3 !˘-˜.)>?/ !ˇ#ˇ!#$ %!&’()* ˘ˇ ˆ˙ +c+ .ˆ$.5+ ˚+ .2 ;:;$: .˚ˆ+229˚a ... was...

16
A pprehending gang wars at the Choudwar Circle jail here, the State jail authorities on Monday shifted Sushant Dhalsamant to the Jharpada jail in Bhubaneswar and his younger brother Sushil to the Baleswar District Jail. The mafia brothers along with 20 of their associates were lodged at the Choudwar jail ever since they were arrested in January. The jail also houses many members of the mafia Tito group of Kendrapada dis- trict. Both the groups are at log- gerheads since long. Citing law and order situ- ations and to prevent show- down between the rival gang members, the Commissionerate Police had last week obtained permission from a lower court here to shift the Dhalsamant brothers to two separate jails. However, no decision has yet been taken to split the Tito gang members. While being shifted to their new jails, the Dhalsamant broth- ers shouted at the gathering mediapersons outside the jail urging them to save the people of Cuttack from the onslaughts of the State Government. “People of Cuttack city are insecure at their (Government) hands. Please save them,” Sushil told reporters while being shift- ed. Similarly, when Sushant arrived at the Bhubaneswar jail, he also made similar pleas to the waiting reporters. Meanwhile, a ruling BJD woman corporator of Cuttack, Ranjita Biswal, appeared for the second time before the IO of the Dhalsmant brothers’ cases at the Mahila police station here on the day as she was sum- moned by the IO to cooperate with the police for the purpose of investigation. Biswal was an executive member of the now-defunct youth organisation, which was floated and headed by Sushil for last two years. “I respond- ed to the IO’s notice and answered a queries of the policemen to the best of my knowledge of the facts and cir- cumstances,” she said. Another city BJD corpora- tor, Chiranjay Sahu, also appeared before the IO at the Chauliaganj police station. Chiranjay’s brother Antaryami was arrested last month by the police allegedly for his associ- ation with criminal activities of Dhalsamant brothers. R ayagada district Collector Jagannath Mohanty on Monday admitted a shocking incident of carrying a pregnant woman of the Kalyansinghpur area on a charpoy to hospital due to unavailability of an ambulance on Sunday. The Collector said that by the time the ambulance reached the village, the patient had already been carried to the hos- pital. “The Sub-Collector has conducted an investigation. We have asked the concerned authorities to ensure that ambu- lances reach such areas on time and have advised such patients to go to hospital as soon as they get slight indication of labour pain,” he said. According to sources, though family mem- bers dialed up 108 and 102 Ambulance services after the woman had labour pain, no ambulance turned up on time. Then, the family members pre- pared a charpoy of bamboo and thick blanket and carried the woman on it to the nearby Community Health Centre. The woman’s travails didn’t end there as there were no doctors to attend to the patient for half an hour till an Asha Worker came to her rescue. A day after seizing five vehi- cles, including a luxurious one, belonging to arrest former Sanakhemundi Congress MLA Ramesh Jena in Brahmapur, the Commissionerate Police on Monday seized one more vehi- cle allegedly belonging to him from the Mancheswar area in Bhubaneswar. Though the ownership of the vehicle, a Mahindra Scorpio, was yet to be ascer- tained, police claimed that it is Jena’s. The assertion by the police came after it nabbed a gang of four dacoits from Naharkanta in Cuttack on Monday morn- ing. During the seizure, the police came across a photo- graph in which one of the gang members, Santosh Behera, was seen posing with two vehicles of Jena. The suspicion about Jena’s links with Behera, who also hails from Brahmapur, grew as one of the photographed vehi- cles was among those seized by police on Sunday. Police have so far seized five vehicles belonging to the former MLA, together worth more than 2 crore in cash, from different parts of the State. Brahmapur Addition Superintendent of Police Trinath Patel said, “A Volkswagen Jetta was recovered in a raid in Bhubaneswar. A Lexus bearing a fake registra- tion number was also found there. The ownership of the vehicles has not been estab- lished yet.” Meanwhile, a Brahmapur Municipal Corporation (BMC) Council meeting was rocked on Monday by Congress corpora- tors over the issue of frequent police summons to a party Corporator, R Murali Mohan. As soon as the meeting started, Congress corporators raised the issue of police sum- moning Mohan. They shouted slogans against the Mayor and the BJD Government and later boycotted the meeting. Meanwhile, the police are inspecting various tender files of the BMC suspecting involve- ment of Jena in tender-fixing. All tenders of the BMC over the last one year are under scanner, sources said. The police are looking into the role of Jena and his aides in the tenders of the BMC. The cops are also prob- ing whether the tender process- es were fairly conducted. Sources said three police officers, four to five Corporators, block officers along with some builders and contractors are likely to be questioned during the investi- gation. “For now, two BMC offi- cials and a few builders of Brahmapur are under the police scanner. After inspection of files, necessary action will be taken up,” source said. Though a notice had been sent to a builder for interrogation, he has reportedly absconded. In another development, a police team including a senior DSP and the Inspector of the Brahmapur police has been formed for interroga- tion of Jena. T he sixth session (Budget Session) of the 15th Odisha Legislative Assembly would begin from Tuesday. While the Opposition is set to raise several issues, includ- ing the alleged link of ruling party leaders with the gangster Dhalsamant brothers, irregu- larities in the distribution of ration cards, tender fixing, to corner the Government, the ruling BJD on Monday finalised its strategies to counter the Opposition. The legislature party meet- ing of the BJD which was held under the chairmanship of party supremo and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik came up with a number of issues, like recent drive against the crim- inalised elements, neglect to the State in the 2016-17 Central budget and slashing of Central assistance for a number of wel- fare schemes to take on the opposition parties. “This Budget Session is very important. For the first time we are going to present the State Budget after the Union Budget. This will help us in preparing our Budget accurately,” said Patnaik after the meeting. “The recent drive against the criminalised elements by my Government has earned widespread public apprecia- tion. But the opposition polit- ical parties with oblique motives are making serious attempts to derail this process by unnecessarily politicising the issue. I believe, they want to give legitimacy to such crim- inalised elements,” said Patnaik. Patnaik asked the party MLAs to strongly oppose this move by the opposition inside and outside the house. Issues like delay in drought aid, Phailin dues, non alloca- tion of funds for construction of five medical colleges, Pollavaram and inclusion of Odisha in the East Coast Economic Corridor and denial of Special Categorey Status, insignificant increase under Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sechi Yojana, reduction in allocation for education sector, allocation for Tribal Welfare under Article-275(1) and TSP, and mismatch in the growth of net tax revenue to the Centre and tax devolution to the States in the Union Budget would be raised. T he State Cabinet on Monday approved a pro- posal to constitute an Odisha Food Commission as per the National Food Security Act (NFAS) 2013. The Cabinet meeting held under chairmanship of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik also approved six other proposals. As per the approval, a new rule ‘The Odisha State Food Commission Rules, 2016 would be approved for con- stitution of the Food Commission. The rules would deal with appointment of Chairperson and other mem- bers and staff of the commis- sion. The commission would monitor and evaluate the implementation of the NFSA Act and advice Government for its effective execution as well. Besides, it would hear appeals against order of the District Grievance Redressal Officers (DGROs) and inquire either suo motu or on receipt of complaint into violation of entitlements provided under the Act. The Revenue and Disaster Management Department’s proposal for creation of 142 new posts in the Odisha Administrative Service Group -A (JB) Cadre was approved with a revision. While the pre- restructured cadre strengths of the OAS, Group-A(JB) was 854, in increased to 996 after the revision. The Cabinet approved a proposal to nominate the Sulabh International Social Service Organisation (SISSO) as the implementing agency for Design, Build, Operation, Maintain and Transfer (DBOMT) basis for 5,957 hybrid toilets in nine AMRUT schemes covering nine ULBs such as Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Brahmapur, Sambalpur, Rourkela, Puri, Baleswar, Bhadrak and Baripada. Around 45 per cent of urban population of the State would be covered under this facility. The Finance Department’s proposal to ament the Orissa Subordinate Finance Service (Local Fund Audit) Rules, 1995 vis-a’-vis promotion of Ministerial staffs to post of Auditors. As per the amend- ed rules, a Ministerial Staff with minimum qualification of graduation and under age of 54 would be eligible for such a promotion. Earlier, matric was the minimum age limit and there was no age bar. Further, both direct recruits and promotee audi- tors would henceforth take practical food training and computer training. A new rule, ‘Odisha Village Agricultural Workers (Recruitment and Training) Rules, 2016’ to create a com- petent cadre of VAWs was approved by the Cabinet. The new rules provide for recruit- ment of VAWs by the Odisha Sub-ordinate Staff Selection Commission. While mini- mum educational qualifica- tion of +2 Science or +2 Vocations Course in Agriculture has been pre- scribed, those possessing Diploma in Agriculture Polytechnic will be awarded 5 per cent extra marks of the marks secured in the written examination. Besides, the Cabinet approved a proposal to amend the Odisha Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act (FRBM), 2015 to enable the State for additional annual borrowing of 0.5 per cent. The State ful- fills two required conditions to get the enhanced borrow- ing limit of 3.5 per cent of the GSDP. This apart, the Cabinet approved a proposal to amend the Odisha Electricity (Duty) Act 1961. The amendment is necessary to cover up all the generating units, whether IPP or CPP, on the same footing for assessment of electricity duty on self consumption. The amendment will enable the Government to cover the electricity duty from all the generating units having no record of generation/con- sumption. I t may be good news on India’s growth front as wholesale prices remained in the negative zone and contracted for the 16th month in a row by 0.91 per cent in February, while retail inflation added more cheers by easing to a three-month low of 5.18 per cent in the same peri- od as food prices, including vegetables, pulses and fruits became cheaper. Prompting India Inc to press for a rate cut by Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to boost factory output growth, analysts were of view that RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan could be encouraged to take action and drive growth for the country. In the recent Union Budget, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley also hiked annual State spend- ing for the farm sector by 44 per cent for the next fiscal year to over $5 billion and eased import curbs to restrain price rises. As wholesale prices have been contracting since November, subdued prices of certain food items and petroleum products kept the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) inflation at (-) 0.91 per cent in February as against (-) 2.17 per cent a year ago. F inance Minister Arun Jaitley on Monday sought support of the Congress for passage of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) and Bankruptcy Bills but also hit out at party vice-pres- ident Rahul Gandhi for his “fair and lovely” jibe at the Government, saying it reflects a “racist mindset.” Replying to a debate in Lok Sabha on the General Budget 2016-17, he also rejected demands for rollback of 1 per cent excise duty on jewellery saying it was in preparation for unveiling of the GST. The House later passed the Appropriation Bill, completing the first phase of the budgetary exercise for 2016-17. Asserting that India can grow faster in “absence of obstructionism,” Jaitley also responded to an attack on the Government over major loan defaulter Vijay Mallya’s escape from the country, saying there was a “question” as to whether the “legal system” had acted as a “hurdle” in loan recovery and enabled the “escape” of the debt-ridden businessman. Talking about black money, Jaitley referred to the “fair and lovely” comment made by Rahul Gandhi while speaking in the House last week. Without naming the Congress vice-pres- ident, the Finance Minister said, “I have no problem with this phrase, but this phrase is politically incorrect. It shows a racist mindset that what is not fair is not lovely.” He went on to add, “World over, people frown on the use of such a phrase. In any case, I will pass it off as ignorance.” Rahul had used the phrase while alleging that the Government had brought the black money disclosure scheme in the Budget to enable conver- sion of black money into white. Under attack for not pass- ing on benefits of fall in crude prices to consumers, Jaitley said the savings were being used for developing infrastructure to push growth and create jobs, besides enabling oil marketing companies to meet their losses. When Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge said only 50 per cent of gains from low crude oil prices have been passed on to consumers, Jaitley said, “The benefit of reduction in crude oil has been divided into three por- tions. One goes to public sector oil marketing companies. These oil companies make future pur- chases of crude oil and they had incurred losses.” He said at one time, these oil companies were sitting on 30,000 crore losses and that couldn’t have been met by increasing Income-Tax or any other tax. “So, naturally oil companies, which decide the price in the market, would wipe off their losses first, he said. Noting that the global envi- ronment was a challenging one, Jaitley said the country needs to rise above party lines to main- tain the distinction of being the fastest-growing large economy. “We compare ourselves with global standards, we are doing good. But if we compare ourselves with our own stan- dards, we can do better in a more helpful global environ- ment and domestically in absence of an obstructive envi- ronment,” he said. Seeking support of the Congress he said, “The coun- try needs a Bankruptcy Law. Hope the joint committee will soon give its report so that it gives the right of transfer to the management. So that the incompetent can exit, jobs are saved and more competent can take on the businesses”. Talking about the black money disclosure scheme, Jaitley said it was unlike the earlier Voluntary Disclosure of Income Scheme (VDIS) or black bond scheme which favoured black money holders. Under the proposed scheme a declarant will have to pay 30 per cent tax and 15 per cent surcharge and penalty, he said. He referred to the VDIS of 1997 and said under it, no interest, no penalty was imposed and the declarants were permitted to value their assets at 1987 prices.

Upload: ngothien

Post on 03-Jul-2018

219 views

Category:

Documents


0 download

TRANSCRIPT

Page 1: 3 !˘-˜.)>?/ !ˇ#ˇ!#$ %!&’()* ˘ˇ ˆ˙ +C+ .ˆ$.5+ ˚+ .2 ;:;$: .˚ˆ+229˚A ... was arrested last month by the ... a Mahindra Scorpio, was yet to be ascer-tained, ... approved

����������������� �������������� ������������������������ ���� ���������� � � ���� ����������������������� � ������� ��� �������� �������� ���������������������������������� ��� ����� !���������"������������������������������������������ ������� ���������� ������������� � ��������� ���������# ��

����������������������������������������� � �!"�� $ �� �� �� ����������������������� �����%�����& ��������������������'�� �� ��� (������ ����� ���������)����*(!!!�������� �%��� ��# �#

���� �����$� ��������$���%��$� ������ ��&���"'(����� ����+������� �������� ���� �����������������,�������������� ���-� �� �� ���������� ��������� ������� ���� �����%����� ��� ��,��)����������.��� -��� ������ %��� �# �)#

�*���+�,�,�������� �����������������-!�����.���/���� ��+�� ����������������� ��� � ���������������������� %��� ���������� ��� �� ��+&�&���������������������++$���������� ������������� ���� 0������ �#

�������

����� 122+3

Apprehending gang wars atthe Choudwar Circle jail

here, the State jail authorities onMonday shifted SushantDhalsamant to the Jharpada jailin Bhubaneswar and hisyounger brother Sushil to theBaleswar District Jail.

The mafia brothers alongwith 20 of their associates were

lodged at the Choudwar jailever since they were arrested inJanuary. The jail also housesmany members of the mafiaTito group of Kendrapada dis-trict. Both the groups are at log-gerheads since long.

Citing law and order situ-ations and to prevent show-down between the rival gangmembers, theCommissionerate Police had

last week obtained permissionfrom a lower court here to shiftthe Dhalsamant brothers to twoseparate jails. However, nodecision has yet been taken tosplit the Tito gang members.

While being shifted to theirnew jails, the Dhalsamant broth-ers shouted at the gatheringmediapersons outside the jailurging them to save the peopleof Cuttack from the onslaughtsof the State Government.

“People of Cuttack city areinsecure at their (Government)hands. Please save them,” Sushiltold reporters while being shift-ed. Similarly, when Sushantarrived at the Bhubaneswarjail, he also made similar pleasto the waiting reporters.

Meanwhile, a ruling BJDwoman corporator of Cuttack,Ranjita Biswal, appeared for thesecond time before the IO of

the Dhalsmant brothers’ casesat the Mahila police stationhere on the day as she was sum-moned by the IO to cooperatewith the police for the purposeof investigation.

Biswal was an executivemember of the now-defunctyouth organisation, which wasfloated and headed by Sushilfor last two years. “I respond-ed to the IO’s notice andanswered a queries of thepolicemen to the best of myknowledge of the facts and cir-cumstances,” she said.

Another city BJD corpora-tor, Chiranjay Sahu, alsoappeared before the IO at theChauliaganj police station.Chiranjay’s brother Antaryamiwas arrested last month by thepolice allegedly for his associ-ation with criminal activities ofDhalsamant brothers.

����� $+4+5+�+

Rayagada district CollectorJagannath Mohanty on

Monday admitted a shockingincident of carrying a pregnantwoman of the Kalyansinghpurarea on a charpoy to hospital

due to unavailability of anambulance on Sunday.

The Collector said that bythe time the ambulance reachedthe village, the patient hadalready been carried to the hos-pital. “The Sub-Collector hasconducted an investigation. Wehave asked the concernedauthorities to ensure that ambu-lances reach such areas on timeand have advised such patientsto go to hospital as soon as theyget slight indication of labourpain,” he said. According to

sources, though family mem-bers dialed up 108 and 102Ambulance services after thewoman had labour pain, noambulance turned up on time.Then, the family members pre-pared a charpoy of bamboo andthick blanket and carried thewoman on it to the nearbyCommunity Health Centre.

The woman’s travails didn’tend there as there were nodoctors to attend to the patientfor half an hour till an AshaWorker came to her rescue.

����� �61�+��7+$8�$+6�+�1$

Aday after seizing five vehi-cles, including a luxurious

one, belonging to arrest formerSanakhemundi Congress MLARamesh Jena in Brahmapur, theCommissionerate Police onMonday seized one more vehi-cle allegedly belonging to himfrom the Mancheswar area inBhubaneswar.

Though the ownership ofthe vehicle, a MahindraScorpio, was yet to be ascer-tained, police claimed that it is

Jena’s.The assertion by the police

came after it nabbed a gang offour dacoits from Naharkantain Cuttack on Monday morn-ing. During the seizure, thepolice came across a photo-graph in which one of thegang members, SantoshBehera, was seen posing withtwo vehicles of Jena.

The suspicion about Jena’slinks with Behera, who alsohails from Brahmapur, grew asone of the photographed vehi-cles was among those seized bypolice on Sunday.

Police have so far seizedfive vehicles belonging to theformer MLA, together worthmore than �2 crore in cash,from different parts of theState.

Brahmapur AdditionSuperintendent of PoliceTrinath Patel said, “AVolkswagen Jetta was recovered

in a raid in Bhubaneswar. ALexus bearing a fake registra-tion number was also foundthere. The ownership of thevehicles has not been estab-lished yet.”

Meanwhile, a BrahmapurMunicipal Corporation (BMC)Council meeting was rocked onMonday by Congress corpora-tors over the issue of frequentpolice summons to a partyCorporator, R Murali Mohan.

As soon as the meetingstarted, Congress corporatorsraised the issue of police sum-moning Mohan. They shoutedslogans against the Mayor andthe BJD Government and laterboycotted the meeting.

Meanwhile, the police areinspecting various tender filesof the BMC suspecting involve-ment of Jena in tender-fixing.All tenders of the BMC over thelast one year are under scanner,sources said. The police are

looking into the role of Jena andhis aides in the tenders of theBMC. The cops are also prob-ing whether the tender process-es were fairly conducted.

Sources said three policeofficers, four to fiveCorporators, block officersalong with some builders andcontractors are likely to bequestioned during the investi-gation.

“For now, two BMC offi-cials and a few builders ofBrahmapur are under thepolice scanner. After inspectionof files, necessary action will betaken up,” source said. Thougha notice had been sent to abuilder for interrogation, he hasreportedly absconded.

In another development,a police team including asenior DSP and the Inspectorof the Brahmapur police hasbeen formed for interroga-tion of Jena.

��� � �61�+��7+$

The sixth session (BudgetSession) of the 15th Odisha

Legislative Assembly wouldbegin from Tuesday.

While the Opposition is setto raise several issues, includ-ing the alleged link of rulingparty leaders with the gangsterDhalsamant brothers, irregu-larities in the distribution ofration cards, tender fixing, tocorner the Government, theruling BJD on Mondayfinalised its strategies tocounter the Opposition.

The legislature party meet-ing of the BJD which was heldunder the chairmanship ofparty supremo and ChiefMinister Naveen Patnaik cameup with a number of issues, likerecent drive against the crim-inalised elements, neglect to theState in the 2016-17 Centralbudget and slashing of Centralassistance for a number of wel-fare schemes to take on theopposition parties.

“This Budget Session is veryimportant. For the first time weare going to present the StateBudget after the Union Budget.This will help us in preparingour Budget accurately,” saidPatnaik after the meeting.

“The recent drive against

the criminalised elements bymy Government has earnedwidespread public apprecia-tion. But the opposition polit-ical parties with obliquemotives are making seriousattempts to derail this processby unnecessarily politicisingthe issue. I believe, they wantto give legitimacy to such crim-inalised elements,” said Patnaik.

Patnaik asked the partyMLAs to strongly oppose thismove by the opposition insideand outside the house.

Issues like delay in droughtaid, Phailin dues, non alloca-tion of funds for constructionof five medical colleges,Pollavaram and inclusion ofOdisha in the East CoastEconomic Corridor and denialof Special Categorey Status,insignificant increase underPradhan Mantri Krishi SechiYojana, reduction in allocationfor education sector, allocationfor Tribal Welfare underArticle-275(1) and TSP, andmismatch in the growth of nettax revenue to the Centre andtax devolution to the States inthe Union Budget would beraised.

������������� ���������������������������

������������� ���������������������������������������������������

��������������������������������������

������������� ������������������

����� �61�+��7+$

The State Cabinet onMonday approved a pro-

posal to constitute an OdishaFood Commission as per theNational Food Security Act(NFAS) 2013.

The Cabinet meeting heldunder chairmanship of ChiefMinister Naveen Patnaik alsoapproved six other proposals.

As per the approval, anew rule ‘The Odisha StateFood Commission Rules, 2016would be approved for con-stitution of the FoodCommission. The rules woulddeal with appointment ofChairperson and other mem-bers and staff of the commis-sion.

The commission wouldmonitor and evaluate theimplementation of the NFSAAct and advice Governmentfor its effective execution aswell. Besides, it would hearappeals against order of theDistrict Grievance RedressalOfficers (DGROs) and inquireeither suo motu or on receiptof complaint into violation ofentitlements provided underthe Act.

The Revenue and DisasterManagement Department’sproposal for creation of 142new posts in the OdishaAdministrative Service Group-A (JB) Cadre was approvedwith a revision. While the pre-restructured cadre strengths ofthe OAS, Group-A(JB) was854, in increased to 996 afterthe revision.

The Cabinet approved a

proposal to nominate theSulabh International SocialService Organisation (SISSO)as the implementing agencyfor Design, Build, Operation,Maintain and Transfer(DBOMT) basis for 5,957hybrid toilets in nine AMRUTschemes covering nine ULBssuch as Bhubaneswar, Cuttack,Brahmapur, Sambalpur,Rourkela, Puri, Baleswar,Bhadrak and Baripada.Around 45 per cent of urbanpopulation of the State wouldbe covered under this facility.

The Finance Department’sproposal to ament the OrissaSubordinate Finance Service(Local Fund Audit) Rules,1995 vis-a’-vis promotion ofMinisterial staffs to post ofAuditors. As per the amend-ed rules, a Ministerial Staffwith minimum qualificationof graduation and under ageof 54 would be eligible forsuch a promotion. Earlier,matric was the minimum agelimit and there was no age bar.

Further, both directrecruits and promotee audi-tors would henceforth takepractical food training andcomputer training.

A new rule, ‘OdishaVillage Agricultural Workers(Recruitment and Training)Rules, 2016’ to create a com-petent cadre of VAWs wasapproved by the Cabinet. The

new rules provide for recruit-ment of VAWs by the OdishaSub-ordinate Staff SelectionCommission. While mini-mum educational qualifica-tion of +2 Science or +2Vocations Course inAgriculture has been pre-scribed, those possessingDiploma in AgriculturePolytechnic will be awarded 5per cent extra marks of themarks secured in the writtenexamination.

Besides, the Cabinetapproved a proposal to amendthe Odisha FiscalResponsibility and BudgetManagement Act (FRBM),2015 to enable the State foradditional annual borrowingof 0.5 per cent. The State ful-fills two required conditionsto get the enhanced borrow-ing limit of 3.5 per cent of theGSDP.

This apart, the Cabinetapproved a proposal to amendthe Odisha Electricity (Duty)Act 1961. The amendment isnecessary to cover up all thegenerating units, whether IPPor CPP, on the same footingfor assessment of electricityduty on self consumption.The amendment will enablethe Government to cover theelectricity duty from all thegenerating units having norecord of generation/con-sumption.

� )/0�1� �����2'-3-�4(��3�.� ��!��"�1'��1�3�.��-��2!���13�(�'5�#67#��"8�(�.3'�!�3-

� �3�3��3'�"�9���..�3�'1�!�:;#<�'((' �1=�!���3

� �'93�3'�4'9�(��!�43(�4�38�.�38'5��!!�=�1�(�3�1=��1�3-

����������������������������� �������������

����������� ��������� ����������������� ������������������ ����� �� �������

���������������� ����������������������

� ���������������������� �!� ����� ������

� "��#$���������� ���������%�&�'���

�!�������"���������������������������������

()����$�� �� ������*��������������

��� �����$�������������� �����$�

�����������+�,$� *�!!�$�!�� ���������������

�������������!�-

����� �7���96.

It may be good news on India’sgrowth front as wholesale

prices remained in the negativezone and contracted for the16th month in a row by 0.91 percent in February, while retailinflation added more cheers byeasing to a three-month low of5.18 per cent in the same peri-od as food prices, includingvegetables, pulses and fruitsbecame cheaper.

Prompting India Inc topress for a rate cut by ReserveBank of India (RBI) to boostfactory output growth, analystswere of view that RBI GovernorRaghuram Rajan could beencouraged to take action anddrive growth for the country.

In the recent Union Budget,Finance Minister Arun Jaitleyalso hiked annual State spend-ing for the farm sector by 44 percent for the next fiscal year toover $5 billion and eased importcurbs to restrain price rises.

As wholesale prices havebeen contracting since November,subdued prices of certain fooditems and petroleum productskept the Wholesale Price Index(WPI) inflation at (-) 0.91 per centin February as against (-) 2.17 percent a year ago.

�� ������������������������ ������������������

����������*�����$������7���96.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitleyon Monday sought support

of the Congress for passage ofthe Goods and Services Tax(GST) and Bankruptcy Bills butalso hit out at party vice-pres-ident Rahul Gandhi for his “fairand lovely” jibe at theGovernment, saying it reflectsa “racist mindset.”

Replying to a debate in LokSabha on the General Budget2016-17, he also rejecteddemands for rollback of 1 percent excise duty on jewellerysaying it was in preparation forunveiling of the GST. TheHouse later passed theAppropriation Bill, completingthe first phase of the budgetaryexercise for 2016-17.

Asserting that India cangrow faster in “absence ofobstructionism,” Jaitley alsoresponded to an attack on theGovernment over major loandefaulter Vijay Mallya’s escapefrom the country, saying therewas a “question” as to whether

the “legal system” had acted asa “hurdle” in loan recovery andenabled the “escape” of thedebt-ridden businessman.

Talking about black money,Jaitley referred to the “fair andlovely” comment made byRahul Gandhi while speakingin the House last week. Withoutnaming the Congress vice-pres-ident, the Finance Ministersaid, “I have no problem withthis phrase, but this phrase ispolitically incorrect. It shows aracist mindset that what is notfair is not lovely.” He went onto add, “World over, peoplefrown on the use of such aphrase. In any case, I will passit off as ignorance.”

Rahul had used the phrasewhile alleging that theGovernment had brought theblack money disclosure schemein the Budget to enable conver-sion of black money into white.

Under attack for not pass-ing on benefits of fall in crudeprices to consumers, Jaitley saidthe savings were being used fordeveloping infrastructure topush growth and create jobs,besides enabling oil marketingcompanies to meet their losses.

When Congress leaderMallikarjun Kharge said only 50per cent of gains from low crudeoil prices have been passed on toconsumers, Jaitley said, “Thebenefit of reduction in crude oilhas been divided into three por-tions. One goes to public sectoroil marketing companies. Theseoil companies make future pur-chases of crude oil and they hadincurred losses.”

He said at one time, theseoil companies were sitting on�30,000 crore losses and thatcouldn’t have been met byincreasing Income-Tax or anyother tax. “So, naturally oilcompanies, which decide theprice in the market, would wipeoff their losses first, he said.

Noting that the global envi-ronment was a challenging one,Jaitley said the country needs torise above party lines to main-tain the distinction of being thefastest-growing large economy.

“We compare ourselveswith global standards, we aredoing good. But if we compareourselves with our own stan-dards, we can do better in amore helpful global environ-ment and domestically inabsence of an obstructive envi-ronment,” he said.

Seeking support of theCongress he said, “The coun-

try needs a Bankruptcy Law.Hope the joint committee willsoon give its report so that itgives the right of transfer to themanagement. So that theincompetent can exit, jobs aresaved and more competentcan take on the businesses”.

Talking about the blackmoney disclosure scheme,Jaitley said it was unlike theearlier Voluntary Disclosure ofIncome Scheme (VDIS) orblack bond scheme whichfavoured black money holders.

Under the proposedscheme a declarant will have topay 30 per cent tax and 15 percent surcharge and penalty, hesaid.

He referred to the VDIS of1997 and said under it, nointerest, no penalty wasimposed and the declarantswere permitted to value theirassets at 1987 prices.

������������ ���������� ������ !����#�������������������#�����$%�&������'���(����� ���������������������#����)*��+�����������(�"������

'�.,��/

2��� **0�'����� �����������������.������������� ����������������� ���������������� ���������� ��������� /�� ������� ����������� ������� ������� �������� ��) ����� �� !:�� �:����) ���#�+�� ���������������� � �������������������������������������������

7������ ���������)������������ ��� �� ���(���� �������������#�������������� ���������)�������������� �� ������� ��������������� ������������������ ���)��������� ����������� ������� ��������� �����������)����)��������

2�������������������������������������� ��������)������������������������#�;����������������������������� �%���������� ����#2������������� ������ %�������������� ���������������� ��������� ����������������<��(�� ��� ������������ �����=������������������������������� �%���=������>���������������������������?

.�� )�������������������������� ���@>A ��� ���9�)���?B<������������� ������������ �������������#�.�������� �� �������������� ���� ���������� ������������)���<7������)������������������������������ ���� ��#�.�� ��� ���.������� ���������� ������� ���

����#

���������� ��� ������������������� ���������������

��!"�#�!#�$

+C+�.��$.5+���+��.2�;��(�;'�$2(��+3�$�

%!&'(�)*�;:;$:�.���+229��A;$�$1�.;�+�2$1���9�+���A9;$.�+��;99�

�"!&��)+.�.+�3.3�2+$2�72D!�'���7�C�+9+��2;�+4

���������������� �����������

���������� ������������ !"#$% &�$���

&� &�#�'%�( (�#!���(��� (!��#��)�(������(�� #

��� $'!;� D��--�� 0EF+�������� �����/�� ����+����� ���

�-3��!�-"�.�)>?/

�������� �!"#�$�%&��'('�&')�*�+���,-�$�$����"

�������*��6���� ���������)#6�0:)?@�������)?��A

***+����,-����� +���

��0�,��,#�,- ����������� ���#���. ��� ������ �����

1��,2��������������������� ���!��!������"!�

���#�$�%����&$�

Page 2: 3 !˘-˜.)>?/ !ˇ#ˇ!#$ %!&’()* ˘ˇ ˆ˙ +C+ .ˆ$.5+ ˚+ .2 ;:;$: .˚ˆ+229˚A ... was arrested last month by the ... a Mahindra Scorpio, was yet to be ascer-tained, ... approved

&� &�#�'%�(�.�/ �'��0 .���(!��123�4516

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.

����������� ������ ������������ ������� ������������������������� !��������"�� ���#�$!%���&�'��(� !)$&% �&!&�*+(� !)$&% �,%%��$-��(������������./-�����-�������������0/��� ���������1�������������))2%)�������$0�3���$4�������#� 5��������6�����"�� ���#�$!%�����6�����(����������7�������6�����(��������7�57�/�����8756�9:&��!:&&)!%�057�;7�<0796��7������6��(�������7����������(���=���(��- �20�-�� ������("�/����2�������������(��>�����4����'���������(6�0"?(���$)�!%)����&,!%%&!�$!)��@A!�&,)&!�*+(���$&,!%%&!%����B��#8�����()��*���������������/�������*�C �7������B��#&& �� �'���������(�%&&$&,) )),�&,) )))�&,) ))%�

������!�34

.5�.�)���+����� ��� �����%�������$�����&�"���1�- �(��2��.����� ���� �� � ������.���������@.�.B(���� ���� ���� ������ ����:� ��� � ��������)������������� ��������������������� ������ ����������������)���$� ������ �� ������� ������� �������������� ���� � ��� D#�.� ���� ������������� ���(�������������������������$ ����������� ��������$��������� ��������������������%� ��������������������������(������������������������������������������� ����#��2���5��@6$B�2 � �3�� ������������������)���#�2�������� ����� ��� �%��������� �� ������������������������� ������ ����(��������)������������������� �����+��:D! E(�����������������������$(�� ���� ��� ��� ������ � ������� ���� � ������� %���������/���� �����(����#

�������������������� ����$��� ����������������"���1�- �(� 2����������.�����������2����������@�.2B��� ������ ���)������ �%����������������������������������� �#��� ��� ���������� ���� ��$��� ������)�������������� ����(���������� )������� �%����������������������������5�(� �������$����� � �������$���� � ��#�+� ��������� ������ ����3 �� ������ ($��� ������ �������� ����� �������� (����� ���� �)����������+32��� ���� ���������� ������������������������������� ���������������� ���#

Pradip Pradhan, an eminent RTI activist ofOdisha and national working committee

member of NCPRI (National Campaign forPeople’s Right to Information), has been nom-inated as a member of the Core Advisory Groupof the National Human Rights Commission onRight to Food. He has taken up a lot of issuesrelating to hunger, and malnutrition in the KBKregion. His work on monitoring of food secu-rity programme implemented by theGovernment has been highly hailed. He has beenfelicitated for his outstanding contributions asa whistleblower of the society through his RTIcampaigns. This conscientious social warriorbreathes all fire and brimstone along with hisfriends of the Odisha Soochna Adhikar Abhiyanand makes use of RTI extensively to expose cor-ruption and black-marketing of food-grains,malfunctioning of PDS. His nomination to theNHRC advisory body will undoubtedly help theNHRC address food security issues effectivelyin Odisha in particular. In an interview to ThePioneer, this worrywart spoke to SugyanChoudhury in Bhubaneswar.

What are the major breakthroughs in yourcampaign against corruption?

I have been working since 1995 on variousissues relating to gross irregularities, discrep-ancies, corruption in the KBK region over PDS,malnutrition, hunger and on the right of theAdivasis over their land. But the greatest break-through has been on land scams. This weachieved even before the CAG found it. To beginwith, we came to know that in 1991, Bijubabuhad acquired hundred decimals of land whichwas encroached by him since 1962, now underNaveen Nivas. The applicant for the said plot ofland was Mrs Gyan Patnaik. Bijubabu in his offi-cial note mentioned that she could not be enti-tled for the same; however the plot of land couldbe allotted to her by paying double the amountof premium. But it is learnt from records thatshe paid not the double amount of premiumthough the same GA plot was allotted to her byviolating rules and the same is now under thepossession of Naveen Nivas.

The next tell-tale evidence of corruption wasexposed by us in June 2015. There are 27 com-panies which are using waters from the reser-voirs of the Mahanadi, the Brahmani, theBaitarani, etc. These companies have not paidtheir water taxes for the last fourteen years. Awhopping amount of �6,000 crore is pendingagainst them. But the companies have gone tothe High Court, which has granted stay on thematter. Now, the State Government is sitting overthe fence and not taking any move to vacate thestay order.

The next instance: Corruption took place inBalangir district for recruitment to posts ofAmins and RIs. We exposed these clandestinedealings through our RTI activities, and youknow now all the selections to 152 posts havebeen annulled. The then Collector DebarajMishra was arrested. The Vigilance Departmenthas lodged an FIR.

What are the other achievements through yourOdisha Soochana Adhikar Abhiyan?

One of the greatest successful missions wasthe unearthing of the shady deals in establish-ing the OKCL (Odisha Knowledge CorporationLimited) by the State Government. Previously,we had the SIET, which is a premier institute andthere are six such institutes throughout the coun-try fully funded for spread of computer educa-tion in elementary schools. But we found to ourutter surprise that all the funds have been trans-ferred to the OKCL which was formed in 2012in collaboration with the MaharashtraKnowledge Corporation Limited. We were toldmischievous lies that the Central Governmenthad denied to fund the SIET in Odisha. Later,we were given to understand that the SIET couldno longer function because of the rude behav-iour of its staffs and owing to their incessantstrikes. The State Government maintained thatthis OKCL is a public company. On furtherinquiry, we came to know that the StateGovernment has only 30 per cent equity sharein the company and it has no say in financialand administrative matters excepting to presideover the affairs. Thus, it was clear to us that theOKCL dances to the tune of the private playerhaving all the power over financial and admin-istrative matters. Interestingly enough, theMaharashtra Knowledge Corporation has beenblacklisted by the Maharashtra Government and

inquiry has been ordered into its affairs. Wecame to know at least out of �780 crore sanc-tioned by the Union HRD Ministry, over Rs 200crore has been given to the OKCL under ICTat schools programme. Intriguingly enough, thistainted sheep OKCL has released crores of rupeesto another fraud company called IL and FS forICT at school programme for nearly 400schools out of a total 4,000. We have filed RTIsbefore office of the Chief Secretary, HigherEducation Department, RAMSAY and we havemade appeal to the HRD Ministry but to no availso far. I have also filed a case in the CBI, beforethe State Vigilance and am going to file a casein the High Court to unearth the OKCL scam.Money is our schools, our children, and the edu-cational system is ours. But we have no say overthe company which is siphoning away crores ofrupees by a combine of bureaucrats and privateplayers. Even Ministers have little to do over the

issue. There is no transparency, no accountabilityin the OKCL.

Do you have other charges against OKCL andHigher Education Department?

We came to know that the OKCL has beenagain trusted for digitalisation of three univer-sities, Gangadhar Meher, Khallikote andRamadevi, despite the objection of the Chairmanof the Ramadevi University AdmissionCommittee. When suspicion looms large overthe OKCL, intriguingly enough a Joint Secretary,Ajay Nayak, has issued letter to the OKCL withmemos to the three universities for placingorders to it for digitalisation. The style of func-tioning and writing of letter by Shri Nayak is alsoobjectionable since he has written letters on hisown despite mentioning “I am directed to say...”This reveals that there is a nexus existingbetween bureaucrats like Nayak and the OKCL.

Who do you think are responsible for estab-lishment of the OKCL?

First of all, I would point my fingers at CMNaveen Patnaik who proved gullible to put hissignature on the note-sheet for formation of thecompany. You know that the bureaucrats havetheir own designs and by the time the compa-ny got floated, Bijay Patnaik was the ChiefSecretary. Long after his superannuation, it isreportedly learnt from all available sources thathe reaps a rich bonanza since the OKCL isallegedly managed by him through proxy man-agement. Bureaucrats spread such networks sothat long after their retirement, they would havetheir dealings. In almost all departments, theyare going I for outsourcing!

Why does the Government resort to out-sourcing in almost all departments?

The reason is simple. If the departments goin for outsourcing and for PPP mode, they wouldbe able to swindle the creams without comingthrough the AG scanner of the State and theCAG of the Centre.

Are you hopeful you can bring them to jus-tice through the High Court?

We certainly hope so. This is a huge cor-ruption and it should not be allowed to continueto plunder our State. That’s why we haveapproached all grievance redressal authorities.Still, we have not got any response. That’s whywe want to move the High Court.

Are roles of RTI activists indispensable?I would reply in an emphatic affirmative. In

the village level, they are asking you for �1,000for an old age pension. They are asking you for�20,000 for Biju Pucca Ghar Yojana and the like.When you cannot enhance the BardhakyaBhatta and cannot provide ration cards to all theneedy, what is the use of providing rice anddalma at �5? They want to keep people hungryso that people will run after them. What’s theneed of solving their real issues under food secu-rity programme! Thus, you can well imagine therole of RTI activists.

Do you apprehend any threat to your life?I know no fear since I nourish no prejudice

against anybody. We work for a cause. To savethe society, the State and the nation is the col-lective responsibility of the civil society. The RTIcatalytic instrument wages another civil war ofindependence to translate Gandhiji’s Ramrajyainto the sunshine of reality.

,�-.�����������+���������������������+���/����

interview of the weekpioneer

'()$�#���( �(�$

*�� ���*�� ��#

����� �61�+��7+$

Two days after BJD spokesper-son Pratap Jena cautioned

Ministers that they should notpass on the responsibility ofarresting the rising potato priceby blaming bureaucrats, threeMinisters, Agriculture,Cooperation and Food Supplies,on Monday sat together to chalkout strategies to curb the pricerise and finally blamed the ‘cli-mate’ for the low productionresulting in the price hike.

“Potato production hasdeclined as weather remains hot.Potato is vulnerable to climaticchanges where high humidity hasaffected the production,” saidAgriculture Minister PradeepMaharathy after chairing thecoordination meeting.

Cooperation Minister

Damodar Rout, who was blam-ing bureaucrats for their cal-lousness resulting in the rise inthe price of potato, this timetoo held the climate responsi-ble for the price rise.

“Every possible measure isbeing taken to curb the risingprice of the tuber. Due toadverse climate, there is a dropin potato production in theState and also in West Bengal.Due to the drop in production,the price of the commodity hasrisen,” said Rout.

Reiterating his earlier state-ments, Food Supplies andConsumer Welfare MinisterSanjay Dasburma said all dis-trict Collectors have been askedto conduct raids on hoardersand to maintain a balancebetween the wholesale andretail prices of potato.

����������/����/���� ���������������

�����$��������������61�+��7+$

Notwithstanding the claimsof the State Government,

Odisha tops the BIMARUStates with maximum urbanhouseholds holding a rationcard, which is due to an urbanBPL household. Odisha is alsosquatting at 7th slot national-ly, where well-off rural house-holds hold ration cards thatare due to the BPL families.

This revelation by thereport of Group of TechnicalAdvisory Committee (TAC)on Statistics of Prices andCost of Living nails the rationcard mess under NationalFood Security Act (NFSA)that the State currently isbedevilled with.

According to the report,in order to calculate the com-bined Consumer Price Indexof the State and prices of PDSitem-wise weights of APL andBPL households, weights werecalculated under twoapproaches - based on type ofration cards possessed and onthe published poverty line.The weights were computed

on the 68th Mixed MonthlyReference Period (MMRP) ofNational Sample Survey (NSS)and 61st NSS round of con-sumer expenditure survey.When the Committee arrivedto the fact where weightsassigned to BPL under pub-lished poverty line falling farshort of weights assigned toBPL ration card holders, itconcluded that many APLhouseholds have availed rice,sugar, wheat and kerosenequota in Odisha that are dueto BPL cardholders.

And, in the overall urbanmilieu, Odisha dubiouslyleads the pack of BIMARU(Bihar, Jharkhand, MadhyaPradesh, Chhattisgarh,Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh)with a difference of 45 pointsin sugar and 43 points in riceunder the two approaches. Inrural Odisha, though it is atthe 7th slot, yet it fared poor-er overall than neighbouringStates of Chhattisgarh andJharkhand.

But the data with StateFood and Civil SuppliesDepartment reveals thatnumerically the State cur-

rently has nearly 49lakh BPLcardholders, including AAYcards, compared to around 5.2lakh APL cardholders.However, the Committee seesthrough its innovative methodthe virtual coup of BPL cardsby APL households in theState. This exposes the vul-nerability of the poor tohunger in many interior partsin the State and also lends cre-dence to the reports of hungerdeaths in KBK region.

A look at the report veryclearly illustrates that com-modities like rice, sugar andkerosene were the three PDScommodities that faced highdiversion. Sugar (detailed intable) was the bitterest, wherethe difference or say diversionfrom real beneficiaries in ruraland urban Odisha stands at ahigh of 55 points and 45points, respectively.

Diversion of wheat is leastin urban areas with a differ-ence of 12.2 points, and thereis virtually no diversion inrural Odisha. The reason:Wheat is not a preferred con-suming commodity in ruralOdisha.

�"���1�- �(� 2���������������������� ���������������/���� �������3 � � ������������?��G ����:� ���� �� ��$ � ������� ���������@�$�B���+����� *#2���� ���� �������������������� ��������� �� ���������������� ����������

������ ���5�)�����������G �� ��� D�������� ��������$������������������������������ �������������������� ��#6� ������������������������������������������������ ������������� ������������;���� �6��������������(����� ��/�������������������/���� ��������+����

*#.������� �����������(����� ��/�������� ���������������� ���5�)����������������������� �������������������������)���� ���%����������� ������������� ��� �����������5�)������������� ���������#

�� ���(���������� ������������.��� @�.B�� �������� ��������$�?������������� ��� ����� ��������������������������� ���������� ����� ��"� ��� ���������������� ������� ����� �#2������������� ������� ���� ��������;���� �6��������(������� �%������

5�)������������ ����� �������� ����������������5�)�������� �����������) �������� ����������#A�������������(� ������ ��9� )����������@�9�B�� ��������������������������������� �����������@'.��+$(��35� ��6�:2���B� ������������������

�� �������������6��������?����������#�������(��������������� ���� ������������ ������'.��+$� �������35������ �������������)�����������$���������������������� �� ������ ������������5�)���������������#� ���

�������������� � ���������6� �$��������������!�78

��� � �6�3++9

Chief Minister NaveenPatnaik while on his visit to

Bhuban on Sunday to inaugu-rate the long awaiting BajiRout Setu forgot to pay homageto the youngest martyr of India,Baji Rout, whose statue wasnewly installed at the meetingplace.

Interestingly, ChiefMinister Patnaik,Kamakhyanagar MLA andMines Minister PrafullaKumar Mallick, Parjang MLAand District Planning BoardChairman Dr NrusinghaCharan Sahu and MP TathagatSatpathy did not garland thestatue of the martyr. Notably,the new bridge over riverBrahmani has been namedafter the martyr.

The Chief Minister toowas not aware that a statue ofthe martyr installed at KalikaBazar in Bhuban was coveredby a big flex banner of BijuPatnaik.

The approach roads of theBaji Rout Setu, constructed ata cost of about �50 crore,have not yet been completed.Instead of coming near thebridge, the Chief Ministerinaugurated the Setu and laidfive foundation stones for var-ious projects by a remote at themeeting place.

Sources said the Baji RoutSetu project was initiated byformer Kamakhyanagar MLAPrasana Kumar Patnaik andformer Chief Minister BijuPattnaik on March 31, 1991had laid its foundation stoneat an estimated cost of �26crore. The proposed Setu hadachieved administrativeapproval on December 8,1994.

The locals of Bhuban whogathered to listen to the ChiefMinister were rather hurt asPatnaik did not utter a singleword in his written speechexpressing sympathy for the sixvictim families of a recentboat capsize incident and alsofor family of the minor whowas torched after rape atMalliguda village a month ago.

Besides, most of the localswere aggrieved as local MPSatpathy satirically uttered thename of the Prime Minister asDamodar Das Modi. 41 BJPactivists were held prior to thevisit of the Chief Minister.

�!���������(�����$����������������������0-�����!-1�$�!2�����������������(�������

�������� ����������

���.���/��.�� �0��� �1��./����.���� 1�2�!�&%� /�/�.

����� �61�+��7+$

Chief Minister NaveenPatnaik on Monday urged

Union Culture MinisterMahesh Sharma to direct theArchaeological Survey of India(ASI) to send its best technicalexperts for repair and restora-tion work of the Jagamohan ofthe Shree Jagannath Temple inPuri.

“I seek your personal inter-vention to direct the ASI tosend their best technical expertsto undertake repair and restora-tion works of the Jagamohan atthe earliest,” Patnaik urgedSharma in a letter.

Patnaik apprised that theJagmohan of the 12th Centuryshrine has developed severalcracks. After deplastering of theinner surface of the Jagmohan,it has been noticed that fourcolumn capitals and eight stonebeams have serious crackswhich might affect its structuralstability.

“A core committee com-

prising structural engineers,representatives ofArchaeological Survey of India(ASI) and Shri JagannathTemple Administration (SJTA)has suggested remedial mea-sures after an inspection onFebruary 7. It has recom-mended for providing addi-tional support to the beamsimmediately for preventingfurther damage to theJagamohan,” Patnaik added.

This stone column capitalis five feet in length, four feetin breadth and is three feetthick. It approximately weighsaround 4.5 tonnes. In case ofthis stone column collapsing,it’s apprehended that the entireJagamohan will cave in.

During removal of deadplaster, four stone blocks havegot dislodged from their positionin the ceiling of the Jagamohan.Cracks have been observed inthe ceiling where lime plastershave been removed.

In the meantime, the twostone blocks, which had gotdislodged from their positionsin the Jagamohan ceiling, havebeen reinforced with support ofsteel brackets as a temporarymeasure.

���������������

�������%��������������������1�3�����������������#����������������������������������!�4����

����� �61�+��7+$

AState Workshop on theSagarmala Project was

organised by the Union Ministryof Shipping; and the Paradip PortTrust (PPT) here on Monday todisseminate the findings of theDraft National Perspective Planand obtain inputs on it from theState Government and otherstakeholders.

The focus was to bring allthe stakeholders like officials ofthe State and CentralGovernments, infrastructureagencies like the NHAI, theRailways, Non-Major Ports,EXIM industries, associationsand organisations connected inmaritime activities in oneforum under the SagarmalaProject in Odisha and also todeliberate and discuss on theinputs for the project.

Presiding over the meeting,PPT Chairman Rinkesh Roy

said the Sagarmala Project is aninitiative of the UnionGovernment to establish Indiaas a global maritime leader bymaximising trade and tourismpotentials of the nation’s vastcoastline. Its key focus is onproviding impetus to infra-structure modernisation anddevelopment projects acrossthe coastline and improvingconnectivity between portsthrough rail, road, inland water-ways and coastal network.

The main cargo expected tomaterialise for the ports inOdisha, especially Paradip, ismovement of thermal coal fromthe Mahanadi Coalfields to south-ern and western India throughcoastal shipping, he added.

Union Ministry ofShipping Joint SecretaryRabindra Agarwal, highlightingthe objectives of Sagarmalaproject, said that under thisproject importance is being

given to improve operationalefficiency of the ports withcost-effective multi-modallogistic solutions and developport-based industrial activi-ties. To achieve this, the portsshould be modernised, evacu-ation of cargo via coastal ship-ping to be prioritised, railwayinfrastructure for the first mileand last mile to be improved,port-based infrastructures to bedeveloped along with thecoastal industrial zones.

State Commerce andTransport Principal SecretarySanjay Rastogi highlighted theneed for building industrialclusters in Odisha. StateIndustries Principal SecretarySanjeev Chopra opined forbuilding an industrial corridorbetween Bhubaneswar andParadip to boost industrialactivities. PPT DeputyChairman N Vaiyapuri extend-ed a vote of thanks.

�1�����)�'����/.�/����� 1./��������.�/�1�/���

�"���1�- �(� .��������������)��������:���:����%���� �� ���� ������%����� ������� ��(������� ��5�)��������� ���� ����������)����H(EI!���������� ��� ����� D��� ��#J2���5�)��������� ���� ������ � ����������� ��������)�����������H(EI!��������������)������ ���� ��0!������������ ��������� ��� ����� �� ��������"��������������� �������� EK������������� ��� ������ ���� ��� ����� D��� ��(J�� ���������������������� ���������� ���%��������J����%����� ������� ������D!D!J������������� �#6��� �������;���� ��� ���1�� �

7 �����������������:D! E��)�� ������ �� ���������������� ��� )�� ���������� ���������������������������������� ��������� ��������� ��������)�� ������� ��������� ) �� ���������������������� �� �� ����� ��������#��(������� ����������6� ���������������;�� ��� ������������������������ ��*!!����������������������%����� ��������� ����������� �� �� ������������� ����LK�� %���������������KI!��9����� ����������������)������������������� �� !(!!!������� ����������������������)��� ���#� ���

��+,-��%�����#�������������������

Page 3: 3 !˘-˜.)>?/ !ˇ#ˇ!#$ %!&’()* ˘ˇ ˆ˙ +C+ .ˆ$.5+ ˚+ .2 ;:;$: .˚ˆ+229˚A ... was arrested last month by the ... a Mahindra Scorpio, was yet to be ascer-tained, ... approved

������!�39&� &�#�'%�(�.�/ �'��0 .���(!��123�4516

�.�)����&�6� �������+��$�������� �������� �����&�������(�!�B"���1.�� +�� ���� �� �����������:��)���9�%�+� � ��� ������� ���������������������������������������� ���������������� ��������������� ������������G�����5�� ��� ��� �� �� �%#�+������ ���� ��9�%+� � �(� (HI0�� �������������� ��D(H E���)��� �����)������ ���������� ����/�����������(������������$�� D(�L*D0������� �����������#�+�������������:��)���9�%�+� � �(�������� ����������������� ���$��K(0I!�� ����������� ������#������ ���(�EI�� ����������������� ���$��E(EH!�� ����������� ������9�%�+� � ������� ��$�1� ������������DI�� ���������������� ��������� � �����(������������$�� HL!������� �����������#

�&��������������� ����������*�������� ��$��

��!�- �(� ����������� ���� ��� �����7��%��� ����� �������� ����H(����� � �����+������ ��� ���� �������� ������) ������ � ����������� �������������� ������������@���� ����B���G � �� � ��� ���� �������������� ������������������ ������� �#�� ��������������������������� ���� ������ ������� �� ��������%����� ���������������%������� �������������� ���������������(������������ �������������� ������"��������#��������(�) ������� �����������"���������������� ��������������%���������������� ��� �� �������� �����������#����

�����������$�������������������� ������� �������(�"��2�(� 2��� ��� �������������������5�������������� �������������3� ���%����1��)�������� ������� ���������������������� �#�$���������������������������3�� �� � ����� �� ����1��)�������$������ ������$�$ ����� ���������)���� ��������#�� �� �������� ������� �)�����������������������%�� ��(�� ��� �������������� ��� �� ����������%�������� ��� ���� ������������� ������#�$ ���� ������������ ����(��� �� ���"� �������� ����)������������������������������������ ����������������� ����������������#��5���������� ��� ��������3�� � � �������)����������������� ������� ����/�� ����������������� �����������)���#

������� �������� ��$����(�"��2�(M�2��������������� �� ������ ����������@��B�� ���� ������ �� ������������������)���������������������� �� (���� �� (����� �� (������������������ ���������������������#�.������������� ������� ���� !� ��� (�6���� � �:� ����;�.��.����� ���� ���� ������������ ���������������������������������������(����������������#�.��������������� ��������)������������� ���� �(�� ������������������)���������������� ��������� �� ������ ��9������#�����3 ����%�� �% �(� ����� ��������������� ������ �� �� � ���� �� ��� ���� ��(� �����������(�������� �����������)�#��

� ���������������$�����*������������6�����������

�"���1�- �(� 2���+���� �+������������ ���������������0!�������� ���������������� ��� (!!!�������� ���������������������������������� ��)��� ����������������9 � �� �����%����� �� �������������#�2���������)�������������� ��)��� ������ %���������������%������������������:����������� ������������(�� ���+���� �+���������������������������� ���5���#�2������� ��� ���� ������������ ������������ �����)�� ������������ ������������������) ����������������������������(��� ����#���

)�A������������,� @��*����� ������� ������"�!��1�� 2����������� �����������&��� 0E#D!!�%������ �� � ��� ����%��) ���� ��������� %�� ��� %����� ����� :� � �$� �� ���������� ���3 ��� � ����������(�EK�%������������������� ���(�������� �#�2������� ���� �������������������(����)���+����3�� ����� ��@D!B����� ����� )��� ��� ����%�� ����� ��@DDB����� � �)��� ��(������������������������ ��(�������������������#

��� � G6+$�151�+

After the controversialPolavaram multipurpose

project in Andhra Pradesh,another project in a neigh-bouring State is all set to pitOdisha against the Centre.

A fresh row is building upbetween the two over theupcoming super thermal powerproject by the NationalThermal Power Corporation(NTPC) at Lara inChhattisgarh borderingOdisha.

According to the report,work on the mega thermalproject of NTPC is in fullswing at Lara in Raigarh dis-trict, which is barely two kmfrom Lakhanpur block inJharsuguda district. Of the4,000 MW project, consistingof five units of 800 MW each,the Centre has planned to

commission 1,600 MW (twounits) by 2017.

While six village panchay-ats of Lakhanpur block —Remonda, Kandheikala,Charpali, Pithinda, Kanaktoraand Badimal — and Jharaganreserve forest come under thebuffer zone within a 10 kmradius of the proposed project,the Centre, showing gross apa-thy towards Odisha, has neithergone for an EnvironmentImpact Assessment (EIA) inthe six panchayats ofLakhanpur block having a pop-ulation of around 25,000 norconducted any public hearingin these panchayats to seek theopinion of the people.

A public hearing was heldin Chhattisgarh in 2011 inwhich the people of six pan-chayats of Lakhanpur blockwere not invited.

Protesting against the uni-lateral decision of the Centreand the NTPC authorities, theLakhanpur Sarpanch Sanghhad staged an agitation in 2013and taken up the matter with

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. Acting on the complaint,

the Chief Minister had direct-ed the Jharsuguda districtadministration and the OdishaState Pollution Control Board(OSPCB) to submit a jointreport.

The joint report was sub-mitted to the State Governmenton November 11, 2013.Lakhanpur Sarpanch Sanghpresident Sanjeet Pradhan saidthe district administration, inits report, has stated that theNTPC authorities have neglect-ed the six village panchayats ofOdisha while setting up theproposed project.

“Despite our protest, theCentre has not taken any steps

in this regard. The SarpanchSangh is not opposed to anycompany. We want our right-ful demands fuflilled. If theCentre does not listen to ourdemands, we have decided tomove the National GreenTribunal (NGT) to redress ourgrievances,” Pradhan said.

Expressing grave concernover the gross apathy of theCentre, noted environmental-ist of Chhattisgarh andGoldman Environmental Prizewinner Ramesh Agrawaldecried the decision of theMinistry of Environment andForests (MoEF) not to conductan EIA in six panchayats ofOdisha, which are within 10km radius of the project.

“While the Ministry hadconducted EIA in some villageswithin 10 km radius of the pro-ject, why did it ignore the sixpanchayats in Odisha? Willthere be no pollution in thesepanchayats? Will the people ofthese panchayat not be affect-ed? The Ministry, while con-ducting public hearing in the

affected areas, should haveinformed the people of thesepanchayats through their locallanguage in newspapers andsubmitted a copy of the PrivacyImpact Assessment (PIA)report which it did not do.Considering the above, I wouldadvise the people of the sixpanchayats of Odisha to moveNGT and lodge a complaintthat the ministry has neithergiven them the opportunity toparticipate in the public hear-ing and nor conducted EIA intheir panchayat. I hope theTribunal would take cog-nizance to their complaint andpass orders in their favour,”Agrawal pointed out.

Asked about the matter,Bargarh MP Prabhas Singhsaid it is a matter of utter regretthat the Centre is yet to con-duct socio-economic surveyand public hearing in the sixaffected panchayats of Odisha.Besides, the NTPC has also notdone any CSR activities.

“The NTPC authoritieshave set up the plant in the area

while ignoring the concerns ofthe people. I had raised theissue in the Parliament duringthe Winter Session last year anddemanded environment clear-ance and public hearings forthe ongoing project. Besides, Ihad also demanded CSR activ-ities to be taken up by theNTPC in the project affectedareas and urged the Centre tostudy the joint report of theOdisha Government and theOSPCB on the project,” Singhadded.

Terming the apathy of theCentre towards Odisha asgrossly unfortunate, Singh saidhe would continue his protesttill the people of the affectedpanchayats get justice.

On the other hand,Regional Officer of OSPCB’sJharsuguda branch NiranjanMallick said the Board hassubmitted its report to theState Government since 2013.“We are waiting for an orderfrom the Government and willtake appropriate action once weget it,” he added.

01����#�"0�������������!������������0����1�������������������������������������������������

������� ��� 1+�+�+

Amarsing Satnami ofGandabaheli village in

Nuapada district was rescuedwith five of his family membersfrom a brick kiln of Bengaluruin 2013.

All of the family memberswere issued bonded labourcertificate by the LabourDepartment of the KarnatakaGovernment. Returning home,Amarsing submitted the cer-tificates to the District RuralDevelopment Agency (DRDA)for availing the rehabilitationassistance, but even after twoand a half years, he has notbeen paid the same.

Dinanath Dal of Dargaonvillage along with 11 otherbonded labourers with theirfamily members had also beenrescued from a brick kiln ofTamil Nadu in the same year.

None of them has yet beenrehabilitated. These villagershad been displaced from theirhome in the first phase ofevacuation in the Lower IndraIrrigation Project.

“The project authority didnot provide us any alternativelivelihood; so we were forced toleave for distance places insearch for alternatives,” saidSurendra, one of the projectdisplaced who turned amigrant.

The DRDA record showsthat, 264 bonded labourers

have been rescued from dif-ferent brick kilns of the southIndian States in last three years,but none of them has been pro-vided financial assistance underthe bonded labour scheme.

As per the Bonded LabourRehabilitation Scheme, thebonded labourers after theirrelease should be providedwith rehabilitation assistance of�20,000 each. The districtauthority sends the proposalsfor rehabilitation to the con-cerned department of theState Government, which in

turn is forwarded to theCentral Government forrelease of Central share.

Furthermore, it is also theresponsibility of the State toimprove the living conditionsand workplace facilities ofreleased bonded labourers bystrengthening access to theGovernment schemes. But,unfortunately, due to lack ofefforts, most of the labourersrescued resort back to distressmigration.

“When employment is notavailable here, how can wesurvive?” asks Banmali Dal ofDargaon village, who was res-cued from Easwari Brick kilnof Thiruvallur district of TamilNadu in 2013, but fell back tomigration again in 2014 as hedid not get immediateGovernment support to sus-tain his family.

“We have sent all the reha-bilitation proposals to theGovernment, but the pay-ment is delayed as there isimmense delay in release ofCentral share,” says a DRDAofficial.

1����������������������������������������

.���(�����%&���� ����/�)�����#��#� (��� �

����� �61�+��7+$

The National Human RightsCommission (NHRC) has

directed the State Governmentfor an action-taken report(ATR) regarding the compen-sation paid to the next of kin ofa farmer, who was killed due toelectrocution.

The commission has fur-ther directed the EnergyDepartment AdditionalSecretary to take action againstthe officials responsible for thedeath within six weeks.

The order came upon acase filed by rights campaign-er Subash Mohapatra, whosepetition stated that one ShyamSunder Sahu (55), a resident ofAchhada village under Khuntapolice station in Mayurbhanj

district died of electrocution onSeptember 13, 2013 while hewas on his way to his farm land.He came in contact with theelectricity wire at Ghghara vil-lage got electrocuted and diedon the spot.

Pursuant to the direction,the Energy DepartmentAdditional Secretary submittedhis report in which he statedthat Deputy ElectricalInspector Rajkishore Mohanta,Deputy Manager (Electrical),Sumanta Kumar Sahoo, JMElectrical, Manatri and SunitKumar Mohanty, JM Electrical,Barasahi were responsible forthe accident.

“The report is silentregarding the action takenagainst the officials due towhose negligence the incidentoccurred and compensationpaid to the next of kin of thedeceased Shyam Sunder Sahu”the commission observed.

52��,:��,�,��

*�$��� ���� � ����/�0�&�#+��&��%���#��)��#������%���������������"�����5�"��#�

����� �$+6�+�1$

The general body meeting ofthe All Odisha

Government Class-IVEmployees Association washeld here on Sunday withBaikuntha Charan Mahapatrapresiding over the meeting.

The association demandedprovision of salary to StateGovernment Class-IV employ-ees at par with that of theCentral Government, increasein the superannuation age from60 years to 62, removal of dis-crepancies and salary dispari-ties noticed in the Sixth PayCommission, increase in houserent and medical allowance,filling up of all vacancies, allo-cation of Government land forconstruction of associationoffice at Brahmapur forGanjam district and atBhubaneswar for State office.

Local MLA Dr RameshChandra Chaupattnaik joinedthe event as chief guest whileBDA Chairperson SubashMoharana and BCC Bank pres-ident Alekh Choudhury joinedthe meeting as guests of honor,respectively.

Association State generalsecretary Kumar ChandraNayak presented the annualreport in the presence of Stateadvisor Prahallad Sahu, districtpresident RankanidhiChoudhry, secretaryRabindranath Patra and vice-president Kureshu Panigrahi.

The association decidedto hold its 39th conference inGanjam district, for which thereception committee hasalready been constituted. Thegeneral body unanimouslyappointed BCC Bank presidentand BJD leader AlekhChoudhury as the chairpersonof the committee.

�����������.36������������������������������

����� �+93+5.$.

In a continuing surrenderspree in Malkangiri district,

117 more Maoist sympathisers,including 34 women, 14 mili-tia members and three mem-bers of Chetna Natya Madali,the cultural wing of theMaoists, gave up arms beforethe Mathili police and joinedthe social mainstream onMonday.

“All of them belong toBarha village under the Mathilipolice station. They were work-ing for the Darava Division ofthe CPI(Maoist),” MalkangiriSP Mitrabhanu Mohapatra toldmediapersons here.

They would be rehabilitat-

ed as per surrender and reha-bilitation policy of the StateGovernment, he added.

On Sunday, 57 Maoist sup-porters, including 25 women,had surrendered to the Poterupolice. All of them belong toTamuda village under theKalimela police limits in thedistrict and were working forthe Kalimela Dalam Division ofthe CPI(Maoist).

Prior to this, 19 Maoistsympathisers of the DaravaDivision had surrendered tothe police on March 11 whileabout 150 had surrenderedon March 5. A day later, 39Maoist supporters fromTembrupalli village under theMathili police limits had alsosurrendered.

In the last four months,over 1,000 Maoist sympathisershave surrendered to the policein Malkangiri district.

,,3������!���./�.0����/��..0��� ����� �!��� 1������./1����)$777������������"��������������������

����� �$+6�+�1$

The Brahmapur MunicipalCorporation (BMC) served

notices to many companiesfor installing mobile towers inits jurisdictions illegally onMonday. The civic body askedthe companies to submit no-objection certificates (NOCs)within seven days.

About 30 private mobilecompanies were servednotices, informed BMCCommissioner ManojMohanty. A total of 103 mobiletowers of various private com-

panies are operating inBrahmapur city. But maxi-mum towers have not sub-mitted NOC before con-structing the towers.

After a council meeting ofthe BMC, it asked for NOC,failing which the companieswould have to pay fine, theCommissioner said.

Mohanty also said that bybreaking the rules, some tow-ers have also constructed atunsafe places. A mobile toweron the Prakasham Hall ishighly unsafe, among others,he added.

���%��1 ��������)��20�(��/���������

��� � 3�;G6+$

Anew hostel block for girlstudents was inaugurated

by TEMPL chairman PBalasubhramanian atVidyabhawan, Khudaposi inKeonjhar district.

About 300 poor childrenare sheltered in this free resi-dential school and beingimparted quality education.The hostel has 10,000 squarefeet floor area for boys and girlspresently. With inauguration ofthe new block, a floor area of2,500 sq ft was added to

accommodate 75 more girls.An estimate of 30 lakhs wasspent for the purpose. On theoccasion, the school souvenirfor 2016 was released andprize distribution of theschool’s annual sports was alsoheld. The function concludedwith colorful cultural pro-grammes particpated byinmates.

In another development, acondolence meeting in mem-ory of social worker and agri-culturist Khetrabasi Behera,who died last week, was heldin the school.

Founder MalayaMohapatra and schoolHeadmaster Antaryami Sahoothrew light on ideal life ofBehera, who had received anational award for excellencein the field of agriculture andnamed ‘Krusak

Siromoni’. Besides, Beherahad been an advisor to theGovernment in implementa-tion of self-employmentschemes. The 100-acre agri-cultural farm ‘TruptyOrchards’ founded by Beherahas been an example of excel-lence in the national level.

��4���./���������� ��� �5�� 6����$������4�

����������� �1��$5+$6

Bus service in Sundargarhdistrict has worsened as

higher fare than prescribed iscollected while express busesfrom Rourkela to Sundergarhare halted where ever they likemuch to the chagrin of the pas-sengers.

Sources said Rourkela toKoira via Tensa is 115 km. Asper Government rate, the busconductor for local bus shouldcollect �63 from each passengerand for express bus it should be�67. But the conductors arecollecting from �100 to �120.

Similarly, the distancebetween Koira to Tensa is 15 km.While ordinary service busshould charge �7.15 and expressbus �7.50, but the passengersare charged �20. The distance

between Tensa and Barsuan is13km. The passengers here alsoare asked to pay �20 as fare.Similarly, the distance betweenBarsuan to Lahunipara is 29km.Instead of �15.95 for ordinaryservice and �16.92 for expressservice, �30 to �40 is charged.Similarly, for a distance of 100km between Rourkela and Kalta,�100 which is twice more thanactual fare is charged. In virtu-ally all routes, the fares are farhigher than the legal ones, saidsources. The driver, conductorand helper of most of the expressbuses in this route are stoppingthe vehicles at their sweet will.More are the stopovers, more arethe passengers and more is thebusiness. Giving least concernfor passengers’ safety and com-fort, the buses are running inbreakneck speed to make up for

the time wasted at extra halts.Overloading is a norm ratherthan an exception as the pas-sengers are taken in standingposition in absence of seats forall. It is also alleged that the pas-sengers are not given ticket andwhen claimed they begin toheckle the passengers.

“Regarding the collection ofhigher bus fare, I will tell oursquad for surprise check inbuses,” said Regional TransportOfficer, Rourkela Ashok Jena,when his attention was drawn tothe trend. “ We will take strongaction against the offenders,” heassured. “Regarding bus fareand overloading of passengers byexpress buses from Sundargarhto Rourkela, I will instruct TrafficSub Inspector to look into iturgently,” said Sundergarh RTORamniwas Sirika.

8��������$��������������������������������������

����� �+9��7+$

The user trial of the nuclear-capable, surface-to-surface

intermediate range Agni-IBallistic Missile was carried outsuccessfully from theIntegrated Test Range (ITR) atthe Abdul Kalam Island off theOdisha coast on Monday.

Under the supervision ofDRDO scientists, the single-stage missile, powered by solid-propellants, was test fired froma mobile launcher of LC-IV byIndia’s Strategic ForcesCommand at 9.15 am.

The trajectory of the trialwas tracked by a battery ofsophisticated radars, teleme-try observation stations, elec-tro-optic instruments andnaval ships from its launchtill the missile hit the targetarea with accuracy, saidsources.

The missile covered 700km distance within nine min-

utes and 36 seconds, sourcesadded.

The last trial of the Agni-I had successfully been car-ried out on November 27last from the same base.Weighing 12 tonnes, the mis-sile is capable of carrying anuclear warhead of onetonne.

The indigenous 15-metre-long missile was developed byAdvanced Systems Laboratory,the premier missile develop-ment laboratory of the DefenceResearch and DevelopmentOrganisation (DRDO) in col-laboration with DefenceResearch DevelopmentLaboratory and ResearchCentre and integrated by theBharat Dynamics Limited,Hyderabad.

The missile which hasalready been inducted inarmed forces, has proved itsexcellent performance interms of range and accuracy.

�)#����2������%����������� �(%%�(��$

����� G+G�1$

The Additional District andSession Judge of Jajpur on

Monday sentenced a 30-year-old man, Nidhia Tantia, to lifeimprisonment for killing hisbrother-in-law at Ganabhaluavillage under the Jenapur police

station two years back.Judge Rohitalal Panda also

slapped a fine of �25,000 onTantia for the offence.

Tantia, a tribal ofGanabhalua village, had hackedhis brother-in-law PandavaSidhu (26) to death on January14, 2014.

��(�����������������������#�������.��"

,$��� �����������������������!� ��� ���������

���� �!����� ������� ������������$����;�$����

����� ���

Page 4: 3 !˘-˜.)>?/ !ˇ#ˇ!#$ %!&’()* ˘ˇ ˆ˙ +C+ .ˆ$.5+ ˚+ .2 ;:;$: .˚ˆ+229˚A ... was arrested last month by the ... a Mahindra Scorpio, was yet to be ascer-tained, ... approved

&� &�#�'%�(�.�/ �'��0 .���(!��123�4516 �������3<

��:,�?����������������������������������$������������"���1�- �(� ��/�)���� �� �������������;���� �� )����������������������������.��� �������� *���+�� ��� ������+����������������������� ������ ����������� ��H����I#��� ����� �M����� �� � ������ �@0!NB���������(������ � ��� ���@0!NB�6����G���(�9���G���(�E!!!�������������� ��(���% ����� ����@HKNB(�I!!�����$��(3�� ��$����@L!NB������K3��(7 �%�@����������B(�� � ����� ���@H!NB�D!!!�������������� ��(��� ������� � � �@K!NB�6���G���#

*��*��������,������������������"���1�- �(� .���������:��������� ��� ���(�7�������� ������ ���G� �%� ���0:!� ������������� �������������.+� ���+��� ���C���6��%���2���� ����� ��3 ���� ��� �����6��%��������/������������ �#�������� �������������� ���������� �����%�������� E��( K�� ���HD�������������������)���#�� �� ������������������������ �D ��� ���E!����������#�7�����5�������������� ���� ��� �������������� ��� ��� ����������DE��� ���HH�������������������)���#�2���� ������� ���������������� ������ ���C��������������� ������ ���������.�����C�� ��6��%���2���� ���������������� ��3 ���� �� ����������� ���� L����D!#������C���(�������C���(�� ���C��� ���7����C������ ��������� ������ ������������ ����������� �����# ���� ����������� ����������2�� � (��%���2�� � (�������� � (.�� ��3� �� ������������� �� )�������� ��������������������)��� ��#�

����� �61�+��7+$

The second of the OdishaKnowledge Hub (OKH)

lecture series here on Mondayfocused on getting agricultureback on track in the growthagenda of the nation and theState. Eminent agriculturistPadmashri Dr Ashok Gulatispoke on the topic.

The Ministers, the ChiefSecretary along with PrincipalSecretaries, Secretaries andsenior officers of the Stateparticipated in the delibera-tions.

Dr Gulati elaborated the

link between agriculturegrowth and poverty reductionin national and internationalcontexts. He opined that high-er growth rate in agricultureleads to faster rate of povertyreduction.

Comparing nation’s econ-omy with a pyramid, Dr Gulatisuggested putting agriculturesector at the base, manufac-turing at the middle and ser-vice sector at the top the pyra-mid. Such an approach, hemaintained, would lead to sus-tainable development.

He suggested that thoughagriculture is a State subject,yet the Central Governmentneeds to trigger and engineerthe reform agenda in agricul-ture sector.

Dr Gulati cited the exam-

ple of the impact of centrallyengineered Green and WhiteRevolutions on Indian econo-my and strongly advocatedfor centrally sponsored activeagenda for reform in this basicsector of the economy thatcaters to the food and nutritionsecurity.

He opined that the Indianagriculture has the potential togrow at 5 per cent per annumin the present context againstwhich the present growth ratevaried from 3.6 per cent to 4per cent per annum in realterms.

Coming to the Odishacontext, Dr Gulati pointed tofrequent natural calamitiesand erratic rains as main fac-tors responsible for slow agri-cultural growth rate in the

State. He suggested focusing oninfrastructural developmentlike irrigation, rural roads,more power to agriculture sec-tor and establishment of valuechain for cereal and fruit-products in the State forachieving higher growth rate inagriculture.

D e v e l o p m e n tCommissioner R Balakrishnanintroduced Dr Gulati in thelecture series and gave a keynote address on the objectivesof the OKH. While replying toa media quarry after the meet-ing, he said that this lectureseries has been launched toupdate the State functionarieswith the newly emerging ideasand best practices at thenational and international lev-els in the matters of public pol-

icy and developmental admin-istration.

Finance Minister PradipAmat, Agriculture MinisterPradeep Maharathy,Panchayati Raj Minister ArunKumar Sahoo, IT and EnergyMinister Pranab Prakash Das,Planning and ConvergenceMinister Usha Devi, ST andSC Development Minister LalBihari Himirika, ChiefSecretary AP Padhi , PrincipalSecretaries and Secretaries ofvarious departments alongwith agriculture experts fromRBI, NABARD, State Bank ofIndia, NCIRD participated.

Keeping in view the grow-ing popularity of the pro-gramme, arrangements weremade to extend the pro-gramme to all districts.

2����������������������������� ����3�����

,8�-������������33�����

����� +$+�.56�1$

Around 20 rooms of 17 fam-ilies of Rangadab village

under Narasinghpur blockwere reduced to ashes in a firemishap that occurred late onSunday night.

Properties worth over Rs10 lakh were destroyed in thefire that broke out at the houseof one Prabhakar Roul and

spread into other houses.Being informed,

Narasinghpur fire brigade per-sonnel rushed to the spot anddoused the flame. However, nocasualty was reported in theincident. Pradesh CongressCommittee organisational sec-retary Sanjay Sahu demandedimmediate provision of all kindsof Government assistance to theaffected people.

�����)9�4��������������������������

��� � $+4+5+�+

The Central Bureau ofInvestigation (CBI) on

Monday announced a cashreward of �2 lakh for anyonewho provides information per-taining to the sensational mur-der case of primary schoolteacher Itishree Pradhan.

The CBI put up postershere inviting people to comeforward and share informationregarding the murder of theteacher posted at the TikiriUpper Primary School inRayagada district.

As part of its fourth roundof investigation into the case,CBI officials on Monday onceagain interrogated NarendraDandasena, the nephew of dis-missed School Inspector (SI)Netrananda Dandasena, whohad stated in court that he hadused Narendra’s mobile tothreaten Itishree.

It may be recalled thatItishree was set on fire in herroom in the school campus onthe night of October 27, 2013and she succumbed to herinjuries at the CARE Hospital

in Visakhapatnam in AndhraPradesh on November 1, 2013.

Initially, the case was inves-tigated by the State CrimeBranch before being handedover to the CBI. Following awrit petition filed by SudiptaLenka, a law student fromBengaluru, the Supreme Courthad directed the CBI to probeinto the case on January 20 lastyear.

Acting on the directive ofthe court, a SpecialInvestigation Team (SIT) of theCBI began the probe into thecase on February 25 last year.

�2��� �0 ��.���.���4��������� �����/��

����� �61�+��7+$

Apreparatory meeting toobserve the first death

anniversary of former ChiefMinister of Odisha and formerAssam Governor JanakiBallabh Patnaik was held hereon Monday.

Aryakumar Jnanendrasaid intellectuals of the city,leaders cutting across partylines, have become united andmade a committee to observethe death anniversary ofPatnaik on April 21. Leader ofOpposition NarasinghaMishra took the responsibili-ty as the president of thecommittee.

Former Vice-ChancellorDr Bimalendu Mohanty, for-mer Minister RasabihariBehera and linguist Dr DebiPrasanna Pattanaik wereselected as the vice-presidentsof the committee and Dr Badrinath Patnaik as treasurer.

A 10-member committeeled by its president NarasinghaMishra would meet the ChiefMinister to request him forinstalling a statue of JB Patnaikin front of the CongressBhawan. They would alsorequest for renaming of theUtkal University of Cultureand the Ekrama Kanan after JBPatnaik.

BJP leader Biswa BhusanHarichandan and Congressleaders Niranjan Patnaik andRanjib Biswal were present.

!�����������������������������������

����� �61�+��7+$

Actor Manideepa Mallickon Monday refused to

accept the Odisha SangeetNatak Akademi Award, whichhas been mired in controver-sy over alleged nepotism.

Manideepa is the wife ofAkademi SecretaryDhirendranath Mallick. Theaward which was announcedfive days ago for the years 2014and 2015 had put questionsover its neutrality after thename of Manideepa foundplace in the list of awardees.

Manideepa told reportersthat she decided not to takethe award owing the contro-versy.

The awards, announcedlast Wednesday, would be pre-sented at a ceremony to beheld here onMarch 29. Theawardees would receive a cashreward of �30, 000, a citationand a memento each.

The awards are the high-est honour for performingarts in the State.

������������ !�������������������1#�����1"���

Page 5: 3 !˘-˜.)>?/ !ˇ#ˇ!#$ %!&’()* ˘ˇ ˆ˙ +C+ .ˆ$.5+ ˚+ .2 ;:;$: .˚ˆ+229˚A ... was arrested last month by the ... a Mahindra Scorpio, was yet to be ascer-tained, ... approved

&� &�#�'%�(�.�/ �'��0 .���(!��123�4516 �������3=

����� �7���96.

The much-awaited firstinstallment of One Rank

One Pension (OROP) has beenpaid in the beginning of thismonth to more than two lakhveterans drawing service anddisability pension, theGovernment announced hereon Monday.

As to the more than 1.46lakh family pensioners, theGovernment will credit thenew benefits by the end of thismonth, the Defence Ministrysaid in a statement. “TheDefence Pension DisbursingOffices (DPDOs) under theController General of DefenceAccounts (CGDA)... Havereleased revised pension ben-efits to 2,21,224 defence pen-sioners drawing service/dis-ability pension. The amountalong with first installment ofarrears has been released andcredited to the accounts ofthese pensioners on March 1,2016,” the statement said.

In the case of the remain-ing 1,46,335 family pensionersdrawing pension from DPDOs,

payment along with arrears isexpected to be released byMarch-end, it added. Thebanks are processing therevised pension, it said. Thesesteps are pursuant to aDepartment of Ex-ServicemenWelfare (ESW) notification ofNovember 7 last year orderingimplementation of the OROPscheme for defence pensioners.

The total additional annu-al financial increase for grant ofOROP is �7,488.70 crore. Thetotal amount on account ofarrears to be paid for the peri-od July 1, 2014, to December31, 2015, is �10,925.11 crore.

Of the total annual liabili-ty of �7,488.70 crore, PBOR(personnel below officer ranks)family pensioners shall get �6,405.59 crore, which works

out to 85.5 per cent ofthe total OROP expen-diture, the statementsaid.

Due to the increasein the defence pensionbudget, the additionalliability for currentfinancial year 2015-16shall be �4,721.34 crore,

which increases the currentdefence pension liability from�60,238 crore to �64,959.34crore for 2015-16, it added.

Detailed implementationorders of OROP with 101 tablescontaining revised pensionsfor the different ranks and cat-egories were issued by theDepartment of ESW onFebruary 3 on its website,www.Desw.Gov.In. Accordingto the orders, the pension dis-bursing agencies have beenauthorised to make paymentswith arrears as scheduled.

The Government haddecided to give priority tomore than six lakh widows andgallantry medal winners whileimplementing OROP. In allthere are more than 23 lakhveterans.

����� �7���96.

Congress members in theRajya Sabha on Monday

yet again raised the issue ofliquor baron Vijay Mallya, whohas allegedly defaulted on over�9,000 crore bank loans, anddemanded that the industrial-ist be brought back to Indiaalong with former IPL chiefLalit Modi. This, even as theEthics Committee of the RajyaSabha, headed by Congressveteran Karan Singh, took cog-nizance of the Mallya issue fol-lowing notices given byOpposition members.

Congress memberstrooped in the Well and raisedslogans half way through theZero Hour after its member

Pramod Tiwari raised the issue.The party had raised the issuelast week also. Tiwari, whileraising the matter, claimed thatthe beleaguered industrialistwas elected to the Rajya Sabhawith BJP support.

Deputy Chairman PJKurien said Tiwari’s notice onthe Mallya issue has not been

accepted by Chairman HamidAnsari. However, Congressmembers kept raising sloganslike ‘Vijay Mallya, Modi KoWapas Lao, Wapas Lao’ fromthe Well.

Chairman Hamid Ansarireferred the matter to theEthics Committee. “The ques-tion regarding Mallya was ear-

lier raised in the House in themorning. The Chairmanreferred the matter to theEthics Committee. Our meet-ing was decided earlier. Therewere two more issues. Now wehave taken up this third issueas well. We have taken its cog-nizance. Now we will proceedon it as per our rules,” saidKaran Singh after the panelmeeting.

When asked about the nextmeeting of the panel, theCongress leader said that a datehas not been fixed as yet. “Butmeetings will happen,” he said.To a specific question as towhat will happen in the matter,Singh quipped, “Ask any for-tune-teller, what will happen.Why do you ask me?”

The 10-member commit-tee headed by Singh compris-es Satish Chandra Misra (BSP),Avinash Rai Khanna (BJP),Sharad Yadav (JDU), SitaramYechury (CPI-M), Mukul Roy(Trinamool Congress), NeerajShekhar (Samajwadi Party), AN a v a n e e t h a k r i s h n a n(AIADMK) and DevenderGoud T (TDP). With numbersin the panel favouringOpposition, the issue is likelyto generate political heat in thecoming days.

Leader of OppositionGhulam Nabi Azad, CongressMP Pramod Tiwari and JD-UPresident Sharad Yadav wereamong the members who hadgiven notice against Mallya tothe Chairman.

4�����������������'�����������0�������&�

�� /�����1� .����� /.����&����� ���/.�/��7�/��� .

����� �7���96.

Expanding its role from justdealing with external

issues, the Ministry of ExternalAffairs (MEA), in a uniqueeffort, has deeply involveditself with the StateGovernments through itsnewly-created States Division.In the last one year of its cre-ation, this Division hastouched Indians in more waysthan it has in the past. Fromgetting investments to human-itarian operations to rejuve-nation of cities to gettingresources for Government’sflagship programmes — thisnewly created States Divisionof the MEA has “proactively”reached out to the peoplewithin the country.

In its Annual Report for2015-16, the MEA said thatrecognising that the Stateshave a critical role to play, par-ticularly in the success ofcommercial and culturaldiplomacy, the States Divisionis helping them identify targetcountries and regions for com-mercial, cultural, academic,tourism and diaspora out-reach, and in having appro-priate strategies for maximis-

ing the gains from interna-tional interaction.

The States Division is alsothe nodal division for the newinitiative of “StatesSpecialisation” by all theIndian Foreign ServiceOfficers. Under this initia-tive, the officers have to spe-cialise in two States. “TheStates Division by being theinterface between the States ofthe Union of India and theexternal outreach of IndianDiplomacy gives impetus tothe paradigm of Diplomacy forDevelopment, MEA said in itsreport.

To the credit of this newdivision in MEA, the yearalso saw signing of a numberof twinning agreementsbetween Indian and foreigncities/provinces. The areas ofcooperation were broad rang-ing and include economiccooperation, academic link-ages, investment, tourism,technology transfers, exports,culture, people to people con-tact, urban development, her-itage conservation and com-munity driven issues. TheDivision is now trying toevolve new institutional struc-tures for facilitation, focus

and familiarisation of thestates with the MEA andIndian Embassies andConsulates abroad.

New initiatives like ‘Meetthe States’ to familiarise res-ident diplomats with the StateGovernments, and outreachof senior Indian Diplomats tothe States have strengthenedthe interactive process. In thehour of crisis, the Divisioncoordinated with the Statesand the missions abroad forthe evacuation of IndianNationals during crises incountries like Yemen evacu-ation through OperationRahat, and providing Reliefafter Nepal Earth Quakethrough Operation Maitri,the report said. This Divisionwas involved in the bringingback of dead bodies of the vic-tims from the respectivecountries and handing themover to their families. TheStates Division liaised withthe Uttarakhand and Missionin Kuala Lumpur in the repa-triat ion of 13 workersdetained by their employer inMalaysia. It also coordinatedrelease of 6 fishermen fromAndhra Pradesh fromBangladesh.

Besides, officers from theStates Division are working tofacilitate return of MohammadRamzan to Pakistan. He hasbeen for the past two years inUmeed, the shelter home runby NGO Aarambh in Bhopal.The Division also worked inclose coordination for thereturn of Geeta, the deaf andmute Indian girl who had losther way and entered Pakistanyears earlier.

The Ministry’s annualreport claimed that one of themajor achievements of theDivision was launch of theIndia China State/ ProvincialLeaders Forum during thevisit of the Prime MinisterNarendra Modi to China inMay, 2015. During the visit ofModi to China, the StatesDivision coordinated signingof a sister state agreementbetween Karnataka —Sichuan, signing of three sis-ter-city agreements, betweenChennai — Chongqing,Hyderabad — Qingdao,Aurangabad — Dunhuang .During Modi’s visit to Japanlast year, the States Divisionfacilitated the signing ofKyoto-Varanasi Partner CityAgreement.

����� �7���96.

Congress leader GhulamNabi Azad’s alleged

remarks comparing RSS withterrorist organisation ISIS lastweek sparked a slanging matchin the Rajya Sabha on Monday.While the BJP demanded anapology from Azad, who isLeader of Opposition, hedenied making such statementand said he was submitting aCD of his speech to theGovernment.

Defending his speechmade at an event organised byJamait Ulama-i-Hind, Azad

said he had observed that therewas no fight between Hindusand Muslims in India but a tus-sle on ideology. Reading outverbatim his speech deliveredin the function, the Congressleader then said he told thegathering that “we oppose ISISand such organisations as weoppose RSS.”

Azad contended he neverdrew a parallel between RSSand ISIS and said he was readyto face privilege motion ifproven wrong. The Leader ofOpposition also said he hadmentioned that “if someone inIslam does wrong, they are noless than RSS,” he said. “Whereis the comparison,” he asked. “IfI had said ISIS and RSS aresame” there would have been acomparison.

The Congress said he hadstated that Hindu, Muslimand Sikh fundamentalists haveto be fought as they are againstthe country. “We have to fightthem all together.” Azadasserted these points whenMinister of State forParliamentary Affairs MukhtarAbbas Naqvi demanded anapology after some SP and BSPmembers took objection toRSS urging the affluent torefrain from seeking benefitsof reservation.

Amidst agitated BJP mem-bers demanding an apology

from him, Leader of theHouse Arun Jaitley said hepersonally respected Azadand knew the Congress leaderalways speaks with restraint.“However, this time youknowingly or unknowinglyslipped while delivering aspeech,” the BJP leader said.He also said by mentioningISIS, which is known all over the world for its philos-ophy, Azad had grantedrespectability to the terroristorganisation.

As BJP members launcheda vociferous protest earlierwhen Azad rose to speak, theCongress leader shot back andsaid they were displaying thesame intolerance inside theHouse shown outside whenfaced with criticism.

Reading his speech at theevent, Azad said he had spokenof Hindus, judges and jour-nalists who were fighting forsecularism. All forms of fun-damentalism must be resisted,he said. After the Congressleader’s clarification, the Housetook up other business.

In the Lok Sabha, the issuealso came up briefly during theZero Hour, with AshwiniKumar Chopra of the BJPattacking Azad for attemptingto “tarnish” the image of theRSS. He wanted a discussionon the issue in the House.

�3� � #��%�/����#)�4''����'�'+���������(�/����������%�

����� �7���96.

Congress vice-presidentRahul Gandhi on Monday

requested the Government inthe Lok Sabha to respondimmediately to the plight offarmers in north India hit byheavy rain and hailstorm andsend a team to assess the dam-age.

As the House assembledfor the day, Rahul raised theissue of heavy rains and hail-storm in the past two days andurged the Government to pro-vide aid to the affected farmerswithout any delay.

Rain and hailstorms hitseveral parts of North Indiaincluding Delhi, Punjab, UttarPradesh and Haryana over theweekend and early Tuesday.According to reports, rains haveflattened wheat, mustard andcoriander crops in the States.

“Crops have been dam-aged...The Government shouldtake immediate action,” Rahulsaid in the lower House.

Asking the Centre to senda team to assess the damage ,he sought a statement byAgriculture Minister RadhaMohan Singh in the House.

The Congress leader saidthe Centre should rush the pro-vision of relief to the affectedfarmers and like last time, thisassistance should not reach late.

Parliamentary AffairsMinister M Venkaiah Naidusaid he has spoken with theAgriculture Minister on the“serious” issue, who is in touchwith State Governments. Hesaid Minister could make astatement either Monday orTuesday. Later in zero hour, theSpeaker rejected notices ofadjournment given by Rahul andother members on the issue.

53����/���6����������������� ��� �/������������1

��#)���� ��5�(��/� �����3� ��&��#����4��$��'������#� �������#���# �$� *6�

'%�����( #������1���*�����/#�7�(� (��#)����#)��#)�( )���#��# ��������#��# �$� *6�

����� �7���96.

To ensure that adoption ofchildren both inside and

outside the country is in theirbest interests, the SupremeCourt on Monday instructedthe Centre and the States toframe rules, regulations andguidelines under the new adop-tion law at the earliest.

The bench headed by ChiefJustice TS Thakur said, “Theprocess of adoption has to betransparent and the interests ofchildren have to be protected,whether it is inter-country orintra-country. It should ensurewelfare of the child.” The courtfurther asked all the States tocome out with rules to imple-ment the Juvenile Justice (Careand Protection of Children)Act, 2015. The order came ona PIL filed by NGO AdvaitFoundation which sought anindependent CBI probe intoalleged adoption rackets in thecountry.

On a request by the PILpetitioner to order a CBI probeinto alleged irregularities inadoption process, the bench,

also comprising Justices RBanumathi and UU Lalit, askedthe NGO to come out with“specific allegations in specif-ic cases” for probe. “We willgive you liberty to come tocourt or to the CBI with spe-cific allegations. You cannotseek CBI investigation in all thecases,” the court told the peti-tioner. In the light of the saidorder, the PIL was disposed.

The bench had in 2012issued notice to the Centre onthe PIL seeking various reliefsincluding a direction to thegovernment to ban inter-coun-try adoption in the absence ofany law regulating it.

����� �7���96.

The Supreme Court onMonday sought income

tax assessment details of thekith and kin of former ChiefJustice of India KGBalakrishnan during histenure in the apex court.

A bench of Justices DipakMisra and Shiva Kirti Singhasked Attorney General MukulRohatgi to file the AssessmentOrders of Income Tax returnsof the family members of JusticeBalakrishnan on a PIL filed byNGO Common Cause. Thoughthey are not party to the pro-ceeding in Court, Rohatgi saidthat the kin of the former CJIare income tax payers and havebeen filing their returns.

The bench told Rohatgi,“You file a chart indicatingtheir IT assessment orders forour perusal,” fixing the nextdate of hearing on July 12. ThePIL argued by advocatePrashant Bhushan had alleged

disproportionate assetsamassed by former CJI byway of benami land transac-tions held in the name of hisdaughters, son-in-laws, andbrother. The PIL was filedafter Justice Balakrishnanretired from apex court andjoined as Chairperson of theNational Human RightsCommission (NHRC).Bhushan had sought the for-mer CJI’s removal asChairperson but that prayerbecame infructuous since hisexit from NHRC in May 2015.

The court’s directioncomes almost four monthsafter Centre submitted thatthere was no conclusive proofof disproportionate assets inthe IT assessment orders ofJustice Balakrishnan’s kin.Bhushan had objected to thisclaim alleging that around 21 properties have been acquiredin the names of son, daughterand brother of the formerCJI.

� ���%��.:2���� ������%���� ���%�������/:G.�� � %����� �

.�&�'�����'��&��'(/�����������#�����������)��(�����1�������#�*�����/#��7�(� (��#)�����#)��#)�2( )����#��#� ��������#���# �$� *6��

�8�0�'������1���#�%�������(%%����$9:��/��(������ �����#���#(��%��� �#0������0

2�������������� �������� ���������� ��� ���� ����������������������������� )�������

���������(�������������������:��������������� :

�������#�.������������������� ���������������

= 2��26+31$

����� �7���96.

Faced with an alarming rateof death toll in road acci-

dents, the Government plans toreduce casualties by half in fiveyears through a number ofmeasures like providing air-conditioned cabins in trucks todrivers as they are stresseddue to heat and creating access-controlled expressways.

Announcing these mea-sures in the Rajya Sabha onMonday after membersexpressed concern over the ris-ing toll, Minister of TransportNitin Gadkari said theGovernment intends to reducethe rate of casualties to half inthe next five years. Nearly1,39,671 people were killed inroad accidents in 2014, he said.Many of these casualties weredue to deficiencies in design,the Minister added.

“We will bring down thenumber of deaths in road acci-dents by 50 percent,” Gadkari

said while fielding questionsadding his Ministry has iden-tified 726 ‘blackspots’ whichwould be set right at a cost of�11,000 crore.

Work for expanding two-lane highways to four-lane willalso be taken up and the lengthof National Highways will beincreased from 96,000 kms totwo lakh kms, the Minister saidadding ambulances were placedon highways to provide med-ical treatment of victims.

As regards providing air-conditioned cabins for truckdrivers, Gadkari it will be mademandatory as “they drive up to12 hours at a stretch at times.”Stressing the need for this step,he said sweltering heat in thecabin of truck leads to stresswhich at times lead to accidents.

The Transport Ministeralso admitted that around 30percent driving licences in thecountry were bogus.

“This is a country wherelicense can be procured most

easily. This is discredit and notcredit,” he said and recalledduring a health check of driversin Maharashtra, 40 percent ofthem were found to be suffer-ing with cataract.

Replying to questions aboutthe inadequacy of drivingschools in the country and theneed to sensitise drivers, theminister said the central gov-ernment has started 19 centres,which will provide fitness cer-tificate, pollution certificate. Allthese centres will be in rural partsand more than 5,000 vehicle fit-ness and pollution centres will beset up in villages to generateemployment. Other measureincluded installation of videocameras to capture the move-ments of erring drivers, he said.

While accepting that therewas no scheme to prevent ani-mals from straying on high-ways, Gadkari said his ministrywill construct controlled-accesshighways. As part of efforts toboost road infrastructure for

faster connectivity, the Centreis planning to start work on 10world-class express highways.

An express highway is acontrolled-access highways,mostly six-lane or above, whereentrance and exit is controlledby the use of slip roads (ramps)that are incorporated into thedesign of the highway.

Accepting that there is aproblem of overloading ontrucks, he said it falls in theconcurrent list. Acknowledgingthat there is too much of cor-ruption in it, weigh bridges arebeing constructed at toll points.

Figures show that after aslight reduction in the numberof people killed in road accidentin 2013, it again went up by over20,000 in 2014. While a total of1,42, 485 persons were killed inroad accidents in 2011, it was1,38,258 in 2012. There was aslight decline in 2013 with thedeath toll pegged at 1,37,572.2014 saw a rise with 1,39,671casualties in road accidents.

�,����,:��.5.�.����:�5,.5>�:�"����."�5,�

5� &�������������%���#�������(%&� ��1�

Page 6: 3 !˘-˜.)>?/ !ˇ#ˇ!#$ %!&’()* ˘ˇ ˆ˙ +C+ .ˆ$.5+ ˚+ .2 ;:;$: .˚ˆ+229˚A ... was arrested last month by the ... a Mahindra Scorpio, was yet to be ascer-tained, ... approved

�������3?&� &�#�'%�(�.�/ �'��0 .���(!��123�4516

����� 5+�6.+5+$

Amid frequent incidences ofabduction of innocent

Indian fishermen along withtheir costly boats from theArabian Sea, neighbouringPakistan has decided to release86 Indian fishermen fromKarachi jail.

Of these 86 Indian fisher-men, most are hailing fromSaurashtra region of Gujarat, saida senior officialin the State fish-eries depart-ment, addingthat they mightbe released onMarch 21 andwould reachGujarat by next couple of daysvia Wagah Border.

According to the officials thefishermen were apprehendedalong with their boats nearInternational MaritimeBoundary Line (IMBL) by thePakistan Maritime SecurityAgency (PMSA) over the pastone year. As per PMSA claimedthe fishermen were at fault and

allegedly entered inside Pakistanwaters. Just a week ago theneighbouring country released87 Indian fishermen from thesame jail in Karachi.

Sources in fishermen com-munity claimed that sometimestheir boats drift into Pakistanwaters but there were incidencesin which PMSA personnelapprehended Indian boats fromIndian waters too. They alsocomplained that Pakistan regu-larly releasing Indian fishermenfrom Karachi prison but theneighbouring country has notyet returned 860 Indian fishingtrawlers which were taken there.

In fact Porbandar FishermenBoat Association has written aletter to Prime MinisterNarendra Modi to take up the

issue of Indianfishermen's boatwhich are theirlivelihood.

"There are18 other fisher-men who are inPakistan jails for

nearly three years. These fisher-men have also requested for theirrelease along with 86 lucky fish-ermen," said Manish Lodhari,secretary National FishworkerForum (NFF), adding that the 18fishermen have also written a let-ter to authorities of India as wellas Pakistan. As of now nearly 400fishermen are in Pakistan jails,added Lodhari.

������������ 517+6+2.

Fearing the Congress andBJP will resort to violence

in the forthcoming polls, AllIndia United Democratic front(AIUDF) has urged its work-ers to buy insurance policies,which will fetch them �2 lakhin case of injuries and � 5 lakhin case of any death in the elec-tion related violence.

AIUDF leader SirajuddinAjmal, who represents AIUDFin the Lok Sabha, has said this

while addressing the partyworkers at Hojai in Nagaondistrict, sparking a debateand widespread protests indifferent part of the Stateaccusing him of trying toencourage the party workersfor violence.

“I told the party workersthat they can go for an insur-ance policy by paying �716only. This insurance policywill ensure that they would get�2 lakh in case their receiveinjuries and �5 lakh to thenominee in case of death dur-ing the poll related violence,”said Ajmal, who is also thebrother of the party chief andperfume trader MoulanaBadaruddin Ajmal.

“There is nothing wrong inthis. Our party cadres oftenface violence and so I have sug-gested the workers to opt forthe insurance policy,” he said.

AIUDF spokesmanChampak Kalita said that theAIUDF Lok Sabha MP hasurged all the party workers togo for the insurance policy asthey have witnessed violence bythe BJP and Congress in certainconstituencies in the past.

“There is nothing wrong inwhat the MP says. We havewitnessed lots of violence bythe BJP and Congress workersin the past. In Last election in2011, one of our workers evendied due to attack by the work-ers of rival party,” said Kalita

while adding that a section ofmedia has been trying to makean issue out of the statement ofSirajuddin Ajmal.

Large gathering of peoplein Hojai and Barpeta onMonday protested against thestatements of Sirajuddin Ajmaland said that the AIUDF MPhad been trying not only toincite the AIUDF workers forviolence ahead of the polls butalso trying to divide theHindus and Muslims, whohad been living peacefully.

“The Government shouldact immediately and arrestAjmal for trying to incite vio-lence ahead of the polls,” saidan agitating civilian in Hojai onMonday.

������ 5+�6.+5+$

Minister of State forAgriculture and

Member of Parliament fromRajkot Mohan Kundaria onMonday gave assurance tothe agitating jewellers to dis-cuss issue of excise duty onornaments with the PrimeMinister Narendra Modi.

The Minister was in hisconstituency Rajkot and metjewellers. Rajkot is consideredas one of the important cen-tres in the country in jew-ellery making. According toagitating jewellers, in therecently presented UnionBudget by the FinanceMinister Arun Jaitely, theproposal of 1 per cent exciseduty would ruin their busi-ness and created plethora ofcomplexity.

Over the past fortnightthe jewellers are on strike forproposed excise duty as wellas another proposal in theBudget pertaining to manda-tory PAN card on the part ofcustomers in case they wouldpurchase jewellery of �2 lakhand above. The agitating jew-ellers believe that asking forPAN from every customerwouldn’t be practical. Hencethey are demanding with-drawal of excise duty as wellas removal of the clause tomake PAN card mandatoryfor the purchasing gold jew-ellery of �2 lakh and above.

Kundaria gave assuranceto them that the leaders of

BJP as well as senior func-tionaries in the UnionGovernment were trying toresolve their issues. He fur-ther said that a delegation ofMembers of Parliament fromGujarat including him wouldtake time from the PrimeMinister and tell him aboutthe problem due to exciseduty and mandatory PANcard.

����������C�� 64��$+�+�

Telangana has got a Budgetof �1.30 lakh crore for the

financial year 2016-17 thoughthe State Government has cutthe non-plan expenditure tomake the Budget in tune withthe ground realities.

Budget size this year was�14726 crore bigger than thatof last year when the State hada Budget of �115689 crore.

The State Finance MinisterEatala Rajender presented the�130,415 crore Budget in theState Assembly on Mondaymorning with a significantshare of �25000 crore ear-marked for the irrigation sec-tor. A whopping �36976 crorewas allocated to the MissionBhagirath, aimed at ensuringthe safe drinking water supplyto every household in theState. Irrigation sector has alsobeen given a prominence in theBudget and an amount of�6286 crore was earmarked forthe Kaleshwaram lift irrigationproject across river Pranahithafor which an agreement wassigned by the States ofTelangana and Maharashtrarecently. Another �7861 wereallocated for the Palamuru liftirrigation project. The FinanceMinister said that every effortwill be made to ensure the util-isation of 1250 tmcft of waterwhich was the share ofTelangna in rivers Krishnaand Godavari.

He noted that the neighou-boring states of Maharashtraand Karnataka had built 450barrages across rivers Krishnaand Godavari.

The Budget has a plannedexpenditure of �67630 croreand a non-plan expenditure of

�62785 crore. Less than twoyear old State was estimated toend the year 2016-17 with arevenue surplus of �3718 crorewhile the fiscal deficit wasestimated to be at �23467crore or 3.5 per cent of theGSDP.

The revenue of the State inthe coming financial year waslikely to rise to �72412 croreagainst the current year’s�54256 crore.

The Budget has a provisionof �3718 crore toward waiverof the farmers’ debt. This ispart of �6759 crore earmarkedfor the agriculture sector. ERajender said that the StateGovernment had alreadydeposited the second install-

ment of farmers’ debt waiveramount in the banks.

Setting a target of 23912MW power generation withinnext three years, Rajender saidthat from the next Kharif sea-son the agriculture sector willget nine hour power supply. Healso announced that 200,000double bed room houses willbe built for the poorer sectionsthis year.

Like the previous twoyears, KCR Government con-tinued its emphasis on thewelfare of weaker sections byearmarking �2538 crore for thebackward classes, �1204 crorefor the minorities, �7122 crorefor Dalits and � 3752 crore forthe scheduled tribes. Fo the

first time a Budget of �100crore was also allocated for thewelfare of the upper casteBrahmins.

While the two neighbour-ing Telugu States of AndhraPradesh and Telangana wereseen to be caught in the race ofone-upmanship in annual bud-get outlays for the last twoyears, Telangana this yearseems to have given up thiscourse. While AP’s Budget for2016-17 presented last weekhad a bigger outlay of �1.35lakh crore, up from last year’s1.13 lakh crore, Telangana haskept its outlay at �1.3 croredespite the general impres-sion that its financial healthwas more robust than AP.

$��������� 3;6.

The Kerala High Court onMonday quashed an order

of State Assembly Speaker NSakthan disqualifying PCGeorge, former rebel leader ofthe Kerala Congress (M), thirdbiggest constituent of theCongress-led ruling UDF, asMLA without considering theletter of resignation he had sub-mitted a day before his dis-qualification.

Stating that the Speaker’sorder disqualifying Georgeeven after he had tendered hisresignation was not in accor-dance with rules, Justice VChitambaresh of the HighCourt said Speaker shouldhave considered the resignationapplication. The judge saidSpeaker Sakthan could recon-sider George’s letter of resig-nation after hearing him.

Observers say that theHigh Court order is in effect asetback for the Congress-ledUDF Government, especiallyin the context of the upcomingAssembly election. “Allegationshave already come up to theeffect that the Speaker hadacted with political interest inthe issue of George’s disquali-

fication,” said a senior lawyer ofthe High Court.

The court passed the orderon a petition filed by Georgechallenging the Speaker's orderand pointing out the technicalerrors in it. George, formervice-chairman of the KC(M),was the chief whip of the UDFGovernment till April last yearwhen he was ousted from thatposition after he fell out withparty chairman KM Mani overthe corruption charges againstthe latter.

“Truth has triumphed,” wasthe joyful response of George tothe court order. “As my disqual-ification has been revoked and asthe Speaker has not accepted myresignation, I am still an MLA,”George, who was elected to theAssembly from Poonjar, said. Asper reports, George is likely tocontest in the coming electionfrom Poonjar with the supportof CPI(M)-led LDF.

Speaker Sakthan, aCongress leader, had issuedthe order on November 13 onthe basis of a petition filed byGovernment Chief WhipThomas Unnyadan of theKC(M) seeking George’s dis-qualification alleging that hehad violated party discipline,indulged in anti-party activitiesand fielded own candidateagainst the UDF nominee in anAssembly by-poll held last June.

Sakthan had disqualifiedGeorge as per the Anti-Defection Law with retrospec-tive effect from June 3 till theend of the current Assembly'stenure but ruled that all hisactions as MLA till the previousday were acceptable and thatthe benefits he had received tillthat day would not be recov-ered. George said in his pleathat this was contradictory.

The Speaker had decidedto disqualify George allegedlyafter examining records relat-ing to his claim that he hadgiven up his membership in theKC(M), that he was reviving hisold party, Kerala Congress (S),and the allegation that he hadfielded own candidate in theAruvikkara Assembly by-pollagainst the UDF’s nominee.

'8��.���0/)��1�/�/� 16�4���.��..0��������.�0..�� �4�/���!

*���%� ���#��( #�� (��#)������������ /�# �#)��2���#1��)����#��#������%���(����#��#�'�����'�%���#���//���#��%�(��/#����!!+��#��������� ��#���# �$ *6��

,������8��/����������#��:����������/��������!-1 7��������������������������8����

,���5>�5� ��">�,

6��#)�#��:�#�#%���#����8����4��# �����#��#)����2( )����!;��#����.)�����1��/��$��#�7$ ���� ��#���# �$*6��

����� 5+�6.+5+$

Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS)of Gujarat police nabbed

disciple of self-styled god-manAsaram Bapu in connectionwith an attack on the witness-es against jailed Asaram and hisNarayan Sai on Monday.

Sources in police said thatthey arrested 24-year-old KartikHaldar near Raipur city inChhattisgarh. Haldar wasinvolved in as many as sevencases of attack on witnessesincluding three murders. Theaccused is resident of Pargananear West Bengal capitalKolkata.

According to police, hewas involved in the murders ofthe three witnesses againstAsaram-Sai duo — AmrutPrajapati, Akhil Gupta andKrupal apart from four other

such caseswhere heattempted toattack of wit-nesses againstthe father-sonduo. Asaramis in Jodhpurjail for alleged

rape case and his son NarayanSai is lodged in Lajpore jail ofSurat in multiple crime cases.

Haldar would be brought toAhmedabad for investigationwhich may increase more trou-bles for Asaram and NarayanSai. He was also involved in theattempts to murder of RajuChandok and Lal Thakur inAhmedabad as well as OmPrakash and his wife in neigh-bouring Madhya Pradesh. Healso tried to murder MahendraChavla who is also a witnessagainst Asaram.

� �� ������� �.�������.�

:�����$���� � ������$���$�

6�*�!!�� ������� ������ ��

����� ����;�� ������ �*�!!��

����$�������� �!����$��������������������

������������5���������$������

� �� �����

"�����������$9������� ���/���>2���������������� �������� ���D � ����������� ��5�� � �������/������������ ��?�

��<�:�������#(��#%����%� ���)��#�������1���#%+.1�A��� ��� ������������������������������%��������)�������

@,��$�$� �����$��A��*�

�$��6�� !�� ��� ��� ����>����������$������������

Page 7: 3 !˘-˜.)>?/ !ˇ#ˇ!#$ %!&’()* ˘ˇ ˆ˙ +C+ .ˆ$.5+ ˚+ .2 ;:;$: .˚ˆ+229˚A ... was arrested last month by the ... a Mahindra Scorpio, was yet to be ascer-tained, ... approved

&� &�#�'%�(�.�/ �'��0 .���(!��123�4516 �������3B

������$������ O��5+91$1

The bandh call given by BJPfollowing the murder of

one of its worker turned vio-lent forcing the police toresort to lathicharge to dis-perse the agitating workers insouthern city of Mysuru onMonday. The bandh, thoughbegan with a peaceful note,turned violent as the workerstorched a two-wheeler andindulged in stone pelting onKSRTC buses which forcedthe authorities to stop theservice.

Prohibitory orders wereclamped under Section 144 ofthe CrPC in Mysuru City fol-lowing the bandh call givenby the BJP to protest themurder of Raju last evening ina tea shop on M G Road inUdayagiri Police station lim-its.

Police have beefed upsecurity in Udayagiri and sur-rounding Kyathmaranhalli

areas. Additional police forcewas deployed around K RHospital mortuary, where thepost mortem is scheduled totake place. Large crowd gath-ered in front of the Mortuarydemanding the arrest of theculprits immediately and suit-able compensation to the fam-ily of the Raju.

BJP leaders including for-mer Ministers S A Ramadas,C T Ravi, C H Vijyashankarand others led the protest.Prohibitory orders will remainin force till midnight Monday

as precautionary measure,City Police Commissioner BDayananda said in a state-ment.

Meanwhile, the districtadministration said II PUexaminations will continueas per schedule. Necessarysteps have been taken to facil-itate students to write theexams, said a statement issuedby the Administration.

In the meantimeKarnataka Home Minister GParmeshwar told newsmen inMangaluru that the entire inci-dent has been handed to overto CCB for detail investigationand assured that the culprit willbe arrested very soon.

Three buses, two cars andone police jeep were damagedin the stone pelting. The agi-tating workers forced businessestablishments to closedownshutters. The governmentoffices working were notaffected. The City and ruralbus services were suspendedtill the evening.

�����������������6�+.

Dalit organisations in TamilNadu went on an agita-

tion all over the State follow-ing Sunday’s gruesome mur-der of V Sankar, a final yearengineering college student atUdumalpet, 540 km south-west of Chennai as part of anhonour killing.

Chinnasamy (52), father-in -law of Sankar (22) wasarrested by Tamil Nadu Policeon Monday. According tosources in Tamil Nadu Policein Coimbatore, Chinnasamysurrendered before a Dindigulcourt as tension mounted upin Tirupur district in TamilNadu over the kil l ing.Kausalya, his daughter, hadtold the Police that her fatherwas behind the murder ofSankar.

Sankar, a final year stu-dent of a private engineeringcollege in Pollachi had elopedwith Kauslaya (19), his col-league and the both had gotmarried much against thewishes of the girl's family.According to police,Chinnasamy , a caste Hinduhad hired a group of people tofinish off the couple for bring-ing "bad name" to his family.

Sunday saw a group offour persons attacking thecouple in broad daylight as

they were on their way back toSankar's house after shop-ping at a super market inUdumalpet. The assailantssurrounded the couple andhacked them with sickles andknives and vanished withinminutes on motor cycles.

Eyewitnesses who werehorrified by the gruesome actrushed in to help Sankar andKausalya and took them to thenearest hospital where Sankarwas declared brought dead.Kausalya who had severeinjuries on her head has beenadmitted to CoimbatoreGovernment Hospital.Doctors attending to her saidher condition is stable and sheis out of danger.

Velusamy, father ofSankar, blamed Gopalasamyfor the pre-meditated murderof his son. “Ever since Sankarand Kausalya got marriedagainst the wishes ofGopalasamy's family, effortswere on to finish off the cou-ple. Earlier, Gopalasamy andsome of his relations had kid-napped Kausalya. It was at theinstance of police they had torelease the girl,." Velusamytold reporters on Monday.

Relations of Sankar ini-tially refused to accept hisbody after autopsy. But seniorpolice officials in the regionintervened and assured theyouth's family that four per-

sons have been taken into cus-tody they agreed to accept thedead body.

Though all political par-ties barring the AIADMK andthe DMK strongly condemnedthe incident and blamedpolice inactivity for the mur-der, they were careful not toupset the caste equilibrium inthe State where the fightbetween Dalits and casteHindus is an order of the day.Honour killings, suicides andmurders arising out of casteHindu girls marrying Dalityouths are common in TamilNadu, which has been underthe rule of Dravidian partiesprofessing a casteless, reli-gion-less for the last fivedecades.

G K Nagaraj, leader ofKongunaadu JananayagaKatchi (KJK), told ThePioneer from Coimbatore thatparties professing castelesssociety are to be blamed forthe honour kil l ings. Hestrongly refuted the "claim"that it was a professionallyexecuted murder.

Last year saw the murderof Gokul, a Dalit youth inNamakkal district, for mar-rying a girl belonging toanother caste Hindu commu-nity. Yuvaraj, leader of a casteoutfit and his colleagues havebeen arrested in connectionwith the marriage.

������$��������5+91$1

Man in Vijayapur inKarnataka files a

consumer complaintagainst a Vaastu firm fornot yielding any favor-able results.

In an interestingstory Mahadev Dudihalof Vijayapura in northKarnataka has filed aconsumer complaintagainst a popular vaas-tu firm as he did not getpromised results evenafter corrections madeto his house as per theadvise by them. Basedon his complaint, theConsumer Forum hasordered issuance ofnotice to 'Sarala Vastu'being run byC h a n d r a s h e k h a rGuruji. MahadevDudihal, working in alegal firm, in the peti-tion, said he had spentlakhs of rupees and wasfacing financial anddomestic problemssince 2007.

He said "Over a yearago, I saw a televisionprogramme in whichGuruji was advertisingabout 'vaastu' wheresome people wereclaiming how they werebenefited after con-structing/renovatingtheir houses as per'vaastu.' Since I was alsosuffering from prob-lems, I decided to takethe help of SaralaVastu," he said in thepetition.

���� � 5+�6.+5+$

Even as the State labourdepartment is trying hard to

bring amicable solution betweenagitating workers and manage-ment of Tata Motor’s Sanandplant on the outskirts ofAhmedabad, more than 380workers including 12 tradeunion leaders were detained bythe police on Monday.

The workers were protest-ing outside Ahmedabad collec-

torate. Later on all of them werereleased by the police. The on-going strike at Tata Motor’sSanand plant famous for themanufacturing of world’s cheap-est Nano Cars is gainingmomentum following supportsof 22 trade unions from Gujarat.

The cause of the strike issuspension of 28 workers bymanagement. The State labourdepartment is taking the issuevary seriously as for many yearsGujarat’s image of industrially

peaceful State is being ham-pered. The labour departmentis mediating between workersand management to end themonth long unrest at Nanofacility. “We are hoping to bringthe situation normal within amonth. The State labour depart-ment has given consent torecongnise worker’s union atTata Motors facility in Sanand,”said MS Patel, assistant labourcommissioner. According toPatel the management has

agreed on allowing union with-in the plant but without outsidesupport, while the workers wantto form the union having sup-port from outside.

The workers have threat-ened to hold protest outsideTata Nano’s manufacturingfacility on Saturday. TheAhmedabad collectorRajkumar Beniwal said thatthe district administration hastold both the parties to main-tain rules and regulations.

������$������ ��5+91$1

As country and IAF needsmore combat copters HAL

built Light Combat Helicopter(LCH) has achieved a mile-stone by firing of Rockets (70mm) from its prototype, TD-3in weaponized configuration.

A press release issued byHAL in Bengaluru onMondaysaid "after successfulcompletion of basic perfor-mance flighttesting and out-station trials forcold weather,hot weatherand hot & highaltitude testingin the year2015, the LightCombat Helicopter (LCH) hasa milestone by firing ofRockets (70 mm) from its pro-totype, TD-3 in weaponizedconfiguration".

T. Suvarna Raju, CMD,HAL said "The initial rocketfiring trials have been carriedout at Jaisalmer, establishingsatisfactory integration of hard-ware and software, structuralintegrity and safe separation ofrocket ammunition. Integrationof weapons such as Rocket,Turret Gun (20 mm) and Air to

Air Missile on LCH will furthercontinue "These trials give usconfidence for carrying outcertification firing trialsplanned during Apr-May2016", he added .

"LCH will participate inIAF's `Iron Fist 2016' exerciseon March 18, 2016" the releasesaid.

The LCH TD-3 is inte-grated with Electo-Optical(EO) System, Solid State Digital

Video RecordingSystem (SSDVR) and70mm Rocket sys-tem in conjunctionwith an updatedGlass Cockpit soft-ware to cater forrocket firing.

LCH is a 5.5-ton class, combat helicopterdesigned and developed byHAL. It is powered by twoShakti engines and inheritsmany technical features ofthe Advanced LightHelicopter. The features thatare unique to LCH are sleekand narrow fuselage, tri-cyclecrashworthy landing gear,crashworthy and self sealingfuel tanks, armor protection,nuclear and low visibility fea-tures which makes the LCHlethal, agile and survivable.

���������������1��+.

Maharashtra’s former DeputyChief Minister Chhagan

Bhujbal was grilled by theEnforcement Directorate (ED)officials for more than 10 hourson Monday, in connection withtwo money laundering casesregistered against him, his fam-ily members and associates.

Bhujbal’s questioning, whichbegan at 11.30 am, was contin-uing till well past 9 pm, thussparking speculations in themedia about the possibility of theED arresting him later in thenight. However, no official state-ment was forthcoming from theED till late in the night.

Sixty-eight-year-old Bhujbal,accompanied by former MedicalEducation Minister and senior

MLA Jitendra Awhad, arrived atthe ED office at Ballard Pier inSouth Mumbai amid tight secu-rity at around 11.30 am.

A large number of NCPworkers, who had gathered out-side at the ED office, raised slo-gans in support of Bhujbal.

With the authorities havingimposed prohibitory ordersaround the ED office as a pre-cautionary measure, Bhujbalwas escorted inside the agency'soffice by its officials without anyuntoward happening.

This was for the first that theED was questining Bhujbal. Theagency is recording the statementof the former PWD Ministerunder the provisions of thePrevention of MoneyLaundering Act (PMLA).

Bhujbal, whose alleged mis-use of office as the former PWDMinister in the previous DFGovernment is being investigat-ed, was questioned as part of thetwo Economic Case InformationReports (ECIRs) registered onJune 17 against him, his sonPankaj and nephew Sameer oth-

ers under the provisions ofPMLA.

While Bhujbal’s nephewSameer Bhujbal, a former NCPMP from Nashik, who wasarrested by the ED in connectionwith a money laundering case, iscurrently in Arthur Road jailhere under judicial custody, hisson Pankaj has already been sub-jected to 3 rounds of question-ing by the investigating officials.

Sameer was arrested by theED on February 1 under variousprovisions of provisions ofPrevention of MoneyLaundering Act (PMLA) in acase of money laundering,siphoning off funds and causinga loss of �840 crore to the exche-quer, of which �114 crores hasreportedly been recovered.

In an application seekingSameer’s remand filed before thecity court, the ED had stated lastmonth that funds were alsolaundered in the guise of pur-ported sale of shares on high pre-mium by channelling huge cashof approximately �125 crore inbanking transactions.

���������������1��+.

The MaharashtraGovernment will have to

give compensation to the tune ofa staggering �8,798.79 crore ina phased manner till 2039, if itwere to fulfil the current rulingBJP-led saffron alliance dispen-sation’s promise made to theelectorate during the 2014Assembly polls of making theState toll-free Maharashtra,according to an RTI reply.

As per the scheduledworked out by the two agencies,the State-run Maharashtra StateRoad DevelopmentCorporation (MSRDC) and thePublic Works Department(PWD) will pay compensationat the rate of �353 crore per tillthe year 2039.

Replying to an RTI queryraised by activist Anil Galgali, anunder-secretary attached toPWD Shailendra Borse saidthat the department’s 19 projectshaving a total of 27 toll stations,Cars, Jeep, State Transportbusses and school buses hadbeen exempted from payingtoll, owing to which the dept waspaying �179.69 crore to theroad contractor for the year2015-16.

“Amounts ranging from�28.24 crore to �545.74 crorewill have to be paid on yearlybasis for next 25 years until thefinancial year 2039-40, whichwill totally cost �7377.44 croreto the state exchequer,” Galgalisaid, quoting the statistics pro-vided to him by the PWD

department in response to hisRTI query.

Similarly 12 projects underMSRDC, 26 toll stations –coming under the purview ofthe MSRDC are functional“Here cars, Jeep, State transportbuses and school buses havebeen given exemptions, whichis going to cost the exchequer�284.27 crore for the financialyear 2015-16. The MSRDCwill have to pay 284. 27 crorefor the following four years i.e.,2019-20 which works totalling�1421.35 crore,” Galgali said.

Slamming the StateGovernment for being lenienttowards to road builders whohave been “looting the publicand government in the name oftoll tax”, Galgali said: “instead ofhanding out compensations tothe road building companies ina blind manner, the StateGovernment should have audit-ed the accounts of all companiesinvolved in the toll collection.The willingness shown in pay-ing compensation for tollexemptions seems to be a casewhere the treatment seems to becostlier and dangerous than theillness itself ”.

Six months after coming topower in the State, the BJP-ledsaffron alliance Governmenthad on April 10, 2015announced that it would closedown 12 toll plazas in the Stateand exempt private light motorvehicles, including cars andjeeps, and State transport busesfrom levy of tax at 53 plazasacross State from June 1, 2015.

&4�����������������������#�����"����������������

����8���/�� .�/���./�!����(�7/�9:3;;���)�&������

7�.��(����.�)�����/���7��%�����%�/�������#�����#���

!���:$;������� ������#������������������

������������������� ���4 "�/��1�/���

9 ����������� ������������������

��������� ����� ���������� �����

��������������������� ����� ������� ���

������� ������������ ������������$ ��

������� �*����� �$.+5+$

Incessant rainfall in KashmirValley’s plains and snowfall in

upper reaches have triggered acold wave that had eluded theregion during the harshest spellof winter season. The coldweather descended at a timewhen almond groves and mus-tard fields are on full bloomcausing a worrisome situationfor the orchardists and farmers.

The freaky weather forcedthe authorities to suspendSrinagar-Muzaffarabad bus thatferries cross-Line of Controlpassengers on Mondays.

The weather took a turnfour days ago and precipitationcontinued despite weatherman’spredictions that the precipitationwill stop for the next three daysfrom Monday. On the contrary,the rain and snowfall intensifiedon Monday and plummetedthe temperatures by severalnotches.

“The weather has taken anundesirable turn at a time whenalmond bloom is at its best. If itcontinues, the bloom will with-er away causing huge damage toalmond crop”, said horticultureexpert Dr Shamim Ahmad.

Kashmir produces around10,000 Metric Tonnes of almondcrop annually but the produc-tion is likely to suffer immense-ly due to implement weather.“The rains at the time of bloomare detrimental to the crop. Wefear sharp decline in the cropthis year”, Ali Muhammad Shah,an orchardists in south Kashmirtold The Pioneer.

A�� %��3 ������� ���������� � ������������ ����������

*���#���� ) �)��#��=���(���/��#�>��#���&�

�������������� �1��+.

All India Majlis-E-IttehadulMuslimeen (AIMIM)

leader Asaduddin Owaisi hasstirred the hornets’ nest bysaying that he would not raise‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai,” slogan, ifone were to hold knife to histhroat.

Launching a broad sideon RSS chief Mohan Bhagwatwho had suggested early thismonth that the new generationneeds to be taught to chant slo-gans hailing mother India,Owaisi said at a public rally atUdgir in Latur district onSunday: “I don't chant that slo-gan. What are you going to do,Bhagwat sahab”.

“I won't utter that (slo-gan) even if you put a knife tomy throat. “Nowhere in theConstitution it says that oneshould say: Bharat Mata kiJai,” Owaisi said in continua-tion, amid loud cheers fromthe crowd that had gatheredat his rally.

Talking to various televi-sion channels on Monday,

Owaisi reiter-ated the state-ment that hehad made onS u n d a y .“There is noquestion ofmy going backon his state-

ment. I stand by my statementthat I will not chant ‘BharatMata Ki Jai’ slogan even if youhold a knife to my throat. TheConstitution does not mandateanyone to chant that slogan.Nor is there any provisionunder either IPC or Cr PC thatprompts the authorities to reg-ister an offence against me if Irefuse to raise that slogan”.

Owaisi’s statement shouldbe seen in the context of thestatement of Bhagwat, whohad on March 3 said that “thenew generation needs to betaught to chant slogans hailingmother India”. Bhagwat’s sug-gestion had come in the back-drop of the row over allegedanti—India sloganeering onthe Jawaharlal NehruUniversity (JNU) campus.

.����P��� ������ � ��� � 3��G ������ �(�� ���;� ����

�����/�#$����( �%�/?�8��)����2�(���������/������#�!����(�1�����������������+.2;��!������:�������������2!-1

Page 8: 3 !˘-˜.)>?/ !ˇ#ˇ!#$ %!&’()* ˘ˇ ˆ˙ +C+ .ˆ$.5+ ˚+ .2 ;:;$: .˚ˆ+229˚A ... was arrested last month by the ... a Mahindra Scorpio, was yet to be ascer-tained, ... approved

There may indeed be acase for a fresh look atSection 124A of theIndian Penal Codedealing with sedition,

but one must not allow thisacademic debate on the validityof such a provision to cloud thecore issue that is before us,namely, the shameful assault onour Constitution and the chal-lenge posed to India’s unity andintegrity by a bunch of studentsat the Jawaharlal NehruUniversity in New Delhi and inthe Jadavpur University campusin West Bengal.

Just read the contents of theposter put up in JNU for the con-troversial event held on February9 last and you will realise thatcentrifugal forces have begun toexert pressure on the nation’score. The poster said it was a“cultural evening of protest”(whatever that means) withpoets, artists and singers. It saidthis event was “against the judi-cial killing of Afzal Guru andMaqbool Bhat; in solidarity withthe struggle of the Kashmiripeople for their democratic rightto self-determination”.

Further, it said there would bean art exhibition and a photo exhi-bition portraying “the history ofthe occupation of Kashmir andthe people’s struggle against it”. Itinvited everyone “to join us inprotest, in rage against the occu-pation and in solidarity with thevaliant people of Kashmir”.

A recent Delhi High Courtorder on a bail application movedby a student arrested in this con-nection, quoted the slogans thatthe students were raising at thisalleged cultural evening. Just readthem and decide for yourselfwhether any Indian citizen whostands committed to the unity andintegrity of India; who has anyrespect for our Constitution; andfor the soldiers defending our bor-ders, would ever raise such slo-gans? Here they are:

Afzal Guru, Maqbool Bhat,zindabad’; Bharat ki barbadi takjung rahegi, jung rahegi; Go India,Go Back; Indian Army murdabad;Bharat tere tukkde honge,Inshaallah, Inshaallah; Afzal kihatya nahi sahenge, nahi sahenge;and finally, Bandook ki dum parlenge azadi.

The High Court judge wasapprised of the sequence of eventsleading to the controversial inci-dent on February 9. A group ofstudents initially sought andsecured permission for a ‘cultur-al evening’ at the SabarmatiDhaba in JNU campus. Later, JNU

authorities realised that somemischief was afoot when they sawthe posters put up in all the hos-tels. These posters referred to the‘judicial killing’ of Afzal Guru andMaqbool Bhat. Apprehendingtrouble, the university authoritiescancelled the permission given tothe organisers and also called inthe police. That evening ‘theshouting of anti-national sloganscontinued unabated.

The High Court was alsogiven a set of photographs whichshowed students holding posterswith photographs of Afzal Guru,who was one of the mastermindsbehind the attack on India’sParliament in December 2001. Inother words, in the name of‘democracy’ and ‘free speech’, theywere espousing the cause of a ter-rorist who planned the assault onour temple of democracy!

The posters put up inJadavpur University went evenfurther. One poster said: “Humkya chahe — Azadi: Kashmir kiazadi; Nagaland ki azadi;Manipur ki azadi” .

Shockingly, there are profes-sors in JNU and elsewhere whoclaim that these slogans fall with-

in the ambit of ‘freedom of expres-sion’ guaranteed under Article19(1)(a) of the Constitution!

Referring to the slogansraised in JNU, Justice PratibhaRani of the Delhi High Courtsaid: “Suffice it to note that suchpersons enjoy the freedom toraise such slogans in the comfortof the university campus butwithout realising that they are inthis safe environment becauseour forces are there at the bat-tlefield situated at the highestaltitude in the world where evenoxygen is so scarce that thosewho are shouting anti-nationalslogans holding posters of AfzalGuru and Maqbool Bhat close totheir chest honouring their mar-tyrdom, may not be even able towithstand such conditions for an hour...”

Further, the judge observedthat such slogans may have ademoralising effect on the fam-ily of martyrs who return homein coffins draped in the Tricolor.

The judge was even moretrenchant when dealing with anti-national slogans raised in theuniversity campus. She said thoseshouting such slogans cannot

claim protection of the fundamen-tal right to freedom of speech andexpression. Whenever there is aninfection in a limb, the first effortis to cure it through antibiotics,followed by a second line of treat-ment. “Sometimes, it may requiresurgical intervention also.However, if the infection resultsin infecting the limb to the extentthat it becomes gangrene, ampu-tation is the only treatment.”

Many pseudo-secularists,who are now doubling up aspseudo-nationalists, are unable tostomach the rapier-like thrust ofthe learned judge’s observationsand are trying to belittle her bysaying that she had delivered a ser-mon when called upon to pass anorder on a bail application. Someothers have been even moreuncharitable, but their objectionsneed to be brushed aside, becausethey are unwilling to address theprimary issue and punish the orig-inal sinners who were mocking atthe Constitution of India and thecountry’s unity and integrity.

Frustrated by the drubbingthat the communist partiesreceived in the Lok Sabha poll of2014 (total vote share: four percent ), they have been orches-trating many campaigns againstthe Narendra ModiGovernment ever since it cameto power in May, 2014. Such istheir desperation that they havenow begun to support groupsespousing fissiparous ideas. Asa result , the Hate-ModiCampaign is now slowly turninginto a Hate-India campaign.

An ‘eminent jurist’, whilestating the legal position, hasgone on record to say that it isnot a criminal offence to be anti-national. Similarly, it can beargued that no citizen is legallybound to remain committed tothe unity and integrity of India.If the provision relating to sedi-tion is out-dated, how comenone of those supporting thesestudents, has suggested legisla-tive measures to enforce loyal-ty to the Constitution?

Are there no limits to toler-ance? Is it too much to ask a cit-izen to remain loyal to thecountry's Constitution, its flag,its unity and integrity? CanIndia, which is such a diversesociety, survive this kind of per-missiveness? We are all awarethat there is a lunatic fringetowards the left of our politicalspectrum. Should we allow it tooccupy centre-stage and gnaw atthe vitals of the most liberal,democratic and plural nation in the world?

���� ����������.��� ������ �� )����� �������)�� ������������ ������ ���$� � �(�����������������1������������$�� ���$� � �#�2����� �������:�� �� ������)����� ������� �� ����� ������������� �����������.��� :1����� :

��������������� ������������#������)��(�.��� ������P��� )�� ��� ��������������������)��������.��� � ��A�����9 ��������� ������� �����%������ ��� )���������������������#�6��� ���������(������ ��A�����9 ��� ���� ���� �������� �������� ��(� �� ������������������������ ������ ���) ���#�����������(� ����$� � ��� � ���� �% ������� �����(������� )�����������(�� ������������ )��� ��� ������������������� ���������� ��Q������ ����� �% ������������ ��� �������� :��)��"� ��������� ��� ��� )�����%�������������(�������������������� ������������������������� ���������������������(� ���� )������ �)��� ����� ������� ���������:� ������#������ �(������ ��� �������(����� ��� ������� ��(����� ��)�� ������ �:���(� ������)���������������������� �����������������������������:���� ����������������������������������������������������#�;��������(���)����� ��$� � ��� ������ �6��������� �����@���� �)������������������(�������B(����� ������%� �%

��� ���������������� %��� ����������%������ ���� �����������#����� ���$� � ��� �� ���� ���� ���� � )�� �������������������������������������������:��� #� 4��� ����P������� �������� ���>$�����P� ��� ���� � ����� ��� � )�� �� ������� �Q����������� ������:���� ������ ������� ������ ���� ������A�����9 ��(�� ���������%����,������� ������-������ ������ �� �%���$�� ��$� � �#��������������������������������������������������� �������(� �������� ����� � �� � ���(� ������ ��� ��������������������=� ���%�������� ��������#�2� �����%��(����������(�������� )���(� ���� ����� � �� ������� ���������)��������� �� �����������#� ���$� � ��%���� ��������� �������������:� ��(������������ �������� ������������������� )����� ������������=� �

�� �������������������#����������� �������� ������� �� ������������ �����������(� ���,� �� �%������������������������� ����������������������%��� ����� ������ ����� �<-�2���� � &������������������������� ��$�� ���$� � �(,����������� �����������-(�� ������,�������������-(� ����� ��������������������������������%��� ���������������#�,$��������)��� ������������)������R������� ������� ���������������P�-(������ � &����� ��#����������� ���� ����)���:���� ����� �������������������� ��������� ���������������� ��� ����,������������-(� ����� �������������������������������(�,�����������������-#�A��� �������� ���(�������� ���������������������������������������� ��A�����9 ��(� ������ ���� ������������ �������������������������������������� �������� ������ ���������������:���� ���� ��������������������������������� ������6.':+������������������ �������� ����������������������������������� ��������������#���������(�����)��� ����$� � ��� ����� �����������������R� ���(����?������ ������������������������� ��� �%���������#�

.��� ������� ����� ������� �� ������������������������������������������������ ������������������������������(�����$ ������ ��� � ���) %�� ����� ����������������������� ��� ���������� �������� �������������������� ����������

� ����#�2���$��P���� ��(�������� �� ������ ���� ������������������������������:� ������� )���������+%������ � ��� ��� ��������� �� (����������P��������������:����:� %��������(���������� ������������ �������������������������� �%����������):�� �� >$����:����P� ������� ����� ��� ��� ��� ������ ���������� ������������������������������������ ����������������������� ����� ��� � �������� ������#����������� �����%��������������������%��������������� ������������������������ ����������������� ���������������������� ��������� ���� ������2���� %���� �������������� � � ���� �=� �������������� �������������������:������ ������� ���������� ������������6������������/��� ���������� ����� ����������������������P���� ����������:������ ���������#��������$����� ������ ��� ��G�������� ������������������������)���� ��,��������� ����������� ������������ �:���-�@���������������������������� �������������� �� ����������������B#�2� ������ ��� ������ ��� )�������"���������������������������������(������������������ ������6������� �������� ��������������/�������R���������� ��������������������������������

���������#� 2��� ����� � �� ����� ��(���������(� ��:)����� ������ �������� ���� ����������������������������/�#���������� ��� ����� �������� ��� ���������������������� ����� %���������=�������� � �������(� ���������� ��������� �� �� ����(� ��������� ��)��� ����)������ ��� ������� ����� ���������)���������� ������� ��5�)������������:�� ���=��������� ������ ��#�+����� ��(�������� ����������������� �������� ������������������� �������� �����6������ ��������������������������� :���� ����� ���������:��������� �����������#�.�����(��������� �������������:������ ��� ���������� ���������@������� �� ���� ������������ � ����� ���� ���B(� ����� � �� ��� ���������� ��� ������������ �����������������)���� :�����#������ ������$���� ��� %���

��� �����������������������(��������������������� ��) ��������� ��� ������ ����� �:�������������������������� ��� ���������������������� ������������ �����#�

2���$��P�������������������� ����� �������� ��������� ����:��������� �� ��� � ������ ������������� ����#�A����� �������� ����� ����������%����������� �� �����������������������(������� �����������������6������ ���(� ����������)������� ���#�2������������ ����������:����#�2��������� ��� ������� ������������ �� ���� ���:��:��������������� ����(�������� ����������� ���(�� ���������������� ��:����R� �������������������������������������6��������������� �����������������(������������#�.������� ������������������ ������ � ���(�����$���� �������� %���� ��������������� ��� �������������������������� ������"��� �����������������#1������� ����(���������������������%�������� �������� ���� ������� �������������� ������������������ ��� ��������������������������@�������� ���B����� �������:����� �����#�.������������(������� �� �������� ���� ������� ��������������� ����������� ������ ���������.�����������#������� ����� ���������(� �������$���� �������� ��������������#�.��� �������)���������������� ����������������������� ����=��������������������:���������������������Q

&��1��������� ���������������.������������������������"������

��������3C&� &�#�'%�(�.�/ �'��0 .���(!��123�4516

1<���������������������$�������$����#���*( ��%(�����+��������#��������( ��#����#����+����(#�����#)����� ��������/��$��(�# � �#@��&��(#��/#��������������/�%&������#���(���#��# ����%�(#��$@�(#��$��# ��#�)���$

������/���� ��������4����������"��������#�������������������

���������� !�

Sir — This refers to the report,“Pranab pitches for speedy jus-tice for al l” (March 14).President Pranab Mukherjee hasrightly called for speedy dispos-al of court cases. Nearly threecrore cases are pending in var-ious courts. The addition ofcases is outnumbering the dis-posal of cases. Inordinate delaysin disposal of cases should be acause of grave concern.

A time-frame should begiven to the judges to disposecases on the basis of merit.Chief Justice of India TS Thakurtoo has rightly lamented that theBar at times is “not cooperative”even if judges put in extra hours.

It is appalling that, despitemounting number of cases, thenumber of hours of work incourts has not been increased.Deputing judges for trainingfor months, long summer andDussehra vacations, grant oftoo many adjournments, notcreating additional posts ofjudges with the increase in num-ber of cases and not filling upthe vacant posts of judges, arethe contributory causes fordelayed delivery of justice.

KV Seetharamaiah Hassan

�!�"��#!��"$���%��

Sir — This refers to the editorial,“Regulating real estate” (March12). Indeed, the The Real Estate(Regulation and Development)Bill is one of the best achievementsof the NDA Government.However, we can only wish thatthe Opposition becomes morepragmatic and reasonable, so thatother crucial Bills can see the lightof the day.

The real estate Bill, whenimplemented, will transform thereal estate sector. There are twocrucial aspects of the Bill. First, itwill protect the interests of homebuyers as well as offer a level-play-ing field to property developers.Second, the Bill has introduced amandatory disclosure of projects,which includes details of the pro-moter, project, land status, clear-ances, approvals, etc.

Bal GovindNoida

&��'#�������

Sir — This refers to the editorial,“Regulating real estate” (March12). The Real Estate (Regulationand Development) Bill was longoverdue. The new Bill will not onlybring more transparency in finan-

cial transactions, but will alsodisclose all information like pro-ject layout, approval, land status,contractors, schedule and comple-tion of project etc.

The handing over of the tene-ments was unnecessarily delayedeven beyond five years in certaincases. People went without interestfor their investment. Besides, theywere forced to pay market rent fortheir living before getting the com-pleted house. Further, more blackmoney is ploughed in this sectorindiscriminately. This is a wel-come Bill that is focused towards thethe welfare of the investors.

Sravana RamachandranChennai

&��(�!�"$��)��

Sir — This refers to the article, “Leftparties facing a real existential cri-sis” (March 12) by Ashok Malik. Allthese decades, comrades have beenpunching much above their weight— all thanks to the Congress andthe mainstream media. However,with the arrival of the BharatiyaJanata Party and impact of socialmedia, they have been crumbling.

JitendraVia web

444������� �������

� � � � � � � � � � � � � � �

��������������

��,,���2;�26����.2;$

�� </�����������7��� �����7��/�����./�� /� /�� .�������=0��/����0.����������4���.�4�����/4�./�������/��.������/���.�

� �0./����./>$�6��!��

2�� 1�.����/0�����.�������/��1�����0.�������0.��0.����.�/���.�0 �����/���1����!0.���� ��.����/0��/�1��/�1�/����

� 1��>��6�/���.� 6�

��7����� /�4������0���1� �������/��� �8/�..�������/�� ��2*��4�� �7�����7��/�����?�����������������������<�

(06���/��������!!� �./��>� � ���� ���/�

+$��26�$��;9.�.2��2;

2;9�$+�S�.��.22;;��16�2;�+�3

+�.2.C��2;$��+.�9;4+9�2;26��;12$4P�

;�2.212.;(�.2�A9+5(�.2��1.24+��.2�5$.24S

+�.�.+��1$'.'�26.��3.��;A

��$�.��.'����S

�:�5"�.,�

3����/����/�������7����������������2

������������������������� �(�,9�� �������������+ �� �-�@� ���� HB#�7��������1�����5�)��������� ������������������������������������+ �� ��@2 ����������)�������A�� ��� �� ���;��������������(���������� ������)����B������ ��

����������(������ ����)����(�����)��(���������������������� �#�2�����������)��������� �����������)����������������(���������� ������)����(������/�������������������� ��������������������������������� ����A�������.��� (���������� ��� ��:��������)������������+������� !�������������������#�

2���+ �� ���� �����(��� �����%��������)���� ����"������������ ��������:�������� �������)��� �(�� �������� ���������������������� ������� ��)��) ����#.����� ��������������������� � �������� �������������� �������������� % ���#�+%������������� ��������������������� ���������������������� ������������� �: ������� ���������������������� � � ������� ������������������ ���������������������&���#�.���������� ��)����������5�)����������������������� �������������������������&���� ��� �� ���� ������)����� ������������������������������) ��#

�"(�8�1-���1�����

'# �$$�(���� ��%&����?�!�33�(-3'2�'1��(D=���!;4'��

Page 9: 3 !˘-˜.)>?/ !ˇ#ˇ!#$ %!&’()* ˘ˇ ˆ˙ +C+ .ˆ$.5+ ˚+ .2 ;:;$: .˚ˆ+229˚A ... was arrested last month by the ... a Mahindra Scorpio, was yet to be ascer-tained, ... approved

���� ������������

�������

On March 12, All IndiaCongress Committeepresident Sonia Gandhi

attacked the Narendra ModiGovernment (without naming it)and vouched for secularism, theLeftist-style. She also asserted thatIndia was passing through a“critical phase as those in powerare spreading hatred”.

In addition, she hailed theJamiat Ulama-i-Hind (associa-tion of the divines of India) as agenuinely patriotic associationand also commended its contri-bution to the country’s freedomstruggle along with the Congress.

In fact, Sonia Gandhi sent awritten message to this effect tothe attendees of the Jamiat-Ulama-i-Hind-organised‘National Integration Conference’,and it was read on her behalf inthe Rajya Sabha by Leader ofOpposition in the Rajya Sabha,Ghulam Nabi Azad.

The conference was organ-ised in Delhi, in which many

Congress and Left leaders par-ticipated and spoke on theMuslim issue, on the ongoingdebate on nationalism versusintolerance and on the need tofurther promote secularism oftheir own variety.

Sonia Gandhi was partlyright and partly wrong whenshe commended the contribu-tion of the Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind to the country’s freedomstruggle along with theCongress. She was partly rightwhen she said that the JamiatUlama-i-Hind participated inthe freedom struggle alongwith the Congress, but shewas wrong when she appreci-ated its role in the freedomstruggle without pointing outits real intention.

Perhaps, she was not awareof the real intentions of theDeobandi Ulama. Or perhaps,her political advisors didn’ttell her as to what was the ulti-mate objective of the Jamiat

Ulama-i-Hind. The Deoband divines, who,

in 1867, founded the Darul-Uloom (house of learning) atDeoband in the Saharanpur dis-trict of the then United Provinces,under the guidance ofMuhammad Qasim Nanawtawi,as a counterpoise to Syed AhmadKhan’s West-oriented Aligarhmovement, to advance theHanafi school of theology andimpart instructions in Islamichistory and other old-fashioneddisciplines, set up the Jamiat-Ulama-i-Hind in 1919 to play a“more important role in theKhilafat movement and enter thepolitical field in their own right”.

The aims and objectives ofthe Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind were todefend Islam, Islamic rituals andcustoms, and Islamic nationalismagainst all odds injurious tothem; to achieve and protect thegeneral religious and nationalrights of the Muslims; to estab-lish good and friendly relations

with the non-Muslims of thecountry to the extent permittedby the Shariat-i-Islamiya; and tofight for the freedom of the coun-try and religion according to theShari’ah objectives.

The Jamiat Ulama-i-Hindgave unstinted support to theCongress as far as the cause ofindependence of India was con-cerned. It was its belief that theMuslim minority in India “needhave no fear as once the Britishwere gone, the Hindus wouldcome to terms with it”.

In 1928, the Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind rejected the MotilalNehru Committee report andwithdrew from the movement.Its grouses against the Congressand the Nehru Committee reportwere two: Inadequate safeguardsfor the Muslims and the adoptionby the Congress of the dominionstatus goal, instead of completeindependence goal. The domin-ion status for India was not con-sistent with its “commitment to

complete independence”.However, the Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind again turned to theCongress when it rejected theDominion status objective andadopted ‘Puran Swarajya’ goal inDecember 1929 at Lahore underthe presidentship of JawaharlalNehru. It also offered support tothe Congress in 1937, when thelatter organised its Muslim masscontact programme.

The Jamiat Ulama-i-Hindwas bitterly opposed to thePakistan plan. Its argumentsagainst the Muslim separatismwere (1) The Pakistan demandhas British support and is noth-ing but an instrument forged bythem to further their policy ofdivide and rule (2) Pakistan willsplit and, therefore, weaken theMuslims in India (3) Muslims’real enemy is British imperialismand their only duty to defeat itand only a united action canachieve this (4) Muslims leftbehind India after separation will

be at the mercy of the Hindus (5)Partition will hinder the mission-ary activities of the Ulema (6)Muslim League leaders are igno-rant of Islam, have no ideology,and are only exploiting the nameof Islam for the worldly gains ofMuslim vested interests (7)Muslim League leaders are inca-pable of building up an IslamicState and their Pakistan will beno better than the Turkey ofMustafa Kamal.

All this should put things inperspective and establish that theintentions of the Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind are highly questionable.The very fact that the organisersof the recent event invited onlythose who were bitterly opposedto the Narendra ModiGovernment and those who hadbeen openly and in a mostbrazen manner siding with theseditious elements at theJawaharlal Nehru Universitysince February 9, should clinchthe issue and expose the designs.

2��� ���� ����������)����������G �� ��1� � :�:6����������������������������������)���������� �5 ����(��������������� ������������ ��� �������������>������������?���� ���������������?������������������#�.�P����������� ���G �� �?�������

"�/����������������������

9������38&� &�#�'%�(�.�/ �'��0 .���(!��123�4516

1������ �������� ����� �!����. !����������A�$��*���*������ ����+�. ��$� �����. !�����

*����A��$����������!� ��$�����+D������������� �!�����

>2�����5��.��E�"

.������������.��*��$���A��&����;$���� ������ F �����!!����!���������������*�!!����� �������!�*��$� ���� �!����.�+D���!�����'�5�5"�0���

,$��������� �� �� ��������.������ ����������������� �����!����������

���!���������������������$�

���������������� ���������G�, A� �����$��������������#����� �������$�����+,$� �*�!����%������!������������ ������� $����������� �

�����G�,����������� A��

����� ���������$�� ���������������

��!��������$��������� ���������433?

������:�5,�������

Recently, a debate has resur-faced after almost a decadefor extending reservation injobs in the private sector. Asis well known, opportunities

for regular employment opportunitiesare very limited, thereby entailing atough competition in getting suchjobs. Based on National Sample SurveyOrganisation data, about 87 millionworkers were in regular salaried jobs inIndia, accounting for only 18.4 per centof total workers in 2011-12. Another 29per cent of total workers were workingas casual wage labour, and a large 52.3per cent were self-employed, mostly asown-account workers with precarioussituations and low income.

Regular employment opportunitieswitnessed a highest annual growth ofover 3.7 per cent as compared to otherforms of employment in the country inrecent years. This growth is largely con-tributed by the private sector. However,such growth was inadequate as thenumber of unemployed in the countryswelled from 56.03 million in 1993-94to 91.4 million in 2011-12, increasingat the rate of 2.8 per cent annually. Theproblem of unemployment is moresevere among youth with degrees, whoare mainly looking for regular salariedjobs. Given this situation, the demandfor reservation in private sector jobs byDalits and OBCs only portrays the hugeshortages of regular jobs.

Before commenting on the ongo-ing debate on reservation in private sec-tor jobs, one must look at growth andthe social composition of jobs in pri-vate as well as public sectors. The pri-vate industry encompasses a smallorganised sector and a huge unorgan-ised sector. About 20 million jobs areprovided by the private organised sec-tor, accounting for 22.6 per cent of reg-ular jobs in the country. Another 26.1million jobs are provided by publicfirms, accounting for nearly 30 per centof regular jobs or 5.42 per cent of totalemployment in the country. Thus,nearly half of regular salaried jobs (41million) are generated in the privateunorganised sector.

As a result of quotas, representationof SC/ST in public sector regularemployment has reached nearly theproportionate share of the two commu-nities in population, though stillremaining under-represented in the toppositions. With reservation, OtherBackward Classes’ share in public sec-tor jobs has improved significantly overthe years, yet they remain under-rep-resented in such jobs in proportion totheir population. Muslims are grosslyunder-represented in public sectoremployment opportunities and theirrelative share in such jobs has notimprove much over the years.

The private organised sector consis-tently performed better than public andprivate unorganised sectors in employ-ment generation. Over 61.6 per cent ofadditional regular employment (totalling11.07 million persons) opportunitiesgenerated since 1999-2000 came from theprivate organised sector. Interestingly,while all social groups gained from thishigh growth, the OBCs benefitted themost. Growth in their numbers in private

sector jobs almost doubled from 10.7 percent per annum during 1999-2000/2004-05 to over 22 per cent during the laterperiod, 2004-05/2011-12. Next to theOBCs, Muslims experienced a phenom-enal growth of about 14 per cent in theiremployment in private sector during2004-05/2011-12. Despite this largeincrease, OBCs, STs, Muslims and SCsstill have proportionately low share in pri-vate organised sector jobs. On the otherhand, in low quality informal sector reg-ular jobs, SCs, Muslims and to someextent OBCs are fairly represented.

Let us look at the quality of regu-lar jobs, particularly in public and pri-vate organised sectors, which are thebones of contention. Based on recentNSSO data, 38 per cent of public sec-tor regular employees do not have anywritten job contract or social securitycoverage, thereby indicating the mag-nitude of precarious jobs which can beterminated at any time without anynotification or social security benefits.In the private organised sector, almost70 per cent of jobs on offer did not haveany written job contract and socialsecurity benefits. Has this vulnerabil-ity of workers reduced over the years?In fact, it has significantly increasedduring 2004-05/2011-12, as the propor-tion of workers without job contractand social security increased by almost10 percentage points both in public andprivate organised sectors. This gener-al deterioration in the quality ofemployment has been witnessed byworkers from all social groups. In brief,a large number of regular employmenton offer in the private sector falls shortof quality, characterised by poor work-ing conditions, low earnings and lack

of social security, thereby makingthem vulnerable to income fluctuationsand exploitation by employers. This hascontributed to increasing inequality inincome-distribution in recent years.

The challenge, therefore, is to cre-ate employment opportunities at afaster pace, particularly for youths whoare increasingly becoming impatientwith the political systems incapable ofgenerating employment opportunitiesfor them. More importantly, employ-ment being offered should be remuner-ative and provide social security to work-ers. Employment generation, thus needsto be made central to development strat-egy. This calls for measures to increaseinvestment in the labour-intensive sec-tors, especially in the industrially back-ward and remote areas, which includemeasures for easy to do business, infra-structure development, safety, goodgovernance, and sound corporate socialresponsibilities and ethical practiceson the part of industry.

The current focus of ‘Make in India'must promote enterprise developmentand employment generation in thecountry and more so among SC/STssince they remain under-representedtherein. This would require implemen-tation of mentorship programmes forSC/ST entrepreneurs, as promisedunder the Affirmative Action Policy bythe private sector in 2006.

Despite the important role of socialnetworks in access to regular jobs andrelated prevalence of discriminatorypractices in hiring by the private sec-tor, education and skills still emerge asthe major determinants in access toquality jobs in the private sector.Efforts need to be made to ensure a

higher transition of youth to vocation-al and technical education, and also tohigher education. An alarming aspecthere is the increasing deficit of quali-ty education and skill-training, whichis more so in case of SCs, STs, Muslimsand to some extent, the OBCs. Thedeterioration in the quality of publiceducational institutions at primary,secondary and higher educational lev-els, have most adversely affected theSCs/STs who are most dependent onthese institutions. The major chal-lenge is to improve access to qualityeducation to all and to SC/STs in par-ticular. The current measures of skilldevelopment under the National SkillDevelopment Mission need to bepegged up in a big way in order toaddress the skill shortages being facedby the Indian industry.

To sum up, reservation of jobs in theprivate sector is not the solution to theexisting huge deficit of such jobs for allsections of the society. Rather, the focusshould be on creation of quality jobs inlarge numbers to the growing labourforce on the one hand and improving theeducation and skills of populationbelonging to various social groups foraccess to such jobs. The private sectormust intensify its affirmative efforts bycontributing to education and skilldevelopment of the marginalised groupsand giving preferences in hiring of thesegroups. To monitor the progress, report-ing of employment turnover and socialdiversity of workforce should be mademandatory to the annual audit reportsof the private sector.

(The writer is a professor at the UttarPradesh-based Giri Institute ofDevelopment Studies)

=��������������������������� ���#�")�����A��$������ ��$���.���� ��

�����������!��$�����������*�����+�.�� �!������+�.�F

�$� ������ ��$���.� �!����� �����!��������*�� ���+���������!!�A����!!���� �����!�+�����!��F � ������A����� �! #� ������ � �������$��!������*����� ����!�������������+��A�*$�������� ������� ���*������*�� ���$�*F � $�F ���� ��A��$��������������$�����*������������� $�� ��! �����$������� �$�������+,$��F �*$�����$�����!� $����� #������$�*���*������ ���� ��A�������$���� ������������� ��$��� �! #*���$���������*������+,$��F ���������A����*�!!��������+�

D���� ������"����� ����������������� �

%��������������������������<+��������������� ��� �%��:� ���������������� ����������������������� ��������#�2���5�)������������(����������(���������������������������� ������������������ ��� ��� �

$����) �����������������������) ����������������� �������������� ����� ��)�� ������������)�������������������������� ������������)������#�A������������������������ ��������"� �������������� ������������������������ ��� ��������)�������� ����� ����%��������������������������

).�,�:���5

.��;�������D! H(����������5�)��������� �������������������������/������������� ������������� ��� ���������������� )�� ������� �����������) �������������������� ���� ����� �����#�2������������������� ����

�������������������� ���� �(� ���/������� ������������������@TE#ID������������������������� ������������;������� (�D! K(������������� �����TE# K����+����B(�������������������������������������?�����)� ���#�

2���5�)���������������������������������� �>�������P���������������� ���������(����� :������ ���������(����������������� �����:���� �������� �� ��)��������#� .��� �� D! K(� ����1�������������� ������������� ��� ��� ��5 ������������� ������ �������� �������� �:%��:� ���������������� ����� ���������� ���������������������������������#�2����� ����������������� �%��������������������������) �������D!�������������K!���������(�����������������������������������������������������������#�6���)��(����������� ��� ���������������1�����������������A�� ����+����G �����#

.�� ��� ��������� ��(�����A�� ������������(������������������D! L: 0�������(� ������������)�����������)����������� �� �#�;��� ��� !(����� ���������������������������+�� ���� ����)��� �����:�������������� ��#�A�������� �� �(������� ����������������������:����� ������������� �����G �� ��� (� ������� ���������������)������������� �� �(������������������� �������� �%�������������(�������:�������������������#�6���)��(��������������������������������� ��� �%����������������(��������������� ��������������� ��������������(� �������� �������������� ����� ��)�������#�

2������������������������������������� ����������������� ������������������������������R�� �������������������������"�������� ��� ��� �� ����������� )�� ������������� ����������������������������������(��� �(��������� ���� ���� �@����������������E!���������(�H!���������� ���E!�����������������)���B���������������� �(� �"� ���������������������:�����������������) �����������������#�2���(���� ���)�� ��������� �� �����: �������� �������+����� (�D! I(��������������E!(�D! I(���������������:�������������������������G �� ��� (�D! 0�������������E (�D! 0#�

1�����������������G �� ��� (�D! K(�������������E (�D! K(�����:������������������� �������)������� �����������@������� �����:������������������������������������+����� B#�2������������������������������������ ��������TE!������ ����#�A����D! I���� ���(������ ���� ����������������������������� �� �(�������������������(� ���� � ���95�@�������� �������� ���������������B�������������#��(�� ������������� ����������� ���)����������� �#�A����������� �������� ��������������)���0K�������������������� ��� �� ���������������������������������������#�2����� ���������������������������� ������ ��� ����������� ��� ��� � %�� ����� ����� ���(� ���5�)����������������������������8� ����� ��������)��(������ �������������������������������#�.�������������(�����������������������������������������(������ ����������(��� ������ �����������#�2���� /������� ��������������� (�������� �:��������)���K!�������������������������:���(�������������� ���K(EL!�����������@� ����� �(������+���������������&�������� ���������)�������������� ��B#�2�������������P����)������:��������������)��� ������� ��������������������� �������������� ����������������������������������� �@�EI(!!!����������D! K:D! LB#�+���)������� ����������(������ ������������ ����� ��� ���������Q�

7��������5�)��������%��������������������������������S�7� � ��� ��������� �� ��� ���)�������������� ������ ������������������������ �� ���#�.������� )��������������� )��������������������(�����������������������������#�6����������������������)�)���������� ������ �:����� ������������������S�2����������������� ����� ���� ��"���:����M�7��������������������������������������������������S�2���� ������������� ����)�������������)������������8���� :������ ��� �� ���������� ��������(���������� �����������������������������)�����#����(� ���"� ��������� ��� �������� ��������� )�������������������)���� ������������� ������ ���8��:�����������#�

2��������� ����/�� ���������� ����������������� ������� %���������������� ��� �������#��� ���(����������������)�� �����������������������������%������)� ����������� �������������������������8���� :������ ���#.������������� � �������������(�������)������������������������ �����:�� ��� �� ���������)��������� �#�.����������:� � �������(� ����������)���������)������������������ ��"� ��#�2���5�)��������������������:������������������(� ��������� �� !!��������������� ��������������������)���������� ����������������������� ��������(�������������������������� �: ������� ����������������������������� �#

Page 10: 3 !˘-˜.)>?/ !ˇ#ˇ!#$ %!&’()* ˘ˇ ˆ˙ +C+ .ˆ$.5+ ˚+ .2 ;:;$: .˚ˆ+229˚A ... was arrested last month by the ... a Mahindra Scorpio, was yet to be ascer-tained, ... approved

&� &�#�'%�(�.�/ �'��0 .���(!��123�4516 ������73

,$������������� ����������!�*+�2�����$��6��������������*�!!� ����������� �������� ���$��������� ��$�����$��� ����� ����$�����������+�����$�������������������;��A�6�� ���� ������������������������������������$��� ��� � ).5�5����.5.�,����5�'�.,��/

++)�����������<8���������+�.��� ����������������������� ����������� ������������������:�� �H�������!

�%���������� ������I�� %�!���+�/������������ �*�������

�$�����$����� ��

���."�5,��5"���5�>.5>".��,:�:)��.����>:��

.5".���.���"��������,(�$��@@����&�#&�!2%AA

�������7���96.8�1��+.

Enforcement Directorate(ED) has written to 17

banks and a clutch of probeagencies with an aim to preparea water tight case against liquorbaron Vijay Mallya who isbeing probed for money laun-dering charges in the IDBIbank alleged loan fraud case.

The agency is also under-stood to be mulling to take“legal action” in case Mallyadoes not present himself orproduce valid reasons forabsenting before agency inves-tigators as scheduled on March18 in Mumbai.

Official sources said theagency has written to the 17banks who lent money to thegrounded Kingfisher Airlinesand later went to the DebtRecovery Tribunal(DRT) forrecovery of these dues.

It has also sent officialrequests seeking details of theprobe conducted by the IncomeTax and Service Tax depart-ments and the Special FraudsInvestigation Office(SFIO)against the airline in the past.

“The exercise of contactingall the stakeholders concernedin this case is with an aim toobtain more information. Theagency’s probe is under crim-inal provisions of thePrevention of MoneyLaundering Act and there hasto be a proper corroboration offacts and solid evidence,” theysaid.

They said the agency is alsolooking for details of overseasand domestic assets of Mallya

and his company officials, incoordination with central secu-rity agencies and the CBI.

ED has already questionedtwo senior officials in themoney laundering case, formerChief Financial Officer of theairlines A Raghunathan andformer United Breweries ChiefFinancial Officer RaviNedungadi.

They said the investigatorsare awaiting a response fromMallya on their summons, sentboth through post and email, to

him to join investigations inperson later this week and incase the businessman does notturn up or give valid reasons forabsence, it would look to initi-ate legal action of probably get-ting his passport revoked.Sources said as the post ofregional chief of the agency isvacant at present in Mumbai,ED Director Karnal Singh willbe personally monitoring theoverall investigation in thecase.

The agency had ealier

issued summons to over half adozen officials of the IDBIbank and Mallya-ownedKingfisher Airlines underPMLA in the case.

The ED recently registereda money laundering caseagainst Mallya and others basedon a CBI FIR registered lastyear. The agency is also inves-tigating the overall financialstructure of Kingfisher Airlinesand will look into any paymentof kickbacks.

The CBI had booked

Mallya, director of KingfisherAirl ines, the company,Raghunathan and unknownofficials of IDBI Bank in itsFIR alleging that the loanwas sanctioned in violation ofnorms regarding credit limits.

The ED is looking intothe “proceeds of crime” thatwould have been generatedusing the slush funds ofthe alleged loan fraud and itis also probing if some oft h i s am ou nt w a s s e ntabroad illegally, they said.

������������,(��������������/��������������������

��*� ������With Sebi barringwilful defaulters from boardpositions at listed companies,the beleaguered Vijay Mallyamay be left with no choice butto exit boards of BayerCropsciences and Sanofi Indiain addition to other entities ofhis UB Group.

Mallya recently resigned aschairman and director of UnitedSpirits. He, however, remains onboard of various other compa-nies, including those from hisUB Group as also a few others,including Indian subsidiaries ofsome multinational companies.

Mallya is currently on theboard of Bayer Cropsciences,Sanofi India, Mangalore

Chemicals and Fertilizers,United Breweries, UnitedBreweries Holdings andKingfisher Airlines.

He would have to resignfrom these boards after thenew rules come into effect.

The new rules on restrain-ing wilful defaulters is likely to

come into effect in a few weeksand will apply to all listed firmsas also their promoters anddirectors.

Sebi Chairman UK Sinhaon March 12 had said the newrules on restraining wilfuldefaulters will come into effectafter they get notified.

“After the notification, allthe persons would stand dis-qualified from all positions atlisted companies,” Sinha hadsaid, but refused to comment onany individual.

Meanwhile, Mallya has leftthe country amid continuingefforts by banks to recover duestotalling over �9,000 crore ofunpaid loans and interest.

Sebi also launched a multi-pronged clampdown on ‘wilfulloan defaulters’, by barring themfrom raising public funds andtaking control of listed firms andholding board positions.

Besides, such defaulters --including individuals and thecompanies as well as their pro-moters and directors -- will bedebarred from setting up orbeing associated with marketentities like mutual funds andbrokerage firms.

Sebi is also contemplatingmaking it mandatory for listedcompanies to disclose their badloans if they breach certainthresholds set by banking reg-ulator RBI. ���

����� �7���96.

The Delhi high court onMonday granted interim

stay of notification restrainingsale of pharma major PfizerLtd’s cough syrup Corex anddirected the Government not totake coercive steps against thecompany.

Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlawgranted the interim relief to thecompany saying it has been sell-ing the cough syrup for the last25 years. The court also issuednotice to the Health Ministrydirecting it to file status reportafter taking instruction on whatwas the finding of the expertcommittee set up by it follow-ing which sale of over 300drugs’ combination have beenbanned across India with effectfrom 10 March.

“List on Monday. Till thenthe effect of notification qua thepetitioner shall remain stayed.No coercive steps till then,” thecourt said. The court’s ordercame on a plea moved by

Pfizer, which contended that noshow-cause notice or hearingwas granted prior to the noti-fication.

The Health Ministry,through a gazette notification,has banned over 300 fixed dosecombination drugs, includingcough syrups compositions,saying they involve “risk” tohumans and safer alternativeswere available. CentralGovernment standing counselKirtiman Singh supported thenotification, saying there arevarious complaints of misuse ofdrugs.

The counsel said he will

obtain instructions and file ashort affidavit. Pfizer has soughtquashing of the Government’s10 March notification con-tending they have been in mar-ket for 25 years and Corex is aprescription drug. During thehearing, senior advocate KapilSibal, appearing for Pfizer, con-tended, “The said drug (Corex)is being marketed in othercountries as well, so theGovernment was wrong inrestraining us.” He further sub-mitted the notification has notstated that any inquiry washeld prior to it but an expertcommittee was set up. On this,the judge said, “How can thecompany, which is in the mar-ket for 25 years, be bannedwithout opportunity? Did theexpert committee give any rea-son?”

In its plea, Pfizer said, dueto the notification sales of thecough syrup have come to agrinding halt causing immenseduress to the company as wellas consumers and patients. The

company said the ban wouldlead to huge financial loss aswell apart from exposing thecompany to criminal prosecu-tion under the Drugs andCosmetics Act. According tothe ministry’s notification, “Onthe basis of recommendationsof an expert committee, theCentral Government is satisfiedthat it is necessary and expedi-ent in public interest to regulateby way of prohibition of man-ufacture for sale, sale and dis-tribution for human use of thesaid drugs in the country.”

The 344 banned drugsinclude the fixed dose combi-nation of ChlopheniramineMaleate and Codeine syrupsold under the popular coughsyrup brand Corex. Followingthe government ban, phar-maceutical major Pfizer dis-continued manufacture andsale of Corex with immediateeffect. Fixed dose combinationdrugs are combinations oftwo or more active drugs in asingle dose form.

������������������������������������������������2��<���������+�����

������� In a first by a globalinstitutional investor, the CanadaPension Plan Investment Board(CPPIB) on Monday committed$450 million to invest in stressedassets market, along with KotakMahindra Group’s asset recon-struction company (ARC).

“The current environmenthas created a much larger oppor-tunity that requires significantcapital commitment,” KotakSpecial Situations Credit Fund’schief executive S Sriniwasan said.

He said the Kotak Group iscommitting its own $75 millionand the total amount of $525 mil-lion will be invested by the fundin the asset reconstruction space,which has witnessed greaterattention recently.

Sriniwasan explained thatthe money will be invested alongwith the group’s existing existingARC, Phoenix.

“Phoenix has the skillsets torun the business, which includesdoing the due diligence andrecovering the money,”Sriniwasan told the news agency.

Phoenix will invest 15 percent cash component which anARC has to invest upfront as perthe existing laws on sale to ARCsthrough the security receipts,while the fund will invest the rest,he said, adding this has thepotential to fasten the distressedassets resolution process.

“The ARC industry has lim-ited capital and there is an urgentneed for substantial capital to buy

non-performing assets frombanks, as and when these loansget sold at fair value,” Phoenix’schief executive Eshwar Karrasaid.

He further said the fund,which will work along withPhoenix, comes with a flexiblemandate and will help addresscapital needs of both borrowersand the selling lenders.

He said the committed fundwill flow in over the next threeyears and overall window for thefund is 7-8 years.The CPPIBholds a 3.91 per cent holding inKotak Mahindra Bank as ofDecember 2015. It has beeninvesting here since 2010 andwhile opening an office here lastOctober, had said its commit-

ment to the country stand at $2billion.

This includes the 3.9 per centownership in Kotak MahindraBank, a $332-million commit-ment in L&T InfrastructureDevelopment Projects, and a$250-million into structured debtfinancing to residential projectsalong with Piramal Enterprises,among others.

The announcement comes ata time when there is a huge jumpin NPAs. According to reports,listed banks recognised Rs 1trillion of fresh NPAs betweenSeptember and December quar-ters taking gross NPAs to �4.34trillion, following an asset qual-ity review by RBI to clean-upbank balance sheets. ���

������2�������������>?@7�����������������������#��

����� �1��+.

Sensex maintained itswinning momentum for

a second consecutive ses-sion, rising 86.29 points toclose at a six-week high of24,804.28, as investors wentwith firm global cuesinstead of a further fall inwholesale prices and disap-pointing factory outputdata.

Asian and Europeanmarkets, which advancedfor a third day ahead of pol-icy reviews by Bank ofJapan and the US FederalReserve, kept sentimentupbeat here.

Besides, weak industri-al production also couldn’tstifle new positions despitedeclining for a third con-secutive month in January.

“WPI released offeredlittle surprise, but forecastsfor lower CPI figure forFebruary, due for releaselater in the day, arresteddeclines on expectations offurther rate cuts when RBImeets next in April,” saidAnand James, Co HeadTechnical Research Desk,Geojit BNP Paribas.

����� �1��+.

Reserve Bank on Mondaysaid it will buy

Government securities underthe open market operations(OMOs) on March 17 to infuseliquidity of �15,000 crore intothe system.

“Based on the currentassessment of prevailing andevolving liquidity conditions,the Reserve Bank has decidedto conduct purchase of gov-ernment securities under openmarket operations for anaggregate amount of �150 bil-lion on March 17, 2016,” RBIsaid in a notification.

As part of the OMOs, RBIwill purchase government secu-rities maturing in 2020 (bearinginterest rate of 8.27 per cent),2022 (8.35 per cent), 2024 (8.40per cent), 2026 (8.33 per cent)and 2028 (8.60 per cent), 2032(8.32 per cent).

��*� ������ Country’s thirdlargest software firm Wipro onMonday said it has picked up aminority stake in US-basedEmailage Corporation, for anundisclosed sum.

“Wipro has made a strategicinvestment in and signed apartnership with Emailage

Corporation, a fast growing riskassessment and fraud preventioncompany,” Wipro said in a filingto the BSE. This investment is inline with Wipro’s strategy to par-ticipate in the external innova-tion ecosystem, for which thecompany has set up WiproVentures, it added. ���

����=����$9���%������������/���������������>�?�����,/������

&4������� �� �)+�;;;����6�����������!�!

��*� ������European defencemajor Airbus Group onMonday cautioned that 49 percent FDI limit in defence sec-tor cannot fetch India theindustry or the right originalequipment manufacturer thatit is eying under ‘Make in India’initiative.

The firm, which is in nego-tiations with India for severaldefence projects worth bil-lions of dollars, also made itclear that they would be able toinvest in the domestic defencesector only if they get contractsas it takes “two to tango”.

The group also admittedthat the nearly $1.4 billion pro-ject of the Indian Governmentto acquire six Airbus mid-airrefuellers has “stagnated” evenas it offered to transfer the finalassembly line of Panther heli-copters if it gets an order fromthe Navy for the same.

“..Forget about 49 percent. It is not going to get anindustry and it is not going toget OEMs (original equipmentmanufacturer) of quality. Youmay get a few but not the rightones,” Pierre de Bausset,President and ManagingDirector of Airbus GroupIndia, said.

Pitching for “fair business”,he said that in the beginning,their Indian partners will needthem a lot before they becomethe real champions that Indiahas in mind.

“And when they need us alot in the beginning, I want fairbusiness.

Fair business means thatwe need to have levels of con-trols that are appropriate forthe risks that we are taking.

“So setting the limit at 49per cent or whatever amount

is not... You have to think interms of how do you attract us,how do you attract talent, howdo you make it a good win-winpartnership and not a verystraight-jacket in the begin-ning,” he said addressingreporters here ahead of theDefence Expo later this month.

He said that if an OEM isbringing in investment or ifthey are bringing a productwhich is part of their ownproduct line world wide, “youdo understand that we want tohave some control over it”.

He added that 49 per centis not a “good limit” and thatit is “at odds” with the policythat has been stated by theGovernment “recently”.

“But we are faced with amoving environment,” he said.

He mentioned about hiscompany’s focus on ‘Make inIndia’ and said if the contractscome in, they can makeinvestment as high as �5,000crore in India.

He spoke about the indus-trial development worksundertaken by the firm inother countries.

“We are ready to do thesame but it take two to tango.We need the Government toactually give is contract,” hesaid. There is a cap of 49 percent holding for foreigncom-panies involved in defenceequipment manufacturing.This means 51 per cent stakehas to be held by an Indiancompany.

The FDI cap was raisedfrom 26 per cent to 49 per centin August 2014, months afterthe BJP-led NDA coalitionwas voted to power in May thatyear.

Talking about the “stag-

nated” deal for buying sixA330 refuelers, VenkatKatkuri, President of AirbusDefence and Space Divisionhere, said they are awaiting“guidance” from the DefenceMinistry about the next step tobe taken.

Meanwhile, Pierre pointedout that ‘Make in India’ does“not just mean a plant in Indiawith Airbus written over it”.

“People want us to haveour very own plant with Airbuswritten over it,” he said, addingthat its partnerships with var-ious domestic companies likecompanies TATA andMahindra is also part of ‘Makein India’.

Pierre said that everyAirbus commercial aircraftproduced today is partly ‘Madein India’ as they are procuringfrom India.

He underlined that in2015, the company hadexceeded the $500 millionannual procurement mark andthe plan was to cross $2 billionby 2020. He made it clear thatthis figure is mostly driver onthe commercial side and notthe defence.

Talking about the Airbus-TATA bid to replace India’saeging Avros transport planeswith C295 aircraft, the topAirbus executive said fieldevaluation trials will take placein the future.

He said the Group will setup a final assembly line forC295 and process is on to iden-tify the state where it would bebased.

The Government had inlast May cleared the lone bid ofAirbus-Tata consortium forreplacing Avro transport air-craft fleet for �11,930 crore. ���

@AB��(���������1�� ��������������������������7���

�����������#���!�����������������������������$����������#�

Page 11: 3 !˘-˜.)>?/ !ˇ#ˇ!#$ %!&’()* ˘ˇ ˆ˙ +C+ .ˆ$.5+ ˚+ .2 ;:;$: .˚ˆ+229˚A ... was arrested last month by the ... a Mahindra Scorpio, was yet to be ascer-tained, ... approved

&� &�#�'%�(�.�/ �'��0 .���(!��123�4516 ������77

7���8

�5���*4�+�*:�+�''�4��+��%�1�#)��������)��(�92��*4�A���%��������$��@����� ��5�1�B*'<�%��)��$�����/�<#��#���#������'����������/�%��+�:�����3���# �*�#%��$���4��+� ����%��# ��)�����������9!����� ���8C%��#%����� ���!;@+�#���(� ��$�� ���: �����#�����# ��+����#��# ���)�#�����#����&�#)������������/#�������(�#���/��# ����� ���� ���

�������0:)?�+������������� �����E��� � .��)�������������������������������� ����/ ��� ������ ����������"������������ ���� ���� ��� ����������������������� ����(��$��1��)������������� ��������/��������� ����� ������� ���������������������������������� �����/ ��� ��������E!���� ����D! L#�� ���� ����� �� ������������������������������������� ��#��/ ��� �������������%������������DL������E!���� ����D! L#.���������� ���� ���� ��� �)�������� ������������� �����������/ ��� ���������������������� ��)���� �#�.����� �����������������������/ ������(�� ������%���� ����������� ���#�$������������������ �����/ ��� ������������������ ������� ������� ��D! L(���������������� ����� ��������������������#��+����� ������� ��������� �����/����������E!������� ����D! L�����6� ������������15(��$�5��2������2���� ����$�+2�������+#�2���� �������� ����� ������ ������������������ �����/ ��� ����(����� )� �� ������������������������� ������������ ������������� �#��$��1��)������� ���������+���������D! L������������ �� ��� �������� �� �������� ���������������� ���.����� ���� ��������������� ����������������������(����������U�6� ������������(� � ������(� �����������U�6�� ������#�2���� ������������������������ ���� �����������$��1��)�������::�������������� �� ���������$������� ��� �����������5��������)�������������$��1��)������(�6 �� � � ������� �� ����$��1��)���������%%��#$������ ��������������� *������;�������D! K#���$�G�������������������� ���������������� K!��������� ��.��� ��������� *�� ���DK���+�����D! L#��$�5��2� ����$�+2��������������������������DE��� ���DH���+�����D! L#�2��������������������2���� ��$�P��3 �� �%��� ����� �������� ��������� ����� ������LK���������������8������6���/ �� ���L!���������� ����� ������������� ������� ����$��6 �� � #�A�������������� ���������������L!���������� ����� ����������"� ���������/ ��� ����#�

<#��#���#�������'�%����D(��%��# �8/����/#�+�6����������# �5������#���# �$��#�()(����7$ �������$�<#��+����/����$+5����.��������$+��� (����A������#�6������������'��/��=�1&�#� � ����#����#���(�����4����������#�6���#�#)��# �4��%��#����6��:�(# ����#�'��#�����'��������#��+��#�2���#)��+�A ������������� �������1#�����#�������'��������'�%����D(��%�# �8/����/#�+�>����#�*���5(����+��/������*�����/#�+�D�)���#)��(�+����>(��/�#��'�/��+�������#���#�����%%���#��

��������������������$������� ��� ��������)):��*������������������������� � ��6� )���������� ���9�������@�6�9B�� �� ����)��� ������������������������+����:� ���:���)���������������������������������������������� !����1���:0� ��� � ����2���� ���������� �����@2��B������ ������������$���) ����� ����������� �����@$U�B#�A������������������������$U�(��������%���������������� �����(��� ��� ������������������������� �(� *IK(�� ��������/���������� ������� K:D!��� ��#7������������������������������������1���:0� ��� � ����2��(��6�9�� ������� � �������� �����������������������������$U�� ������� ����������������� ���������� ��������������:�������� ��:��:���: �������������(�������������� � ��������� �������������� ���������� �������������8���������������) ��������#�2������������� ���������������������������������������������������������������:������������������& �� �����1����: UD�@ !����� ��B(� ������� ���������� ���� �1����:EUH�������9� ��6 ��� � ���1���:0����1�$'19(������ !������� D!���#�;������D I����������������� !:D !��7� ������������������6�9���������������(� ����� HD�� )�������)�����������������������������������DK�� ��#�;�������� HD�����(�$U�����EI������� �� ��� ��������� %���������������������)�����������#�

��� � ��*� ����

ADB president TakehikoNakao has pitched forroll out of the Goods

and Services Tax saying that itsintroduction will integrateIndia as ‘truly one single econ-omy’ and help attract moreforeign investments. Laudingthe Budget 2016-17 proposalson the farm sector, he alsostressed upon the need formore reforms and pushinginfrastructure development.

ADB chief in an interviewto PTI further said that thegrowth in India will continueto exceed 7 per cent in the com-ing years while other global andAsian economies will undergosome kind of adjustment.

“We are now expectingthat economy will continue toexceed 7 per cent in fiscal year

2016-17 and 2017-18 and weare now looking at the numberagain.

The global economy andthe Asian economy as a wholeare in some form of adjustment,”he said. Commending variousreform measures taken by thegovernment, Nakao said thepending issue of GST can bedone, and it will boost growth.

“For India to grow faster,FDI is important. For that pur-pose, Indian economy shouldbe integrated as truly one singleeconomy and. Rationalisation oftax, the GST, as the Governmentis seeking, is very importantreform. I hope it can be suc-cessful,” he said.

Finance Minister ArunJaitley on Sunday expressed thehope that the landmarkConstitution Amendment Billfor implementing GST as well

as the bankruptcy and insol-vency bill will be passed in thesecond half of the BudgetSession beginning April 20.

The Government has takenmany measures includingincreasing investment in infra-structure and higher ceiling forforeign direct investment aswell as making efforts toimprove the ease of doing busi-

ness, he said. Besides, he addedthat “the Budget proposalincludes more investment inirrigation, agriculture sector.The identification number Billis already passed and of coursethe Land Acquisition Law andalso GST are waiting to getthrough Parliament.”

When asked as to whatmore reforms Government

should pursue, he said: “One ofthe important agenda for Indiais to push infrastructure invest-ment. They need to investmore in infrastructure. We aretalking lot about the PPP butalso it is important thatGovernment itself invest moreand also they must invest morein health, eduction zone.”

Land Acquisition is anoth-er area which requires reform,he said, adding that state gov-ernments can frame their ownland acquisitions laws.

“Government needs tohave more tax revenue toGDP ratio to do all thesethings. Tax to GDP ratioincluding state taxes can belarger. Of course, it's a diffi-cult issue but I thinkGovernment can play betterrole in those areas of infra-structure investment,” he said.

7(4����� ����3��������������������������� ��/��� �����������

)���.�����������*� � ���A�)".� ����������+�)����$������ �A�.������������� $�!����������������� ���!����� ���!��������������������!� ������� ���;A��$�>�,A�� ��$��>����������� ������A�� ������������������ ���+�.$�������������� ��� !��"�����."�5,�,�0�2.0:�5�0�:

����� �7���96.

Corporate giants likeRIL,Vedanta, Mahindra &

Mahindra, Tata Motors, andWipro are among the top 10companies which have emergedas India's most sustainable firms,according to a survey. Besides,there are ITC, Tata Power, TataChemicals, Hindustan Zinc andACC, the CII-ITC Centre ofExcellence for SustainableDevelopment survey said.

However, out of 100 com-panies profiled belonging to 20sectors, only 18 companiesresponded to the InformationRequest (IR), while two com-panies partially responded.The remaining firms either didnot respond to the IR ordeclined to participate.

“When companies in a sec-tor do not share information inthe process, they make a dent onoverall sector performance.Transportation, other financialservices and media had the low-est overall scores. That alsoreflects the lack of transparencyin those sector,” CII stated.

Ten companies gotSustainable Plus Platinum, sevengot Sustainable Plus Gold, andthe remaining 83 companiesgot Sustainable Plus Bronze.Sustainable Plus Platinum com-panies are the ones that emergedas India's most sustainable.According to the poll, gover-nance continues to be thestrongest dimension of sustain-ability as compared to environ-ment and social.

“The impact of require-ments of corporate governance,

and transparency and disclosuresin the Companies Act 2013 havedefinitely helped companies dobetter on governance.”

“Companies have adequatedisclosures on board structureand committees, whistle blowermechanism for key stakeholders,and risk management frame-work for addressing business,financial as well as sustainabili-ty risks. They also have employ-ee code of conduct to ensure eth-ical operations and policy forconflict of interest management,”the survey said.

However, it observed gaps inreporting on aspects such as rota-tion of auditors, identification ofsustainability risks and oppor-tunities, and measuring the effec-tiveness of code of conduct andrisk management framework.

?&�B:���/��!�/��.���� 1�/���,C�.0./�� ��������.D

;��+.���6+'�+��V1+2���.�9;�1$��;��;+$���2$121$�+��;��.22���(76.�29���9;7�$

��6+.���A;$�3�4�2+3�6;9��$�(�+�$.�3��++5���2A$+��7;$3�A;$

+��$���.5��1�.���(A.+.+9�+��7�99�+��1�2+.+�.9.24�$.�3�#

26�4�+9�;�6+'����9;4���;���;A;�12�2;���1$��26.+9�;��$+2.;�+���;9.4�A;$

;A9.2�;A�.2�$��2�++5���2

NEW DELHI: Oil MinisterDharmendra Pradhan has exhort-ed the affluent class to be more lib-eral in giving up their LPG sub-sidy as a study draws a grim pic-ture of their contribution towardsthe scheme. “We did a samplestudy (taking one lakh samplesize) of those giving up LPG sub-sidy. Only three per cent of peo-ple who gave up their subsidy,were earning more than �10lakh,” Pradhan said addressingTa l e n t N o m i c s - I C R I E RConference on EmpoweringWomen for SustainableDevelopment.

“The Country has limitedbudget. We have to target it.Whom do we give subsidy?Should the affluent section of soci-ety take away the subsidy? Or poorwomen should get this subsidy.This is also related to sustainabledevelopment and empowermentof women,” he added. There havebeen strict instructions that thoseearning more than �10 lakh a year,should give up LPG subsidy. Butit is more of middle and lowermiddle class people like retiredteachers or employees who aredoing so, he said.

The minister said more than8.5 million people have voluntar-ily given up their subsidy so far.Prime Minister Narendra Modihas urged people to give up LPGsubsidy so that it could be allottedto poor deserving family. The OilMinistry took this initiative underPradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana toconnect 50 million below pover-ty line people with the LPG sup-plies over next three years. PNS

A������������������������������������-2%�������� ��!�

��� � �7���96.

Morgan Stanley on Monday revised itsgrowth forecast for India for 2016 to 7.5

per cent from 7.9 per cent previously and notedthat the country's economy is expected to seetepid recovery largely owing to external factors.According to the global financial services firm,though the domestic macro environment hasbeen improving steadily in the last two years, thepace of growth recovery has been slower thananticipated, held back by external factors.

“We are revising down our growth estimatefor 2016 to 7.5 per cent from 7.9 per cent pre-viously and for 2017 to 7.7 per cent from 8.0 percent,” Morgan Stanley said in a research note.Despite the downward revision, the global bro-kerage firm said it is still building in a slow recov-ery in growth driven by domestic factors.

“We expect therecovery in growth tobe driven by domesticdrivers, i.E; urban con-sumption and a revival in public capex. Weexpect the rise in foreign investment inflows tosupport the revival in capex further,” the reportnoted. The report said the country's macro sta-bility conditions are likely to remain in checkwith a low chance of ‘overheating’.

As a result, we expect the current accountdeficit (CAD) and inflation to remain mod-erate, it said. The slower than-anticipatedpace of recovery so far has largely been dueto weak external demand conditions, MorganStanley said. Meanwhile, goods exports havebeen contracting (in value terms) over thelast 14 months, with a broad-based declinein commodity and non commodity exports.

.��� ������������� �������D! L����0#KW���)����

NEW DELHI: IDBI Federal Lifehas purchased office space for�111 crore in Marathon Realty’scommercial project at LowerParel in Mumbai. It has acquiredaround 61,720 sq ft office spacespread over two floors in the pro-ject ‘Marathon Futurex’.

“IDBI Federal Life InsuranceCompany Ltd has bought com-mercial space worth over �111crore at Marathon Futurex inLower Parel in Mumbai,” the real-ty firm said. The deal was regis-tered last week, it said in a state-ment. The 450 employees ofIDBI Federal Life will occupy the

offices on 22nd and 23rd floorsof the tower.

The deal works out at around�18,000 per sq ft and falls with-in the ongoing property rates foroutright transactions. MarathonGroup MD Mayur Shah said:

“This is one of the biggestcommercial realty deals in therecent time which instills thehope that commercial real estateis on track.” Mumbai-basedMarathon Realty is developingthis eight lakh sq ft office build-ing in three phases, of which twophases of 24 floors each havealready been completed. PNS

3��3� �������-�������������������������)))���

NEW DELHI: State-ownedNTPC, Essar Power, GMR andTata Power will participate in twodays auction for �1,600 croresubsidy for buying costlierimported gas for running theirpower plants beginning onTuesday. This is the third reversee-auction for subsidy support forbuying 10 million standard cubicmeters per day of gas will be heldon March 15 and 16.

“State-run MSTC Ltd willconduct third reverse e-auctionto provide a total subsidy of�1,600 crore for purchasingRLNG (R-Liquefied NaturalGas) imported by GAIL onMarch 15 and 16,” a senior offi-

cial told PTI. “Earlier MSTC Ltdhad planned to conduct theauction on March 15. But laterthe plan was changed and it wasspread over two days. The auc-tion will start at 2:00 PM andlikely to be over in two or threehours on both days,” officialadded.

While the auction of strandedgas-based power projects (SGP) willbe held on Tuesday the domesticgas-based power projects (DGP)bid for the gas subsidy onWednesday. While theGovernment will offer �1,400 croresubsidy for SGPs, the DGPs will beoffered �200 crore to buy import-ed gas to run their plants. PNS

� (L!!����� �� �����������DH57��� ������ ������� �

����� 64��$+�+�

Oil and Natural GasCorporation Ltd is planning

to undertake drilling of ninedevelopment wells in KG-OSN-2004/1 and GS-49-2 fields besidecreation of other infrastructure inKG Basin with an investmentoutlay of �3,750 crore.

According to the minutes ofmeeting of Expert AppraisalCommittee (EAC) of Ministry ofEnvironment and Forest andClimate Change held recently, thePSU sought ministry's nod toprepare Terms of Reference forthe project. “Cost of project is�3,750 Crore. Drilling will bedone for 45-60 days for each well.It is reported that no nationalparks, Reserve Forest (RF)/

Protected Forests (PF), BiosphereReserves, Tiger/ElephantReserves, etc lies within 10 kmdistance. However, during pre-sentation PP (project proponent-ONCG) informed that pipeline ispassing through forest land andstage-1 forest clearance for thisarea has been obtained for S-1Vashishta,” the EAC said.

The project involves theIntegrated Development of blockKG-OSN-2004/1 and GS-49-2field in KG Offshore involvesconstructing new onshore facil-ities, Drilling and completion of7 new wells in KG-OSN-2004/1and 2 new wells in GS- 49-2prospect, Subsea pipeline fromoffshore to new onshore termi-nal with a carrying capacity of 6.4MMSCMD of gas.

!#30�/������������� �*� �������������������/���������

Page 12: 3 !˘-˜.)>?/ !ˇ#ˇ!#$ %!&’()* ˘ˇ ˆ˙ +C+ .ˆ$.5+ ˚+ .2 ;:;$: .˚ˆ+229˚A ... was arrested last month by the ... a Mahindra Scorpio, was yet to be ascer-tained, ... approved

&� &�#�'%�(�.�/ �'��0 .���(!��123�4516 *��!��74

(�?�?���� �������&��������/������������������

'(���6( �$����#��1�'������ %� �,E- �)��

�������������� 7+�6.52;

Tuesday’s primaries in fivebig States with 358 dele-

gates at stake may well definethe Republican presidentialrace even as front-runnerDonald Trump, faced withmounting confrontations athis rallies, continues to lead inpolls in four of the five States.

Except for Ohio, where heis tied or trailing GovernorJohn Kasich in different polls,Trump has a fairly comfortablelead in the other four States —Florida, North Carolina, Illinoisand Missouri.

For Marco Rubio, theSenator from Florida who hasgiven Trump a hard time indebates, it is a veritable do-or-die battle in his home-State thatwill give the winner all its 99delegates. Rubio is trailingbadly in as many as 10 Floridapolls conducted over the past10 days, giving Trump an aver-age 19 percentage point lead.

Both Rubio and Kasichmay have to quit the race if they

don’t win their respective home-States. Like Florida, Ohio with66 delegates is also a winner-takes-all State. Senator TedCruz, the main challenger ofTrump, holds steady at No: 2 inthe other three States.

Some pundits believe thatTrump’s increasingly con-frontational stance vis-à-visprotesters at his rallies couldaffect his performance, where-as some others think it couldreally bolster his showing. Atone or two centres, Trump hasegged on his supporters topunch a protester in the face and

offered to bear the legal expens-es the action may lead to.

Writing that the violentoutbursts at his rallies havebrought the presidential race toa crossroads, The Wall StreetJournal noted that Republicanvoters could decide “whether toembrace the front-runner’sconfrontational style or turn to a more traditionalstandard-bearer”.

Both the Democratic presi-dential hopefuls, Hillary Clintonand Bernie Sanders, have alsocome down hard on Trump.Stating that Trump all Americans

should be concerned withTrump’s “cynical campaign”,Clinton said: “He is trafficking inhate and fear. He is playing to ourworst instincts rather than ourangels of our better nature.”

Trump, in media inter-views, has said that he does notcondone violence, yet makingit clear that he will not takeresponsibility for what happensto protesters at his rallies.

The brash billionaire is alsonot backing down on his sharpanti-Muslim rhetoric. When aFox News Sunday anchor put itto him that not more than100,000 of world’s 1.65 billionMuslims might be associatedwith jihadist causes, Trumpcited a Pew poll to say the num-ber of militant Muslims couldbe as high as 27 per cent.

According to an AssociatedPress delegate count of the over-all Republican race thus far,Trump leads with 460 dele-gates, followed by Cruz (370),Rubio (163) and Kasich (63). Toclinch the Republican nomina-tion, one needs 1,237 delegates.

���� +3+$+

Turkey’s air force hit Kurdishrebel targets in northern

Iraq Monday, hours after asuicide car-bombing in thecapital killed 37 people andheightened tensions with theKurdish rebels.

Nine F-16s and two F-4 jetsraided 18 positions of theKurdistan Workers’ Party, orPKK in the northern Iraq,including the Qandil mountainswhere the group’s leadership isbased, the state-run AnadoluAgency reported. Targets hitsconsisted of ammunitiondepots, bunkers and shelters.

Police meanwhile carriedout raids in the southern city ofAdana, detaining suspectedPKK rebels the agency report-

ed. The private Dogan newsagency said at least 36 suspectswere taken under custody.

Fifteen suspected Kurdish mil-itants were also detained inIstanbul, Anadolu said.

Health Minister MehmetMuezzinoglu said three morepeople died overnight fromwounds suffered in the Sundaynight attack that targeted busesand people waiting at bus stopsat the heart of Ankara. Scoresof others were injured.

Police on Monday blockedthe boulevard where the attack targeting buses andpeople waiting at bus stopsoccurred, as forensic teamsscoured the road — which isAnkara’s main artery — formore clues.

It was the second deadlyattack blamed on Kurdish mil-itants in the capital in the past month and PresidentRecep Tayyip Erdogan vowed to bring “terrorism to its knees.”

>�:���,:,,.5>,:,,.5>

����� 5��'+

Agreeing on politicaltransition in Syria is

the “mother of all issues,”the UN envoy for thewar-ravaged countrysaid on Monday, as anew round of peace talkswas set to begin.Speaking to reporters inGeneva, Staffan de Misturastressed the importance of get-ting the talks quickly focusedon “the real issues,” adding,“What is the real issue? The

mother of all issues (is) politi-cal transition.”

“This is the moment oftruth,” he said before his firstofficial meeting with the Syrian

Government delegation.The long-awaited

talks, which open on theeve of the fifth anniversaryof the outbreak of the con-flict, mark the latest bid toend the bloodshed thathas killed more than2,70,000 people and dis-placed millions.

Analysts say much haschanged since the last roundcollapsed in February, but thatthe huge government-opposi-tion divide will complicate asettlement.

����� �+56�+�

The Islamic State(ISIS) group on

Monday returned tothe desert town ofRutba in western Iraq, less than a dayafter vacating it, offi-cials said.

The mayor of theremote town inAnbar province had warnedwhen ISIS pulled out that thejehadis organisation may justbe testing the population’s alle-giance.

“Daesh (ISIS) has re-estab-lished its control on the city ofRutba... Which it had left theprevious day,” said a seniorofficer in the Jazeera Operations

Command in chargeof the area.

“Daesh came backfrom Al-Qaim witharmoured vehicles andartillery,” the officersaid, speaking on con-dition of anonymity.“They deployed themon the outskirts of thetown and at the mainentrances, as if to

defend it from any attack by thesecurity forces,” he said.“However, Daesh’s foreign lead-ers previously based in Rutbadid not return,” he said.

Beijing: China on Mondaydodged a direct response toreports of presence of People’sLiberation Army (PLA) troopsat a forward post in thePakistan-occupied Kashmir(PoK) and said it “regretted”that the media keeps “poppingup” stories of incursions intothe Indian side of the LAC.

“I have not heard about theincident you mentioned,” theChinese Foreign Ministryspokesman Lu Kong said,replying to a question about thepresence of PLA troops at aforward post opposite Nowgamsector in the PoK. In responseto another question on reportsof recent incursions of PLAtroops on the Indian side in theLadakh sector, Kong said “thereis no such thing as goingbeyond the border”. PTI

��8�."��2������� ��������������%������������������������������� ����������� �����4����(������� � ���:������ ����������� �������.� �:� �%���������(����� ��� ����� ��#2������ ��������� ����� ��� ��,������� �������� ��� ���(-�� �������� ��������� �������������������� ������ �������� ��������+(������ ���������1������+� ����� ����� �������������������� �������������#�.�� ��� �������������1+�?�������� ��7+������ �����(��������� ��� ������������ ��� ������������ ��,�������-����������)������� ���# ���

Berlin: German ChancellorAngela Merkel was facing freshpressure on Monday after aregional election drubbingdescribed as a “debacle” overher liberal refugee policy.

Merkel’s ChristianDemocratic Union was at thereceiving end of voters’ anger,suffering defeats in two out ofthree states in regional elections — including its tra-ditional stronghold Baden-Wuerttemberg. The stingingresult for the conservative CDU

was accompanied by a surge inbacking for the right-wingpopulist Alternative forGermany (AfD), which hadsparked outrage by suggestingpolice may have to shoot atmigrants to stop them enteringthe country.

The elections were thebiggest since Germany regis-tered a record influx of refugees,and largely regarded as a refer-endum on Merkel’s decision toopen the country’s doors to peo-ple fleeing war. AFP

Grand-Bassam: Gunmenkilled 16 people at an Ivory Coast resort leaving bod-ies strewn on the beach, in anattack claimed by an al-Qaedaaffiliate as fears grow of amounting jehadi threat in westAfrica.

Armed with grenades andassault riffles, the attackersstormed three hotels in thesleepy resort of Grand-Bassam,popular with expats, around 40kilometres east of the com-mercial hub Abidjan.

Witnesses described panicas the gunmen sprayed bulletsacross the beach, and one toldAFP they heard an assailantshouting “Allahu Akbar” —Arabic for “God is greatest”.

“I saw one of the attackers

from far away,” says Abbas El-Roz, a Lebanese salesman, whowas in the pool of a hotel whenthe attackers struck.

“He had a Kalashnikovand a grenade belt. He waslooking for people.”

Fourteen civilians and twospecial forces troops were killedin the shooting spree, alongwith six assailants, according toIvory Coast’s PresidentAlassane Ouattara.

“The toll is heavy,” he saidas he arrived in Grand-Bassam,describing the killings as a“terrorist” attack.

One French and oneGerman national were amongthe dead, according to InteriorMinister Hamed Bakayoko.

AFP

6(�&$�������&�����>(� ������� �

�'�'���(�#�������F�����#+������������1�%���#)��� �$��������� �� ��� ������� ������ ��� ����� ������0

"������������������5/������ �������1������������������>#

��������� �������������� ������ ���������������

<�8���)�������%��� �#�G/#+���������&���

1�.B�����������������������#����3����������������������

"������������&����� 5����/1�����*;);�C������

�������������������������������� �(�-�!����2���.�� ��������� ��� ��������������� ���%������������ ������� �� �� �%��������� ��������� �� ������ �� ������� �� 7����� �%�����������#�

������������� ���������������&���C- ������>��1=B'B�������������������� ������� �"� ���������������2� �� ��?��� ������� �%���������%���� ������� ��������������������� ������������/����������������� ���������� ������ �����������������?��� �����������(������ ���� ���������� �#�

����������������� ������606:::+��+�� ���� ������(�-�!����.�� ��?��+���"������+���������� ��� ���%���� ������� �� ��(��� ����D(!!!:�� �:������������#�2��� ���������� ��������� ���� ������ ����������� ��� �������������������������������%�������� )������������#�.�� ���9�����?����������������������������������������#

��*�������������������������������������('��6�� ��$������7 ������������������ ���������� ������������� ������������������������ ������ ��������������������.�� �� ����������������������� )��������%������������� ����#

���$�������������#:�������������������-!�����.��� ����K!�������� )�������%������ ���I!������������������� %��� �������� ������������������������������ �� ������� %����� )����������������(������� ���� ���������� �#

%E�������&���������� ��&6��*��������&�������������F�1=����������� ������� ������� ����������:� ���� �����������������������������X��G������ ��,��� ?��� ����� ���-(� � �� ���������������������������������������������������������� ����� ���������� ������������������������ � ��#�������������� ����������� ������������������������������ ���������������������������(� ��� �%��������������� ���������������������X�� �,��� ?�������� ���-(�������������������� �#

��A�:��0�������������������E����� ����������������!�����2�(��� � ��� ?�2� ����������������� ��������� �������� ��������������������& ���"������������������+���� �� ����)������������������������ � ��� �+��������A������E0!#

*����������������������$��$��#�� �6�(/���#���# �$ �*

:�/��$�//������C�����#1�%��/�/�(�#��#��#&�����#��# �$ �*

Warsaw: Poland has accused Russia of downing a Polish presi-dential jet in 2010 in what it called an act of “terrorism,” spark-ing an immediate retort on Monday from Moscow.

“We can say that we were the first great victim of the ter-rorism we now see playing out before our eyes,” Defence MinisterAntoni Macierewicz said, according to a transcript released onMonday of a weekend university lecture. AFP

Page 13: 3 !˘-˜.)>?/ !ˇ#ˇ!#$ %!&’()* ˘ˇ ˆ˙ +C+ .ˆ$.5+ ˚+ .2 ;:;$: .˚ˆ+229˚A ... was arrested last month by the ... a Mahindra Scorpio, was yet to be ascer-tained, ... approved

&� &�#�'%�(�.�/ �'��0 .���(!��123�4516 ���������79

����� ������;�� ����)�������)��(D! L������� �%�������������������������/�#�;����������������"����������������������� ��������� ��� �� ���������� )����������� ���������������������7���#�2�������������������5 )���6���(��� ��+� �����+� ���7�������+������������������(�5������5�����������+ ����� ��(+� �����+� ���������� �%� ��+���������)�� ������#7� �P�������������� �������� ����������� �%��������� �������������������������� ��� ����+� ��$��%� ���������������������� ������� ������������������� �������D! K������������������������#�2��������������� ����������������������������� ������������ ����������� ������� �������� ��@+� �$��%� �B� ��� ��������@6�����������B������� ������������������%������ %������ ����������������������� �����(3��� #�.�� �������������)���(6������ ��(�,+� ��������� )������������������������� �������������� �������#�.� ��)������)����� ���?������� �������(���� ��������������.������������������(� �������������(����+� �#-�2�����)����������� ������.��� ����� ���� I#�

2�!����!�� ����!������� ����

@�������� ��� ��������������

. ��$����*� ��������������� �$��� A���*�!������������ ����+�1��$���� � ��� �D��A��$�$���A

���6��D������������������������!���!���� �������� ���!���� A� ��*$����������������$��A���*�!��������������� �����

D��.���2�,,

6��� ������� �� ��������������) ������������(����� ��������� ��� ����:��������������������P� ��:������ )������#+�� � �(������ ������� ������� ���������������������/������������������ ������ � ����������������)��������������(�� ����� ��� ������(�,������������%���(��������������������(���� )�� �������� ���� ������� ����������������������)��#.P)��� ������������)������������������( ���������� �����)��:� �%:����������������%�������������(����������� �(��������������� ��������������������#-�,2� �������� ���� � ���(����������� ��������� )������������������� ��� )�%���������� ���� ���������(-����� ��#��,+����������������������� )������������������)���(� ���.�� )�������������������� �������������������������������(�����������������������(-��� ����#�

.�?�������������� ������������������� ���#�2��� ������� ��������������/��������������.����� ���� �� ��������4����������������?������������� �����(������������+ � ���9�$ �� ����������������� �� ��+&�&#.������������(����� ���� K(����� %������������������� �����(� )����� ���������� ��� �:��� ���(������� ����� �����������+�� �?�������� �#���(� ��������������� �:��������� �����(������ �� ������������������������� ��������� ���+�� �?�������� �#

Polo has always been a sportfor the elite, so while the menrode stallions and hit the

chukker around the field, thewomen, in their sun hats, pearlsand fancy umbrellas, were merespectators of the game. But timeshave changed and so have thedynamics of the sport, too.

And this change was evidentwhen Shivani Wazir Pasrich, wifeof a polo player, organised the firstever Polo match for women. Therewere a million questioned thatcame to our mind and the mostimportant one was how did sheconceive the idea of putting

together such an event fora sport, largely demarcat-

ed for men. “I believe every-

thing that happensin your life is

because itaffects you. Ihave been a

polo wife for 18years now, and have

been a rider myself since I wassix. So it is was natural for me tobe in this environment and relishit. But recently I have become apolo mother, too. My older daugh-ter Ameera who is a nationalrider and has won many medals innational and international eventsfrom dress out and show jumping,to holding the polo mallet.Somewhere, at the back of mymind this motivated me. My littleone Ayesha is riding quite intense-

ly. If from no where else,our home stable should beable to provide two futurepolo players,” she shared.

But getting womenpolo players was not amean feat. The first thingthat she was asked whenshe decided was whereshe would get the playersfrom. She thinks it’s won-derful that people are get-ting back to horse riding.“When we were kids itwas quite the thing to do,not as in being in voguebut simply because yourparents did it so you fol-lowed their footsteps anddid it, too,” she said.

The organiser thinks,that of late, the kind ofplatforms that are beingcreated in the terms ofcompetition and interna-tional opportunities it isvery motivating for youngpeople. “So yes, a lot of

women are taking inhorse riding and I amnot sure whether theproportion taking uppolo is that great, butwhen I said that wehave an all women’spolo match the firstreaction that I got waswhere are you going toget them from? Andeven if they are theywon’t be good enough.So I am glad that wemanaged to get themfrom all over the placelike Germany, France,Jaipur, Kolkata, Delhiand Mumbai and theymanaged to holdtogether a chukker,which was quite excit-ing with Manisha Pattualmost scoring threegoals and missing themby literally inches andwith Bambi (AvshreyaRudy) making the win-

ning goal. Bambi is today playingon the field with the men in reg-ular matches and doing quite agood job of it. Monica Saxena isdoing the same. As far as I see, itis a good picture ahead,” Pasrichexplained the game.

According to her, playing polois more of an organic thing. “It’snot that you go to an institute andsay why can’t I try my hands atpolo because the toughest thingabout the game is its not as easy asit look. If you are not a fantasticrider you will not be able to play.Cycle in polo is something you canalways try your hand at you canhave fun and you can figure outthe rules but the game of polo andhorses is something spectacularbut consequently dangerous,demanding and daring,” she point-ed out.

Pasrich stressed on the factthat a woman should only followthis as a passion and not as a careerobjective.

This is just the first of its kindevent to be oragnised and it is toosoon for the organisers to saywhether or not the number ofwomen players of polo wouldincrease or not. Most of it alsodepends on the availability oftraining institutes and coaches.

So whether the numbersincrease or not, whether the gamewill have more women participants— only time will tell. Till then wecan be satisfied with the fact thatthe change has already begun.

After an hour of long drive, wereached to Lemon Tree Hotels

at Tarudhan Valley, Manesar. Ifyou are looking for a getaway toescape the daily hustle-bustle oflife, head out for a weekend ofsheer indolence at a sprawling

new resort set amidst the Aravallihills.

Carnation Hotels, the hotelmanagement joint venture partnerof Lemon Tree Hotels has taken overthe management of the resort, devel-oped and owned by the groupSilverglades. The managementagreement was signed by RattanKeswani, deputy managing directorof the company and chairman ofCarnation Hotels Private Limited,and Anubhav Jain, director of group,Silverglades.

According to Keshwani, “Theresort is mere 40-minutes drivefrom the Ambience Mall and 25-minutes from IFFCO Chowk. So itis not so far from the city. And if peo-ple are coming from Noida and

Ghaziabad, then they will takealmost two hours to reach here.”

Designed to suit all experi-ences, this landscaped getaway offers70 contemporary well appointedrooms including 18 studio apart-ments that offer an awe-inspiringview of the golf course. Together

with a club house, the resort com-prises of a themed bar and restau-rant, a rejuvenating spa, an invigo-rating fitness center, an archeryrange, a billiards room, kids zoneand a play area; it also offers numer-ous games courts and outdoor activ-ities along with a lap-size swimming

pool. “We have somethingin store for everyone. Likewe have spa for ladies,playing spaces for kidsand golf course formen,” said Keshwani.

This beautiful andsprawling retreatspread around 72 acres,envelopes a nine-holegolf course designed byGraham Cooke, one ofthe most respected golfcourse architects inNorth America, andCanada’s legendaryamateur player.

The resort hotelalso has an exclusivebanquets arena thatcomprises of threelarge conference roomsand manicured gardensto host a variety ofevents, destinationweddings and confer-ences.

Jaideep Khanna, CEO and country head ofBarclays India; Prashant Mehta, founding

partner of Lightbox and Arun Saigal, a banker byprofession (who has also spent over 12 years atBarclays in Mumbai) along with a few more bik-ers travelled from India Gate to the Gateway ofIndia to raise funds for kids suffering from can-cer.

�Where did the idea originate?Jaideep Khanna: The gentleman who start-

ed St Judes memorial wanted to support kids suf-fering from cancer and their family. Soon doc-tors raised concern that kids affected by cancerundergo chemotherapy and this makes theirimmune system weak. We also came to knowabout the living conditions of these kids and theirfamilies. People are spending a high amount ofmoney the treatment for these kids, but no atten-tion is paid towards providing a healthy and cheer-ful environment to ensure fast recovery. And that'show we came up with the idea of this ride andraising money to support such NGO.�How many days it will take to complete andwhere are the participants going to stay at night?What are the stops?

Prashant Mehta: Since our idea is Wheel’swon’t stop, we are going to take rest and sleep inmoving utility vehicles. The cycling will happen

in a relay format. We have made three groupswhere one group finishes cycling 100 kms, othergroup joins in.�How many kilometers riders are going to ridethe cycle?

Arun Saigal: We are following relay formatwith three sets of riders, each rider will ridearound 500 kms over three days, an equivalentof 200kms/day. Each set of riders will ride for fourhours (100km) at a stretch. �How you going to raise fund with this event?

Khanna: Through this ride we want toencourage people who are fortunate enough togive a little more. And through our experiencein our society we have realised that if you gen-uinely ask people and give them a credible oppor-

tunity. People are very generous. We have doc-tors, bankers, VC industry experts in our group,we have reached out to each of our individual net-works and we have a diverse group of families,friends, colleagues and even to our clients. Theteam itself has raised 15 to 20 per cent of theamount. Post the ride these Scott bikes will be auc-tioned and after selling the same the profits willbe added to the funds.�How much fund money are you expectingfrom this event?

Khanna: We have given ourselves a target of1.50 crore and so we have already raised 1.35 crore.�How did you manage to bring entrepreneurs,bankers, et al. on one single platform?

Mehta: We are taking up this initiative for afew reasons. We are a bunch of adventureenthusiasts and friends, we cycle together. We allbelieve in pushing the envelope and challengingourselves. Also, we have been fortunate enough,and we want to contribute to society. For all ofus ability to put our foot forward and give backto people through NGOs such as St. Jude. �When did you plan to organise this event?

Saigal: We trained for this event for fourmonths. And we joined hands with big brandsto provide us equipment and technical support.Issuzu has come forward to provide logistical sup-port.

After winning thetitle of Miss India inthe year 2002,

actress Neha Dhupia neverlooked back. From herfirst film, Qayamat: CityUnder Threat, she man-aged to make her ownspace in the Indian filmIndustry. After servingalmost a decade inBollywood, she is all set tomake her television debut with the most popular realityshow Roadies X4.

At the show, she will be seen as one of the gang mem-bers and would be sharing the stage with Karan Kundra,

Rannvijay Singh and the winner of Roadies X2,Prince Narula.

When we asked her, why did she chooseto be a part of the show, she said, “I have alwaysbeen a fan of the show and when I got the offerand as being a fan of something, which I havewatched earlier, I had to accept the offer.”

She told us that the contestants belongto different parts of the country and it helped

her to learn several things from them.“For me, the most amazing thing on

the show is that it is driven byyouth, made by the youth. It issomething which you can dowithout having any experience ofthe show. The show will teachyou everything. The show isabout adventure and I thinkeveryone should do it,” saidDhupia.

She said that everyoneshould be independent and

should follow their heart to achievetheir dreams. “You should be fear-

less in your life. I have taken my pro-fessional decision without any fear.It is about all learning from your lifeand that is what I have learnt fromthis show,” she explained.

Telling about her co- actors, shesaid, “I have four fantastic co-gangleaders and Karan Kundra is amaz-ing. On the show, he was alwaysthere for the help, he himself isthe pillar of the show and he hasnever made me feel that he ispart of the show from manyyears. And, Prince Narula —there is no task that he cannotdo, he is fearless. I am sohappy that I have been a partof these gang leaders. I amstill in touch with all ofthem. And, they all havespecial quality.”

On asking her thatwhether she will contin-ue doing TV shows, shereplied, “I would like to

do if I get something likethis, but I will never stopworking in films.”

1�����

�2�5>���2,�37�,4A81��8=231����������#�����������������������"�����������C�����������1��3&1 !3�8�1 �����������"�����������������������������������������������

2��������;������������������ ���������������� ��������������� �����%������������������.��� �5 �������5 ��� �����.��� #�2������ ����������/���������

&��� 1���������0.�

A#�����������)�/2�������������������2 ���� ��' �����5����$�������������� ���� �������� ������9���������6����#�+��.�6$+ ����%����������0D: ������� ��������������

,$������� �*

�����������#��� ���*���� �����!!������$�

*��!�����.�����!���>������A)�����A'����A0�!��������5�*

"�!$�

7���������������)��������� ������ ���������������(�������������

����������� ������������ ����#6���)��(���� �������������� ������

���������� �������� ��� ����������"�������� �������(��� ������ ���� ���� ��##��

Page 14: 3 !˘-˜.)>?/ !ˇ#ˇ!#$ %!&’()* ˘ˇ ˆ˙ +C+ .ˆ$.5+ ˚+ .2 ;:;$: .˚ˆ+229˚A ... was arrested last month by the ... a Mahindra Scorpio, was yet to be ascer-tained, ... approved

�������� 7� 98�7<&� &�#�'%�(�.�/ �'��0 ����(!��123�4516

It is not often that you will find afine piece of sculpture displayed in

the open, as compared to the usualtradition of arranging them withinthe four confines of a gallery. Butwalk into Ojas Arts and you will findfew of KS Radhakrishnan’s finestbronze sculptures adding to thebeauty of the gallery compounds.

This show titled In the Open, isthe first of its kind in India and fea-tures around 30 large scale outdoorsculptures done by the artist over thelast three decades. It also showcases an exclu-sive pictorial documentation of the sculptor’ssite specific works installed in various Nationaland international venues.

An art collector’s pride and a new collec-tor’s aspiration, Radhakrishnan’s bronze sculp-tures have always catered to people with clas-sic taste and eye for refined aesthetics. His worksare mostly seen indoors in galleries and muse-ums, the artist has created many sculptureskeeping ‘open air’ as their real living space.

According to him, “Sculptures need breath-ing space and a sculpture could breathe wellonly in the open air. Open air sculpture doesnot automatically translate into ‘public sculp-tures’ that are created for ‘public’ consumption.”Radhakrishnan has done quite a number ofmonumental public sculptures. However, in thisshow, one could have a taste of both the openair and public sculptures.

“An open air sculpture could be public andprivate at the same time. My works, irrespec-tive of their size, are always conceived as inde-

pendent aesthetic entities that demand open airfor their existence,” the artist said.

Radhakrishnan is among the new gener-ation of sculptors who has successfully broughtabout a definitive resurgence in Indian sculp-ture. Like many of his contemporaries he is afigurative sculptor, but his preference formodeling and bronze casting over new mate-rials sets him apart from the rest of them.

Recharging age-old sculpturalprocess with a new sensibility,thus is the singular challenge hebrings to modern Indian sculpture.And this makes him a modernist— who approaches his work withdiscernable ambition and consid-erable aplomb while steering clearof brinkmanship.

With celebration of sensualityas one of its running themes, hisworks is at once both intimate anduniversal in its appeal.

“As a city, Delhi has not yetopened to the idea of open air sculpturesthough we have some public sculptures.Radhakrishnan’s works are not decorativepieces. They are contemporary works of art witha strong sense of artistic individuality expressedin the enduring medium of bronze,” says cura-torial director Anubhav Nath, Ojas Art.

Also, the exhibition is accompanied by abook written by noted art historian and crit-ic Johny ML focussing on KS “Radhakrishnan’open air sculptures. Radhakrishnan belongs to(this) lineage of ‘classic’ artists when he speaksof sculptures as the embodiment of absent free-dom or freedom in absence and the artist’s ulti-mate aim is to give them air. If one sees thewhole argument bathed in a romantic hue, itwould be interesting to see that in Indianmythologies and folklore a sculptor is alwaysseen as a person who ‘gives’ life to a sculpture(often a beautiful female) and falls in love withit/her by breathing ‘air’ into it,” observes JohnyML in the book.

6��C�������#������%�#%�( ��#����%���E

Empowering Love is devoted tothe romantic (divine) love of

Radha and Krishna, which in noway is explicitly referred to iniconographic terms. The allegori-cal love of Radha has found expres-sion in these works of Ritu Gupta,where the reference is implicitand subtle. The works of art inter-pret her youthful dalliances withthe gopis as symbolic of the lovinginterplay between God and thehuman soul. Radha’s rapturouslove for Krishna and their relation-ship is interpreted as the quest forunion with the divine.

With the use of vibrant coloursand fine detailing, the artist doesaway with traditional iconographyand instead chooses to focus on themood of lovers. The artist said,“This series has very close refer-ences to the late Guler and KangraSchool of art but not so much intreatment of foliage, moonlight andthe romantic mood. I have madethis traditional narrative of myown.” The fine viewer would beable appreciate that the artist showsa certain mastery over the under-standing of the human body incompositional and design terms.Also, her urge to play takes over asshe focusses on backgrounds,

detailing and decorative motifs.There will be 11 artworks whichwill be on display at the ConventionFoyer of India Habitat Center.

With these works one can seeRitu’s journey as an artist is nolonger sharp and steep. She hasbegun to settle down into anunderstanding of human formwhich is heavily inspired by thesupple slenderness seen in themedieval Indian styles of art rang-ing from Chola bronzes to Kangrapaintings. However, the artist doesnot seem to be making a school orstyle centric adaptation. Instead,one is reminded of the early 20thcentury Bengal revivalists and

their understanding of an authen-tic Indian form in terms of beingsoft, supple and feminine as againstthe hard masculine Europeanunderstanding of human body.

Beginning as a self-taughtartist, Ritu’s journey into the worldof art is visible in her passion topaint, decorate, explore andexpress. Her paintings are influ-enced by traditional art forms andculture in a style that is her own.Though the works are her mediumto explore and understand Indiantradition, the intimate viewer canidentify with the artists under-standing of childhood, masculin-ity, femininity, union and desire.

Ritu creates gorgeous, tradi-tional, devotional art with fine intri-cately detailed, multi-layered worksfilled with rich colors and dream-like background with her signaturetexture and imagery. In her seriesof Divine Goddess, with the use ofbright colors coupled with thewonderful freedom of brushstrokesand spontaneity in forms, she hascreated works that are truly mag-ical, inspiring, spiritual and allur-ing. Her works of art is like a visu-al treat with minute of detailing ofthe clothes, jewellery, backgroundsand birds.

Vijay Tendulkar (1928 - 2008)was an iconic playwright, alsocombining vocations like

movie-and-television writing, withsallies into literary essays, politicaljournalism and commentary onMarathi society. His plays derivedinspiration from real-life incidents orsocial upheavals, which providedclear l ight on harsh realit ies.Reckoned among his oeuvre of high-ly influential drama was his 1981 play,Mitrachi Goshta, a unique love-bal-lad, culled from the pre-Independence era.

Set in a college campus in Pune,it had a seemingly conventional boy-meet-girl build-up. In reality, it wasa menage-a trio among Bapu, a shyboy battling a strong sense of inade-quacy; Mitra, an independent girlwith a secret that eventually resultedin her downfall; and Nama, Mitra’sgraceful-yet-treacherous love-interest.Tendulkar weaved in complex char-acters and intricate plot-lines thatbroke the inhibition on lesbian iden-tities three decades ago. A play aheadof its time, it was intense, progressiveand highly controversial.

A Friend’s Story, presented recent-ly by NCPA in collaboration withAkvarious from Mumbai in theMETA Festival, was an English-lan-guage version of the Tendulkar play,directed by the eminent theatre-per-son Akash Khurana.

The diffident Bapu, the care-free Mitra and the deceptive Namaform a charming love-triangle. Bapu’sunrealstic wish to befriend Mitraoddly comes true, without realisingthat he would become party to herinner struggle with her sexuality.After an all-female cast of a Radha-Krishna ballet — where Mitra is a

domineering Krishna and Nama amalleable Radha — there is a covertgame of vacillating sexual politicsbetween Mitra and Nama: the girlMitra now desires.

Nama, on the contrary, enjoysbeing in a relationship with both: heraggressive boy-friend Dalvi and herlesbian lover Mitra for whom sheeven undresses.

Bapu starts getting almost accus-tomed to being treated as a door-matto be kicked around by one and all.Finally, Bapu’s only other friend, hisroom-mate Pande, gets attracted toMitra, and the desperate Bapu isforced to reveal to him that Mitra is‘different’ and not interested in men.Meanwhile, Nama disappears into along-distance marriage and the frus-

trated Mitra is driven to a suicide: hersecond attempt in the play and, thistime, fatal. The gripping denouement— virtually of Greek tragic dimen-sions — seems destined by theProvidence.

Extracts from interaction with thedirector:

�How did Mitrachi Goshta farewhen it was first performed?

In the 1980s, it was premieredwith Rohini Hattangadi as Mitra.Thereafter, it faced intense criticismand ridicule. In fact, it remains oneof Tendulkar’s least-performed plays.It was perhaps far ahead of its times.

I took it up to defy prevailing moralsand I think it’s time has come.

�What attracted you to this unusu-al play?

One of the reasons was my clearperception that it was an avant-garde play, since its first staging wasreceived with such discomfiture. Thegrowing relevance of its theme, thesensitivity of its characters and thecomplexity of its structure offered achallenge that I couldn’t resist.

�How far did you seek to push les-bianism into the play’s perfor-mance?

To me, its essence is not about les-bianism and homo-sexuality, butabout human love. As Bapu says inthe play. there’s no love that’s perfect-ly right or perfectly wrong, but onlylove with many shades of grey. I want-ed to depict the play as an extraordi-narily involved love-story.

�Did you forsake stylisation com-pletely in your production?

Absolutely, I wanted the actingmode to remain completely realistic.

�Is the play’s theme of all-time rel-evance?

I consider the play as an under-stated ‘Greek Tragedy’ of VijayTendulkar’s: all about obsession, jeal-ousy, betrayal and quest for redemp-tion.

Although the play that I present-ed id ostensibly based on events thattook place around the middle of thelast century, the play’s theme may stillbe considered as a taboo. The playthat once expanded the horizons ofIndian drama, stands out even todayas a theatrical tour-de-force.

Ritu Chopra connects with naturein a passionate way. Trekking her

way through tough terrain, travellingin the most diverse topography, upthe mountains, under the sea, as if it’sher mission to explore the Universeat one go! She has been everywheregeographically possible. After con-quering the external, she has startedher journey inwards. That quest isvisible in her peripheral expression,in her art.

She has done eight solo and 45 group exhibitions inIndia and abroad. She has worked on different subjectsand medium. Her style of paintings in the past remainedmostly figurative, but now she has ventured into the worldof abstraction.

�What or who has been your inspiration? Kabir’s poetry and verses are my inspiration. They have

lead me to create this series of paintings titled Warp n WeftIn 2010,I did my solo show Kahe Kabir with paintings depict-ed in a figurative style inspired by his couplets and poems.Thereafter I did many exhibitions on different subjects butKabir’s work was still calling out to me. So I started study-ing Kabir and it led me to paint his words in colours. I hadno idea about how to start and what to paint. All I knewwas Kabir’s verses and poems and my form of expressinghis work in abstract style. Besides, I have also have procuredinspiration from lots of subjects to create my paintings. In2012, I painted my experiences during trekking in the moun-tains, recollecting the spirituality embedded within theHimalayas, titled Abode of the Gods. That collection of mywork was based on my memories from wandering amidstthe high passes and meadows and it illustrated my percep-tion and experiences.

A trip to the monasteries of Ladakh moved me to a newtangent. The spiritual art of the mandalas and the depictionof the goddess Tara Devi inspired me to bring out the newexperiences on to the canvas. And that lead me to create aseries on the Divine Goddesses which was called Ya Devi.This exhibition was sponsored by ICCR at Delhi in 2014.

In the year 2011, inspired by my myriad of thoughts andfeelings, I ventured into experimenting with storytelling ina narrative form using Radha, Krishna and Krishna’s fluteas the protagonists. I used unspoken overtures of their bodylanguage and purposefully restrained from depicting anyfacial expressions. I use of vibrant colors in displaying thechemistry between the two. This series was called The Flute.

Spirals have been a source of inspiration for me numer-ous times. The very shape of it is quite intriguing for me.In 2008 I created a series on spirals. They are a recurringfeature in my paintings.

�Do you follow any particular style in your paintings?I like to experiment with my subjects as much as I exper-

iment with my style of painting. As an artist I am like aninnocent child who to opens her heart to newer experiencesand I try to imbibe the vastness of the universe within myself.As art critic Renu has aptly observed, “The beauty in RituChopra’s art is that her physical experiences find resonance

in her paintings. She does not adhere to technique and keepsmoving to novel forms that appeal to her. With every seriesthat she paints, she introduces the freshness of a raw artist.”

�Is there any particular story that you tried to depictthrough your collection?

Yes, through Warp n Weft I am asking the viewer toappreciate the efforts taken by the Divine weaver to subtlycreate a beautiful tapestry that we all wear over our souls.As they say, for everything there is a time and a place des-tined. As a mother, my inspiration for this new series camewhen I saw a new born baby with a thin white layer of skinpeeling off which in Hindi is called Jhilli. This is where theverses of Kabir — Jhini Jhini Bini Chaderiya, kahe ka taana,Kahr ki Bharni, kaun taar se bini chaderiya... helped me tovisualize what I had been searching for the last three yearsand that's what lead to the series Warp n Weft.

�How much time did you take to complete it?To conceptualise it took me one to two years but to make

all the paintings for the series Warp n weft, it took me almosta year.

�What is your Upcoming project on which you are cur-rently working on?

I have just finished creating paintings for Warp n weft.I am going for paragliding immediately after the exhibitionand trekking in the month of May. I am also a PADI certi-fied diver. So my search for inspiration will be amidst thethree realms — in Air, in the Himalayas and under the Sea.I'm certain that inspiration for my next series will be trig-gered then.

7���������������������!�"����#��� ���(����������� ��������2+�����) �����+3+�6�361$++(�� �� �6����)����������'�� ��2�����% �?����������� �$� ������%��� �#�6��������12�+9 3��+�$G���� ��������������������� �� �� ��������� ���5���%��� ����

+������$.21�6;�$+?��� ���������������&�����&�' ������������������������������������������ 3 ���� �#�6�����%����������������������3 ���� ����)�)����������

1�����������%���

�3&=�%=2&1���������+���������� ������������ �������������������������������,�����C������+����������8�1�1�&3!1--3, ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������"

6��������� �����#%

���������3��$+�6+3$.�6+?������ �������� ��;� ��+��������� ��E!�����������%���� �������������� ���#�6�������)����� �������������� �������� ��

�� ���� ��&"

26���.$�2;$��9.�'���26+2�26�2��193+$?���9+4�2+���;12��'�2;�+4�+��+26�+2$.+9�2;1$:��:A;$�

Page 15: 3 !˘-˜.)>?/ !ˇ#ˇ!#$ %!&’()* ˘ˇ ˆ˙ +C+ .ˆ$.5+ ˚+ .2 ;:;$: .˚ˆ+229˚A ... was arrested last month by the ... a Mahindra Scorpio, was yet to be ascer-tained, ... approved

Will it be yes-terday oncemore, rather

2007 yet again forIndia at these T20Worlds? Well, it’s beena long time. Dhoni,for one, is nine yearsolder, has since chopped his flowinglocks, gotten married, fathered a girlchild, is no longer skipper of all formats,has lost the last 50 over World Cup ofhis career and may be at the helm forthe last time in the shortest format too.Chennai Super Kings is no longer aname and the skipper has had a toughtime surviving what fell out of thePandora’s box during the last IPL.

Top this with the growing form andprofile of Virat Kohli and you have acompletely different era, a differentdressing room and different approachto T20 World Cup.

So, will India fly sky high in 2016or not? There’s home advantage to but-tress that hope. There’s form, balanceand a fit as fiddle squad too with quitesome muscle warming the bench. Topthat with the withered acumen ofother competing teams, most of whomare in transition, and it looks good togo for the Indians under Dhoni thistime of the year.

That’s what the book says. Reality,as all the major captains have said, canbe a tad different. It’s about that day,that match and a format where anyonehowsoever high and mighty has poten-tial to fall without premise. That’s thebeauty of T20 cricket and that’s itsinglorious uncertainty too.

So, when India meet New Zealandat Nagpur on a slow and low wicket, itwill be cautious despite all the lionis-ing. It will be circumspect of the con-ditions that may make rockstars of allhues look ordinary mortals strugglingto make some noise in the middle. Theconditions though will be more alienfor the Kiwis than for the Indians whohave, over the last decade or so, learnthow to tackle hot and way off the roadvenues like Nagpur.

Kiwi skipper Kane Williamsonacceded as much at his pre-match Press

conference wherein he said, “acclima-tising to conditions and the pitch herewould be key.”

Having lost their rockstar BrendonMcCullum to retirement just before thisbig outing, the Kiwis look more ordi-nary than they might be, especially dueto the power statistic of not having everlost a T20 match to India thus far (infive outings they have won 4 and onewas washed out), and that includes aWorld Cup match in 2007. Just theother day, they thrashed Sri Lanka inthe warm-up game and lost by awhisker to England.

Dhoni, who has confessedly beenin Gear 6 of performance, winning 10of 11 matches played so far in this for-mat this year, is quite aware of this firsthe needs to score against the Kiwis.With a sound trio upfront in a flowingRohit Sharma, a back to businessShikhar Dhawan and a scintillatingVirat Kohli, a happening bowlingdepartment with the likes of Bumrah

still to be fathomed by opponents, livewire fielding and an injury less youngsquad, there seems no reason why Indiawould lose to the Kiwis on homefront. Not when MSD is looking for aswan song to sing to his grandchildren.Not when he can do so on homeground. Not when his team-matesmay have made up their mind to givehim a Sachin-like farewell after theWorlds.

�J��"K�.5".�K � ����� ������������@B(����%� ���� � �(�$������� �� ('�� ��3����(��������$ �� (�4�)� �������(6 ���%�� ��� (�$ )���� �G ��� (�$�+�����(G ���������� �(�+��������� (�6 ��� � ������(�� � �����(�+���%� �$ � ��(��� ������� ��#�5�1�E����5"K3 ���7���� �����@B(�� �����5������(�6�����������(�9�%��$�����(�$����2 ����(����������(����������� ����(� �� ���������(5� ����������(��������������� �� �(�2���������(�2����������(�+� �������(�.�������(������+�������#

2��������������������������������.��� �� )���� ���� �2D!

� ��� ��������� ������� ����(�������������� ���������� �D*��������� ��������

9 �% ����D!!*

&� &�#�'%�(�.�/ �'��0 .���(!��123�4516

���'B��' 0:�0�,�

���

���'B��' 5�1�"��2.

*�����$$'&!�

"*��������#!���+�)�������"$�L.���0:2�.K 2����)��:���� �������'�� ��3������������������������������� ������������������� ����������������� �#�6���� �)���� ����������?�� ��)� ��� ������� �������� ��� ��� �� �� � � ������������� ������� ������� ��� �� ������������������� �������� �������� ����������#6��� ���������EKD������ �� �����%�:� ����� EH����������2D!�� ������������� �#�6��� �������������� ��:���������(� )�� ����� 0#EE#6��� ���� �����������2���� ������������� ���������� ����������� ������������� ��������:������������ �����(��� ������������ ������������.��� ?������������������������2D!�� � ELI�����#� ��21.5K 7���� 3���� �� ���3�7���� ������ ������ �������������� �� ���������������������� ����(�$�+���������������������������� ������� ���(� ���������� ��� �� � ����� ���� ���� ���� %�� �������� ���� ���2� ���������������������.�����������������������)���2D!�� ���� � ��������C� � ��#+����������� ��������/������� ���)������� �����%���(���������������������������:���(����������� ��������� %�� ���� ������)��:�����#�

.�����������%���SThis city has a lot of noise but very lit-tle of that belongs to cricket. Consideringthat there’s a World Cup that’s on andIndia plays the tournament’s inauguralin the right sense here, there should havebeen a buzz around the city. But it’s notso at all. There are hardly any posterstalking cricket, even less talking the T20World Cup. By all accounts, its a scaleddown publicity era which the ICC hasushered. One would understand whythough. Very conversely to the WorldCup silence, all hotels here are sold out,and there are way too many of them.Perhaps, the ICC knows that the standson Tuesday will make all the noise that’sbeen missing till now.

������) � ������."� �����������Talking of noise, a little of it could beheard during Team India’s practice ses-sion at the VCA Stadium here on matcheve, thanks to Vishal Shekhar and hisspecial interest in the world cup. TheNagpur cricket association arranged fora local brass band called Suyog to playat the stadium during and before all

matches. The eight member

band has been specially trained to playpunjabi beats by Shekhar’s drummerIqbal Azad. he has flown to all venuesbefore the world cup to train localbands to put the beat back into thegame. And as the Suyog banddrummed up its dhols on the side ofthe lush green outfield, who else butBhajji and Yuvraj Singh were there togive a performance in the middle —doing that perfect bhangra to comple-ment the band and the stands wherea motley group of fans clicked awayon their mobile phones.

���� �����������%�Unlike the high profile 2011 50-over

World Cup where celebrities of all huesmade a beeline for the stadia, thisshorter version World Cup comeswithout any glitz or glamour. Despitethe fact that this is the maiden T20World Cup to be hosted by India, Nostar of any hue, be it from politics, thecorporate world or Bollywood itselfwill be in attendance when Indiaplays its first match of the tournamenthere. The only biggie that's expectedon the big Tuesday is AmitabhChowdhary of the BCCI. Icon VijayMallya used to be a regular at suchevents but with the King of GoodTimes being on the run no private jetwill be landing here to punctuate thecorporate box.

Star India batsman Virat Kohli was apicture of confidence and diffidence

on eve of India’s match against NewZealand, a team which has never lost tothe hosts in this format. Much like hispolished game which is flamboyant likehis tattoos and yet as solid as the groundhe struts, Kohli talked of how he and theteam is confident of looking at the pres-sure like a challenge to be tackled. He alsospoke of the role of openers and how themiddle order has not got too many ballsto play till now. MEENAKSHI RAOattended the pre-match media interac-tion. Excerpts:What is the spirit of the team like?We are pretty confident about the waywe’ve been playing. We have won 10 outof our last 11 games and we are takingsome good momentum into the WorldCup. The Asia Cup was a good prepara-tion for us. For a big tournament, gettingthe feel of playing the big teams, but thisis going to be far more challenging. Thereare teams from all over the world com-peting and if you look at both the groups,the teams are very strong and very even-ly matched. It is going to be tough, butwe would like to focus on our strengths.The oppositions do not matter for us asmuch at this stage. Obviously, we needto understand the strengths and weak-nesses of the opposition players, but it hasmore to do with the way we have playedand continue the same. It will also beimportant to execute the same thingswhich we have done successfully.Now that the team in in sixth gear, howmuch is the pressure of winning?Obviously, it’s a big event, the whole feeland the vibe is different as opposed to abilateral series. We all have experiencedthat before, so it’s nothing new. The keyis to learn from the past where the expe-rience is required in such tournamentsand ICC events, because you can get car-ried away or even over-anxious or evenover-excited. Those experiences are notgreat for any side going into big tourna-ment. The experience that we havefrom playing such events in the past isto stay on the ground as much as possi-ble and focus on skills that need to be exe-cuted on the field.

How do you prepare going into such abig event?There can obviously always be a lot offocus shifting in terms of watchingother oppositions play on rest days andstuff like that. It is very important to stayaway from all those things andfocus on what the team isdoing. It is not important tosee which teams win or loseso that your team goesthrough. These distrac-tions tend to make you for-get what you have to do foryour own preparations. Ithink in these cases, aware-ness counts big time inthese tournaments.Can you talk about the role of open-ers and your role vis a vis Shikharand Rohit Sharma?Shikhar’s role in the side is pretty clear,which is to go out there and play hisnatural game. His job is to try to takeon the first six overs and the fieldingrestrictions. I think Rohit’s role wouldbe along the same lines as well. We havebeen able to bring in awareness whilebatting in the first 10-12 overs whichobviously helps a side build chase-totalsnowadays.

� ����7.���4�A��� ��E�5�>�� E B�7�� /��� ���/. 3)-C����, : " � / � # � � , . : 5

,2���/!��),�

L.�,/�"�

.��� �)��� ��� ������5>����

9.'���� ���������EME!�����,�

2�4

�L��

� %��� ��� ��:������������)�������9 �%

Come Tuesday, Mithali Raj will lead her squad in thefirst match against neighbours Bangladesh at the M

Chinnaswamy stadium in Bangalore. India played a warmup match against Sri Lanka at the same ground on 12thMarch and had a comfortable outing. Indian bowlersrestricted Lanka to 125 and then Indian batsman SmritiMandhana showed her class and scored 42 off 36 ballsand guided the team for eight wicket win with more thantwo overs to spare.

Hosts India comes into this tournament followinga home series win against Sri Lanka and a memorableaway win against the Australia. Mithali Raj's girls will bekeen to fully utilise familiar conditions and pull off a fewsurprise results against Bangladesh.

Speaking on the eve of the match, skipper MithaliRaj said, "With the kind of momentum we have, we shouldat least qualify for the semi-finals. From there, it's any-one's game. Earlier it used to feel like those two teamswere way ahead of the rest, but now the gap is closing.After our last two series wins, we too are strong contendersfor the World Twenty20" she said.

Meanwhile her counterpart from Bangladesh said,"Team India is very strong and are on a terrific run inthe T20's. But we are practicing really hard and hope-fully that will be seen during the match."

?���������..0������������ 1�D

6�.>�*A� 6? >����� (��#)�*��%�#��#%� *6�

.�+99�26�����+G;$��'�2�(26���3.99�$�V1.$���.��6;74;1��++5��4;1$��9A�;AA26��A.�9�#�;�26��A.�9�(�.2P��$;�+�94�26���+A��2�+�V1.�2��2��9+��A;$�4;1(����.+994��9+4.5�.�4;1$6;���;12$4

� . " � > � . " � � � � # � " ' � � � ( � $

Pakistan bowling came to the fore after MohammadHafeez's unbeaten fifty as they defeated World T20

defending champions Sri Lanka by 15 runs in theirwarmup match at the Eden Gardens here on Monday.

Hafeez struck an unbeaten 70 from 49 balls to helpPakistan post 157/5 before they restricted Sri Lanka for142/9 in front of a cheering crowd of more than 10,000.

Sri Lanka were wayward with their bowling espe-cially in the death overs and bowled eight wide balls,including five from Dushmantha Chamara, furtherhelping Pakistan's cause. Pakistan captain Shahid Afridigot the biggest cheer when he came to bat but he dis-appointed by being out first ball. In reply, Pakistan rook-ie left-arm spinner Imad Wasim rattled the Lankanchase with his tidy 4/25 from four overs after the tow-ering left-arm quickie Mohammad Irfan (2/18) gavehis team a good start.

Lahiru Thirimanne (45 from 37 balls; 4x4, 2x6) andDinesh Chandimal (30 from 21 balls; 5x4, 1x6) threat-ened to pull off the chase but they became two of Wasim'svictims as Lankans struggled to get partnerships going.

������� �� ���� +������ � �� ��� ���� ��� ����� ��� ������ ���� J����������� ��� ���J ���J������������������J����� %��� ���(� �� � ����������� ��������� ��� ���� ������%����� �� ��J��)�����������.��� J��� ������ %��� �#+��������� ��������)��� ���� �����������

����EL:�� �:����� %��� ������%���� �� ������������� ���������.��� �������� �� �� ���������72D!# *6�

#�%')���2

+�./.���7�� �7���4� ����FC���/����1�� ./���4�A��� ��.��/�����7��/��4�����������'B��' 5�>��

!''�5� +��&&��

6��8�6A�*.�G?�G(1����'�#)�������+������2�(1#�����>(/����%#�����# �*���#� )��#��$������������)�/��#���# �$� *6�

'64��576��4�=8?���������4��� (��#)�������#�#)���#� �*

���/�$#��"��,��

Nagpur: Mohammad Shami dominated thenets at VCA Stadium in Nagpur on

Monday, bowling consistently for over an hour underthe bright and searing sun. This despite the conven-tion of Dhoni being squeamish about changing theplaying 11 on match eve, moreso if it has been on awinning streak. Shami, back from a long injuryabsence which made him miss much of the cricketthis year, was nevertheless swinging his arm in allearnestness, bowling to the stumps, alternating withAshwin even as the team played some football in themiddle and Kohli, Jadeja and others practised somethrowing and took pretty accurate shies at the

stumps. India’s bowling department has been in the midst

of peans with pacer Jaspreet Bumrah and his uncon-ventional bowling swinging the tide in his favour.Coupled with Ravindrachandra Ashwin’s permanentstatus in the team and Ashish Nehra’s experiencefactor, one will have to see if Shami will be ableto make a cut in the playing 11.

Kohli said as much when he conceded that tin-kering with winning combinations is rare. “Shamihas done really well whenever he has played reg-ularly for us, we all were waiting for him to comeback… It’s difficult to change a combination thathas worked for you so well, but then you have toasses the situation and conditions before select-ing an XI. The captain and team management willsit down and decide,” he said.

1 � � , 2 � +����� �������� ����� ����������"� �������������� �����(� �������� ���������������������������������.��� :���C� � ���� ������� �#�2����������������%�� ��EL���������������� ��� ������)������������ %������������������� ����������������������������������� ������� ����� �����#

�.,�2��:,2���'+�������������������� �� �����:�����������%��(������������������� ����� ��������������#�2���������� ����������� �������� �������������� ��

�����.>5.5".�� .��� ����������� ����������� ����������������:����������������� ��M�+� �����C���� �������� ���+� ������ %��� �����3��% � ����� ���� *�+� ������ ��� ������������ �������� ����DE�+� �����+���� �� ������� ������� ����D0

2.,�M�.�����D�.5"�:� �:5�+����������� ������������������������������������ '����� �������������������;������������ �)������� �2D!� � �����3����A����������������

3.7.�5$�+2��+$2.�$;7��+�����+7+4�G1�2���A;$��26.�7;$9��1��+��26���9+3+���7.99����+3;79��5.56.��;2$.�12.;�2;�26��5+����4�7�+$.5��9+3+$��+���.�26�.$��+26+5+.�2�.�.+#�.�26���+262;�+4(�26�4�7.99�����6;7.526�.$�$����2���4�7�+$.5�9+3�+$��+���+��+A2�$26��+26���(�26�$��7.99����+�;��2�;A��+1��

���1���0�.���./�0������'7�.

���'B��' 5�1�"��2.

*�����$$'&!�

New Zealand women's cricket team is high on confi-dence after beating Australia in T20 series earlier this

month. Third ranked Kiwis will look to start the ICCWorldT20 tournament against Sri Lanka on a winningnote at the Feroz Shah Kotla stadium here on Tuesday.Balanced Squad: New Zealand seems to have the edgeover other teams by virtue of form and a settled, expe-

rienced team. They also will beeager to lift their maiden WorldT20 trophy after being the run-ners-up in the first two editionsof the competition. New

Zealand, however, lost both their warm-up gamesagainst the England women in Chennai. Underperforming Lanka: Whereas the Sri Lankan teamwill rely on the talent of skipper Shashikala Siriwardeneand Chamari Atapattu. They have to forget about the pastwhere they have underperformed and look for fresh start.Erin Speaks: We had the privilege of playing them ear-lier. They are a dangerous side and we have to be at ourbest and keep our winning momentum and attitude inour mind.

B� ���������A�/����/

4;1$��3.99�+��;�2$+2.;�.�2��2���26���;�2�.�2D!�###7��+$��$�224�;A.��2�6+'.5�7;� !�;A9+�2� �5+�����12�26.��.��5;.5�2;���A+$��;$��6+99�5.5D�L.�,�0:2�.

����9 �% �)�����C� � ��5�1�"��2.

9.'���� ���������0ME!���

5 � , � $ )

�������"����������

.�%�����# �($�)����)���� �(/����(��������/��# ��������2������# �G(1�� �����2�#)�� *����?���4��

���'B��' 5�>��

!''�5� +��&&��

Page 16: 3 !˘-˜.)>?/ !ˇ#ˇ!#$ %!&’()* ˘ˇ ˆ˙ +C+ .ˆ$.5+ ˚+ .2 ;:;$: .˚ˆ+229˚A ... was arrested last month by the ... a Mahindra Scorpio, was yet to be ascer-tained, ... approved

�)����������.��� ?���������������2D!��� ���� ��

���� ������LDW(�����������?����������������

���������� ��HLW

&� &�#�'%�(�.�/ �'��0 .���(!��123�4516 7?

With team India on a formi-dable run, winning 10 oftheir last 12 Twenty 20

matches played in 2016, the Men inBlue entering the World T20 are clearfavourites.

The only loss for the World Cuphosts came against Sri Lanka, but theteam made amends for it, beating theIslanders comfortably in the next twogames to win the series 2-1.

Either side of that defeat Indiahave notched up impressive victories,winning all three games in Australiaand capturing the Asia Cup titleunbeaten.

Since the beginning of 2014,India have won 13 matches and lostonly five versus the top ten teams inthe shortest format. No other coun-try could match that record.

The proper balance in squad hasbeen a big plus point for the hosts.The present squad has a perfectblend of batting and bowling and thetremendous improvement in thefielding ever since Mahendra SinghDhoni has taken over as the captain.

India’s biggest advantage is, hav-ing a settled line-up which is scarce-ly rotated barring a player beinginjured or rested.

To begin with the opening pair ofShikhar Dhawan-Rohit Sharma, Indiahave the perfect right-left combina-tion at top of the tree. If one fails todeliver, the other player takes up theresponsibility to give the perfectstart.

The left-hander Dhawan strug-gled to make an impact in Asia Cupby scoring just 19 runs of the open-

ing three games, during which timeRohit Sharma made up for his part-ner’s misery with a well paced 54runs.

However, in the final againstBangladesh when the Mumbaikar gotout cheaply for a mere run, Dhawanstepped up and notched a match win-ning 60.

Next in line is the in-form ViratKohli. The Delhi born player is thetop run scorer for India in the short-est format of game. Kohli has 1368runs from 35 matches to his name atan impressive average of 52.61 and adecent strike rate of 133.07.

The Blues have a solid middleorder with Suresh Raina, Yuraj Singhand not to mention Captain Cool -Dhoni. Whenever, the team is in aspot of bother, Dhoni enters the fieldand the rest becomes history.

Not long ago in the Asia Cupfinal, when India needed 19 of the lasttwo overs, Dhoni dished out animpressive 20-runs of just six balls —including three sixes — to secure thetitle.

���'�,��"�*�-#)��"$India’s bowling has also improved

immensely lately. Since January 2014,Indian pacers scalped 46 wickets, atan average of 22.47. Spinners recordmakes an even great reading as Indiahave picked an astonishing 66 wick-ets at an average of 19.60 and at aremarkable economy rate of 6.55. Noother country has a better perfor-mance than India in these two depart-ments in that period.

India has the perfect blend

between youth and experience in thebowling line-up as the likes of HardikPandya, Jasprit Bumrah and PawanNegi have the experienced veterans inthe form of Ashish Nehra, HarbhajanSingh and Ravichandran Ashwin tonurture them.

The former Chennai Super Kingsspinner Ashwin has the most No ofwickets among any Indian bowlerswith 46 at an impressive average of21.56 and economy rate of 6.84.

Among the seamers, AshishNehra, who proves to be a limelightfor those calling T20 game as ayoung man’s game, is still glittering atthe age of 36. He has taken the mostwickets among pace bowlers with 26.However, the recent impressive show-ings of Bumrah and Pandya will onlymake India a strong contender for thecoveted title.

���.!# "*� "��Possessing multi-functioning

players like Yuvraj, Ravindra Jadeja,Pandya and Ashwin — to an extent— will only help India in scoring theextra few runs as well as pocketing acouple of wickets while bowling.

Yuvi’s stats particularly make animpressive reading. Yuvraj is India’sfourth highest run scorer in theshortest format with 1082 runs andhe is also the second highest wickettaker for the country in this formatwith 27. Even though the left-handerhas struggled for runs lately, his abili-ty to pick up key wickets will give agreat alternative for Dhoni if his mainstars are not in rhythm on a given par-ticular day.

��,�(��"�����'��#"India finally have the luxury of

an in-depth squad with a properalternate replacement in virtuallyevery department.

But this might give the teammanagement a different kind ofheadache in terms of selecting thefinal playing eleven.

Among others, the two nameswho are set to miss out are AjinkyaRahane and Harbhajan Singh.

For Rahane to get a look in, anyone of the openers in ShikharDhawan or Rohit Sharma should beeither injured or dropped.

Due to the in-depth settled mid-dle order India have, it will be dif-ficult for Dhoni to fit him in middleeither without dropping anotherplayer.

For Harbhajan, he needs anyoneof Ashwin or Jadeja to be left out,which looks highly unlikely at themoment considering the way bothhave been recently.

If the scenario is this difficult foran experienced bowler l ikeHarbhajan, one can only feel forNegi. Until and unless a miraclehappens, the Delhi youngstermust have to be content being a12th man and providing drinksfor his teammates.

Squad: Mahendra Singh Dhoni(capt, wk), Shikhar Dhawan, RohitSharma, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina,Yuvraj Singh, Hardik Pandya,Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, JaspritBumrah, Ashish Nehra, HarbhajanSingh, Pawan Negi, Ajinkya Rahane,Mohammed Shami.

India’s selection for the World T20in itself explains the team’s overreliance on the spin department.

Apart from the first choice spinners,Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra

Jadeja, India also have the experi-enced veteran Harbhajan

Singh and the young PawanNegi.

Indian tracks havebeen traditionally

known for it’s ability toturn to allow the

spinners have a bigsay in the outcomeof the match.Excluding thes u b - c ont i n e nt

teams not manybatsmen relish play-

ing spin. Traditionally, Indian

wickets tend to be on a slower

side, offering just that bit to spinners.These are the conditions which theIndian bowlers would look toexploit.

Since January 2014, Indian spin-ners have ruled the world cricket.India have mustered an incredible 66wickets at an average of 19.60 andat a remarkable economy rate of6.55.

At this time, Ashwin has been themost productive bowler with 31 wick-ets at an impressive average of 13.12and an even better economy rate of5.88.A with 16 wickets as offered greatsupport to Ashwin as well.

If these two spin wizards con-tinue their impressive form with theother two spinners supporting themwhenever required, India will havea great chance to become the firstside to lift the World T20 trophiestwice.

. 5 " . � � � ! '

+����1��4 �@������ 1L.�,�0:2�.6����������������������.��� ������ ELI����������EK�� ��������2(�--�9���9�(�=������KD#L ��3(�B��(�3�� EE#!0

>����+��('&

����!0���������.�� ���D.�./�.���� �� ������ /��/� 1���.���� 1��������� ����G

��:�&���/�4�.������/���/��/���/���4���������.�/���7����+���.�� ���D.�.��� ����1�G�./��0 �.������� ��FC�4�/��,FCH��0 .�����H9�� � 1.���/������� /��7���1�����-F�IH:&���/��.����.�������� �� 1�./�������/����,F9�J-��+����.���� �� �����/��������

���.� .������ ���D.������/��������/��.��������/�� �/��� 1�/4��IC.�� ��0./����:�/������ �����.�� 9-�/����.� �����1�� ./�2� 1���.��� ��1�/�/4������-C��0.�.����.��+��1�/���.�K�����0�

�������/�� .�1�� 1�4�/����I3G���;9��1�� ./�/���K�./� ���.�� �/������./�4���G0����/���

:2.,��2���.��� ?���������������������������������������� �

����� D!H�����������HI���������'���1.�1=�-3(�B��(�3�M� DI#LE

2����!��

� ����./���.�� 1����.���� �/��/���:���� ����.�������

����/�����4�.��0//� 1������ �/��������4�� �7���/���/�����.�� ���.��/�����/����� �������.���/� �10�����/���/����0/����/���/�����.�� �����

���/�� �������.������0��4�/��/�����.G�0����/��� �/���.�� �/�����./��#������.���������� ����/����/�/���FC,,�ICG�7��K�����0���� ���1�� ./� ���B� ��:�� ��./�4���:���� �1�/�� �����0/������.��/������/����� �/����.����0���� ��1�� ./�2� 1���.���

+�.����/�� ������/��.�.��� ��/�� � ���.�� ����1�/���������/������./�/�������� ����/�����.������/�� �4�./���FCC3��FC�K�����0��

��2�5"���.5>2�"2:5.6���������.��� ����7�����2D!�������@D!!0B�������)��������������� ����� ��� �� ����-2�43��!���9�(�=�� EH� �4�13�-3(�B��(�3�� D #HD

:�0 ��&

��.5> +��

!� ���1�/��� ���/������/�����7��/��/�*�.���/�20����

��.������������� ./��� �/��� ��� �� �G0����/������� 1���..� �������0/�� ��/�/���� �����/���./������K�/��� �0 0.0����4� 1��/�� ������ ���4�/����.�����/�/���4�"�����.���10��:���/.�� ������ �� 1��/������/������������� ���.���0/:���������/���/���4����/��� /�7� � ��/��� ��*���.�#�0� ���� �.� ���/�� ���.���� �����10���� � ��� �.=0����+����.�,I��FC��4����/.� �,,���/���.�4�/��� ������..�7��7���1�����,J�F�� ��� ��7� ���/G/������ �����/�����J�,I�

'���.,�����2�G3(�'(.�1�(8��9�(�=�� L#D�3�11�1=��4'1'�8�(�3�� L# K

��.5�����&

�/��.������/�����1� ��� �� ��� �.���4�/��0/�&�7���� ��� ��.�4� � �4G�G��.��������1�/G����������������4�����.�������� ������/� /������� �/���/������/��

�./���.�� 1������.�� �����/�����./���8�����4�����.�4� ���.���� �0.����/�7����0.���.�.����/���1����./��/� 1��������� � 1

/�����4� 1�����/���/����� � 0����0.�����G.�� .���.�4� ��.�/�����0 /�D.���/����/��4����/�/������ �/��.������/�4�/��HJ��/�� ��7��G�1�����F,�IJ�� ����� �����/�����J�9H��+�.�������� �FC,J��.��7� ��������.�� �/� 1:�.�4� ���.��0./�����,3�4����/.��

�L.�2�5"�5���21.5������?�� ���������������%���� %������2D!�=�HL��

��2(�--�9���9�(�=�� D #KL��G4�23�'1�!��4'1'�8�(�3� ���L#IH

5�����.�/�������./���4�� ��/����.�/����//� 1:�/���/���D.

.�� ��4�����.����7�����/���1���.4�� �/���/���D.���� �� ������./���/.������������5���D.��FC��������� �����.��� ���./������..�7��.� ���FC,H��� �7���1�����9J�9��0 .�����..�,J��FC� � 1.��.�/�����./�� ���/.�� ���.����������+��./��/���FC,J�4�/����;C�1�� ./��0./������ �/������./����/������FC��/���.��+�����4����/�0��4�/��/4�������IC.��� �/�/������.�-IF��0 .�� � � ���FC.�� �FC,J������ ��������/�����.0�G��..�0�� �K�FC:�/�� �5������.�/�������/��.������1�� 1�

.��������������������� ����������������(�������������� )�� �� ����� �����������������#�7���� ���������� ����������:��� ��� �� � ����������������(�.��� � ������������������#�3+$26.3�$+�+ � %��� ����%� �������� �?���� ����

5�1�E����5"� ���� K(� ����2��������� ��������������������������������������������� ��� �����D!!0(�������.��� ��������� !�����#.��� ?���)�� ���������� � ������� �% ���� )���������������(�� )�������� ��������2D!.�#����.��� �� )������� %��� ��� ���������������)�������� �������� ��������������� ����#

��0.�,�5�� ���� *(�3��% � .��� �� ����)�������� �� ���� � ����� %��� ���������7�������� ���������������%��������������� �����#�2���� ��������� ���:��) ����������������� ���� ���������� ����������������� ��������������������������� ���� �#+�������+�� ������������(�.��� �� � �������� ����������(�� ������������������������#

���,��.�� ����D0(���� ��.��� �� )�� ���/���������� � ����+���� �� ��������7�����2D!#�.��D!!07�����2D!����������� ��(�.��� ��� �����3 �� ��������������� ���������������#��������D! D(�+���� �� ��� ����������)���������� ����)����������(����������� �����������������.��� ?������� ���������������:I#����� ������ �����+���� �� ��������������2D!.����G �(�.��� ������������������� ��� ��� )�������#

,�"����"*��/��-�$$����)��,#"

.�.+?��2;�;��;�2�

��,.���K

�# ����#���#�����������H��� �6������������C���#% � ���������$�#)��(���#�/��%���)��#��'�(�������%���#��������/����2(������#��#�2�(����&����%��%&��#)����� ��$

��##�#)������(�#�/#���7�������������#)�������&���%&����/�����//��������(�#�/#�?

● :�����������0�&&�# ? ������# ��0������/��%���)��#��'%����# ������� ���$+�����#��#�2�(���% ���%����1���*�&���#��#������#���)��(�/��%���6��/��%����1 �(������������C�%�����#����������������1���� �/��%���#�H6�����#����(�F(#��������(�+��# ������*�&���#�,��������������#�$���/���������(�����&����%��.���+����������% ������(����1��

● G(1��//�)�%? ��������#)��)��#�� ��I���# ��#����'(���-���)+��# �����$ ���/(����#�/��%���)��#��8#)��# ���#������/��%�+�G(1���������C�C��#��#��1������ ��$�'�(����2��� ��#������$�����#��#%� ����!�������E���# ��##�(#% ��# ��������������%�#�# �������������

● 5��#��&&����#)���%�? �# �����#�&#�%& ��(����(�#�/#����1�(�����# ����'�(�������%���#����:�#���'(���-�/��%���# �%�#��#( �����/)��#��&����#)��%���)��#�����/�)��$��(���#����/���G(1���+�$��)��#+�������/�#�������/�/#��������� (% ��#��#%� ����,�����������������(����������������#��� �����������%���1���*�&���#�

● 2� �''���? 6��)��# ���#�����1 �(�����C�%�����#������)���������#)��# �����#)������/�#%���#������$��(�1$�/��%�+�*�&���#�# �!,��(#������������1������#���)#�� ����C���#% �7�������#�'�#)���# )�1���������������&��D�)�# ��'���/����������#)�/�%& ��������C��#���%�# �����+�*�&���#�# ��(���C�������(��������2(�+�������(�7�F�%��& �(# ����(���# ���� ����%�����������+�/�%(�#)����������%���#������)���(���#���������# ��#���'��#��0���# ���# ����#��#��$�� ���

(������#?� �������'�/

26�$��6+��2;����+�A.$�2�2.��#;�6;�2�;12$4�6+��7;�.2+��.2�+����.�.+#�26��7+426��.�.+��6+'�������9+4.5A$;��+1�2$+9.+(�26�4�9;;3�+�+9+���1.2=��1.9�5+'+�3+$�;�.�.+��$�+3.5�26��G.XJ

J

48��G�6A�5A?4�1�# ���D� ��������������&����/�)�%