0 1˘23 *+&,&*,- .*/0 ˚% g5!b! 05˛˙b5 5 !6/7 b &! %!6 %760 ... people from odisha...

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E ven as popular Koshali folk poet Haladhar Nag has made Odisha proud by getting Padmashree, the State Government did not recom- mend his name for the coun- try’s coveted civilian honour. Nag had not figured in the list of 30 persons the State Government recommended for the award. However, film direc- tor Nila Madhav Panda, who also received Padmashree this year, was in the State Government’s list. A committee headed by former State Chief Secretary Subas Pani and comprising writer Satakadi Hota, former university VCs Priyambada Mohanty and Omkar Nath Mohanty, sculptor Raghunath Mohapatra and Minati Mohapatra had shortlisted 30 eminent persons of the State for the Padma Award-2016. While Prof Manoj Das was recommended for the Padma Bibhushan by the committee, spiritual leader Chandrabhanu Satpathy, former hockey play- er Dilip Tirkey and Lalit Mohan Patnaik were nominat- ed for the Padma Bhushan award. Besides, 26 others who were recommended by the panel for the Padmashree award included Alok Kanungo, Anant Moharana, Aruna Mohanty, Banamali Moharana, Veerbar Sahoo, Prof Chandrasekhar Rath, Devdutt Patnaik, Durga Charan Ranbir, Durgaprasad Das, Dr.Jadunath Prasad Das, Jagannath Prasad Das, Krishna Mohanty, Maguni Charan Kuwanr, Nila Madhav Panda, Padmanav Mishra, Prafulla Mohanty, Pranab Patnaik, Prashant Nanda, Ramani Ranjan Jena, Ratan Das, Sabyasachi Mohapatra, Shantanu Kumar Acharya, Satakadi Hota, Subrato Bagchi, Subrat Kumar Panda and Swadhin Patnaik. The Central Government preferred Nag taking into account the brilliant contribu- tions to Koshali language by this Class-III dropout. The BBC has made a doc- umentary on Nag. There are four research papers on him as well. His life and work are a case study at the Harvard University. Sources said that on earlier occasions too, many personal- ities received the Padma award without the State Government’s recommendation. In 2015, the State Government had recommend- ed 27 names, out of which only musician Prafulla Kar was con- ferred Padmashree. The Centre had selected sand artist Sudarshan Patnaik for Padmashree in 2014 out of the 11 recommendations sent from the State. Notably, as many as 75 people from Odisha have been awarded the Padmashree, Padma Bhushan and Padma Bibhushan till date, said officials. T he cleavage in the State Congress over supporting or not supporting Lalatendu Bidyadhar (Lulu) Mohapatra’s newfound radicalism is now irrelevant. The party is deadest to step up its attack against the ruling BJD on the Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare Minister Sanjay Dasburma’s link with chit fund firms. The Congress meeting on Monday involving heavyweights of the party has focused on its strategy on the issue, especial- ly to build up pressure for ter- mination of Dasburma from the Ministerial berth so that no tampering takes place in pro- viding records and to ensure that the CBI probe is conduct- ed in a fair and transparent way. The party also decided to cor- ner the State Government over the chit fund scam by starting agitation from April 26, the day when the second phase of Assembly session will begin. The meeting, presided over by PCC president Prasad Harichandan, was attended by senior leaders like Srikant Jena, Lulu Mohapatra, Sarat Patnaik and Anant Sethy. “Documents submitted by Dasburma to the CBI are all of the Transport Department. It can’t be ruled out that he as a Minister could have prepared the documents to suit him. Hence, he should not continue as a Minister for the sake of a fair inquiry,” said Harichandan. The fact is now clear that the Congress, which was divid- ed over Mohapatra’s egg-hurl- ing tactic and attempt to foist his constituency-centric politics and individual wrath on the broader work plan of the Congress, has now found Mohapatra as a rallying point. Mohapatra had drawn flak from parties of all hues for this crude confrontation with BJD. The Congress supporters attack BJD Ministers and leaders with eggs with much fanfare at the instance of Mohapatra and were successful to unleash a reign of terror for a time by forcing the ruling party politi- cians to stay indoors. While BJD had condemned this and even deployed lathi-wielding musclemen around the Ministers’ vehicles as a tit-for- tat to tackle the Congress-sup- ported egg-hurlers, even his own party veterans, including Leader of Opposition Narasingha Mishra and PCC president Prasad Harichandan, had decried it. However, with Mohapatra’s own constituency politics and personal grudge against arch rival Dasburma now having provided the trigger for an escalating crisis for the BJD Government at the State level, the Congress does not find anything ‘unethical’ or ‘narrow’ in Mohapatra-Dasburma age- old spat being capitalized as a potential ammunition to blast the BJD house. Needless to say, Mohapatra has turned the blue- eyed boy for his party. On the contrary, Dasburma and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s silence on the issue, especially after CBI notice to the former, has added fuel to the fire. Dasburma not appearing personally and sending his rep- resentatives to the CBI office has also deepened the suspicion about his culpability that the Opposition parties want to lend credibility. So far, the BJD has been defensive of Dasburma and rubbished the charges as an outcome person- al vendetta. BJD spokesperson Amar Satpathy also ruled out the Congress’s contention on the fairness of the CBI probe. “The State Government has been cooperative to the CBI and provided all required logistics for probe in the chit fund scam. So the question of influencing the probe or tam- pering the process does not arise,” he clarified. T he State capital on Monday recorded an all-time high temperature of 45.8 degree Celsius in the month of April. The previous highest temper- ature recorded in the city, now rated as the “Smartest” in the country, was 45 degree on April 23, 1985. Meanwhile, the Regional Centre of the India Meteorological Department (IMD) here issued a warning of ‘severe heat wave conditions’ in next five days. Met Centre Director Sarat Chandra Sahu said the sharp rise in the temperature in the State was caused as the wind flow which was from the west- ern direction in the morning changed its course to the north- western direction. Reduced cool sea breeze was also a rea- son for the rise in temperature. He said that though there is a possibility of the hot air becoming lighter and going upwards allowing the flow of wind from the sea and trigger- ing effect of norwester (Kalabaisakhi) through quick formation of clouds, but there is no indication of clouds till now as per the model indicator. According to the IMD data, as many as 17 places in the State recorded temperatures above 40 degree Celsius on the day. While Chandbali regis- tered 44.4 degree Celsius, Jharsuguda recorded (43.4), Cuttack (42.5), Angul (42.1), Baripada (42.5), Keonjhar (41.5), Baleswar (41), Sambalpur (42.3), Sundargarh (43.5), Hirakud (42.9), Talcher (43.8), Bhawanipatna (42.7), Balangir (43.2), Phulbani (40), Titlagarh (42.3) and Malkangiri (42.4). Bhubaneswar: Keeping the severe heat wave conditions in view, the State Government on Monday ordered closure of all Government and private schools from Tuesday till April 20. Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) Pradipta Kumar Mohapatra said the Government would review the heat wave situation on April 20 and take a decision whether to continue with the closure of the schools further or not. “The Regional IMD Director informed me that the heat wave conditions will pre- vail at least till April 20. Hence, we have decided to suspend the classes in schools till that period,” said Mohapatra. He said if examinations are scheduled to be held dur- ing this period, the school authorities would conduct the same during morning or evening hours so that the stu- dents do not face problem. Last month, the Government had directed the schools to conduct morning classes till 10.30 am from April 2 till May 1 due to the heat wave. Meanwhile, the alleged deaths due to sun- stroke rose to 19. PNS I n a decision that would impact the future of lakhs of medical aspirants, the Supreme Court on Monday recalled its 2013 order that had quashed the single entrance test for admission to all private and Government medical colleges in the country. Now, the Medical Council of India (MCI) is expected to write to the Central Government and various stakeholders to conduct common entrance test from this year itself. The decision has come at a time when the Centre is preparing to hold the common medical/dental entrance exam- ination for admission to MBBS/BDS courses in Government colleges. The court order has paved way for the Centre to explore the pos- sibility of conducting the sin- gle test, popularly known as the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET), for all medical colleges from the cur- rent academic session. On July 18, 2013, a three- judge Bench by a 2:1 majority scrapped the NEET on a peti- tion by private medical colleges led by Christian Medical College, Vellore. The decision triggered major controversy after the dissenting judge remarked that the judgment was passed in a hurry without discussion as the then CJI was due to retire. Further, an arti- cle had appeared on the day of the decision which predicted the order giving rise to specu- lation that the judgment was leaked prior to its pronounce- ment. The Medical Council of India (MCI) sought review of the order on the ground that the decision failed to take note of past decisions passed by the apex court on the subject. A five-judge Constitution Bench comprising Justices AR Dave, AK Sikri, RK Agarwal, Adarsh K Goel, and R Banumathi, while setting aside the majority decision of the three-judge Bench said, “The majority view has not taken into consideration some binding precedents and more particu- larly we find that there was no discussion among the members of the Bench before pro- nouncement of the judgment.” Incidentally, Justice Dave, who had dissented with the major- ity view in the 2013 order, was part of the five-judge Bench. The Centre had kept in mind the interest of students while announcing NEET as they were required to take sev- eral entrance tests across the country conducted separately by private medical colleges, association of private medical colleges, State colleges, besides the common entrance test (CET) of CBSE. The court refused to give elaborate reasons for the earli- er decision passed by a Bench of then Chief Justice of India Altamas Kabir and Justice (Retd) Vikramajit Sen. T he Kerala High Court may take up on Tuesday the issue of putting controls on, or banning fireworks displays in the context of Sunday’s tragedy at Paravur in Kollam district even as the toll in the accident rose to 109 on Monday, with three more persons succumb- ing to the injuries they suffered in the accident. Meanwhile, a special team of Kerala Police’s Crime Branch on Monday initiated an inves- tigation into the tragedy at the Puttingal Devi Temple. The police have registered a case against six people, including members of the administrative committee and the festival organizing committee of the Puttingal temple and conduc- tors of the fireworks show, charging them with attempt to murder and attempt to commit culpable homicide under Sections 307 and 308 of the Indian Penal Code. Meanwhile, three cars filled with explosives and two sacks stuffed with firecrackers were found near the Paravur temple. Police have sought permission to defuse these explosives. In the meantime, forensic experts aired the suspicion that high-intensity explosive mate- rial potassium chlorate, banned for use in fireworks, could have been used in the event. Chief Controller of Explosives Sudarshan Kamal who visited the accident site said that there seemed to be a gross violation of safety and explosives norms. I t could take months for the villagers living near Puttingal Devi temple at Paravur in Kerala’s Kollam to overcome the fear that engulfed them after the a gruesome fireworks accident killed over 109 people on Sunday. Most of the villagers were living among the debris of their damaged homes, and the terrified children are still in a state of shock. Jayasree, 55, sat on the front steps of her east-facing house unaware of the intense heat of the pre-noon summer sun. The floor of the main room and kitchen of her tile-roofed house had turned into a thick bed of debris. Broken tiles, wood splinters, pieces of con- crete and patches of mortar lay all around her, but Jayasree made no attempt to clear the mess. “This happens every year due to the fireworks show at the temple. I now curse that moment we decided to build our dream home here. Every year, we are forced to spend thousands of rupees to repair the house after the festival. I know that this will not end till those who conduct this festival undergo a mindset change, which is unlikely to happen ever,” she says. The blast that occurred during the display was so intense that more than 150 houses within a radius of a kilo- metre from the temple suffered major and minor damage. A t least 11 people were killed and over 20 others injured after a high-voltage wire fell on a group of protesters at remote Pengeree village in Upper Assam’s Tinsukia on Monday. The electric wire fell after the bullets fired by police in the air to disperse the agitating crowd hit the wire. “They gheraod the police station and demanded the murder accused be handed over to them. The police first resorted to lathi charge to dis- perse them. However, as the mob went unruly, they resort- ed to firing in the air,” said a senior police official, adding the bullets hit the high-voltage wire overhead. Meanwhile, the district administration has imposed curfew in and around the area. Assam CM Tarun Gogoi has ordered a judicial probe and appealed the people to exercise restraint and maintain peace and tranquility. Gogoi has asked the Deputy Commissioner of Tinsukia dis- trict to maintain law and order. The incident took place on Monday morning after a group of agitators, armed with machete and sticks, gheraod the Pengeree police station demanding custody of five murder accused arrested by the police over a murder case in the area. “Several of them got elec- trocuted and nine of them killed on the spot. Although all of them rushed to the hospital, two other died in the hospital later taking the total toll to 11,” he said, adding that about 20 others are undergoing treat- ment at the hospital. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday expressed grief on the loss of lives caused by falling of electric cable in Assam’s Tinsukia district. T wo Indian medical stu- dents were stabbed to death in Ukraine while another sus- tained serious injuries in the attack on early Sunday morn- ing. The attack was allegedly carried out by three Ukrainian nationals who have been apprehended while trying to cross the Ukrainian border. The Indian Embassy in Kiev has taken up the matter with the Government of Ukraine and sought the safety of Indian students, a large number of them studying medicine. “I am sorry two Indian stu- dents Pranav Shandilya of Muzaffarnagar and Ankur Singh (Ghaziabad) were stabbed to death in Ukraine on April 10. Inderjeet Singh Chauhan (Agra) is recuperating in hos- pital,” External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj tweet- ed. Shandilya was a third- year student while Singh was a fourth-year student at the college. The Indian Embassy in Kiev was informed of the incident at around 11 am on Sunday and it has been trying to ascertain the facts from the police, the Uzhgorod Medical College authorities and other local contacts.

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Page 1: 0 1˘23 *+&,&*,- .*/0 ˚% G5!B! 05˛˙B5 5 !6/7 B &! %!6 %760 ... people from Odisha have been awarded the ... impact the future of lakhs of ... Adarsh K Goel, and R Banumathi,

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Even as popular Koshali folkpoet Haladhar Nag has

made Odisha proud by gettingPadmashree, the StateGovernment did not recom-mend his name for the coun-try’s coveted civilian honour.

Nag had not figured in thelist of 30 persons the StateGovernment recommended forthe award. However, film direc-tor Nila Madhav Panda, whoalso received Padmashree thisyear, was in the StateGovernment’s list.

A committee headed byformer State Chief SecretarySubas Pani and comprisingwriter Satakadi Hota, formeruniversity VCs PriyambadaMohanty and Omkar NathMohanty, sculptor RaghunathMohapatra and MinatiMohapatra had shortlisted 30eminent persons of the State forthe Padma Award-2016.

While Prof Manoj Das was

recommended for the PadmaBibhushan by the committee,spiritual leader ChandrabhanuSatpathy, former hockey play-er Dilip Tirkey and LalitMohan Patnaik were nominat-ed for the Padma Bhushanaward.

Besides, 26 others whowere recommended by thepanel for the Padmashreeaward included Alok Kanungo,Anant Moharana, ArunaMohanty, Banamali Moharana,

Veerbar Sahoo, ProfChandrasekhar Rath, DevduttPatnaik, Durga Charan Ranbir,Durgaprasad Das, Dr.JadunathPrasad Das, Jagannath PrasadDas, Krishna Mohanty, MaguniCharan Kuwanr, Nila MadhavPanda, Padmanav Mishra,Prafulla Mohanty, PranabPatnaik, Prashant Nanda,Ramani Ranjan Jena, RatanDas, Sabyasachi Mohapatra,Shantanu Kumar Acharya,Satakadi Hota, Subrato Bagchi,Subrat Kumar Panda andSwadhin Patnaik.

The Central Governmentpreferred Nag taking intoaccount the brilliant contribu-

tions to Koshali language bythis Class-III dropout.

The BBC has made a doc-umentary on Nag. There arefour research papers on him aswell. His life and work are acase study at the HarvardUniversity.

Sources said that on earlieroccasions too, many personal-ities received the Padma awardwithout the State Government’srecommendation.

In 2015, the StateGovernment had recommend-ed 27 names, out of which onlymusician Prafulla Kar was con-ferred Padmashree. The Centrehad selected sand artistSudarshan Patnaik forPadmashree in 2014 out of the11 recommendations sent fromthe State.

Notably, as many as 75people from Odisha havebeen awarded thePadmashree, Padma Bhushanand Padma Bibhushan tilldate, said officials.

��!�����!���� ��(���&34&!�56%!�

The cleavage in the StateCongress over supporting

or not supporting LalatenduBidyadhar (Lulu) Mohapatra’snewfound radicalism is nowirrelevant. The party is deadestto step up its attack against theruling BJD on the FoodSupplies and Consumer WelfareMinister Sanjay Dasburma’slink with chit fund firms.

The Congress meeting onMonday involving heavyweightsof the party has focused on itsstrategy on the issue, especial-ly to build up pressure for ter-mination of Dasburma from theMinisterial berth so that notampering takes place in pro-viding records and to ensurethat the CBI probe is conduct-ed in a fair and transparent way.The party also decided to cor-ner the State Government overthe chit fund scam by startingagitation from April 26, the daywhen the second phase ofAssembly session will begin.

The meeting, presided overby PCC president PrasadHarichandan, was attended bysenior leaders like Srikant Jena,

Lulu Mohapatra, Sarat Patnaikand Anant Sethy.

“Documents submitted byDasburma to the CBI are all ofthe Transport Department. Itcan’t be ruled out that he as aMinister could have preparedthe documents to suit him.Hence, he should not continueas a Minister for the sake of afair inquiry,” said Harichandan.

The fact is now clear thatthe Congress, which was divid-ed over Mohapatra’s egg-hurl-ing tactic and attempt to foisthis constituency-centric politicsand individual wrath on thebroader work plan of theCongress, has now foundMohapatra as a rallying point.

Mohapatra had drawn flak

from parties of all hues for thiscrude confrontation with BJD.The Congress supporters attackBJD Ministers and leaders witheggs with much fanfare at theinstance of Mohapatra andwere successful to unleash areign of terror for a time byforcing the ruling party politi-cians to stay indoors. WhileBJD had condemned this andeven deployed lathi-wieldingmusclemen around theMinisters’ vehicles as a tit-for-tat to tackle the Congress-sup-ported egg-hurlers, even hisown party veterans, includingLeader of OppositionNarasingha Mishra and PCCpresident Prasad Harichandan,had decried it.

However, with Mohapatra’sown constituency politics andpersonal grudge against archrival Dasburma now havingprovided the trigger for anescalating crisis for the BJDGovernment at the State level,the Congress does not findanything ‘unethical’ or ‘narrow’in Mohapatra-Dasburma age-old spat being capitalized as apotential ammunition to blastthe BJD house. Needless to say,Mohapatra has turned the blue-eyed boy for his party.

On the contrary, Dasburmaand Chief Minister NaveenPatnaik’s silence on the issue,especially after CBI notice to theformer, has added fuel to thefire. Dasburma not appearingpersonally and sending his rep-resentatives to the CBI office hasalso deepened the suspicionabout his culpability that theOpposition parties want to lend

credibility. So far, the BJDhas been defensive ofDasburma and rubbished thecharges as an outcome person-al vendetta. BJD spokespersonAmar Satpathy also ruled outthe Congress’s contention onthe fairness of the CBI probe.“The State Government hasbeen cooperative to the CBIand provided all requiredlogistics for probe in the chitfund scam. So the question ofinfluencing the probe or tam-pering the process does notarise,” he clarified.

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The State capital on Mondayrecorded an all-time high

temperature of 45.8 degreeCelsius in the month of April.The previous highest temper-ature recorded in the city, nowrated as the “Smartest” in thecountry, was 45 degree onApril 23, 1985.

Meanwhile, the RegionalCentre of the IndiaMeteorological Department(IMD) here issued a warning of‘severe heat wave conditions’ innext five days.

Met Centre Director SaratChandra Sahu said the sharprise in the temperature in theState was caused as the windflow which was from the west-ern direction in the morningchanged its course to the north-western direction. Reducedcool sea breeze was also a rea-son for the rise in temperature.

He said that though thereis a possibility of the hot airbecoming lighter and goingupwards allowing the flow ofwind from the sea and trigger-ing effect of norwester(Kalabaisakhi) through quick

formation of clouds, but thereis no indication of clouds tillnow as per the model indicator.

According to the IMDdata, as many as 17 places inthe State recorded temperaturesabove 40 degree Celsius on theday.

While Chandbali regis-tered 44.4 degree Celsius,

Jharsuguda recorded (43.4),Cuttack (42.5), Angul (42.1),Baripada (42.5), Keonjhar(41.5), Baleswar (41),Sambalpur (42.3), Sundargarh(43.5), Hirakud (42.9), Talcher(43.8), Bhawanipatna (42.7),Balangir (43.2), Phulbani (40),Titlagarh (42.3) and Malkangiri(42.4).

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Bhubaneswar: Keeping thesevere heat wave conditions inview, the State Government onMonday ordered closure of allGovernment and privateschools from Tuesday till April20.

Special ReliefCommissioner (SRC) PradiptaKumar Mohapatra said theGovernment would reviewthe heat wave situation onApril 20 and take a decisionwhether to continue with theclosure of the schools furtheror not.

“The Regional IMDDirector informed me that theheat wave conditions will pre-

vail at least till April 20. Hence,we have decided to suspendthe classes in schools till thatperiod,” said Mohapatra.

He said if examinationsare scheduled to be held dur-ing this period, the schoolauthorities would conduct thesame during morning orevening hours so that the stu-dents do not face problem.

Last month, theGovernment had directed theschools to conduct morningclasses till 10.30 am fromApril 2 till May 1 due to theheat wave. Meanwhile, thealleged deaths due to sun-stroke rose to 19. PNS

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In a decision that wouldimpact the future of lakhs of

medical aspirants, the SupremeCourt on Monday recalled its2013 order that had quashedthe single entrance test foradmission to all private andGovernment medical collegesin the country. Now, theMedical Council of India(MCI) is expected to write tothe Central Government andvarious stakeholders to conductcommon entrance test fromthis year itself.

The decision has come at atime when the Centre ispreparing to hold the commonmedical/dental entrance exam-ination for admission toMBBS/BDS courses inGovernment colleges. Thecourt order has paved way forthe Centre to explore the pos-sibility of conducting the sin-gle test, popularly known as theNational Eligibility cumEntrance Test (NEET), for allmedical colleges from the cur-rent academic session.

On July 18, 2013, a three-judge Bench by a 2:1 majorityscrapped the NEET on a peti-tion by private medical collegesled by Christian MedicalCollege, Vellore. The decisiontriggered major controversy

after the dissenting judgeremarked that the judgmentwas passed in a hurry withoutdiscussion as the then CJI wasdue to retire. Further, an arti-cle had appeared on the day of

the decision which predictedthe order giving rise to specu-lation that the judgment wasleaked prior to its pronounce-ment. The Medical Council ofIndia (MCI) sought review of

the order on the ground thatthe decision failed to take noteof past decisions passed by theapex court on the subject.

A five-judge ConstitutionBench comprising Justices ARDave, AK Sikri, RK Agarwal,Adarsh K Goel, and RBanumathi, while setting asidethe majority decision of thethree-judge Bench said, “Themajority view has not taken intoconsideration some bindingprecedents and more particu-larly we find that there was nodiscussion among the membersof the Bench before pro-nouncement of the judgment.”Incidentally, Justice Dave, whohad dissented with the major-ity view in the 2013 order, waspart of the five-judge Bench.

The Centre had kept inmind the interest of studentswhile announcing NEET asthey were required to take sev-eral entrance tests across thecountry conducted separatelyby private medical colleges,association of private medicalcolleges, State colleges, besidesthe common entrance test(CET) of CBSE.

The court refused to giveelaborate reasons for the earli-er decision passed by a Benchof then Chief Justice of IndiaAltamas Kabir and Justice(Retd) Vikramajit Sen.

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The Kerala High Court maytake up on Tuesday the

issue of putting controls on, orbanning fireworks displays inthe context of Sunday’s tragedyat Paravur in Kollam districteven as the toll in the accidentrose to 109 on Monday, withthree more persons succumb-ing to the injuries they sufferedin the accident.

Meanwhile, a special teamof Kerala Police’s Crime Branchon Monday initiated an inves-tigation into the tragedy at thePuttingal Devi Temple. Thepolice have registered a caseagainst six people, includingmembers of the administrativecommittee and the festivalorganizing committee of thePuttingal temple and conduc-tors of the fireworks show,charging them with attempt tomurder and attempt to commitculpable homicide underSections 307 and 308 of theIndian Penal Code.

Meanwhile, three cars filledwith explosives and two sacksstuffed with firecrackers werefound near the Paravur temple.

Police have sought permissionto defuse these explosives.

In the meantime, forensicexperts aired the suspicion thathigh-intensity explosive mate-rial potassium chlorate, bannedfor use in fireworks, couldhave been used in the event.Chief Controller of ExplosivesSudarshan Kamal who visitedthe accident site said that thereseemed to be a gross violationof safety and explosives norms.

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It could take months for thevillagers living near Puttingal

Devi temple at Paravur inKerala’s Kollam to overcome thefear that engulfed them after thea gruesome fireworks accidentkilled over 109 people onSunday. Most of the villagerswere living among the debris oftheir damaged homes, and theterrified children are still in astate of shock.

Jayasree, 55, sat on the

front steps of her east-facinghouse unaware of the intenseheat of the pre-noon summersun. The floor of the main roomand kitchen of her tile-roofedhouse had turned into a thickbed of debris. Broken tiles,wood splinters, pieces of con-crete and patches of mortar layall around her, but Jayasreemade no attempt to clear themess. “This happens every yeardue to the fireworks show at thetemple. I now curse thatmoment we decided to build

our dream home here. Everyyear, we are forced to spendthousands of rupees to repairthe house after the festival. Iknow that this will not end tillthose who conduct this festivalundergo a mindset change,which is unlikely to happenever,” she says.

The blast that occurredduring the display was sointense that more than 150houses within a radius of a kilo-metre from the temple sufferedmajor and minor damage.

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At least 11 people were killedand over 20 others injured

after a high-voltage wire fell ona group of protesters at remotePengeree village in UpperAssam’s Tinsukia on Monday.

The electric wire fell afterthe bullets fired by police in theair to disperse the agitatingcrowd hit the wire.

“They gheraod the policestation and demanded themurder accused be handedover to them. The police firstresorted to lathi charge to dis-perse them. However, as themob went unruly, they resort-ed to firing in the air,” said asenior police official, addingthe bullets hit the high-voltagewire overhead.

Meanwhile, the districtadministration has imposedcurfew in and around the area.

Assam CM Tarun Gogoihas ordered a judicial probe

and appealed the people toexercise restraint and maintainpeace and tranquility. Gogoihas asked the DeputyCommissioner of Tinsukia dis-trict to maintain law and order.

The incident took place onMonday morning after a groupof agitators, armed withmachete and sticks, gheraodthe Pengeree police stationdemanding custody of fivemurder accused arrested by thepolice over a murder case in thearea. “Several of them got elec-trocuted and nine of themkilled on the spot. Although allof them rushed to the hospital,two other died in the hospitallater taking the total toll to 11,”he said, adding that about 20others are undergoing treat-ment at the hospital.

Prime Minister NarendraModi on Monday expressedgrief on the loss of lives causedby falling of electric cable inAssam’s Tinsukia district.

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Two Indian medical stu-dents were stabbed to death

in Ukraine while another sus-tained serious injuries in theattack on early Sunday morn-ing. The attack was allegedlycarried out by three Ukrainiannationals who have beenapprehended while trying tocross the Ukrainian border.The Indian Embassy in Kievhas taken up the matter withthe Government of Ukraineand sought the safety of Indianstudents, a large number ofthem studying medicine.

“I am sorry two Indian stu-dents Pranav Shandilya ofMuzaffarnagar and AnkurSingh (Ghaziabad) were stabbedto death in Ukraine on April 10.Inderjeet Singh Chauhan(Agra) is recuperating in hos-pital,” External AffairsMinister Sushma Swaraj tweet-

ed. Shandilya was a third-

year student while Singh wasa fourth-year student at thecollege. The Indian Embassyin Kiev was informed of theincident at around 11 am onSunday and it has been tryingto ascertain the facts from thepolice, the Uzhgorod MedicalCollege authorities and otherlocal contacts.

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Page 2: 0 1˘23 *+&,&*,- .*/0 ˚% G5!B! 05˛˙B5 5 !6/7 B &! %!6 %760 ... people from Odisha have been awarded the ... impact the future of lakhs of ... Adarsh K Goel, and R Banumathi,

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Although every possible care and caution has been taken to avoid errors or omissions, this publication is being sold on the condition and understanding that information given in this publication is merely for reference and must not be taken as having authority of or binding in any way on the writers, editors, publishers, andprinters and sellers who do not owe any responsibility for any damage or loss to any person, a purchaser of this publication or not for the result of any action taken on the basis of this work. All disputes are subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of competent court and forums in Delhi/New Delhi only.

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The Common ServicesCentres (CSCs) scheme on

its second leg is likely to kick-start soon from this year inOdisha. And this time, thedistrict administrations will begiven permission to set up thecentres under a Central schemeinstead of through various pri-vate players.

The CSCs are a strategiccornerstone of the Digital Indiaprogramme and are the accesspoints for delivery of variouselectronic services to villages inthe country, thereby con-tributing to a digitally andfinancially-inclusive society.

Under the scheme, 5,000CSCs are already functioningin Odisha, say official reports.

Notably, three agencies,

Srei Sahaj, Zoom Developersand BSF, were given the chargeto set up CSCs in the State.These firms had taken moethan �22 crore from theGovernment to set up the cen-tres in rural areas.

Sources say though 5,000centres are operational in theState, the facts are somewhat dif-ferent as in many areas the CSCsare found defunct due to lack ofinternet and power services.

Midway corrections arebeing taken up keeping theflaws encountered during theimplementation of the firstphase of the scheme in mind.

The authorities have decid-ed to give a chance to the inter-ested youths to set up CSCsthrough the district adminis-trations in the second phase ofthe scheme.

The interested candidatesare required to apply to set upCSCs at the district level.Following a proper verificationof the applications, a final deci-sion will be taken to allow themfor the project.

There is a Cash Card sys-tem under the scheme forthose who will set up the CSCsfor which they will not have toapproach banks many times forfunds from the Government.

Notably, there are seventypes of services includingissuing of birth, death and res-idence certificates and landdocuments currently beingprovided through CSCs.

A process is also underwayto make more services availablein all the districts throughCSCs under the e-Districtscheme, sources added.

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He had his post-graduation in political sci-ence with an LLB degree to his credit from

the Calcutta University. He had obtained hisMPhil degree from the Moscow University. Heabandoned all temptations for lucrative gov-ernment jobs as he preferred public life beinginitiated into Communist ideologies. He cameback to Odisha from Moscow and had his briefstint in the Congress. Thereafter, he formed theSamajwadi Party State unit. Then, he joined theBJD bandwagon and was elected to the RajyaSabha in 2010.

Today, Baishnab Parida’s name has almostbecome synonymous with the Bhasa Andolan,of which he is the pioneer. He wages a wardemanding preservation, propagation and pro-tection of the Odia language. He discovers thatthere is a conspiracy of the shenanigans of theGovernment to exterminate the language by pro-moting English medium education in the nameof Model Schools. In an interview to The Pioneer,Parida spoke to Sugyan Choudhury.

What are the objectives of your BhashaAndolan?

Odia language is the identity of Odisha.Odisha was formed as a separate State on thebasis of language after a great deal of struggle.Gandhiji also wanted to promote regional lan-guages at the State level while promoting Hindiat the national scenario. In Odisha, we hadEnglish as the State’s language even after 1936when our State was formed. In 1954, veteranfreedom fighter, Gandhian leader and the thenChief Minister Nabakrushna Choudhury pro-mulgated the Odisha Official Language Act1954, but the same has not yet been imple-mented. That is why we have founded theOdisha Bhasa Andolan. The State Governmenthas not taken any active interest to execute theAct. Odia language being deprived of its use inoffices, business houses, courts of law. In ademocracy, the language of the State should bethe language of the majority people. If the lan-guage is not used by the masses, the distancebetween the rulers and the ruled gets wider.When young men and women find that Odiais not the language of their livelihoods, they areturning volte face to it. Besides, in westernOdisha the predominance of Hindi is felt whilein southern Odisha Telugu is dominating. Innorthern side, Odia dominated by Bengali. Ourupper middle class is using a curious mixtureof Odia, English and Hindi. In electronicmedia too, there is an amalgamation of Odia,Hindi and English. There were attempts to badlymaul our language by introducing Bengali as theofficial language here, but luminaries like FakirMohan, Madhusudan Das, Gourishankar Rayrose against it and proved that Odia has a greathistory behind it having a special status allthrough the ages. But now, the Government’saction against the language is difficult to under-stand. There are no Odia teachers in Governmentschools. Sports teachers, geography teachers aretaking Odia classes without knowing the gram-mar. This is the sorry state of affair which hasbrought the Odia nation to a state of nightmare.The sad tale of the language does not end here.The State Government is now on a spree foropening of Model Schools (Adarsha Vidyalayas)by banishing Odia language, which appears noth-ing short of a conspiracy to belittle Odia. It is likeadding insult to injury!

Whether it is a political movement or a cul-tural awakening?

We have travelled extensively throughout theState to convince people that their language isdying. In 2012, we intensified the movement. InJuly 2014, for a whole day, we convened a meet-ing, convincing people that they should buildpressure on the Government to introduce Odiain education, trade and commerce, Governmentoffices, courts of law so that their languagewould become a vibrant one. Some people char-acterised this as a political movement, but wenegated it by maintaining that this is an apolit-ical endeavour. We convinced the Chief Ministerthat it is never a movement against him or theGovernment. We four crore Odias want our lan-guage to be a living language.

What have you gained from your efforts overthese last four years?

Save Odia language is the concern of thecommon man. It also holds all political partiesequally responsible for implementation of the1954 language Act. When we convince people

that their language is dying, they all respond-ed. One lakh people wrote in postcards to theChief Minister demanding for implementationof the Act. The Government also responded byforming a Ministerial committee of five mem-bers to look into the matter. But after four or fivemonths, we observed that there was a slack inthe activities of the Government. Hence, weobserved November 23 as the Bhasa Divas as ithappens to be the birthday of the father of thelanguage Act Nabakrushna Choudhury.Thousands of people held dharnas throughoutthe State and sent their memorandums to theChief Minister through their district Collectorsfor implementation of the language Act. Thereseems to have been a cultural awakening. Thisis no mean achievement.

What’s your observation regarding the plan forModel Schools?

The announcement of the State Governmentto this effect has come to us like a bolt from theblue. It is like adding insult to injury. When theGovernment displays its charity like a miser bynot appointing Odia teachers in Governmentschools, how then it has made a strong depar-ture from its cherished goals of establishingModel Schools through the language of Odiamedium. You know that in all other States, theyhave gone for Model Schools with the Centralbudget in their regional languages. How then ourState Government acted in establishing ModelSchools through the medium of English, whenthere is mushrooming of the same type by prof-it-making private bodies. This amounts to a kindof conspiracy to weaken our mother language.

As a Rajya Sabha member from the BJD, haveyou not ever thought it appropriate to have adiscussion on Model Schools with your partysupremo Naveen Patnaik? Is it in consonancewith your party discipline?

We have protested against this concept ofModel Schools in English medium throughPress conferences. We will also enter into adialogue with the Chief Minister. Regardingparty discipline, I should say one should notgo by the dictum “Anyone who is not infavour of me is against me”. I consider Odialanguage as my mother. If anyone, whoeverhe may be, insults my mother, I cannot sim-ply brook it.

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interview of the weekpioneer

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The National AluminiumCompany Limited (Nalco)

and the Iranian Mines &Mining IndustriesDevelopment & RenovationOrganisation (IMIDRO) wouldconstitute a joint taskforcecomprising senior projects,operations and marketing exec-utives of the Nalco, Directors ofMinistry of Industries of Iranand senior executives of theIranian Aluminium Company(IRALCO) to deliberate on theproposed smelter and gas-based power plant in theChabahar Free Trade Zone.

The taskforce has beengiven three months to submitits report.

“The project would helpNalco use low-cost energyavailable in Iran for conversionof its alumina, presently export-ed to international markets, toaluminium. The aluminiumproducts from the JointVenture Company are expect-ed to be highly cost-competi-tive combining the advantages

of low-cost Nalco alumina andlow-cost Iranian energy,” saidNalco CMD Dr Tapan KumarChand.

Dr Chand is in Iran as partof an Indian business delega-tion led by Union Minister forPetroleum and Natural GasDharmendra Pradhan. DrChand held discussions withIran’s Deputy Minister ofIndustry, Mines & Trade, theIMIDRO Chairman and topofficials of Government of Iranand other aluminium compa-

nies.Based on the taskforce’s

report, ownership pattern, pro-ject financing, long-term sup-ply of gas and other aspectswould be decided. An IMIDROteam is likely to visit Nalcoshortly. Dr Chand has thankedDharmendra Pradhan for tak-ing initiative in taking up theNalco’s proposal including gaspricing, long term supply of gasand allotment of land inChabahar at the highest level ofthe Iranian Government.

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Taking a serious view of ateam of police visiting

Pankaj Mahakud’s house inKenojhar to record his state-ment in connection with theharassment case lodged byhis ‘wife,’ Commissioner ofPolice (CP) YB Khurania onMonday said he would per-sonally examine under whatcircumstances theInvestigating Officer (IO) vis-ited Mahakud’s house.

Mahila police station IICand IO of the case BijayineeMalla had on FridayvisitedChampua MLA SanatanMahakud’s son PankajMahakud’s house in Keonjharto record his statement.

His statement was record-

ed after Kavita Mahakud hadapproached the Mahila policeclaiming that Pankaj andSanatan had harassed her.

Though the IO had issuedsummons to Pankaj lastmonth to appear before itwithin a week, but he did notturn up.

“The entire issue will beexamined. Who had askedthe IO to visit PankajMahakud’s house, why shewent and under what cir-cumstances she preferred torecord his statement at hishouse even though a summonwas issued will be probed,”said Khurania.

Sources said Pankaj haddenied the allegation levelledagainst him and his father byKavita.

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Watermelon, cucumber,green coconut, lassi and

cane juice are in great demandas the day temperature hasbeen shooting up with theonset of the current summer.The rising mercury has madelife miserable.

The roadside vendors havestarted selling juices includingBel pana, lassi, water melon,fruits, sugar cane, lemon juice,bhusi, etc. These outlets are alsowitnessing brisk business witha large number of people mak-ing a beeline to these stalls toquench their thirst and beat theheat.

Arjun Muduli and BhimaMuduli of Bharatpur villagehave a seasonal business. Theyare selling watermelon and Belpana near Jagannath Vihar.

“The succulent fruit is likedby many people to fight the hotafternoons in the city,” the duosaid. They are selling water-melon at Rs 15 to Rs 20 per kgand Bel pana a glass at Rs 10.Their daily turnover is Rs 4,000to Rs 5,000 these days.

Uma and Chandan, palls,have opened a stall of Bhusi

and lemon juice near the FireStation here. They add Isabgoland salt in the Bhusi to give ataste, which is also good forhealth in summer. They areselling both lemon and Bhusiat Rs 10 per glass.

The demand of greencoconut and other watery foodslike grapes and cucumbers arealso in heavy demand. Lassistall owner Lingaraj Badajenais highly impressed with hisbrisk sale nowadays. However,medical expert, Professor DrSripasad Mohanty of the SCBMedical College and Hospital,Cuttack warns that spurt in saleof serbat and lassi is also anopen invite to water borne

diseases and for that matter,hygienic should be of on thetop of everyone’s mind. “Thesestalls have to maintain properhygiene. The water that theyuse to make juices should bepure,” Mohanty added.

He also said, “We needboth sugar and salt to beat theheat in the summer. In all thejuices, there is sweetness, butwe should add salt to it.” “Weshould keep our body hydrat-ed in the summer with theIndian drinks like butter milk,lassi, lemon juice, Aam pannaand coconut water etc,” headvised. Antioxidants and vit-amin are there in the juices, heinformed.

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The National Human RightsCommission (NHRC) has

directed the Odisha HumanRights Commission (OHRC)to probe an alleged case of kid-napping and rape of a minorgirl of Tulasipal under theBanarpal police station inAngul district.

The direction came afterAngul-based Human RightsWatch secretary Sangita Swain

filed a petition at the apexhuman rights watchdog alleg-ing that though a 16-year-oldminor girl was kidnapped fromher village on December 24,last year by her fellow vil-lagers, the local police are sit-ting idle despite beinginformed.

The NHRC too asked theOHRC for an action-takenreport (ATR) in the matter.

The petitioner alleged thatthough the victim’s family

members have lodged a com-plaint at the Banarpal policestation the cops are yet totrace the girl.

Swain prayed the com-mission for criminal/discipli-nary action against the con-cerned police officials. Sheurged the commission todirect the police to trace thegirl and rehabilitate her,besides ensuring a compen-sation of �10 lakh to the vic-tim.

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The Nikhil Odisha BidyutSramik Mahasangh has

called for a mass dharna onApril 26 to protest the apatheticattitude of the OPTCL author-ities in solving various long-standing problems faced bythe workers.

“Due to some unskilledHR officials, the workers aresubjected to mental torturesince long while. Similarly, theSLDC and OPTCL staffs arebeing structured on monopolybasis. While the ITI workers arenot appointed as helper, highlyqualified workers are not givenpromotion,” alleged a worker.

Besides, all the issues of theworkers are taken for discus-sion, but in vein, said anotherworker.

Members of the body fur-ther alleged that worker SubratRoutray’s of the KendrapadaGrid died in a manmademishap, but the engineerresponsible for his death isfreely moving. The Mahasanghdemanded equal insurance foraccidents for all and immedi-ate arrest of the person respon-sible for Routray’s death.Mahasangh general secretaryAkshay Tripathy and secre-tary Pabitra Mohapatra urgedall electricity workers to jointhe dharna in large number.

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The World Health Day wascelebrated on behalf of the

Indo-Vietnam Medical Boardat the Krushak Niwas here inthe OUAT campus on April 7.

OUAT CAET andExtension Education Dean DrMd Khalid Khan was present as

the chief guest and College ofAgriculture Dean Dr LMGadanaik as guest of honour.

Attending as speaker,Satyanarayan Sahoo presentedthe myth busting facts on‘Diabetes Cure in 72 Hours’.“Even after 69 years of inde-pendence, India is still deeplytrapped in vicious cycle of

western medicines,” Sahoo said.A book ‘Last Days of

Diabetes’ written by DrBiswaroop Ray Chawdhurywas released on the occasion.

A training programme ofcuring diabetes in 72 hours wasalso organised and few curedpatients presented their caseslive in the seminar.

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While widening of roads iswelcomed by people as it

accelerates process of fastercommunication and helpsbring economic developmentof a region, yet the felling of alarge number of trees, most ofthem over 30 years’ old, are nottolerated in Balangir district asthey damage the ecology sys-tem.

According to officialsources, widening work hasbeen taken up on four roads,Balangir-Sonepur road,B a l a n g i r - P a t n a g a r h -Kantabanj i -Chandotora ,Balangiri-Salebhata andBalangir-Belgaon road.

However forest approvalfor felling of roadside trees onBolangir-Belgaon road hasnot been given.

As per the rules, one treehas to be planted in every fourmetre gap on both sides of theroad. Likewise, about 10,000trees on along the Balangir -Sonepur road up to Bairsar,57,000 trees along the Balangir-P a t n a g a r h - K a n t a b a n j i -Chandotatra road and 20, 000trees along the Balangir-Salebhata road needs to beplanted as a compensatorymeasure.

The executing agency has

submitted a proposal to theForest Department stating thatit would carry out plantation of10 times the number trees to befelled and look after their main-tenance for the next 10 years.

For example, 417 trees werefelled along the road fromBalangir to Patharcheap andagainst these 4,170 trees needsto be planted. From this onecould imagine the number oftrees to be planted throughoutthe district as road expansion isgoing on almost all parts of it.

According to a forest offi-cial, felling of old trees are agreat loss as nowadays survivalof trees has become more dif-ficult in view of high temper-ature, uncertain rainfall andmany other factors. The short-term plantation plan only addsto the problem, he said.

According to sources, fromalong the Boudh-Sonepur road,huge numbers of old treeswere cut. Though roadsideplantation was taken up, theywould be felled again in 10years or so when the road isconverted into four-lane forfaster increase in vehicles.

For example, thoughroadside plantation was takenup along the Lathore-Komanaroad in 2013-14, they, num-bering around 2000, were cutagain as road expansion work

was taken up after a year.Similarly while doubling

work of Titilagarh -Samblapurrailway line was undertaken,around 2,000 trees were felled.The compensatory afforesta-tion undertaken by railwayauthorities is not up to thedesired level, said anotherforest official.

While it takes 50 minutesor even less to cut a 40-50-year-old tree, it requires her-culean effort of minimumone and a half decades togrow a tree to a minimumheight.

There is even no seriousplanning for compensatoryafforestation.

“After a road wideningwork was completed, we tookup plantation on the roadside.However, we faced the prob-lem of planting trees on pri-vate land. People opposed it.There should be adequatespace for tree plantationwhere ever road widening orexpansion is taken up. Allroads should be designed forfour-lane and adequate spaceshould be earmarked for plan-tation of trees,” said anotherforest official here.

Already the forest coverin the district is decliningrapidly. Only 14 per cent ofthe total area is under forestcover. With absence of 87,000trees on roadsides, Balangir isheading for serious ecologicaldisaster. Planning should bemade in such a way thatnewly planted trees need notbe cut again when furtherexpansion is taken up, sug-gested an environmentalist.

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Members of the Congresswomen unit of Balangir

district unit led by its presidentRenuka Patra staged a demon-stration in front of theCollector’s office here onMonday demanding solution tothe water crisis in the district.

The women activists brokeearthen pitchers as a mark ofprotest. “Women are most vul-nerable to the water crisis in thedistrict. They have to fetchwater for the entire family.They face a lot of difficulties forthis,” said president Patra.

Later, they submitted a six-point charter of demands to

Additional District MagistrateAshok Naik. The demandsinclude immediate repair oftube well in rural area, reno-vation of pond, digging ofdeep bore well, supply of drink-ing water to villages throughtankers and water supply to

Balangir and other towns forminimum four hours a day.

The activists later threat-ened to stage agitation in com-ing days unless the adminis-tration takes proper steps with-in a month to solve the waterissues.

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Thanks to an unholy nexusof the venal officials in the

district administration withthe brick kiln owners, illegalbrick kilns are on the rise incoastal Kendrapada district,especially at the river bank ofGovari under Kendrapadatehsil.

Intellectual masses allegedthat the district administrationhas little sincerity to restrict theillegal brick kiln in the area. Asa result, the day temperatureand heat has started increasingwith the rising of mercury inthe ongoing summer.

If sources are to bebelieved, nearly 50 brick kilnswere set up illegally in the out-skirts of Kendrapada town-ship and its adjoining areas thisyear, which have become amajor cause of land degrada-tion , soil erosion , rising oftemperature and air pollutionin the area.

The brick kilns are mostlyset up in agricultural land.They are also situated on river-banks. The kilns dig earth con-tinuously to produce bricksfrom November to May. A

brick kiln, produces over 3 lakhbricks annually by renderingthe land unsuitable for agri-culture. A kiln uses tonnes oftop-soil annually to manufac-ture bricks. Thus, hundreds offertile riverside lands havereportedly turned unsuitablefor agriculture, said UmeshSingh, a farmer leader.

Though there is a ban onsetting up brick kilns in agri-culture land, it is blatantly vio-lated. Besides, continuous dig-ging of earth also weakens theGovari riverbanks, threateningto change the course of theriver, alleged Singh.

A kiln, having a chimney,reportedly uses about eighttons of wood every day duringthe brick making season. Theuse of wood and coal createsprofuse carbon dioxide thatcauses air pollution further,while the district administra-

tion sits silently and not takingany steps in this regard , allegedAshis Senapati, a local envi-ronmentalist.

Many brick kilns are situ-ated near riverside villages forwhich the villagers are facing alot of health related problems.The mercury level is rising inthe vicinity of brick kiln areas,particularly in summer.

“We are not coming outfrom our houses as the chim-ney of the brick kiln emits pol-luted ashes in our village,” saidthe villagers of Hajaribagichaand Alijanga.

When contacted,Kendrapada Tehsildar PravasBehura stated that allegation inthis regard has come to hisnotice and he would direct theRevenue Inspector of the con-cerned circle to visit to the areato conduct an inquiry and takenecessary steps.

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One person was killed andfour others sustained

grievous injuries in an acci-dental explosion in front of amedicine shop at Daspalla inNayagarh district on Mondaymorning.

Preliminary investigationrevealed that explosive materi-als carried by a man in a bagburst accidentally in front ofPatitapaban Medicine Store atDurga Bazar in Daspalla town.While the man with the explo-sives died on the spot, four per-sons sustained serious injuries.

Police began investigationinto the incident.

While two of the injuredpersons were admitted to theDaspalla Hospital, the two oth-ers were shifted to theNayagarh DistrictHeadquarters Hospital as theircondition deteriorated. Thedeceased was identified asKahnu Charan Nayak.

“The man carrying theexplosives was a professionalblaster and worked in stonequarries. It appears that it wasnot intentional but an acci-dental explosion,” Daspalla PSIIC Chakrapati Kanhar said.

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Fifty-four-year-old SanyasiPradhan has appealed for

immediate justice to theNayagarh District Magistratealleging that some persons inhis Godimoda village under theSarnakul police station haveforcefully grabbed his proper-ty.

Sanyasi has also alleged inhis complaint that he and hisnephew have been excommu-nicated from the village and heis not being allowed to cultivatehis land.

His nephew has beenostracised for keeping relationwith him. Angry villagers havebroken down his Indra AvasYojana house, Sanyasi has fur-ther alleged.

Sanyasi owned 12 decimalland including his house. Threeyears ago, he fell ill, and thewhole family went out of sta-tion for treatment, lockingtheir home.

On their return, he foundthat some villagers had occu-pied his land and house. They

refused to vacate the land.Despite his complaint to thepolice, no action was takenagainst the culprits, he hasalleged.

He approached court forjustice and won the case. Thecourt ordered the Sarnakulpolice station to clear the landencroachment as soon as pos-sible. But the police haveignored the court order and arehelping the goons, alleged

Sanyasi.Meanwhile, in a kangaroo

court at the village, Sanyasi andhis family have been sociallyboycotted. He is also notallowed to cultivate his fields.

His nephew JagannathPradhan who extended a sup-portive hand to him has alsobeen excommunicated fromthe village and his Indra AwasYojana house has been pulleddown.

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The BJP’s call for locking allthe gram panchayat and

Notified Area Council (NAC)offices in Nuapada district overNFSA card distribution irreg-ularities received public sup-port on Monday.

“Party workers gheraoedand locked all 108 GPs andthree NAC offices in the districtin protest against the inactionof the district administrationand the Government towardsinclusion of deserving benefi-ciaries in the NFSA list,” saidBJP Krushak Morcha districtpresient Sanjay Tiwari.

The BJP had organised

demonstrations a few weeksago and gave a 20-day ultima-tum to the district administra-tion to provide ration cards toleft-out poor households andconduct an inquiry againstmalpractices in paddy pro-curement and, as the periodwas over, we were forced togherao GP and NAC offices, hesaid.

“The Nuapada ADM, whohad received our memoran-dum at Khariar had assured usthat steps would be taken with-in twenty days. He had evensaid that the district has a bal-ance of 80,000 ration cards fordistribution among deservingpersons. But no action was

taken,” lamented Tiwari.About 1.28 lakh house-

holds (4,85, 306 members) ofNuapada district have alreadybeen covered under the NFSA.But the party members allegedthat thousands of deservinghouseholds are still deprived oftheir food right due to faultysurvey and malpractices adopt-ed by officials.

Meanwhile, the districtadministration has receivedmore than 1 lakh applicationsbut has not yet decided towhom the balance cards wouldbe distributed. The districtneeds at least 70,000 cards atpresent to cover the remainingdeserving households.

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The eight-day MahuriMahotsav held at the

Church Ground here conclud-ed on Sunday.

Brahmapur Akashvaniprogramme Director andanchor Hrushikesh Panigrahijoined the valedictory event aschief guest and spoke on theMahuri tradition. AnchorSudipta Panigrahi joined asguest of honour. Among oth-ers, Mahotsav committee pres-ident Umashan Kar Panigrahi,former BDA Chairman Sarat

Ranjan Patnaik, DrChandramani Swain andPrakash Chandra Panda werepresent.

On the occasion, OTVmanaging director SanjayMajhi, journalist and singerSudip Sahu, Krushna ChandraSethi, Dr Bimal Prasad Patnaik,Subhasini Mishra,Bhubaneswar Sahu, DrRajendra Behera and NarendraPrasad Das were felicitated fortheir excellent contributionsto various fields. The valedic-tory event later featured vari-ous cultural programmes.

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AMaoist camp in Khaipadarforest near Chitrakonda

in Malkangiri district was bust-ed on Sunday night with a hugequantity of ammunition being

seized.The camp was busted in an

operation by the BorderSecurity Force (BSF) based onintelligence inputs. However,the Maoists managed to fleefrom the camp before thejawans raided it.

Four guns and otherammunitions were seized fromthe camp.

Meanwhile, panic grippedBargarh district after a groupof Maoists set fire to a kenduleaf godown at Gourapali vil-

lage of Lakhanpur panchayatunder Ambabhona block inBargarh in the wee hours onMonday.

Following information,police rushed to the village andseized some Maoist postersfrom near the godown area.

In the posters, the ultrashave warned that they wouldnot spare the local BDO andSarpanch for indulging in cor-ruption in the construction ofhouses under the Indira AwasYojana (IAY) and roads.

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Sale of agricultural landthrough plotted housing

scheme without conversion ofkisam is rampant here. TheRevenue Department in thiscontext has issued a notifica-tion directing all the Collectorsof the districts to rein in theillegal practices but it has littleeffect here.

The proceedings includedeviction U/S 8 of Orissa LandReforms Act (OLR) Act andalso similar action for resump-tion of land.

There are allegations thatsome land mafias are doing plotbusiness here illegally overhundreds of acres of agricul-

tural land. They have sold landwithout due conversion to cus-tomers in connivance of thelocal revenue officials. TheTehsildar who is also handlingthe charge of Sub-Register heredoes not properly verify therevenue records.

The local RevenueInspector and Amins hardlyhesitate to provide sketch mapsto these mafias drawing plot-ting plans on the agriculturalland. The Tehsildar approves ofmutation (transfer of owner-ship) merely on the basis of theRI report, who connives withthe land mafias and submittheir reports about the status ofthe land. In this way, hundredsof acres of fertile land in thislocality have been illegally soldto buyers for constructinghouses. The local revenue offi-cials and the district adminis-tration are aware of it butavoid taking any action.

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Brahmapur: The ManavAdhikar Suraksha Manch(MASM) has demanded actionagainst the English mediumschools which are not follow-ing rules and regulations of theCBSE or the ICSE, therebycheating students and theirparents.

Manch coordinator AbaniKumar Gaya in a statement

said, as per the Governmentrules, the CBSE and the ICSE-affiliated schools should obeythe guidelines for obtaining noobjection certificate (NOC)from the State Governmentand all other Central guidelinesregarding construction ofschools buildings, drinkingwater supply system and toiletfacilities. Opening of private

English medium schools hasnow become a profit-makingbusiness and school owners areplaying with future of childrenin the name of education,alleged Gaya. The schoolsalso have also been harassingparents by increasing coursefees and cost of books andschool uniform time to time, healleged further. PNS

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The State Mahila Congresson Tuesday held a State-

wide agitation protesting theState Government’s failure inproviding drinking water topeople.

Hundreds of leaders andworkers of all district units ofthe Mahila Congress stagedprotests in front of Collector orSub-Collector offices in theirrespective districts. Protestswere conducted in the party’sall 33 organisational districtsacross the State.

A large number of womenled by wing’s State presidentSasmita Behera staged a protestrally here. “While People inlarge parts of the State arestruggling to get even a drop of

drinking water and the situa-tion is worsening in each pass-ing day, it is disappointing thatthe State Government did lit-tle to resolve the problem,”alleged Behera.

She further alleged thatwater-borne jaundice hasclaimed many lives due towant of safe drinking watersupply in cities. The situationin rural areas of interior Odishahas worsened. “It is disap-pointing that people in interi-or parts of the State are depend-

ing on Chuahs for water. TheGovernment’s inaction hashelped spread of water-bornediseases,” she lamented.

We want that all villages besupplied potable drinkingwater uninterruptedly duringthis summer and old pipes intowns and cities be repairs atthe earliest so that spread ofjaundice would be checked.

She said the party wouldintensify its stir further if theGovernment fails to ensurewater to people soon.

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The Campaign againstFabricated Cases (CAFC)

on Monday urged the OdishaHuman Rights Commissionto intervene into the matter ofhandcuffing of a under-trialprisoner (UTP) during histreatment at the CapitalHospital here and ask theGovernment to provide �5lakh compensation to him.

Campaign advisorBiswapriya Kanungo and con-venor Narendra Mohanty inletter informed the commis-sion that under-trial KishorKumar Jena of the JharparaSpecial was admitted in theCapital Hospital on April 8evening in a critical health

condition because he was nottaking any food since March30 protesting delay of conclu-sion of his trial. While he wasunder treatment in theMedicine Ward, his right handwas handcuffed and it was tiedwith a thick iron chain withthe hospital bed. It was a vio-lation of human rights.

While the Constitutionhas given all right to prison-ers as humans, under-trialKishore shouldn’t have beenhandcuffed during treatmentrather he could have beenunder direct watch of securi-ty personnel.

Handcuffing to Kishore isprima-facie cruel, degradingand humilating treatment.Hence we urge you to orderfor a probe and kindly askGovt to provide �5 lah ascompensation. Besides, erringofficials may kindly be rec-ommended for penal as wellas disciplinary actions, theyurged.

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A23-year-old physically-challenged girl, who is

unable to walk, gave birth to ababy boy at the BargaonCommunity Health Centre(CHC) in Sundargarh districtrecently.

Marriet Dundung, the onlydaughter of Pascal Dungdungand Saojini Dungdung, ofJharkhand is congenital anom-aly and polio-affected girl sinceher birth. With one leg and thattoo of very small size, Marrietmakes movement with her twohands. She had come to heraunt’s house at Machamara

village under Bargaon block.Marriet felt labour pain on

April 6, following which heraunt took her to the BargaonCHC. Later, she gave birth toa healthy boy through normaldelivery.

Sources said Marreit hadbeen raped by an unidentifiedmiscreant when she was goingthrough a forest area to collecther disabled pension a year ago.Her parents had not knownabout her pregnancy.

“I am very happy for giv-ing birth. Though I am poorand unable to move, I hope myson will look after me infuture,” said Marriet.

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Jagatsinghpur: Police arrestedthree upper caste personsaccused in a Dalit houses burn-ing case in Brahamanidihi vil-lage under AnantapurPanchayat in Balikuda block.The incident had occurredthree weeks ago.

The accused persons wereidentified as Pratap Behera,Mihir Behera and RameshBehera. Soon after, they werepresented in the SDJM CourtJagatsinghpur on Saturdaywhere they were remanded injudicial custody.

Reports said that due to avillage dispute, the accusedupper class people assaultedthree Dalit men such as GopalKandi, Govinda Kandi andBrundaban Kandi and setablaze their 10 houses. The vic-tims had complained at theBalikuda police station.

Protesting the police cal-lousness, the District DalitBikash Parishad had staged anagitation before the Balikudapolice station on March 26 anddemanded immediate arrest ofthe accused, threatening togherao the SP office if no actiontaken by March 11. PNSS

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Jagatsinghpur: A minor girlhailing from Tentulipada villageunder Naugaon area who hadbeen abducted by one SunilDas, a resident of Badagabapurvillage under Balitutha area onMarch 28, was rescued. The vic-tim girl’s father Bibhuti Mallickhad lodged an FIR in Naugaonpolice station.

Basing on the complaint, apolice team rescued the girlfrom Coimbatore in Chennaiand nabbed the abductor there.Police investigation revealedthat the accused man was a dri-ver and a married person. Hehad taken the minor girl toChennai luring her on thecount of marriage. The victimand the abductor were sent formedical examination, policeadded. PNS

Kendrapada: Vigilance sleuthson Monday trapped GaradapurAdditional Tehsildar UmeshKumar Lenka while he was tak-ing bribe of �3,000.

Lenka had demanded thebribe from one Jugala KishoreMahali of Nadiabarei village inthe district for providing himnew land records of rights,informed KendrapadaVigilance DSP Ananta NarayanMohanty. PNS

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The girl, who was allegedlygang-raped by some fellow

villagers on April 9 nightunder Patkura police limits,on Monday said she wouldfail to get justice from officeas she belonged to a poor

family.Though more than 24

hours have been passed sincethe FIR lodged, the Patkurapolice has failed to nab a per-son in this regard, alleged thevictim.

But in contrast to thegirls’ al legation, severalwomen of her village onMonday came to the Patkurapolice station and told copsthat the allegation made thegirl is false and fabricated.

According to oneBijayalaxmi Das, while apreparatory meeting for

Asthamprarahi was going on,some representatives went tothe girl’s house to ask her par-ents to come to the meetingplace to repay the debtamount of Rs 20,000 they hadtaken from theAshtamprahari fund a yearback. But her family membersdid not come. When villagegentries went to her houseagain for the purpose, the girland her younger brotherstarted quarrelling with them.

Irate over their behav-iour, villagers dragged herbrother out and beat up him.

The girl then filed a false caseof rape.

The women demandedthat the police conduct a fairinquiry and unravel the truth.

Meanwhile, the policeconducted medical test of thevictim at the DHH the reportof which was yet to come,informed ASP RC Mohanty.

“As per the preliminaryinquiry, it has been ascer-tained that the allegationmade by the victim is false,still we are waiting for themedical examination report,”said Mohanty.

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New Delhi: Asserting that itwould decide on the right ofwomen to enter the historicSabarimala shrine on the basisof constitutional principles andnot by the prevalent customarypractices, the Supreme Courton Monday said “gender justiceis endangered”.

“We will now only be guid-ed by the rationale under theConstitution. The gravity ofthis petition is that gender jus-tice is endangered,” a three-judge Bench headed by JusticeDipak Misra said.

“Can you deny a womanher right to climb the MountEverest? The reasons banninganything must be common forall and on the bedrock of theConstitution,” the apex courtBench added. The court washearing a PIL, filed by IndianYoung Lawyers’ Association(IYLA), seeking entry of womenin the Sabarimala temple.

At the outset of the two-hour-long hearing, it askedthe counsel, supporting theban, about constitutional prin-ciples which support therestraining order of the templeboard.

“We will like to understandas to what right they have toforbid a woman from enteringthe temple, a public place,” theBench, also comprising justicesV Gopala Gowda and KurianJoseph, said, visibly unim-pressed with the argumentsthat the practice has beenobserved for centuries andmuch before the Constitutioncame into being. The Benchsaid it would examine thequestion as to whether a pub-lic religious place can passsuch an order and “whethersuch a prohibition is permissi-ble under the Constitution”.

The customary practicescannot override constitutionalvalues, it said. “Anyone canworship the God or Goddessstructured into idols. I believein God and want to bow myhead, can you say, don’t come,”it asked the counsel represent-ing the Devaswom Board.

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At a time when several partsof the country are reeling

under an acute water shortageand facing a drought-like situ-ation, there seems to be a rayof hope, with various agenciespredicting a good monsoonthis year.

“The El Nino phenomenonis declining. It is expected thatLa Nina condition will takeover, and will perhaps favour agood monsoon this year,”Agriculture SecretaryShobhana K Patnaik said whilespeaking at the NationalConference on Agriculture forKharif Campaign 2016-17.

Though the IndiaMeteorological Department’s(IMD) predictions are yet to

come out, the Governmenthopes a good rainfall this yearwill help farmers recover fromdeficient rainfall received in thelast two years.

According to privateweather forecast group SkymetWeather, monsoon this year isexpected to be above normalduring the four-month periodfrom June to September. Itpredicted that there is a goodchance of excess seasonal rain-fall, 35 per cent chance ofabove normal, 30 per centchance of normal and 10 percent chance of below normalrainfall. It said there is only 5per cent chance of drought.

Skymet Weather also pre-dicted a 50 per cent chance ofnormal rainfall in June andSeptember while in August

the chances are 60 per cent.Central India and West Coastare expected to receive a goodamount of rainfall while TamilNadu, North-East India andSouth Interior Karnataka maywitness less rainfall, it said.

Climate Prediction Centreof the National Oceanic andAtmospheric Administrationof the United States in itsFebruary bulletin too said thatEl Nino effect is getting weak-er, raising hopes for a goodmonsoon.

The Weather Watch reportof the Agriculture Ministersaid in the pre-monsoon sea-son, weekly rainfall for thecountry during the weekMarch 31 to April 6, 2016 was11 per cent lower than LongPeriod Average (LPA).

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India and Maldives onMonday signed six agree-

ments covering Defence, space,science, tourism, taxation andconservation of mosques, dur-ing the visit of President AbdullaYameen Abdul Gayoom.

Speaking after the bilater-al talks with Yameen, PrimeMinister Narendra Modi saidthe threat of cross-border ter-rorism, challenge from radi-calisation and overall securityscenario in the Indian OceanRegion were discussed andboth sides agreed to step upcooperation in these areas.

“Today we agreed on sev-eral important issues. InDefence sector a concreteAction Plan will be opera-tionalised soon to strengthencooperation, port security, train-ing of officials and ocean sur-veillance. On radicalisation wehave agreed for informationexchange, training of policeand security of Maldives,” Modisaid after signing of the agree-ments.

The PM assured Maldivesthat India was ready to protect

its strategic interests in theregion and would extend allpossible assistance, including inmaritime sphere and capacity-building of armed forces, as partof an action plan in the Defencesector. Modi said India is a well-wisher and will match steps withMaldives in its journey towardsprogress. He added it is inIndia’s strategic interest to havea stable and secure Maldives andthat the challenges of the islandcountry are India’s concerns.

On his part, Yameen madeit very clear that the main

purpose of his visit was to seekIndia’s support in theCommonwealth MinisterialAction Group (CMAG) whereIndia is represented by ForeignSecretary S Jaishankar. CMAGis looking at the unstable polit-ical situation in the country andis urging Yameen Governmentand nearly wiped outOpposition to have an inclusivepolitical dialogue

“We need continued sup-port from India to prevent anypunitive action by the CMAGagainst Maldives… We look up

at India as a leader ofSAARC…I have come to afriend (India) who can defendus in CMAG,” Yameen said. Headded Maldives pursues an“India first” foreign policy anddescribed it as most importantfriend of Maldives.

Yameen briefed Modi aboutthe political and institutionalreforms going on in Maldivesand said island country isundergoing a transition. Modi,while welcoming these reformssaid: “India supports all suchmoves that strengthens citizens

and politics.”India has decided to speed

up infrastructure projects likedevelopment of ports inMaldives. “The prompt imple-mentation of a concrete actionplan in the defence sector willstrengthen our defence coop-eration. Development of ports,continuous training, capacitybuilding, supply of equipmentand maritime surveillance willbe its main elements,” Modisaid.

He added India under-stands its role as a net securi-ty provider in the Indian Oceanand was ready to protect itsstrategic interests in this region.Modi said India India is readyto partner Maldives in its ambi-tious iHaven project, which isbeing developed under thenew laws of the SpecialEconomic Zone. They signed apact on avoidance of doubletaxation of income derivedfrom international air transportand a pact on mutual assistancefor exchange of informationrelevant to administration andenforcement of domestic lawsconcerning taxes to preventmoney laundering and tax eva-sions. India will undertakeconservation and restoration ofancient mosques and otherhistorical monuments inMaldives while a pact for coor-dination for operation of SouthAsia Satellite developed byIndia too was signed.

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After securing an arrest war-rant from a special court,

NIA has approached theInterpol for issuing a RedCorner Notice against Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) chiefMaulana Masood Azhar, hisbrother Abdul Rauf and twoothers for their alleged role inthe conspiracy to attack thestrategic Indian Air Force basein Pathankot.

Official sources said adossier along with the non-bail-able warrant issued by a specialNIA court in Mohali in Punjabwas sent to the CBI, which isthe nodal agency representingthe Interpol in the country.

NIA had sought warrantagainst 47-year-old Azhar, hisbrother Abdul Rauf, KashifJan and Shahid Latif, two han-dlers of JeM terrorists who hadinfiltrated into India throughBamiyal sector of Punjab in thewee hours of December 30 tohit the IAF case.

The NIA court had issuedan ‘open-ended non-bailablewarrant’ against Azhar and

three others for allegedly enter-ing into a criminal conspiracywith JeM terrorists and carry-ing out a terror strike on theIAF base which left seven secu-rity personnel dead. Bodies offour slain terrorists were alsorecovered from the sight ofencounter which lasted nearly80 hours.

The terrorists, four ofwhom have been identified asNasir Hussain (Punjabprovince), Abu Bakar,(Gujranwala), Umar Farooqand Abdul Qayum (both fromSindh), entered into the IAFbase and carried out a suicideattack in the wee hours ofJanuary 2.

The NIA has forwardedthe warrant to Interpol along

with the gist of evidence thatit has found against the fourwhich included telephonicconversation between the ter-rorists and their handlers likeJaan and Latif.

The NIA has also sharedthe Internet Protocol address ofthe website which uploaded avideo of Abdul Rauf, brother ofMasood Azhar. In the video, hewas seen claiming responsibil-ity for the attack and compli-menting his boys for it. Thevideo has since been removedand the website has vanishedfrom the cyber network.

India had built a strongcase for seeking UN sanctionsagainst Azhar but the move wasscuttled by China.

An Interpol Red Cornernotice is already pendingagainst Azhar for his allegedinvolvement in the conspira-cy behind attacks onParliament and Jammu andKashmir State Assembly.

Similarly an Interpol RedCorner Notice is pendingagainst Abdul Rauf in connec-tion with the IC-814 hijackingcase of 1999.

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BJP will now invoke BRAmbedkar’s views on

nationalism in support of itscampaign on the issue and haschalked out big plans toobserve the Dalit icon’s birthanniversary on April 14 forthree days in panchayats acrossthe country.

In a series of programmesstarting April 14, it will also focus on the ModiGovernment’s atempts to promote his legacy and has asked all its MPs andMLAs besides office-bearers tobe in attendance.

The move will be part ofthe saffron party’s vigrousefforts to woo Dalits, whowould be key to its electoralfortunes in assembly polls instates like Uttar Pradesh andPunjab due next year.

“We will highlightAmbedkar’s nationalist viewson the country’s unity andintegrity. Our rivals have selec-

tively used him. He held strongnationalist views and they willbe highlighted,” a party office-bearer said while giving detailsof the programmes.

April 14 will be observed as‘samrasta diwas’ (harmony day)and party leaders will garlandthe Dalit icon’s statues andtake a pledge to end discrimi-nation, he said.

Prime Minister NarendraModi is scheduled to addeessan event on the day atAmbedkar’s birth place Mhowin Madhya Pradesh.

Though the CentralGovernment has announcedobserving ‘Gram Uday seBharat Uday’ programmebetween April 14 and 24 incoordination with StateGovernments, the party will bejoining the Government effortsand hold events in panchayats.

The Centre’s efforts to develop five places associat-ed with Ambedkar will also be a key aspect of the party’s campaign.

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Those suffering from Chronic KidneyDisease (CKD) and Chronic

Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD)can soon look forward to better medical treatment in the country’sGovernment hospitals.

The Union Health Ministry has decid-ed to bring the two non-communicablediseases under the ambit of the NationalProgramme For Prevention and Controlof Cancer, Diabetes, CardiovascularDisease and Stroke(NPCDCS) beingimplemented through the National HealthMission (NHM).

At present, the programme is beingimplemented in 100 districts and is due tobe expanded to cover all districts of thecountry in a phased manner during the12th Five Year Plan.

Inclusion of CKD and COPD aimsto help poor people cut their out of pock-et expenditure on the diseases which are

on the rise and becoming major cause of death across the country, said a senior official from the UnionHealth Ministry.

Dr SK Agarwal, Head of Departmentof Nephrology, AIIMS while welcomingthe step said it came quite late though. “Notonly risk factors of CKD are common withother NCDs, importance of CKD is muchmore than many other NCDs. Also, onceCKD develops, management of CVD andstrokes becomes difficult as patients can-not be investigated easily for other NCDsand treatment also becomes complicated,”he added.

In CKD, kidneys get damaged andthey can’t filter blood as they should. This damage can cause wastes to build up in the patient’s body. It can also cause other problems that can harm the health. Diabetes and hypertension arethe most common causes of CKD, con-stituting nearly 60 per cent cases, addedDr Agarwal.

Painting a grim picture of healthcaresystem, he said of the 4-5 lakh patients atany time requiring dialysis and or kidneytransplant, only 7,000 gets renal transplantas of now.

COPD accounts for high mortality upto 13 per cent in the country. COPD is thecollective name for lung diseases includ-ing emphysema, chronic bronchitis andchronic obstructive airways disease.Smoking is currently the main cause ofCOPD and the chances of developingCOPD increases the longer an individualhas been smoking.

Since the preventive aspects of CKDand COPD already exist in NPCDCS, pro-viding facility for diagnosis and treatmentof CKD under NHM will especially helppeople by reducing their out of pocketexpenditure.

The Ministry hopes in 2016-17, 100districts can be taken up for supportinginfrastructure for CKD and COPD andsetting up dialysis units.

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Prior to a day before PrimeMinister Narendra Modi’s

inauguration of the third AsianTigers’ meet on Tuesday, WorldWildlife Fund and Global TigerForum on Monday said that thenumber of wild tigers hasincreased to 3,890 from the ear-lier figure of 3200.

While India has the high-est number of tigers at 2,226,Russia follows next with 433.Indonesia boasts of 371 tigersand Malaysia has 250. Nepal,Thailand, Bangladesh andBhutan have 198, 189, 106 and103 tigers respectively. Otherparticipant countries which

are also believed to have tigersare Myanmar, China and Laos.

This updated minimumfigure has been compiled fromthe data available InternationalUnion Of ConservationNetwork (IUCN) and the latestnational tiger surveys. This canbe attributed to multiple factorsincluding increases in tiger pop-ulations in India, Russia, Nepaland Bhutan, improved surveysand enhanced protection.

“For the first time afterdecades of constant decline,tiger numbers are on the rise.This offers us great hope andshows that we can save speciesand their habitats whenGovernments, local commu-nities and conservationistswork together,” said MarcoLambertini, Director General,WWF International.

During the meeting, thecountries will report on theirprogress toward the Tx2 goal(doubling big cat numbers inthe wild by 2022) and committo the next steps. PrimeMinister Modi will address theconference on the “essentialrole tigers play as a symbol ofa country’s ecological well-being”. The meeting will beattended by about 700 expertsfrom various Asian countries.

“A strong action plan forthe next six years is vital,” saidMichael Baltzer, Leader ofWWF Tx2 Tiger Initiative.“The global decline has beenhalted but there is still no safeplace for tigers. Southeast Asia,in particular, is at imminentrisk of losing its tigers if theseGovernments do not takeaction immediately.”

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Attacking the Congress forthe state of farmers in the

country, Union Minister NitinGadkari on Monday said theparty’s policies were responsi-ble for the situation leading topeasants’ suicide.

“Congress policies haveruined the farmers. It is becauseof their policies that farmers arebeing driven to commit sui-cide,” Gadkari told a farmers’conclave organised by BJP’sKisan cell.

The BJP leader said thefirst Government of Congress,formed under the leadership ofJawaharlal Nehru in 1947, hadraised hopes and aspirationsamong the people of the coun-try, but alleged that the resultsafter 68 years were “negative”.

“Congress’ policies haveruined our villages. If theCongress party had spent�70,000 crore, which was usedto buy aircraft, for makingwater available in villages, thenthere was no need to sendwater (to drought-hit areas) by

trains. There would have nosuicide by farmers,” he said.

The Minister said thefarmers in the country are suf-fering because of poor powerand road connectivity, lack ofjob opportunities and no pro-visions for school and hospitals,among other things.

The Minister highlightedvarious initiatives being takenby the BJP-led NDAGovernment, including creditfacility for farmers, providingpower in villages, connectingvillages with roads, increase inurea production and enhancingirrigation measures.

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New Delhi: The CPI(M) on Monday urged theElection Commission to take action against themisuse of State machinery by the TMCGovernment and inaction of the Centralforces. Submitting a memorandum detailingvarious incidents of violence across theState, CPI(M) central committee memberNiloptpal Basu said areas like PachimMidnapore, Bankura and Burdwan witnessedthe collapse of law and order orchestrated bythe TMC Government and re-poll was need-ed in such areas.

“One of the major reasons that these dis-turbances could take place is inactivity anddeliberate misuse of Central forces. Despiterepeated assurance from ECI, Central forceswere not used for area domination before thepolling day and were virtually kept idle duringthe polling. It is unfortunate that Central forces

failed to intervene even when violence andattacks occurred in their presence,” said thememorandum submitted by CPI(M) leaders’delegation led by Basu.

“However, what was most unacceptable wasthe attitude of the officials manning the elec-toral machinery. Despite repeated complaints,they were not responding; often switching offtheir mobile phones. There have been fewinstances where even central observers wouldnot be contacted. But the most monumentallapse was on the question of deployment anddisability of Central Forces for building confi-dence of the voters so that they could exercisetheir franchise in a free and fair manner. Thisis notwithstanding the consistent position of theECI that there will be adequate deployment andno miscreant will be able to disrupt the freeand fair polls,” it added.

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Once again in a violence-marred election hundreds

of booths were on Mondaylooted, scores of voters injured,houses set on fire while armed-to-teeth Trinamool Congresscadres went on a rampage inconstituency after constituen-cy rendering the second day ofthe first phase of Bengal pollsinto a farce of sorts.

Central forces mostlylooked the other way despitedesperate cries for help fromhapless villagers who dared toignore overnight threats fromthe ruling party and turned upat the polling booths to vote.

Notwithstanding sporadicviolence and bloodshed the31 seats spread across three dis-tricts of Burdwan, Bankuraand West Midnapore saw about74 per cent voting till 4 in theevening.

The amount of violencecould be fathomed from thevery fact that the office ofState Chief Electoral Officer got1,810 complaints — till 6 in theevening — as against 497 onthe first day.

Bombs were hurled atSonamukhi in Bankura thoughthe CEO office quoting thelocal SP said it were fire crack-ers burst to drive away ele-phants. However, ForestDepartment sources refusedto confirm such reports whencontacted by this newspaper.

Polling agents were drivenaway from booths in manybooths like Subhas Pally inDurgapur West seat — whereTrinamool goons raidedOpposition houses with gunsand bombs forcing the agentsto withdraw — Jamuria wherethe Trinamool goons clashedwith CPI(M) and BJP workers.In the clash 9 men were injuredand 4 went missing police said.

Curiously the CentralForces allegedly did nothingwhen former Trinamool MLAMd Sohrab entered a booth atJamuria from where his wifewas contesting. Sohrab couldnot file his nomination as hewas convicted of stealingRailway properties. He is cur-rently on bail.

At Saratpally in DurgapurEast seat polling agents weredriven out from booths num-

ber 149,150 and 151, sourcessaid.

The scene was no differentat Keshpur once a CPI(M)den. Here a woman pollingagent was turned out of thebooth under the threat of beingparaded naked.

“It was all farce in thename of polling” CPI(M)leader Biman Bose said addingat least 150 booths were cap-tured at Keshpur, 7 boothswere captured at Garbeta 13booths at Kotulpur in Bankura.Booths were also captured atJamuria, Ghatal, Barabani,Kulti, Pandaveshwar and otherplaces, he maintained.

“The Central Forces donot seem to be under the con-trol of the ECI. It seems thereis some foul play. Now if thepeople directly come out on thestreets to preserve their rightsthe whole Army will be not ableto do anything” CPI(M) leaderChayan Mukherjee said addingthe apparent nexus between theTMC and the Centre is push-ing the people to a corner and“there will be an upheaval.”

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Over one crore people onMonday sealed the fates of

525 candidates during the sec-ond and last phase of polling inAssam on Monday, whichrecorded over 82 percentpolling in 61 constituencies,even as the polling was markedby stray incidents of violence,leading to death of one personand injury of some others.

The polling for the secondphase started on a high notewith people from differentwalks of life coming out in largenumbers and forming queuesbefore their respective pollingstation since early morning.The polling was held across12,999 polling stations underthe 61 constituencies.

“We have recorded 81 per-cent of polling till 5 pm.However, the polling percentageis likely to increase till 85 per-cent as we are still receivingreports from some of the pollingstations,” said Additional CEO,Assam Nitin Khade.

Khade admitted about theincidents of violence and saidthat the CRPF personneldeployed at a polling stationunder Barpeta road police sta-tion resorted to lathi charge tocontrol a mob leading to injuryof several persons. “One of theinjured later died in the hospi-

tal. We are waiting for adetailed report from theDeputy Commissioner, Barpetain this regard,” Khade said.

He said that a total of 191EVMs have been replaced indifferent places due to techni-cal problems.

Similar incidents also tookplace at some other placeincluding one at a polling sta-tion at Nagarbera under Bokoconstituency where the securi-ty personnel had to resort toblank firing to control a situa-tion. No one was, however,injured during the incident.

Former Prime MinisterManmohan Singh also cast hisvote at the polling station atDispur Government HighSchool. “I think the people ofAssam will reward the Congressfor the good work it had donefor the state in last 15 years,”Singh told to waiting journal-ists after casting his vote.

Singh’s wife, GurcharanKaur, however, did not vote onMonday.

Assam Chief MinisterTarun Gogoi on Monday organ-ised a Press conference at a hotelin Guwahati, which drew the ireof the Election Commission forviolation of model code of con-duct. The Commission laterurged the news channels andprint media not to re-telecast thePress conference.

Gogoi said that large vot-ers’ turnout in the AssemblyElection in Assam is a goodsign of democracy and addedthat the large scale participationis an indicative of the people’sinterests for shaping their owndestiny, which is one of thetenets of healthy democracy.

Gogoi also attributed thelarge turnout to a sound andchanged academic atmosphereand development of educationscenario in the State during thelast 15 years.

Meanwhile, the Assam BJPslammed the Chief Minister

Tarun Gogoi for organising aPress conference on Mondayviolating the instruction of theElection Commission of India.

“At a time when the ChiefMinister should have becomea role model for the people formaintaining discipline and fol-lowing the model code of con-duct, the Chief Minister open-ly violated the model code ofconduct by organising the Pressconference,” said Assam BJPpresident Sarbananda Sonowal.

Sonowal thanked the peo-ple of Assam for coming out inlarge number to vote and said

that the people of Assam havevoted for a change and the peo-ple’s participation in such hugenumbers is a testimony to that.

It may be mentioned herethat there are 525 candidatesincluding 48 women in the frayin the second phase of polls inAssam. The polling was heldacross 12,999 polling stations.The first phase of polls were heldin Assam for 65 constituencieson April 4 and it recorded 83.20percent of polling.

The counting of votes forthe total of 126 constituencies inAssam will be held on May 19.

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Continuing its winningspree in Telangana the rul-

ing Telangana Rashtra Samitihas bagged the SiddipetMunicipality albeit with lessthan expected margin.

The party bagged 22 of the34 seats in the civic body con-ceding most of the remainingseats to its own rebels.

While two seats were eachshared by the OppositionCongress and the BJP, MIMopened its account by winningone seat. Of the seven victori-ous independents, six wereTRS rebels and one was TDPrebel. The TDP drew a blank.

Siddipet in Chief MinisterK Chandrasekhar Rao’s homedistrict Medak is seen as thepocket borough of irrigationMinister T Harish Rao. He hadcampaigned single handedlyfor the party. Party’s failure torecord a clean sweep likeAchampet Municipality inMehbubnagar district recentlywas seen as a setback for HarishRao.

TRS had won 6 seats unan-imously even before the voteswere polled and in today’scounting the party bagged 16more.

Thanking the people ofSiddipet for reposing theirfaith in the party Harish Raoassured them that he wouldstrive hard to fulfill all the

promises. Assuring that allthe pending and new fundswill be pumped in to thetown, he urged the newlyelected members to work hardfor its development.

“Siddipet will be devel-oped in to a model in accor-dance with the aspirations ofthe people”, Rao said addingthat in future also TRS will winevery election in Siddipet.

TRS has registered a seriesof impressive electoral victoriesin the recent month by win-ning the municipal corpora-tions of Hyderabad, Warangaland Khamma, and Achampetmunicipal council,Narayankhed Assembly andWarangal Lok Sabha seat.

Meanwhile Chief MinisterK Chandrasekhar Rao haswarned the elected representa-tives that if they don’t work tofulfill the aspirations of the peo-

ple, they will pelt stones atthem.

“If people have faith in youthey will carry you on theirheads. Otherwise they will hityou with stones”, he said whileinaugurating a training campfor the newly elected membersof Greater HyderabadMunicipal Corporation.

He urged the members tomake only practical promisesand say only what they canimplement. “If you work sin-cerely the results will be amaz-ing”, KCR said.

On double bed roomhouse scheme for the poor theChief Minister said that thepeople were submitting hun-dreds of thousands of applica-tions for the houses as theyhave confidence in theGovernment. He directed theofficials to identify the land forconstructing these buildings.

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It is a season of revolts andrebellion in Tamil Nadu. The

State which saw revolts in theDMDK and the TMC over theleadership’s decision to alignwith the PWF is witnessing arebellion with a difference.Five members of the high-power governing council ofKalakshetra Foundation inChennai under the Ministry ofCulture have revolted againstthe management’s decision tocancel the appointment of acandidate belonging to thebackward community asdeputy director and to bring ina person suggested by a topauthority of the Foundation.

The move by the

Kalakshetra Foundation torevoke the appointment of MSankaranarayanan, a backwardcommunity candidate asdeputy director and to appointa person belonging to the high-er caste is expected to put theUnion Government in thedefensive in days to come.

Sankaranarayanan, anexperienced and honest officialof the Tamil Nadu Governmentwho was selected for appoint-ment as the deputy director ofKalakshetra by the institution’spromotion/selection commit-tee, finds himself in a no-man’s land as the Kalakshetracancelled the appointment afterissuing the letter of appoint-ment. Sankaranarayanan hadsubmitted his applicationthrough his employers, the

department of tourism, cultureand religious endowment,Government of Tamil Nadu.

The selection committeeheaded by Pankaj Raj, joint sec-retary in the Ministry of cul-ture, which interviewedSankaranar-ayanan found himideal for the post of deputydirector in Kalakshetra. “ThePromotion-/selection commit-tee found MrSankaranarayanan fit to betaken on deputation for thepost of deputy director,Kalakshetra Foundation andrecommended his selection forthe post of deputy director,Kalakshetra Founda-tion ondeputation for a period ofthree years,” said the proceed-ings of the departmental pro-motion/selection committee

which was held on July 23,2015, a copy of which is withthe Pioneer.

Sankaranarayanan, whoreceived the appointmentorder, got himself relieved fromthe parent department andreached Kalakshetra to reportfor duty. By that time,Priyadarshini Govind, directorof Kalakshetra Foundation,who was also a member of thecommittee which selectedSankaranarayanan, got hisappointment cancelled and ini-tiated a move to appoint a per-son suggested by the “topauthority” of the Kalakshetra.

Another committee head-ed by Sanjiv Mittal, joint sec-retary, Ministry of culture, wasconstituted for selecting theperson as desired by the “top

authority” and it appointed VSrinivasa-raghavan, an undersecretary, department of per-sonnel and training, as deputydirector. Strangely, Sankarana-rayana who was selected in theinterview held in 2015 did notfind place in the list of candi-dates invited by the Kalakshetrafor the second interview.

The Madras High Courthas come to the help ofSankaranarayanan whoapproa-ched it with his griev-ances. Justice T Raja, in hisorder while hearing a petitionsubmitted by Sankaranar-ayanan last week has stayedthe impugned notificationpublished in the employmentnews calling for fresh applica-tion for the post of deputydirector.

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In a bid to cash in on the pop-ularity of 22-year-old jailed

icon of Patidar reservationmovement Hardik Patel, aGujrati film producer hasdecided to make a biographi-cal film on him.

The film ‘Power of Patidar’will be produced by Surat-based Dipak Soni which wouldfocus on the Patidar AnamatAndolan Samiti (PAAS) con-vener Hardik’s meteoric rise inpublic life. The film-maker ishopeful that the film on a cur-rent hot topic would bringlarge number of people to cin-ema halls.

Generally Gujarati filmsdo not attract audiences inurban areas. Hence most of thefilm producers opt to makefilms of rural background hav-ing folklore as theme. HoweverSoni feels that Patel’s popular-ity and his fan following wouldattract rural as well as urbanaudience across the State.

Recently couple of Gujaratifilms on urban backgroundhave become hit. This fact hasalso encouraged Soni to pro-duce a film on PAAS conven-er. According to him the filmwould cost him nearly 1 crore.He and his team could findartists looking a like Hardikand his close aide.

These artists have put in lotsof efforts to depict real lifestory on silver screen. They havegone through lots of videofootage, held meeting withPatel’s family members to knowabout him and his friendsinvolved in movement forPatidars who are demandingreservation for Patels in educa-tional institute and governmentjobs under OBC category.

Sources in Soni’s produc-tion team said that artists wereworking hard and studying

minutely on Hardik’s walkingstyle, his dialect and otherimportant points.

The biopic which hasalready gone on floor afterHardik’s father Bharat Patelgave clap for muhurt shotwould cover everything rightfrom his childhood to his entryinto public life, his days in jailand entry of a girl in form of hisfiancée. In order to dramatisethe story, the maker of the filmhas also created love triangletoo!!

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Areport on Patidar reserva-tion will be handed over

by a committee of seniorMinisters to Gujarat ChiefMinister Anandiben Patel onTuesday. The committee wasset up to look into thedemands of the Patidar com-munity for reservation in edu-cational institutions andGovernment jobs under OBCcategory. Senior Minister andState Government spokesmanNitin Patel said the GujaratCM would take a final decisionafter studying the report. Thecommittee headed by Patel

himself will meet the CM anddiscuss the report. Theannouncement comes at a timewhen Patel reservation bodySardar Patel Group (SPG),which worked together withjailed Patel leader Hardik Patelof PAAS, has announced tostart the second round of agi-tation if their demands are notmet by April 17. SPG conven-er Lalji Patel has threatened tolaunch a ‘Jail Bharo’ agitationif the Government does notaccept their demands, whichwere handed over to the ChiefMinister last month.

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Prime Minister NarendraModi, the star campaigner

of the BJP will address electionrallies in Tamil Nadu in thefirst week of May, according toTamilissai Sounderarajan,president, Tamil Nadu BJP.Speaking to reporters atChennai on Monday, the StateBJP chief said all top leaders ofthe BJP would campaign inTamil Nadu in the comingdays. A senior BJP leader inTamil Nadu, SV Sekhar hadrequested Prime MinisterModi and party chief AmitShah not to campaign in TamilNadu as the party was facinginfighting and groupism.

“The BJP is gettingstronger by the day and peoplein Tamil Nadu want it to rulethe State,” said Sounderarajanwho is contesting the electionfrom Virugambakkam, aChennai suburb.

The party’s propagandawill begin on Wednesday fromTiruchirappallai with partychief Amit Shah launchingthe State-wide campaign. TheBJP is yet to announce the fulllist of candidates as well asdetails about the alliance part-ners. Though Soundararajanhad announced that the detailsabout allies would be

announced by the last week ofMarch, the announcementcontinues to be elusive. “Wehave completed talks with ouralliance partners. Identificationof constituencies is on. Anannouncement about thealliance partners and con-stituencies would be made atthe appropriate time,” she said.

Meanwhile, the TamilManila Congress rebels whooppose the party’s decision toalign with the PWF has start-ed their way back to theCongress, the parent body.On Monday former TMCMLA Vellore Munirathnamand his followers went toTNCC headquarters wherethey were received by partychief EVKS Elangovan.

Prominent TMC leaderslike S R Balasubramanian andPeter Alphonse would jointhe Congress in the comingdays, according to a seniorTNCC functionary. Both theDMDK and the TMC are fac-ing revolt and disintegrationfollowing the move by therespective leadership to alignwith the PWF.

Tamilissai sounderarajansaid the DMDK chief wouldnot have faced this situationhad he opted for an alliancewith the BJP. “It looks like it isnot advisable for any party toalign with the PWF,” she said.

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As the reality of suicides by farmers across thecountry has hit the headlines due to vari-

ous reasons, farmers groups in the country havedemanded a permanent sustainable package likepay commissions for the six crore farmers in thecountry. Farmer’s unification force across thecountry and food and agricultural policy ana-lyst Devinder Sharma demanded an immediatebailout package of �3 lakh crore to farmers asan emergent step to overcome the ongoing agrar-ian crisis. He told a group of select journalistsin Bengaluru on Monday that the Governmentmust withhold the Seventh Pay Commissionuntil a permanent package is announced tofarmers. He said, “We demand a permanentpackage of �3 lakh crore for farmers as an emer-gent step in view of the agrarian crisis. We wantthe Government to put an hold implementation

of the Seventh Pay Commission for Centralemployees till an Income Commission isannounced to help the distressed farmers”.

“Giving money in the hands of farmers isthe best way to boost growth”, adding, it wouldhave a cascading effect giving fillip to job cre-ation and growth in industrial and other sectors.

Sharma further said implementation of theSeventh Pay Commission is expected to boostGDP by 1.9 per cent but if the same amount of�3 lakh crore is funnelled into the farming com-munity, it would boost GDP growth up to 15 percent. According to him, the bailout should givedirect income support to farmers with themoney transferred into their “Jan Dhan”accounts. He said Government employees weregetting 108 types of allowances, whereas just fourof them including DA, HRA, education andmedical allowances to farmers would bring inchanges in their lives.

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Bihar Chief Minister NitishKumar who on Sunday

was elevated to the post of thenational president of JD(U)said his assuming party’s postwould not affect governancein Bihar. “I have a hugeresponsibility of runningBihar and that will remain myfirst priority. Party’s post willnot hinder in fulfilling thatresponsibility,” he said here onMonday on the sidelines of hisjanata darbar programme.

He said the big mandatethe Maha gathbandhanreceived in the 2015 Assemblyelection is more important.“People have expressed theirconfidence and I will do noth-ing to shatter that confidence,”he added.

Nitish said on earlieroccasions too he briefly hadheld posts in the organisation

but always involved in organ-isational works in differentcapacities. Now, he said, a sit-uation came when the partymen asked him to take up thisresponsibility. He said SharadYadav himself decided not toseek third term of the partychief. In 2013 the party con-stitution was amended tomake way for Yadav tobecome president for thirdterm but this time he wasagainst amending the consti-tution and decided to demitoffice before the completion ofhis term. “He will remain inthe active politics and remainour most respected leader,” theCM added.

The new JD(U) chiefwhile reacting to critical com-ments by leaders ofOpposition parties said hisassuming the office was pure-ly an internal party matter andthere was no need to seemuch in this move. Asked ifhe was aiming to be PM can-didate in 2019, Nitish said hewas not a claimant. “If othersthink I have ability and cre-dentials (to become PM can-didate) it is up to them and I

have nothing to say. I am moreinterested to fulfill the respon-sibilities people of Bihar havegiven to me,” he clarified.

About the proposed merg-er of two parties Rashtriya LokDal and Jharkhand VikasManch in JD(U), Nitish saidthere was constant efforts tounite the anti-BJP forces after2014 Lok Sabha polls though

one such attempt prior toBihar polls did not succeed.He said more important wasproper strategies, mutualunderstanding and electoralalliance. “So far nothing isclear (on merger) but optionsare open and there are manyoptions,” he said. About theSamajwadi Party leaderMulayam Singh Yadav, Nitish

said his party and others hadaccepted him as leader of theJanata Parivar but “two handsare needed for clapping. Ouroptions are still open but theaim is the same: to defeat BJP.”

The CM pooh-poohed theapprehension that with histotal prohibition policy hos-pitality and tourism industrywould be adversely affected inBihar. “The tourists, both for-eigners and national, do notcome here to drink. Most ofthem are religious touristswhether Buddhists or Hindus.The tourists with an aim tocome here for boozing shouldbetter not come. MyGovernment in one strokeforego an income of �5,000crore and will not care for lossof �2, 4 or 10 crores. We havetaken this decision by takingcare of all aspects and there isno question of going back.Today a similar atmosphere isin making in the country andthe parties in Tamil Naduhave also favoured prohibi-tion. The day is not far whenour neighbours will also suc-cumb to public pressure,”Nitish said firmly.

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Agoods wagon train, carry-ing 5.4 lakh litres of drink-

ing water, departed on a trialrun from Miraj in westernMaharashtra to parched Laturtown in Marathwada onMonday morning. The train isexpected to reach Latur in theearly hours of Tuesday.

The goods train, carrying10 wagons with capacity of54,000 litres of water, left Mirajat 11.10 am and is expected to18 to 19 hours to reach Latur,which is 342 km away from therailway junction town in west-ern Maharashtra. “We expectthe water train to reach Laturby 6 am tomorrow,” LaturDistrict Collector PandurangPole said in the evening.

In the normal course, thegoods wagon was to carry 50wagons of water from Miraj toLatur on eech trip. However,with infrastructure not readyand adequate water having notbeen pumped into the wagonsof the goods train that arrivedat Miraj on Sunday, the author-ities decided to send the trainon a trial run to Latur with just

10 wagons on Monday.The first of the empty

goods trains consisting of 50tank wagons arrived at Mirajfrom Kota in Raja on Sunday.The second such wagon trainwill arrive in Miraj from Kotaon April 15.

Official sources said thatthe first of the two goodstrain, carrying 50 wagons ofdrinking water, will leave forLatur on a regular trip on April17, while the second wagontrain will head to Latur twodays later.

“We are working on a war-footing to ready the infra-structure to facilitate trans-portation of 25 litres of waterin each of the two goods trains.There will in all be two suchtrips in three days from nextweek onwards,” a seniorRevenue Ministry official said.

The drinking water meantfor transportation to Latur isbeing drawn from a drinkingwater plant located on thebank of Krishna river, 5 kmaway from Miraj railway sta-tion. Though the authoritieswere initially planning to filterthe water drawn Krishna riverat Miraj itself, they have now

decided to take the water as itis to Latur to save on time.Through a pipeline, the wateris now being directly pumpedinto to the railway wagonsstationed on platform numbersix of the Miraj railway station.

Once the train reachesLatur, water will be taken by apipeline and poured into ahuge well with a capacity of 25lakh litres – located on a near-by agricultural field. From thewell, water will be taken to anearby filtration plant before itis distributed among the resi-dents of Latur town, which isfacing an unprecedenteddrinking water shortage.

Such has been severity ofthe drinking water shortage inLatur town that the districtauthorities have imposed anorder prohibiting the gatheringof more than five persons inareas around 20 water storagetanks and other sources untilMay 31, as a precautionarymeasure to ensure against anypossible violence over water.The notified water sourcesinclude all tanker-filling points,public wells, tanker-plyingroutes and storage tanks in thedistrict.

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Chairing her first Cabinetmeeting Jammu & Kashmir

Chief Minister Mehbooba MuftiMonday accorded sanction tothe creation of four WomenPolice stations, one each in dis-trict Anantnag, Baramulla,Rajouri and Udhampur toensure that women affected byviolence have an enabling Policesystem empathetic towards theirgrievances.

The first woman ChiefMinister also sanctioned cre-ation of 208 posts for these fourWomen Police Stations i.e 52posts for each Women PoliceStation.

The meeting was attendedby Deputy Chief MinisterNirmal Singh and all otherCabinet Ministers of BJP andPDP. Sajjad Lone of PeoplesConference, unhappy over allo-cation of portfolio however,skipped the meeting raisingspeculations over his status asthere was no official confirma-tion whether Chief Minister has

accepted his resignation or not. At present only two

Women Police Stations arefunctional one each at Srinagarand Jammu exclusively run bywomen police officers/staff.Besides four Women Cells arefunctioning, one each at districtAnantnag, Baramulla, Rajouriand Udhampur on internalarrangement basis.

Meanwhile, the StateCabinet also decided to requestthe Governor to summon andaddress the joint session of theState Legislature on Wednesday,25th May 2016 at 11 am atSrinagar in terms of section 53of the constitution of J&K.

To mitigate financial diffi-culties faced by Old

Pensioners/Family Pensioners,Mehbooba Mufti sanctionedadditional Pension for theirwelfare.

Additional Pension will beextended to the oldPensioners/family Pensionerson attaining the age of 80, 85,90, 95 and 100 years and shallbe payable from the 1st of themonth in which the pension-er attains the prescribed age.This additional Pension shall bepaid after the pensioner com-pletes the age of 80 years, 85years etc.

Earlier in the dayMehbooba Mufti also chaired aseparate meeting of adminis-trative secretaries to assess theprogress achieved on the com-mitments made by late MuftiMohammad Sayeed on severaldevelopment projects when hewas the Chief Minister of thestate. Over half a dozen IAS offi-cers were also transferred by thestate cabinet. Finance SecretaryNavin Choudhary has beenappointed Principal Secretary inthe office of Chief Minister.

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Admitting that the Congressmay have erred in allowing

multiple casinos to set up shopin Goa, State president of theparty Luizinho Faleiro onMonday said that Goa’s repu-tation as a sin city of the coun-try was thanks to prolific casi-no operations as well as ram-pant prostitution.

Faleiro also said that withthe mining sector still not fullyoperational, the State wasfloundering as far as its econ-omy was concerned.

“Goa is now India’s sincity thanks to its casino indus-try. Tourists are coming toGoa because of casinos, at least

that is what the Governmentseems to be saying. With casi-nos there is also rampant pros-titution which makes the sincity tag complete,” Faleiro said,while also admitting that theerstwhile CongressGovernment may have erred ingranting multiple casinos the

licence to operate in the State. Faleiro also said that the

State had to get rid of the sincity tag, which was bringingdisrepute to Goa.

“Goa has so much more tooffer tourists in terms of ourheritage and culture. Insteadwhat we are offering tourists

today is only casinos, prostitu-tion and drugs,” Faleiro said.

As of today, Goa, a topbeach and nightlife tourismdestination in the country, hasfour operational offshore casi-nos run by two corporate hous-es, — the Deltin Group as wellas the Pride Group, besides sev-eral other casinos that functionwithin five star in the hotels inthe State. Incidentally, Goa isone of the very few states inIndia, where live casino gam-bling is legal. Unofficial esti-mates suggest that the casinoindustry generates a turn overof nearly �2,000 chore andcontributes over �120 crore tothe government kitty in form ofdirect taxes and licence fees.

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The Rashtriya SwayamsevakSangh (RSS) chief Mohan

Bhagwat said at a function inAhmedabad that the influenceof RSS has increased signifi-cantly across the globe.

Addressing a large gather-ing of RSS cadre at GujaratUniversity ground the RSSSarsanghchalak further saidthat most important develop-ment is people’s faith in RSS hasincreased and in order to main-tain it every swayamsevak (vol-unteer) of the organisationneed to mind his behaviour.

The function organised tomark Hindu New Year(Pratipada Utsav) on Sundayevening was attended by seniorMinisters of GujaratGovernment, State BJP func-tionaries and former Gujaratcadre IPS DG Vanzara.According to Bhagwat incul-cating nationalism among theIndians would make the nation

‘Vishwa Guru’ (World Leader). He categorically said that

there is only on slogan of RSS– Bharat Mata Ki Jai and itshould be chanted across theglobe. “Hindus believe inVasudhaiva Kutumbakam (theworld is one family) since ages.Now world leaders are talkingon the same line. Howeverwhen we say it is Hindu ideol-ogy, everybody turned theirfaces,” he said, adding that theright wing organisation’snationalism is not against anyone.

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JJayalalithaa, the AIADMK supremo, hit thecampaign trail on Monday for the May 16

Assembly election with a new battle cry.“Makkalal Njan; Makkalukkaka Njan” is the warcry of Amma, as she is addressed by the cadre.It is the Tamil for “I am of the people and I amfor the people”. More than fifty thousand peo-ple who had gathered at Virudachalam, 230 kmsouth of Chennai, in spite of the scorching heatwent berserk when she began her speech byaddressing them as ‘my brothers and sisters whoare the blood of my blood and the life of my life’.

Though there were many rumours aboutJayalalithaa’s health, she looks as cheerful as ever.The only difference this time is she addresses therallies sitting on a chair. The AIADMK supre-mo travelled from Chennai to Virudachalam byhelicopter and from the helipad she used herfavourite caravan to reach the venue of the pub-lic meeting. In the one hour long speech, sherecounted the development works completedduring the last five years. “I promise only thingswhich I could do. And Ill do whatever Ipromise,” thundered Jayalalithaa as the crowdwent into a State of frenzy as she chose her words.

The Amma took no time to establish a sen-timental link with the audience as she describedherself as the mother of all Tamil people. “Amother is one who knows what are the needsof her children. It is for the mother to showerthe children with whatever they need even with-out they asking for it. I have given you whatev-er I promised. I also gave you whatever I didnot promise,” said Jayalalithaa.

She listed the Amma Hotels, Amma miner-

al water, Amma salt, Amma Pharmacy, Ammamedical schemes, which were offered as surprisegifts to the people of Tamil Nadu. Jayalalithaa wasat her best while criticising her eternal rivalKarunanidhi for his stance on various issuesincluding prohibition. She scoffed at criticism bysome of the BJP Ministers at the centre and DMKleaders that she was inaccessible for discussions.

Jayalalithaa introduced the 13 candidatescontesting from the district of Cuddalore.”It isspring time in Tamil Nadu since 2011. Youshould ensure the continuation of this springtime by voting for the AIADMK,” Jayalalithaatold the audience.

RV Giri, president, Consortium of IndianFarmers Association, who listened toJayalalithaa’s speech said the public seemed unin-terested in the claims by the AIADMK leader.“The party is yet to release the election mani-festo. Then only we can tell something about thedirection in which the wind is blowing,” saidGiri. He described the DMK manifesto as dulland drab. “It is not at all inspiring and there isnothing new in it for the farming communityother than some age-old promises,” said Giri.

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Page 8: 0 1˘23 *+&,&*,- .*/0 ˚% G5!B! 05˛˙B5 5 !6/7 B &! %!6 %760 ... people from Odisha have been awarded the ... impact the future of lakhs of ... Adarsh K Goel, and R Banumathi,

Once again anotherround of elections isupon us, and whenthe results from thesefour States and one

Union Territory — Kerala, TamilNadu, West Bengal, Assam andPuducherry — come in, there willbe an overdose of analysis on theimplications of these results for thetwo main national parties and theprincipal regional outfits in the fray.

It is now well established thatthe voters in each State make aclear distinction between a parlia-mentary and State Assembly elec-tion and vary their preferencesaccording to their assessment ofthe performance of a party at thenational or regional level.

For example, the voters inKarnataka voted out the BharatiyaJanata Party in the State Assemblyelection in 2013, but gave the partya massive mandate in the 2014 LokSabha poll. Almost the reverse ofthis happened in Delhi and Bihar,where the people voted whole-heartedly for a Narendra ModiGovernment at the Centre in2014, but opted for Governmentsheaded by Arvind Kejriwal andNitish Kumar respectively in theirStates later.

In other words, State-levelfactors determine the outcome ofState Assembly polls. Yet, there isno running away from the fact thatthese frequent electoral bouts insome part of the country or theother every year, tends to under-mine the confidence of those whorun the Union Government andalso adversely affect governance.

This is true for those who headthe Governments in the States aswell. Although a Chief Minister hasa clear mandate to govern the statefor five years, if his party doespoorly in a Lok Sabha poll mid-way through his term (NitishKumar, Bihar; Akhilesh Yadav,Uttar Pradesh; Tarun Gogoi,Assam; in 2014), they will be at thereceiving end of many taunts andbarbs from all and sundry and dis-sidents will spring up from manycorners in the party’s headquarters.All this is bound to sap the ener-gy of those voted to office either atthe Centre or the States.

Governance also takes a hitbecause the moment the ElectionCommission announces the pollschedule, the Model Code ofConduct kicks in and virtually putsthe lid on development. The codeprohibits both the Union andState Governments from launch-ing new schemes or projects in theelection-bound States until the dec-laration of results. This bringsadministration in these States to a

halt for at least three months. Coming back to the present

round of elections, the BJP, whichis the ruling party at the Centre, hasmuch to gain and little to lose inthis round because it has neverbeen in power in any of theseStates. Yet, if the party does not dowell, its opponents will declare that“the Modi magic has evaporated”!

This is the burden that anincumbent Government at the fed-eral level has to carry, every time aState goes to polls. Opinion pollssuggest that the BJP is a serious con-tender for power in Assam and thatit could dislodge the Congress. If thishappens, it would be a major break-through for the party in the north-eastern region of the country.

The party has also improved itsvote share in some of these Statesin recent years as it has in Keralaand West Bengal, where it sudden-ly became a party to reckon with in2014 when it secured 10.50 and 17per cent of the votes respectively.

On the other hand, there ismuch at stake for the Congress inthese elections. It is engaged in abitter fight for retention of powerin the two big States in its fold —Kerala and Assam — and the tid-ings from both States are not toorosy for the party at the moment.In Kerala, opinion polls put the LeftFront ahead of the incumbentCongress-led coalition. Also, inter-nal squabbles and scandals have

done much damage to the party’simage in the State and it does nothave a credible national leader toretrieve lost ground.

In Assam, incumbentCongress Chief Minister TarunGogoi is fighting with his back tothe wall. Should the party sufferelectoral setbacks in these States,it will alter the country’s internalpolitical geography much to thedisadvantage of the Congress.

Among the other States whereelections are on, is West Bengal.Here, the Congress has, in a sense,already conceded defeat by decid-ing to strike an alliance with its bit-ter rival of 50 years — the LeftFront! Those who have followedthe politics of West Bengal overthe last half a century could neverhave imagined that a day wouldcome when the Congress wouldteam up with the Marxists to fighta common enemy.

This came about after the vot-ers gave both the Congress andthe Marxists some shock treat-ment in 2014. The Congresssecured just 9.69 per cent and wonfour of the 42 seats. The Left Frontwas decimated. Though it hadaround 30 per cent of the vote, itwon just two seats. On the otherhand, the BJP registered a strongpresence in the State securing 17per cent of the votes and two seats.The Trinamool Congress was thebig winner securing 40 per cent

of the vote and 34 seats.The outcome of this poll

appears to have forced a re-thinkboth in the Congress and the LeftFront. They now have an electoralalliance in most of the seats inorder to aggregate their strengthsand offer a worthwhile challengeto the Trinamool Congress. Whilethe compulsions of the Left partiesare obvious, it is indeed sad to seethe mighty Congress clutching atstraws after its dismal showing inthe last Lok Sabha election.Incidentally, the two have gottogether in this State to save the“secular fabric”. If this be so, thenwant conclusions do we drawfrom the battle that is on in Keralabetween the two?

In Tamil Nadu, the Congresshas never been able to stage a comeback after the Dravida MunnetraKazhagam gave it a knock outpunch in 1967. Since then the partyhas been riding piggy back on oneor other of the Dravida parties.

Whatever the outcome, thisround of elections reminds us ofthe vicious cycle of elections thatwe are trapped in. We must lay theblame for this at the door ofIndira Gandhi, who was responsi-ble for ending the system of simul-taneous elections to the Lok Sabhaand all State Assemblies when shecalled a snap Lok Sabha poll in1971. Can we put Humpty-Dumpty together again? 0

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Sir — This refers to the article, “Thejihadi-military trap India mustn’tfall into” (April 11) by Balbir Punj.Christine Fair’s book, Fighting to theEnd: The Pakistan Army’s Way ofWar, is a must-read for all Indiansin general and those in the securi-ty establishment in particular. Let’sforget about co-existing peaceful-ly with Islamic Pakistan.

H BalakrishnanVia web

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Sir — This refers to the article,“The jihadi-military trap Indiamustn’t fall into” (April 11) byBalbir Punj. Why is India bent onbeing friendly with Pakistanwhen there is no reciprocation?India needs to improve its bordersecurity and intelligence so thatthe enemy is tackled before it putsits foot on Indian soil.

SohanVia web

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Sir — This refers to the article,“Pakistan is not the core of India’sforeign policy” (April 9) by Ashok

Malik. The writer should havesuggested some policy options.The fact is that the, despite beingin office for close to two years, theNarendra Modi Governmentappears to be confused on foreignpolicy options regarding Pakistan.

OP GuptaVia web

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Sir — This refers to the article,“Pakistan is not the core of India’sforeign policy” (April 9) by AshokMalik. The problem with India’sneighbourhood policy is hegemo-ny. As a result, New Delhi has lostthe goodwill of its neighbours, notjust Pakistan. There must bethorough soul-searching in Indiain this regard.

India first must be honest toitself about its avowed friendshipand goodwill towards its neigh-bours. The resolution of thedecades-long Kashmir problemwill be the litmus test in thisregard. Then, all problems of mis-trust will disappear.

Also, it’s silly for India toblame neighbours such as China.The ball squarely remains in thecourt of New Delhi and its blink-ered foreign policy mandarins.

Bihari Krishna Via web

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Sir — This refers to the editorial,“Unjustified consideration” (April9). Indians can set back the Chineseeconomy by not buying cheap andpoor quality Chinese goods. Afterall, measures to block Chinesegoods in India may not be legal.

Rajendra Vora Via web

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Sir — This refers to the article,“Imagine a fatwa against Rafi”(April 8) by Rajesh Singh.Mohammed Rafi deserves thecountry’s highest civilian award, theBharat Ratna. He was a fine man.

One of his sons, Shahid Rafi,has unwisely dragged down hisfather’s memory by joining theCongress and issuing statementsabout so-called intolerance in thecountry. Rafi fans, whose numberruns into millions, will appeal tohim to desist from such remarks, atleast out of regard for his father, whoremains a legend and a titan lovedby people from all communities.

S KumarVia web

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The greatest threats topublic health are far fromshocking or contagious.

They are familiar and com-mon. Globally, non-communi-cable diseases such as cancer,hypertension and asthmaaccount for 38 million deathsper year. Of these diseases, dia-betes — a condition that resultsfrom excess bodyweight andphysical inactivity — is expect-ed to increase rapidly tobecome the world’s seventh-largest killer by 2030.

Though this seldom makesheadlines, and is as confrontingto our vanity as it is our health,the implications are alarming.By preventing and managingdiabetes, we can, however,chart a different reality.

In the World HealthOrganisation South-East AsiaRegion, the stakes are particu-larly high. Here, diabetes,which can cause serious dam-age to every major organ sys-

tem in the body, resulting inheart attacks, strokes, kidneydisease and nerve damage, is amajor public health issue.

More than one out of everyfour diabetes-related deathglobally occurs in this region,while its prevalence exacer-bates difficulties in the controlof major infectious diseasessuch as tuberculosis. ThoughType 1 diabetes is thought to becaused by genetic or environ-mental factors, Type 2, or ‘adult-onset’ diabetes, is primarily theconsequence of lifestyle fac-tors. Type 2 diabetes accountsfor 90 per cent of all cases.

The negative by-products ofthe region’s vast social and eco-nomic changes are culpable.Sedentary lifestyles coupled withsugary, salty and fatty diets thatare rich in starchy carbohydrates— including those from whiterice and refined flours — are dri-ving the epidemic, which pri-marily affects those who are in

their productive prime. Rather than being a disease

solely of the middle classes ofhigh-income countries, as isoften imagined, diabetes affectsall classes and countries, lead-ing to adverse economic con-sequences in the developingworld. Diabetes not only affectsa person’s ability to work, butalso limits the economy by cre-ating an unhealthy workforcewhile consuming limitedhealth budget resources.

There are individual stepsthat we must all take. Eatinghealthy and avoiding sugarydrinks is a good place to start,and can be done by taking sim-ple measures such as avoidingfatty snacks that are rich in calo-ries but offer little by way ofnutrition, choosing beverageswithout sugar and opting forwater instead of a fizzy drink.

Vegetables, fruits andfoods, high in complex carbo-hydrates, provide the fibre and

nutrients necessary for taxingwork schedules, while waterrather than fizzy drinks aidshydration and helps avoidunnecessary calories.

Controlling portion sizes isalso important. This can beachieved by better understand-ing the needs of our bodies andthe caloric density of the foodswe eat, as well as revising howwe should feel when we are‘full’. Instead of portion-sizesthat match the size of ourplates, they should match ourenergy needs.

Committing to regularexercise is also necessary.Adults aged 18-64 should do 30minutes of moderate-intensityaerobic activity at least fivetimes a week. This does nothave to be a regimentedprocess. Swimming, hiking,playing football or dancing, forexample, are all great for aer-obic fitness, and are bestenjoyed in the company of oth-

ers. For those with children,family-based activities are anexcellent way to get exerciseand promote healthy habits inkids. Also, simple changes inhabit, such as taking the stairsor walking to work, can helpmitigate the risk of diabetes.

Still, preventing the diseaserequires much more than indi-vidual action: It requires soci-ety-wide awareness and behav-ioural change. Communitygroups, such as those manag-ing school or office canteens,can facilitate positive decision-making by offering healthymeal options. Schools andworkplaces can similarly pro-mote exercise by factoringphysical activity in to the work-day and providing theresources to facilitate it. Theymay also organise social sport-ing competitions and events.

Governments, meanwhile,should work with consumergroups and the private sector to

regulate the marketing of foodto children and explore inno-vative partnerships for trans-mitting positive health mes-sages. They must also insist onaccurate food labeling to helpconsumers make informeddecisions. A tax on sugary bev-erages may also be considered.

Of course, to some extent,diabetes will always afflict pub-lic health due to non-modifi-able risk factors such as ageingand genetics. Here, rarly detec-tion is vital to limiting impact.For those who already havediabetes, strict adherence todiet, exercise regimes and time-ly medication is essential.Governments must alsoincrease access to healthcareand make treatment less cost-ly. Diabetes can be managedsuccessfully and does not haveto lead to fatal complications.

(The writer is regional direc-tor of World Health OrganisationSouth-East Asia Region)

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Until last week, no one couldaccuse British PrimeMinister David Cameronof trying to rig the referen-dum. He accepted the

Electoral Commission’s wording for theballot paper. He didn’t try to extend thevote to teenagers or European Unionnationals. He kept the ConservativeParty neutral, allowing its employeesand his Ministers to campaign oneither side. Like most Leave support-ers, I was glad to acknowledge his even-handedness, and grateful to him fordecreeing the vote in the first place.

Suddenly, though, the level-playingfield is bucking and tilting under ourfeet. The decision to spend £9.3 millionof the taxpayers’ money on sending apro-EU booklet to every voter hasalienated not just neutrals, but quite afew Remain supporters. At a stroke, theGovernment has confirmed all ourprejudices about the Brussels system:That it’s an elitist racket, that it rangespoliticians and corporate interestsagainst ordinary people, that it treatspublic opinion as an obstacle to remove,not a reason to listen.

Ministers presumably calculate thatthe sheer weight of their propaganda willcompensate these disadvantages. To putit in context, the Remain and Leave sidesare limited to spending £7 million each.But it is far from clear that even an extra£9.3 million will outweigh our Britishsense of indignation at unfairness.Within hours of the announcement,130,000 people had signed a petitionagainst it — more than the 100,000 need-ed to force a debate in Parliament.Meanwhile, a YouGov poll showed thatby 85 per cent to 10, people thought thedocument would be biased.

The publication contravenes the

most basic rules on fair referendumslaid down by the Council of Europe,and has been condemned by theElectoral Commission. TheGovernment’s attempt to defend theleaflet as being “factual” adds insult toinjury. By the same logic, it could spend£9.3 million sending out a booklet thatmakes a “factual” argument for the re-election of the Conservative Party.

Why, having until now tried toensure the integrity of the process, hasDowning Street carried out thisscreeching handbrake turn? Becausethe campaign is not going as Remaincampaigners planned. Last summer, No10 spokesmen were telling journaliststhat they’d win by a margin of two orthree-to-one. Former European Unionchief executive Jean-Claude Junckerembarrassingly revealed that Cameronhad assured him that he would use thereferendum “to dock Britain in the EU”.

The idea was that, by now, the coun-try would have been chastened by the dehaut en bas letters we’ve been reading frompeers and business leaders and heads ofquangos and university vice chancellorsand other hoary-headed worthies.

It hasn’t happened. The Leave sidehas moved from a deficit of around 10points last summer to something closeto level-pegging. And the raw pollsdon’t take account of the relative ener-gy of the two sides. While Leave cam-paigners know exactly what they arevoting for — control of our taxes, ourmoney, our borders, our trade, our laws,our democracy — Remainers seem list-less and glum. They have nothingcheerful to say about Britain or, for thatmatter, about the EU. Their messageseems to be that, OK, the EU is expen-sive and corrupt but, by god, the alter-native is terrifying. Good luck enthus-

ing your activists with that one, chaps.Appeals to authority don’t work in an

undeferential age — in Britain or inEurope. There have been three EU-relat-ed referendums over the past year: Greecevoted on the euro bail-outs, Denmark onopting into criminal justice policy and theNetherlands on the Ukraine associationagreement. In all three cases, people dis-regarded the advice of their politicians andgave Brussels a kicking.

Euro federalists are aware of theirunpopularity. “Public support for the EUis in freefall,” says Giles Merritt, SecretaryGeneral of Friends of Europe. It’s not hardto see why. The EU’s chief initiatives werethe euro and the border-free Schengenzone. Juncker, with that almost comicalimperviousness to facts that charac-terises his caste, still refers to them as theEU’s two greatest achievements.

The euro was sold to voters as a wayto make them richer. Incredible as itnow sounds, the EuropeanCommission assured us that joining thesingle currency would add an extra oneper cent annual gross domestic prod-uct growth to every participating coun-try in perpetuity. Instead, the euro hascondemned millions to slow immiser-ation. Over the past decade, theeconomies of China and India havedoubled in size; but the economy of theeurozone is no larger today than it wasin 2006. Schengen, meanwhile, hasserved to stoke the national animosi-ties it was intended to soothe. Europeanintegration, in short, is making peopleboth poorer and grumpier.

It is now clear that, for at least anoth-er decade, the rest of the EU will remainconvulsed in its twin economic andmigratory crises. Brussels is determinedto keep the euro and Schengen togeth-er at any cost. (Any cost, that is, to ordi-

nary people — Eurocrats themselves areexempt from paying national taxes.)

The question for Britain is whetherto make their problems ours. Havingkept the pound and our passport con-trols, we have options. We are free topursue a different trajectory, reorient-ing away from the enervated continenttoward the wider world.

Leaving won’t be a radical break. Asthe leader of the Remain campaign,Lord Rose, frankly admitted: “It’s notgoing to be a step change, it’s going tobe a gentle process.”

He went on, before his horrifiedspin-doctors could shut him up:“Nothing is going to happen if we comeout of Europe in the first five years,probably. There will be absolutely nochange. Then, if you look back 10 yearslater, there will have been some change,and if you look back 15 years later therewill have been some.”

Quite. The really radical break isnot voting to leave; it’s voting to stay,and thus acquiescing in the EU’s con-tinuing economic, political, fiscal andmilitary amalgamation.

The Dutch “No” will almost certain-ly be disregarded in Brussels, as last year’sGreek “No” was — and, indeed, as suc-cessive No votes in Denmark, Ireland,France and elsewhere were. As Junckerputs it: “There can be no democraticchoice against the European Treaties.”

A British vote to leave will be hard-er to ignore. As well as recovering ourindependence, we might just jolt the EUout of its disastrous introversion. Thealternative, after all, is to hug the car-cass of a defunct project in the hope ofsqueezing life back into it. Surely noteven £9.3 million can sell an idea whosetime has passed.

(Courtesy: Daily Telegraph)

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Seeking to reject any impres-sion that its chief Subrata Roy

wanted to go abroad beforeincarceration, Sahara group onMonday said he returned to thecountry on being summonedand later did not leave the coun-try even after the SupremeCourt’s permission.

Objecting to Sebi lawyerArvind Datar’s comments aboutRoy having sought permission togo abroad weeks before beingjailed, Sahara’s Counsel GautamAwasthi said that his statement“tends to mislead by creating animpression as if ‘Saharasri’Subrata Roy Sahara wanted to goabroad before incarceration”.

Reacting strongly to Datar’scomments, Awasthi said, “Thefact however is that, ‘Saharasri’was abroad and immediatelyreturned to the country onbeing summoned. InNovember, 2013, the SupremeCourt had restrained ‘Saharasri’

and other directors from leav-ing the country without per-mission.

“It is very important tostate that subsequently Saharasriwas granted permission bySupreme Court to travel abroadfor two weeks, yet he did not goabroad.”

The Group also claimedthat in 2012 itself it had repaidto 95 per cent of its Investors but“nobody believed that”.

“But now Sebi in theirfourth all-India advertisementthrough around 144 publica-tions has clearly said that this isthe last chance esteemedInvestors to lodge their claimswith Sebi seeking refund,” thestatement added.

It further said the refundand repayment demand frominvestors in the past 43 monthstogether has been just about�104 crore, whereas the regula-tor has already got Sahara’s�13,700 crore (after taking intoaccount interest earned).

“Above all, we have to pay�5,300 crore (including bankguarantee of �5,000 crore) moreto get the bail of Chairman andtwo directors.

Also Sebi is holding landasset worth around �40,000crore.

“So, Sahara is giving secu-rity of �59,000 crore for onlyaround 104 crore repayment topublic to be done by Sebi ever,”the statement said.

The Group said it “dideverything as per law prevailingat that time” and Sebi shouldhave rather lodged case againstthree Registrars of Companiesunder Ministry of CorporateAffairs who gave “written per-mission” for the OFCD business.

“For continuously 7-8 years,RoCs took our balance sheetsetc, received the submission ofprospectus, did dozens ofinspections and investigations.We filed our return every yearwith registrar of companies etc,”it added.

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Tata Steel on Monday kick-started the sale of its cash-

guzzling UK arm with divest-ment of Long ProductsEurope business to invest-ment firm Greybull Capitalfor a nominal amount of 1pound.

The transaction likelyto conclude by June this year.

The embattled steelmakerappointed KPMG LLC asprocess advisor for the “thor-ough, but expedited sale” of itsentire shareholding in its sub-sidiary Tata Steel UK, whichincludes Britain’s largest steelplant at Port Talbot.

Tata Steel UK on Mondayannounced “signing of anagreement to sell its LongProducts Europe business tofamily investment office,Greybull Capital.

“Sale for a nominal con-sideration, would be inexchange for Greybull Capitaltaking on the whole of thebusiness, including assets andrelevant liabilities, and secur-ing an appropriate fundingpackage.”

The deal also includesclauses that workers accept aone year pay cut of 3 per centand changes in the pensionscheme, which Britain’s largesttrade union, Unite, said isacceptable in order to save4,400 jobs in, but “warned”UK government that it shouldinitiate measures to protectthe steel sector.

The Long ProductsEurope business employs4,800 people -– 4,400 in theUK and 400 in France.

Greybull is arranging aninvestment and financialpackage of 400 million GBpound (about $570 million),

it said.The financing, mainly

through a combination ofbanks and shareholders, willbe available to fund the work-ing capital and future invest-ments. Besides, an agreementto reset cost base of the busi-ness has been reached withkey suppliers and tradeunions, Greybull Capitaladded.

Greybull Capital willrename the Scunthorpe steel-works, part of Tata’s LongProducts Europe, as BritishSteel after the acquisition,which it says is expected ineight weeks.

According to theTelegraph, Greybull will pay anominal amount of one GBpound or �95 to acquire Tataslong products business inEurope.

Meanwhile welcoming thedeal, Unite said that

“Government ministers mustnow play their part too.”

With the initiation of thesale process for UK business,Tatas plans to play a leadingrole in UK’s once-storied sec-tor that the Indian conglom-erate had entered nearly adecade ago with a $14-billiontakeover with much fanfare, iscoming to an end.

Tatas entered UK’s steelsector, that once dominatedthe British economy, in early2007 with acquisition ofAnglo-Dutch steelmakerCorus after a fiercely foughttakeover battle with Brazil’sCSN -- which till date remainsthe biggest ever overseasacquisition by an Indiangroup.On the UK businesssale process, it said followingthe advice from the Tata SteelBoard to evaluate all optionsfor the portfolio review of TataSteel UK, the Board of Tata

Steel Europe at a meetingheld on March 31 reviewedseveral options.

Keeping in view the inter-est of all stakeholders, Board(Tata Steel Europe) has “decid-ed to commence process ofdivestment of its entire share-holding in Tata Steel UK.”

Tata Steel Europe said itwill run “a thorough, butexpedited sale process byreaching out to a wide uni-verse of potential investorsglobally.”

The formal process hascommenced “today” with dis-patch of the Summar yInformation Memorandum topotential investors.

Tata Steel and its advisersare committed to workingtogether and conducting theprocess in a transparent andtime bound manner, the firmsaid.

Last month, Tata Steel put

its entire UK business on theblock, a development that hasput thousands of jobs at riskamid a deepening crisis in thesteel sector, which saw the gov-ernment holding crunch talkswith Tata Group Chairman tohelp the conglomerate find abuyer in a bid to save jobs.

Meanwhile, UK’s BusinessMinister Sajid Javid tweeted:“Today I will be updatingParliament on Governmentaction to help find a buyer forTata Steel’s UK operations andsecure viable future for UKsteel.”

Tata Steel, in Decemberlast, signed a Letter of Intentwith Greybull Capital to enterinto exclusive negotiations forthe potential sale of LongProducts Europe.

Executive Chairman ofthe Long Products Europebusiness Bimlendra Jha said:“This sale is the best possible

outcome for employees whohave worked relentlessly toensure the business’s survivaland helped to make it attrac-tive to a potential buyer.”

Tata Steel Europe CEOHans Fischer said: “Underthese current challenging mar-ket conditions in Europe withthe soaring levels of importsfrom China, we are happythat Tata Steel UK andGreybull Capital have enteredthe final stage of completion ofthe sale of shareholding inLongs Steel UK.”

The sale covers UK-basedassets including theScunthorpe steelworks, twomills in Teesside, an engi-neering workshop inWorkington, a design consul-tancy in York and the associ-ated distribution facilities, aswell as a mill in northernFrance.

Welcoming the “immi-

nent deal”, UK’s largest tradeunion Unite “warned”Government that failure toallow steelworkers to com-pete on an even playing fieldwould leave Scunthorpe steel-workers who were makinghuge sacrifices to secure theindustry “high and dry”.

As part of the deal tosecure 4,400 jobs, workers arebeing asked to accept a oneyear pay cut of 3 per cent andchanges to their pensionscheme, it said, adding thatministers “must now play theirpart too”.

“This means supportingsteelworkers by ensuring infra-structure such as HS2 anddefence projects are built withBritish steel, as well as tacklingdumping of cheap importsand high energy costs,” Uniteconvenor for Tata SteelScunthorpe, Martin Fostersaid.

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��4� ���(��� � In a setback tomining mogul Anil Agarwal,the Government on Mondaysaid he can merge subsidiaryCairn India with his flagshipfirm Vedanta Ltd only afterpaying for the shares theIncome Tax Department hasattached following the�10,247-crore tax dispute.

A top Government officialsaid the merger can go aheadif the 9.8 per cent sharehold-ing of Cairn Energy attachedby the I-T Department is paidfor or an equivalent bank guar-antee is furnished or approvalis given for issue of freshshares.

Agarwal’s Vedanta Grouphad in 2011 acquired CairnIndia from its British promot-ers, Cairn Energy Plc, and lastyear proposed to merge thecash-rich firm with BSE-listedVedanta Ltd. However, a taxdemand on both Cairn EnergyPlc and Cairn India under aretrospective legislation is now

posing as a hurdle to the merg-er.

Clarifying on the issue,Revenue Secretary HasmukhAdhia said, “The only con-straint in this case could be thatthe shares of Cairn Energy inCairn India cannot be alienat-ed without the permission ofthe Government of India.”

“However, the merger cantake place subject to the law ofland once this issue of attach-ment is resolved... Under theSection 281 of the I-T Act, youcannot dispose of shares with-out permission of the TaxDepartment.”

The I-T Department usingthe retrospective tax legislationhad issued a �10,247-crore taxnotice to Cairn Energy inJanuary 2014.

In February this year, thedepartment issued a finalassessment order seeking over�29,000 crore in tax fromCairn Energy, including�18,800 crore in interest.

To ensure compliance,it had in April 2014 alsoslapped a tax demand of�20,495 crore on Cairn India,half of it being interest, for fail-ing to deduct withholding taxon alleged capital gains madeby its erstwhile parent compa-ny, Cairn Energy in 2006-07when it reorganised India busi-ness.

Cairn Energy still holds 9.8per cent take in Cairn India,but these shares have been

frozen by the I-T Department.The official said the merg-

er of Cairn India with Vedantacan go ahead if the sharesattached are paid for.

Cairn Energy’s sharehold-ing of 9.82 per cent at today’sclosing price of �151.55 isworth �2,790.42 crore.

“Cairn Energy can’t sellshareholding in Cairn Indiaunless attached assets arereleased,” the official said.

Agarwal’s Cairn Indiamoved the Delhi High Courtagainst the tax demand inApril last year and the nextdate of hearing is April 18.Cairn Energy, on the otherhand, has initiated an arbitra-tion against the tax demand,saying no tax is due on aninternal business reorganisa-tion. On the Government’soffer to settle retrospective taxcases if the companies con-cerned paid the principal taxamount after interest andpenalties are waived off, the

official said it is up to compa-nies to come forward to settletax liability.

“The Government willnotify time limit for settlingretrospective cases under thesettlement window announcedin the Budget,” he said, addingthat the Government continuesto follow the judicial process inCairn as well as Vodafonecases.

The one-time settlementoffer “will be a time-boundwindow. Notification to comeafter passage of the Finance Billby mid-May,” he said.

The tax demand was inrespect of Cairn UK HoldingsLtd, a subsidiary of CairnEnergy Plc, transferring sharesof Cairn India Holdings Ltd toCairn India as part of an inter-nal group reorganization in2006-07, resulting in�24,503.50 crore of capitalgains, preceding an initial pub-lic offering (IPO) of shares byCairn India. ��

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��4����(���Mining mogul AnilAgarwal-led Hindustan ZincLtd on Monday paid theGovernment about �3,000crore in special dividend,which the London-based bil-lionaire described as helpingthe Government meet bud-getary targets.

HZL had on March 30declared a “special goldenjubilee dividend” at the rate of1,200 per cent -- �24 per equi-ty share of �2 each for 2015-16.

The Government holds29.54 per cent in HZL and itsCEO Tom Albanese handedover a cheque of �2,995 croreto Finance Minister ArunJaitley towards the dividend.

In an interview to PTIearlier this month, Agarwalhad said he saw theGovernment as a partner andthe move is aimed at helping itmeet the budgetary deficit.

“The Government waslooking for (resources for)their budget and we also want-ed to go with them. So, we have

given a very handsome divi-dend. The Government will get�3,000 crore in dividend andanother �2,000 crore in taxes.So, the Government coffer got�5,000 crore overall,” he hadsaid.

His group firm VedantaLtd holds 64.92 per cent ofHZL and will be richer by�6,583.57 crore from the div-idend.

The dividend will helpVedanta Ltd pay off some of itsdebt.

At the end of Decemberquarter, it had a gross debt of�80,952 crore. Of this, $1.2 bil-lion loan is coming up forrepayment in 2016-17.

Also, an inter-companyloan of $1.25 billion is also dueto be paid in the next fewmonths. In July 2014, CairnIndia had extended $1.25 bil-lion of loan from its cash poolto Sesa Sterlite, which waslater renamed Vedanta Ltd.

Vedanta Ltd holds 59.88per cent stake in Cairn India.

“In the 14 years of HZLprivatisation, it has beenenormously successful inbecoming the best zinc busi-ness in the world, bar none.This has been good for theshareholders of HindustanZinc, of course with this divi-dend,” Albanese said.

HZL privatisation has beenvery good for the economy ofRajasthan and of India, hesaid. “We choose a world-classresource and operate withIndian world-class manage-ment team with world-classtechnologies and deliverworld-class results. Our dis-cussion focussed around avery large dividend,” he added.

Asked about the rationalefor the dividend payout,Agarwal said, “It is very goodpractice. After we did that, ourshare price has done well.”

The HZL stock rose to�188.25 on April 4 from �169.8closing on March 29 on BSE.It closed at �160.10 onMonday. ��

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��4����(���India will take partin a special OECD meet onApril 13 in Paris to firm upcooperation between coun-tries in the wake of the‘Panama Papers’ leak that hasseen the Government hereorder a multi-agency probeafter 500 Indians were namedin it as holding offshore assetsin the tax haven.

The Finance Ministryreceived the invite last weekfrom the Paris-based bodyand it has been decided that a

Director- rank officer ofCBDT will represent thecountry at the day- long spe-cial session, officials said.

Officials said India islooking forward to the meet asthe country adheres to a num-ber of Organisation forEconomic Cooperation andDevelopment (OECD)-man-dated norms aimed atstrengthening overseas taxcooperation and exchange ofinformation and also followsfiscal guidelines endorsed by

it.The Government has set

up a Multi-Agency Group(MAG) to investigate theIndian names and entitiesmentioned in the leaks and apreliminary report has beensought by this week by theministry, which is expected toforward it to the PrimeMinister’s Office (PMO).

“The Income Tax depart-ment will issue notices tothose whose names figure inthe Panama leaks. They will be

asked to explain their positionand the next course of action

will be determined thereafter,”they said.

The MAG, which methere on Monday for the sec-ond time after April 7, hadduring the first meeting decid-ed to approach OECD alongwith another similar forum -- the Financial Action TaskForce (FATF) in connectionwith its probe.

Announcing the date forthe meeting, the OECD sec-retariat had said,“Government officials fromaround the world have calledupon OECD to convene a

special meeting of the JointInternational Tax ShelterInformation andCollaboration (JITSIC) net-work to explore possibilities ofcooperation and information-sharing, identify tax compli-ance risks and agree on col-laborative action in the lightof the ‘Panama Papers’.

“The meeting will bringtogether senior tax adminis-tration officials from countriesworldwide.”

The ‘Panama Papers’ had

disclosed the names of nearly500Indians, including celebritiesand industrialists, who alleged-ly have money stashed away inoffshore entities in Panama,which is considered to be a taxhaven.

The names were released bythe International Consortium ofInvestigative Journalists (ICIJ)with ‘Indian Express’ newspaperin India. The ICIJ added a dis-claimer that there are also “legit-imate uses for offshore compa-nies”. ��

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��� ���� Reserve BankGovernor Raghuram Rajan onMonday said as a regulator thecentral bank tries to beinformed and adaptive when itcomes to regulation of newinstruments and processes.

“We attempt to be informedand adaptive regulator. It meanswe start first by understating theproblem, doing some carefulanalysis, helped of course byplayers who want to makechange,” Rajan said at the launchof the National PaymentsCorporation of India’s (NPCI)Unified Payments Interface(UPI) system.

He said RBI works with thepeople who are being regulatedon the regulatory architectureand hear the proposals putforth by them.

These are being looked atboth from the perspective of thesystem and it also tries to figureout the biases of those peoplemaking such proposals, Rajanadded.

The Governor said RBI

does not limit itself too muchwhen there is uncertainty.

“One of the dangerous(aspects) of being a regulator is,the easiest thing to say is no andwhen you don’t understandhow things are going to devel-op it is easy to say no. Let’s noteven go there,” he said.

“The problem is when yousay no, you never work outwhat the problems could be.Maybe, there are no problemsand you keep the system from

developing. Too many limita-tions upfront and you preventgrowth and development,” headded.

Rajan said RBI prefers towatch new innovations and asthe understanding increases,regulations can be evolved.

“We watch carefully as theinstrument, institution or theprocess is rolled out, look atwhere the grievances are com-ing from, where the conflictsare emerging... And thereby

adapt regulation, if necessary,”he added.

Quoting the example ofinterest rate futures (IRF), hesaid the new instrument wasstarted but was not successfulinitially because of too manylimitations on them.

“We started them againtwo years ago and now it’s aflourishing market withtremendous amounts of vol-ume. And this is because indus-try persuaded us to be a little bitopen,” he said.

According to the governor,RBI has taken a bet on pay-ments banks that have recent-ly being given in-principleapprovals.

“We want to see wherethey push the system,” he said.

On UPI, Rajan said it is oneof the more exciting develop-ments in our economy in recentyears.

“For a number of years, wehave been saying we need a rev-olution in banking in India. Ithink we can confidently say the

revolution is upon us,” hesaid.The country, Rajan said,has the most sophisticated pub-lic payment infrastructure inthe world which can be acces-sible by anybody who enters thesystem.

It is not just payment butthe form of the whole new setof banks -- payments and smallfinance -- that is part of the rev-olution, Rajan added.

“For long time Chanda’sbank (ICICI Bank) and Shikha’sbank (Axis Bank) were callednew private banks. I guess wehave to change the terminolo-gy. You are no longer new, youare the old banks,” Rajan said.

Meanwhile, the RBIGovernor also condoled the lossof lives in the fire tragedy at aKerala temple yesterday.

At least 106 people werekilled and 383 injured in a dev-astating fire that engulfed the100-year-old Puttingal DeviTemple complex in Kollamduring an unauthorised displayof fireworks yesterday. ��

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The owner of Britain’s DailyMail newspaper and media

group is in early talks over a bidfor the ailing US internet compa-ny Yahoo. A spokesman for theDailyMail.Com said on theSunday that, given the success ofits site and Elite Daily, it has ‘beenin discussions with a number ofparties who are potential bidders’.He said the talks are in a very earlystage and there is no certainty anytransaction will take place. Yahoodid not respond to a request forcomment.

The Wall Street Journal firstreported that the Daily Mail wasspeaking with private equity firmsabout an offer. Yahoo is underintense pressure to revive its rev-enue growth and activist investorStarboard Value, a big stakehold-er, is pushing for a change in lead-ership. Earlier this year, Yahoo cut15 percent of its workforce, 1,700employees, along with branches of

the company that CEO MarissaMayer deemed unworthy of con-tinued support. It pulled the plugon an online video hub that hadonce been envisioned as Yahoo'sanswer to Netflix and YouTube.

Starboard last monthannounced its intent to overthrowMayer and the company board. Itis the third attempted coup atYahoo since 2008, all led by dif-ferent shareholders frustratedwith attempts to turn the companyaround.

Starboard nominated ninealternative candidates to opposeMayer and Yahoo’s other directorsat the company's annual share-holder meeting in June. Yahoo’sbusiness has declined underMayer even as advertisers pourmore money into digital market-ing, with most of it flowing torivals Google and Facebook.Shares of Yahoo have fallen about30 per cent since the end of 2014,increasing pressure on Mayer totake more drastic measures. The

Daily Mail is one of the 10 mostvisited newspaper websites in theworld according to the PewResearch Center.

Founded in 1896 by brothersAlfred and Harold Harmsworth,the newspaper has been a familyrun operation throughout its his-tory. It has relied on a tabloid mixof conservative political viewsand celebrity gossip to drive sales,and has invested heavily in theinternet.

In 2015, the group reportedadjusted pretax profit of 281 mil-lion pounds on revenue of 1.85 bil-lion pounds, with 49 percent ofrevenue coming from abroad.

The group includes DMGEvents, which puts on businessexhibitions and conferencesaround the world and EuromoneyInstitutional Investor Plc, whichproduces business-oriented pub-lications such as Euromoney andMetal Bulletin. It also holds stakesin firms such as the Zoopla realestate website in the UK.

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The level of optimism aboutbusiness environment among

Indian chief financial officers(CFOs) improved for the April-June quarter as compared to thecorresponding period last year, saysa report.

According to the D&B IndiaCFO survey, the upturn in theoverall optimism level was led bythe industrial sector, whose CFOswere more optimistic than servicessector CFOs. The optimism levelof CFOs from the industrial sec-tor increased by 18 per cent whilefor the services sector, it rose by just4 per cent.

“The optimism level amongstthe CFOs have improved for Q22016 especially in the industrial sec-tor,” Dun & Bradstreet IndiaDirector Sales Arvind Raghavsaid. The factors that were respon-sible for the improved perceptionon domestic growth include thelikely boost to consumption from

the implementation of the 7th PayCommission recommendations,the commitment by the govern-ment to adhere to the fiscal con-solidation and sustained low inputcosts.

“The survey indicates greenshoots in the investment cycle asreflected in the increased level ofoptimism amongst CFOs regard-ing their expansion plan for thenext six months that augurs wellfor the economy,” Raghav said.

The monetary policy accom-modation followed by theGovernment recent policy reforms,clearance of stalled and new pro-jects are expected to sustain theoptimism level among the CFOsgoing ahead, Raghav added. Thereport said more than 50 per centof the CFOs are optimistic regard-ing increase in the operating mar-gin of their companies, whileorganic expansions and capexplanning were cited by 26 per centand 19 per cent of CFOs as prior-ities for the next six months.

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NEW DELHI: After Lenovo and Samsung, hand-set maker Karbonn is now betting big on virtualreality (VR) and has launched two new smartphonesbundled with VR glasses. The two handsets --Quattro L52 and Titanium Mach 6 -- are priced at�8,790 and �7,490, respectively. While the VR head-set is available only with these devices, Karbonnplans to launch these as a separate standalone prod-uct soon.

“VR is the next big growth area in consumertechnology. As per a recent report, the global VirtualReality market is expected to touch an estimated$120 billion by 2020,” Karbonn Mobiles ExecutiveDirector Shashin Devsare said. While the technol-ogy offers huge growth potential in India with theburgeoning smartphone market, affordability

would be key to encourage mass adoption, he added.“Karbonn's VR glasses are an effort to bring VR

technology at disruptive price-points in the under�10,000 bracket. We are optimistic about the con-sumer response and are confident that Karbonn'srange of VR smartphones will be a key cog in bring-ing the benefits of VR technology to the masses,”he said.

The Quattro L52 4G LTE handset features5-inch display, 1.3GHz quad core processor, 2GBRAM, 16GB memory (expandable upto 32GB),8MP rear and 5MP front camera and comes pre-embedded with VR loaded games and curatedapps. Mach Six, on the other hand, has a six-inchdisplay, 2GB RAM, 16 GB memory, 1.3GHz quadcore processor and 3,300mAh battery. PTI

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The Government is consid-ering a proposal to make it

mandatory for foreign playersentering the food processingsector to invest part of their FDIin developing back-end agri-culture infrastructure.

The food processing min-istry has suggested that theDepartment of Industrial Policyand Promotion (DIPP) make itmandatory for the foreigninvestee company to invest a

certain percentage of FDI increating back-end infrastruc-ture like transfer of modernfarming technology, agri mech-anisation, and marketing andcold chain infrastructure.

The ministry has also sug-gested for enhanced partnershipbetween farmers and investeecompany for production andsourcing of improved varieties ofagricultural produce, sources said.DIPP, which deals in FDI-relatedmatters, is in the process of final-ising a Cabinet note on the issue.

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NEW DELHI: Government will keep regulating prices of cotton seedand will not allow companies like the US biotechnology majorMonsanto to exploit farmers, Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singhsaid on Monday. The Minister asserted that the Government wouldnot allow ‘monopoly by seed and pharmaceutical companies’ and reg-ulate prices of seeds and medicines, if required. The Centre in Decemberhad issued an order to control cotton seed prices including trait orroyalty value, effective from 2016-17 crop year (July-June). PNS

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GOVERNMENT OF INDIA(Ministry of Home Affairs)

Dy INSPECTOR GENERAL OF POLICECENTRAL RESERVE POLICE FORCE

GROUP CENTRE PINJORE (HARYANA)Tele/Fax: 01733-266257, 266251

No.L.VII-1/2015-16-Q-GCP (COTTON TERRY TOWEL) Dated, the 19th Mar' 2016

DIGP GC, CRPF Pinjore (HR) for and on behalf of the President of India invitesonline tenders under two bid system (Technical and Commercial Bid) on the prescribedform for the purchase of following stores as per details given below:-

SI. Tender No. Description Qty Specification EMD Cost of Date & TimeNo. Stores (In Nos) In Rs. Tender of opening

(Non- of Tenderrefundable(In Rupees)

I II III IV V VI VII VIII

L.VII-1/2015- Cotton Terry1. 16-Q- Towel (Sky blue As per

GCP(COTTON color) size 1450 22381 appendix 2,50,000/- 250/- 15/04/2016TERRY TOWEL) mm x 725 mm *C*DTD 19/03/2016 (Branded company

Note:- (i) All relevant details are available on CRPF website http://www.crpf.gov.inas well as on E-Procurement web sitehttps://eprocure.gov.in/eprocure/app (CPPP). The same may bedownloaded by the bidders.

(ii) Tenderers are requested to watch the CRPF/CPPP website regularly for any change in tender enquiry/technical specification/ terms & condition.

(iii) Date of availability of tender on CPPP: upto 10/04/2016.Yours faithfully,Sd/-05/04/2016

(DR. Partap Singh)DIGP, GC, CRPG, PINJORE (HR)

FOR AND ON BEHALF OF THE PRESIDENT OF INDIAdavp 19111/11/0018/1617

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In his final year in office, USPresident Barack Obama has

said that failing to prepare forthe aftermath of the ousting ofLibyan dictator MuammarGaddafi in 2011 was the “worstmistake” of his presidency.

“Probably failing to planfor, the day after, what I thinkwas the right thing to do, inintervening in Libya,” Obamatold Fox News while answer-ing a series of questions onthe highs and lows of hisnearly eight years in theWhite House.

The 2011 US-backed inter-vention helped topple Gaddafi,who ruled Libya for over 40years. But after the formerLibyan president was killed,Libya plunged into chaos withmilitias taking over and tworival parliaments andGovernments forming.

Both Obama and thenSecretary of State HillaryClinton continue to argue thatit was not the removal ofGaddafi that caused the chaos,but rather the failure to prop up

a stable Government in thedays following.

An ISIS affiliate has sincegained a foothold in Libya, andthe US has carried out airstrikesagainst “ISIS camps” as recent-ly as February.

However, it is not the firsttime Obama has expressedregret over Libya. He told theAtlantic magazine last monththe operation went as well as hehad hoped, but Libya was now“a mess”.

In that interview, he alsocriticised France and the UK,in particular saying BritishPrime Minister DavidCameron became “distracted”after the intervention.

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The daughter of jailed formerPresident Alberto Fujimori held

a strong lead on Monday in pre-liminary results from the firstround of Peru’s presidential electionand appeared headed to a show-down with another centre-rightcandidate in a June runoff. With 67per cent of the ballots counted,Keiko Fujimori had 39 per cent ofthe vote, while former World Bankeconomist Pedro Kuczynski held 24per cent. Leftist congresswomanVeronika Mendoza, who had madea late surge in pre-election polls,was in third at 17 per cent.

Final results were not expect-

ed until later in the day, butKuczynski’s supporters celebratedin the streets outside his campaignheadquarters in Lima after twounofficial quick counts indicated hewould edge out Mendoza for theright to face Fujimori on June 5.Such counts have been reliablepredictors of results in previousPeruvian elections.

Fujimori was the front-runnerfor months and looked poised tooutdo even the most-optimistic firstround scenarios in polls publishedon the eve of voting.

But she will face an uphill bat-tle in the second round because ofhow polarizing a figure her fatherremains among Peruvians.

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Dubai’s top religious authorities say thatstealing WiFi from your neighbour would

not be proper Islamic conduct.That’s according to a religious edict known

as a fatwa from Dubai’s Islamic Affairs &Charitable Activities Department. It was post-ed online on the department’s website onMonday as a response to a question asked byan anonymous reader.

The edict says: “There is nothing wrongin using the line if your neighbors allow youto do so, but if they’d don’t allow you, you maynot use it.”

The fatwa matches others issued by otherregional clerics in recent years.

Dubai’s Islamic Affairs & CharitableActivities Department answers a variety ofonline questions. They range from prayers and religious matters to modern issues like cosmetic surgeries and illegally down-loading movies.

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Greece on Monday lashed outat Macedonia for using

“excessive force” after police firedtear gas and rubber bullets onmigrants trying to breach theclosed border to enter the EU.

Macedonian police accusedcrowds of hurling stones andother objects at them on Sundayin a bid to break down a fence atthe border with Greece, sayingthey had used tear gas to protectthemselves.

Medical charity DoctorsWithout Borders (MSF) said 260people were treated for injuries: 200 for breathing prob-lems, 30 for wounds caused byplastic bullets and 30 for otherinjuries.

There are an estimated 11,000migrants and refugees stranded at

the flashpoint Idomeni crossing,many of them fleeing war inSyria and Iraq.

They have been living roughin the Idomeni camp since mid-February after Balkan statesclosed their borders, cutting offaccess to northern Europe.

The spokesman for the Greekmigration coordination agencyGiorgos Kyritsis blasted theMacedonian reaction as totally unwarranted and out ofproportion.

He told Vima radio stationthat there had been “an excessiveand asymmetrical use of force”that had created a “very difficultsituation on Greek soil.”

A police source said the situ-ation was “calm” on Monday inthe sprawling Idomeni camp withonly two people remaining inhospital.

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Afresh batch of 16 upgrad-ed JF-17 Thunder aircraft,

jointly developed by Chinaand Pakistan, were on Mondayinducted into the Pakistan AirForce, bolstering its tactical andsurveillance capabilities. Thecommand flag of the fighterand surveillance aircraft washanded over to Squadron-II ofthe Pakistan Air Force (PAF) byDefence Minister Khawaja Asifat the Pakistan AeronauticalComplex (PAC) Kamra.

The command flag of thefighter and surveillance aircraftwas handed over to Squadron-II of the Pakistan Air Force (PAF)by Defence Minister KhawajaAsif at the Pakistan AeronauticalComplex (PAC) Kamra.

Chief of Air Staff Air ChiefMarshal Sohail Aman said theaddition of the JF-17 aircraftbuilt at Kamra airbase with thesupport of China wouldstrengthen the tactical and sur-veillance capabilities of the PAF.

He said PAF is well pre-pared to fight any threat againstthe state. The PAF has beenassisting the ground troops inoperation Zarb-e-Azb as well,Aman said.

New York: Alzheimer’s impairs insulinsignalling in the portion of the brainresponsible for regulating metabolism,making a person with the disease morelikely to develop diabetes, a new studyin mice suggests.

The findings by researchers fromIcahn School of Medicine at MountSinai in the US also indicate that an

increase of a particular group of aminoacids in the blood could serve as a bio-marker of impaired brain insulin sig-nalling.

The study, conducted in mice, ispart of ongoing research to betterunderstand the link betweenAlzheimer’s disease (AD) and diabetes.

It is the first study to show that mice

with AD have insulin resistance (a pre-cursor to type II diabetes) in the hypo-thalamus, the area of the brain that reg-ulates metabolism of nutrients such asfatty acids, glucose and amino acids intissues including muscle, liver and fat.

The mice with AD also showed ele-vated levels of branched chain aminoacids (BCAA) in the blood. PTI

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Washington: A US Navy offi-cer with access to sensitive USintelligence faces espionagecharges over accusations hepassed state secrets, possibly toChina and Taiwan, a US officialtold Reuters on Sunday.

The official, speaking oncondition of anonymity, identi-fied the suspect as LieutenantCommander Edward Lin, whowas born in Taiwan and laterbecame a naturalized U.S. citizen,according a Navy profile articlewritten about him in 2008. Aredacted Navy charge sheet saidthe suspect was assigned to theheadquarters for the Navy’sPatrol and ReconnaissanceGroup, which oversees intelli-gence collection activities.

The charge sheet redactedout the name of the suspect andthe Navy declined to providedetails on his identity. It accusedhim twice of communicatingsecret information and threetimes of attempting to do so toa representative of a foreigngovernment “with intent or rea-son to believe it would be usedto the advantage of a foreignnation.”

The document did not iden-tify what foreign country or

countries were involved. The USofficial said both China andTaiwan were possible but stressedthe investigation was still goingon.

The suspect was alsoaccused of engaging in prostitu-tion and adultery. He has beenheld in pre-trial confinement forthe past eight months or so, theofficial added.

USNI News, which firstreported Lin’s identity, said hespoke fluent Mandarin and man-aged the collection of electron-ic signals from the EP3-E AriesII signals intelligence aircraft.

The U.S. Navy profiled Linin a 2008 article that focused onhis naturalization to the UnitedStates, saying his family leftTaiwan when he was 14 andstayed in different countriesbefore coming to America.

Chinese Foreign Ministryspokesman Lu Kang said he wasnot aware of the details of thecase. He did not elaborate.China’s Defence Ministry did notimmediately respond to a requestfor comment.

Taiwan’s Defence Ministrysaid it had no information on thecase. Taiwan’s Foreign Ministrydeclined to comment. Agencies

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As Ted Cruz cocked a snookat Donald Trump by sweep-

ing Colorado and winning all its37 delegates without any votesbeing cast, the New York bil-lionaire erupted in anger and hisnewly-appointed top aideaccused the Texas Senator ofusing “Gestapo tactics” to walkaway with the delegates.

But the Cruz campaignthat has all along boasted of asuperior organization with itsmastery of rules and groundmanagement techniquesbrushed aside the accusationseven as it savoured the victorythat casts further doubts onTrump’s ability to win 1,237 del-egates to clinch the nomination.

Cruz himself termed theColorado win “anotherresounding victory for conser-vatives”, asserting: “Republicansare uniting behind our cam-paign because they want a

leader with real solutions whowill bring back jobs, freedom,and security.”

Trump went ballistic onTwitter as soon as news camethat Cruz has won all the 37delegates from Colorado.

“The people of Coloradohad their vote taken away fromthem by the phony politicians.Biggest story in politics. Thiswill not be allowed,”

Trump exploded in a seriesof tweets. “How is it possiblethat the people of the greatState of Colorado never got tovote in the RepublicanPrimary? Great anger — total-ly unfair!”

The State Republican Party,it turns out, had decided lastAugust that it would not havethe traditional style of voting ina nominating contest, butdecide the distribution of del-egates by holding a series ofconventions. The Cruz cam-paign “worked quietly behindthe scenes” and “capitalized onthe Trump campaign’s failure toadapt to the system”, com-mented the Denver Post.

In a comment that is sureto have added insult to Trump’sinjury, Cruz said: “This hasbeen a remarkable year. I will

say this, it hasn’t been boring.”Sure enough, Trump,

speaking to Fox News, com-plained: “The people out thereare going crazy, in the Denverarea and Colorado itself.They’re going absolutely crazybecause they weren’t given avote. This was given by politi-cians – it’s a crooked deal.”

He accused Cruz of tryingto “steal” delegates in SouthCarolina as well – a State whichhe had won comfortably, withCruz coming in third. Allegingthat the Cruz campaign was“trying to pick off those dele-gates one by one”, he told thenetwork: “That’s not the waydemocracy is supposed towork. They offer them trips,they offer them all sorts ofthings and you’re allowed to dothat. You can buy all thesevotes…It’s a rigged system.”

Trump’s overriding focusnow is on the April 19 contestin his home State of New Yorkwith 95 delegates up for grabs,followed a week later by fourother North-Eastern Statesregarded as relatively friendlyto the front-runner:Pennsylvania, Maryland,Connecticut, Delaware andRhode Island.

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Sanaa: A UN-brokered cease-fire was mostly holding acrosswar-torn Yemen on Mondayexcept in the besieged city ofTaiz where shelling killed atleast one person and woundedfive, according to residents.There were also sporadicexchanges of gunfire in otherparts of the country after thetruce between the Saudi-ledcoalition, which backs Yemen’sinternationally recognisedGovernment, and the Shiarebels known as Houthis wentinto effect yesterday.

The truce is meant buildconfidence between Yemen’swarring sides ahead of theUN-sponsored peace talksscheduled to take place inKuwait on April 18.

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At least 12 people were killed and dozenswounded on Monday when a Taliban sui-

cide bomber attacked a bus carrying Afghanarmy recruits near the eastern city of Jalalabad,officials said.

It came days after US Secretary of StateJohn Kerry paid a visit to Kabul to underscorehis support for Afghanistan’s beleaguered unitygovernment and call on the insurgent groupto resume direct peace talks. “In the attack, 12army recruits were killed,” said AtaullahKhogyani, spokesman for Nangarhar province.

Ministry of Defence spokesman DawlatWaziri confirmed the incident and death toll,adding the attacker struck the bus while rid-ing a motorised tricycle.

“The recruits were being transferred fromJalalabad to Kabul,” Waziri said, putting thenumber of injured at 26.

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Music is what Salim Merchant does best. Fromthe moving tracks of Aashayein and Dor

to the foot tapping tacks of Ladies vs RickyBahl and Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi to movies likeAb Tak Chappan — he has set tunes that willnever grow old.

But in a changing industry where thelines between actors, directors and singersare fast disappearing, it came as no sur-prise to find the composer in a short filmhelmed by Yash Raj Films for theironline series Love Shots.

The seven minute film, Fired, alsostars Tillottama Shome as Nidhi, wife ofMerchant’s character Anand. It is a shortsweet story of a wife losing her job andher husband resigning from his so thatthey can open their own cafe, sans wi-fiand TV.

It is Merchant’s debut as an actor andhe recounted to us how it all happened. “Igot a call from the casting director and shesaid that she had a script for me. She wasa dear friend and I agreed. She said thatsomeone would call me regarding the read-ing and when I went through it, it felt likehome. Perhaps it is because I have done somany projects with Yash Raj,” he said.

The preparation process was crucial for himbecause he had to change as a person to under-stand Anand. “I never know I could do so muchas an actor. The character was intense and passion-ate and was a new challenge for me,” he pointed out.The character, he said, has helped him learn a loton life. “I had to internalise the character so thatI could understand how he feels for his wife andhow he brings his plan of starting Karma Cafe.There were a lot of reading sessions and workshopsbut I guess it paid off. I believe that if you work real-ly hard, you can really touch the sky,” he added.

We asked him about this new trend of singersand music composers trying their skills at actingand he explained to us that both acting and musicare connected to each other and is a huge quotientfor cinema. “It is different from one another but some-where it is interconnected. Because when I composeI have to understand the mood and temperament ofthe actor and the situation he is in. And for that, Iobserve. I actually picked up a lot when I was work-ing on Ab Tak Chappan. And I see this as an excit-ing change for the industry,” he summed up.

Next time you are at one ofthe finest restaurantsin the city and you

come across names like dalstorm bouncer, mushroomduplex ki boundary, cigarroll googly, BBQ wingsfull toss, hat trick paneertikka sixer in the menu(the menu from StormBar and Grill) — do notbe surprised. While thecricketers are batting,bowling, fielding andsweating it out on thefields, chefs at restaurants inand around the city are whip-ping up a storm in the kitchen.Keeping in mind the customer’slove for the sport, they havetweaked and twisted their a la cartemenu and presented an entirespread dedicated to the IndianPremier League.

Shivam Bhaskar, co-owner ofNumber 8 Kitchen and Bar, SunderNagar, says, “Ours is a nation that’sso passionate about cricket — it’salmost like a religion. Also we arevery passionate about our food. So thisIPL we are giving cricket fans and food

lovers a reason to rejoice as we are servinga special menu, ‘Cricket on Palate’,” says

Shivam Bhaskar, co-owner of Number 8 Kitchenand Bar. To keep things interesting, Bhaskar, alongwith his chef, has named the dishes after the teams.One may even pick from amongst Kings XI Punjabchicken tikka, Sunrisers Hyderabad special biryani,Mumbai Indians Rocket and Wine poached salad,Delhi Daredevils lamb burger with smokedcoleslaw and caramelised onion, team PunePolanta cupcake, Royal Challengers Bangalorecheese platter and Kolkata Knight Riders mac andcheese.

The menu at Bellagio, Ashok Vihar, on theother hand, is named after the individual play-ers like Shane’s flipper, all rounder Yuvraj,Watto’s slog, Brendan’s square cut, Ashwin’s

carom, Harbhajan’s doosra, MSD special andSehwag’s upper cut, to name a few. SameerBhalla, owner, says, “In addition to that, we are alsooffering a complimentary meal for two during thematch hours to those who correctly predict manof the match.”

Sharad Madan, owner of Informal, says thatthe IPL stands for unity where Indian player playwith peers from different countries and formteams. “It creates a lot of fun moments. Informalis all to support and cheer for team,” he adds. ChefNuria of the restaurant says, “It’s time to bond overmatch and food. So I have created special dishesby the name of a Calmer Raina zucchini, healthypitch, loaded pitch, Virat specials et al,” he adds.The best part of this menu is that you get free golgappa shots if the team you bet on this IPL wins.

That’s not it. If you are at Niche on a day Delhiis playing, and wins at the end — you will get aspecial 15 per cent off on your food. Owner TarunArora tells us, “This is how we are celebrating thespirit of the IPL.”

Dinesh Arora’s Unplugged Courtyard is theonly place which not only serves googly lollies forkids but also gives them the freedom to have lol-lies made in the way they like it.

According to Akshay Anand, owner ofHotmess, the IPL brings youth, glamour and crick-et together. And for that, the chef at the restau-rant has curated cricket inspired dishes likehatrick bao, power play pizza, superover yogurtrolls amongst others.

And if we are talking a man-driven sport, how

can drinks be left behind.Mixologists and bartenders, too areworking on some cool new drinks.At At L’Adresse Kitchen and Bar,Rajouri Garden, the chef hascreated a range of special cock-tails, mocktails and drinks likegoogly gully, silly point, first slipand clean bowled coffee, toname a few. Mohit Ahuja, owner

says, “Even if it were the WorldCup or now, the IPL, cricket lovers

enjoy watching the match withtheir family and friends with scrump-

tious food. That is why we are servingwide ball sandwich, cricket maniachicken platter, no ball nachos withsalsa, fence fatous salad, captain chick-en caesar salad, bowled over muttonseekh tikkas, hat-trick hummus dip withpita breads, mid wicket murg makhani,paneer tikka, Kashmiri kebab, centurychocolate brownie and trophy tiramisuto name a few.”

Molecule and Bollywood Bistro, too,are not far behind. While Varun Puri has

introduced special cocktails, Abhishek Vigis cheering the cricket fervour with exciting

discounts on exotic drinks. ‘Come and be a part of Sandy-astic IPL live

screening’ with lucrative deals on drinks is howSandys Cocktails and Kitchen’s pulling the crowd.According to Sandy Verma, owner, the place is giv-ing an opportunity to indulge in exciting deals andoffers on drinks such as 2 pe 1 free, 3 pe 2 free, 5pe 5 free only on Kingfisher beer and a free shoton every 6 and a glass of champagne for everyoneon India’s Victory.

Points out Nida Mahmood, interior designerfor Junglee Billee, “Cricket matches in India arelarge followers as compared to other countries. Weat Junglee Billee want our patrons to feel privilegedand remember their experience here as they watchthe matches with their favorites along with the bestoffers. With one of the best seating capacities intown for an IPL match to be watched, JungleeBillee is also running an online campaign for itsspecial customers like Bille Predicts, in which who-ever wins gets various special offers and hampers.”Their offers on the drinks are irresistible — 2+2Bira at �599, 2+2 Stella, one free shot with pur-chase of two kamikaze, a free bottle of wine(Fratelli Classic Merlot/Fratelli Chardonnay) withpurchase of �500 plus bill, amongst others.

In the end, is it just marketing gimmickry ordoes it add to the bottom lines? Shamit Ajmani,owner of Storm Bar and Grills, answers, “Cricketis the flavour of the season. We eat cricket and alsobreathe the sport so the theme-inspired menu addsflavour to the tongue along with live screenings.Yes, there is an increase in footfall. But moreimportant, the innovation makes for a smart brandpromotion.”

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�Tell us somethingabout your inspira-tion.

I believe traditionis a great source of inspi-ration for any creative artist.When asked about what I connectwith tradition I have this to say — ifI can find an order in the past, thereis a chance that I will find an orderin my work today. Though Iuse tradition it is only as aspring board. I am complete-ly aware of what is happening in theWest and my contemporaries theworld over. In Madras, I belong to amovement called the MadrasMovement and the ideology we holdis ‘Indian in spirit and worldwidecontemporary’.

�What are the stories that you aretrying to depict through yoursculptures?

Though my work can be termedas narrative sculpture, it is not story-telling that I am after. Design maybe the word that can be used todefine my sculptures. They belong toa movement in Madras called Frontalsculpture. The fact is that 90 per cent

of Indian sculpture is bas relief (orlow relief), three dimensional sculp-tures are comparatively fewer. So agroup of artists in Madras in the 60s,started a movement that can becalled, Narrative Frontal Sculpture.My sculptures are to be seen from thefront as the back is not worked.

They are not to be kept likemurals against the wall, and can beviewed from all around though theback is not worked upon. The greatNataraja sculpture though is a threedimensional sculpture, has hardlyanything worked at the back.

�How much time did you take tofinish thesculpturesthat are on

display?I have

worked for overa year on these21 sculpturesthat are on dis-

play at ArtAlive Gallery.

I work on mysculptures in aseries. I workon three to four

sculptures simulta-neously as I find itmore interesting

and engaging.

�You work with metal.Which kind of metal youprefer working with?

I work with sheets of cop-per and brass for sculptures in

the interior and in stain-less steel for sculptures tobe placed outdoor.

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Choreography is the art of designing sequences of move-ments of physical bodies in which motion, form, or bothare specified. Choreography may also refer to the design

itself, with the word choreography literally meaning ‘dance-writing’ — from its Greek origin — that first appeared in theEnglish dictionary in the 1950s. ‘Choreographer’ was first usedas a credit for George Balanchine in the Broadway show OnYour Toes in 1936. Interestingly, half a millennium ago, dance-masters at the French court were organising the floor-patternsand theatrical and artistic contexts of their social dances: toinitiate a choreographic form, the ballet de cour. In the cen-turies that followed, the gap between social dance and theatri-cal dance widened until ballet in the 19th century achieved anindependent existence and has thrived ever since.

Passing on a Tradition, Guru and Disciple — IIC SpringFestival of Dance, was a recent attempt to assess and evaluatehow choreography in classical Indian dance context has beenshaping and moulding from generation to generation. The firstgeneration gurus were the illustrious pioneers like KelucharanMohapatra who, with four other gurus of ‘Jayantika’, revivedthe Odissi tradition from the female Maharis and maleGotipuas, and another like Vempati Chinna Satyam who sim-ilarly helped to resurrect Kuchipudi legacy from Yakshagan andBhagavat Mela in Andhra Pradesh. It were these gurus whodefined the grammar of choreography for their respective stylesand passed them on to meritorious disciples like MadhaviMudgal and Jayarama Rao —to become the second genera-tion of worthy torch-bearers.

Two petite dancers — Shobha Bisht and Deepika Bisht —were now Madhavi’s own disciples to take the stage. Very thor-oughly groomed, the duo began with Jagannath Ashtakam thatdelineated the devotee’s utter surrender to the divinity, withchoreography depicting many undulating movements of theRathayatra and rolling patterns of the idols when they are puton the chariot. A hymn from Kalidasa’s Ritu Samharam camenext in raga Vasant. Then they depicted an elaborate pallaviwhere the music and the movements bloomed into a complexpattern. After a Jayadeva ashtapadi: Lalita labanga lata… camethe vigorous moksha to attend the highest bliss — as the finale.

T Reddi Lakshmi, ace disciple of Rao, followed with theKuchipudi recital. With a striking pravesha daru (stylised entry),she executed an Annamacharya keertana in raga Hamsadhwani,mainly depicting dashavatara (ten incarnations). Next camethe Kuchipudi classic, Satyabmama, Krishna’s proud queen pen-ning a note to her consort. Swara Pallavi was a prized item,with abstract dance rhyming and a sonorous sargam. A love-lorn khandita nayika ( loquacious heroine) was the theme ofa lighter javali, much akin to Jayadeva’s ashtapadi: Ya hiMadhava, ya hi Keshava…The finale was Tarangam, theinevitable brass-plate dance of Kuchipudi repertoire.

Extracts from interaction with the Odissi guru:

�How much do you permit the regional flavour in yourchoreography?

The regional flavour mostly comes from the gamutof Odia songs which are very mellifluous and are aptlyinterpreted in the choreography.

�But someone like the flautist Hariprasad Chaurasia,who has intimate knowledge of Odisha, feels that thereis a corpus like classical Odissi music…

It’s perhaps fair to say that the Odia songsthat provide the literary support forthe dances don’t add up to spe-cific and distinctive classicalragas in their own rights.

� Once the grammar islearnt , how much inno-vation do you permitamong your disciples?

Once the basic grammarof the dance form is assured, I’m all for innova-tions: either with the theme or with presentation.

Extracts from interaction with the Kuchipudiguru:

�How much lokadharmi (catering to pop-ular appeal) dance does your Kuchipudi per-mit?

One must realise that Kuchipudi, likeother classical forms, are originally fromlokadharmi roots, and classical grammar hasbeen evolved only later on by thecognoscente. The roots still remainYakshagan and Bhagavat Mela.

�How was the classical grammar con-structed?

My guru Vempati China Satyam and,following him, I have drawn the grammarentirely from Natya Shastra and AbhinayaDarpana.

�Yet some abhinaya does tend to be playing to thegallery…

I don’t agree. In fact, Kuchipudi, with its strong male dancelineage, is opposed to lokadnarmi, unlike, say, hand gesturesin Jaipur gharana of Kathak.

Choreography in dance hasevolved rapidly all over the

world. Methods of composition varyradically — some choreographersusing their dancers’ improvisations asraw material, others devising everymovement prior to rehearsal. SomeWestern choreographers radicallychanged the context for choreogra-phy in their attitude to music anddecor as coincidental (rather than col-laborative or supportive) to dance, intheir employment of chance methodsin dance composition and organisa-tion, and in their use of non-theatri-cal performance-space. Some othersbecame leading exponents of classi-cal or abstract dance; and yet othersproduced major representationalworks of choreography.

The only absolute rules in chore-ography today appear to be that itshould impose order upon dancebeyond the level of pure improvisa-tion and that it should shape dancein the three dimensions of space and

the fourth dimension of time, aswell as according to the poten-tial of the human body. Earlymodern dance in the West

introduced new elements ofmovement and expression.

Some choreographic worksemphasised more naturalisticstyles and more potent theatri-cal image than had others root-

ing for classicism. Since then,choreographic forms have variedwidely between the poles of represen-tation and abstraction.

As was evident from the recent-ly-held IIC Spring Festival — Passingon a Tradition, Guru and Disciple, thetwo opposites, namely, representationand abstraction, were most clearlydefined in Indian classical dances asnritya and nritta respectively. Thiscame out most vividly in guru GeetaChandran’a corpus at her insti-tution Natya Vriksha, ablyrepresented by SnehaChakradhar. Withmusic composedby the talentedS u d h aRaghunathan,Sneha beganwith the poetNirula’s famouspoem: Vasant Aayset in raga VasnatVahar. The cuckoo-calls, the peacock’sprances and the floralexuberance of thevernal season camethrough in her nrityavery well. Next was anelaborate varnam inraga Carnatic Kafi, inalternate nritya and nrit-ta, in picturesque chore-ography. Then there wasa padam, in raga Suruti,to present in nritya aKhandita Nayika( q u e r -ulous heroine):throwing away herfaithless lover. Herfinal item, in contrast,was a brilliant tillana inpure nritta.

Shivalika Katana, disciple of theKathak-guru Prerana Shrimali, tookthe stage next and did ample justiceto the preference for nritta in herJaipur legacy. Her unusual openingwas a hymn — Chandra Chandrey,Surya Suriye… by Guru Arjan Singhfrom the 10th Skanda of GuruGranth Sahab, with competence.Her absolute forte was tatkar (foot-work) in her nritta. For instance, hergat bhav, gat nikash and padhant wereall well-executed, needing her devot-ed attention to abhinaya on thenritya front.

Extracts from interaction withthe Bharatanatyam music composer:�Does the dance-form keep gain-ing from the rich Carnatic litera-ture?

Absolutely, all the time. I’vemyself been able to add music tosome exquisite poetry for the dance-repertoire

�Has Hindustani classical musicbeen made use of?

Since I’m brought up in theNorth, I’ve set a lot of Hindi poetryto music for broadening the dance-horizon. I’ve done these songs inHindustani ragas, utilising more ofmeend (glides) and less of Carnaticgamaka (oscillations) in the process.

�Have new themes been added toahitya through your efforts?

The very advantage of being inNorth India has been to look for newpastures in northern literature: overand above the common Carnaticcorpus.

Extracts from interaction withthe Kathak guru:�What’s the kind of choreograph-ic training you recommend?

In learning, I whole-heartedlyrecommend: Deeksha-Shiksha-Pareeksha (initiation-education-eval-uation) in that order. Having beengroomed by the celebrated guruKundanlal Gangani in Jaipur gha-rana, I consider myself still in theShiksha stage, with all the potentialfor Pareeksha lying open before me.

�Kathak dancers still prefer a lec-dem mode to a set sequence intheir performance…

It has been a very distinctive tra-dition to talk about one’s choreogra-phy to the viewers. Even notedBharatanatyam dancers like AlarmelValli, Rama Vaidyanathan andMalavika Sarukkai introduce theiritems to the audience.

�Does your approach not takeaway the freshness of fully-choreographed items?

On the contrary, it leavesopen a huge scope for inno-vation. You’ll be surprised to

know how many times aKathak dancer appearson stage with a new per-

cussionist and herannouncement

is the onlyclue that the

latter hasabout what’s to come.

The ongoing Mela Phulkari IIIis put together by Kirandeep

Kaur and Harinder Singh ofConcept 1469 and art historianAlka Pande, along with talentedartists, designers, photographers,craftsmen bring in their ownreading of Punjab, the land ofPhulkari. Textile designer andartist, Gopika Nath’s A Song ontheir Lips and a Needle to Thread,displays continuing embroiderytraditions of Punjab through aphoto collage. Celebrated pho-tographer Bandeep Singh show-cases his representations, whichwere shot in Sangrur, a sleepytown which was once one of theprincely states of India. Chananis a garment installation bydesigner Anjali Kalia, inspiredfrom the essence of Punjabthrough the various eras rangingfrom the emergence of Sikhismto contemporary interpretationsof the same. I Am Punjab/ Am IPunjab by Anupa Dasguptaremarks on the socio-culturalperspectives of Punjab, past andcontemporary.

Speaking about the event,Alka Pande says, “Mela Phulkariis not just an exhibition but a

concept which I have beenexploring with workshop 1469and collaborating with HarinderSingh and Kirandeep Kaur, thedriving force of the Project.Mela Phulkari are twin con-cepts celebrating the creativeenergy and the syncretic cultureof Punjab. It has a particularfocus on the craft traditionswhich reveal the gender identi-ty and politics of the women ofPunjab.” She elaborates, “Theidea of Mela Phulkari is totake the Brand Phulkari toanother level through theinterrogation of the craft ofphulkari. The socio culturalfabric of the state, the vibran-cy, the myths and legends, thestories of women, and thecomplexity of a woman'sdreams of rural Punjab whichare being transformed with therapid economics of develop-ment.”

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Dwyane Bravo returned a four-wick-et haul that included wickets of big-hitting David Miller and Glenn

Maxwell as new-entrants Gujarat Lionsrestricted Kings XI Punjab to 161 for sixin their Indian Premier League (IPL)match, here on Monday.

Invited to bat, Punjab openers MuraliVijay (42) and Manan Vohra (38) put on78 runs in 8.2 overs to lay a very strongfoundation for a big score but other bats-men failed to capitalise.

Ravindra Jadeja (2/30) removed boththe openers but it was West Indies' seam-er Bravo (4/22) who turned it around forthe Lions by dismissing both Miller andMaxwell in space of three balls in the 12thover. Punjab struggled badly after that andhad it not been for Marcus Stoinis' 33-runknock they would have struggled to go pastevent 150-run mark.

Praveen Kumar was impressive as heswung the ball nicely but Pradeep Sangwanwas taken to task by Vijay.

Vijay was cautious initially but openedhis arms to good effect after getting his eyein. He lofted Sangwan for a six over long-on and followed it up with an exquisitecover drive.

Vijay hit three fours and a six off left-arm medium pacer Pradeep Sangwan,while Vohra also made merry, hittingJames Faulkner for three fours in the fifthover. The Punjab right-hander wasdropped at his personal score of eight byBravo, who ran from the deep midwick-et in the fifth over.

He was in such good touch that hedrove even good length balls effortlesslyto the boundary ropes. He did not slogand played proper cricket shots at a goodpace. Vohra welcomed left-arm pacemanJames Faulkner with a crushing drive butwas dropped next ball when he lofted theball in the air only to see Bravo spill thechance.

Faulkner conceded 14 runs in his firstover and the hosts raced to 50 inside sixovers. Spinner Ravindra Jadeja managedto stop the run flow from one end and alsobroke the opening partnership by dismiss-ing Vohra, whose inside edge was easilytaken by Dinesh Karthik.

Stage was set for fireworks and incame Punjab skipper Miller. Jadeja thoughstruck again by sending back Vijay, whomissed the line of the ball to be bowled.

Bravo rattled the Punjab camp by dis-missing Glenn Maxwell (2) and Miller(15) in space of three balls.

Stoinis and Wriddhiman Saha added55 runs for the fifth wicket to repair the

innings but the Punjab innings never gotimpetuous to have a imposing total on theboard.

Bravo again struck twice when hecame to bowl the last over of the innings,getting Saha and Stoinis in successiveballs. He could have got a five-for butSarabjit Ladda dropped Axar Patel in thelast ball.

���� &5�#!B4�4

Desperate to break their title jinx,Virat Kohli-led Royal Challengers

Bangalore would be hoping for a pos-itive start to their campaign in theninth season of the Indian PremierLeague against Sunrisers Hyderabad,here on Tuesday.

Despite having a formidableside, RCB have never won the IPLtitle since the tournament's inceptionin 2008. On two occasions — 2009and 2011 — they came closest to thetitle but ended up second best onboth the times.

Leaving behind all the off-fieldcontroversies surrounding formerfranchise chairman Vijay Mallya, thistime around RCB would be hoping

to break the jinx under the lead-ership of Kohli, who has been

in sublime form.Kohli, who is considered

as one of the best batsman inthe world at present, is in

supreme form and had amassed273 runs in five ICC World T20matches to bag player of the tourna-ment award.

Kohli would be eyeing to carryon the good form in the IPL for hisfranchise, which also has some of thebig names of the game in its battingdepartment.

With the likes of Kohli, big-hit-ting Chris Gayle, dangerous AB deVilliers and seasoned Shane Watsonup its rank, RCB possesses a mightybatting unit which on its day can tearapart any bowling outfit.

Just-retired Australian Watsonwould be hoping to prove his worthby producing an all-round show afterhe became the costliest player in thisyear's IPL auction. He was fetched byRCB for a whopping �9.5 crore.

Having lost the services of theirmain strike bowler Mitchell Starc,New Zealand's Adam Milne is like-ly to lead the bowling attack in the

company of Kane Richardson,Harshal Patel, Sreenath Arvind andVarun Aaron.

But RCB would be missing theservices of West Indies legs-spinnerSamuel Badree for the first fewmatches as he is yet to recover froma shoulder injury suffered during theWorld T20.

Sunrisers Hyderabad, on theother hand, have been a major dis-appointment ever since their debutin 2013 when they reached the play-off stages.

Sunrisers would be hoping to rideon Yuvraj Singh, skipper DavidWarner and Ashish Nehra's experi-ence to come good this year. But thethey may miss the services of Yuvrajearly on as the southpaw is injured.Besides, Sunrisers fortune will alsodepend on the performances of EoinMorgan, Kane Williamson and TrentBoult, who are capable enough to winmatches on their own.

Nehra, who has been impressivein World T20 for India, will be spear-heading Sunrisers' bowling attack inthe company of Boult andBhuvneshwar Kumar.

���� &5�#!B4�4

Australian all-rounder ShaneWatson is looking forward to

playing alongside Indian swash-buckler Virat Kohli in the IPL andsaid he would be comfortable bat-ting at any position for RoyalChallengers Bangalore.

Watson said it is a "huge buzz"for him to play with Kohli, againstwhom he had a few battles on thefield. "It is exciting to be playingleagues like Big Bash, PakistanSuper League, the IPL. I get theprivilege to play with a number ofplayers against whom I playedinternational cricket. For example,I will get to play with Virat andthat's a huge buzz for me. I have hadhad a few battles with him on thefield and always had the utmostrespect for him," he said.

Watson said that he and ChrisGayle had few run-ins in the past,but have buried their differences forthe sake of playing for RCB.

"It's amazing how the worldworks and how life works. Chris

Gayle and myself have certainly hada few run-ins throughout ourinternational careers. The day I gotpicked up by RCB in the auction,I saw Chris during the PSL. Thatwas the day we had to bury thehatchet (laughs), knowing thatI was going to be playing withhim," he said.

Gayle and Watson have hadon-field clashes in the past. Theyonce clashed during a Test matchat Perth in 2009 when the mightyWest Indian was given an angrysend-off by the Aussie, and later inan interview, Gayle was quoted tohave said, "He (Watson) only looksbig and strong but he is soft."

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The Supreme Court on Mondaysaid that the Constitutional right

to form an association and to inde-pendently run its affairs is a rightavailable to citizens and not for anapex cricket body such as the Boardfor Control of Cricket in India(BCCI) which comprises of privatecricket clubs.

"The BCCI does not consist of cit-izens but Associations. So if thestructure of BCCI is to be changed,it will not violate Article 19(1)(c) giv-ing right to form associations as you(BCCI) are an association. You canonly claim violation of contractuallaws as violation of Article 19(1)(c) isa right available only to citizens," saida bench of Chief Justice TS Thakurand Justice FM Ibrahim Kalifulla.

The observations came inresponse to an argument made by oneof the cricket clubs — Cricket Club ofIndia, one of the founding membersof BCCI. Appearing for CCI, senioradvocate Shyam Divan opposed theone state one vote norm floated byLodha panel as doing so will automat-

ically eliminate voting right of CCI.When Divan argued that mem-

bership, voting rights of a private reg-istered society must be left to the con-cerned body and should not be inter-fered by Courts, the bench reiteratedthat the effort by Lodha panel was toinspire confidence and provide cred-ibility to the game. "The recommen-dations aimed at making functions ofBCCI transparent, objective andresponsive to the needs of the game.

It is for this purpose of streamliningBCCI; the Committee felt the need toremove undeserving persons so as toimprove the system." The benchadded, "On principle, you have toaccept that the purpose of the wholeexercise starting from the judgmentdelivered (in January 2015) was meantto achieve a very laudable and deserv-ing result to make BCCI a transpar-ent, open, credible, objective andresponsive body to inspire confidentand credible system and to achievethat objective we will be very carefulthat the recommendations are notviolative of fundamental right guar-anteed under Article 19(1) (c)." Thehearing will continue next week.

The bench questioned the CCI foropposing the one-state, one-vote for-mula, asking it whether after anobjective assessment of Lodha com-mittee recommendations, it can saythere is no reason why it has no rightto vote.

"Territory is big and more impor-tant than to say why it can't have theright to vote," the bench said, addingthat the purpose of the exercise was"to streamline, for which it necessary

to remove undeserving rights isenjoyed by certain persons."

"If we have to go by you, itappears that the continuance of BCCIis beyond repair," the bench said,adding that BCCI was not a privatebody and was accountable andanswerable.

"Even if you consider BCCI a pri-vate entity, it conducts a public func-tion and Lodha committee has exam-ined what changes are required andwhat actually in it can inspire confi-dence," the bench said.

While the CCI was lauding aboutits initiative and infrastructure for thedevelopment of cricket, the benchasked some searching questions aboutfinance for its functioning.

"Why are you not receiving anymoney from BCCI for promoting thegame? What is your income for fiveyears? Do you have the balance sheetto show and how the other activitiesare carried out? We will have an ideawhy you are not getting financial sup-port from BCCI," the bench asked andadded "it is very rare to find that yougo on with cricket activity and youneed no support of finance."

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Royal Challengers Bangalorecaptain Virat Kohli on Monday

remembered former franchisedirector Vijay Mallya for pickinghim in the team and providing anopportunity to rub shoulders withthe world's best players.

"My association with RCB hasbeen special as it has been excitingfrom the first season. I was chosento play for RCB by Mr Mallya. Ihave learnt so much and getting toplay with the world's best players.I am welcomed here warmly, I lovethis franchise, the city, fans, deepconnection," he said.

Mallya, who has defaulted inloans in excess of �9000 crore, isfacing probe by various investiga-tive agencies. The 60-year-oldbought RCB in 2008 but the pop-ular franchise has not been ableto win a single Indian PremierLeague title in eight attempts.

Mallya had resigned from the

post of Director of RoyalChallengers Sports PrivateLimited (RCSPL) before anoint-ing United Spirits LimitedPresident and Chief MarketingOfficer Amrit Thomas as the newchairman of RCB.

Replying to a query, Kohlisaid even though the team has the

feelings of not lifting the title forthe last eight seasons, the teamtakes pride in being among thetop three teams.

"There is always a feeling thatwe haven't been able to lift thetitle having been runners-uptwice. That is one hurdle wehaven't been able to cross despitewanting to, but as a team, we havebeen among top three," he said.

On Mitchel Starc's absence,Kohli said the team would missthe Aussie pacer, but they haveShane Watson who is economicalas he thinks like a batsman, andalso Harshal Patel, Adam Milneto form a good bowling attack.

Asked about the batting spotsof Shane Watson and AB deVilliers, Kohli said: "We havediscussed but would not like todisclose. We got so many options.Getting the right field, where tobat. We need to find the comfortlevel ... Conditions and teams weare playing," he said.

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Jordan Spieth couldn't bear towatch, turning his head beforeanother shot splashed into Rae's

Creek. Moments later, DannyWillett looked up at the large leader-board at the 15th green and could-n't believe what he saw.

This Masters turned into ashocker on Sunday, right down tothe green jacket ceremony.

Spieth was in Butler Cabin,just like everyone expected when hetook a five-shot lead to the back nineat Augusta National. Only he wasthere to present it to Willett, whoseized on Spieth's collapse with amagnificent round that made hima Masterschampion.

"You dream about these kind ofdays and things like that, but forthem to happen ... it's still mind-boggling," Willett said.

It was a nightmare for Spieth,especially the par-3 12th hole.Clinging to a one-shot lead, he puttwo shots into the water and madea quadruple-bogey 7, falling threeshots behind and never catching up.Instead of making history withanother wire-to-wire victory, hejoined a sad list of players who threwthe Masters away.

"Big picture? This one willhurt," Spieth said.

It was a comeback that ranksamong the most unlikely in the 80years of theMasters on so manylevels. Willett wasn't even sure hewould play this year because his wifewas due - on Sunday, no less — withtheir first child. She gave birth toZachariah James on March 30,sending him on his amazing jour-ney to his first major.

"We talk about fate, talk abouteverything else that goes with it,"Willett said. "It's just a crazy, crazyweek."

He became the first player fromEngland in a green jacket since NickFaldo in 1996, and the parallels arebizarre. Faldo shot a 5-under 67 andovercame a six-shot deficit when GregNorman collapsed around AmenCorner. Willett also closed with a 67,with no bogeys on his card, to matchthe best score of the weekend.

Coming off two straight bogeysto start the back nine, Spieth stillhad the lead when he went at theflag with a 9-iron on the par-3 12th

and saw it bounce off the slope intothe water. From the drop zone, hehit a wedge so fat that he turned hishead and removed his cap, notwanting to look. He got up-and-down from the back bunker, andsuddenly faced a three-shot deficit.

"I actually heard everyonegrunting and moaning or whatev-er they do to the scoreboard whenthe scores go up," Willett said. "Heobviously had a terrible run, whichbasically put it right back in anyone'shands. And fortunately enough, Iwas able to seize the opportunities."

He finished at 5-under 283 fora three-shot victory over Spieth andLee Westwood (69).

Spieth was trying to becomeonly the fourth back-to-back win-ner of the Masters, and the first play-er in 156 years of championship golfto go wire-to-wire in successiveyears in a major. And it lookedinevitable when he ran off fourstraight birdies to end the front nineand build a five-shot lead.

This didn't look like one of thoseMasters that would start on the backnine Sunday. But it did — quickly.

Spieth made bogey from thebunker on No. 10. A tee shot intothe trees on the 11th, missing an 8-foot par putt. He still had a two-shotlead and only needed to get past thedangerous par-3 12th to settle him-self, especially with two par 5s infront of him. But he couldn't. Noteven close.

The turnaround left him dazed.Spieth was five shots ahead on

the 10th tee and three shots behindwhen he walked to the 13th tee.

"It was a really tough 30 minutes

for me that hopefully I never expe-rience again," Spieth said.

Willett poured it on with a shotinto the 14th to about 4 feet, and atee shot on the par-3 16th to 7 feetfor a birdie that stretched his lead.Spieth still had a chance when hebirdied both par 5s to get within twoshots, and then hit his tee shot to 8feet behind the hole on the 16th. Buthe missed the birdie putt, and whenhe hit into a bunker and failed to

save par on the 17th, it was over.Spieth had led after seven

straight rounds at the Masters, astreak that ended in a most cruelfashion. He shot 41 on the back ninefor a 73, and was runner-up for thesecond time in three years.

Westwood, playing with Willett,made eagle on the 15th hole to getwithin one shot of the lead, and thenthree-putted the 16th hole to fallaway. Dustin Johnson also had anoutside chance, even after four puttsfor a double bogey on the fifth hole.He missed eagle putts from 15 feetand 20 feet on the par 5s on the backnine, and then took double bogey onthe 17th. Johnson closed with a 71and tied for fourth with Paul Casey(67) and J.B. Holmes (68).

Smylie Kaufman, one shot outof the lead in his Masters debut,closed with an 81.

Willett moves to No. 9 in theworld. He returns home to Englandwith a gift like no other for hisinfant son.

��(����8���(���3�Indian golfer Anirban Lahiri

was pulled back by a disastrousfront-nine but still managed to bet-ter his previous best by signing offtied 42nd with a three-over 75 in thefinal round of the 80th MastersTournament here.

Lahiri ended with a total of 11-over 299 to finish tied 42nd and bet-ter his previous best of T-49 last year.

Lahiri, starting the day at five-over and in tied-38th place, court-ed disaster on the third with a triplebogey and had further bogeys onfourth and seventh.

But he played his last 11 holessuperbly with two birdies and restof them pars to finish with 75.

Lahiri is planning to take twoweeks off and practice with hiscoach, Vijay Divecha, who arrivedover the weekend.

"The two triples (one each onfirst and last days) and not beingable to score off the Par-fives costme something like 10 shots andthat is the difference being in Top-10 or somewhere in the 40s. Thatshould explain it all. I played wellin patches and that was notenough," Lahiri said. Lahiri is plan-ning to take two weeks off and prac-tice with his coach, Vijay Divecha,who arrived over the weekend.

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With medal hopes at stake,a scrappy India will have

to lift their game by leaps andbounds when they take onsub-continental rivals Pakistanin the 25th Sultan Azlan ShahCup hockey tournament hereon Tuesday in what promisesto be an intense encounter.

Five-time winners of thetournament, India were bronzemedalists last year and areeager to stay in medal con-tention. But the Sardar Singh-led side, which features sever-al youngsters, will have to raiseits game by many fold after sur-viving a torrid time againstCanada on Sunday.

World champions Australiaare leading the standings witha maximum nine points fromthree consecutive victories,while defending championsNew Zealand are on eightpoints from four matches.

The intense hockey rivalrybetween the two teams hasalways attracted immense inter-est. Despite slumping from theirposition as top hockey nations,an India-Pakistan encounternever fails to be a showstopperat any tournament.

The silver jubilee edition ofthe Sultan Azlan Shah Cup willsee the spotlight focused on thesub-continental encountereven as Australia take on titleholders New Zealand in anoth-er fixture the same day.

"The whole of India iswaiting for the next game, butI keep telling the boys that thisis just another game," said

India's chief coach RoelantOltmans.

"We should maintain focuson our game just like in anyother match. We have a toughschedule starting with thematch against Pakistan," saidthe Dutchman.

Pakistan coach KhwajaJunaid, a former international,wants his players to displaytheir skills and control theemotions when they play India.

"The match against Indiawill be a turnover game. Theteam that manages to defendthe counter-attacks better willhave an edge. We are now try-ing to rebuild our squad. Whatis important is that we followour game-strategy, play in astructure and show unity in thefield," he said.

Junaid said Pakistan hadbrought eight young playersfrom the squad that recentlywon the South Asian Gamesgold medal defeating India inthe final. India did not field itsmain squad in the South AsianGames and the top players werethen playing in the cash-richHockey India League and wereallowed to skip tournament.

The last match in a top-notch event featuring full-strength Indian and Pakistanisides was in the Hockey WorldLeague Semifinals in Antwerplast year, which ended in a 2-2 draw. Both teams want toput all that in the backgroundon Tuesday and raise theirlevel for a fine exhibition ofattractive hockey. Live on Star Sports from3:30pm.

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Manchester City is tryingto harness the star

power of PSG forwardsZlatan Ibrahimovic andAngel Di Maria in a late bidto fill the stadium.

City told The AssociatedPress on Monday afternoonthat it had 1,595 remainingseats out of 53,045 forTuesday's second leg of theCL quarterfinals. The clubwebsite was still showingavailability in many parts ofthe Etihad Stadium.

There's still much to playfor, with City holding a slightadvantage after securing a 2-2 draw in Paris.

City manager ManuelPellegrini is trying to end hiscareer with the club in Mayby delivering the club's firstEuropean title. Winningcould also be the only routeback into the competitionnext season when PepGuardiola is in charge, withCity's place in the top four ofthe EPL not yet secured.

It's the latest sign of anuneasy relationship with the

Champions League and com-petition organizer UEFA,which sanctioned City andPSG because their ownersspent too much to strength-en their squads.

Throughout the seasonCity has booed theChampions League anthemwhen it is played beforegames. But it has coincidedwith City's best run inEurope's elite competition.

Here are some things toknow about Tuesday's match:

����������������PSG coach Laurent

Blanc is debating whether torisk starting central mid-fielder Marco Verratti.

The Italy international istrying to recover from agroin injury that has kepthim sidelined since Feb. 20.

Blanc is desperate to

have him back given howcheaply PSG gave the ballaway in midfield in the firstleg, with both of City's goalsstemming from sloppy mis-takes near the halfway line.

With midfielder BlaiseMatuidi suspended for thegame, Blanc has an evengreater need for Verratti.One solution could be tobring Verratti on in thesecond half.

���?���(�E�����With center half David

Luiz suspended, the versatileMarquinhos is expected toline up in central defense.

Marquinhos was left outof the side in the first leg tomake way for the return ofSerge Aurier. The defenderwas right back into the sidefollowing a club suspensionfor an expletive-laced rant onsocial media where he insult-ed Blanc and teammates.

Marquinhos was a regu-lar in Aurier's absence andfelt he should have started atright back instead of him.Blanc's decision to selectAurier instead — given thecircumstances and givenAurier's lack of match fitness— faced criticism in France.

&������ �&!City will be without

captain Vincent Kompanyafter the veteran defenderfailed to recover from aright knee injury after amonth on the sidelines.

In other match, RealMadrid will face Wofsburg.

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Six summers ago, Saina Nehwalhad stood at the podium here

with the gold medal danglingaround her neck and the Indian acewill hope to relive those momentsby clinching the title once againwhen the Singapore Super Seriesbegins here on Tuesday.

Saina has played only threetimes in the last five editions here atthe Singapore Indoor Stadium butshe could not go beyond the quar-terfinals. The Indian will look tocross that mark this time aroundwhen she starts her campaign againstUSA's Beiwen Zhang on Wednesday.

World No. 8 Saina, who had togo through a nagging injury sincelate last year, has reached the semi-finals in the last three tournaments

— Swiss Grand Prix Gold, IndiaOpen Super Series and MalaysiaSuper Series Premier.

The tournament will start withthe qualifiers on Tuesday while themain draw will commence only aday after when besides Saina, P VSindhu, H S Prannoy, Ajay Jayaramand K Srikanth will take the courtwith an eye on the World ranking.

Two-time bronze medallist atWorld Championship, Sindhu, whoreached the quarterfinals in the lasttwo events at India and Malaysia,will open her campaign againstBusanan Ongbumrungphan.

In men's singles, Swiss Openchampion Prannoy, who is lookingto seal an Olympic berth ahead ofthe May 3 deadline, will have a tow-ering task of getting across WorldNo. 1 and top seed Chen Long of

China in the opening round.The World No. 22 Indian had

lost to the two-time All England andWorld champion, Long in straightgames during the 2014 India Open.

World No. 24 Ajay Jayaram,who is also in fray for an Olympicberth, will face Marc Zwiebler, acouple of weeks after the Germanended his India Open campaign.

Srikanth, who was ousted in thefirst round in the last two events, willsquare off against Chinese Taipei'sHsu Jen Hao. The Indian has beat-en him twice in the last two years at2014 Denmark Open and 2015World Championship.

World No. 15 combo of JwalaGutta and Ashwini Ponnappa willmeet Korean Go Ah Ra and YooHae Won in the opening round ofthe women's doubles competition.

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