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Despite the winter chill, polltemperature has began to

shoot up as cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhuon Sunday joined the Congress,and Uttar Pradesh ChiefMinister Akhilesh Yadav andCongress vice-president RahulGandhi are likely to meet in thenext couple of days to finalisean electoral pact for the UPAssembly election.

Punjab is witnessing athree-cornered contest amongthe BJP-SAD, the Congress,and the AAP. The Congress isout of power in Punjab for thepast 10 years and is makingefforts to wrest the State fromthe SAD-BJP combine, whilethe AAP too has emerged afierce contender for power.

Sidhu, who joined theCongress after meeting Rahul,is likely to contest fromAmritsar East Assembly seat,party leaders said. Sidhu hadresigned from the Rajya Sabhaand quit the BJP followingwhich his wife Navjot Kaurjoined the Congress onNovember 28, 2016. Punjab

Congress chief AmarinderSingh had said sometime backthat Sidhu joining the party wasonly a matter of time.

After Sidhu’s formal entryinto the party, Congressspokesperson Randeep SinghSurjewala said in a statement,“Known for straight-talk, ide-ological commitment to thecause of nationalism as also witand humour, we are certainthat the Congress will beimmensely strengthened inPunjab and elsewhere with theentry of Sidhu.”

Sidhu was earlier a BJPmember of the Lok Sabha fromAmritsar and was apparentlynot happy when in the last LokSabha polls he was replaced byArun Jaitley, who was defeatedby Amarinder Singh.

BJP’s ally Akali Dal, whichhas had frosty ties with Sidhu,was quick to hit out at the for-mer Amritsar MP, saying he hasjoined the Congress “party andfamily” which had “attackedDarbar Sahib” (Golden

Temple). Punjab’s Deputy ChiefMinister Sukhbir Badal askedwhy Sidhu had come to theState “20 days before the (LS)elections” and said that heshould come clean on the “bar-gain” with the Congress.

“U left BJP saying@akali_dal_ did not let U enterPunjab. Where were you sincelast ten months? Come cleanand tell Punjabis (sic),” Sukhbirtweeted. The SAD chief alsotargeted Amarinder, askinghim if he has been replaced bySidhu as the Chief Ministerialcandidate.

“Please clear the air, Areyou in favour of making NavjotSidhu the face of the PunjabCongress as done by RahulGandhi recently?,” he asked.

Amarinder, meanwhile,spoke to Sidhu on phone towelcome him into the partyfold, saying it was “great news”and his joining would furtherstrengthen the Congress inPunjab in the run-up to theState Assembly elections.

After quitting the RajyaSabha, Sidhu was in touchwith the AAP, led by DelhiChief Minister ArvindKejriwal,but it did not materialise.

Congress sources said thatnow that Sidhu episode is over,the party will focus on UttarPradesh. He said that theremight be confusion if any of thewarring Samajwadi Party fac-tions get the “cycle” symbol, butit is certain that Akhilesh fac-tion of the Samajwadi Partyand the Congress will contestUttar Pradesh election asalliance partners.

Continued on Page 4

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Apsychopathic paedophile,identified as Sunil Rastogi

(38), a tailor by profession,was arrested by the Delhi Policeon Saturday for allegedly rap-ing minor girls and molestingothers, police said on Sunday.Police said Sunil, a resident ofRudrapur in Uttarakhand, usedto visit Delhi twice a monthonly to lure minor girls for sex-ual assault.

He used to trap girls by per-suading them to accompanyhim to collect clothes, choco-lates and other articles theirfather had sent for them, saidpolice, adding that he thenused to take them to isolatedplaces where he outraged theirmodesty. Sunil behaved like amaniac. He used to wear thesame clothes while committingthe offences, added police.

The accused, a father ofthree girls and two sons, hascommitted offences on morethan 10 minor girls in Delhi,Uttar Pradesh andUttarakhand, said police.

In some abortive cases,when victims cried or shoutedfor help, Sunil used to run away

from the scene of crime, said apolice officer tasked with theinvestigation.

Deputy Commissioner ofPolice, East district, OmbirSingh Bishnoi, said, “We start-ed the probe after filing threeFIRs against unknown peopleunder sections of rape andabduction at the New AshokNagar police station on state-ments of three minor girls —all aged between 9 and 10

years. Sunil used to targetminor girls when they were ontheir way home from school. Itis worrying and parents shouldcaution their children not totalk to strangers when they are alone.”

The DCP said the firstcase of rape of a child was reg-istered on December 13 lastand the cases of abductions andmolestations were

Continued on Page 4

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With jawans taking to thesocial media to highlight

their grievances against seniorofficers, Army chief GeneralBipin Rawat on Sunday warnedthem of disciplinary action forresorting to such means ofcommunication as their actaffected the morale of thoseguarding the frontiers of thecountry.

He asked aggrieved sol-diers to contact him directly iftheir issue was not addressedproperly.

Giving this stern message,he said a mechanism forredressal of complaints through

proper channels existed in theArmy and “if any jawan has anygrievance, he has been provid-ed with the proper forum toresolve his issue and maintaina balance. If you are not satis-fied with the action, then youcan contact me directly.”

“Aapne jo karwai ki hai aapiske liye apradhjanak hain, aursaza ke haqdaar ho sakte hain(You are violating rules byyour act and you could be pun-ished for that),” he said, refer-ring to instances of jawansusing the social media.

“It (airing of grievances onsocial media) has (negative)impact on the brave jawanswho are serving the countryalong the border,” the chief saidwhile addressing the troops onthe occasion of the 69th ArmyDay.

Taking cognisance of thisissue, Defence MinisterManohar Parrikar said he haddiscussed it with the ArmyChief, adding there was a needfor having an informal redres-sal system to look into the sol-diers’ problems. The Ministeralso said he was looking intothe matter.

Continued on Page 4

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The sound of music and thecacophony of the worship-

pers of Bacchus in pubs andbars of Connaught Place (CP)have been muted by overzeal-ous babus of the New DelhiMunicipal Council (NDMC),who want four wheelers bannedfrom entering into inner andmiddle circles. CP, the hub ofbars and restaurants, is going towear a deserted look fromFebruary 1.

Owners and managers ofscores of pubs and restaurant-cum-bars anticipate a drasticreduction in the footfall asnight birds may give CP’s barsand pubs a miss owing to carbandi. That may lead to loss of

business and they may have tooffload some of the employees,they said.

The inner and middlecircles of CP are thefavourite haunts ofDelhiites where almostevery night, the pubsand bars are filled withmerry making peo-ple. The Pioneer spoketo owners of severalpubs in CP to know theside effects of car bandiand many of them saidfor the party lovers andpatrons the New Year has justbegun but NDMC has spoiledtheir plans.

Kamlesh Verma, the headof operations of My Bar, point-ed out women security amongother things is the major con-

cern if the decision of theCentral Government is imple-mented. “Our business will fall.

People who come over here toparty, because of our reasonablypriced food and drinks will

think of alternatives. But myconcern is for women whocome in groups and partyhere. If they come in theirvehicles, they have towalk more than one kilo-metre for their cars. Ifthey come by cab theywill have to walk all the

way to the outer circle toget another cab at late

hours. This move will hit ushard as it was announced

without any notice,” said a wor-ried Verma.

When asked about thesolution in such situations,Verma said that their businesswill anyway be hampered andnothing much can be done till

people get used to it. In orderto bolster the confidence of vis-itors, especially women “policedeployment should beincreased”, Verma added.

Tsering, the general man-ager of Fuji Bar in M-Block,said, “There should be a rule ofat least allowing app-basedcabs to pick up and drop cus-tomers as that would facilitatemovement of our customers”.

“If the Government wantssuch a move, we can do noth-ing but to stop it. If nothing atleast allow cabs to drop andpick up our people. This wayour business will not fall andpeople would still want tocome to Connaught Place toenjoy their evenings. I am yetto figure it out why the CentralGovernment planned on tar-

geting a place like CP. Couldthey not have instead investedtheir energy on other unde-veloped stretches of Delhi?,”lamented Tsering.

Faced with the spectre ofcar ban, party goers said thatthey will look for other loca-tions as their leisure places.Naresh Jha, a businessman byprofession, enjoying his drinkwith his better half at CaféMRP, another popular partyjoint, said, “This developmenthas come as a surprise to us.Bars in CP have not onlyadded to the footfall in thearea, they also helped in givingthe place a facelift. It is theplace visited by not only youngbut middle aged people aswell. Now you think I will parkmy car at Shivaji Stadium or

Baba Kharak Singh Marg andthen come over to party herein an e-rickshaw? I’ll ratherhead to Hauz Khas or anyother place,” said Jha emptinghis drink.

Sonali Sharma, a B.Tech astudent of Delhi TechnologicalUniversity, who was at My BarHeadquarters, said, “I travel bycar everywhere and I mostlycome here with my friends.With this strange decision Idon’t think I will be secureenough. Anyway we will haveto then come early and leaveearly and go somewhere else”.

Rohan Mehta, who alsocame to the bar with his friendRupali Bansal, said, “I thinkdevelopment without properplanning by the authoritieshas been leading to all these

problems on the ground floor.One solution can be to createenough parking infrastructurein inner and middle circle sothat people can park and shopwithout any difficulties.

“I do not know what madethem take such a devastatingstep? Why would we park ourvehicle on outer circle andwalk to inner circle. We willrather visit other places,” thecouple said.

Pradeep Upadhaya, theMarketing manager of PVRCinemas, said “Everybody’sbusiness will be down.

I believe that business islikely to affect by 30-40 percent, because people not onlyvisit here for watching moviesbut to shop and enjoy as well.

Continued on Page 4

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In a shocking incident at leastnine pilgrims, including a

woman, died in a stampede atthe yearly Ganga Sagar Mela onSunday around 6 pm, policesaid.

The pilgrims, who hadgathered at the river banks totake a holy dip, were rushing toboard the mainland-boundvessels to reach Kolkata, saidthe South 24 Parganas Districtmagistrate, adding heavy rushcaused suffocation deaths.

Navy divers had beenpressed into service to find outwhether any of the victimshad fallen to their death in theBuri Ganga River. Lakhs ofpeople assemble at Ganga Sagarto take a holy dip at the con-fluence of Ganga and the Sea —Bay of Bengal — on MakarSankranti.

“It seems that the pilgrimswere rushing to catch the ves-sels ahead of the high tide sothat they could cross the riveron time to reach Kolkata,” asenior official said.

The State Governmentimmediately announced �2lakh for the kin of the dead and�50,000 for the injured, sources

at State secretariat said.This year about 16 lakh

people had taken the holy dipat Ganga Sagar — historicallyconsidered one of the most dif-ficult pilgrimages — on theoccasion of Makar Sankranti,said Bengal Public Health andRural Engineering MinisterSubroto Mukherjee, whosupervised the fair.

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The Supreme Court mighthave banned the sport of

Jallikattu but rural Tamil Naduis reverberating with the echo ofthe charging bulls and playersengaged in bouts with them forthe prize money. People in south-ern Tamil Nadu held the sport inmany places openly defying theSupreme Court’s ban.

Upset over theGovernment for detainingnearly 150 people from differ-ent villages famous for

Jallikattu, all shops remainedclosed while houses hoistedblack f lags in Madurai’sPalamedu and Alanganallurvillages, described as Jallikattu’sWimbledon. Though policetried to detain more peopleand prevent the holding ofsport, villagers continued tooutsmart police in holding theevents. “We had Manja Virattu,(a crude form of Jallikattu) invarious places across the State,”said GK Nagaraj, president ofKongunadu Jananayaga Katchi,a political outfit based insouth-west Tamil Nadu.

Nagaraj said his organisa-tion is hosting a big Jallikattuevent at Azhagumalai in Tir-uppur district, which would seeten thoroughbred bulls chal-lenging the village “gladiators”.

“We are not bothered aboutany ban. The event will be thereon Tuesday morning,” said adefiant sounding Nagaraj.

The tweet by BJP leader DrSubramanian Swamy warningthat holding Jallikaatu in vio-lation of the Supreme Courtban could lead to the imposi-tion of President’s Rule had

Continued on Page 4

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One of the oldest propertydisputes, which dragged

three generations of a family tocourt, has reached finality afternearly five decades, with aDelhi court asking the liti-gants to arrive at a mutualagreement on partitioning ofthree buildings. The litigationwhich was initiated in 1968between five parties, includingfour family members andDDA, has ended up with 58 lit-igants. The suit was filedbetween four brothers, all res-idents of Central Delhi, seek-ing partition of three propertiesof their father after his death.

During pendency of thematter, the original parties haddied and the case was pursuedby their children, who were thelegal heirs, many of whomalso died, and grand children.

Additional District Judge

Kamini Lau held in the verdictthat the suit properties can bepartitioned and granted sixmonths to the parties to arriveat a mutual settlement regard-ing partition of the premises interms of their share declared inthe preliminary decree passedin November 1975.

“In case of a mutual set-tlement/agreement between

the parties for partition, thesettlement deed shall be filedbefore the court within sixmonths which shall form partof the final decree,” the courtsaid. The court further saidthat in case the parties fail toarrive at a settlement, the val-uation of suit properties, twoin Karol Bagh and one inGurgaon, be made on thebasis of the existing notifiedcircle rates of the area.

It also granted liberty to theparties to purchase the share ofeach other by making paymentof the share of the other person.

The court said if the liti-gants are unable to partitionthe properties in the twomodes suggested by it, they canfile an application for execu-tion of the order after whichthe buildings would be auc-tioned and the amount wouldbe divided among them as pertheir shares.

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Haryana Governmentappointed 2006 batch IAS

officer Hardeep Singh as thenew Deputy Commissioner(DC) of Gurugram replacingincumbent TL Satyaprkash,who has been transferred asdirector, town and countryplanning, Haryana.

Hardeep Singh was aadministrator of HaryanaUrban Development Authority(HUDA) in Panchkula andwas holding additional chargeof Urban Estates too.

V Umashankar, theOfficer on Special Duty,Gurugram MetropolitanDevelopment Authority(GMDA), has been given addi-tional charge asCommissioner, (MCG).

An IAS officer belongingto the 2002 batch, Satyaprakash

was posted as Gurugram’s DCin November, 2014. He had arelatively smooth tenure tillJuly 28-29 last year, when mas-sive waterlogging led to trafficjams in the city. The incidentbrought the city administrationunder the scanner.

The new assignments werenotified in a transfer order of13 IAS and Harvaya CivilService (HCS) off icialsannounced by the StateGovernment on Saturdayafternoon, as per the State

Government’s press release. Apart from that, among

other transfers, 2011 batchIAS officer, Amit Khatri hasbeen given the additionalcharge of additional chiefexecutive officer, GurugramMetropolitan DevelopmentAuthority (GMDA), against avacant post.

Ashok Kumar Garg hasbeen posted as JointAdditional Chief executiveOfficer, GMDA, the StateGovernment order stated.

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Delhi BJP president ManojTiwari on Sunday

announced his team, appoint-ing 35 office bearers, includingformer AAP leader Shazia Ilmi,in the party’s city unit executivecommittee.

Party sources, however,claimed that the new teambears a “heavy imprint” ofUnion Minister Vijay Goel andin-charge of BJP’s Delhi affairsShyam Jaju, as persons close tothem found berth in the exec-utive committee. Shazia Ilmiand Kamaljeet Sehrawat areamong the eight who havebeen appointed as vice presi-dents. With this, Ilmi has foundher first post in BJP after leav-

ing the Aam Aadmi Party.Kamaljeet Sehrawat, who

was the chief of Delhi BJPMahila Morcha, has beenmade the party’s city unit vicepresident due to her “goodshow” in the women’s wing, aBJP leader said.

Former North Delhimayor Ravindra Gupta hasbeen appointed as general sec-retary. His colleague in NorthMCD and vice chairman of thestanding committee of thecivic body, Rajesh Bhatia hasalso been made a general sec-retary. Siddharthan has beenretained as general secretary(organisation).

Poonam Parashar, wife offormer Kirari MLA Anil Jha,is the new president of Mahila

Morcha.Sunil Yadav has been

appointed as the president ofthe Delhi unit of Bhartiya JantaYuva Morcha (BJYM) whileMukesh Rana is the new pres-ident of Kisan Morcha’s Delhiunit. Gaurav Khari will headthe OBC Morcha of Delhi BJP.

Aman Sinha, AshwaniUpadhay, Nupur Shrama andHarish Khurana are the newspokesperson for the party.

While the corporationselections are expected to beheld in April, the BJP has set allhis team.

Earlier, Tiwari said he andhis team will collectively putefforts to get the status ofdevelopment done by the AAPregime in Delhi.

On Saturday, Lieutenant-Governor Anil Baijal approvedthe final delimitation of the 272municipal wards.

According to the delimita-tion, the number of municipalwards will remain static at 272and their areas have beenremapped to rationalise thevoter base.

This implies that a changefrom the current configurationof four wards per assemblyconstituency to three to sevenwards per assembly seat.

Based on the 2011 census,the average population of eachward now will be 60,000.

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Water supply was hit in vastparts of Central, North

Delhi, and under NDMC andDelhi Cantonment areas onSunday due to “dangerouslyhigh” levels of ammonia in rawwater. The supply got affectedas operations at Chandrawaland Wazirabad treatmentplants, which supply water tothese areas, had to be sus-pended, Delhi Water MinisterKapil Mishra said on Sunday

Operations at the plantshad to be suspended this morn-ing due to leakage in the car-rier lined channel (CLC) thatbrings water from Haryana toDelhi. The situation will take atleast a day to improve, he said.

As it is being repaired,water supply in the CLC hasbeen diverted to the Yamunariver, the water of which isextremely contaminated withlevels of ammonia rangingbetween 3.5 ppm and 4 ppm.

It cannot be treated withagents like chlorine as aftercoming in contact with ammo-nia it will produce tri-halomethane which is car-cinogenic in nature.

Mishra said the ammoniatreatment plant, that was inau-gurated by Chief MinisterArvind Kejriwal last year, can-not treat anything beyond 1-2ppm.

The Delhi Jal Board (DJB)has also asked the CentralPollution Control Board(CPCB) to check the quality ofraw water samples.

“CLC is leaked in Haryana.We get raw water throughCLC. Haryana is repairing it sowe need to shut CLC. Nowwater coming through mainriver course where ammonia isdangerously high. So produc-tion from two plants stoppedtemporarily,” Mishra said in aseries of tweets.

“No compromise on waterquality. Supply to be affectedfor one day in areas covered byChandrawal and Wazirabadplants. I am personally moni-

toring the situation and we arein constant touch with author-ities in Haryana,” he tweeted.

DJB plants treat around900 million gallons of water perday (MGD), of whichWazirabad and Chandrawalplants account for about 220MGD.

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It was a foggy Sunday morn-ing with the minimum tem-

perature recorded at 8.6 degreesCelsius, the weather office said.

The sky would remainpartly cloudy in the day withthe maximum temperaturelikely to hover around 20degrees Celsius, an official ofthe India Meteorological

Department said.According to the weather

office, the humidity at 8.30 amwas 95 per cent.

Saturday’s maximum tem-perature was recorded at 19.3degrees Celsius, a notch belowthe season’s average, while theminimum temperature wasrecorded at 8.6 degrees Celsius,a notch above the average forthis time of the season.

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A29-year-old criminal, want-ed to stand trial in cases of

attempt to murder, violations ofthe Arms Act and land grab-bing, was arrested here, theDelhi Police said on Sunday.

The accused, identified asRahul Rathi, is a resident ofBahadurgarh in Haryana, andwas involved in many criminalcases. He was declared a pro-claimed offender by a localcourt and was evading arrestsince 2013.

“Rahul was arrested in araid after the police teamreceived a tip-off when he cameto meet one of his associates atDwarka intersection onSaturday night,” JointCommissioner of Police (JCP)(Crime) Ravindra Yadav said.

“On questioning, he toldpolice that he had studied up tointermediate and earlier workedas a field boy in a private com-

pany in Gurugram. He laterplied a private taxi for a yearand came in contact with badelements who carried illegalarms with them,” Yadav added.

Rahul also started carryingpistol with him and was appre-hended on March 11, 2011,with an illegal weapon inChhwala area. He was tried,convicted and sentenced to jail,but later was freed on bail,Yadav said.

“He came in contact withPardeep, who was involved incases of land grabbing andother criminal activities andstarted doing crimes after join-ing his gang. He joined AnilPehalwan gang in 2013,” thepolice officer added.

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With its ambitious Wi-Fiproject in Connaught

Place and Khan Market losingpopularity due to poor con-nectivity, New Delhi MunicipalCouncil (NDMC) has now tiedup with Mahanagar TelephoneNigam Limited (MTNL) in afresh attempt at offering freeinternet connectivity in itsareas.

The NDMC had partneredwith Tata Teleservices in 2014to provide the service in innerand outer circles of ConnaughtPlace, one of the significantbusiness and leisure centres inthe city.

The civic body had claimedthat the service is the largest in

India. Similarly, the NDMChad partnered with TataDocomo to provide the facili-ty in Khan Market.

Currently, the service canbe availed by 5,000 peoplewith an average speed of 512Kbps. The first 20 minuteswithin a 24-hour period areentirely free after which scratchcards can be purchased in var-ious denominations in themarket.

However, visitors andtraders have been complainingfor months that the service isnot functioning seamlessly, aclaim confirmed by the civicauthorities.

“We had earlier launchedthe services with full prepara-tion, but the plan did not work

well. Initially, it worked fine butthe connectivity has been slowlately,” a senior NDMC officialtold PTI.

“New Delhi MunicipalCouncil Smart City Limited,

a public limited companywholly owned by NDMC, hassigned a joint venture withMillennium Telecom Limited(MTL) — a subsidiary ofMTNL — to develop telecom

access networks in our areasto provide FTTH (Fibre to theHome) to the residents,” hesaid.

The project has also beenlisted on the civic body’s “Smart

City” agenda in the budget for2016-17 presented last week. Itplans to begin the new servicesin Connaught Place and thenproceed to further areas.

NDMC had in 2015announced that all the areasunder its jurisdiction will soonbe a Wi-Fi zone and had joinedhands with Indus TowersLimited to replace 18,500street-light poles in its areaswith ‘NextGen digital poles’which will be fitted with Wi-Fiaccess points, LED bulbs andCCTV cameras which, itclaimed, is first-of-its kind ini-tiative in the world.

However, the project hadtaken a back seat with theDelhi High Court directingNDMC to not sign the contractfor award of tender till it hearsa plea filed by Reliance Jio chal-lenging the tender process.Fresh tenders have now beenfloated for the purpose.

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The Arvind KejriwalGovernment is likely to

notify the new municipal wardboundaries later this weekafter the Lt-Governor clearedthe final delimitation draft of272 civic wards in the nation-al Capital. The notification ondelimitation will be issued bythe Urban DevelopmentDepartment for all the 272municipal wards that will gofor polls later this year.

The draft has largely seenredrawing of some municipalwards in the city. An offi-cial said although the numberof municipal wards in each ofthe three corporations —North Delhi MunicipalCorporation, East DelhiMunicipal Corporation andSouth Delhi MunicipalCorporation — have remainedsame, the number of wards insome assembly segments hascompletely changed, ranging

from three to seven wards.“As the Lt-Governor has

given his nod to the draft ofdelimitation, the UrbanDevelopment Department willissue a gazette notification innext few days, “ the official said.

The move comes at a timewhen both Bharatiya Janata

Party (BJP) and Congressaccused the ruling Aam AadmiParty (AAP) Government ofdelaying the municipal elec-tions that are scheduled to beheld before April.

According to an official,the number of municipalwards across all three civicbodies remain static at 272which consists of 104 each inSouth and North municipalcorporations while East civicbody has 64 seats.

Changes in the existingwards have been made in orderto rationalise the number ofwards as per the local popula-tion according to the 2011census.

Matiala AssemblyConstituency in South DelhiMunicipal Corporation(SDMC) will have seven wardswhile Vikaspuri constituencywill now have six wards.According to the draft, thenumbers of wards in NorthDelhi’s Chandni Chowk hasgone down to three.

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Days after China blockedIndia’s proposal in the UN,

the world body’s key memberFrance has pitched for desig-nating Jaish-e-Mohammadchief Masood Azhar as aninternational terrorist, sayingthere are “very strong argu-ments in favour” of such amove.

French Foreign MinisterJean-Marc Ayrault, who was ona four-day India visit, also sentout a veiled message to Chinawithout naming it, saying “theinternational community’sdetermination to combat ter-rorism must be the same every-where, regardless of the threat.”

Pointing out that Azhar’soutfit Jaish-e-Mohammad “isalready included in the(Sanctions) Committee’s list ofterrorist organisations”, he told

PTI in an interview, “therefore,there are very strong argu-ments in favour of listing itschief, as India has requested”.

That’s why, he said, Francenot only supported but also co-sponsored the Indian request atthe UNSC.

India had submitted inFebruary last year a proposal tothe 15-member 1267 SanctionsCommittee of the UN SecurityCouncil to list Azhar as aninternational terrorist for mas-terminding the attack onPathankot Air base.

Since then, China hadtwice imposed “technical hold”on the Indian proposal andfinally on December 30 last, itblocked it, becoming the onlycountry to do so.

“We regret that, despiteour joint efforts and wide sup-port from the Committee, una-nimity could not be reached,”

said Ayrault, whose country isa permanent member of theUN Security Council.

He said France will nowdiscuss with India what shouldbe done. “India knows it cancount on our support,” headded.

Azhar, a resident ofBahawalpur in Pakistan, wasone of the three terrorists freedby India in exchange of 166hostages of Indian Airlinesplane IC-814 which washijacked to Kandahar inDecember 1999.

Azhar, at that time,belonged to Harkat-ulMujahideen, and soon after hisrelease, he floated the newoutfit Jaish-e-Mohammad inPakistan which carried outseveral attacks in India, includ-ing on Parliament onDecember 13, 2001 andPathankot Air base.

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From Page 1Sources said that Akhilesh

and Rahul are set to meetduring this week to decide thenumber of seats both partieswill contest. The Congress islikely to get between 70 and 80seats, sources said.

Sources said Akhilesh’swife and Kannauj MP DimpleYadav and Congress’ star cam-paigner Priyanka Gandhi areengaged in backdoor negotia-tions.

Decision to rope in DimpleYadav and Priyanka for cam-paigning has larger politicalconnotations. Priyanka hasstar value and is known for hersharp political sense and abil-ity to connect with voters withease. The Congress has beenurging her for a larger role inpolitics, but she has chosen tolimit herself to family bastionsof Rae Bareli and Amethi sofar.

Prashant Kishore, thestrategist hired by the Congressto revive this grand old partyin Uttar Pradesh, had plans touse Priyanka’s star value in theelections. On the other hand,Dimple Yadav fits the portraitof an ideal wife and “bahu” inIndian politics.

Her entry into politics wasa disaster. She lost the by-elec-

tion to Raj Babbar, the presentUP president of the Congress,but agreed to contest the nextLok Sabha election on insis-tence of her husband. Duringher husband’s tenure, sheremained invisible most of thetime but when it came toissues like women and childrenshe advocated Government’sparticipation in mitigatingtheir sufferings. Dimple ischairman UP MalnutritionEradication Mission andforced her husband to adopt avillage in Srawasti district,home to maximum number ofmalnourished children in UP.

Once the message of pos-sible alliance between the SPand the Congress has seepeddown, hoardings have come upin Allahabad with pictures ofPriyanka Gandhi and DimpleYadav. One of the posters read,“Mahilaon ka bajega danka(Women will call the shots).”

Another hoarding withpictures of Priyanka andDimple said, “Juhutte vaado sedilayo nizaat, Uttar Pradesh kakaro vikas.” Earlier postershave come up in Allahabaddemanding bigger role forPriyanaka in Uttar Pradesh.One of the hoardings thattime had read: “Priyanka laao,desh bachchao.”

From Page 1Rawat’s warning about dis-

ciplinary action came daysafter Lance Naik Yagya PratapSingh of Rajput Regiment post-ed a video on the social mediacriticising the exploitation ofsoldiers deputed as ‘sahayaks’ ofthe officers.

Singh’s video was amongsta spate of such social mediamessages, including a BorderSecurity Force (BSF) and aCentral Reserve Police Force(CRPF) personnel, airing suchcomplaints. These messagewent viral prompting the PrimeMinister’s Office (PMO) seek-ing an explanation from theHome Ministry.

On Friday last, Rawat hadsaid, “The social media is adouble-edged weapon whichcan be used favourably but canalso be detrimental.” He hadalso announced setting up of“suggestion-cum-grievance”boxes to enable the com-plainant to approach himdirectly.

These boxes will beinstalled at the ArmyHeadquarters and commandheadquarters all over the coun-try. Later on, such boxes willalso be set up at lower forma-tions, Rawat said during hisannual Press conference onFriday.

He had also assured thatthe identity of the complainantwill not be revealed to avoidharassment by seniors addingthe effort was to ensure that therank and file of the Army hasconfidence in senior leadershipin resolving their problems.

Denying claims that com-munication lines between thetroops and officers had brokendown leading to trust deficitand jawans resorting to thesocial media, Rawat main-tained the communication sys-tem was working well and theArmy had an “excellent” griev-ance redressal system. He askedthe aggrieved soldiers shoulduse it rather than indirectlycommunicating their woes.

Drawing flak for ‘sahayak’or ‘buddy system’ even after theParliamentary StandingCommittee on Defence some

years back criticised this systemas it led to ill-treatment of sol-diers, who are combatants,Rawat defended the system.

He, however, said the Armyhas given a proposal to theGovernment to stop thisarrangement in peace and sta-tic locations. The IAF and Navyhad stopped this system but theArmy has so far resisted anyattempt to do away with it.

Apart from the socialmedia issue, Rawat in hisaddress to the troops said whileIndia sought peace on Line ofControl (LOC), cease fire vio-lations or untoward incidentspropagated by Pakistan will beresponded to by force.

The Army Chief also said inthe last few months of 2016, thesecurity situation in Jammu andKashmir turned very volatile.

“I understand that ourcompetitors are aware of ourstrengths. While being alwaysready, our policy is to takeaction at any place and anytime. Our efforts to restorepeace on the border must notbe viewed as our weakness,” hesaid, while warning those whotry disrupt peace through ter-

ror activities.He also brought out that

Confidence Building Measureswere being further strength-ened along the Line of ActualControl(LAC) with China toreduce tensions and saiddespite transgressions on theLAC, the armies on both sideshave improved mutual co-ordi-nation.

Earlier, he inspected theparade at Field MarshalCariappa Parade Ground here.The Army Chief also presentedSena Medal to wife of Siachenbraveheart Lance NaikHanamanthappa Koppad, whosurvived miraculously for sixdays last year under huge ice-and-snow debris after anavalanche hit his post before los-ing life to multiple organ failure

Army Day is celebratedevery year on January 15 to markthe taking over of command ofthe Indian Army by the firstIndian Commander-in-Chief,Lt-Gen (Later Field Marshal) KM Cariappa on this day in 1948.He took over the reins of theIndian Army from Lt-Gen SirFrancis Butcher, the last BritishCommander-in-Chief.

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From Page 1registered on January 10.

Thereafter, a team wasformed under the supervision ofInspector CR Meena, SHO ofNew Ashok Nagar police station,and under the overall supervi-sion of Rahul Alwal, AssistantCommissioner of Police,Kalyanpuri. During the inves-tigation, CCTV footage of cam-eras installed near the places ofincidents was obtained andsome images of the accusedwere developed and the accusedwas arrested on Saturday on thebasis of secret Information.During interrogation, Sunil con-fessed to the offences. He also

admitted that he has committedthe similar offences with manyminor girls in the area of NewAshok Nagar Delhi, GhaziabadUP, and Rudrapur inUttarakhand.

Many cases, including drugabuse, molestation and theftwere registered against theaccused at various police stationsin RudraPur, Delhi andGhaziabad, said the DCP, addinghe has been sent to judicial cus-tody. “The SHO of Rudrapurpolice station has been asked tocome to Delhi to take custody ofRastogi in connection to thecases registered against him inRudrapur,” said the DCP.

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Against the backdrop ofvideos posted by a BSF

jawan on social media claimingpoor quality food being servedto soldiers, Union ministerJitendra Singh on Sunday saidthe Government is committedto providing every comfortand convenience to militaryand paramilitary personnel.

“The Government alwaystakes due cognisance of thereports and inputs it receivesand it is already very clearabout providing every kind ofcomfort and convenience,depending on situations inwhich the deployment of mil-itary and paramilitary forcesare made,” he said on the side-lines of a function in Samba.

Asserting that the nation isindebted to the services of thearmed forces, Singh said theGovernment and the countryas a whole accord highest pri-

ority and respect to the Armyand the paramilitary forcespersonnel.

“It is Army Day today andI think there is no secondopinion that we have one of thefinest army in the world. Weare proud of our military andparamilitary forces and it isbecause of them, that when wesleep they remain awake andwhen we eat they stay hungryand that is how the country iswell guarded and protected,”the MoS in the PMO said.

While refusing to com-

ment on the Facebook post ofBSF constable Tej BahadurYadar Singh, the Minister saidthe Government takes care ofthe comfort of the soldiers.

“I won’t be able to com-ment on specific instances butas I said as a matter of policyand principles, theGovernment, the ministries ofDefense and Home are veryclear about taking due care ofthe soldiers,” Singh toldreporters.

On the issue of PrimeMinister Narendra Modi’s pic-ture on KVIC calendar anddiary, he said the Opposition’sallegation that MahatmaGandhi has been “replaced” byModi has no logic.

“I think that accusation orallegation or observation thatis being made is quite out ofcontext and is devoid of anylogic or rationale,” Singh said.

“Nobody can takeMahatma Gandhi’s place... It is

the Narendra ModiGovernment which has vindi-cated the legacy of MahatmaGandhi by implementingSwachh Bharat Abhiyan, JanDhan Yojna, and the series ofprogrammes which are thelegacy, infact the dream ofMahatma Gandhi, and alsothe philosophy of Pandit DeenDayal Upadhyaya.

“This was left undone bythe successive Governmentsfor past 60-70 years... Theywere only concentrating on afamily and its siblings. PrimeMinister Narendra Modi istrying to make up for thisanomaly,” he said.

On the alleged humanrights violations in Baluchistan,Singh said India is concernedabout what was happeningthere.

“I think the whole worldknows now that in Indian sub-continent, the gravest humanrights violation is happening in

those regions which happens tobe under legal or illegal occu-pation of Pakistan, whether itis Baluchistan or Pak OccupiedKashmir, or Pashtun area andtherefore it hardly requires anymore evidence,” he said.

Singh said it should be aneye opener for some of thosePakistan sympathisers withinIndia including in Jammu andKashmir who raise the boggyof Human Rights on the dropof the hat but fails to see whatis happening in Pakistan.

“I think from humanitari-an point of view it is also theresponsibility to raise voiceagainst operations happeninganywhere in the world. This iswhat India has been doingand when Baluchistan is on firewe have an added responsibil-ity because we cannot allow ourneighbours to be on fire... Youcannot leave a hell outside andbuild a heaven inside,” Singh said.

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BJP’s Central ElectionCommittee tonight held a

meeting to finalise its candi-dates for Uttar Pradesh andUttarakhand assembly polls.

The party is likely toannounce candidates for amajority of 70 seats in the hillstate, which goes to polls onFebruary 15 and for the seats inUP.

The seven-phase UPassembly polls start fromFebruary 11. Prime MinisterNarendra Modi and party pres-ident Amit Shah besides otherCEC members attended themeeting.

Another CEC meeting isscheduled for Tuesday in whichnames of more candidates will

be finalised. It had held its firstmeeting on January 11 inwhich candidates for Goa andPunjab polls were finalised.

In the run up to the CECmeeting, Shah has been hold-ing deliberations with top partyleaders from Uttar Pradesh tonarrow down differences overlikely party candidates andevolve a consensus.

In Uttar Pradesh, whichhas a 403-member House, pollswill be held on February 11 (73constituencies), February 15(67 constituencies), February19 (69), February 23 (53),February 27 (52), March 3(49) and March 8 (40)

Shah has been pulling outall stops to lead the party to vic-tory in UP, which in terms ofpolitical implications is more

important than all other fourpoll-bound states combined.

It has been out of power inUttar Pradesh since 2002 andwas a declining force till the‘Modi wave’ catapulted theparty to an unprecedented suc-cess in 2014 Lok Sabha pollswhen it won 71 of the 80 seats.

Party sources believe that itmay not be possible for the saf-fron outfit to repeat the 2014feat of capturing over 42 percent of vote share but it hopesto emerge a winner in thestate’s fractured polity by gar-nering more that 30 per cent ofvotes.

SP and BSP won a major-ity of 403 seats in 2012 and2007 assembly elections bypulling in 30.4 and 29.16 percent of votes.

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Accused by AAP of being soft on theBadals, Amarinder Singh on Sunday said

if elected to power, he would not shy awayfrom “hanging” those guilty of sacrilege anddrug mafia even if it is the “Badals themselves”,evoking a sharp reaction from the ruling partywhich said the PunjabCongress chief had gone“berserk”.

Amarinder a lsoslammed AAP leader andDelhi Chief MinisterArvind Kejriwal, callinghim names like a “coward”.

Amarinder said, if hisparty is elected to power innext month’s assemblypolls, he would launchimmediate inquiries intoall incidents of major crimes such as religioussacrilege, as well as the drug and othermafias.

“I will hang the guilty from their heads,even if it is the Badals themselves who arefound to be implicit in such crimes,” he saidwhile addressing a rally here after paying obei-sance at Mehraj gurdwara in Rampura Phul.

Hitt ing back, SAD secretar y andspokesman Daljit Singh Cheema said “fromthe tone and tenor of the statement, itbecomes clear that sensing crushing defeat,Amarinder has gone berserk”.

“His statement shows that he had no pos-itive agenda except vendetta politics in whichhe indulged during the previous tenure aschief minister,” he said.

The SAD spokesperson asserted thatparty leaders are not afraid of “bogus threats”and Amarinder should stop day dreaming ofbecoming chief minister.

Amarinder also also attacked Kejriwal,describing him as a “small and sneaky man”who did not have the guts to fight him on the

electoral battleground.“Punjab does not tolerate cowards like the

AAP leader”, said Capt Amarinder, adding thatif left to AAP or the Akalis, Punjab will neverbe able to restore its lost pride and glory.

Challenging Kejriwal to fight against himfrom Lambi constituency, he said “AAP is aparty of outsiders which is getting outsiders

to campaign and coor-dinate the electionssince they did not haveany trust or ties withPunjabis.”

He said he wouldensure that Kejriwaldoes not succeed intaking over the state,with which he has noconnect.

He said he hasdecided to fight Chief

Minister Parkash Singh on his home turfLambi to free Punjab from the clutches of theAkalis, who had been “looting” the people ofthe state for the last 10 years.

Amarinder charged the Badal family withtrying to inflame communal passions topolarise voters by not getting a proper inves-tigation done into the cases of religious sac-rilege in the state in recent past.

Referring to the problems faced by Punjabunder “10 years of Badal misrule”, Amarinderpledged to fulfil all the promises made by himand his party, including farm debt waiver, forwhich 33 lakh people had signed forms.

He promised to bring industrial growthback on its track and reiterated his commit-ment to continue with all the ongoing publicwelfare schemes.

“From power to water to atta-dal scheme,no welfare programme will be stopped by myGovernment,” he said.

He reiterated his promise to finish off thedrug mafia within four weeks of forming theGovernment.

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Washington: The outgoingObama Administration haslashed out at China for block-ing India from becoming amember of the NuclearSuppliers Group by describingthe Communist giant as an“outlier” in its effort to bringNew Delhi on board the elitegrouping.

“Clearly there is one outlierthat needs to be addressed andthat is China,” Nisha DesaiBiswal, Assistant Secretary ofState for South and Central Asia,told PTI in an interview.

The US statement comes aweek ahead of the ObamaAdministration passing on thebaton to the TrumpAdministration.

Officials say it is because ofthe Chinese resistance that Indiacould not become a member ofNSG, where all decisions aretaken on the basis of consensus.

“The (US) President (BarackObama) has been very clear andunequivocal that he believesthat India has met the criteria forNSG and that the United Statessupports India’s entry that Indiais ready and India should bebrought into the NSG,” she said.

“We worked very closelywith India to support India’sapplication into the NSG, but wealso recognise that there con-tinue to be some concerns, somereservations that some of themembers of the NSG haveexpressed that need to be workedthrough,” she said.

“We believe we have madesubstantial progress on that andas we hand the baton over to the

next administration the pathforward will be found for that.Clearly there is one outlier thatneeds to be addressed and thatis China. As we move through allthe other elements of the NSGmembership, I think, we’re on agood path forward,” Biswal said.

So what remains is to be ableto have a very clear under-standing on what is the basis ofChina’s reservations and to try towork through those. So that willbe something that would moveon to the next administration tocarry forward, she said inresponse to a question.

“But this is something thatthe President himself has per-sonally engaged on, the Secretary(of State), (National SecurityAdvisor), Ambassador (Susan)Rice and down the line this hasbeen an area of intense effort bythis administration,” Biswal said.

While India not becoming aNSG member is disappointing,Biswal said the ObamaAdministration is “very verygratified to see India’s entry intothe Missile Technology ControlRegime (MTCR)”.

China is advocating a two-step “non-discriminatory”approach for admission of coun-tries who have not signednuclear-Non Proliferation Treaty(NPT) in the NSG.

As per the new standannounced by Beijing inNovember, it first wants to finda solution that is applicable to theadmission of all non-NPT mem-bers followed by discussions toadmit specific non-NPT mem-ber. PTI

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Islamabad: At least 135 Pakistani fishermen arecurrently detained in Indian jails, the Foreign Officesaid in a report submitted to the Supreme Court.

The apex court had ordered Foreign Officein October to give details of the fishermen lan-guishing in Indian jails, The Express Tribunereported on Sunday.

The court is adjudicating a constitutional peti-tion filed by the Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum andthe Pakistan Institute of Labour Education andResearch, through their counsel Advocate RaheelKamran Sheikh regarding the repatriation ofdetained Pakistani fishermen, the paper said.

The petitioners requested that steps shouldbe taken to obtain information about the pres-ence of Pakistani fishermen in Indian jails, detailsof charges against the prisoners, and court judge-

ments on the sentences handed down to them,it said.The petitioners had made the federationthrough Secretary Ministry of Foreign Affairs,Secretary Ministry of Interior, the HighCommission of Pakistan in India throughHigh Commissioner and Pakistan MaritimeSecurity Agency through its director general asrespondents. The Foreign Office in its one pagereply stated that according to the informationprovided by the Pakistan High Commission inNew Delhi, at present 135 fishermen are cur-rently detained in India.

"Out of these 135 fishermen, 98 are await-ing consular access, two prisoners are awaitingtheir repatriation to Pakistan and 35 are await-ing their national status to be confirmed," theFO said. PTI

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While cold conditions are expectedto extend further in most parts of

the country till the next week, cycloniccirculation and western disturbances,over North and Central India willbring brief respite from the prevailingcold due to cloud cover and sporadicrain during the next 2-3 days. The hillsof Jammu & Kashmir and upper reach-es of Himachal are engulfed in snowcover.

According to India MeteorologicalDepartment (IMD), the temperaturewill rise to normal or above normal overnorthwest India between January 22 andJanuary 26, said IMD.

The scientists explained that anupper air cyclonic circulation lies overcentral Pakistan, its neighbourhood anda few places in the north. As a result ofthis, Punjab and Haryana, includingChandigarh are likely to get rain orremain cloudy during the next 24hours. Along with this, the western dis-

turbance has approached over Jammuand Kashmir which has increased thecloud cover over Northern plains,including Delhi - NCR. According toSkymet, country’s private weather fore-caster, this will change the wind patternto warm and humid south easterlies. Allthese will provide some temporary

respite from the biting cold. Parts of Madhya Pradesh and

adjoining areas of Central India also gotsome respite from the severe cold dueto moisture in the atmosphere, said theIMD sources. While light showers orthundershowers may occur at isolatedplaces over Jabalpur and Shahdol divi-

sions, weather is expected to remain dryover rest of Madhya Pradesh in next 24hours. Certain parts of the State includ-ing Chambal and Jabalpur divisions,may get shallow fog. The minimumtemperature however increased byabout 3 degrees Celsius - 4 degreesCelsius in Bhopal, as per IMD.

According to Skymet, the hilly ter-rains of Jammu, Himachal Pradesh,Uttarakhand and around are under agrip of fresh snow fall and rains due tothe brewing Western Disturbance in theregion. With this, a prolonged spell ofrain and snow is likely over all the threeStates. The intensity of the weatheractivity would be scattered and light ini-tially.

Meanwhile, IMD claimed in itsstatement on climate of India, 2016, thatthe year was the warmest on recordsince its documentations began in1901. The weather conditions in 2016were in line with warmer than normalclimate observed globally for this peri-od, the statement said.

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Amid controversy overPrime Minister Narendra

Modi replacing Gandhi in theKhadi and Village IndustriesCommission diaries and cal-endars, the KVIC has got abooster doze of a �47 cr orderfrom the Oil and Natural GasCommission (ONGC).

This is the largest singleorder the KVIC has receivedduring the recent past.

The ONGC usually dis-tributes annual bonuses to itsemployees in the form of cash,but this year it has signed anagreement with the KVIC forproviding gift vouchers in placeof bonus.

Chairman of KVIC VKSaxena said that his negotia-tions have led to ONGC decid-ing to reward its employees inkind, at a value that is overthree-fold higher than the cashvalue. Under the scheme, theONGC will provide Khadivouchers worth �10,000 each toits regular employees and�5,000 each to its non-regularemployees. The KVIC willallow an additional 35 per centincentive on these vouchers,thus enhancing the value ofONGC bonus to 135 per centof its cash value for its staff.These Khadi vouchers can beused by ONGC staff over aperiod of 2 months. TheONGC has 34,236 regularemployees and 1,063 non-reg-

ular employees.The KVIC will get �35

Crore payment from ONGCdue to this initiative.

Considering 35per centadditional supplement byKVIC the total sale of KVICproducts will be about �47crores over a period of 2months in which 22 per cent,i.e �10 crore will be the wages.Saxena said that the artisansattached to this special salesdrive will be given an addi-tional 5 per cent reward direct-ly in their accounts throughDBT.

The KVIC will providebest quality Khadi productsthrough 16 special exhibitionswithin the ONGC premises.The KVIC has also decided thatthe local Khadi Institutionsand PMEGP units of the rele-vant area will be roped in toshowcase their best products inthese exhibitions, therebyspreading the benefits to localartisans. Efforts would also bemade to ensure that 70-80 percent of the sale would be ofreadymade garments, with spe-cial focus on women and chil-dren of the employees.

The first such exhibitionswill start from January 16,

2017 from Mehsana in Gujaratand will cover ONGC loca-tions at Ahmadabad, Baroda,Ankleshwar, Hazira, andCambay Basin up to February14, 2017 . The ONGC hashighest numbers of employeesi.e 11,081 in Gujarat.

Besides the tripartite ben-efit - sales to KVIC, value formoney for employees and staffgoodwill to ONGC- the agree-ment a unique model to helpin the sustainable developmentof rural artisanal communities.Apart from higher productiv-ity, the rural communities willalso earn more and sustain abetter quality of life. The KVIC,though this unique partnershipwill also generate 6.50 Lakhsextra man days for its Khadiartisans, increasing employ-ment opportunities.

Hailed in both the businessand social circles as a uniqueexperiment of multi level sus-tainable development, thescheme highlights a model ofsocio-economic rewards forthe producer and the con-sumer alike. Saxena alsoexplained that the schemeembodies the Prime Minister’soften repeated principle -‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas’.

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BJP on Sunday strong-ly criticised BSP

leader Mayawati for mak-ing “baseless allegations”of “a planned conspiracy”after EnforcementDirectorate’s “crackdown”on her brother and hisbank accounts.

“BJP dismisses all theallegations levelled by Mayawati. Instead of crit-icising the Prime Minister, she should respectthe law and provide the proof if her brother isinnocent... If he is innocent, he would be freeotherwise he had to face the law,” BJP NationalSecretary Shrikant Sharma said.

“Mayawati’s allegation is baseless as case onher brother was registered during Congressregime and investigation is going on,” Sharmasaid.

Sharma alleged that the BSP leader only col-lects money in the name of dalits and has noconcerned for them as “over 1,100 dalits werekilled and over 30,000 cases of dalits’ harassmentcame to light” when she was in power.

He said because of Mayawati’s “despotismand hands in gloves with criminals”, she was dis-

missed by peoplein 2012 polls inthe State.

“People nowknow the under-standing betweenthe SP and BSP ofruling the Statea l t e r n at i v e l y.Mayawati neverraises voicesagainst Akhilesh

Government because of her connivance but onlycriticise the Centre,” he said.

Sharma charged Maywati with not allow-ing poor to come out of their poverty.

In contrast, he said Prime Minister NarendraModi is continuously working towards the upliftof the poor and villagers . The BJP leader saidthe BJP will fight the polls in Uttar Pradesh ondevelopment and good governance.

Earlier, referring to ED’s probe into herbrother Anand Kumar and his bank accounts,Mayawati had alleged that under a “planned con-spiracy”, money deposited in the banks by herparty and some members of her family in a rou-tine manner, was being highlighted by BJP andthe central Government in the media as if it wasrelated to black money.

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Aday after slippers withMahatma Gandhi’s image

surfaced on Amazon’s UnitedStates of America website,Department of EconomicAffairs Secretary ShaktikantaDas, asked the e-commercegroup to desist from being`flippant’ about Indian sym-bols and icons. Das also cau-tioned Amazon against indif-ference.

The DEA Secretary’swarning came shortlyafter Ministry of ExternalAffairs (MEA) tookup the matter withAmazon inWashington.On Saturday,M E ASpokeprsonV i k a sSwarup saidthat IndianAmbassadorin Washingtonwas asked toconvey to Amazonthat while providing aplatform for third party ven-dors, they should respectIndian sensitivities and senti-ments.

The information aboutGandhi slippers were given bya person on Twitter whotagged External AffairsMinister Sushma Swaraj.

While Amazon US has

withdrawn the prod-uct after outrage

there are sever-al other itemsstill availableon the web-site that canhurt Indiansensitivities.A casual

search onAmazon US

website threwup results like --

Indian National FlagPet ID tag for dogs and cats,Indian Flag Team LogoWomen’s Fashion Bikini SetBeach Wear, Indian flag tow-els, Indian Flag sneakershoelace decorator etc.Amazon India had recentlyexpressed regret over door-mats having Indian flag on itswebsite.

,��,%��Finding it odd that Swaraj Abhiyan, the party

recently formed by activist-lawyer PrashantBhushan, has sought an independent probeinto the politically-sensitive Augusta Westlandchopper scam, Attorney General MukulRohatgi argued that a political party has nobusiness to file aPIL. A lawyerwho was appear-ing for one of theparties in the caser e m i n d e dRohatgi that the plea toprobe 2G scam was broughtto Court by SubramanianSwamy, a senior BJP member. The A-G whowas at a loss for words found timely help fromthe bench. Justice Dipak Misra said, “The A-G will agree that Swamy is an individual andnot a political party.”

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Since there will be no separate rail budget,the officers at Rail Bhawan are quite a

relieved lot now. For years, months before thepresentation of Rail Budget the corridors ofRail Bhawan used to be a happening place.Railways so far, in the word of Prime MinisterNarendra Modi, used to be a `political tool’where political leaders and Parliamentarianslined up with their demands at the second floorof the Rail Bhawan where top guns the rail-ways- the Ministers, Chairman, BoardMembers, and Private Secretaries have theiroffices. Most of the demands used to be forstoppages of trains in their constituencies. Theround-the-clock kitchen services during thedrafting of the Rail Budget, is also a thing ofthe past. The only unhappy lot seems to bethe lower staff who used to get overtime perksfor almost two months.

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s decision togrants �2 lakh each to the next of kin of

those killed in Patna boat tragedy and �50,000for those seriously injured, is yet

another indication of thegrowing bonhomie between

the PM and Bihar ChiefMinister Nitish Kumar. The

political import of the PM’sgesture will not be lost on

Bihar `watchers’ sinceModi heaped fulsome praise

on Kumarduring his

recent visit to Bihar toattend to Guru GobindSingh’s Prakash parv inPatna. An invitation bythe Janata Dal (U) toBihar BJP leader SushilKumar Modi attend the`makar shankranti’ lunchhas also let tongues wagging. ButRJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav is unfazed by thesigns of the warmth between the JD (U) andBJP and insists that all is well with the Bihar’smahagatbhandan of JD(U), RJD and Congress.

��The newly-appointed Army Chief General

Bipin Rawat faced a bar-rage of uncomfortable ques-tions last week on the issueof jawans taking to socialmedia to air their griev-ances against senior officers.Addressing his maid-en news conference,Rawat answered thequeries on this sen-sitive matter in a calm manner and evendefended ‘sahayak’ system. Even after nine-ty minutes when the journalists persisted withthe questioning, the Chief fended off thejournos with a smile, “please ask the ques-tions during the sumptuous lunch.”

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Many powerful people as well as babusand top cops are eager to see the out-

come of the high-level selection committee’smeeting on Monday to select the CBIDirector. The committee will consist ofPrime Minisiter , Chief Justice of India andOpposition leader. The “bookies” in thepower corridor are betting on Delhi PoliceCommissioner Alok Verma and MaharashtraDGP Satish Mathur.

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Russian Embassy’s Christmas Party inJanuary is always the

most awaited event of theyear in diplomatic cir-cles. First , you get tosee the entire diplo-matic corps minustheir formal loungesuits since it’s a fancydress show. Secondly, every-one dances to the music by Russian Jazz bandStilyagi. This year it also played popular Hindifilm numbers - Goron ki na kaalon ki, duniyahai dilwalon ki (from Disco Dancer), and, Surajdooba hua (Roy). While masks and gownsremained the popular dress choice of guests,demonetization seemed to be the dominanttheme as many of participants covered them-selves with new Rs 500 and Rs 2000 notes whilesome wore Paytm placards.

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Election season is on and film and actors arein demand from political parties. While

some of the big ones are refusing to take sides,others are not so cagey about joining the pollbandwagon. Actor Arjun Ram Pal has alreadyvolunteered to campaign for the BJP while‘Dada’ Jackie Shroff is set to follow his foot-steps. Amar Singh is also expected to use hispull with ‘Bollywood’ to back SP candidatesof Mulayam Singh Yadav. Stars may also cam-paign for the Congress which already has for-mer actor Raj Babbar as the State president inUttar Pradesh and TV Personality NavjotSingh Sidhu as a prominent leader of the partyin Punjab.

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The Central InformationCommission has asked

Union Home Ministry andDepartment of Justice to releasethe complaints and actionsand file noting regarding thecomplaints received againstformer Chief Justice KGBalakrishnan and his relativeson illegal wealth amassment. Ina recent Order, InformationCommissioner SridharAcharyulu said that HomeMinistry had to furnish thedetails by February 28 andDepartment of Justice has toprovide these by January 31.

Noted RTI activist SubhashAgrawal was for the past fiveyears pursuing this matter andall the Government depart-ments were rejecting his peti-tion, citing the matter wasrelated to the communicationsof a person who was ChiefJustice of India. Agarwal’s con-tention was all the complaintsand communications betweenvarious Government depart-ments started only afterBalakrishnan left the office andhence can’t too the protectionsprovided to judiciary’s com-munications with Government.

The complaints againstformer Chief Justice and fam-ily members for misusing theposition were filed by notedlawyer Prashant Bhushan seek-

ing probe into alleged dispro-portionate asset amassed by theformer CJI. The SupremeCourt had sought details fromvarious departments on thiscase. After Bhushan’s case, sev-eral RTIs were filed by manypersons to know the details andfile noting on these communi-cations, but the Governmentdepartments refused to enter-tain them claiming these wereprivileged communications.

At one point, Department ofJustice said that as Balakrishnanbecame head of NationalHuman Rights Commission, allthe files regarding him were sentto Home Ministry. Balakrishnanretired from Chief Justice poston May 2010 and SupremeCourt ton May 2012 asked theGovernment to take final deci-sion on the complaints filed byPrashant Bhushan’s -led NGO,Committee on JudicialAccountability and Reforms(CJAR). The main demand inthe complaint was forPresidential Reference againstBalakrishnan for initiatingprobes.

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Senior Central Ministers,along with security officials,

on Sunday reviewed the pre-vailing situation in Manipurwhere a 75-day-long econom-ic blockade on national high-ways has crippled normal life.

Home Minister RajnathSingh, Defence MinisterManohar Parrikar, FinanceMinister Arun Jaitley, ArmyChief General Bipin Rawat,Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishiand other top officials closet-ed for an hour to discuss thesituation in the Northeasternstate.

Attorney General MukulRohatgi was also present in themeeting, leading to specula-tions of Central Governmentmulling some legal action. TheMinisters and top officials dis-cussed how to reopen theblocked National Highway 2,the lifeline of landlockedManipur, and restore normal-cy, official sources said.

The top priority of thecentral Government is now toreopen NH-2 which connects

Manipur from Assam throughNagaland. While the otherhighway, (NH-37), is reopened,the Centre wants to reopen theNH-2 too as early as possible,the sources said.

Assembly election inManipur is scheduled forMarch 4 and 8 and around20,000 Central security per-sonnel have been sent to thenortheastern state keeping inview the security situation inthe wake of violence followingthe economic blockadeimposed by the Union NagaCouncil (UNC) on theNational Highways sinceNovember 1.

The UNC has imposed theeconomic blockade on NH-2(Imphal-Dimapur) and NH-37(Imphal-Jiribam) that serve aslifelines for the landlockedManipur. While NH-37 waspartially reopened, there is notraffic movement on NH-2.

In a stern message, theCentre had told the ManipurGovernment last month that itcannot escape responsibilityfor the “humanitarian crisis”arising out of the economic

blockade by a Naga group andmust work to end it, whilemaking it clear that nobody willbe allowed to take politicaladvantage of the situation.

Home Minister Singh hadwritten twice to Chief MinisterO Ibobi Singh asking him toensure reopening of the high-way but it did not yield anyresult. Minister of State forHome Kiren Rijiju too had vis-ited the Congress-ruledManipur as a central emissarybut the highway has notreopened yet.

Rijiju had said it was com-pletely unacceptable to havesuch blockades in which thou-sands of people were sufferingand both the Central andManipur Government willwork together to end it. “TheState Government has not beenable to end the blockade. Itmust end as soon as possible aslaw and order is the responsi-bility of the State Government.Nobody will be allowed totake political advantage out ofa humanitarian crisis wherecommon people are suffering,”he had said.

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For many families the auspi-cious day of Makar Sankranti

in Bihar, also known as Lohriand Pongal in other parts of thecountry, turned out to be disas-trous as they lost their near anddear ones who met watery gravein Ganga on Saturday evening.According to official figure, 24people died in the boat tragedybut there was still no word fromthe official quarters as to whowas responsible for the criminalnegligence that led to the over-crowding of a country boat andits capsize midstream.

An FIR has been registeredwith the Sonepur police stationin Saran district of north Biharagainst the organiser of a fair inthe Ganga diara area, a boatmanand some unknown persons. Butthe survivors and others whowatched the tragedy from eitherbank of the river put the blameon the Bihar Government’stourism department which hadorganised the four-day kite fes-tival on the island and most ofthe people drowned were return-ing from there.

Apart from the kite festival,one Disneyland fair was alsobeing held at the same placewhich was organised by privateentertainment company. TheSaran administration which reg-istered the FIR, alleged that per-mission from the Saran admin-istration had not been taken bythe organisers of the Disneylandfair nor the tourism depart-ment duly informed it about theholding of the kite festival.However, the tourism depart-ment has not been named in theFIR.

The Government orderedan inquiry to be conducted bydisaster management principalsecretary Pratyaya Amrit, PatnaDIG Shalin and DM SanjayKumar Agrawal. An ex gratia ofRs 4 lakh for each victim was alsoannounced.

Colourful half page ads werepublished in local newspaperswith the photograph of ChiefMinister Nitish Kumar about thekite festival from January 14 to17 inviting people to come andalso promised free cruise servicefor their visit. Hours before thetragedy, principal secretary of

tourism department Harjot Kaurwas seen there trying to fly kitesand helping children gleefully.

Contrary to the promise offree ferrying service, the peoplewere not provided cruise andafter the sunset when theyreached the river bank there wasno cruise there. Finding no wayout they scrambled to board amotorised country boat. Asagainst the capacity of 30 peoplemore than 60 boarded it andwhen it reached midstream itwent out of control and balance.Meanwhile, water started seep-ing in the boat leading to panic

and in the melee it capsized.Commandant of the NDRF

Vijay Sinha said, “The capsizedboat has been retrieved and it isnot damaged. Altogether 24bodies have been extricated andour search and rescue operationis still going on.” Till late Saturdaynight 20 bodies had been fishedout while four more bodies weretaken out on Sunday.

Even though no one fromthe Government side came to sayanything on the tragedy, RJDsupremo Lalu Prasad said thatarrangement for theGovernment event were far from

satisfactory and administrationshowed no alertness. “CM islooking into the matter andaction will be taken against thepersons responsible for thistragedy,” he said.

This fatal incident happenedonly ten after the successfulorganisation of the PrakashUtsav in Patna and no untowardincident happened. Questionsare raised that the sameGovernment and same localadministration made elaboratearrangements only ten days backfor half a million visitors why itcould not manage a small event?

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Men, please move out.Women have taken over

the responsibility of guardingthe country’s ExclusiveEconomic Zone along the EastCoast as well as the sensitiveInternational MaritimeBoundary Line.

It was the Defence Ministrywhich released the news of anall-lady-crew taking off fromthe Coast Guard Station atChennai in the last week ofDecember in a Dornier aircrafton a reconnaissance mission toscan the coast line and EEZranging from south ofVishakapattinam to

Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu.Though women pilots fly-

ing civilian aircraft is common,this is the first time an all-lady-crew was deployed in this sec-tor for a surveillance mission.The region is infamous forsmuggling, poaching andhuman trafficking.

While DeputyCommandants Akshi andSunita Venugopal flew theDornier, Deputy CommandantPriyanka Tyagi scanned theentire area within 700 nauticalmiles with state-of-theart hi-tech instruments in the aircraft.The task given to these threeyoung brave, bold and beauti-ful officers of the Indian CoastGuard was to look out for any

kind of illegal activities,whether there were any fishingboats or ships in distress andwhether there were any poach-ing from the country’s exclusiveeconomic zone, a treasurehouse of exotic marine life.

The team of aviators itselfwas an integrated India withHaryanvi Akshi, Kochi-bornSunita and Priyanka fromMeerut in UP donning variousroles in this unique mission.For the entire duration of theirflight, India’s security estab-lishment (which include theCoast Guard station at Chennaiand the Indian Navy’s controlroom in the Naval HeadQuarters New Delhi) saw andheard the movements in Bay ofBengal through the eyes andears of these three youngwomen.

“It is always an awesomeexperience. But we never feltthat we were an all-women-crew. It is part of our job. Thecrew composition changes ona daily basis as there are near-ly 20 pilots here,” said Sunita,who was in command of theflight.

Sunita, hailing from a fam-ily of defence officers said shehad no other ambition in lifeexcept donning the role of apilot to guard the country ofher birth. I cannot think of anyother profession than this job,”said the mother of a two andhalf year old boy.

The region they flew overis known for its fragile envi-ronmental system and also asa zone vulnerable to poachingof the exotic marine wealth ofthe country. “Our brief includesreporting about maritime safe-ty and security, offshore secu-rity, saving human lives andassisting fishermen in distress,”said Priyanka Tyagi, a mathe-matics graduate-turned-aviator.

Priyanka, hailing from arural family (her father is afarmer), pointed out that shehas logged 1500 hours of flying.“We are all experienced avia-tors. Why this mission becameunique was because of the all-lady- crew. Otherwise we haveour daily assignments of recon-naissance missions,” saidPriyanka who joined CoastGuard in 2009. “It is an amaz-

ing experience each time we flyover the Bay of Bengal. Thereare no landmarks and the nav-igation is done based on instru-ments and sensors,” said theaviator with dreamy eyes.

Sunita, a graduate in liter-ature, turned poetical whenasked about her experience.“The aircraft does not knowwhether the crew is composedof man or woman. We allundergo the same kind oftraining and perform the sametasks,” said Sunita.

She turned poetical whenasked about flying over Bay ofBengal. “Thrilling andenthralling. I could see some ofthe most beautiful and unex-plored islands and islets alongthe Andhra Pradesh coast.Each mission in this regionrejuvenates the mind andbody,” said Sunita who does notmiss a chance to watch therivers Narmada and Godavarijoin the Bay of Bengal.

The three ladies wereunanimous in their reply thatthey love their job as aviatorsas it was engaging, adventurousand challenging.

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Deputy Commissioner ofPolice from Aurangabad

Nisar Tamboli was rushed toJaslok Hospital on Sunday,after he collapsed near HeeraPanna Shopping Centre at HajiAli in south Mumbai, whileparticipating in 14th edition ofthe Standard CharteredMumbai Marathon-2017.

For ty-seven-year-oldTambli, who is otherwise fitwith no history of diabetes orhypertension, slumped on theground all of a sudden and fellunconscious. He was runningthe full 42 km Mumbaimarathon, when he collapsedmidway to the finishing line.

After he was rushed to thenearby Jaslok Hospital, Tamboliappeared disoriented and hada short memory loss.

Apprehending a cardiacarrest, the doctors attendinghim admitted him at the hos-pital’s Intensive Care Unit.However, tests revealed that hehad not suffered any cardiacarrest as was being feared.

Tamboli, who was earlierMumbai police spokesperson,regained his orientation, afterhe was administered intra-venous fluids. The doctorsattending on Tamoli attributed

his sudden collapse to excessdehydration caused by lack ofadequate intake of water by himduring the last couple of days.

"With the memory of aleading Mumbai doctor losinghis life due to a heart attackwhilst training for theMarathon still fresh in ourminds, we have to be extreme-ly vigilant and alert in man-aging all such cases,” Dr. ShoaibPadaria, senior cardiologist atJaslok hospital, said.

“He will be under obser-

vation at the ICU for the next24 hours,” Dr Padaria added.

Meanwhile, more than42,000 people participated inthe Mumbai Marathon andfour other associate races heldacross the metropolis.

In a related development,Tanzania’s Alphonce Simbuand Kenya’s Bornes Kituremerged first and second in the42 km marathon, clocking thein 2:09:32 and 2:29:02 respec-tively to take home first prizecheques of USD$42,000.

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Seven days after a group ofinfiltrators had reportedly

sneaked inside the Indian ter-ritory before targeting theGeneral Reserve EngineerForce (GREF) camp in Battalvillage of Akhnoor in whichthree civilian labourers werekilled and another one wasinjured, the joint team of secu-rity forces were struggling totrace their footprints as they(terrorists) had vanished fromthe scene of action withoutfacing any resistance.

So far the security forceshave recovered a blanket anda single glove, few kilometresaway from the GREF camp,besides empty packets ofcream biscuits and snacks,with markings of Made inPakistan from the dense forestarea.

The recoveries had raisedhopes of security forces aboutthe possibility of tracking theseterrorists but at the same timethese terrorists had managedto give them a slip by remain-ing at large. Role ofOverground workers givingthem shelter also cannot beruled out as it is difficult forthese terrorists to survive inthe absence of any local sup-port and other logistics.

“We have not called off thechase, we are still combing thearea and keeping a close watch

on the movement of suspect-ed people in and aroundcamps of security forces in thearea to prevent similar strike,”a senior police officer who ledone of the foot patrols in thedense jungle on January 13told The Pioneer. The searchoperation was launched in thewee hours and continued tilllate evening on Friday.

The security forces havebeen sending long range footpatrols in the area to trackdown the movement of heav-ily armed infiltrators. TheArmy is maintaining an outercordon to prevent them fromretreating back inside thePakistan territory.

They feel the statementmade by the Pakistan basedLeT Chief Hafiz Sayeed overthe recent terror strike onGREF is a deliberate one tomislead the Indian securityforces. Sayeed had recentlyclaimed that the terroristswho had carried out the strike

on GREF camp had returnedsafely.

Meanwhile, fresh infiltra-tion bid by a group of fiveinfiltrators along theInternational border in Sambasector of Jammu frontier iskeeping three tier securitygrid on its tenterhooks.

BSF jawans deployed inthe front line of defence hadmanaged to neutralise one ofthe guides of the heavilyarmed infiltrators late Fridaynight while five others arebelieved to have retreated backinside the Pak territory.

On Saturday, as seniorBSF authorities from JammuFrontier rushed to the spot toassess the ground situation,they ordered local BSF officersto beef up their defences andincrease frequency of footpatrolling in the forward areasto keep a strict vigil on themovement of the suspectedinfiltrators.

After taking note of thelatest intelligence agencyreports, senior BSF officersalso advised the local policeofficers to increase the vigilalong the border routes andactivate their village defencecommittees as part of theannual drill to maintain tightvigil on the movement of anti-national elements in the runup to the Republic day cele-brations.

Security along the outer

periphery of the various secu-rity camps and police stationshas been enhanced to preventany infiltrator from executingthe terror plot.

The police is also entrust-ed with the responsibility ofexposing the network of theover ground workers to ensurethe infiltrators do not get shel-ter in the border areas beforelaunching the strike.

The highway patrol partiesof the State police have beentasked with the job of keepinga close watch on movement ofthe vehicles coming from bor-der areas to ensure anti-nation-al elements do not gain easyaccess to the National Highwaywhere a large number of secu-rity camps are located.

DIG Dharmendra Pareekhwhile interacting with themedia on Saturday claimed theBSF troops are maintainingtight vigil along theInternational Border and car-rying out thorough patrollingalong the vulnerable routesincluding water bodies tradi-tionally used by the infiltratorsto sneak inside the IndianTerritory. He said, “The area isvery sensitive and we havebeen receiving regular inputsfrom the intelligence agenciesthat small group of terroristsare waiting across the borderto sneak inside the Indianterritory to carry out terrorstrikes.”

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Shiv Sena’s youth wing pres-ident Aditya Thackeray

escaped unhurt on Sundayafternoon, after a speeding carjumped a traffic signal andrammed into his BMW carfrom front side at Kalangarjunction, near his residence atBandra in north-west Mumbai.

Tw e nt y - s i x - y e a r- o l dAditya, son of Shiv Sena chiefUddhav Thackeray, was behindthe wheel, when a Maruti Altojumped the traffic signal andhit his vehicle.

While the bonnet ofAditya’s car was damaged, theright hand doors of the car thatcollided with the Yuva Sena

chief ’s vehicle suffered a majordent because of the impact ofthe mishap.

“Thank you for your con-cern and calls. I met with anaccident being hit by a speed-ing car that jumped a signal atKalanagar junction.…Everyone is safe and sound.The car that jumped the signalis fine too. Thank you for theprayers and good wishes thatkeep us safe,” social media-savvy Aditya tweeted.

Meanwhile, the police gavea clean chit to Aditya and reg-istered a case against the driverof the vehicle that rammed intohis car. The erring driverreportedly took responsibilityfor the mishap.

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At least eight passengershad a narrow escape on

Sunday afternoon, as fire brokeout in a BrihanmumbaiMunicipal Corporation(BMC)-run BEST bus atAndheri’s Chakala locality innorth Mumbai.

The bus number 396 wason its way from Mulund innorth-east Mumbai toAndheri when its enginecaught fire and the blazespread to the entire vehicle.

Soon after the fireengulfed the bus, at least eightpassengers sitting in the bus atthat time ran out of the vehicle.

Before long, an explosionwas heard from the burningbus and the vehicle was guttedin the fire. A Maruti car whichwas moving next to the buswas also destroyed in theblaze.

The fire brigade personnelarrived on the scene soonafterwards and extinguishedthe blaze. However, the bushad been gutted by then.

“Since today being aSunday, there was not much ofa rush in the bus. There werejust seven to eight passengersinside the bus at the time ofmishap. All the passengersran out of the bus soon afterfire was noticed in the bus,” aneyewitness said.

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ABidhananagar court onSunday sent Bengal BJP

vice president JayprakashMajumdar to three days policecustody amid clamours ofpolitical victimisation of saf-fron leadership by the MamataBanerjee Government.

The Court order comes aday after he was arrested by thelocal police for defraudingexaminees of the State-heldTeachers’ Eligibility Test exam-inations held in 2014.

Majumdar a vocal face inState BJP who was arrestedafter eight hours marathongrilling by the Bidhannagarpolice was sent to police cus-tody by the Bidhannagar addi-tional Chief Judicial Magistratenotwithstanding the prosecu-tion demand for 7-day policeremand.

He was arrested underSections 420(cheating),406(criminal breach of trust),506(threat to cause death orgrievous hurt).

Majumdar was arrestedfollowing a complaint filed byone Arup Ratan Roy whoclaimed that the BJP leaderwho was then in the CongressParty had taken �7.20 lakhfrom him assuring him of judi-cial help in the apex court andHigh Court.

The development camedays after Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee threatened ofretaliatory steps in “equal mea-sures” when the CBI arrestedsenior Trinamool leader andMP Sudip Bandopadhyay forhis involvement in the multi-crore Rose valley chit fund case.

“They are also running aGovernment in Delhi and weare also a Government hereand both have their respectivejurisdictions to act. So as theyhave acted in a vindictive man-ner we can also do the same”Banerjee had thundered thenalleging Bandopadhyay’s arrestwas linked to her party’s activerole in the anti-demonetisationcampaign alongside theCongress.

Roy’s complaint lodged inAugust 2016 said that when hewas then leading a protestdharna against large-scaleirregularities in the TET examsMajumdar approached himand demanded the money sothat he could arrange for legalhelp.

“I collected the moneyfrom the other aspirants andpaid him the same but when nohelp came and when repeatedrequests to Mr Majumdar toreturn the money met withthreats I filed a complaint withthe police,” said the com-plainant.

However denying reportsof having accepted any moneyfrom the aspirants Majumdarsaid Saturday’s police actionwas the result of a vindictivepolitics played by theTrinamool.

“The person who has filedthe complaint is an imposterand was not even a candidatein the exams. His name was notthere in the merit list. So howcan he file a complaint notbeing a party to the proceed-ings,” he said wondering “whythe police are acting after fivemonths after the complaintwas lodged.”

Senior BJP leader RahulSinha said the arrest was a bigdemonstration of vindictivepolitics as “everyone knowswhy this step has been taken.”The CBI which arrested SudipBandopadhyay was investigat-ing the case upon a SupremeCourt order and “JayprakashMajumdar was arrested fol-lowing an order by theTrinamool Congress,” he main-tained.

State BJP president DilipGhosh said “though MrMajumdar was then in theCongress and though he has toprove his own innocence thereason behind his arrest isclear before everyone. They(Trinamool Government) arealso trying to frame me in amurder case.”

The case relates to themuch touted and controversialTET examinations held by theState Government in 2014 inwhich about 20 lakh aspirantsappeared. Merely one percentof the total number of candi-dates qualified in the examsamid complains of large-scaleirregularities leading to lawsuits both in Calcutta HighCourt and Supreme Court.

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The National InvestigationAgency (NIA) has learned

that over 30 people from Keralaincluding the 22 who had gonemissing from the State duringthe May-June period last yearare undergoing terror trainingat the camps of the Islamic State(ISIS) in Nangarhar province ineastern Afghanistan whereOsama bin Laden had report-edly planned Al Qaeda’s strikesagainst the US.

The NIA has so far been ofthe belief that the 22 Keralitesincluding six women and threechildren who had gone missingunder mysterious circumstanceswere in ISIS camps in Syria butit has now received informationfrom Intelligence agencies thatthey and about 12 otherKeralites who had left Indiamuch earlier to join the globalterror force are in the IslamicState camps in tribal areas nearJalalabad, capital of Nangarhar.

Intelligence agencies in

Afghanistan have informedtheir Indian counterparts thatnearly 3,000 recruits from var-ious countries are undergoingISIS training in these camps.Following this, the INA hassought the help of the Interpoland the Afghan agencies forcollecting further details aboutthe Keralites there. Reportsquoting NIA sources said thatsome important developmentscould be expected in this regardin this week itself.

The NIA has been trackingthe digital footprints of theKeralite recruits of the ISIS andsources said that the agencyhad credible information onthe locations of the campswhere they were living andtraining. At home, the NIA’sinvestigations are said to havesucceeded to a great extent infinding the details of the escapeof Keralites into ISIS territories.

The agency has alsolearned that Sajeer AbdullaMangalachery alias Sameer Aliof Kozhikode, considered to the

chief recruiting agent of theISIS in Kerala, is undergoingtraining along with the otherKeralites in one of these campsin Nangarhar. The investigatorshave already traced the point oforigin of his Facebook postcalling for Jihad in Kerala tothese areas.

The information the NIAhas received on the campswhere the missing Keralites areundergoing training gives cre-dence to reports that the ISIS,after losing Iraqi strongholdsMosul and Raqqa, is currently

in the process of shifting itsbase into Afghanistan.Intelligence agencies are of theopinion that new recruits intothe terror force are being sentto Nangarhar as part of effortsin this direction.

The NIA has been workinghard to trace the missingKeralites since September last.Subahani Haja Moideen (31),the ISIS’s key Indian recruiterwho was arrested from TamilNadu last October, had con-fessed to the agency that over60 Indians, including the 22

Keralites who had gone miss-ing, had joined the global ter-ror group. He had also said thathe himself had been at battleservice for the terror force inMosul for a monthly pay ofUS$ 100.

Keralites woke up to themagnitude of the ISIS’s pene-tration into the State in July lastafter reports came out about themysterious disappearance of 22persons, including six womenand three children, fromPadanna and Thrikkaripur inKasaragod district and Yakkarain Palakkad district.

All the men and women inthe group were young and heldhigh qualifications in medi-cine, engineering and businessmanagement. It is believed thatall arrangements for their secretmigration to Islamic State ter-ritory were made by AbdulRashid Abdullah ofThrikkaripur. The Agencybelieves that most of them hadreached Afghanistan throughAbdu Dhabi and Dubai.

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Adelay in the Supreme Courtdelivering the judgement

on the petition challenging theban on Jallikattu, the ruralsport of Tamil Nadu, is beingprojected by the OppositionDMK and its allies as an effortby the “Brahminical” BJP to saf-fronise the southern State.“Anti-Tamil RSS-BJP get out ofTamil Nadu”, read the placardscarried by thousands of demon-strators who took out proces-sion all over Tamil Nadu onFriday demanding the revival ofthe sport banned by the apexcourt in May 2014.

The highlight of the rallieswas the anti-Centre tirade

echoed throughout the Statethough the RSS and the BJP donot have any role in banningthe bull sport. MK Stalin, theDMK vice president, who inau-gurated a State-wide agitationat Chennai on Friday againstthe ban on Jallikatu alleged thatthe Narendra Modi-led UnionGovernment was anti-Tamiland anti-Tamil Nadu.

“The Prime Minister hasenough time to meet film starslike Gautami, Nagarjuna,SalmanKhan, Aamir Khan and SharukhKhan. But he does not have aminute to spare for the MPsfrom Tamil Nadu who wantedto meet him to inform himabout serious issues hauntingthe State,” charged Stalin. He saidthe Union Government could

have circumvented the SupremeCourt ban on Jallikattu by pro-mulgating an Ordinance. “Thepresent Government at theCentre has issued 22 Ordinanceson various issues. Why can’t theyissue an Ordinance forJallikattu?” he asked.

He was joined in the agi-tation by leaders of theC ongress .Though theC o n g r e s shas beencampaign-ing with the DMK against theBJP Government at the Centredemanding the lifting of theban on Jallikattu, a perusal ofrecent records by The Pioneerthrew out some interestinginformation.

The Congress which iscriticising the Narendra ModiGovernment for the ban onJallikattu, had in its manifestofor the Tamil Nadu AssemblyElection in May 2016 haddeclared that it would ban theJallikattu. “The party supportsthe ban on Jallikattu,” said the

Congress manifesto.“Tamil Nadu Assembly

elections 2016: Congress releas-es manifesto, promises ban onJallikattu”, the dailies had car-ried banner headlined reportsthe day after the manifesto wasreleased by Mukul Wasnik,AICC general secretary.

Former PM ManmohanSingh, in a let-ter to NGJay a s i m h a ,m a n a g i n gd i r e c t o r ,

Humane Society International, aNGO based in Secunderabadhad said that he was for banningthe bull fight. “The HumaneSociety Internationale India hasa worthy objective and certain-ly we have to work to discouragebullfights which provide a cruelform of entertainment. I wishyou all success in achieving yourobjective,” said ManmohanSingh in his letter datedDecember 15, 2015.

Referring to Stalin’s allega-tion that the Narendra ModiGovernment was against Tamil

Nadu, KT Raghavan, BJPspokesman, said this was aderogatory statement. “The BJP’smanifesto for the 2016 Assemblyelection is clear in this regard. Itis in the public domain. We hadassured the people that theparty would strive hard for get-ting the ban on Jallikattuannulled ,” said Raghavan.

He said the Jallikattu seasonis spread over the January-Maymonths and it is not a one-dayaffair. “These demonstrationsare much ado about nothing.One cannot pressurise the apexcourt to deliver the verdict asper one’s convenience,” he said.

Aanand Venkat, RSS leaderin Chennai, said the Sanghremained neutral on theJallikattu issue. “But we arecommitted in preserving thenative Indian breeds of cowsand bulls. There is a conspira-cy to finish off the nativeIndian breeds to help the inter-national companies to markettheir breeds and other para-phernalia. We are against it,”said Venkat.

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With fingers crossed, boththe faction of the

Samajwadi Party are waiting forthe ‘verdict of the ElectionCommission on the partyname and election symbol to bedeclared on Monday.

Leaders of both the fac-tions led by Mulayam SinghYadav and his son ChiefMinister Akhilesh Yadav had aquite day on Sunday. Both metthe party leaders and theirsupporters and discussed thealternative options in case theparty’s election symbol isfreezed by the EC.

SP is celebrating the silverjubilee year as the party wasestablished in October 1992.This is also the golden jubileeyear of Mulayam Singh Yadav,completing 50 years in publiclife as he was elected to the UPAssembly for the first time in1967 from Jaswant Nagarassembly constituency inEtawah district.

Both the factions of theparty have huge stake in theelection symbol cycle of theparty. Several lakh cycles weredistributed by the State labourdepartment during the last fiveyear tenure of the AkhileshYadav Government and over3,000 km of cycle track wereconstructed across the Stateduring the same period.

Akhilesh during his entireregime had promoted bicycle asa brand of the State and him-self cycled from time to time topromote this eco-friendlytransport system and his party’selection symbol.

The patriarch of the SPMulayam Singh Yadav onSunday met Shivpal Yadav andsome other leaders at his resi-dence to chalk out strategy forthe UP polls, Akhilesh on theother hand too was closet withhis close confidants at his offi-cial residence on the eve of theEC’s verdict. Mulayam whiletalking to some of the leadersat his residence asked them tonot to be perturbed by the ECsverdict and they should go totheir respective constituenciesand work for the party,

Sources said that Mulayamalso expressed his displeasure

over the Akhilesh factions moveto hire the Rajya Sabha MP ofthe Congress Kapil Sibal toplead its case against him beforethe election commission.

Mulayam Singh is reportedto have told a senior leader thatthe SP had supported KapilSibbal during the Rajya Sabhaelections held in June last yearand the same person was fight-ing the SP. Mulayam also said hewas trying to save the party butAkhilesh seems to have littleinterest in the future of the party.

The SP patriarch is alsoreported to have expressed hisreservations over the move ofthe Akhilesh camp to enterinto a pre poll alliance with theCongress. The party sourcessaid Mulayam Singh said that hewas against pre poll alliance withany comfortable and confidentof victory of his candidates andrather than going for an alliance.

Mulayam Singh alsoassured the leaders that everyeligible person will be consid-ered for the party ticket in thisassembly polls and directed

Shivpal Yadav, who was alsothere to complete the candi-dates list by Sunday evening.Mulayam camp had alreadyannounced 397 candidates witharound 170 candidates com-mon with the Akhilesh group.Akilesh has also announced thelist of 237 candidates so far.

On the other hand, LokDal President Sunil Singh, hasoffered Mulayam to take overhis party, which was formed byformer Prime Minister lateChoudhury Charan Singh. Theelection symbol of Lok Dal isfarmer ploughing the field.This option is under consider-ation of Mulayam faction if thecycle symbol is freezed by theEC. Similarly, the Akhilesh fac-tion is also considering to gofor motorcycle symbol.

Though there are usual rantsof the bravado from both theMulayam and Akhilesh camps,the contours of the real politic aregradually sinking in particular-ly on those who are in the raceof contesting the elections andwhose name figure in both thelist announced by MulayamSingh and CM Akhilesh Yadav.The Election commission willissue the notification for the firstphase of the Assembly electionsin UP on January 17 where 73Assembly seats in Western UPwill go to polls on February 4.

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Lucknow: The ongoing familyfeud in Samajwadi Party foundmention in the advertisement inBharatiya Janata Party calling thefight between Mulayam SinghYadav and Akhilesh Yadav as‘drama’ drawing ire from SPleaders who called this com-mercial a sadist face of BJP.

On Sunday people woke upto see headline ad in all leadingnewspapers which read: Baapbete ke drame hazaar-nahichaahiye aisee sarkar. In thesame advertisement the BJPhas issued a toll free number.When one dials it one gets tohear a recorded message ofparty State president KeshavPrasad Maurya who thanks lis-tener for connecting with ‘Mannki baat’. There is an option for thelistener to get his views record-ed as what he wants in UP.

Sources said a video has also

been made on going familyfeud and would be released inelectronic media shortly. “I haveno idea about video it would bereleased from the Central head-quarter in Delhi,” a senior leadertold The Pioneer.

The BJP’s advertisement onSP family feud is seen as nega-tive campaign. “We admit thereis some problem in our family.Does it look nice for a partywhich talks about Hindu sanskarto make fun of this family cri-sis,” SP leader RajendraChaudhry said. “This shows theBJP leadership has a sadistmindset and it wants to humil-iate others,” he said.

The BJP strategists say thatthey have started their campaignby highlighting negatives of SPand BSP so that people couldknow how much damage theseparties have done to UP. ��%��(��&�� #$

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NOTICE INVITING e-TENDERS(1) The Executive Engineer (E), PWD DHC& ND/CENTRAL, Ground floor, MSO Bldg,New Delhi(Telephone-23310844) on behalfof President of India re-invites ONLINE itemrate bids from the O.E.M. or their authorizeddealer of Refex/Mafron/Dupont/Floron,Provided they meet Eligibility Criteria, asstipulated in the NIT:- for the followingwork (s):- which shall be received by E-Tendering.N/W:- MOEI & Fans and RMO Electrical andMechanical services installed at Delhi High Court,New Delhi. (SH:- Supply of Refrigerant Gas).NIT No: 367 /EE(E)/PWD DHC &ND/Central/2016-17Estimated Cost : Rs. 553150/-Earnest Money: Rs. 11063/- & period of com-pletion*Fifteen Days (15 Days), Last Dateand time submission of Tender upto 3:00PM on 18-01-2017The tender forms and other details can beobtained from the website:http://govtprocurement.delhi.gov.in atTender I.D. NO. 2017_PWD_121414_1(2) The Executive Engineer (E) PWD DHC& ND/CENTRAL, Ground floor MSO Bldg,IP Estate, New Delhi-110002 (Telephone no.23310844) on behalf of President of Indiainvites ONLINE item rate bids from theapproved and eligible contractors registeredwith CPWD in appropriate composite cate-gory or those of appropriates list of MES,BSNL and other state Govt. Department deal-ing with buildings and Roads and other expe-rienced non registered contractors, who sat-isfy the criteria of execution of similarworks, Provided they meet Eligibility Criteria,as stipulated in the NIT:- of the following work(s):- which shall be received by E-TenderingN/W:- RMO Strom Water Pumping Setsand HT, LT Panel & DG Sets, Subway andFOBs on Delhi PWD Road under PWDDHC& ND/Central, New Delhi. (SH:-Routine maintenance & operation of DGSets and Storm Water Pump Sets.)NIT No: 380/EE(E)/PWD DHC & ND/Central/2016-17Estimated Cost : Rs. 2990505/-Earnest Money: Rs. 59810/- & period of com-pletion Five Months (150 Days), Last Dateand time submission of Tender upto 3:00PM on 18-01-2017The tender forms and other details can beobtained from the website:http://govtprocurement.delhi.gov.in at

Tender I.D. NO. 2017_PWD_121399 _1DIP/Shabdarth/3101/16-17

Reports from the filmworld claim that theAamir Khan-starrerDangal has grossed thelargest ticket sale for the

first three weeks since its release, at�350 crore. Imagine how muchmore would have been collected bynewspapers and other media hadthey charged every viewer/readerfor all the daily diet of the politicaldangal (wrestling) going on in sev-eral States, political parties and theirGovernments since the last month!

Thanks to these reports ofwrangling and back-stabbing, pol-itics seems to entertain as much as,if not more than, what AamirKhan and other film producers andtheir imaginative plot-makers canoffer. The variety is nationwide andwith new actors on the prowl.

In Kerala, you thought therecently come-to-power Marxistswould be a paragon of virtue, as cor-ruption charges against the thenincumbent Congress-ledGovernment was the main cause ofthe latter’s defeat. But no, you aremistaken. Right now, Marxistvirtues have been overtaken by thecapitalist equations that say bloodis thicker than water.

One Marxist Minister has beenforced to resign as she has beencaught appointing her relatives injuicy positions in public sectorundertakings (PSUs) under herMinistry. A court probing a mur-der case has ordered that anotherMarxist Minister be included as aprime accused in that particularevent that happened before hisparty’s Government came to powerjust a few months ago.

Kerala’s ruling Marxists areriven by mutual accusations even asChief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan hassucceeded in cutting to size nona-genarian former leader and formerChief Minister VS Achuthanandanwithin the party hierarchy. For amore comprehensive view, read theKerala dailies or view the local chan-nels of the State.

Such ‘capitalist virtues’ likecorruption, nepotism, backstab-bing are allegedly dug out by theUnion Government agencies withequal ferocity in Kolkata too. TheState Government of theTrinamool Congress was voted fora second time to power because itsopposition to the incidents ofMarxists-in-power, who were for35 years at a stretch ruling WestBengal, was still fresh in theminds of the Bengali electorate.

But right now it is theTrinamool big fish whom theCentral Bureau of Investigation(CBI) and other vigilance agenciesare holding. Chief Minister Mamata

Banerjee is a fighter to her bonesand the political world in the coun-try had admired her determinationto get the Marxists out of the StateGovernment. With the shadow ofcorruption in the State over chitfunds scams falling on the respect-ed leaders of the TMC now inGovernment, Banerjee seeks tosecure her and her party’s image bydiverting the public anger againstdifferent Ministers of herGovernment, towards the incum-bent Union Government.

As if in a break in the traditionof leadership of regional partiespassing on from father to son, in themost important election battle-field of Uttar Pradesh, it is father ver-sus the son in the current rulingSamajwadi Party. Reporters with alife-time of political coverage behindthem, are also perplexed as fatherand son (and uncles and moreuncles) change positions and state-ments every second hour.

The BJP, all set to conquer,should be laughing away when itsrivals are keen to offer the State toit, so to say, on a platter. Analysts saythat for the young Chief Minister,the ‘young’ Congress vice presidentRahul Gandhi is good company to

lure the young voters in the State. The young-young combination

rather than a young-old combinehad the son chosen to follow thefather. Behind this drama beingplayed out in the Samajwadi Partyfor public edification or entertain-ment (take your pick), the long-timeking-maker in the crafty AmarSingh, is playing second fiddle.

You have much to entertainfurther south back again. First, thelong months of hospitalisation ofthe popular icon and ChiefMinister J Jayalalithaa, who alsoheaded her party as general sec-retary. You saw the AIADMKcadres and loyalists holding longprayer sessions invoking the godsto save their iconic leader.

Who would succeed her atthe head of the party and theGovernment? There were noimmediate claimants as she wasa spinster (like Mamata Banerjee).Her constant companion, SasikalaNatarajan, was the party’s choice.No one from the party’s leader-ship was fit for the job, though aparty leader finally became theChief Minister.

Emotion rather than politicalexperience and work in a political

party is the decideratum. Whynot? What was Rajiv Gandhi’spolitical experience when, frombeing a commercial pilot he waspitch-forked into prime minister-ship overnight (a three year job asparty general secretary in betweenis too short for political training)?It was because he was his motherIndira Gandhi’s son.

In Tamil Nadu, too, you can’tignore relations. Jayalalithaa’s rela-tions have just emerged and theirclaim is been projected. Whatevermight be the result of the powerstruggle, there is likely to be moredangal shows in the State’s politics.

For, in the rival DMK also, aspatriarch M Karunanidhi is mov-ing into his sunset years, it is theyounger son Stalin, who has beencrowned for succession by thepatriarch himself. How far theolder son who can follow onlyTamil, will take it lying down,remains to be seen.

The showcasing of struggles forpower is common in all democra-cies, but the final decision comesfrom political cadres and voters. Itis largely in our country that polit-ical families rule from generation togeneration, with the Nehru-Gandhis showing the way for suc-cessive generations.

To recall, even JawaharlalNehru was at the Congress’stop, courtesy his charismaticand rich father Motilal Nehru,who pleaded with MahatmaGandhi to let a young Jawaharlalpreside over Lahore meet of theCongress, though he was a newentrant into the party. TheNehru-Gandhi (Parsi Gandhiand not Gujarati bania Gandhi)family rule began thus.

If in the initial many genera-tions in politics, parties grow (orshrink) as if they are family prop-erties, the fighting spirit that poli-tics must encourage among cadresto earn their spur is flattened, andlow-level loyalties take its place. Itis the old monarchy, not a democ-racy, that emerges. Leaders seek towin support through offer of free-bies and juicy jobs to loyalists.

It is worth a clinical study as tohow family loyalties in politics andnot perception of quality leadershipcapabilities led to glass ceilings inall walks of life, how birth patternedIndia’s political journey anddepressed the fighting spirit amongthe common people. Politics as afamily dangal may be a great enter-tainment, but is surely not good forthe health of our democracy.

(The writer is former RajyaSabha member from the BJP andDelhi-based political and social analyst)1

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Sir — This refers to the article,“My Lords, this is judicial adven-turism” (Big Story, January 13)by Abraham Thomas. Judges,who back freedom of speech ofthe likes of Kanhaiya Kumar orsections of the media who workagainst national interests, cannottake away the common people’sopinion from outside of thecourts. People have their ownviews. Prashant Bhushan, theactivist-lawyer, who was party toso-called Sahara-Birla diariescase, openly questioned the apexcourt’s verdict on the issue. Thatis contempt of court, not thepeople’s differing opinion orarticles that criticise verdictson merit. People who are notparty to any case need to bebrave to display their honestopinions so that judicial reformscan be done with transparency.

Premolal Via email

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Sir — This refers to the contro-versy over the photograph ofPrime Minister Narendra Modion calendars and diaries of theKhadi and Village Industries

Commission (KVIC) for 2017. Itis noteworthy that each of the12-page calendars of theGovernment of India also has aphotograph of the PrimeMinister in different poses.Otherwise also, daily newspaperadvertisements of the UnionGovernment and even someState regimes carry photographsof the Prime Minister. All this isa result of a Supreme Court ver-dict which, initially allowingphotos of President, PrimeMinister and Chief Justice ofIndia in Government advertise-ments, relaxed the rule toinclude photographs of UnionCabinet Ministers, StateGovernors, Chief Ministers andMinisters in States too.

It is noteworthy that thethen Chief Justice of India PSathasivam had set a healthytrend by not allowing his pho-tograph in Government adver-tisements. The Supreme Courtshould suo motu review its order.

SC AgrawalDelhi

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Sir — The Supreme Court hastaken a decision to ban thesport, Jallikattu, in Tamil Nadu.But the DMK working president

and Opposition leader in theState, MK Stalin, has trained hisguns on Prime MinisterNarendra Modi on the issue.Stalin wants a CentralOrdinance to hold the sport andcalls for the AIADMK to pressthe Centre for it.

But what can the PrimeMinister do when the apex courthas banned the cruel practice ofbull-fight? Does the DMK wantthe Prime Minister to face con-tempt of court charges?

Also parties opposeOrdinances, calling them againstthe federal spirit of theConstitution and an attempt bythe Centre to stifle their rights.But they demand an Ordinancewhen it suits them.

KV SeetharamaiahHassan

��Sir — Jallikattu may be consid-ered cruel by animal rightsactivists and other like-mindedpeople, but its cultural link to theState cannot be ignored. A solu-tion has to take care of both theangles and not be arbitrary.

V RamaChennai

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The liberals, media, Leftists,socialists and also intellec-tuals have been a part of

the establishment in India untila change of regime happened in2014. It started with formerPrime Minister Jawaharlal Nehruselectively entrusting them withthe position of eminence in allGovernment-sponsored educa-tional and research institutionsand foreign junkets. This policycontinued throughout successiveCongress regime for about 60years. However, Prime MinisterNarendra Modi has given thema nudge. The monopoly over allwisdom that they commandedhas been challenged.

They are now scared thattheir control and dominance ofeconomic and political prescrip-tions would not hold sway andthey would no longer be able tostifle contrary views. The Modi-baiters perceive the actions of thePrime Minister through the fil-ter of their immense dislike for

him and have the followinggrievances to speak about:

� That he has blood on hishand for the Gujarat violencet.But the country’s highest courthas exonerated him completely.

�� That he is communal.But there has been no other com-munal riot in Gujarat during hischief ministership and general-ly speaking, there have been lesssuch incidents in BJP-ruledStates.

��That he is authoritarian.As a matter of fact, PrimeMinister Modi is less authoritar-ian as compared to JawaharlalNehru, Indira Gandhi or RajivGandhi. A critical media, inde-pendent judiciary, human rightsbodies and a vibrant Parliamentare now thriving in India.

Moreover, demonetisationcan’t be criticised as anti-choiceand authoritarian because it hasbeen rolled out to serve a socialcause like the nationalisation ofbanks. We have seen that in

external relations too. PrimeMinister Modi has not onlybeen most accommodative, butforceful as well, as his diplomat-ic dealings with Pakistan prove.

��That he is pro-rich andhas ties with Sahara, Adani etc:But the Supreme Court hasfound no substance in theseallegations. What is more sig-nificant is that Modi’s policy of‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas’ isabsolutely non-discriminatoryvis-à-vis policies of other par-ties. For example, poverty alle-viation, which is essentiallytargeted at the poor.

These programmes arebased on a concept of dividedpolity, and despite good inten-tions, they end up aggravating fis-sures. Prime Minister Modi hasreplaced this by a philosophy ofsabka vikas which is essentiallyharmonic in its spirit.

Secularists also accuse thePrime Minister of courting theHindu right organisations, which

includes the RashtriyaSwayamsevak Sangh (RSS).

The Left-liberal attitudetowards the RSS has been uncan-nily similar to the old brahman-ical fear of pollution, as if, the veryname of the RSS, is defining.

But we should note that theRSS and other allied organisa-tions are known for their largescale social service. The reliefwork undertaken by them dur-ing rain and flood in Chennaiand Uttarakhandavalanche/earthquake in recenttimes have been outstanding tosay the least.

Prime Minister Modi is alsocriticised for being open to theIndian viewpoint. These Modi-baiters are mostly Wastern-edu-cated. They also hate to believethat a totally Indian viewpoint,which inevitably is different fromthe Western perspective, is worthlistening to. They are so Westernoriented in their approach thatthey think a contra view is

bound to be reactionary. Rabindranath Tagore, in an

insightful essay titled, ‘TheHistory of Bharatavarsha’, bit-terly complained about this in1903: “Our real ties are with theBharatavarsha that lies outsideour textbooks. It appears as ifwe are nobody in India; as ifthose who came from outsidealone matter.”

He was echoed in 1942 byscholar and statesman KMMunshi: “Most of our historiesof India deal with certainevents and periods not fromthe Indian point of view, butfrom that of some source towhich they are partial andwhich by its very nature isloaded against India.”

Finally, the hatred from thepoliticians in the Opposition isaccentuated because PrimeMinister Modi is graduallywinning away their pasture ofclass and caste discrimina-tion/disgruntlement through

his programme, ‘Sabka Saath,Sabka Vikas’.

Prime Minister Modi hasraised expectations of all sec-tions of society, irrespective ofcaste, class and religion, andthere is every chance thatvote-banks of opposition par-ties will get eroded.

Actually, Modi is on to along-term experiment inIndia. He and his Governmentaim to re-engineer humansouls and minds as much associo-economic realities. Themost significant change Indianeeds is a transformation to acorruption free and a commit-ted society. A society thatvalues integrity and efficien-cy at every level.

Success and failure in thisgrand effort cannot be mea-sured through the convention-al terms of Western culturedtechno-intellectuals.

(The writer is a commenta-tor on contemporary issues)

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Recently, vandals desecratedat least 20 Hindu idols andthree temples in Jamaibazar area in Tungipara ofGopalganj district of

Bangladesh. Coincidentally, Tungiparais the spot where the Father of theNation, Bangabandhu Sheikh MujiburRahman is resting, whose daughterSheikh Hasina, is today, the PrimeMinister of Bangladesh, who is gen-erally perceived to be secular and pro-minority.

Despite this, if the Hindus contin-ue to incur the wrath of the funda-mentalist majority community, it’s adiscouraging trend, not only becauseHasina has a massive Hindu vote-bank returning her to power eachtime, but also because the Hindus’safety and security remains a criticalconcern with long-term implications,possibly adversely affecting India.

Other than this, the Tungiparaincident of excesses on Hindus, fromSeptember 27, 2016, onwards, therehave been consistent attacks on themand their temples. During Kali puja,in Habiganj district, many idols ofgodesses were smashed. There werereports of grabbing of Hindu proper-ty through the notorious ShahadatVahini, terrorising the minority com-munity, forcing them to abandontheir estates and flee to India.

It would appear from the patternprevailing in Bangladesh today, that theHindus are at the receiving end. Beingtargeted time and again, in terms oflosing their immovable property at thehands of the Islamic unscrupulous anti-Hindu elements, forced conversions,destruction of Hindu places of worship

and disparaging anti-Hindu rhetoricresonating at various fora.

Most recent such activity was seenat Chittagong on January 7, when thePir of Chormonai, Amir Mufti SyedMohammad Rezaul Karim, whileaddressing a mammoth gathering ofzealots, came down heavily on Hindupractices, including justifying cowslaughter and beef eating. He accusedthe Hasina Government of imposingwhat he described the Hindu syllabusfor the Muslims’ curriculum.

Maintaining his acerbic anti-Hindupitch, the Pir also came down heavilyon Rabindranath Tagore for his “pro-Hindu” education policies. The tenorof Pir’s anti -Hindu oration seemedhighly inflammatory.

If there is no backlash by theHindus, as a reaction to this fiery out-burst, it’s only because they are numer-ically less and bereft of any musclepower and political support.

In this context, it merits underlin-ing that the Pir of Chormonai is veryclose to Chairman of the Jatiya Partyand former Bangladesh PresidentHussain Muhammad Ershad. Ershadhas not given up his political ambi-tions, and continues to court Hasinato remain in the proximity of corri-dors of power.

He has also been regularly sendingovertures to India for support. Ershadis not a freedom-fighter, and during theliberation struggle of 1970-1971, heremained in Pakistan.

He was back in Bangladesh only in1973, manipulated to become theArmy Chief, then the Chief MartialLaw Administrator, and subsequentlythe President of the country.

During his presidentship, in thewake of attempts to bring down theBabri masjid, Ershad allowed anti-Indiaforces to violently target Indian facil-ities in Bangladesh, including places ofworship, offices of Indian Airlines,India Information Centre etc.

By the prevailing happenings, itseems, anti-Hindu agenda is on theanvil and the Pir and other like-mind-ed forces are warming up to provokethe secular segment in Bangladesh tolie dormant.

Importantly, the Pir’s recent pres-ence and address in Chittagong is,perhaps, a maiden one. Earlier, sim-ilar congregations were regularlyaddressed by a pro-Pakistan, anti-India and anti Hindu Jamaat-e-Islami(JeI) leader Delwar Hossain Sayeedi.Sayeedi is now undergoing a life sen-tence on charges of collaboratingwith occupation forces (Pakistan)during the liberation war.

The Pir has obviously taken overthe role of Sayeedi. And he enjoys thetacit support of Ershad. Nexus is clearand unholy. In a different vein, the Piralso sympathised with the Rohingyascalling for a steadfast pan-Islamicunity to fight the anti-Islamic forces.The hint was obviously to the Hindusand to India.

Hasina has established her creden-tials to fight terror and we are notic-ing extermination of Islamic terroristsin Bangladesh at regular intervals. Shehas done well in getting Bangladesh ridof Indian militants once sheltered onthe Bangladesh soil. Her intentions tofight fundamentalism and terror arenot in doubt.

Yet, she needs to rally secular

forces within, to combat and silencethe voices of those trying to sow seedsof communal discord and intimidateHindus to reel under a sense of fearand insecurity.

Skeptics feel, a large section of theruling Awami League are in hand inglove with the anti-Hindu elements todrive them away. Such misgivingsmust be dispelled and by visible action.

Abul Barkat, a noted economist,while addressing a seminar inRajshahi sometime back, stated thaton an average, 632 Hindus leftBangladesh each day over a period of49 years (1964-2013).

In 1947, the Hindu population inBangladesh was 30 per cent. From1991, a pattern saw steady decline inthe number of Hindus and today, itstands at a dismal nine per cent.

On the whole, the Hindus are indeep sense of insecurity and uncertain-ty. Their plight calls for urgent redres-sal involving political wisdom, soundinsight and mature judgement.

The Hindus have colossal contri-bution to their credit in liberatingBangladesh as a free nation, buildingthe country with progressive and sec-ular ideals, enriching literature and cul-ture with their Muslim brethren.

This contribution may not berecognised by the Islamic and regres-sive forces, but protection to Hindusand their religious places remains astate responsibility. Hasina must ensurethis sooner than later.

(The writer is a retired IPS officer,security analyst and Bangladesh watcher. He is a senior fellow with theIndia Police Foundation. Viewsexpressed are personal)

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��+��Economic AffairsSecretary Shaktikanta Dastoday asked Amazon todesist from being flippantabout Indian symbols andicons, cautioning it that“indifference will be at yourown peril”.

“Amazon, better behave.Desist from being flippantabout Indian symbols &icons. Indifference will be atyour own peril,” Das said ina tweet.

In another tweet howev-er he added: “Comment onAmazon was as a citizen ofIndia as I felt strongly aboutit. Nothing more should beread into it.”

Last week, after a strongprotest by India overAmazon selling doormatsdepicting Indian flag, the e-retail giant removed theoffensive article from itsCanadian website.

A sp okesman forAmazon based at its head-quarters in Seattle had toldThe Washington Post thatthe doormat was no longerfor sale on its website.

After the Indian flagincident, External AffairsMinister Sushma Swaraj hadreceived several complaintsof Amazon selling flip-flopswith Mahatma Gandhi’simage.

Some Twitter users havetagged Swaraj in their tweetscomplaining that the beachsandals with Gandhi’s imagewere being sold on the

Amazon US site.When asked, Ministry of

Externa l Af fai rsSpokesperson Vikas Swarupdid not specifically mentionthe issue, saying, “As a followup to the matter regardingthe sale of doormats with theIndian flag on Amazon, ourAmbassador in Washingtonhas been instructed to con-

vey to Amazon that whileproviding a platform forthird party vendors, theyshould respect Indian sensi-tivities and sentiments.”Inthe third tweet, Das said:“Remain committed to eco-nomic reforms, ease of doingbusiness & open trade.Sometimes get touchy whenour icons are involved.” ��

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Property market, long con-sidered a black money safe

haven, seems to have taken abig hit from demonetisation,with developers seeing theirsales drop by about 50 per centin the last three months andnow pinning their hopes onbuyers coming to market with‘white money’.

The genuine buyers in theresidential market, on the otherhand, appear to be holdingback their purchase plans onhopes that the interest rateswould fall further and theproperty prices would plungepost demonetisation, whichsome see as a ‘cleansing’ of asector infested with illicit funds.

As per the industry data,the secondary or resale market,where maximum black moneytypically gets parked, has beenworst-affected as transactionsalmost dried up, barring someinterest in marque properties,due to paucity of cash afterscrapping of old �500 and�1,000 notes.

The registration of prop-erties also saw a decline. In theprocess, developers are esti-mated to have incurred a rev-enue loss of �22,600 crorebecause of the cash ban whilestate governments suffered anotional loss on stamp duty of�1,200 crore, as per property

consultant Knight Frank India.Top officials of several

developers across the country-- from Chennai to Kolkata,from Hyderabad to Pune andMumbai to Bengaluru andentire national capital region -- admitted that the markettook a big hit post demoneti-sation though they foresee sig-nificant long-term gains,expecting all future deals to bethrough banking channels.

However, many developersand property consultants alsosaid it is too early to say thatblack money has been com-pletely eliminated from thesector though it has becomeexceedingly difficult to executecash transactions as of now.

They feel that demonetisa-tion, along with the new realestate regulatory Act and theBenami Properties Act, wouldhelp in eradicating the practiceof parking black money in realestate to a great extent andimprove the industry’s image.

States are yet to reviseguidance values or circle ratespost demonetisation, but mayhave to soon consider loweringthe rates to reflect market sen-timent.

“Property sale, in both pri-mary and secondary markets,were affected duringNovember-December due todemonetisation as consumerspostponed their buying deci-

sions not only in real estate butacross all the sectors,” realtors’apex body CREDAI PresidentGetamber Anand told the newsagency.

Sales in the primary mar-ket have started to improve,with banks lowering interestrates on home loans, hesaid, adding that it will takesome time for revival in thesecondary market where buy-ers need to reengineer invest-ment strategy.

Top developer DLF’s CEORajeev Talwar said the realeffect of demonetisation will bethat secondary sales wouldalso become like primary salesand transactions will happenthrough banking channels.

“Real estate will becometotally transparent,” headded.According to KnightFrank, which tracks prima-ryresidential market of eightbig cities, housing sales fell by44 per cent during October-December 2016 at nearly41,000 units compared with theyear-ago period while newlaunches dropped by 61 percent.

The Delhi-NCR market,which was already facingdemand slowdown and hugedelays in project completion,saw maximum fall in housingsales during October-December at 53 per cent.

Mumbai saw 50 per cent

decline in fourth quarter sales,Bengaluru 45 per cent,Ahmedabad 43 per cent,Hyderabad 40 per cent, Pune35 per cent, Chennai 31 percent and Kolkata 20 per cent.

The fall could have beensteeper but for high festivesales in October, days beforethe demonetisation was effect-ed.

“The Indian Government’sdemonetisation move onNovember 8 brought the mar-ket to a complete standstill.Against this backdrop, devel-opers refrained from announc-ing any new launches and buy-ers turned extremely cautiousbefore committing on pur-chases,” the Knight Frank India

report said.Bengaluru-based Sobha,

the only company to havereported its sales bookings forthe October-December quarterso far, said that its sales book-ings fell by 22 per cent at�373.2 crore against �478.3crore in the year-ago period.

On the impact on the sec-ondary market, Knight Frank’sSamantak Das said: “Resalemarket is under tremendouspressure after the demonetisa-tion move. Besides, traction forsome marque properties, therewere hardly any transactions,”he said.

“It will take 2-3 quarters forthe resale market to witnesssome uptick in sales. The deals

will be much more transparentnow.”

Asked whether blackmoney in realty will be com-pletely eliminated post notesban, CBRE Chairman (India-South East Asia) AnshumanMagazine said: “While it is stilltoo early to gauge the fullimpact of the demonetisationdrive, we believe that it is a boldstep towards bringing in trans-parency into the sector andboosting consumer sentimentand investments in sector.”

JLL India’s newly-appoint-ed Country Head Ramesh Nairfeels that it cannot be said withcertainty that the problem ofblack money has been com-pletely eliminated from thesector.

“Cash was seen to beinvolved in certain segments ofluxury housing and with small-er developers as also with thesecondary housing market.New measures have made itdifficult to undertake cash-driven transactions and there isa greater acceptance of under-taking clean transactions,” hesaid.

Cushman & Wakefieldnoted that the property sectorhas been a safe haven for unac-counted money due to theunorganised nature of theindustry and transactions inthe secondary housing marketand land deals had a high

component of cash involved.However, it said that “since

the Government announceddemonetisation, cash paymentsin such kind of transactionshave been eliminated to a largeextent. The difficulty in mak-ing cash payments has result-ed in slow sales, especially forthose developers who reliedheavily on cash transactions”.According to developers andproperty consultants, housingsales were impacted adverselyduring November-Decemberbut the leasing of commercialspaces remained unaffected.

Stating that demonetisa-tion has propelled Indiatowards a digital economy,Tata Housing MD and CEOBrotin Banerjee said: “Thiswill further enhance the man-ner in which real estate istransacted – cleaner and moretransparent transactions in theindustry, helping both devel-opers and consumers.”

Low interest rate wouldgive the real estate sector aboost by escalating sentimentand demand over time, headded.

Mumbai-based realty firmHiranandani Group CMDNiranjan Hiranandani said thesecondary market would beimpacted. “They will have tomigrate to a system wherecheque payments will comprisea large component, if not fully,

of their dealings.”SARE Home MD Vineet

Relia said that there has beena decline in property registra-tions post-demonetisation.“State governments are con-sidering revision in the guide-line values to control theimpact and Delhi Governmenthas already formed committeesto rationalise the circle rate,” headded.

Bengaluru’s leading devel-oper Puravankara’s MD AshishPuravankara said demonetisa-tion would have a positiveimpact on real estate over time.

“This move alters themacros of the economy due tohigher liquidity, resulting inlower inflation and cost ofborrowing. This would lead tointerest rate sensitive sectorslike real estate to expand itsgrowth through high sale vol-umes, in a totally new envi-ronment,” he added.

On black money, BrigadeGroup’s CEO (Residential) OmAhuja said, “Black money to agreat extent was limited tounorganised sector and plotteddevelopments. With demon-etisation, both these sectors areimpacted along with re-sale.”

Ahuja said the organisedplayers deal only throughcheques and the percentage ofdigital payments would alsodouble in coming months fromthe current 15 per cent.

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Finance Minister ArunJaitley may address the

transient pain of demonetisa-tion by cutting corporate taxrates when he presents theBudget for 2017-18 in just overtwo weeks time.

Jait ley in his secondBudget speech in February2015 had announced phasingout of tax incentives witheffect from April 1, 2017 andreducing the corporate taxrate from 30 per cent to 25 percent.

In a survey by DeloitteTouche Tohmatsu India LLP,commissioned on Budgetexpectations of India Inc, 53per cent of the respondentsexpect the corporate tax rate tobe reduced this time.

“Given the strict measures

taken by the Government incurbing black money, it maybe the appropriate time toreduce the tax rate,” Deloittenoted.

Corporate tax accountedfor a little less than a fifth (19per cent) of the Government’sreceipts last fiscal whereasincome tax receipts account-ed for just 14 per cent of totalreceipts.

“Since the demonetisationannouncement, one of themajor concerns has beenaround the deceleration ofthe growth momentum in theeconomy emanating from adecline in demand. This con-cern resonates in survey aswell because 80 per cent ofrespondents think theGovernment would unveilmeasures to counteract thenegative impact on demand,”

it said.Deloitte further said, 40

per cent of the respondentsagree that complete phase-out of tax incentives is a goodmeasure and will reduce liti-gation.

An equal number of par-ticipants believe profit-linkedtax incentives should contin-ue for growth sectors likeinfrastructure.

Interestingly, 15 per centof the respondents agree thatinstead of phasing out incen-tives for infrastructure sector,it should continue in the formof investment-linked taxincentive.

“Considering that sometax incentives will continue,one of the most eligible sectorsis the infrastructure sectorsince the higher tax cost willimpact the common man,” it

said.A majority of respondents

(66 per cent) think that thegains from demonetisationare likely to be focused ondevelopment expenditure so asto boost investment demandin he economy.

As much as 26 per cent ofthem are of view that thegains will be spread evenlyacross major expenditure areasas the government possiblytries to limit the fallout on var-ious sectors, Deloitte saidadding a 6 per cent think thatthe government can go in forincreasing subsidy expendi-ture.

“Therefore, the industryclearly continues to hope forpolicy measures that strength-en the pace of structuralreforms,” it said. On theimpact of demonetisation on

real estate industry, the surveysaid, there may be a phase ofdepressed demand, but thelow-cost and affordable seg-ment will be the driver ofgrowth.

“When additional fundscome back in the system,mortgage rates will reduceand with the benefits offeredby the government, low-costand affordable housing will beback in demand,” it said.

Deloitte said tax regime isone of the significant consid-erations for multinationalcompanies to set up theirbusiness in a particular taxjurisdiction.

About 43 per cent respon-dents reinforce this sentiment,giving more than 20 per centweightage to the attractivenessof tax jurisdictions for carry-ing business. Very few respon-

dents (4 per cent) gave lessthan 10 per cent weightage.

Among measures toachieve ease of doing business,the survey respondents placedhigher weightage on tax ratereduction (35 per cent), fol-lowed by dispute preventionmeasures (23 per cent) andeffective dispute resolutionmechanism (16 per cent).

Co-operative tax assess-ment mechanism and improve-ment in taxpayer service werethe other two important mea-sures pointed out by the respon-dents.

“Surprisingly, easier appli-cation of foreign tax creditrules and burden of DividendDistribution Tax (DDT) did notappear to weigh higher on themind of the respondents,” itsaid.

On expectations of recov-

ery in global economy, Deloittesaid of late, some positive newshas come from developedeconomies which seems to havegenerated somewhat of an opti-mistic outlook in the markets.

About 66 per cent of theparticipants feel the globaleconomy is likely to witness arecovery in growth rates in FY2016-17 while 21 per cent thinkthat it is unlikely to be the case.

“It is important to note thatthere are still numerous macrorisks like rising trade tensions,oil prices as well as an increas-ing environment of uncertain-ty in the global markets, thatpose challenge to any mean-ingful recovery,” it said.

About 46 per cent of therespondents said the impact oftax administration improve-ment measures like no routinefiling of appeal cases by the rev-

enue, risk-based audit selectionand electronic refund transferswere significant.

On General AntiAvoidance Rules (GAAR),which was introduced for thefirst time through Finance Act2013 but its implementationdeferred to Arpil 1, 2017, onlya 37 per cent said their organ-isations were ready for itsimplementation while the otherwere either not prepared at allor unsure about their pre-paredness.

“In view of an array ofreforms such as demonetisa-tion, Goods and Services Tax,country by country reportingregarding transfer pricing infor-mation, etc, the governmentmay consider providing moretime to the industry to deal withGAAR,” Deloitte said.

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��+��Amazon.In will cre-ate well over 7,500 temporaryjobs for its upcoming sale, andthese positions will mostly be inlogistics to ensure smooth deliv-eries.

Amazon.In will host its‘Great Indian Sale’ betweenJanuary 20-22, 2017.

“We have opened morethan 7,500 seasonal roles for ourupcoming Great Indian Sale.These roles will be available at27 Fulfilment Centres, over 100delivery stations and close to 15sort centres across the country,”Amazon India Vice President –India Customer FulfilmentAkhil Saxena told the newsagency.

He added that throughoutthe year, Amazon.In generatesthousands of seasonal jobopportunities, as well as oppor-tunities for long term careerdevelopment.

“Recruitment for seasonalroles is now underway and will

be trained for the upcomingsale. We are excited to welcomethese new personnel,” he said.

Locked in an intense battlefor leadership in the Indian e-commerce market with localrivals like Flipkart and Snapdeal,Amazon.In has aggressivelyinvested in expanding its infra-structure and delivery capabil-ities.

The company has investedin six new Fulfilment Centres(FCs) last year, taking the totalnumber of operational FCs to 27in 10 states.

“The infrastructure thathas been built helps thousandsof sellers reach millions of newcustomers across the country.It has also enabled Amazon.Into offer faster and quickerdelivery of products to morepin codes,” he said.

The US-based Amazonhas committed investmentsworth over $5 billion for itsIndia operations. ��

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Ruing that the debate oncorruption against the

backdrop of demonetisationis a throwback to “bad olddays” of rich versus poor dis-course under Indira Gandhi,CII President NaushadForbes said wealth and dis-honesty should be delinkedand we should be respectfulof “honest riches”.

In an interview to thenews agency, he said the cor-ruption debate post currencyrecall has turned into the‘rich versus poor’ narrative.

“I think that’s wrong. Itshould not be seen as a richversus poor debate. It shouldbe seen as a honest versus dis-honest debate. And the hon-est-dishonest debate is notrich-poor,” he said.

The association betweenrichness and dishonesty is“very troubling” and a throw-back to the days of the 1970sunder Indira Gandhi, he said.

Forbes said that Indiahas moved a long way in thelast 25 years from the timeswhen there was an emphasisonly on rhetoric to an empha-sis on new economy, andcautioned that it should notgo back to 1970s.

“There is this associa-tion, that we sometimesheard, made between rich-ness and dishonesty which isvery troubling. It is a throw-back to bad old days of IndiraGandhi... And the economythat we have moved to in the

last 25 years, we should notgo back. So the rich and dis-honest, these two wordsshould be delinked,” he said.

Rubbishing the con-tention that rich people aremore dishonest than thepoor, he said, “We should beequally respectful of honestriches, as we are of poverty.”

Asked what theGovernment should do todisassociate itself from thisdebate, Forbes said, “Fromthe Government point ofview, what people in policyand politics say, they shouldalso be respectful of wealthand recognise that this issomething people shouldaspire for.”

Asked why he calls it athrowback to 1970s, he saidin those days Governmentwas not too impressed withthe business class.

“In the bad old days of70s there was this generalperception that richness was

bad, industr ia l is ts werecrooked... These generalisa-tions. We have moved awayfrom this feeling in last 25years and we shouldn’t lose it.

“So, this rhetoric thatsomehow associates richnesswith dishonesty is very dam-aging to the country, weshouldn’t go back to the badold days of 70s,” he said.

He said to disassociatefrom this viewpoint, industryhas to emphasise that theremight be a crooked industri-alist, but a typical industrial-ist is not dishonest.

“The typical industrialistis an industrialist who isworking in a honest way tocontribute to the economyand should be respected forthe wealth that results. Thatwealth in itself is somethingto respect when it is obtainedhonestly. That message issomething that we have towork hard on as an industry,”Forbes said.

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About 44 airports across thecountry have “high poten-

tial” for operations under theambitious Regional ConnectivityScheme (RCS) for civil aviation,UDAN, according to a reportbrought out by apex industrybody FICCI has said.

“Based on the geographical,operational and commercialparameters, 44 out of the 414underserved and unserved air-ports have high potential underRCS.

“We have also identifiedaround 370 potential destinationsfor the shortlisted airports,including metros, state capitalsand important commercial,industrial and tourism centres,”said the FICCI report, broughtout in concert with global pro-fessional service companyKPMG.

Uttar Pradesh has four highpotential RCS destinations, threeeach in Maharashtra, Rajasthan,West Bengal, Assam, two each inArunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya,Bihar, Karnataka, HimachalPradesh, Gujarat, Chhattisgarhand one each in Andhra Pradesh,Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Odisha,J&K, Puducherry, Lakshadweep,Daman and Diu, Haryana,Madhya Pradesh Jharkhand andUttarakhand.

“So far 22 states have joinedthe RCS and we have identified30 airports where operationscould be started immediately,”Union Civil Aviation SecretaryRajiv Nayan Choubey told thenews agency.

RCS, or UDAN ((Ude Desh

Ka Aam Naagrik), was intro-duced as part of the NationalCivil Aviation Policy 2016 andwas formally launched inOctober last. It provides anopportunity to take flying to themasses by way of fiscal incentives,infrastructure support and mon-etary subsidies (viability gapfunding).

Noting that RCS was a goodscheme, Regional Director ofInternational Civil AviationOrganisation Arun Mishra, how-ever, said India did not have thewherewithal right now for RCSto become successful.

“They are trying to build thewherewithal but it will take sometime,” he said. “We have to becareful about creating theenabling conditions for thisscheme to become successful.One of the most importantthings is the right size of aircraftthat you need.”

He said a plan was requiredto induct smaller aircraft forRCS operations.

“Many of the airports (iden-tified for RCS) do not have bigrunways, so they can’t take reg-ular aircraft. We need to inductsmaller aircraft for short runwaysfor short takeoffs and landings.

“Those aircraft are not avail-able in our country,” Mishra, whoearlier served as Director Generalof Civil Aviation, pointed out.Also, Mishra said, there wasshortage of pilots andcrew.

“Small aircraft need spe-cialised crew. We need a specialinitiative from the Governmentto build that up. Pilots and engi-neers can’t come overnight. Weneed to train them,” he added.

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The Finance Ministry islikely to finalise capi-

tal infusion plan for pub-lic sector banks (PSBs)this week based on therequest of various lenderswhich have been impactedby demonetisation amidrising bad loans.

Final touches are beinggiven based on the feed-back from all banks andthe plan should be readyby this week, sources said.

The capital infusionw o u l d b e m o r e t h a n�25,000 crore announcedin the earlier Budget andthe addit ional require-ment would reflect in thef i n a l b a t c h o fSupplementar y Demandfor Grants to be presentedin the upcoming Budgetsession, they said.

Saddled with r i s ingb a d l o ans , b an k s h avealready made a case for

higher capita l infus ionand it is reflected in theirdemand sent to the min-istry, sources added.

Besides, their normalbusiness has hit duringthe demonetisation peri-od.

The government hasalready announced fundinfusion of �22,915 crore,out of the �25,000 croreearmarked for 13 PSBs forthe current fiscal. Of this,75 per cent has alreadybeen released to them.

The first tranche wasannounced with the objec-tive of enhancing theirlending operat ions andenabl ing them to raisem ore m on e y f rom t h emarket.

The capital infusion

exercise for the currentf i s c a l i s b a s e d o n a nassessment of the com-pounded annual growthr ate ( C AG R ) of c re d i tgrowth for the last fiveyears, banks’ own projec-tions of credit growth andan objective assessment ofthe potential for growth ofeach PSB, the ministr yhad said.

Under Indradhanushroadmap announced lastyear, the government willinfuse �70,000 crore instate banks over four yearswhile they will have toraise a further �1.1 lakhcrore from the markets tomeet their capital require-ment in line with globalrisk norms Basel-III.

In line with the blue-pr int , PSBs are to ge t�25,000 crore in each fis-cal, 2015-16 and 2016-17.B e s i d e s , �1 0 , 0 0 0 c roreeach would be infused in2017-18 and 2018-19.

�� 8�;��2��$<:777�� +� �� National Stock

Exchange (NSE) is likely to startthe interview process this weekfor the post of ManagingDirector and CEO, for which 8-10 candidates are in seriouscontention.

More than 90 persons haveapplied for the position which fellvacant after the sudden resigna-tion of Chitra Ramkrishna inDecember.

Sources said the interviewprocess is expected to start thisweek and there are around 8-10candidates in serious contentionfor the top post at the country’slargest bourse.

Those believed to be con-sidered include former chief ofanother stock exchange and thecurrent Chief of a commoditybourse, sources said, addingthat the probable candidatesinclude even those who didn’tapply for the job on their ownbut were considered possiblysuitable by the search panel onits own.

Leading commodity bourseMCX’s MD and CEO MrugankParanjape however denied hav-ing even applied for the post.“Mrugank Paranjape is not in the

race for NSE’s MD & CEO. MCXvehemently denies this,” an MCXspokesperson said in a statement.

NSE has received over 90applications for the top job andmost of the applicants are frombanks and financial institutions.

Rival bourse BSE’sManaging Director and CEOAshishkumar Chauhan is notamong those considered for thetop job at NSE, contrary towhat was being speculated, andhe did not even apply, accordingto sources.

NSE interim MD and CEOJ Ravichandran did not applyand it was his personal choice,they added.

A four-member searchpanel comprising public inter-est directors at NSE -- DineshKanabar and T V Mohandas Pai-- industrialist Anand Mahindraand former RBI Deputy

Governor Usha Thorat are look-ing for a suitable candidate.Consultancy Egon Zehnder hasbeen appointed to help with thehiring process.

The filling up of the toppost is being closely watched byinvestors as NSE is preparing foran initial public offer which isexpected to be one of the biggestin recent times. In a surprisemove, Ramkrishna, onDecember 2, quit with imme-diate effect presumably over dif-ferences with some board mem-bers.

The exit of 52-year-oldRamkrishna also came at atime when NSE has been infocus over a new regulatoryframework for high frequencytrades and co-location facilities,which some believe give undueadvantage to some brokers andtraders. ��

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6#7 $#89N As the NewDelhi World B ook Faircomes to a close on Sunday,the nine-day long event wasan “excellent” experiencewith leading publishinghouses making significantprofit on sales compared toprevious years.

Vimal Kumar, GeneralManager at Speaking Tigersaid they had “unexpectedsales”, despite facing severaltechnical glitches in theaftermath of demonetisa-tion.

“Due to demonetisationwe faced several problemssince many a times cardmachines didn’t work due tolack of signals. But, it hasbeen an excellent experi-ence, rather unexpectedsales for Speaking Tiger.Our sales have almost dou-bled this year,” he said.

Some of the top sellers atthe stall included ‘Himalaya:Adventures, Meditations,Life’ edited by Ruskin Bondand Namita Gokhale, and‘Murderer in Mahim’ byJerry Pinto among others.

For Penguin India ,which saw a hike of nearly20 per cent in business fromlast year’s fair, the eventbeing moved ahead by amont h f rom t he usua l

Febr uar y, has worke dfavourably.

“The book fair used tobe held in February until acouple of years ago and thismove into January has actu-ally helped the sales due toextended winter break inschools, festivals, etc. Thereis a carnival like atmosphereat the Pragat i Maidan,”Nandan Jha, Vice president,Pro duc t and Sa les atPenguin Random HouseIndia, told the news agency.

Al l t ime ch i ldrenfavourites like ‘Diary of aWimpy Kid’, Roald Dahl,‘Tintin Series’ and SudhaMurty, books by SalmanRushdie, classics, and booksby Bollywood celebritiesincluding Karan Johar’sautobiog raphy, ‘AnUnsuitable Boy’ and TwinkleKhanna’s ‘Mrs Funnybones’were major business makersfor the publishing house.

Other top sellers includ-ed b o oks by DevduttPattanaik , Y C assandraClare, Elif Shafak, ElonMusk, ‘The Fault in OurStars’, ‘Inner Engineering’and Paulo Coelho’s ‘The Spy’.

Har p er C ol l ins a l soasserted that the turnoutwas better compared to lastyear with titles by Paulo

Coelho, Agatha Christie,Nadia Hasmi and SidneySheldon fetching impressivebusiness and customerskeeping credit/debit cardshandy.

“There has been a goodturnout in comparison tolast year. The sales haveincreased around 15 per centthis year for us. Popularinternational titles have beena major draw.

“Even Khushwant Singh,Arvind Adiga and RishiKapoor’s ‘Khulam Khulla’were in large demand. Wedidn’t see any ef fect ofdemonetisation since peopleeasily did digital payments,”Vikas Sharma, Head of KeyAccounts at Harper Collins,said. Pan MacmMillan’s stallat the fair was thronged byvisitors looking for the latestBooker Prize winning “TheSellout” by Paul Beatty,besides ‘Truth About Trump’by Michael D’antonio andbooks by Jefferey Archer.

“The crowd is muchmore this time and we haveseen around 20 pet centincrease in our sales. Wedid not face any problem dueto demonet isat ion andeverything was managedquite well,” Ratna Joshi, Headof Market ing at Pan

Macmillan, said.Their children range

‘Priddy’ for toddlers (0-5years) and books from theDisney series, particularly‘Frozen’ were picked up inhuge numbers.

Demonetisation seemsto have worked in favour ofBloomsbury, that sold bookslike ‘Harry Potter series’,‘Driven: The Virat KohliStory’ by Vijay Lokapallyand ‘Silk Route’ by PeterFrankopan, witnessing a “35per cent” increase in salesfrom last year.

“We all had a conceptionthat sales won’t be as high aslast year but it’s been theother way round. From outearlier experiences at bookfairs, we have had customerswalking away because of lim-ited cash or unavailability ofchange, but this year bothpublishers and customerswere already prepared fordigital payments and saleswere not affected,” YogeshSharma, Vice President, Salesand Market ing atBloomsbury, said.

Organised by NationalBook Trust in associationwith India Trade PromotionOrganisation, the fair thatbegan on January 7, come toa close on Sunday. ��

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�� The fastest growingmajor economy in the world,India, has also become a populardestination in the Asia-Pacificregion for expat entrepreneurs toset up a business, according to asurvey.

“India is a popular destinationfor expat entrepreneurs. Morethan one in 10 (11 per cent) expatsin the country moved here to setup a business, more than twice theaverage of 5 per cent across Asia-Pacific,” according to HSBC’s‘Expat Explorer Survey’.

The survey also revealed thatIndia draws more expat entrepre-neurs than countries in the MiddleEast, such as Bahrain (7 per cent)and the UAE (5 per cent).

The 2016 Expat Explorer sur-vey was conducted among 26,871expats in over 100 countriesthrough an online questionnairein March, April and May 2016.

In comparison to other coun-tries in the region, India also hasthe highest proportion of expats onan international secondment orassignment, it said.

A third (33 per cent) of expatsin India have been relocated to thecountry by their employer, morethan in regional financial hubssuch as Hong Kong (26 per cent)and Singapore (22 per cent), andabove the Asia-Pacific average of17 per cent, it added.

Nearly two-thirds (64 percent) of expats are confident of theIndian economy, above the expat

average of 52 per cent across Asia-Pacific, it said.

More than half (53 per cent)of expats in India also have con-fidence in the political stability ofthe country, above the regionalaverage of 48 per cent.

Expats in India are able to savemore, with 44 per cent saying thatliving here have accelerated theirprogress towards making long-term savings and investments,compared with 39 per cent acrossthe region.

The average annual expatincome in India is $145,057 ascompared to the global average of$97,419, it said.

“The survey shows thatmany Asian expats work abroadprimarily to improve earnings,career prospects and quality oflife. Some move overseas tostudy and take up a new chal-lenge,” HSBC’s Head - RetailBanking and WealthManagement, India, SRamakrishnan said.ssful expatcareer, with Switzerland,Germany, Sweden, Norway,Austria and the UK being amongthe top 10 countries for thoselooking to progress their careerabroad and benefit from greatworking conditions, the surveyrevealed.

For the second year in a row,Switzerland was ranked the bestall-round destination for a careerabroad.

The country combines the

best earning prospects with agood work-life balance and anexcellent work culture, the sur-vey said. The average annualexpat income in Switzerland is$188,275, almost twice the glob-al average of $97,419.

Additionally, 69 per cent ofexpats in Switzerland see animprovement in their work-lifebalance and 61 per cent say thework culture is better than intheir home country.

While European destina-tions do well in the careersleague table, there are countriesto suit every expat career ambi-tion.

Expats looking for the bestemployment package considerthe Middle East, where 91 percent of expats receive at least onebenefit as part of their contract,compared with the global aver-age of 67 per cent.

In the UAE, 56 per cent ofexpats receive an accommoda-tion allowance and 75 per centreceive health benefits. InBahrain, 65 per cent of expatsreceive an annual allowance fortrips home. When it comes tocareer development, Hong Kongand Singapore come out on top.

The majority of expats inboth countries (68 per cent inHong Kong and 62 per cent inSingapore) agree it is a good placefor expats to progress their career,compared with the global aver-age of 43 per cent. ��

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France has appreciated demon-etisation in India, terming it as

a “bold” decision which “showshow determined” Prime MinisterNarendra Modi is to combat taxevasion, corruption and blackmoney.

French Minister for ForeignAffairs and InternationalDevelopment Jean-Marc Ayraultalso hailed the “significantreforms” undertaken by Modi toattract foreign investments, say-ing “they are in the right direc-tion”.

Appreciating the ‘Make inIndia’ initiative, he told the newsagency in an interview that France“wishes to be a major partner,thanks to its experience, expertiseand recognised technologies”.

At the same time, he said“joint efforts” should be madebetween the European Union andIndia to reduce trade barriers andpitched for reforms in India withregard to easing the import-export regime and improving thepredictability and stability of reg-ulations.

“I am impressed by the bold-ness of this decision. It shows howdetermined Prime Minister Modiis to combat tax evasion, corrup-tion and black money. It’s also ameasure aimed at modernizingthe economy by accelerating thetransition to a digital economy,”Ayrault, who was here on a four-day visit, said when his views weresought on demonetisation.

“We are following thesedevelopments with keen interest,”he added.

He said “The Indian econo-my is full of promise for entre-preneurs and we trust theGovernment’s resolve to support

the country’s economic develop-ment.”

The French Minister, whowas here primarily to attendVibrant Gujarat, said the bilater-al economic ties “are being cease-lessly strengthened”.

Pointing out that Frenchcompanies have a very strongpresence in India, he said they“invest, innovate and make inIndia”.

About 1000 French entitiesare spread all over the Indian ter-ritory, employing almost 3,50,000skilled workers, and the generalfeeling is that this is a land “fullof opportunities”, he said.

However, bilateral traderemains at a “more modest level”,which is also due to French com-panies fully adopting the ‘Makein India’ policy.

“But we must continue ourjoint efforts, between theEuropean Union and India, toreduce trade barriers,” hesaid.Reminding that the EU, ofwhich France is a member, isIndia’s top exports destination,Ayrault said, “It will remain so

despite Brexit”.The French Minister said

Modi has undertaken “significantreforms” to attract foreign invest-ments, and “they are in the rightdirection”.

These efforts, he said, “areyielding fruit, with FDIs spi-ralling over the past few years”.

He said France, which isone of India’s main foreigninvestors, intends to play a majorrole in these developments.

“Our companies are fullyaware of the prospects open tothem in a vast variety of fast-expanding sectors, like renewableenergy or sustainable urbandevelopment, which PrimeMinister Modi has declared to bea priority, and in which our com-panies have great expertise andcan offer innovative technology,”he said.

He noted that French com-panies already account for 10 percent of India’s installed solarcapacity.

With regard to ease of doingbusiness in India, Ayrault said,“What’s sure is that the Indian

market is attractive for our com-panies, which are gearing up forsuccess. They are in India for thelong haul.”

He said the French compa-nies continued their investmentsregardless of the global eco-nomic situation. “And they inno-vate in India. They have thusshown that they can prepare forthe future and are confident ofIndia’s future,” he said, adding thereforms “have played and areplaying a very positive role in thisrespect.”

There are “other areas inwhich reforms could be pursued,for example, with regard to eas-ing the import-export regime, orimproving the predictability andstability of regulations,” the min-ister said.

On ‘Make in India’, he saidthe French companies have “fullyincorporated” it in their policyand wish to make the most of theopportunities it presents.

“There are so many won-derful examples of success,” hesaid.

He named Renault, saying ithas become the top Europeanmanufacturer in the Indian mar-ket with the Kwid.

Referring to Decathlon, hesaid the sports goods manufac-turer and distributor has opened50 outlets all over India.

Alstom Transport, he said,will invest in a plant in Bihar forbuilding 800 electric locomo-tives.

“In the course of my trip, Ihave met many of our compa-nies, dynamic and innovativeenterprises that have all reiter-ated the same view - India is fullof opportunities, and our com-panies are ready to seize them,”he said.

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��+� �� India’s oil con-sumption is expected to 7-8per cent this year, outpacingChina’s demand growth forthe third consecutive year, asimpact of demonetisation islikely to be short-lived,according to Platts.

LPG and transport fuelsdemand will rise, while newp etro chemica l projec tswould a boon for naphthademand.

“The dramatic rise inIndia’s oil demand shows nosigns of faltering... The coun-try will remain a driver ofAsian growth in 2017,” PlattsAnalytics said in a note.

The cash crunch follow-ing move to demonetise 86per cent of currency isexpected to “temporarilydamp en the countr y ’sappetite for oil products inthe first quarter, or maybe alittle longer,” it said.

“But gains in oil demandthat the country is set toachieve from the ‘Make inIndia’ initiative -- whichaims to raise the share ofmanufacturing in GDP overthe next few years -- willmore than offset the negativeeffects of demonetisation,”Platts quoted analysts as say-ing.

The Government’s cleanfuel drive, sharp anticipatedgrowth in transport demandand air travel, and the coun-try’s insatiable growth forpetrochemicals will act as aboon for petrol, jet fuel,LPG and naphtha, helpingoil products to post close to

double-digit growth in 2017-- similar to that seen lastyear -- if not higher.

“For the third year in arow, India’s oi l demandgrowth will outpace China’sdemand growth,” PlattsAnalytics said, adding that itwas expected to grow atabout 7 per cent to 4.13 mil-lion barrels per day in 2017,compared with 3 per cent inChinese oil demand to 11.5million bpd.

“While growth funda-mentals for oil in Indiaremain high, slower growthin the initial months of 2017because of demonetisationmight pull down the overalloil demand growth in 2017to a shade below 2016 levelsof 9 per cent,” it said.

H2 2017 oil demand willsee limited impact fromdemonetisation as the initialeconomic impact peters outand government spending,particularly on infrastruc-ture, rises from increased taxcollection.

If implemented correctly,demonetisation will lead to a

jump in private investmentand more public spending onwelfare measures, Platts said.

Since coming to power in2014, the BJP-led govern-ment has undertaken a seriesof initiatives to help boostLPG penetration across thecountry.

It has aggressively pushedto expand the LPG dealershipnetwork in the country, whileit has urged the more afflu-ent class to give up LPGsubsidies and pass those sav-ings to the economicallypoorer sections of society.

L P G d e m an d w a sexpected to grow by about10.5 per cent year on year in2017, compared with anestimated 11 per cent in2016.

D i e s e l d e m an d i sexpected to grow by about4.5-5 per cent in 2017,slightly lower than 2016 lev-els, as demonetisation hadaffected rural incomes.

But naphtha demand isexpected to show double-digit growth. ��

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British Prime Minister TheresaMay is expected to lay out her

cards on the UK’s Brexit strate-gy in a much-anticipated speechon Tuesday, with her commentseven likely to cause some tur-bulence in the currency markets.

The Sunday Telegraphquoted a Downing Street sourceto say that May had “gone for thefull works”.

“People will know when shesaid ‘Brexit means Brexit’ she real-ly meant it,” said the source,described as “familiar with theprime minister’s thinking”.

May is widely expected tosay that the UK could pull outof the European Union (EU) sin-gle market and the customsunion in order to regain controlof immigration and end thejurisdiction of the EuropeanCourt of Justice in its negotiationsover the country’s exit from the28-member economic bloc.

She will use the speech to anaudience of diplomats atLancaster House in London onTuesday to call on “remain” sup-porters to get behind theGovernment. Her comments islikely to cause some turbulencein the currency markets.

An excerpt of the speechreads: “We need to get on andmake Brexit happen. We needto put an end to the divisionand the language associatedwith it — leaver and remain-er and all the accompanyinginsults — and unite to make asuccess of Brexit and build atruly global Britain.

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9�� :��) �� Pharma compa-

nies are likely to reportsequentially flat EBITDAgrowth in 3QFY17, impact-ed by pricing pressure andhigher R&D expenditure, areport said.

“We expect our pharmauniverse to report sequen-tially flat EBITDA growth in3QFY17, largely led by pric-ing pressure and higherR&D expenditure. Also,increased US regulatoryscrutiny is resulting in high-er remediation expenses andde-risking of key products.This, in turn, should weighdown on operating mar-gins,” brokerage firm MotilalOswal said in a report.

In its expected quarter-ly performance summary,the report said that the toppharma companies areexpected to report 0.7 percent Q-o-Q sales growth atRs 38,137 crore inDecember 2016 quarter. TheEBDITA may see marginaldecline of 0.6 per cent at Rs9,245 crore in Decemberquarter.

After a strong 1HFY17,the domestic pharma busi-ness is expected to faceheadwinds from seasonalweaknesses and demoneti-sation. Although the chron-ic segment may benefit at themargin due to demonetisa-tion, the acute segment maysee some impact in the near-term, the report said. ��

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With barely five days to go for his inau-guration as the 45th President of the

United States, Donald Trump has waded intoanother controversy by locking horns withcivil rights icon and senior Democratic law-maker John Lewis after he questioned thelegitimacy of the presidential election.

In a series of Twitter posts, Trumplambasted the 76-year-old civil rightsleader as an “all talk, no action” lawmak-er who ought to “focus on the burning andcrime-infested inner-cities of the US”instead of “falsely complaining about theelection results”.

Trump’s counter-offensive came soonafter Lewis’s explosive comments in aninterview to NBC News, remarking: “Idon’t see this president-elect as a legitimatepresident…I think the Russians partici-pated in helping this man get elected. Andthey helped destroy the candidacy ofHillary Clinton.”

The Trump attack on the black leaderwho was one of the top organisers of the1963 March on Washington was expect-ed to give a fillip to the anti-Trump protestsplanned for the grand inaugural on Friday.

Eighteen Democratic lawmakers,including Lewis, have announced theirintention to boycott the Trump’s inaugu-ration thus far. One of them,Representative Barbara Lee fromCalifornia said she wouldn’t endorse apresident defined by “racism, sexism,xenophobia and bigotry”.

“Congressman John Lewis shouldspend more time on fixing and helping hisdistrict, which is in horrible shape andfalling apart,” Trump said in one of thetweets, adding: “All talk, talk, talk — noaction or results. Sad!”

A close associate of the late MartinLuther King, Lewis had suffered a skullfracture while leading a civil rights marchin Selma, Alabama back in 1965. SeveralDemocratic lawmakers and someRepublicans as well came out in his sup-port and they included the newly-electedIndian-African-American Senator KamalaHarris from California.

“John Lewis is an icon of the CivilRights Movement who is fearless in thepursuit of justice and equality. He deservesbetter than this,” Harris tweeted. TheNAACP (National Association for theAdvancement of Coloured People)demanded an apology from Trump.

Trump’s comment seemed ill-timed,coming as it did virtually on the eve ofMartin Luther King Day. About 2,000 pro-testers, mostly African-Americans,marched to the King Memorial in

Washington on Saturday, pledging tofight for minority rights and protection ofPresident Barack Obama’s signature health-care law, which Trump and CongressionalRepublicans have vowed to dismantle.

Separately, immigrant groups heldrallies in 50 cities across the US, includ-ing New York, Los Angeles and Miami onSaturday in what was projected as the firstmajor mobilisation of the movement forimmigrant rights since the Trump election.“There’s a deep sense of fear and worry inimmigrant communities. At the sametime, there is no way we will go back toliving in the shadows,” Cristina Jimenez,Executive Director of United We Dream,a national organisation, told the LosAngeles Times.

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Protesters have gathered tosupport immigrant rights at

rallies around the US,denouncing President-electDonald Trump for his anti-immigrant rhetoric and hispledges to build a wall on theUS-Mexican border and tocrack down on Muslims enter-ing the country.

"We are not going to allowDonald Trump to bury theStatue of Liberty," Sen ChrisVan Hollen, a MarylandDemocrat, told a standing-room-only crowd at historicAfrican-American church indowntown Washington duringone of dozens of rallies aroundthe nation yesterday. "We are anation for all people, regardlessof religion, regardless of back-ground, regardless of who youlove."

In Chicago, more than 1,000people poured into a teachers'union hall to support immigrantrights and implore one anotherto fight for those rights againstwhat they fear will be a hostileTrump administration.

Ron Taylor, pastor of aChicago area Disciples forChrist Church and executivedirector of the United Congressof Community and ReligiousOrganisations, told the audi-

ence there, "Regardless of whathappens in the coming days weknow that good will conquerevil and we want to say to eachand every one of you, you arenot alone."

The protests mark the lat-est chapter in a movementthat has evolved since 2006,when more than a millionpeople took to the streets toprotest a Republican-backedimmigration bill that wouldhave made it a crime to be inthe country illegally.

The crowds this weekend atrallies or cultural events inWashington, Chicago, LosAngeles, San Jose, California,and elsewhere, are expected tobe nowhere near as big as then.Yesterday's events took place as

thousands were expected at a"We Shall Not Be Moved"march and rally in Washingtonahead of Monday's MartinLuther King Jr Day holiday.

Yet the line to enterMetropolitan AME Church inWashington stretched nearly acity block. People attendingincluded immigrants who lackpermission to be in the coun-try and their relatives and sup-porters. Also present wereelected officials, clergy andrepresentatives of labor andwomen's groups.

Participants carried signswith messages including "ResistTrump's Hate" and "Tu, Yo,Todos Somos America," whichtranslates to "You, me, we all areAmerica."

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London: Britain's PrinceWilliam is getting ready toquit his part-time job as an airambulance rescue pilot tobecome a full-time royal.

The second-in-line toBritain's throne will leave his jobwith the East Anglian AirAmbulance this summer,according to The Sunday Times.

The 34-year-old Duke ofCambridge and wife Kate, theDuchess of Cambridge, willalso make Kensington Palace inLondon their permanent basefrom later this year when theirson Prince George starts school.

Their daughter, PrincessCharlotte, is also expected toattend a London nursery.

The move follows monthsof discussion within the royalfamily, who are said to havebeen "very supportive" ofWilliam's decision.

A royal source told thenewspaper there had been "nopressure from above" to increaseWilliam's workload but "heknew there would come a pointwhere this would be his life forever more. He has always beena lot less reluctant than peoplethink to take on more work andthis phase of his life."

William had recentlyrejected suggestions he was areluctant Royal, insisting hetook his responsibilities "veryseriously".

He said: "If you're not care-ful, duty can weigh you downa awful lot at an early age."PTI

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A15-year-old Muslim girlin the US has claimed she

was evicted from a school busby a driver twice because of herhijab, prompting her family todemand an apology from theschool district.

Janna Bakeer, a girl whoattends Timpview HighSchool in Provo City, Utah,tried to ride a bus home whenthe bus driver used the bus'sintercom system and said,"Hey you with the blue hairthingie, get off the bus, youdon't belong here," accordingRandall Spencer, the family'slawyer.

"It's (hijab) a part of who Iam and where I come from anda part of my religion. Every day,I match my hijab with my out-fits," Bakeer was quoted assaying by ABC News affiliateWBND-LD.

"...The bus driver, she gother speaker and I was wearinga blue scarf. And she's like,'Hey, you with that blue thing,you don't ride this bus and I've

never seen you ride it so getoff '," Bakeer said of the incidentthat took place last month.

She said she felt humiliat-ed and started to cry as she gotoff the bus. "I was just reallyembarrassed how everybodywas staring."

The family said they talkedwith the school to get thingsworked out for the next timeshe needed to ride the bus,which happened last Friday.

"I asked her politely, 'CanI please ride the bus today?' andshe (driver) just put her armand blocked the walkway to thebus," Bakeer said.

"I absolutely believe that itwas discrimination," said thefamily's attorney Spencer.

"The bus driver didn't evenknow Janna's name, we don'tthink, and could not havechecked or known she was noton the list to ride the bus,"Spencer was quoted as sayingthe Daily Herald.

"All the bus driver knew isthat she didn't know her beforeand she is a Muslim wearing ahijab," he said.

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Tehran: US "hostility" to Iran isgrowing day by day despiteTehran's nuclear deal, a seniorIranian official said on Sunday,ahead of the first anniversary ofthe historic accord.

"The United States has donewhatever it can to slow downIran's progress" after the deal,said Deputy Foreign MinisterAbbas Araghchi, the chiefIranian negotiator in the agree-ment that took effect on January16 last year.

"In the last 12 months, wehave witnessed delays and thedisrespecting of promises by theUS and some countries. Theirhostility increases by the day,"Araghchi told reporters.

The agreement betweenTehran and six world powers sawa range of international sanctionslifted in exchange for limits onIran's nuclear programme.

Iran has seen a rise in oil

exports and increased invest-ment in manufacturing since itcame into force.

But Iranian officials haveaccused Washington of failing toabide by the deal, includingwith a raft of other sanctionsrelated to non-nuclear issuesthat have helped deter majorWestern banks from returning toIran. US President-elect DonaldTrump vowed during last year'scampaign to tear up the agree-ment, considered a key victoryfor President Barack Obama.

Araghchi said it made littledifference who was in the WhiteHouse as international lawrequired Washington to imple-ment the deal.

"Whether its Obama orTrump, the US president is com-mitted to cancelling laws that areagainst it," Araghchi said, addingthat there would be no furtherdiscussions with US officials.AFP

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Jerusalem: Israeli Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu on Sundaydismissed as ‘futile’ an interna-tional conference in Paris seek-ing to revive the moribundIsraeli-Palestinian peace process.

"The conference conveningtoday in Paris is a futile confer-ence," he told ministers at thestart of a weekly cabinet meet-ing in Jerusalem.

"It was coordinated betweenthe French and the Palestinianswith the aim of imposing uponIsrael conditions that are incom-patible with our national needs,"he said.

Netanyahu's governmenthas bitterly opposed the confer-ence, saying only direct talkswith the Palestinians can end thelong-running conflict. ThePalestinians have welcomed themultilateral approach, sayingyears of negotiations with theIsraelis have not ended theoccupation of the West Bank.

The conference is being heldwithout either the Israelis or thePalestinians, but Palestinian pres-

ident Mahmud Abbas will meetFrench President FrancoisHollande in the coming weeks tobe briefed on the outcome,French diplomats said.

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An Iraqi military spokesmansays Government troops

have fully liberated the sprawl-ing complex of MosulUniversity, a major step in themassive operation to retake theIslamic State-held city of Mosul.

The spokesman of the JointMilitary Command, Brig GenYahya Rasool, declared onSunday that the campus wasunder the full control of Iraqispecial forces, officially knownas the Counter TerrorismService, who raised the Iraqiflag over its buildings.

Iraqi forces entered theuniversity grounds Friday andmanaged to secure more thanhalf of the campus the next day

amid stiff resistance from ISmilitants, who mainly deployedsniper and mortar fire to slowdown the advancing troops.

Today's progress is the lat-est in a string of swift territo-rial gains in recent weeks by theUS-backed Iraqi military.

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Bahrain on Sunday executedthree men found guilty of

killing three policemen, sparkingviolent protests and stoking ten-sions between the country's Shiamajority and its Sunni rulers.

The three Shia men facedthe firing squad, six days after acourt upheld their death sen-tences over a bomb attack inMarch 2014, the prosecutor'soffice said in a statement carriedby BNA state news agency.

Bahrain, which has beenruled by the Al-Khalifa dynastyfor more than two centuries, hasa majority Shia population whichhas long complained of margin-alisation.

It has been rocked by spo-

radic unrest since March 2011when security forces brutallycrushed an Arab Spring-inspireduprising demanding reformsand a constitutional monarchy.

The announcement of theexecutions triggered protests inShia villages, where demonstra-tors blocked roads with burningtyres and police retaliated by fir-

ing tear gas, according to postson social media.

Pictures shared online byactivists also showed relatives ofthose executed weeping overtheir deaths.

Authorities in Bahrain donot permit international newsagencies to cover events inde-pendently.

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Dubai: Saudi Arabia says a sol-dier has been killed by cross-border fire from Yemen amidthe kingdom's campaignagainst Zaydi Shia rebels there.

The Interior Ministryannounced early today the sol-dier's death in the kingdom'sNajran region as a result ofshelling and intensive fire yes-terday afternoon.

The war in Yemen began in2014 after the Ansarallah rebelsalso known as Houthis andtheir allies seized Yemen's cap-ital, Sanaa. In March 2015, aSaudi-led coalition of Arabcountries began a military cam-paign against the Houthi forces.It said its mission served in partas a counterbalance to Iran'sinfluence following its nucleardeal with world powers.AP

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Philippine President RodrigoDuterte has threatened to

impose martial rule to prose-cute his deadly war on drugs,three decades after the nationshed dictatorship with afamous "People Power" revolt.

"If I wanted to, and it (theillegal drugs problem) willdeteriorate into something real-ly very virulent, I will declaremartial law if I wanted to. Noone will be able to stop me,"Duterte said in a speech lastnight.

The 71-year-old formerstate prosecutor said the aimwould be "to preserve theFilipino people and the youthof this land".

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Muslim villagers in westernMyanmar's troubled

Rakhine State say they hopepositive change will result froma UN envoy's visit to the region,where soldiers are accused ofwidespread abuses of minori-ty Muslims, including murder,rape and the burning of thou-sands of homes.

UN Special Rapporteur onHuman Rights Yanghee Leeconcluded a three-day visitSunday to probe the situationin northern Rakhine, where anarmy crackdown has driven anestimated 65,000 Muslim eth-nic Rohingya to flee across theborder to Bangladesh in thepast three months.

Lee is on a 12-day visit toMyanmar to assess the rightssituation.

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Pope Francis is demandingthat "every possible mea-

sure" be taken to protect youngrefugees as he marks thechurch's World Day ofMigrants a day after the latestMediterranean migrant ship-wreck.

Italy's coast guard says onlyfour people survived the sink-ing of a migrant ship off Libya'scoast yesterday. An estimated100 people were aboard andonly eight bodies have beenrecovered. Search and recoveryefforts continued today.

In his today noon blessing,Francis recalled that the themeof this year's migrant day mes-sage concerned the vulnerabil-ity of young migrants, "ouryoung brothers" whom oftenflee home alone and face "somany dangers."

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Israel's Yad Vashem Holocaustmemorial says researchers

excavating the remains of oneof the most notorious Nazideath camps have uncovered apendant that appears identicalto one belonging to AnneFrank.

Yad Vashem says onSunday it has ascertained thependant belonged to KarolineCohn, a Jewish girl who per-ished at Sobibor and may haveknown the famous diarist. LikeFrank, Cohn was born inFrankfurt in 1929. Researchersare trying to confirm whetherthey were related.

The Israel AntiquitiesAuthority has been conductingexcavations at the former campin Poland since 2007 and hasalready uncovered the gaschamber foundations and theoriginal train platform.

More than 250,000 Jewswere killed in Sobibor, one ofthe most vivid examples of theNazi "Final Solution" to eradi-cate European Jewry.

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Donald Trump might bethe first US President in

150 years to not have a pet inthe White House after a plan tohave him adopt a goldendoo-dle dog fell through.

With Trump's inaugurationon January 20, many are leftwondering if his family willhave a pet residing with themat the White House. If not, hecould be the first president in150 years without a pet.

The Trump family does nothave a history of keeping animalsaround the house and there is notany indication, at least, not yet.

"This is a very significanttime in presidential pet histo-ry. First families with petsmake people feel like they'rejust like us," said

Claire McLean, founder ofthe Presidential Pet Museum, adonation-based institution notaffiliated with the White Houseor the federal government.

The museum displayedstatues, books, vintage pic-

tures, and artifacts such as a bellthat was said to belong to for-mer William Taft's milk cow.

"You can teach childrenand adults about the presidentsof the US through the pets eas-ier than you can through any-thing else," McLean was quot-ed as saying by CBS news.

A White House without afour-legged friend would be ararity, says Dave Baker, the co-owner of the museum.

Throughout history,America's first families oftenhad pets in their families.

President Barack Obama'sfluffy family dogs Bo andSunny have stolen American'shearts. But as the Obama fam-ily prepares to leave the

White House at the end ofJanuary, so will the fluffy tenants.

George W Bush had aScottish terrier named BarneyBush, the Clintons had aLabrador retriever namedBuddy and a cat named Socks,while America's 27th presi-dent, William Howard Taft, hada milk cow.

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�� %*�The iPhone did not exist 10 years ago. Steve Jobs

announced the iPhone for the very first time on Jan 92007 and Apple was a new entrant into the crowdedmobile phone market. It is fascinating to go back in timeand look at the features of the 1st iPhone. It had only2G connectivity and there was no app store.Fast for-ward to 2017, theiPhone is one of themost popularsmartphones in theworld. The compa-ny has since soldover a billioniPhones and alsopaid out over 50billion dollars to app developers.The iPhone reshapedthe entire mobile industry and had a massive impacton the technology industry as well. It is going to beinteresting to see what Apple’s plans are for the 10thyear of the iPhone.

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Nokia is making a comeback into the smartphonemarket in an all new avatar. The Nokia brand is beingrevived by a Finnish company HMD Global which isexpected to launch feature phones, smartphones andmore devices under the Nokia brand. The companyannounced a couple of feature phones in December and

it also announced asmartphone — Nokia 6for the China market.Features include a 5.5inch Full HD display,Snapdragon 430processor, 4GB ofRAM and 64GB ofstorage. There is a16MP camera on theback and an 8MP self-

ie camera. The phone runs on Android 7.0 and alsosupports Dolby Atmos audio. The Nokia 6 will go onsale in China later this month for �17000 approximate-ly and we can expect the new Nokia phones to hit Indianshores in the near future.

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Faraday Future FF91 a forthcoming futuristicElectric car, packs enough power to do 0-97 kmphin just 2.39 seconds. Keyless entry will be possiblethrough facial recognition of the driver. The car packsover 10 HD cameras, 13 radars and 12 ultrasonic sen-sors for safety and self driving. There are no rear view

mirrors but the cameras and sensors give you a wideview of the surroundings. You don’t have to worryabout parking the car as it features a Driverless Valetmode.

�� 3��FWearables and smartglasses we have

seen till now have been bulky and notvery comfortable to use. The ODG R8and R9 aim to change this for the betterbring high performance computing toeyewear and you can easily access movies,sports, gaming, navigation in front ofyour eyes.

��+��" LG has made their TVs so thin that you can mount

them on a wall with magnets. The LG SignatureWallpaper TVs feature an OLED panel and areextremely thin and light and also very expensive. Thereis a single wire connecting the TV to the sound barwhich houses the brain of the TV.

Have you started repeating thesame jacket and scarf ensem-ble already? We thought so.

Staying warm certainly does notmean you have to refrain from stay-ing chic. And that was the clear mes-sage delivered as a result of our style-stalking attempt on the Capital’sstreets.

If you are a Delhiite, we are sureyou must have visited these marketsor atleast must have heard yourfriends boasting about their coolfinds from Sarojini or Janpath atthrow away prices. And if youhaven’t heard about these markets,you are living under a rock. High-end stores aren’t always the solutionas those price tags aren’t always wal-let friendly. To overcome your caseof fashion brain freeze, take a cuefrom these choices for combattingthe cold weather in style.

�� Bomber all the way

Bomber or quilted jackets arethe winter staple. With the ‘not-so-cold but not-so-warm’ weather inDelhi, people like to wear a jacketthat is not too heavy and not toolight. Add punk to your wardrobewith a jacket with a strong person-ality, a super stylish piece: thebomber jacket.Go fur-tastic

To avoid PETA’s ire and still staywarm this winter, go for faux fur.The faux fur jacket is back, and thisseason, it’s looking cooler than ever.Snuggle-up

Earmuffs are a must for winterespecially if you travel by publictransport. Don’t leave your ears outin the cold this winter. These ear-muffs are not only completelyadorable, but also give you a breakfrom the basic beanie.Shoe game

Boots are the quintessential

winter wear. Add a bit of sexy toevery step with a pair of knee-highboots. If you find leather boots tootedious, go for a pair of uggs.The classics

The outerwear you will want towear all season long. Go high fash-ion with a classic trench or a pea-coat to fight the chilly wind.

�� Bargain, like you do for any localmarket. Ten to 15 shops sell theexact same thing at different prices,so don’t be scared to walk away froma shop if the price does not fit yourbudget�The vendors give you your pur-chases in super thin plastic bagswhich tear within minutes. So carrya backpack or a tote bag or a cou-ple of bags (depending on howmuch you’re going to shop) to storeyour purchases in�Wear comfortable shoes, as youwill be walking quite a lot

Happy Shopping!

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With the Hindi teleseri-als churning the usual

saasbahu related kitchen pol-itics and supernatural storiesto the audience, Life OK iscoming up with a male cen-tric show, Gulam. It is thejourney of Rangeela, whoensures to fulfil any wish ofhis master Chaudhuri Veer,even if it means giving up hisown life. Starring ParamSingh as Ghulaam andVikkas Manaktala as his mas-ter, Chaudhari Veer, the showwill premiere on 16thJanuary.

“Ghulaam will showcasethe darker side ofBerahampur, where tyrannyis the only mercy and howRangeela, a slave brain-washed to obey its laws andhis master’s; serving his everyneed and want. Berahampuris the crime capital of Indiaand Rangeela is a puppet inits system of lawlessness.

Never a decision maker,Rangeela serves only onemission to follow his master’sorders that are louder thanhis own voice,” said Vikkas

Manaktala, who is playingthe parallel lead, Veer. Hefurther compared the gulaamwith a lion and added, “The

story revolves around thequestion: A lion whose fero-ciousness has been longtamed, however will he

remain tamed forever or willhe roar to set free?” So, whatmade him choose this pro-ject? “I take up work only ifit excites me and Ghulam isfull of energy. In fact, I wasthe first actor to be cast in theshow, which was aroundeight months back.”

Param Singh, who willbe seen as the protagonist, isall set to play an anti-hero.Commenting on the bigchallenge that lies ahead,Param Singh said, “Fromboy- next-door to an anti-hero with intense actionsequence has been extreme-ly challenging.”

“My source of inspira-tions is one and only AamirKhan and the co-incidencebeing, my character name isRangeela and the show nameis Ghulaam, both so strong-ly linked to him. So I havesome very big shoes to fit in,”he added.

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The Russian Embassy celebrated the tradi-tional masquerade ball on January 13 at

the embassy of Russia in New Delhi.This tradition of celebrating New Year

— a custom dictated by theRussian Orthodox Church inaccordance with the old Julian

calendar — was started at theRussian Embassy few years ago.

The carnival spirit yet againdrew numerous friends of Russia inthe Embassy hall. The celebrationwas joined by more than 800 guests

- diplomats, artists, designers, journal-ists, bloggers, university teachers, RussianEmbassy workers and their familiesposted in India.

The ball was flavoured by the perfor-mance of Moscow band Stilyagi (TheTeddy Boys), who performed three setsof Russian and Western popular, rock-n-roll and jazz hits as well as three songsin Hindi.

The event gave the start to a year-long celebrations of 70th jubilee sincethe establishment of Russian-Indian

diplomatic relations. The Christmas and New Year celebra-

tions ended with fantastic fireworks onthe Embassy’s lawns.

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Most of us speak withwords and listen to them.

Words are sounds that conveyideas. For example, whensomeone says elephant, it mayimmediately conjure up inour mind an image of the ani-mal that we have come toknow as an elephant. However,for someone who does notspeak English, the word willfail to bring any image tohis/her mind. Hence whileeither speaking or listening, itis of no use to get lost in words themselves; instead, weneed to focus on the meanings behind them and on theideas they are conveying.

Psychologists and behavioural experts say that ourmind is like a parachute and it works best when it’s open.It is also like a canvas upon which we can consciouslycreate our life. The mind has tremendous power over ourbody and it directs everything in our body. Accordingto medical experts, 70 per cent of our diseases can beavoided by making our mind positive.

If our mind is closed, then it means we are holdingon to something or we are wrapped around and busy withsome thought, image, idea, concept, memory of belief thatis on our mind. On the other hand, an open mind is likea window with the curtains drawn back as a result ofwhich light can get in and light can go out. Remember!you have a mind but you are not your mind. Out of thelight of your consciousness you emerge the faculty ofmind as the arena of creation. The most common mis-take is to lose your self in what is on your mind, some-times consciously or more often unconsciously, and devel-op a false sense of ‘I’ which in simple words is describedas ego. This is the moment when you cease to be a mas-ter of your mind. The feelings which then arise from thismental state, will always be uncomfortable and unnat-ural because you are acting against your true nature,which is free of attachment to anything on the mind.

From the day we are born to the day that we die, 99per cent of us learn, practice and perfect such a mistake,not realising, it is sole reason why we are unhappy, dis-content and peaceless. All of this can be clearly experi-enced and seen in the practice of meditation and in theprocess of reflection and contemplation. If you contem-plate and reflect a little more, if you meditate with someregularity then you will start to see this as the root of allyour emotional discomforts, the source of all your suf-fering the origin of all your stress, which is infact quitegood though because it would give you a chance to dosomething and better yourself.

But this doing is not between you and the world outthere, not between you and other people, it’s between youand your mind. It should be realised that our freedomand our happiness is impossible until we stop living inour mind and losing our self in what is on our mind.

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Shombit Sengupta smiles with child-likeglee. Beginning his journey from a slum-like

refugee colony in Kolkata, the artist has takenart to a whole new imaginative level. Creatingbrands and logos for globally renowned corpo-rate houses, and now a French national,Shombit never allowed his creativity to be muz-zled by the charm of the corporate world.Gesturism art, comprising his own unique styleof paintings and disorder installations, still fig-ures as his first love.

He has recently painted Renault’s Kwid car.The art car was on display at Désordre, an exhi-bition by Sen, in Mumbai in November, lastyear. About his transition from an artist to abrand designer and then back to the world ofart Shombit says that fine arts gives one the skillof proportion, drawing, a sense of colour andhow to look at the world in a very different per-spective. Applied art teaches more on layout,typography, illustration and photography. Butit does not teach about consumer behaviour orthe socio economic trend of society.

“The key element of a brand is it’s name.It is what people recall and the name is whatpeople buy. So I spent huge time to get the gripof four fundamental architecture of Westerntypography; Antique, Didot, Elzavir and Times.I always had good control of drawing the humananatomy which helped me a lot to practice andapply the typography. I have created more than2000 brands in different parts of the world, andmost of the typography was done by hand,which helped in retaining the brand’s authen-ticity,” he says.

An international creative business strate-gy consultant he is the founder of ShiningConsultant, situated in the rive droit of Paris.“The brands, I have created, brought phenom-enal commercal success to my clients. InEurope, US, Argentina, Japan, China andIndia, there are people who regularly use at leastone or two brands designed by me in theireveryday life. I have invented a certain non-con-formist way of looking at Western and globalconsumers by studying their life from their toi-let, kitchen, bedroom and living room. I alwaystried to portray the social cauldron at the topmanagement table,” he says.

Born in 1954 in Kolkota, when the poor-rich divide was highly pronounced in India’seconomy Shombit had to start working at anyoung age to support his family. His father wasa leader of the Communist party and mothera rural primary school teacher. He says:

“Poverty should not destroy your emotion andhygienic sense. That is what I learned from mymother. I arrived in Paris in November 1973,when I was 19, in a tourist visa and with justeight dollars in hand,” he says on his journeyfrom Kolkota to Paris.

For the first three years he was a sweeper

in a lithography print shop near Paris. All thefamous artists used to come there to make theirlithographs.

He continues: “They even bought my paint-ings. Then I entered into the design business.Later, I realised that only design will not takeme far and understood that marketing in cor-

porate houses uses very statistical analytical jar-gon, whereas consumers connect with a brandin an artistic and social aspect, of course witha quality product. To create a brand that sellsmore lies in understanding social trends andblending that with artistic, non-conformiststyle.”

He believes that the way art has been nur-tured by the French people is phenomenal: “Thelatest was the invitation from Renault in Paris.They invited me to paint an art car for the firsttime in the world on their India made Kwid.Renault exhibited the art car in a glass jewel boxin front of ICIA gallery in Kala Ghoda,Mumbai, where my exhibition was going on.Then they shifted the car to my solo exhibitionin the Painters’ Village of Barbizon, France inDecember 2016.”

He says that his art is extremely Westernstyle but he wanted to get out from theCartesian system of Western society. He repre-sents two things of India; the inclusiveness ofhuman society and the non-conformist appli-cation of colour with absolute freedom. “Indianart can be divided into two. One is the typicalancient pattern centric collective artists’ workwhich existed for centuries and the other is theart that follows the Western school. The younggeneration of contemporary Indian art is morepowerful, thought driven and original.”

An author who has written five books thereare constraints for him to write. “You are notallowed to make mistakes when you write,” hechuckles. For the past two years Shombit hasconducted exhibitions in Paris, Milan,Tokyo,Austria, Barbizon and Mumbai. He is planningmore shows in France, Italy, US, India, Chinaand Japan. “I am working extensively with myGesturism Art and désordre installations tonourish my desire to explore the imaginationof the world and diverse human society,” hesigns off.

Delhi has the glitzy India ArtFair, Mumbai has its multicul-tural Kala Ghoda Arts Festival,

Kerala has the world-class Kochi-Muziris Biennale, Bengluru has ArtBengaluru and Kolkata has a month-long CIMA Awards. Though the fes-tival focuses on visual arts, in its sec-ond edition, cinema and music havejoined the roster.

Bringing together multiple disci-plines of art like paintings, sculpture,photography, cinema, music andvideo on the same platform, a month-long CIMA Awards: The KolkataArt Festival will begin next month.Organised by Kolkata-based CIMAart gallery, the festival will have mul-tiple components including the bien-nial CIMA Awards function and aseries of exhibitions on multidiscipli-nary projects, workshops and semi-nars. “In the second edition of theCIMA awards we are planning ameeting of minds from different dis-ciplines. We are partnering with dif-ferent agencies and inviting other gal-leries also within West Bengal andoutside,” said Rakhi Sarkar, CIMAdirector. “In the course of my sever-al years of being in this art world, Ifelt deeply disturbed that art wasbeing dominated by the metropolitancities. But outside of that, somehowIndian artists never really got a plat-form,” Rakhi added.

In cinema, one can notice aninteresting capsule of experimentalfilms. When asked how cinema isaffecting art in today’s context, Rakhisaid, “The boundaries are emergingand therefore, the visual arts are alsoincluding architecture and design inthe art festival. Also we have tried tomake it multidisciplinary by placingvisual arts in context of other arts.” Alarge exhibition of visual art is expect-ed to travel from Germany and willbe showcased to coincide with theCIMA Awards show. “People will getto see contemporary art, not seen thatoften. The German artists are plan-ning an exhibition of 42 works of artfrom different disciplines with atheme of migration,” said Rakhi.CIMA is also getting in touch with

agencies to work in the field of cin-ema, performance art and experimen-tal music. “Music and cinema are twoinclusions in the art festival. Wewant new sounds and experimentalmusic. The events will be spread overdifferent venues in the city. Besides artexhibits, the whole month will alsohave directors of leading museums,scholars and art historians participat-ing in discussions. School childrenacross the city are working on theconcept of ‘connecting history:Kolkata and the world’. They all are

working on various mediums. IITKharagpur has already started aseries of workshops with internation-al participation,” shared Rakhi.

She stressed that it will be a ‘trans-parent system’ and the members ofjury are individuals known for theirexcellence in various fields of visualarts and are from other disciplines aswell such as literature, music, and cin-ema. It will take a few years to finetune the project for it involves thewhole country and is meant only forIndian residents.

“We hope to get a good response.We hope to discover new artists. Wereckoned that there is a lot of talentin smaller towns and semi urbanareas,” said Rakhi.

The curator and director, in a bidto catch hold of people who are notserious art lovers, is trying to rollsome popular faces for the festival.“Last year it was just the CimaAwards show and this year we haveadded a lot of content through a fourday international symposium. It is aninternational symposium where peo-ple from Take Modern to MOMA,New York will be participating.Besides around 10-15 people arecoming from across the world to par-ticipate in this platform. We have alsotried to give it a slightly multidisci-plinary dimension where there will befilm stars, theatre personality and alsoa London based historian and authorSunil Khilnani. He will be talkingabout what is history after all. Thisinteraction will give depth to the pro-ject.”

In terms of timing and position-ing, The Kolkata Art Festival is beingaligned with other art festivals “fromJaipur Lit Fest to India Art Fair toKochi Biennale to Kala Ghoda” sothat is all in the same circuit and “oneflows into the other”.

Rakhi believes this creative artpath is going to increase footfalls forthe festival. “We have asked many ofour international delegates to visitKochi and then visit Kolkata or viceversa. This whole creative part of artis helping the art traffic within India.”

About young artist and Indianartist in global market, she said,“While we were working for CIMA,one thing we realised is that there aremany young artist from the smallertowns, semi urban areas, who have noaccess to the city galleries. Many ofthem are not even being projectedproperly.

This is the main idea behindCIMA Awards, to reach the unreach-able. About the global market, oneneeds to gain experience for that andI believe CIMA is providing one suchplatform.”

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Skipper Virat Kohli smashed amajestic 122 while Kedar Jadhavconjured up a career-best 120

before India's lower middle-orderheld nerves to pull off an incrediblethree-wicket win over England in thefirst ODI, here on Sunday.

Kohli and Jadhav rattled up a sen-sational 200-run partnership for thefifth wicket to set up the platform afterEngland set the hosts a stiff 351-runtarget. Chips were down for India afterlosing four wickets for just 63 runs butKohli and Jadhav scripted a comebackwith their gritty batting as MahendraSingh Dhoni (6) and Yuvraj Singh (15)could not contribute much in the chase.

India required 60 runs from the last10 overs after the fall of both Kohli andJadhav but Hardik Pandya ensured thattheir good work does not go waste withhis responsible unbeaten 40-runinnings. Pandya saw Ravindra Jadejalosing his wicket in the 45th over butthe young all-rounder kept his cool tosteer India to the finish line. He hit asix off Adil Rashid to level the scoresand R Ashwin finished it in style, ham-mering Moeen Ali into the stands inthe first ball of the 49th over.

India have taken a 1-0 lead in thethree-match series with the nextmatch scheduled in Cuttack onJanuary 19.

England had feasted on a listlessIndian bowling to pile up 350 forseven, their highest total in ODIsagainst India with Joe Root (78),opener Jason Roy (73) and Ben Stokes(62) striking half-centuries.

The score bettered the 338 for eightmade by England in the tied encounterof the 2011 World Cup in Bengalurubut Sunday's effort proved insufficient.It was a new chapter for India withKohli leading the side after beingdeclared leader of the team in all threeformats but the hosts had forgettablefirst 60 overs as they conceded 350 runsand lost quick wickets.

KL Rahul (8), Shikhar Dhawan (1)and comeback-man Yuvraj were backin the pavillion and soon Dhonijoined them to leave India reeling at

63 for four.From here Kohli and Jadhav not

only restructured the innings, they putIndia within the touching distance ofwin. Kohli's 122 came off just 105 ballswith eight shots the fence and five overthe ropes. It was Indian captain's27th ODI hundred.

Jadhav, who was cramping heav-ily in the later part of his innings, com-pleted his hundred in 65 balls, whichwas fifth fastest hundred by an Indian.Overall he took 76 balls for 120 whichhad 12 fours and four sixes.

India lost Jadeja in the 45th overbut there was no more drama withPandya staying till the end. His 40came off 37 with three fours and six.

Earlier, England paced theirinnings well with Roy being the earlyaggressor with a 61-ball 73, inclusive

of 12 fours, that was built upon byRoot, who stroked his way to 78 in 95balls. Captain Eoin Morgan (28) andJos Buttler (31) got the starts withoutconverting them into a bigger score atthe Maharashtra Cricket AssociationStadium in Gahunje.

For India, Hardik Pandya (2/46)and Jasprit Bumrah - who was takenfor 79 runs — finished with two wick-ets each. The most impressive bowlerwas left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja,who not only applied the skids onEngland early on but also emergedwith economic figures of 1 for 50.

Jadeja's Test spin twinRavichandran Ashwin was unimpres-sive and gave away 63 runs in eightovers without a wicket to his name.

Speedster Umesh Yadav wasslammed for 63 runs runs in seven

overs for a lone wicket late in theinnings. England began on a brisk noteagainst the Indian medium pace attackwith openers Roy and Alex Hales look-ing comfortable.

Decision Review System (DRS),being used in a 50-over bilateral seriesin India, was called upon as early asthe third over of the game when Roywas given out caught behind off Yadavand got a reprieve through technolo-gy. The in-form aggressive openerthrived on the early escape as he drovethe medium pacers when they over-pitched. After the 13th over Ashwinwas brought on from the other endand should have had Roy, on 71,dropped off a top-edged reverse-sweep by Yadav at third man.

Luckily for India the drop did notprove too expensive as Jadeja got the

batsman stumped by Dhoni in the nextover to snap the second-wicket standafter the addition of 69 runs at 108.

When the slog overs began, thescore had advanced to 235 for fourwith Root well-entrenched on 76 andpoised for a final assault on thebowlers. But his hopes were dashed byBumrah who deceived him with aslower ball and had him caught atlong-on by Pandya.

But, left-handed Stokes used hisbat like a sledgehammer to smack fivesixes and two fours on his way to 62off just 40 balls after reaching 50 in 33balls. The last 10 overs of the inningsbrought England 115 runs, including65 in the final five to leave India toscore at an asking rate of 7.02 to winthe game and go 1-0 up in the three-match rubber.

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New Zealand captured three wickets beforestumps on the fourth day of the first cricket test

against Bangladesh Sunday to send the tourists intothe final day with a lead of 122 and seven secondinnings wickets in hand.

After making all the running in the match fromthe opening day, Bangladesh ended the fourth dayat 66-3 after establishing a 56-run lead on the firstinnings.

The tourists also lost opener Imrul Kayes, whoretired hurt on 24 and was carried from the stadi-um on a stretcher after suffering an injury while run-ning between wickets. The injury blighted a day inwhich Kayes had taken five catches as a stand-in forhis injured captain Mushfiqur Rahim — a record for

a substitute wicketkeeper.The last hour of play on Sunday undermined

some of the earlier work that Bangladesh had doneto edge ahead of New Zealand.

It first reached 595-8 in its first innings - its sec-ond-highest total in test matches and its highest intests outside Bangladesh - then with a novice attackit dismissed New Zealand for 539 to gain a small firstinnings lead on a pitch at the Basin Reserve whichhas shown no signs of deteriorating over four days.

Opener Tamim Iqbal was out for 24 in the 14thover, bowled by spinner Mitchell Santner, then Kayessuffered his injury and was assisted from the fieldby paramedics. Mahmudullah suffered the misfor-tune of being caught down the leg side by wicket-keeper B.J. Watling from the bowling of NeilWagner two overs before stumps then nightwatch-man Mehedi Hasan (1) threw his wicket away whenhe was run out on the last ball of the day.

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He has anchored some classic runchases in the ODIs but Virat Kohli

feels that on Sunday's three-wicket winover England will take "some time to sinkin" simply because it needed a "specialpartnership" to chase down a 351-runtarget after top-order collapse.

"This win is going to take a while tosink in," said Kohli. "What a terrificinnings by Kedar. We have seen hispotential in the series against NewZealand. He almost won us a game inDelhi. That's the chat we had. To rectifythe mistake and take the team over theline. And Hardik finishing in the end.Two cool heads with Ashwin in the mid-dle," said Kohli.

What made it special was to regainthe momentum after being reduced to 63for 4. "Conceding 350 after being 63 for4, their bowlers on top, it took a specialpartnership to get this win. It's not thatwe have not chased 350 but those werebased on good start at the top which pro-vided the momentum. Chasing down 350with four quicks in their team, it was aspecial feeling."

Asked if he still fancied victoryonce both Mahendra Singh Dhoni andYuvraj Singh were dismissed, he said:"At

60 for 4, yes, I was still thinking of a vic-tory. The moment I saw Kedar strikingwell, I told him let's get to 150 for 4, andthey will hit the panic button. Watch.Wicket is good. Kind of shots you canplay on this wicket can demoralise theopposition. The way he batted was ter-rific, not at one stage was he unsure ofwhat he wanted to do. Brilliant knock.Hats off to the shots he played. Even I wasin awe. So very very special partnership,I would remember it for a long time."

Asked about how he pushed Jadhav

for doubles, Kohli smiled and said:"YesI did push him hard for running. The bestlearning is out there in the middle. If youdon't execute what you think and prac-tise, it's hardly of any use. I wanted topush him to the maximum ability as Idon't want him to feel complacent."

Kohli had some sympathy for thebowlers who were blasted for 350 runs.

"The wicket was very placid so it wasjust a case of the bowlers trying their best.We bowled really well in the initial phas-es, but in the end they countered us real-

ly well. A case in point is that we couldchase down the target even after beingfour down for 60."

Kedar on his part said:"It is a greatfeeling that I could win a game for mycountry, that too at my home ground. Mymom, dad, my wife, my daughter arehere. I could play this long because thecaptain Kohli has shown us how to chasebig totals. I have already missed manychances with the batting. I have alsomissed chances to bat with Virat andwatch him closely. It's tough to run withVirat, but I will get better."

A distraught Eoin Morgan said:"Wedid have the runs"

Asked about the pitch, Morgansaid:"That's why we wanted to bowl first.Small ground, conditions are prettytough for the bowlers. You think you arein the game, especially having them 60for 4. It is tough to take, but credit tothem. They didn't give us any chances.We didn't play at our best on Sunday. Wethink we were in the game for most ofit. So all is not lost.

"We were at a tricky period betweenovers 35 and 45 where we were lookingto get momentum into the business end.Credit to India for taking Jos's wicket. Wewould have liked to kickstart that chargeearlier."

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Stand-in captain MohammadHafeez led Pakistan to its

first victory on the tour ofAustralia with a six-wicket winin the second one-day interna-tional of the five-match series onSunday.

Hafeez, leading Pakistan inthe absence of injured captainAzhar Ali, carried Pakistan to221-4 off 47.4 overs with a 72-run knock to level the series 1-1.

Left-arm fast bowlersMohammad Amir took 3-47and Junaid Khan made a come-back to international cricketwith an opening burst of twowickets to dismiss Australia for220 in 48.2 overs.

Hafeez was standing in ascaptain after Azhar injured hisright hamstring in Pakistan's92-run defeat at Brisbane andwas unavailable for theMelbourne match.

"The boys did a great job forus, especially Amir, Imad andJunaid as the ball was not com-ing onto the bat," Hafeez said.Shoaib Malik — one of the threereplacements Pakistan madefrom the first ODI — shared 53-

run stand with Asad Shafiq (13)to make sure Hafeez's effortwasn't in vain and Pakistanrecorded its first ODI win againstAustralia at the MelbourneCricket Ground since 1985.

Hafeez was also a late inclu-sion as the 16th player in thePakistan's ODI squad after hecleared his illegal bowling actionand was primarily included in thesquad for his offspin bowling.

Australia had its chancesbut couldn't grasp the twoopportunities provided byHafeez. Captain Steve Smithmissed a two-handed sitter ofHafeez in Mitchel Starc's first

over before Pakistan could havebegun its run-chase as SharjeelKhan (29) then grafted a 68-runopening stand with Hafeez.

Hafeez was again missed atshort cover by a leaping PatCummins just after he flickedStarc to the square leg boundaryand raised his half century off 81balls.

Babar Azam (34) also addeda further 72 runs with Hafeez toease the run-chase before bothwere caught by Josh Hazlewoodin successive overs in the spaceof two runs. Azam sliced a catchoff Starc and Faulkner hadHafeez caught at mid-on.

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Australia on Sundaynamed a spin-heavy 16-

man squad with four spe-cialist slow bowlers in it fortheir four-match Test tour ofIndia in February-March.

Uncapped leg-spinnerMitchell Swepson wasnamed in the team to boostthe spin contingent whileall-rounder Glenn Maxwellmade a Test comeback aftermore than two years.

The squad, to be led bySteve Smith, includes sixspecialist batsmen, fourspinners, three pace bowlers,two all-rounders and a wick-et-keeper. The Test seriesagainst top-ranked Indiabegins on February 23 inPune, followed by matchesin Bangalore (March 4-8),Ranchi (March 16-20) andDharamsala (March 25-29).

With the inclusion ofonly three fast-bowlers inthe squad, the NationalSelection Panel will reassessthe fast bowling stocks after

the second Test inBangalore, Cricket Australiasaid. Australia have not wona Test match in India since2004, and the four-Testseries is expected to be astern test for skipper Smithand his team.

Speaking on the squad,interim national selectorTrevor Hohns said the panelchose an additional spinbowler to allow as manyoptions as possible.

Queenslander Swepson,23, joins lead spinner NathanLyon and left-arm orthodoxAshton Agar and SteveO'Keefe. Swepson is the onlymember of the squad yet toplay Test cricket.

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Andy Murray sets out on Mondayto end a record run of AustralianOpen final defeats as his great rival

Novak Djokovic vies to become the tour-nament's greatest champion of all-time.

World number one Murray is look-ing to avoid becoming the first man inthe post-1968 Open era to lose six GrandSlam finals at the same major.

His coach Ivan Lendl lost five finalsat the US Open before he broke throughin New York in 1985.

Murray, who opens his campaignwith a match against Ukraine's IllyaMarchenko on Rod Laver Arena, sayshe's in a better position this time to final-ly break through for his maidenAustralian Open. "I obviously feel pret-ty confident after the way the last sea-son finished," Murray said.

"I do love it here. I love the condi-tions. I have played really well here overthe years, and I just haven't managed toget over the final hurdle. But I think I'min a decent position to do it. I think Ihave a chance to win here."

Murray is coming off a magnificent2016 which included a secondWimbledon crown, a successful Olympictitle defence and knocking Djokovic offthe top spot to become world numberone for the first time.

Murray is drawn to meet Japanesefifth seed Nishikori or Swiss legendRoger Federer in the quarters and 2014winner Wawrinka in the semis.

He has Lendl back in his team andis conscious he has to keep improvingto keep his rivals at bay to hold on to theworld's top ranking.

B�� "The reality is, in sport, that things

keep moving on, the game will get bet-ter. I'll obviously get older, the youngguys will continue to improve, and alsoNovak and Roger (Federer) and Stan(Wawrinka) and Rafa (Nadal) and all theguys at the top are still going to be want-ing to get there," he said.

"So that's why having someone likeIvan on my team who has been in thatposition before and knows what that's likehas been important. I need to continueto improve. I need to keep working hard."

Murray knows that Djokovic will begunning for him in the year's firstGrand Slam where he has a fantasticrecord of six finals and six victories goingback to 2008.

The 12-time Grand Slam championcan take outright ownership of therecord for Australian titles if he wins fora seventh time in Melbourne.

The Serb is currently tied withAustralia's Roy Emerson on six Australian

titles. "One of the reasons I'm here is totry to win every match that I play, andeventually the title," Djokovic said.

Djokovic faces a potential banana-skin in the first round against experi-enced Spaniard Fernando Verdasco.

Verdasco, ranked 40, has beatenDjokovic four times in their 13 encoun-ters and the Serb had to save five matchpoints in beating him earlier this monthin the semi-finals in Doha.

Should Djokovic get off to a winningstart he is seeded to face BrisbaneInternational winner Grigor Dimitrov inthe fourth round, powerful Austrianeighth seed Dominic Thiem in thequarters and Canada's big-serving thirdseed Milos Raonic in the semi-finals.

Outside the top two, the main hopesrest with reigning US Open championStan Wawrinka, who won in Melbournein 2014, Raonic and Japanese hope Kei

Nishikori.Grand Slam warriors Federer and

Nadal should also be in the mix, but theylack match time and their rankings haveslipped. Seventeen-time Grand Slamgreat Federer, who at 17 is out of the top10 for the first time since late 2002, is eas-ing his way back after six months outwith a knee injury, while 14-time GrandSlam winner Nadal is coming off anoth-er injury-hit season.

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Serena Williams has vowed to make life difficult for top seed Angelique Kerber and a hostof dangerous players out to derail her at the Australian Open, warning she is in Melbourne

to win. The American gets her quest for an Open-era record 23rd Grand Slam title under-way in a difficult first-round clash against Switzerland's Belinda Bencic in forecast swel-tering heat on Tuesday.

It will be one the few matches she has played after a four-month lay-off.But the 35-year-old, seeded two, is in fighting mood despite being bundled out in the

second round of her only warm-up tournament, the Auckland Classic."I didn't come here to lose in the first round, or the second round, or at all," she said

on Saturday. "If I can play the way I've been practising, it will be fine."I've been spending so much time on the court. It feels really good to be back, just hit-

ting on Rod Laver (Arena), hitting on all the stadiums, it's a good feeling. I love it here."If she gets past Bencic, Williams could then encounter either in-form BritonJohanna Konta, who won this week's Sydney International, or sixth seed

Dominika Cibulkova in the quarter-finals.And then there's Germany's Kerber,

who is scheduled to meet her in the finalas the newly-engaged Williams looks to bet-ter Steffi Graf 's 22 Grand Slam singles titlesby winning her seventh Australian crown.

Kerber stunned the tennis great atMelbourne Park last year, upsetting her in the

decider for her first major title before laterreplacing her as the world number one.

That win sparked a memorable season forKerber, who followed it up by claiming the US Open,

where Williams crashed in the semi-finals and has bare-ly played since.

Kerber gets her campaign started againstUkraine's Lesia Tsurenko on a Mondayevening centre court clash.

But she has not had a good start to 2017,falling to Ukraine's Elina Svitolina in the

Brisbane International quarter-finals, then slump-ing out in round two of the Sydney Internationalto Russian teenager Darya Kasatkina.Despite this, she is confident of finding her best

form over the next fortnight."For me, I'm expecting the same as I was

expecting the years before -- going out there try-ing my best, fighting till the last point," she said.

"This is always how I'm playing, how I am.This will not be changing."

��Aside from Kerber, Polish world number

three Agnieszka Radwanska, who lost toWilliams in last year's semi-finals, Romanianpocket-rocket Simona Halep and Spain'sGarbine Muguruza all pose a threat.

The form players are British ninth seedKonta and Brisbane International winnerKarolina Pliskova, ranked five.

Konta, who made the semis last year andwas named the WTA's most improved play-

er for 2016, has blossomed and is encour-aged by winning in Sydney.

Czech Republic's Pliskova is anoth-er dangerous floater but like Konta is tak-

ing nothing for granted despite her stellarearly season efforts.

"I would definitely not take me as a favourite of this tournament," said the tall 24-year-old, who won the girl's singles title at Melbourne Park in 2010.

Several notable players are missing, including two-time Wimbledon champion PetraKvitova who was injured by a knife-wielding intruder at her home in the Czech Republiclast month. Also out on maternity leave is two-time Australian Open winner VictoriaAzarenka, along with five-time major champion Maria Sharapova, who is suspended untilApril after failing a drugs test at last year's tournament.

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Murray usurped Novak Djokovic forthe No 1 ranking after a stunning fin-

ish to 2016, when he won Wimbledon andthe Olympic gold medal at Rio de Janeiroand added titles in Beijing, Shanghai,Vienna and Paris. He clinched the year-ending No 1 ranking bywinning the ATP Finals.He became the firstBritish man to reach No1 in the ATP rankings,the second-oldest playerto debut at No 1. He seta record for most timebetween first gaining No2 and No 1 rankings - 7years and 82 days, afterseven stints at No 2.After setting so many marks for Britishmen, one still eludes him: an AustralianOpen title. He has lost 5 finals in the last7 years at Melbourne Park, including 4 toDjokovic ('16, '15, '13, '11). He reunitedwith coach Ivan Lendl in June last year.

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Nobody has won more AustralianOpen titles than Djokovic, who

made his Grand Slam breakthroughby winning the 2008 final as the No3 seed. He Won three in a row from2011-'13 and the last two - bothagainst Murray. He excels on thehard courts at the Australian Open,where he is aiming to be the firstman to win seven singles crowns andbreak a tie with Roy Emerson, whowon his home title in 1961 and from1963-67. He reached six consecutivemajor finals, winning five, from the2015 Australian to winning hismaiden French Open title last year.He lost in the third round atWimbledon to Sam Querrey, thenwas beaten by Stan Wawrinka in theUS Open final. He Spent 122 con-secutive weeks at No 1 before beingreplaced by Murray on Nov. 7. Hebeat Murray in the final at Doha to

open the season.

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The long-time No 2 even in hishome country, Wawrinka won his

maiden Grand Slam title at MelbournePark in 2014, when he beat Nadal tobecome the oldest first-time majorwinner since Goran Ivanisevic in2001. He has learnedhow to peak when itcounts, beating theWorld No 1 in thefinals at theAustralian Open, theFrench Open (againstDjokovic in 2015)and the US Open(Djokovic, last year).According to theATP, he is 0-20 in other rounds andtournaments against the No 1 player.He broke the Djokovic-Murray run ofmajors when he won at the US Openlast year, becoming the oldest men'schampion at Flushing Meadows sinceKen Rosewall in 1970.

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She had a breakout year in 2016 by win-ning her first Grand Slam singles

title at Melbourne, beating SerenaWilliams in the final, but lost toSerena in the Wimbledon final andwon a silver medal at the RioOlympics and then captured hersecond major after beating KarolinaPliskova in the US Open final. Shemade seven finals and officiallyovertook Williams for the No 1 rankingon the Monday after the US Openended, but was assured of the top rank-ing when Pliskova beat Serena in thesemifinals in New York. She was aunanimous selection for WTA Playerof the Year. She began 2017 by los-ing to Elina Svitolina in the quarterfi-nals at the Brisbane International, thenwas beaten 7-6 (5), 6-2 in her first matchat the Sydney International by 26th-ranked Daria Kasatkina.

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Melbourne Park markedRadwanska's best

Grand Slam performancelast year, losing in the semi-finals to Serena Williams instraight sets. She lost in thefourth round at the othermajors. She won two of herthree tournaments in 2016in China - at Shenzhen theweek before the AustralianOpen and at Beijing inOctober. One of her nick-names is "The Magician" because of her shot-making ability, and she won the WTA Shot ofthe Year for the fourth year in a row in 2016.The shot came against Monica Niculescu atIndian Wells in March, when Radwanska ranall over the court during a rally before loopingan around-the-post winner past her startled opponent.

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Tanzania's Alphonce Simbu won the men's elitefull marathon event while Kenya's Bornes

Kitur bagged the women's title at the StandardChartered Mumbai Marathon here on Sunday.

Simbu clocked two hours, nine minutes and32 seconds to clinch the gold medal. Kenya'sJoshua Kirkorir took the second spot with a timeof 2:09:50 in a tough competition.

Kirkorir's compatriot Eliud Barbgetuny camethird as he completed the distance in 2:10:39.

Till 30 kms, the race was neck to neckbetween the three top finishers. However, in thelast stages, Simbu surged ahead and eventuallywon the race.

The full marathon was flagged off from theiconic Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus in SouthMumbai at 7.20 AM by a host of dignitaries.

In the women's category, Kenya's BornesKitur won in the elite category with a time of

02:29:02. Ethiopia's Chaltu Tafa came secondas she clocked 2:33:03 while her compatriotTigist Girma bagged the bronze medal. Girmaclocked 02:33:19.

Again in the women's section, the top threerunners were fighting hard and at 21 km mark,all of them recorded a timing of 1:14:03. Kitureventually moved ahead of the other two tobecome victorious at the end.

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Zlatan Ibrahimovic equalisedlate for Manchester United

to salvage a 1-1 draw againstfierce rival Liverpool in a resultthat damaged both teams'Premier League title chances onSunday.

Ibrahimovic canceled outJames Milner's 27th-minutepenalty by glancing a header inoff the crossbar in the 84thminute at Old Trafford.

Liverpool ended United'snine-game winning run in allcompetitions — six of whichhad come in the league — butdropped seven points behindfirst-placed Chelsea. Sixth-placed United was 12 points offthe leader.

On the day United rolledout advertising hoardings dis-playing Paul Pogba's newTwitter emoji, the player him-self made a crucial mistake byconceding a penalty while

jumping with his back to theball at a corner. Milner con-verted to give Liverpool the leadagainst the run of play but thevisitors created little else in anintense, scrappy match betweenEnglish football's two most dec-orated clubs.

The recent hot streak hadraised the possibility of Unitedmaking a late run at the title, sothis result was a setback.

United got its reward witha more direct approach late in

the game. Marouane Fellainicame on as a 76th-minute sub-stitute and the tall Belgian madea difference — and played a keyrole in the goal.

His glancing header from aleft-wing cross struck the postand the ball eventually made itsway to right back AntonioValencia, whose return crosswas met by Ibrahimovic for his14th league goal of the season.

�"��&�'=*�"�� Pep Guardiolaendured the heaviest leaguedefeat of his coaching career asManchester City was thrashed4-0 by Everton in the PremierLeague on Sunday to plummetfurther out of title contention.

Two weeks after a 1-0 lossat Liverpool, City had moremisery on Merseyside followinggoals by Romelu Lukaku, KevinMirallas, 18-year-old midfield-er Tom Davies and 19-year-olddebutant Ademola Lookman.

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It was always going to be difficult for Williamsto match her stellar 2015

after winning the AustralianOpen, French Open andWimbledon before losing inthe US Open semifinals,falling just two matches shortof the calendar Grand Slam.She had an off-year by herstandards in 2016, winningonly two titles, but one ofthem was her 22nd Grand

Slam singles title, whichshe got at Wimbledon,equaling Steffi Graf 's Open-era record. Sheended the year without the No 1 spot for

the first time since 2012. The newly-engaged(to Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian)Williams opened the year at the ASB Classicin wind-swept Auckland with a surprise sec-ond-round loss in three sets to fellow AmericanMadison Brengle.

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