rennes in Shenzhen,China in August.

Neymar swung at an abu-sive opposing fan while climb-ing the steps to receive hisFrench Cup final losers medal

following the shock defeat toRennes on penalties last month.

Meanwhile, Neymar hasappealed against another ban,this time a three-matchChampions League banimposed by European foot-ball's governing body UEFA .

He was punished for anangry outburst at match offi-cials of PSG's last-16 tie againstManchester United in March.

PSG lost following a last-minute penalty award to thePremier League side after aVAR review of a disputed hand-ball appeal.

Neymar did not play in thematch through injury but tookto social media to call thepenalty award a "scandal" andaccuse the VAR referees ofincompetence.

��■ ��/ �/

Luis Suarez will be out forfour to six weeks after

undergoing surgery on a kneeinjury, Barcelona announcedon Friday.

Suarez will miss the Copadel Rey final against Valenciaon May 25 and also faces a fightto be fit for the Copa Americain Brazil next month.

Uruguay's first game isagainst Ecuador on June 16,just over five weeks after Suarezhad the operation on Thursday.

"Suarez was subjected lastnight to an arthroscopy on theright knee due to an internalmeniscal injury," read a clubstatement released on Friday.

"His approximate time outwill be between four and sixweeks."

Suarez has a better chanceof playing in Uruguay's secondand third group games, againstJapan on June 20, and defend-ing champions Chile on June24.

But his absence from thecup final in Seville is a majorblow to Barcelona, who can

secure their second domesticdouble in as many years bybeating Valencia.

Suarez will also missBarca's final two La Liga gamesat home to Getafe on Sundayand away to Eibar the follow-ing weekend.

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Manchester City legend Yaya Toure isheading into retirement at the age of 35,

his agent Dimitri Seluk has revealed.The former Ivory Coast international,

who also represented the likes of Barcelonaand Monaco at the peak of his career, is setto explore a move into coaching and manage-ment.

The final outings of his distinguishedcareer came during a second spell at Greekgiants Olympiakos.

It is, however, for his time at Camp Nouand the Etihad Stadium that he is bestknown.

Toure spent three years with Barca, win-ning the Liga title and Champions League.

He moved to City in 2010 and helpedthem to three Premier League crowns, twoLeague Cup successes and an FA Cup win -with his goal in the 2011 final getting the clubback on the trophy trail.

Toure left England at the end of the 2017-18 campaign, but a man who earned 101 capsfor his country is now walking away fromcompetitive football for good.

Seluk told Sport24: "I say this for the firsttime: Yaya decided to end his career as achampion.

"The farewell match, when he won thePremier League title with Manchester Citywas, in principle, the real end of his playingcareer. Not only in this team, but in gener-al."

Seluk added: "Yaya is one of the best play-ers in Africa and he had one of the brightest

careers in the history of African football."Therefore, he should also leave football

beautifully, at the peak. We talked for a longtime on this topic.

"Of course, every football player wants toplay for as long as possible. In terms of hisphysical condition, Yaya could do this at a suf-ficiently high level for another five years.

"But we came to the conclusion that he,the football player who played for Barcelonaand Manchester City, could not lower the bar.

"We see many players who continuetheir careers at a mature age, and this is com-mendable. But Yaya and I chose a differentpath - to leave as a champion and start a newstage in life with a career as a coach.

"In this, I am sure, Yaya will reach evengreater heights that those he achieved as afootball player. There are no African coach-es in the English Premier League."

��■ ��/ �/

Dominic Thiem saved two matchpoints and ended the first chap-

ter of Roger Federer's return to claycourt tennis with a come-from-behind 3-6, 7-6 (13/11), 6-4 win andreach the Madrid Open semi-finalson Friday.

The 37-year-old Swiss hadreturned this week to the surface forthe first time in three years — his lastclay court match was a loss to Thiemin Rome in 2016.

Thiem, the 2018 Roland Garrosrunner-up and winner of theBarcelona title last month, pre-vailed in two hours 10 minutes hav-ing saved two match points in a 15-minute second set tie-break.

He will on Saturday face worldnumber one Novak Djokovic, whoadvanced on a walkover whenopponent Marin Cilic withdrewwith a stomach virus.

Federer said he was happy tohave made his clay court comeback.

"I feel very good about my game.I thought I had some good match-es here," the 20-time Grand Slam

champion said. "I feel good on theclay right now."

Federer now has the option totake up a wild card being held forhim next week in Rome. Otherwise,his next clay event will be theFrench Open where he last playedin 2015.

"The match was so close," saidAustrian fifth seed Thiem who hadalso defeated Federer in the IndianWells final in March. "I was reallylucky to save the match points.

"Roger was playing unbelievableon the clay. I'm very, very happy towin. He is so special, maybe the bestever in tennis, he has something dif-ferent.

J��GThe Austrian served out his

fourth victory in six matches againstFederer a game later.

Meanwhile, Simona Halepclosed in on a return to the top ofthe world rankings after beatingBelinda Bencic 6-2, 6-7 (2/7), 6-0 toadvance to the women's final.

Halep, currently number threein the world, will reclaim the num-

ber one ranking should she win herthird title at the Caja Magica.

Bencic had defeated Halep intheir last two matches, but thereigning French Open champion,who lifted the trophy in Madrid in2016 and 2017, came through in justunder two hours.

Halep awaits either Dutch sev-enth seed Kiki Bertens, a finalist inMadrid last year, or 2017 US Openchampion Sloane Stephens.

"It's such a nice feeling to beback in the final here. I really enjoyplaying in Madrid, it motivatesme," Halep said.

The third seed comfortablyclaimed the opening set but let hergame lapse slightly in the second.

Bencic, who opened the doorfor Halep to possibly return to thetop of the world rankings with herquarter-final defeat of current num-ber one Naomi Osaka, took a tightsecond set in a tiebreaker.

But Halep pulled herself togeth-er to blitz Bencic in the third as sheraced to a victory that increases herchances of returning to the top of thepile.

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Willian says Chelsea have refused to give up hope thattalisman Eden Hazard will be at Stamford Bridge

next season, with the Belgian apparently edging closer toa move to Real Madrid.

The Belgium forward is expected to join Real in a big-money move this summer, but his Brazilian teammateWillian continues to hope otherwise.

Asked if Hazard's decisive penalty could prove his lastkick at Stamford Bridge, Willian replied: "I don't know,I don't think so.

"For me I hope he stays, but in football you neverknow. I think his head is here, to play for Chelsea. Thenafter he's finished the season maybe he can talk about hissituation.

"I don't know anything about him leaving so for meI hope he can stay. He's very important, a special player,he's very important for us, he helps us a lot.

"And he's one of the best players in the world."Hazard appears close to sealing his Madrid move, with

his Chelsea contract expiring next summer and the Bluesunderstood to be holding out for £100 million ($130 mil-lion).

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Steve Smith plundered an unbeat-en 91 and Glenn Maxwell hit 70

on Friday before bad light stoppedplay, with Australia winning theirfinal warm-up game before leavingfor England to defend their WorldCup title.

They were handed victory byfive wickets courtesy of theDuckworth/Lewis/Stern methodafter amassing 248 for five off 44overs in reply to an under-strengthNew Zealand's 286 for nine from 50overs.

It was another fine knock fromformer skipper Smith, batting atthree, who made his return toAustralian colours this week froma year-long ban for ball-tampering.

It followed his 89 not out in thesecond of the three-match series inBrisbane, which do not count as fullinternationals, on Wednesday.

But David Warner, who was inimperious touch during the IndianPremier League, flopped again inopening the innings, out for two tofollow his duck and 39 in the series.

Like Smith, Maxwell has been

in good touch, pounding 70 off 48balls to go with the quick-fire 52 hemade on Wednesday.

For New Zealand, the unher-alded Will Young smashed his sec-ond century in a row, mastering a

top-notch Australian attack led byPat Cummins and Mitchell Starc.

The 26-year-old, who isuncapped and not part of NewZealand's World Cup squad, fol-lowed up a classy 130 on

Wednesday by reaching anotherton with a pull for six over mid-wicket.

He eventually fell to MarcusStoinis for 111.

While this week's series wasunofficial, his tally of 301 is just shyof the New Zealand record for athree-match one-day series, held byMartin Guptill who scored 330against England in 2013.

Opener George Workerchipped in with 59, while Cumminswas the best of the bowlers, taking4-32 off eight overs.

Cummins and Starc, who tookone wicket, were playing togetherfor the first time in three monthsas the latter returns from injury.

Australia won the series 2-1,claiming a close opening game atAllan Border Field by one wicketwhile their trans-Tasman rivalsbounced back to easily take the sec-ond by seven wickets.

Australia play two more warm-up matches at Southampton,against England and Sri Lanka, laterthis month before opening theirWorld Cup campaign againstAfghanistan in Bristol on June 1.

��■ �-)'4% &-�

Steve Smith's "timing and class"is back and it seems that he had

never left the Australian set-up,skipper Aaron Finch said on Fridayas the national team gears up forthe World Cup on a war-footing.

Back after a year's suspensionfor his involvement in ball-tamper-ing scandal, Smith was scratchyduring IPL but found his mojoback with unbeaten 89 and 91against New Zealand in two warm-up games.

"His [Smith] timing and classwas back again," Finch was quot-ed as saying by ESPN Cricinfo.

"It was like he hadn't left. Hisdrives down the ground on a real-ly difficult wicket to time off thefront foot was so impressive, justthe amount of time he spent in themiddle and how he went throughthe gears was very impressive,"Australian skipper said.

Finch is happy that both Smithand David Warner have doneincredible work during their timeoff the field which is showing off.Warner finished his IPL campaignwith 692 runs.

"They are two of the best play-ers in the world which is valuableto have at your disposal. The boyshave been brilliant, all the work off

the field with the team has beengreat. It's an interesting time, nodoubt, when they are coming backin but still a great opportunity foreveryone to learn off them as well.They have so much experience and

what they bring to the group isreally valuable."

With the likes of Smith,Warner and Mitchell Starc in theline-up, the skipper is confidentthat they will regain the trophy as

most of them know what it takesto win one.

"I think it's a big advantage, justto know what it takes to win aWorld Cup and what it takes tomanage your way through a cam-paign which can be difficult,"Finch said.

"You have to be at your best atthe business end but you can'tafford to let anything slip at thestart. Six guys, who have been there(2015) and done that will give a lotof experience to the others ofwhat to expect, what to feel walk-ing out there because it is different,"he said.

Meanwhile, Australia coachJustin Langer has said that SteveSmith is in the "best physical con-dition of his life." Langer said oneof Smith's goals when he startedserving his one-year ban was toreturn to the squad in better phys-ical shape. The 48-year-old formeropener said that Smith has certain-ly done that in his time out.

��■ )4&/4&

Stuart Broad believes theEngland team have a once

in a lifetime opportunity as thecountry prepares to play hostto both a men's World Cupand Ashes this year.

For the first time since theinaugural men's World Cup in1975, England will be stagingthe two biggest events in itsinternational calendar — the50-over global showpiece anda Test series against Australia— in the same home season.

"It's awesome, the summerof our generation," Englandpaceman Broad said onThursday. "What an opportu-nity for the game to grow andinspire."

"I look back to when I wasa kid, you get inspired by bigseries like World Cups and theAshes," explained Broad.

"That's the added pressureon us as players," the four-timeAshes-winner said. "We canmake this a summer toremember by winning tro-phies."

No England men's teamhave yet won a one-day WorldCup, with the 2010 WorldTwenty20 their loneInternational Cricket Counciltrophy.

But Eoin Morgan's side,currently involved in a serieswith Pakistan, are now top ofthe men's one-day interna-tional rankings.

Broad, now a Test special-ist after appearing in 121

ODIs, believes a top order setto feature Jason Roy, JonnyBairstow, Joe Root, Morgan,Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler andMoeen Ali surpasses anyEngland have had in limitedovers cricket.

"It's the men's best everchance to win a 50-over WorldCup," he said.

"I 've never seen a(England) ODI team go inwith the quality this one hasgot, particularly in the batting,the top seven."

J��GWhile the victorious 2005

Ashes skipper MichaelVaughan added: "ThisEngland side have got all thetools required to win.

"They are a lot better (atone-day cricket)," said formerEngland captain. "We weren'tgood enough — that's a fact."

"I just think this Englandgroup, for the past four yearssince the last World Cup havehad a clear definition of theplan. In the past, we've kind ofarrived at a World Cup justhoping 'Freddie' (AndrewFlintoff) might just produce amagic day, or KP (KevinPietersen) might do some-thing, or back in the day AlecStewart might get you off to agood start.

"This team have got a realclear plan for every person'srole in the side. You go from1-11 and you could argue thatevery single player could get inanother team."

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Defending champions Chennai SuperKings produced a clinical perfor-mance to beat Delhi Capitals by six

wickets and enter their eighth final of theIndian Premier League, here on Friday.

CSK dished out a disciplined bowlingand fielding effort to first restrict DC to 147for nine and then chased down the targetwith ease, reaching 151 or four in 19 overs.

Dwayne Bravo (2/19), Ravindra Jadeja(2/23), Deepak Chahar (2/28) andHarbhajan Singh (2/31) shared eight wick-ets between them to keep DC in check afteropting to bowl.

CSK will play Mumbai Indians in thefinal of the ongoing IPL in Hyderabad onSunday. The two teams have met each otherthrice in summit clashes of the tournamentearlier with MI finishing on the winningside twice while the Chennai outfit came outtriumphant once.

While CSK won the final battle in 2010,MI finished on the victorious side in 2013and 2015.

Chasing the modest total, Faf du Plessis(50 off 39 balls; 7x4s, 1x60 and ShaneWatson (50 off 32; 3x4s, 4x6s) got CSK offto a flier, stitching 81 runs in 10.2 overs.

The duo started cautiously beforeopening up to not allow any DC bowler tosettle down.

Du Plessis was the aggressor among thetwo; scoring 50 off 39 balls with the help ofseven boundaries and one six while Watson

played the second fiddle initially.But just after notching up his 12th IPL

fifty, Du Plessis departed while going for abig shot over deep square-leg off Trent Boult(1/20), only to be holed out by Keemo Paul.

After Du Plessis' dismissal, Watson tookthe centre stage and struck Paul for one fourand three sixes to pile up 25 runs off the12th over and also registered his half-cen-tury off 31 balls in the process.

Watson looked in a hurry to finish off

the chase and that eventually led to hisdownfall, caught by Boult off Amit Mishra(1/21) in the second ball of the next over.

Suresh Raina (11) and skipperMahendra Singh Dhoni (9) got out cheap-ly but Ambati Rayudu (20 not out)remained at the crease to ensure a comfort-able win for the three-time champions.

Earlier sent into bat, DC made a shakystart with Prithvi Shaw (5) and ShikharDhawan (18 off 14) adding 21 runs in 2.3

overs before the former was caught plumbin front of the wicket by Chahar.

Shaw's dismissal opened the floodgatesas DC lost three wickets in quick time toslump to 75 for four in 11.3 overs.

Dhawan was the next to depart, caughtby Dhoni off Harbhajan and then ColinMunro (27) was holed at deep square-legby Bravo off Jadeja as the South Africanwent for a slog sweep.

Skipper Shreyas Iyer (13 of 18) tried toanchor the innings but he too fell whilegoing for a big shot, caught by Raina offImran Tahir (1/28) in the 12th over.

To make matters worse for DC, newman in Axar Patel departed in the next over,hitting a short delivery of Bravo straight toTahir at third man.

Rishabh Pant (38 off 25) and SherfaneRutherford (10) shared 22 runs for the sixthwicket but CSK didn't allow the Delhi out-fit to get any momentum, picking upwickets at regular intervals to rattle theirinnings.

Rutherford became Harbhajan's secondvictim, followed by Paul who was cleanedup by Bravo's perfect yorker in the 18th over.

The onus was on hard-hitting Pant totake DC to a challenging total but he toofailed to cope up with the pressure, caughtby Bravo at long-on off Chahar.

Towards the end, Mishra (6 not out)and Ishant Sharma (10 not out off 3 balls)used their long handles to great effect andstruck some lusty blows to take the Delhiside close to the 150-run mark.

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Indian leg-spinner VedaKrishnamurthy has urged the BCCI

to organise more day-night matches forthe country's women cricketers as it willnot just bring in the crowds but alsoensure that players don't drop catchesdue to unfamiliarity with playingunder lights.

Krishnamurthy's Velocity lost toSupernovas by 12 runs on Thursday ina women's T20 Challenge match. The26-year-old tweaker said the women arenot particularly familiar with playingunder lights and that reflected in theirfielding, especially catches.

"Not playing under the lights is thereason for dropped catches. While prac-ticing at the academy ground we hadfound it difficult to sight the ballbecause it was dipping in. So it was real-ly difficult to pick the ball," saidKrishnamurthy.

"Actually if you look at it, playingunder lights is quite challengingbecause the whole atmosphere changes,the way wind blows with the light andthe way ball travels on the field. So,there is a lot difference from a daygame," she added.

Krishnamurthy urged the BCCI toschedule more matches under lights sothat the players can acclimatize with all

playing conditions. Most of thewomen's matches are scheduled dur-ing the day.

"I think it is very important. At leastif we start playing T20s in the evening,it will bring in more crowds. If we arepromoting it and putting up a show, Iwould like more people to come," sheadded.

Young India opener JemimahRodrigues, who struck an unbeaten 77,also echoed her India teammate'sviews.

"We should start it with our domes-tic season. We have hardly been play-ing under the lights. Even in thematches in New Zealand or even theEngland series, we had morning gamesand our domestics are always from 10am," she said.

"There is lot of difference when youplay under the sun and under the lights.So I think the more domestic match-es we play under lights, the more wewill develop in our fielding and get bet-ter adapted," she added.

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Former Indian skipper andDelhi Capitals advisor in this

year's IPL, Saurav Ganguly isthoroughly impressed by DelhiCapitals performance in thisyear's IPL, where the side makeit to the play-offs for the first timesince 2012.

Speaking about what makes

the difference this time for theCapitals, in his discussion withlong-time former India teammateVVS Laxman on Maruti SuzukiCricket LIVE show on Star SportsNetwork, 'Dada' shared his take.

The former Kolkata KnightRiders and Pune Warriors Indiaplayers said, "Our team has theperfect mixture of experience andyouth which quite often makes a

big difference to the entire game.I was the captain of the team ata very young age and so was VVSLaxman, in the years from 1999to 2012, and it all made us goodplayers. This is an excellent situ-ation for Delhi Capitals to growand become immensely good attheir game as a unit."

"The team already hasShikhar Dhawan, Kagiso

Rabada and SandeepLamichhane who play tremen-dously well."

"When Rashid joinedSunrisers Hyderabad, he was avery young player too, VIVOIPL is an extremely high-pres-sure tournament. How manytimes have we seen an Afghanplayer who has not played TestCricket or an ODI, play beauti-

fully to win a match when giventhe responsibility? Look howJonny Bairstow and PrithviShaw have played, Shaw whowon us the match againstKolkata Knight Riders."

"Talent is very important ina player and to channelize thattalent — the most importantthing in this VIVO IPL formatis that you need to play freely."

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