strategy of stepping up infiltration by sending in more militants and stoking unrest in towns of...

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Security forces are facingmultiple challenges in

Kashmir Valley as infiltrationfrom across the Line of Control(LoC) and local protest are atan all-time high and armedmilitant commanders are open-ly making “hate speeches” dur-ing protest rallies.

Pakistan is following a two-pronged strategy of stepping upinfiltration by sending in moremilitants and stoking unrest intowns of Kashmir Valley, saidsaid officials in the securityestablishment. Faced with thissituation and apprehendingfurther spurt in violence levelsin the run up to IndependenceDay, the Army and other agen-cies are intensifying opera-tions along the LoC to checkinfiltration and foil the mili-tants’ attempt to regroup insidethe State.

More than 55 infiltrationbids have been made fromJanuary to July-end this year ascompared to 30 odd last year inthe corresponding period andcoming days will see a hike inthis phenomenon, said officials.The security forces managed toneutralise 94 terrorists on theLoC and the hinterland ascompared to 42 last year.

Admitting that all the para-meters like infiltration andturmoil were at an all-timehigh, the officials said Pakistan

Army and ISI are trying toinfiltrate 200 to 300 terrorists.Till now, most of the terroristshave tried to sneak in fromupper reaches like Tangdharand Kupwara, sources said.

In fact, infiltration startedthis year in the last week ofJanuary unlike March-end inthe previous years due to poorsnowfall. Most ingress routes inTangdhar and other adjoiningareas are generally blocked by

heavy snow during wintermonths and passes open upsome time in mid-March, they said.

The other worrying factoris that after the killing of HizbulMujahideen commanderBurhan Wani more than amonth back, youths are takingto streets in large numbersand resorting to violence intowns like Srinagar, Pulwamaand other places in the Valley

forcing the security forces toopen fire. Most of these townsare under curfew since then.

Moreover, operationalcommanders are worried overthe recent phenomenon of militants brandishing guns andmaking their presence felt by climbing on to podiummaking ‘hate speeches’ duringprotest rallies in South Kashmirdistricts.

Continued on Page 4

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In his strongest denounce-ment of violence against

Dalits in the country, PrimeMinister Narendra Modi onSunday said that thoseindulging in atrocities againstDalits should first attack him.“If you have to attack, attackme, but stop attacking myDalit bretheren… Goli cha-lana hai to muhjpe chalaiye,mere Dalit bhaiyon pe matchalaiye,” he said while address-ing a meeting of the BJP work-ers at Lal Bahadur Stadium inHyderabad.

Modi’s comments came ata time when Dalits are on thewarpath in Gujarat followingthe flogging of four Dalityouths which triggered severeOpposition assault on him and the BJP.

Earlier in the day, the PMtook on cow vigilantes at amammoth public meeting atKomati Banda near Gajwel inMedak district in Telanganaafter laying the foundationstones for a raft of developmentprojects. “I want to tell every-body beware of these fake cowprotectors. These handful ofvigilantes have nothing to dowith cow protection, but want

to create tanaav (tension) andtakrav (conflict) in the society,”Modi said.

“In the name of cow pro-tection, these fake cow protec-tors are trying to disturb thepeace and harmony of the

nation. I want the real cow pro-tectors to expose them (fakeones) and the State Govern-ments should take stringentaction against them,” he added.

Continued on Page 4Related reports on P6

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States are taking their owntime to pay delayed wages to

MNREGA workers though theCentre has released funds fol-lowing an admonition by theSupreme Court.

As per data available withthe Union Rural DevelopmentMinistry for 2015-16, Statesowe a total of �1,040 crore ofwage payments to MNREGAlabourers. Nagaland has report-ed the highest wage bill at �290crore followed by West Bengal(�157 crore), Jammu &Kashmir (�139 crore) andBihar (�98 crore).

A senior official from theMinistry said that adequatefund has already been releasedto all the States with directionsto clear all the pending wages toMNREGA workers by June,but it is a matter of concern thatmany States are yet to do so.

In May, the Supreme Courttook serious note of the “uncon-scionable delay” in release offunds for MNREGA scheme.

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Punjab unit’s RashtriyaSwayamsewak Sangh (RSS)

vice-president Brig JagdishGagneja (retd), who was shotat by two bike-borne assailantsin Jalandhar on Saturday, wasin critical condition on Sunday.

Doctors at a private hospi-tal here conducted a surgery toremove two bullets fromGagneja’s stomach. However, athird bullet is still lodged in hisbody. Seeing no improvementin his health, Gagneja wasshifted to Ludhiana-basedDayanand Medical College andHospital, said sources.

Meanwhile, the PunjabGovernment constituted afour-member special investi-gation team (SIT), headed byDGP IPS Sahota, to probe theattack. The SIT — comprisingPolice Commissioner ArpitShukla, Inspector GeneralCounter Intelligence Jalandhar

Neelabh Kishore and AssistantInspector General AmarjitSingh Bajwa — managed tofind the number of the motor-cycle used by the assailantsfrom CCTV footage.

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While the recent HighCourt judgment settling

the long-drawn battle “betweenthe selected and the elected” isbeing seen as a severe setbackfor the AAP-ruled DelhiGovernment, it may be a silverlining for the Aam AadmiParty (AAP), especially if oneconsiders the way the AAP hasplayed its cards ever sincecoming to power.

With the High Courtestablishing that Delhi contin-ues to be a Union Territoryunder the administrative con-trol of the Lieutenant-Governor, it may give Kejriwaland his party even moreammunition to targetLieutenant-Governor NajeebJung for stopping hisGovernment from taking “peo-ple friendly” decisions.

Not only that, the HighCourt verdict that theoretical-ly renders Assembly electionsin Delhi a somewhat futile

exercise may serve as a rallyingpoint for those fighting for fullStatehood for Delhi, withKejriwal leading from the front.

The AAP leaders have successfully shifted the blameon the Union Government andthe L-G that aam aadmi willsuffer in the wake of the HighCourt verdict.

In an indication of thingsto come, AAP leaders held aPress conference on Friday, aday after the High Court ver-

dict, where it said the people ofthe national Capital canapproach L-G Jung if they haveany issue with civic amenitiesas powers have now been vest-ed in his hands.

“Contrary to the percep-tion that the recent High Courtorder giving supremacy to theL-G in administrative affairs inthe national Capital will goagainst the AAP Government,it is working on a way out withparty legislators telling people

in their respective constituen-cies that they should get theirworks done by Raj Niwas asthey had been rendered tooth-less by the court verdict,” saida senior functionary of theAAP Government.

Such statements from AAPleaders may convince peoplethat the Delhi Government isdoing its best for the welfare ofthe people despite interferenceby the Centre and its repre-sentative L-G.

As Delhiites have beenupbeat over a series of mea-sures that the Government hastaken to deal with their day-to-day hardships, many in the cityfeel that the verdict has tied thehands of the city Government.

For instance, theGovernment had said powercompanies will have to pay fineto consumers for unscheduledpower cuts. “Now, we cannotpursue this matter as discomswill no longer listen to us. It isnow for the L-G to ensure peo-ple are compensated forunscheduled power cuts,” saida south Delhi MLA.

“Since the situation haschanged after the High Courtjudgment, we expect that all thework that the DelhiGovernment was doing forpublic good and our battleagainst corruption will now becarried forward by the L-Gwith the same commitmentand honesty with which theDelhi Government was per-forming,” AAP’s nationalspokesperson Ashutosh said.

While “disagreeing” withthe view of the High Court,Deputy Chief Minister ManishSisodia said, “If ‘we the people’have no value, then where willpeople go if they have alreadychosen their MLAs? To the LtGovernor? To the Centre?”The party further said since theL-G has the authority now, heshould initiate action in theCNG fitness scam, “in whichhe is an accused himself ”.

AAP insiders explainedthat the AAP leadership will inall possibility play victim inPunjab, Goa and Gujarat wherethe party is to contest theAssembly elections next year.With the court making it clearthat law and order, police,land, financial matters andsuper scale postings have tohave the Lieutenant-Governor’sprior approval, the party willhighlight this in their electioncampaign that the DelhiGovernment had no powers totake any decision for welfare ofits citizens.

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For the next one week, tillAugust 14, to be precise, the

monsoon is expected to con-tinue its “active phase” overnorth-west India. However,the southern Peninsula may seenormal or below normal raintill August 19. Simultaneously,a fresh Western Disturbancemoving across Jammu &Kashmir is expected to bringlight to moderate rain over thenorthern States, including partsof Delhi-NCR, Punjab,Haryana and western UttarPradesh.

As per the data of IndiaMeteorological Department(IMD), the week concludedwith 6 per cent above averagerainfall. The north-west Indiarecorded the highest surplus of26 per cent. Ample rainfallreceived in the first fortnight ofAugust has helped reduce rain-fall deficit in Gujarat andHimachal Pradesh. However,peninsular India that regis-tered a surplus of 1 per centduring the concluding week islikely to plunge into deficitgiven the predictions ofreduced intensity in the region.

According to weather sci-entists in the IMD, a low-pres-

sure area over northwest Bay ofBengal and a cyclonic circula-tion over Madhya Pradesh,Gujarat and Rajasthan maycontinue to persist for the nexttwo-three days. To add to this,a cyclonic circulation is brew-ing over the Arakan coast inSouth Myanmar and its west-ern regions. It has also enteredthe regions of east-central Bay

of Bengal. This circulation isexpected to move fully into theBay and intensify the develop-ment of low pressure zone,which would help boost mon-soon over central and adjoin-ing north-western India.

Meanwhile, northernStates, including Delhi, willget respite from humidity withthe IMD predicting moderate

to heavy showers in Delhi,Himachal Pradesh andUttarakhand. The threats offlashfloods, cloudburst andlandslide loom large over thehilly regions.

Delhi has received a recordeight per cent surplus mon-soon, following widespreadrains during last week of July.

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Tayiba Khan, 18, who wassupposed to get married in

a few months, is now recuper-ating at a centre run by RMLhospital for life-threateningburn injuries that she had sus-tained on July 14 in Mathura,Uttar Pradesh, after a jiltedlover allegedly threw acid onher face and forced her todrink it.

After getting initial treat-ment in the city she wasbrought to RML last week.

According to the victim’srelative, on July 11, Tayiba wasengaged to someone and fam-ily started preparing for hermarriage.

“After coming to knowabout the development, heralleged lover, who earlier hadthreatened the family of direconsequences in case of Tayibawas not married to him, got

furious. I cannot forget that‘black night’ in my life thatruined lives of my two daugh-ters. As usual, all the familymembers were sleeping on theterrace when some miscreantsfrom the neighborhood threwacid on my daughter. Myyounger daughter sleepingnearby Tayiba also sufferedfrom burn injuries and she isundergoing treatment at anAgra-based hospital. Also, theyforced my daughter to drinkacid,” said victim’s motherAneesha Khan with tears in hereyes.

Since then the family hasbeen running to get treatmentof both their daughters fearingabout the marriage prospect ofTayiba, who has sustainedextensive burn injuries on herface and on her body. Also,

Tayiba’s intestine has beendamaged, claimed family mem-bers.

“I don’t even know whethermy daughter’s in-laws will agreeto go ahead with the marriageafter this horrific incident,”said Aneesha who wants to seeculprits behind bars.

Dr VK Tiwari, HOD ofburn and Plastic Surgerydepartment told The Pioneer,“For burn patients, our first pri-ority is to save the patient’s life.The patient has received deepburn injuries about 25-30 percent on face. The victim’s facereconstruction and deformitywould be done later, once thepatient would be stable. Andthis procedure usually takes 2-3 years. “

Due to the acid, she has losther eyesight and hearing capac-

ity, said Dr Tiwari, adding thatthe acid on the victim had highconcentration of sulfuric acid.

Dr Tiwari said, over theyears cases of acid attack (vit-riolage) have definitely gonedown but still active in theparts of UP. “We receive at leastone case of vitriolage in two tothree months. And these casesare mostly from outside Delhi,”he said.

Meanwhile, Dr KaroonAgrawal, plastic surgeon atSafdarjung Hospital said manytimes cases of vitriolage gounreported too. “Such patientsshould be given family andsocietal support and theGovernment should take somestringent steps against the cul-prits. A patient goes intodepression and other psycho-logical problems,” said Dr

Agrawal.Meanwhile, victim’s fami-

ly has lodged a police com-plaint against the abscondingculprits at Mathura police sta-tion.

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Ahorrifying acid attack mayhave disfigured Aarti’s face

for life, but it could not crushher spirits. Attacked thrice forturning down a marriage pro-posal, the incident is still freshin her memory, but she chosenot to play a victim. “I don’twant people to know me as anacid attack victim all my life; Iwant them to know me as AartiThakur.”

“Life was not easy moneywise, but it was still like afairytale,” she said. Four yearsago, my younger sister Swatiwas also working to supportthe family and engaged to theman she loved. “I was in ahappy space. I, along with mymother and younger sister,lived in a rented house. I gaveup my studies to financiallyhelp my family. I also got

engaged to the man I liked.We were supposed to getmarried soon. Life wassmooth, we couldn’t ask formore,” Aarti said.

The three incidentschanged her life forever. “Mylandlady’s son proposed methrice but I denied his pro-posal. But even then the rela-tions between my family andtheirs remained cordial,” sherecalled. It was the twilight ofthe day when Aarti was return-ing home from office, she sawa man hurrying towards her.

“You can sense whensomething wrong is about tohappen,” she said. Secondslater, she felt a certain sense ofnumbness, something hadpierced her face. “I felt numbwith only blood gushing outprofusely. I don’t rememberexactly what happened afterthat until I landed in the hos-

pital room. The doctor told meI was stabbed in the face. I gotsixteen stitches,” she added.Adding to her woes, policerefused to register her com-plaint on account of “notknowing the attackers and hisintention”.

As time passed by, Aartibecame more cautious abouther surroundings. “Wechanged our flat from Maladto Nala Sopara as Malad wasa slum area and I feared wecould be robbed or attackedagain. My landlady asked meabout the place we were shift-ing to. She said she wanted tocome and see the flat. She wasalmost like our family mem-ber. She usually called me toask about my whereaboutsand I used to tell her,” Aarti’svoice quivered.

The second incidentunfolded again while she was

heading home. As sheclimbed up the stairs to herhouse on the second floor,two men ran up the stairs,blocked her way and stabbedher on forehead, cheeks andhand. “It seemed like some-one wanted to hurt me asmuch possible. But when wetried to reach police, we couldnot find a single policeman atthe station,” she said.

But it was the fatefulevening of January 31, 2012that gives Aarti nightmareseven today. “After the secondattack, I never forgot to covermy face every time I venturedout. I clearly remember it was6:47pm. I was buying the tick-et at Goregaon station and asI moved around, the same boycame and threw something atme. I felt that my scarf, my face,my entire body was melting.My face turned silver. Hearing

my painful screams, a team ofpolice rushed me to the hos-pital where they found that Iwas attacked with acid,” sheshuddered.

The interrogation furtherrevealed the three attacks werea conspiracy hatched by thelandlady to spoil her impend-ing marriage.

The acid attack was themost painful experience forAarti, but what followed afterthat was even worse. Desertedby her fiancé, Aarti was con-fined to her home for twoyears. “I didn’t step out of myhouse. I was even scared ofshadows,” she painfullyrecalled.

“Now I have lost hope thatanyone would marry me. Theman I loved left me in themiddle of the most terriblephase of my life, just to makethings even more difficult.The attack took a toll on me,”she went to speak.

But she chose not to play

victim. Rising from the asheslike a phoenix, Aarti, being anirrepressible optimist, fash-ioned a new beginning leavingbehind the horrors of the past.

“If I don’t think aboutmyself, no one else will,” saidAarti, adding that she hasalways been self-motivated.

“I always wanted happinessmy mother and my sister to bein a happy space. Therefore Idecided to leave behind myinhibitions and decided to stepout,” she said.

“I used to cover my facewith a dupatta to hide myinjury marks during inter-views which didn’t make peo-ple comfortable. They couldn’tstand having someone in thecompany whose face wasscarred. I gave almost eightinterviews in different privatecompanies and faced rejectionsuntil I finally landed a job witha real estate firm as a market-ing executive,” she said withconfidence.

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The one who claimed to“love” them scarred them.

Their attackers ensured that thegirls never see a streak of colourin their life. However, the lovefor life brought a group of acidattack victims on a platformfrom where they could splashlove on the world. And therecouldn’t be a better place toshow the world that love meansto care and nourish.

As you walk into CafeSheroes Hangout opposite theTajmahal gateway in Agra, yousee a wall full of graffitis. Lookat it closer, and you see awoman with scars, colourfulscars. The graffiti and thedesigning of the café have beendone by volunteers of LalitKala Academy.

Perhaps, she is the reflectionof the women, who work andmanage this place. They were allonce beautiful, pretty women.But deprived of joy and accep-tance, now they are strugglingto prove that all was not over forthem with an acid attack.

The ambience here isaddictive and the neatness parexcellence. Each frame on thewall seems to have a message.

An NGO named Chhanvcollaborated with Stop AcidAttacks to come up with thisplace in 2014. This year inMarch, they spread to Lucknowtoo and soon plan to open atother places, including inUdaipur, on August 15.

In Agra, it costs them about�3 lakh to start operations. Awebsite, dedicated to an acidattack survivor, Nitu, is a majorcontributor. Nitu and othersnow work here not just make aliving but to turn their dreamsinto reality. They plan to trainwell and excel at their work.

Rupa, a 21-year-old sur-vivor of an acid attack, has man-aged to gather funds and starta boutique here. She designs

and sells clothes. Earlier thisyear, acid attack survivors likeLaxmi, Neetu and Rupa had aphoto shoot wherein theydonned clothes designed byRupa herself.

“The reaction of customerswas weird in the beginning butslowly they accepted us andnow people visit us and eathere,” said Ritu who hails fromHaryana and is still undergoingseveral surgeries. She became avictim of acid attack in 2012,but did not lose hope and start-ed working with the cafe. Thesurvivors stay in a hostel near-by.

The USP of this place per-haps is their willingness totrust people. The concept atSheroes is simple: you can eat,read, chat, relax and yes shop!

There is a reading roomtoo. You can find books on fem-inism and women empower-ment here. “The aim is to edu-cate, empower and spread love,”informed Ritu.

Shweta Jain (25), a bankemployee, had come to spendher Sunday evening at thisplace. “It’s so lively... So warmand peaceful. I can sit here forhours and chat with my friends.The food is so delicious andmade with so much love,” sheadded.

They don’t ask you to payfor the food and neither do theytell you to cough up their ser-vice charge, service tax or evena tip. “It may sound strange, butit’s true. There is a dropbox.One can pay as per his wish andability,” Ritu added.

On being asked if it affectsthem financially, Ritu said cus-tomers are too generous todonate, which is enough for usas of now and helps us inachieving the cost utilised.

“The world is still beauti-ful,” said Nilima Jain. Shedropped �500 into the boxafter having coffee and chilliepotatoes with two of her friends.

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While the cases of acidattack (vitriolage) have

gone down over the years inDelhi. Study conducted atSafdarjung Hospital showedthat they several acid attackcases came from outside.

Among 60 acid burnpatients, 15 cases were of homi-cidal acid attack with majorityof the acid attack incidents.

Author of the study, Dr VKTiwari, HoD of Burn andPlastic Department at RMLhospital said, “Over the years,we are witnessing less cases ofvitrolage, however incidentsstill are reported from outsideDelhi.”

“While majority of thepatients received minor (10 percent) burn injuries and sevenburn patients suffered majorburn categories with two caseswere with extensive burninjuries,” said the doctor.

Strangely, in one such caseof vitroloage, a step mother wasinvloved, revealed the study onacid burn patients at SafdarjungHospital. According to the

findings of Burns and PlasticDepartment, of the 60 acidburn patients, 15 cases wereacid attack patients (homicidal)including a male patient, onecase of iatrogenic and 44 wereaccidental acid burn cases.And 6 out of 60 patients diedduring the course of treat-ment, said the report.

Health experts said most-ly young patients come for thetreatment of acid burn.“Majority of patients were 21-30 years who suffered burninjuries,” said the doctor. Also,most of the patients sufferingminor burn with less than 10per cent of burn injuries, saidDr Tiwari.

Soon, the department isgoing to publish this report inInternational Journal of Burns.

It may be noted that for anyacid burn case reported in thehospital, saving patient’s life isthe first and most importantpriority of the doctors. “Facereconstruction and deforma-tion comes later and thisprocess takes at least 2-3 years,”said Dr Tiwari.

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Woman safety in thenational Capital is a ris-

ing question and definitely thebiggest concern for many. TheDelhi Police has come up withmany measures such as mobileapplications, extra policedeployment amongst otherthings to make women feel safein the city and fight roadsideromeos.

A special police unit forwomen and children (SPUWC)was formed to look after thesecurity of women in the city.The unit is currently headed byspecial commissioner of police,women safety, airports andmodernisation Sundari Nanda.There are over five women cellsin each of the 11 districts ofDelhi.

A senior police official ofSPUWC said their officialswho are themselves trained incombat, give special selfdefence training to women

and girls. “The trainingincludes karate and other self-combat techniques such as thequick use of pepper spray andalso the training is required forwomen so that they know whatto do when they are facing anysort of danger from men. Ourofficials are also deployed inextra numbers in civil dressesat many places especially inslums and places where the

incidence of crime againstwomen is more,” said the offi-cial.

Some places that haveidentified to be not so safe forgirls included Neb Sarai,Mehrauli, Sarojini Nagar, Saketin South Delhi, DTC busroutes, most of the places inouter, North-east and East dis-trict, Uttam Nagar, Nangloi,Najafgarh, Okhla etc as these

places are more prone to suchcrimes.

The SPUWC also solvesmarital problems wherewomen are forced to givedowry or else they are trau-matised to such an extent thatthey commit suicide.

“There are mediation cellsof the SPUWC in every districtwhere women come with theirmarital voes. We settle thematter by confronting the hus-band with their wives. Wecounsel both the husband’sfamily and the wife and try tosettle the matter. Victims ofrape and molestation or stalk-ing etc are also counseled at theCrime against women cells inall the districts so that theyregain confidence in them-selves and can face the worldagain,” said the official. “Untilland unless the mindset of menchange, safety of women willalways remain a question.Stricter laws can also bring ina change,” said the official.

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The Municipal Corporationshave issued legal

notices/challans to the Delhi'spremier schools and collegesfor the presence of mosquitobreeding spots on schoolpremises.

"In addition to big publicschools, 72 Governmentschools and small publicschools have also been foundbreeding Aedes mosquito. Allof these schools have beenissued legal notices or challansas per provisions under DMCAct. All the breeding has beentreated by staff and schoolshave been advised to keep theschool premises free of mos-quito breeding to save tenderchildren," said the municipalofficial.

It may be noted that thevector Aedes mosquito breedsclean water keep for long time.Special attention should bypaid to keep places like coolers,overhead tanks, drums, haud-

is, tin, tyres, kabad, plasticwaste lying in open holdingrain water, discarded tyres,flower pots, money plant, bam-boo shoots (Fengshui), earth-en bird pots, fountains, water-falls, swimming pool, con-struction sites, roof top and anywater collections, clean.

Last year, Delhi witnessedworst dengue outbreak in thepast 20 years which affectedmore than 15,000 people andclaimed 100 lives. This year,Delhi has recorded about 119dengue cases so far.

In a special drive to checkthe dengue of mosquito breed-ing sites, the South DelhiMunicipal Corporation foundthe presence of Aedes mosquitobreeding places at Delhi PublicSchool (Mathura Road), GDGoenka Public School (VasantKunj), Holy Child AuxillumPublic School (Vasant Viharand RK Puram), Green FieldSchool (Safdarjung Enclave), StJohn School (Lodhi Road),Rayn Public school

(Vasantkunj), Vasant ValleySchool (Vasantkunj), Mother'sPride School (MB road andPalam) among other topschools.

Manav Manglam school(Pehladpur), Hamdard School(Lajpat Nagar), RA KhanCollege (Amar Colony), NotreDame school, NTPC (Mathuraroad), Balvant Rai MehtaSchool (Masjid Moth), GK-III,Saint John's School (MasjidMoth, G.K -III), KhazaniWomen's Polytechnic(Khanpur), Pitambar PublicSchool (Kishangarh), Satya SaiBal Vihar (RK Puram), DAVSchool (RK Puram), ShivajiCollege and Rajdhani college(Rajouri Garden), Meera DeviModel school, (Janakpuri),Mishri Devi Public school(Shyam Vihar), MBD Publicschool ( Old Palam road), BabaHaridass Institute (HaridassNagar), Navyug Public school(Sainik Enclave), ITL Publicschool,(Dwarka), Queen ValleyPublic school ( Dwarka).

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The Centre has told the DelhiHigh Court that it has

received from the AAPGovernment a proposal forsanction of revision of payscales of public prosecutors ofall the district courts in thenational Capital.

The submission was madebefore Justice Manmohan afterthe court had issued a show-cause notice to the Centre ask-ing as to why contempt pro-ceedings be not initiated againstit for filing a "false affidavit" thatthey did not receive any pro-posal for pay hike to differentcategories of prosecutors inDelhi.

The Central Governmentstanding counsel submittedthat the proposal sent to it bythe Delhi Government has beenreceived and the same is pend-ing before the Ministry ofFinance. "We need a week'stime to get back to the court, onwhat steps the Ministry will betaking," the Centre's counsel

said.The court has listed the

matter for September 15.Earlier, the Centre's counsel hadtold the court that it has notreceived any proposal for sanc-tion of revision of pay scales ofthe public prosecutors fromDelhi Government. Counteringthe claim, the AAPGovernment had said lastDecember it had sent theCabinet note to Lieutenant-Governor Najeeb Jung approv-ing hike in the salary of publicprosecutors.

The Centre's response hadcome in the backdrop of thecourt's notice issued to it on apetition seeking contemptaction against the HomeSecretary for not complyingwith its September 9, 2015,order.

The court in its September2015 had directed the DelhiGovernment that the decisionto increase the pay scales ofDelhi public prosecutors beimplemented without any delay.

The contempt petition filed

by Delhi Prosecutors WelfareAssociation alleged "delib-

erate and willful disobedience"on the part of the Centre andcity Government in complyingwith the court order.

The association, in its peti-tion filed through advocate

Ashish Dikshit, had saidassurances to the court by theDelhi Government to provideinternet facilities to the prose-cutors have also not been done.

"It is submitted that despitethere being explicit directionsby this court for implementingthe Cabinet decision

dated September 1, 2015the respondents (Centre andDelhi Government) have tilldate not complied with thedirections.

"The respondent 1 (Centre)and respondent 2 (DelhiGovernment) have demon-strated an attitude which vio-lates the majesty of this court.The respondents deliberatelyand willfully have not compliedwith the directions of thiscourt," the petition has said.

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Jawaharlal Nehru sent a babyelephant named after his

daughter Indira to Japan in1949, former President ShankarDayal Sharma was gifted anAfrican tusker by Zimbabweand Prime Minister NarendraModi a Mongolian horse dur-ing his visit to that country.

'Animal diplomacy' hasbeen an important tool instrengthening relationsbetween countries and theDelhi zoo, battling a spate ofanimal deaths in the past fewmonths, wants it pursued withrenewed zeal." Shankar, theAfrican male elephant at thezoo here, is named after formerPresident Shankar DayalSharma. The pachyderm wasgifted to him by the ZimbabweGovernment. He gave the ani-mal to us," Riyaz Khan, the zoocurator said.

"Currently, we have twofemale rhinos but for breedingpurpose, zoo needs at least onemale rhino," the curator furtheradded.

The zoo, which attractslakhs of visitors annually, is indire need of giraffes, ostrich,zebra, kangaroo, white bucks

and other exotic varieties ofbirds and animals.

"Though animal diploma-cy is considered a potent toolin engaging different nations, italso does wonder for thewildlife of the respective coun-tries. The leaders generallydonate the animals to the zoos.But of late not many Indianleaders have taken an activeinterest in this practice," a zooofficial said.

"A case in point is theculling of kangaroos inAustralia to reduce its popula-tion. Why these can't be giftedto countries like us?" he asked.

The official said IndianMinisters should revive this tra-dition and not refuse the ani-mals gifted to them by the for-eign Governments.

Prime Minister NarendraModi was gifted a horse by hisMongolian counterpartChimediin Saikhanbileg in2015. The horse, however,could not be brought to thecountry due to different cli-matic conditions in the twocountries.

Punjab Chief MinisterParkash Singh Badal was gift-ed goats of 'Nachi' breed byPakistan in 2014, so was his

deputy Sukhbir Singh Badal,who got six buffaloes of 'Ravi'breed from across the border.

China has long been knownfor its 'panda diplomacy'. MaoZedong, the legendary ChineseCommunist Party leader, usedthe cuddly pandas as a diplo-matic initiative in the 1950s.

Mao Zedong sent pandasacross the world on the "diplo-matic charm offensive". Thefirst panda he sent was a gift toRussia for recognising thePeople's Republic of China asa country.

The United States receivedits pandas in 1972 afterPresident Nixon's historic visitto China resulted in establish-ment of official diplomaticrelations between the twocountries. From 1957 to 1982,China gave away 23 pandas tonine countries, all as signs of

friendship. "Here, in Delhi zoo we

have surplus population ofdeer. Zoo has various categoriesof deer, instance - black andwhite buck under the"Cervicapra" species. Indianbucks can also be used as a ges-ture by our ministers," Khanadded.

Remarkably, the zoo needsa female lion, chimpanzee andostrich. "Recently, we have lostostrich and we need femaleostrich for breeding," Khanstressed while stating out theanimal configurations status.

He also said under theanimal exchange programmezoo will send Jaguar (Salman)back to his native zoo place inTrivandrum. "We will try tobring male ostrich under inter-State animal exchange pro-gramme," said the curator.

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The Delhi Police on Sundayclaimed to have arrested a

gangster from Pandav Nagararea of East Delhi in the earlyhours of Sunday, police said.

Amit Kumar, a resident ofNand Nagri of East Delhi, wasan active member ofSatyaprakash or Sattey gang,and was wanted in 52 cases andalso carried a reward of �1 lakhon his head.

"He was wanted in severalcases of murder, attempt tomurder, snatching, auto theft,robbery and arms act," DeputyCommissioner of Police RishiPal told reporters.

"When police tried toarrest him, he opened fire atthem," the officer said, adding,"The officers were wearing bul-let proof jackets due to whichthey received no injury.

Also, police recovered apistol with three live cartridgesfrom his possession.

According to police,Kumar was wanted in a sensa-tional case of murder of anoth-er gangster Sonu. He killedSonu due to inter-gang rivalry.

Pal further said he had ear-lier also opened fire at a policeparty in December last yearwhile he was being chased.

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In a shocking incident, afather-mother duo has been

killed while two of their chil-dren are reportedly missingfrom a village of Greater Noida,police said on Sunday, addingthat the victim family wasmissing for many days but thematter came into light onSaturday night.

After recovering body ofone of the deceased and search-ing for others, police have reg-istered a case against two per-sons and have arrested one ofthem.

According to police, a fam-ily of Vedprakash, his wifeKamlesh, a 13-year-old daugh-ter and a four-year-old son

were living in Bambawad vil-lage under jurisdiction ofBadalpur police station."Vedprakash was a farmer hav-ing several bighas. FromAugust 1, the family went miss-ing and their mobile phoneswere switched off. The vil-lagers tried to search for thembut they were untraceable.

"Vedprakash's youngerbrother Omprakashapproached police, who weretold that two youths - Salmanand Pradeep close to the fam-ily - were also missing since theincident took place. As thecomplainant suspected handsof the two, who run electricshop in the village, policelaunched a manhunt and oneof them, Salman, was arrested

late night," said officials.Police claimed that during

the questioning, he confessedof killing both father and moth-er but maintained silence overtheir children. After his reve-lation, police recovered decom-posed body of Vedprakashfrom NTPC area. Police havestarted a massive search oper-ation to recover body of theother deceased.

Police, after conductionpostmortem, handed the body toother family members. "We haveregistered a case under appro-priate sections and have startedinvestigation," said a police offi-cial investigating the matter.

Meanwhile, the incidentled to tension in and aroundthe village and a huge policeforce was deployed to avert anyuntoward incident. Police havereportedly cordoned off the vil-lage.

"We have demanded swiftaction otherwise we will takethe matter to upper level and ifrequired, we will organiseprotests," said an angry villager.

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Contrary to popular percep-tion that Delhi’s green cover

is shrinking, a series of initia-tives launched by the CityGovernment’s ForestDepartment has increased theforest areas from 20.08 per centto 20.22 per cent in the past twoyears. To further increase thiscover, the Forest Department,which used to set a target of 10lakh tree plantations every year,has increased it further by fivelakh mid-size trees this year.

The AAP Government hasalso made fervent appeals topeople to plant as many treesas they can in open spaces. Thecity Legislators along with offi-cials of the department have, ona regular basis, been carryingout plantation drives in theirrespective constituencies.

As per the India’s NationalForest Policy, 1988, all Stateshave to maintain at least 33 percent of their geographical area

under forest and tree cover. Theforest cover of the city, spreadacross 1,483 sq. km, hadincreased from six per cent in1999 to 20.8 per cent in 2013chiefly due to plantation activ-ity carried out in non-forestareas. Now, the green cover hasfurther increased to 20.22 percent in the past two years.

Buoyed by the success ofthe plantation drive, a seniorofficial said, “This year we aregoing to plant a total of 15 lakhtrees. These will include fivelakh shrubs, basically mid-size trees, which we will plantalong the roads and in openpatches to further increaseour green cover.”

The officer further said,“Our green drive will not onlyincrease the forest cover butwill also reduce noise pollutionon busy and congested roads.We will also be adding canopiesin open patches of our parks.”

Currently, if any individualor agency cuts a single tree in

the city, the one responsible forthis is bound to plant five treesin any open patch. In addition,the Forest Department on itspart also plants five trees. So far,the department has plantedabout four lakh trees in variousparts of the city.

The target for plantation of15 lakh trees will not be metalone by the Forest department.In fact, the Government has settargets for plantation of treesfor other agencies as well. Forinstance, New Delhi MunicipalCorporation will be plantingone lakh trees. Even TATADiscom has taken up a targetof planting about 15,000 trees.

Asked what type of treesare generally planted in Delhi,a senior Forest departmentofficial said trees like neem,jamun and arjuna were plant-ed along the Yamuna riverbed. “For upper and slow grow-ing areas, particularly in southDelhi, we use thorny trees.These trees too grow slowly”.

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A23-year-old Myanmaresewoman was allegedly

molested by three people,including two juveniles inSitapuri locality, police saidon Sunday.

The woman, a refugeefrom Myanmar living in Delhifor past three year was alleged-ly molested by the accused onthe intervening night of August5-6 in Sitapuri locality whereshe lived with her husband, thepolice said.

The accused had allegedlytried to molest the woman andhit her with the two wheelerthey were riding, while she wasgoing back home from work.

Police said they havedetained two juveniles andarrested a youth for allegedlymolesting the woman.

“We have arrested oneaccused Praveen (19), while twojuveniles have been detained inconnection with the complaintof molestation by the Myanmarrefugee woman. We have alsorequested the Juvenile JusticeBoard to allow police to treatthe juvenile accused as majorpersons,” said Surender Kumar,DCP(south west).

A case under Sections 34,308(attempt to commit culpa-ble homicide) and 354(assaultor criminal force to womanwith intent to outrage her mod-esty) of the IPC was registeredat Dabari police station insouth west Delhi on Saturday.

Accused Praveen was arrest-ed and produced in court andsent to 14 days judicial custody.

Police have requested the JJBoard for permission to treatthe juveniles as adults, sincethey are aged above 16 yearsand one of them have previouscrime record.

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New Delhi: An alleged drugtrafficker from MadhyaPradesh who had come toDelhi for supplying fine qual-ity opium on the instruction ofhis jailed gang leader, has beencaught and the contrabandseized from his possession,police said on Sunday.

The drug peddler SonuBanjara (19) belonged toNeemach in MP. He was caughtby a Crime Branch team nearSinghu Border with 3 kg ofopium worth �15 lakh, saidRavindra Yadav, JointCommissioner of Police(Crime

Branch).During interrogation, Sonu

disclosed that he was supplyingthe contraband at the instanceof one Mangi Lal who waspresently lodged in Chittorgarhjail in a drug trafficking case.

Sonu also told police thatMangilal was controlling theracket from jail and he workedas his supplier of opium inDelhi, Haryana, Punjab andRajasthan.

He further revealed that hehad received the opium from afarmer on the instruction ofMangilal. PTI

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The Shiv Sena’s UttarPradesh unit on Sunday

accused the BJP of “hypocrisy”over the issue of Haj House inGhaziabad. Sena leaderMahesh Ahuja said though theBharatiya Janata Party wasinstrumental in allotting landfor the Haj House here in2005, the party was nowopposing its inauguration.

“The BJP is now claimingto oppose the opening of theHaj House. It is all hypocrisy. It

was the BJP which allotted theland for the Haj House. It wasBJP which passed the resolutionof transferring over 20,000square metre public land to HajHouse in its BJP ruled munic-ipal Corporation board meet-ing,” the Sena leader said.

He said the BJP passed aresolution to transfer over20,000 sq metres of publicland to the Haj House when itruled the Ghaziabad MunicipalCorporation. Ahuja said theShiv Sena had opposed theproject.

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Taking an indirect dig atChief Minister Devendra

Fadnavis over the rape of a 16-year-old girl allegedly by apolice man at Osmanabad,Nationalist Congress Partypresident Sharad Pawar saidthat Maharashtra needed aperson who can keep vigil onmatters relating to the HomeDepartment.

Talking to the media aftermeeting the OsmanabadDistrict Collector andSuperintendent of Police,Pawar said the recent inci-dents and rape at Kopardi andOsmanabad had caused con-siderable anxiety and fearamong the young girls in ruralareas in Maharashtra.

Expressing concern overthe recent rapes of minor girlsin the State, Pawar said, “Weneed a person who can keep aconstant vigil on the happen-ings in matters relating to hisdepartment”.

The NCP chief was indi-rectly suggesting that Fadnavis,who holds the State Homeportfolio with himself, hadfailed to deliver in his capaci-ty as the State Home Minister.

It may be recalled thatFadnavis had earlier comeunder severe flak for his “mis-handing” of rape and murder

a15-year-old girl at Kopardi vil-lage in Ahmednagar district.Hitting back spiritedly at theOpposition for its criticism ofhim over his “inept” handlingof the Kopardi rape and mur-der case, Fadnavis had on July20, he was “efficient” as theChief Minister and that thepeople were there judge tohim as to how good he was theperson holding the Home port-folio in the State.

During his visit toOsmanabad, Pawar said hehad decided not to visit thefamily of the rape victim, as hefeared that in the process, hewould contribute to the reve-lation of the identity of thevictim girl.

A police sub-inspector(PSI) Prem Sukhdev Bansode,26, posted at VishrambaugPolice Station at Sangli hadallegedly raped a 16-year olddaughter of his tenants at gun-point and later threatened thevictim and her parents not tomake an issue of the incident.

Pawar said the State shouldtake steps to fast-track theOsmanabad case. “The StateGovernment should appoint alady IPS officer to investigatethe case. It should also fast-track the case by appointing aSpecial Public Prosecutor toexpedite the trial of the accusedin the case,” he said.

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From Page 1“We will tell people that

we will be able to deliver bet-ter in States having fullStatehood status than theNational Capital Territory ofDelhi,’’ said a party insider,adding, “With police underour control, we will bringdown crime rate in thesestates. Also, we will be able toact against the corrupt.”

Now the court has alsomade it clear that the Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB)cannot act against the CentralGovernment employees, said asenior party leader, addingthat if a Central Governmentemployee takes bribe in frontof the CM, he will land up in

a helpless situation as he cando nothing to punish theemployee.

Brand AAP is onlybecause the party has beenvoicing its concerns overgrowing corruption in thecountry. A close confidant ofa city Minister said if theparty was unable to weed outcorruption, then it will lose itsrelevance in the political arena.“Once we get a chance to gov-ern States like Punjab andGujarat, we will set a bench-mark for other States on howadministration should be runefficiently. Also, we will setnew standards for the overall growth of these States,”he said.

According to AAPspokesperson Deepak Bajpai,since the L-G is running theGovernment in Delhi, he ismorally responsible for all thescams that have been happen-ing in Delhi.

“The line AAP has beentaking after the judgment indi-cates that it may use the HCruling to corner the L-G onvarious issues if the L-G failsto deliver what AAP may havealso found quite difficult todeliver itself.

Besides, the AAP hadmade a series of promisesbefore the elections, includingWiFi and CCTV across Delhi,Swaraj Bill, Janlokpal Bill, fullStatehood for Delhi, halved

power bills, discom portabil-ity, free water, revival ofYamuna, new schools and col-leges etc. While it will be agreat service to the people ofDelhi if the party is able to suc-cessfully deliver on thesepromises. But in case it fails todeliver on any of them, theparty will be able to success-fully shift the blame to theCentre and the L-G followingthe recent development.

It puts AAP in a positionwhere it can claim the glory fortaking “people friendly” deci-sions while forsaking theblame if L-G fails to imple-ment those decisions,” said aDelhi politician on the condi-tion of anonymity.

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From Page 1According to Skymet, the

private weather forecaster ofIndia, multiple weather sys-tems developed over south ofDelhi, have sucked weatheractivity towards it divertingand confining it to centralIndia. This is responsible forthe present bout of humidweather, said the weatherexperts.

However, the axis of mon-soon trough is all set to shifttowards north. This coupledwith the Western Disturbancewill affect Punjab, Jammu &Kashmir and hilly States ofnorth India. In the process, rainwill commence in the region,including parts of Delhi, with-in 24-48 hours. The showerswill initially be patchy with lowintensity, but gradually it willpick up pace, resulting in inter-mittent downpours in mostparts of northern India, duringthe next 3-4 days.

To add to the above, thereis yet another cyclonic circu-lation over Assam andMeghalaya region and withthis, light to moderate showerswith isolated heavy rains willcontinue over the region.

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Allahabad: The AllahabadHigh Court has taken suomotu cognisance of the recentgangrape of a woman and herminor daughter on a highwaypassing through Bulandshahrdistrict of western UttarPradesh which sent shockwaves across the country, anddecided to hear the matter.

The case has been listed asa criminal Public InterestLitigation titled “rape of moth-er and daughter on NH-91” inthe causelist for tomorrow andit would be heard by a DivisionBench comprising Chief JusticeDilip Babasaheb Bhosale andJustice Yashwant Varma.

According to court sources,the Chief Justice decided tohear the matter suo motu tak-ing a grim view of the horrificsexual assault which took placeon July 29 when the mother-

daughter duo, accompaniedby four other family members,was dragged out of their car onthe highway and raped in anearby field.

A political slugfest fol-lowed the incident which wasraised in both Houses ofParliament. The situation gotexacerbated in the wake of theremark of senior SamajwadiParty leader and Uttar PradeshMinister Azam Khan who sus-pected a “political conspiracy”behind the ghastly crime.

In response to Khan’sremark, BJP leader IP Singh putup angry posts on Facebookand Twitter, saying the stateminister would be able to seethe truth only when his ownwife and daughter sufferedsimilar ordeals.

Another petition seeking aCBI inquiry into the incidenthad come up before theLucknow Bench of the HighCourt on Friday. The matterhas been posted for furtherhearing on August 8. PTI

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Two Union Ministers looked amused whena MP replied to questions put up

by another one in the Lok Sabha.When Mohd Salim (CPM)inquired about the progressof Kolkata East-West Metroproject, SudipBandyopadhyay (TMC)stood up to say that all issueshad been resolved due to theefforts of CM Mamata Banerjee.When Urban HousingDevelopment Minister MVenkaiah Naidu said sincethe matter related to railwaysSuresh Prabhu could give the reply, the TMCmember again took upon himself to respond.Bandyopadhyay went on to say that he was giv-ing the reply “on your (ministers’) behalf withcredit to TMC under Mamata Banerjee”.

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Judges are beginning to feel thepressure of work at the

Supreme Court. Exasperatedby the listing of as many as80 cases on Mondaybefore him, Justice JSKhehar recentlyasked a senioradvocate to pleadhis case beforethe ChiefJustice of India.“We can’t hear 80 matters on a miscellaneousday and then sit to hear batch matter cases.Please get some favourable orders from the CJI’scourt,” the Judge reportedly told the lawyer.

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In an election year,the Uttar Pradesh

Government is tread-ing cautiously in deal-ing with all sensitivecases before theSupreme Court. Take amatter related topower of ChiefMinister AkhileshYadav to delegate sign-ing of official files tohis subordinates.When Justice DipakMisra wanted toappoint amicus curiae(friend of court), theUP Government kept

dragging tis feet to agree on a name. The Courtfirst proposed Attorney General but the Staterefused, apprehending trouble from the Centre.There was again no consensus on senioradvocate KK Venugopal as he has been appear-ing for BSP chief Mayawati. The State finallysettled on the name of former AttorneyGeneral Ashok Desai.

�� In an unsusal case in Indian bureaucracy, an

IAS officer empanelled as Secretary will haveto wait for over 17 months to take over asSecretary in a Ministry or any department ofthe Central Government. 1982-batch Gujaratcadre IAS officer Dr Amarjeet Singh wasempanelled as Secretary in August 2015. Butthen he was appointed Special Secretary in theMinistry of Water Resources the followingmonth. Thereafter, Singh was appointed OSDin the same Ministry last month. He will con-tinue in the same position until he takes overas Secretary of the same Ministry after thesuperannuation of incumbent Secretary ShashiSekhar on December 31, 2016.

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Experts and scholar may keep debating thesuccess of of the Namami Gange

Programme, but the newly composed anthemon the country’s premier flagship programmeis expected to be a huge draw. A senior Babufrom the Ministry of Water Resources quipped,“While the water of the river may take time tobe clean, the anthem composed by TrichurBrothers in classical Carnatic style, wouldinstantly purify your soul.”

��

With Thawar Chand Gehlot, UnionMinistry of Social Justice and

Empowerment showing keen interest to ensurethat the proposed National Institute of MentalHealth Rehabilitation (NIMHR) comes up atthe earliest in Bhopal, officials in his Ministryare burning midnight oil to realise his wishes.The Project, a first of its kind in the country,will be a self-sufficient centre for mental healthrehabilitation and academics. The segment isfacing acute shortage of manpower. Once it getsthe EFC clearance, the project will be put upfor Cabinet approval. Ghelot is the Rajya SabhaMP from Madhya Pradesh.

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The plight of our athletes echoed in the RajyaSabha last week when

BJD leader andformer Indianhockey captainDilip Tirkey andworld championboxer MaryKom drew theattention of theHouse to the apathytowards our sport-ing heroes. WhenRajiv Shukla (Congress) tried todefend cricket, PC Gupta (RJD) saidit is a cash-rich sport and objected thatShukla cannot raise the issue as he is associ-ated with cricket bodies. Deputy Chairman PJKurien quipped “you are caught out”. The entireHouse had a good laugh.

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Philippines-based jehadi moti-vator Karen Aisha Hamidon

has emerged as a regional threat.The former airhostess of a West-Asia airline company is report-edly engaged in a major way inrecruiting youths from theregion, including India, for theterror outfit Islamic State of Iraqand Syria (ISIS).

Hamidon is a hardcoreradical who comes from abackground of mixed parent-age. Her late father was aMuslim and mother aChristian. She has been active-ly taking part in ISIS’ onlineactivities such as identificationof individuals carrying poten-tial to become ISIS members,radicalising individuals onlineand handing over such indi-viduals to handlers based inISIS-controlled areas.

Hamidon, born onSeptember 26, 1981, embracedChristianity and was workingas airhostess in EmiratesAirline. It was here that she was

influenced towards Islam andlater she converted herself toMuslim.

Since the number of ISISsympathisers and members hasbeen growing steadily, Indianagencies are striving hard toensure that threat of ISIS didnot emerge as a major securi-ty issue. In doing so, Indianagencies have exposed severalISIS modules that were eitherattempting to make their wayto ISIS-controlled areas or werein process of executing acts ofterror on the Indian soil.

One such case, RC-05/2016/NIA/DLI, was regis-tered by the NIA againstSirajuddin, a resident of Jaipurand native of Bangalore. Theinterrogation of Sirajuddin andinvestigation carried out bythe National InvestigationAgency revealed that he wasradicalised by the Filipinowoman... Following the reve-lations, the NIA has recentlysent a Letters Rogatory (judi-cial request) to Philippinesseeking details about her activ-

ities and linkages with the ter-ror outfit.

After converting to Islamaround ten years back,Hamidon has been associatedwith Mahad Al Islamic mosquein Zamboanga city of Mindanaoprovince in Philippines.

Hamidon has been active-ly participating in the ISISpropaganda and online activi-ties, but since she has not beeninstrumental in any act of ter-ror, she has managed to evadethe Philippines law.

Hamidon has not onlyrecruited several recruits forISIS in India but also radicalisedand motivated many individu-als in many other parts of Asiaand Indian subcontinent for thedreaded terror outfit.

As of now, she continues tomanage evading law by con-stantly remaining insidePhilippines. But, if PhilippinesGovernment makes changesto counter terrorism laws, sheis likely to get compelled toeither be arrested or escapefrom Philippines to some other

country, sources tracking heractivities said.

Hamidon is closely associ-ated with the ISIS leadershipand has very good accessamongst the Moro Islamicinsurgents of Philippines asalso those who have expressedallegiance to the ISIS.

As of now, she is suspect-ed to be engaged in motivatingsome young Muslim girls fromMindanao province to join theISIS along with continuing heronline radicalisation activitiesfor young Muslims in Asia.

She is connected to sever-al young Muslims from Indiansubcontinent. Cyber profilingof her social networkingaccounts suggests that she is intouch with at least 15 youthfrom India, including fromJammu & Kashmir, Mumbaiand Konkan area of India, SriLanka and Maldives. Her con-nectivity with Kashmiri youthalso suggests that she might beone of the brains behind wav-ing of the ISIS flags in KashmirValley on regular basis, the

sources said. She is in touch with at least

10 Indians — four radicals inJammu & Kashmir (three fromSrinagar and one from Sopre)besides one Islamist fromDaman and Diu who isengaged in the business ofmoney exchange, two fromHyderabad and one each fromKanpur and Kolkata. Thenames are being withheld so asnot disturb the surveillance puton them by the agencies here.

Hamidon has also beenactively engaged in executingthe recruitment drive of theISIS in Philippines, Indonesia,Malaysia, India, Pakistan, SriLanka, Maldives and the UAE.

She has six siblings. Herfather Ahmad Hamidon passedaway around 15 years back andsince then she has been broughtup by her Christian mother.

Her two siblings haveembraced Islam and remainingthree follow Christianity. Hermother Victoria Abunan isstated to have served in thePhilippines police force.

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Navy Chief Admiral SunilLanba will hold talks with

his Indonesian counterpart tofurther strengthen bilateral tiesduring his five-day visit therestarting Monday. The visit aimsto consolidate existing mar-itime cooperation initiativeswith Indonesia as well as explorenew avenues in accordance withIndia’s ‘Act East Policy.’

During the visit, Lanbawill hold discussions withIndonesian Defence Minister,Chief of Defence Forces, Chiefof Indonesian Navy, besidesother Senior Dignitaries andNaval Officers.

India and Indonesia havehistorical linkages which dateback centuries. In the modernera, India and Indonesia havebeen co-founders of the NonAligned Movement besidesmutually beneficial collabora-tions in multilateral forumssuch as, ARF, ADMM+, G20

and WTO.Defence co-operation

between India and Indonesia isrobust and has seen ascendencythrough regular ships, aircraftand military delegation visits andtraining exchanges. Both coun-tries had also signed the DefenceCooperation Agreement in 2001.Indonesia have adjoiningMaritime Search and Rescueregions and Exclusive EconomicZones (EEZ) and share similarmaritime challenges such aslong coastline, extensive EEZ,coastal security, large coastalshipping and fishing fleet, where-in both navies have opportuni-ties to learn from each other’sexperiences. In addition, com-mon ground exists for coopera-tion on a number of issues com-mon to both navies.

With shared maritimeboundary, MaritimeCooperation between theIndian and Indonesian Navieshas been robust and one of thestrong pillars of bilateralDefence cooperation. Indian

Navy and Indonesian Navy arepartners in the Indian OceanNaval Symposium (IONS), amaritime cooperation constructconceptualised and pioneeredby Indian Navy in 2008. Bothcountries have been conductingCoordinated Patrols along theInternational MaritimeBoundary Line (IMBL) since2002 and 27 editions of coor-dinated patrols have been com-pleted till date. Both countrieshad also conducted the firstBilateral Maritime Exercise inOct 2015. Warships of bothcountries visit each other’s portsregularly.

Both Navies also engage inNavy to Navy Staff Talks whichcommenced in 2007. The 8thround of staff talks are sched-uled to be held in 2017.Indonesian Navy was one of thefirst countries to confirm theirparticipation in theInternational Fleet Review 2016held at Visakhapatnam andparticipated in the review witha Ship.

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Khadi and Village IndustriesCommission (KVIC) on Sunday

launched an exclusive collection of Men’sand Women’s wear designed by fashionicon Ritu Beri at its showroom ConnaughtPlace here on Sunday.

Union Minister of MSME KalrajMishra inaugurated the Exclusive KhadiCollection by lighting the traditionallamp and cutting the ribbon.

Speaking on the occasion, Mishra saidthat Khadi sales growth has increased threefolds and added that Prime MinisterNarendra Modi is the Brand Ambassadorof Khadi.

Minister of State of MSME, HaribhaiParthibhai Chaudhary said PrimeMinister promoted Khadi even on hisevery foreign tours.

Speaking on this occasion Ritu Berisaid that she started her profession 25 yearsback by designing Khadi cloths.

Chairman KVIC Vinai Kumar Saxenasaid that Khadi which has always createdhistory is again creating history by intro-ducing internationally acclaimed fashion

designer Ritu Beri.The collection consists of Indo-west-

ern silhouettes and reflect the Indiancharm with a modern flavour.

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Law finally catches up witha man who successfully

hoodwinked the legal systemfor over 37 years, after the CBIfiled a chargesheet against himfor allegedly securing hisrelease from a jail in UttarPradesh under “dubious” cir-cumstances in 1979.

The bizarre case relatesKrishna Dev Tiwari, who wassentenced to life imprison-ment by Allahabad High Courtbut was released from Bastiprison in 1979 under mysteri-ous circumstances.

Tiwari had claimed that hehad served his term till 1996 butCBI, which probed the case onthe orders of Supreme Court in2015, found that he did not servehis full term and his version wasfound to be contradictory.

The CBI sources said inthe chargesheet filed by theagency in Lucknow on July 29his release from Basti Jail hasbeen found “dubious”.

Based on the report fromCBI, Supreme Court has nowdirected Tiwari and his broth-ers, Nand Kishore and RamaNand, to surrender before thecompetent court by Monday toface trial in the case.

Tiwari along with his twobrothers was convicted by a trialcourt under charges of murderand sentenced to undergo lifeimprisonment which was chal-lenged by the accused beforethe Allahabad High Court.

The High Court upheldthe conviction of Krishna Devwhile his brothers were acquit-ted from murder charges butwere sentenced for six monthsunder different sections ofIPC on October 16, 1978.

Upon confirmation of sen-tence, Krishna Dev was movedfrom Basti prison to VaranasiCentral Prison. He was movedback to Basti prison onDecember 4, 1978 and wasreleased from there on January1, 1979.

It is alleged that Krishna

Dev neither surrendered nor didhe complete the sentence of lifeimprisonment awarded to him.

The inquiry by UttarPradesh Police shows there areno records to indicate the cir-cumstances under whichKrishna Dev was released fromBasti prison, the sources said,adding that even the courtorder or the name of judge, if atall, on the basis of which releasewas made is not in records.

The inquiry by AdditionalDirector General, and DIGGorakhpur range said all thatwas recorded is that KrishnaDev was released on paroleunder the signatures of BNSrivastava, the thenSuperintendent of Jail andHari Om Saxena — in-chargeconvict prisoner, they said.

During an inquiry by CB-CID of Uttar Pradesh Police,Krishna Dev had claimed thathe had served the sentence andremained in jail continuously upto October 2, 1996 when he wasfinally released after completionof his sentence.

He had claimed that hewas released on parole forthree months in 1979 but sur-rendered and served the lifesentence.

After going through theAdmission and ReleaseRegister at Basti Jail for 90years, CB-CID concluded thathis statement was wrong asthere were no records to sup-port his claims.

“The facts of the case athand prima facie suggest thatthere is a deep-rooted malaiseprevalent in the State of UP. Noother interference can bedrawn if a convict committedto jail can secure his releasefrom custody in the mannernoticed in the present case.

“It is unfortunate thatagencies that are charged withthe duty of upholding the ruleof law are themselves involvedin this kind of racket,” theSupreme Court had said whiledirecting the CBI to inquireinto the matter.

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All may not be well with thetigers, despite rise in num-

bers in the country or elsewhere.A report released by theInternational Union forConservation of Nature (IUCN)has warned that the big cats arestill not out of danger due toshrinking forest land which areconverted into motorways andother infrastructure that cutthrough their habitat.

The report called, “Fiercebut Fragile, Coexistence in achanging world”, also identifiedhuman-wildlife conflict as akey problem in the Terairegions of of India and Nepal,stressing on well-developedconservation programmes.

“In the future, situation fortigers could worsen as land isconverted into industrial-scalepalm oil plantations, and motor-ways and other infrastructurecut through tiger habitats. Thisleads to isolated and fragment-

ed tiger populations which suf-fer from social and geneticproblems,” said the report.

It pointed out that if theconservation efforts succeed inboosting tiger numbers andsimultaneously human popu-lations continue to grow, thepotential for conflict betweentigers and humans would onlyincrease and needs need to bemanaged.

The problems tigers faceexemplify those facing manywildlife species today, includ-ing elephants, rhinos and lions.

Squeezed into ever-shrink-ing habitats, these large, charis-matic and often dangerousanimals no longer live sepa-rately from humans, but needto to co-exist with them, it said.

Observing that tigers needto breed and hunt in relativelyundisturbed core areas, thereport said they also passthrough land used for agricul-ture, commercial forestry orinhabited by forest communities.

“Here, inevitably, theycome into contact with people.With shrinking forest coverand fewer prey, tigers may endup hunting livestock and areoften killed or captured inretaliation,” points out thereport.

India is home to nearly 70per cent of the world’s big catsin the wild. According to thelatest 2014 census, the countryhas 2,226 tigers in the wildacross the country, a 30 per centin increase over the 2010 esti-mation of 1,706 tigers. Thereare about 3,890 tigers in thewild across the world as againstmore than one lakh in 1900.

IUCN says its IntegratedTiger Habitat ConservationProgramme (ITHCP) aims toensure the survival of tigers inthe wild by working with localcommunities to reduce human-tiger conflict and the over-exploitation of forests, as wellas managing tiger habitats andcombating poaching.

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External Affairs MinisterSushma Swaraj has asked

the Indian High Commissionerin Pakistan to seek consularaccess to an Indian prisonerwho was beaten up by inmatesin a Peshawar jail.

Hamid Nehal Ansari, 31, aMumbai resident arrested in2012 for illegally enteringPakistan from Afghanistanreportedly to meet a girl he hadbefriended online, sufferedinjuries after he was attacked byinmates in the PeshawarCentral Prison.

“I am very much disturbedto read about repeated attackson Hamid Ansari who isdetained in Peshawar jail since2012. It is inhuman,” Swarajtweeted.

“I have asked our HighCommissioner in Pakistan toseek Consular access to HamidAnsari in hospital/Jail andreport,” she said..

A military court sentenced

Ansari to three years impris-onment for possessing a fakePakistani identity card.

Ansari’s lawyer QaziMohammad Anwar toldPeshawar High Court Benchon Thursday that his client wasattacked at least thrice by jailinmates in recent months.

Anwar also told the courtthat Ansari had been kept in adeath cell with a hardenedcriminal awaiting executionfor a murder.

Ansari was attacked andinjured three times over the lastcouple of months and shifted to

the hospital for treatment, thecounsel said. He said even thehead warden would subjecthim to brutality and slap him ona daily basis without any reason.

Ansari had gone missingafter he was taken into custodyby intelligence agencies andlocal police in Kohat in 2012and finally in reply to a habeascorpus petition filed by hismother, Fauzia Ansari, thehigh court was informed onJanuary 13 that he was in cus-tody of the Pakistan Army andwas being tried by a militarycourt.

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New Delhi: The judgments ofthe Constitution Bench ofSupreme Court since its incep-tion have been compiled in twovolumes by a senior lawyer,who says the apex court wasnow playing the role of anappellate adjudicator more thanits primary role of being a con-stitutional arbiter.

“Nobody has dealt with allthe Constitutional Bench judg-ments of the Supreme Court inpast 66 years,” claimed theauthor and senior advocateGovind Goel.

“Constitutional Bench ver-dicts in the Supreme Court arenow an endangered speciesand the court has embraced therole of an appellate adjudicator

more than its traditional andprimary role of being a consti-tutional arbiter or as perenni-al source of authoritative law ofcomparitively greater longevi-ty,” he said here.

The ‘Statement of IndianLaw’ deals with the evolutionof law in India through con-stitution bench judgmentssince the inception of SupremeCourt.

“The first volume under thehead of constitutional law itselfhas been categorised into sevenbroad areas — from fundamen-tal rights as also issues pertain-ing to all the constitutionalorgans and a large omnibusresidue of other constitutionalissues,” Goel said. PTI

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The Opposition on Sundaydubbed Prime Minister

Narendra Modi’s condemna-tion against cow vigilantes as“absolutely humbug”, allegingthat his “ideological co-trav-ellers were perpetrating terror”in the name of cow protection.

Congress leader ManishTewari questioned Modi’s“silence” on the Dadri lynch-ing incident last year andalleged that the PM was selec-tive in his outreach.

“..Why does he not prevailupon RSS to disband the VHP,why does he not take actionagainst the office bearers ofBajrang Dal?

“Therefore it is his ideo-logical co-travellers who havebeen perpetrating this spectreof uncertainty and terror in thename of cow lumpenism acrossthe country, thereby whateverthe Prime Minister says todayis absolutely humbug andcompletely sanctimonious,”Tewari said.

Echoing similar senti-

ments, JD(U) leader PavanVerma said had the PM givena stern message earlier, the“menace” of gau rakshakscould have been prevented.

“If the Prime Minister hadgiven the same message earli-er, we would not have seen thismenace of gau rakshaksspreading pan India. But hechoose to keep silent althoughhe tweets on any other subjectunder the sun. Breaking thesilence is welcome, the onlyquestion is why so late,” hesaid.

CPI leader D Raja alsocrticised the ruling dispensa-tion stating there were issueson which people expect thePM to speak, including,increasing atrocities on dalits.

“Why has the PM notuttered a single word againstthe atrocities committed inhis own state Gujarat?” heasked.

BJP, however, defendedModi’s statement and said theopposition attack was a “clas-sic book example of politicalbankruptcy”.

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On Friendship Day, it was loveand bonhomie all around

with the Prime MinisterNarendra Modi and TelanganaCM K Chandrasekhar Rao gen-erously praising and indulging inpatting each other's back. Modi’smaiden visit to the newest Stateof Telangana on Sunday, aftermore than two years after hebecame the PM, to inaugurateseveral major development pro-jects of the State, including adrinking water supply projectand a super power plant, becamean occasion to send the signalsof a new found warmth andrespect for each other.

While the Chief Ministershowered praises on Modi forproviding “the most corrup-tion-free Government in Indianhistory”, the PM reciprocatedgenerously. “Telangana is just atwo-year-old State and yet it hasbeen able to fulfil the expecta-tions of the people”, Modi said.

During a visit to the State,which has sparked speculations

of a possiblef r i e n d s h i pbetween theBJP and theTRS, Modiinaugurated a�40,000 croredrinking watersupply projectM i s s i o nBhagirath ofthe State Gove-rnment at Komatibanda Gutta.

The PM also dedicated 1,200MW thermal power project ofSingareni Collieries at Jaipurvillage of Adilabad, laid founda-tion stone for 1,600 MWTelangana Super thermal powerproject and a fertiliser plant atRamagundam, and University ofHealth Sciences at Warangaland Manoharabad-Kothapallirailway line to connect Hyd-erabad with Karimnagar district.

The waves of geniality set offby the two leaders run directlyin the face of the strident standtaken by the BJP State leaderscharging the TRS Governmentwith failure on many fronts.

In the backdrop of souring

relationship between the BJP andthe TDP in neighbouringAndhra Pradesh over special cat-egory status to the State andother growing demands of CMChandrababu Naidu, KCR saidthat he was not demanding�50,000 crore or �1 lakh crorefrom the Centre but “only loveand blessings of Modi”.

KCR also gave Modi a longwishlist which included oneAIIMS, an IIM, funding forMission Kakatiya to restore irri-gation tanks and national statusfor an irrigation project.

While KCR called Modi,"the most popular leader ofBharat Desh", Modi called KCRan "able leader".

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Just a day after PM NarendraModi came down heavily on

the so-called Gau Rakshaks, aself-styled cow vigilante groupfrom Karnataka called ‘Karnata-ka Gau Rakshak Dal’ has askedthe PM to bring an uniform lawto protect cow(interes t ing lycalled for an ena-ctment of a centrallaw). The organi-sation has writtena letter to PMseeking strict pun-ishment for thoseindulging in cow slaughter.

The letter assumes impor-tance as the Prime Ministerhad criticised the cow vigilantegroups attacking Dalits andMuslims across the country. Infact the Gau Raksha Dal’s deci-sion to up the ante comes afterPM Modi broke his silence oncow vigilantism and said he feltenraged at such ‘anti-social ele-ments’ who indulged in crimesby the night and masqueraded as

cow protectors by the day.PM had said that the real

cow protectors do not terrorisethe people. “I feel infuriated atsome people who have openedshops in the name of cow pro-tection. I have seen that somepeople who commit anti-socialactivities at night, don the man-

tle of cow protectors bythe day.”

As per the letter, ata meeting of the federa-tion held at the UdupiMutt presided by SriVishvesha ThirthaSwamiji of PejawarMutt, it was decided

that the Karnataka Gau RakshakDal would urge the UnionGovernment to ban cow slaugh-ter and enact a law. The letteradds that “majority of the peo-ple of India today have the beliefthat cow and its progeny are holy.Therefore we request you toenact a stringent contract lawbanning cow slaughter”. The let-ter has been signed by State pres-ident MB Puranik and Stateconvener Kateel Dinesh Pai.

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Calling Uttar Pradesh asPrashan (question) Pradesh

Union Home Minister RajnathSingh said that persistent failureof the State Government toimprove governance and law andorder has raised a question inpeople’s mind as to why this ishappening only in UP.

“People ask why there isanarchy in UP, why crime againstwomen is so high, why corrup-tion has been institutionalised inthis State, why policemen arebeing killed by criminals andwhy UP has failed to progress.There are so many questions butthis Government has no answerthus giving this State a new nameof Prashan Pradesh,” Singh saidwhile addressing the valedicto-

ry session of the State WorkingCommittee meeting on Sunday.

He said people are notunjustified when they raise thesequestions. “While BJP-ruledStates are galloping on the pathof development the SamajwadiParty-ruled UP is laggingbehind. This Government is socallous that it is not even imple-menting pro-people policies ofthe Centre,” Singh said.

Singh said that the BJP-ledNDA Government introduced aprogressive Crop InsurancePolicy which will help farmers inany natural calamity. But UP hasso far not implemented this.“Between 2009 and 2012 only 80villages of UP were electrified.But between 2014-16 the NDAhas electrified 1,364 villages inUP,” Singh said.

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Close aide of Prime MinisterNarendra Modi, 60-year-

old Vijay Rupani sworn in asthe 16th Chief Minister ofGujarat at Mahatma Mandir inthe State capital Gandhinagaron Sunday.

Nitin Patel, the seniorMinister in previousAnandiben Patel Government,took oath as the Deputy ChiefMinister. Governor OP Kohliadministered oath of officeand secrecy to nine Cabinetrank Ministers (includingRupani and Nitin) and 16Ministers of State. Against thepermissible limit of 27Ministers, the newGovernment would functionwith 25 Ministers.

Elected as leader of theGujarat BJP Legislature onFriday, Rupani’s council is big-ger than his two predecessors— Anandiben and NarendraModi. Size of AnandibenGovernment operated with 24Ministers, while Modi kept his

council as compact as 17.“The first Cabinet of my

Government is meeting onMonday in which we all willdecide future course of action,”said Rupani, who is expected toallot portfolios to his Ministersin the Cabinet meeting. TheRajkot West MLA in the StateAssembly also thanked PMModi and BJP president AmitShah for reposing faith in him.

He said that hisGovernment was fully com-mitted to harnessing aspirationsof the marginalised, poor, farm-ers and young people. In lines

with ‘one man, one post’ poli-cy of the saffron party, Rupanihad resigned as the Gujarat BJPpresident on the eve of his coro-nation as Gujarat CM.

As many as nine new faceshave been included in Rupani’sCouncil of Ministers and eightwere dropped from earlierAnandiben Government.

The new inductees areGanapat Vasava, AtmaramParmar, Nirmla Vadhvani,Vallabh Kakadia, RajendraTrivedi, Keshaji Chauhan,Rohit Patel, Bachu Khabadand V Vaghasia.

Three Cabinet rankMinisters Saurabh Patel,Mangubhai Patel and RamanlalVora in the earlier Governmentwere dropped.

Besides five juniorMinisters–Vasuben Trivedi,Rajni Patel, Govind Patel,Tarachand Chheda and KantiGamit have been dropped.Two junior Ministers –JayeshRadadiya and Dilip Thakor inthe previous Government havepromoted to Cabinet rank.Jayesh is the son of powerfulPatidar leader of Saurashtraregion Vithal Radadia.

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Weakening further Kerala’sp o l l - d e v a s t a t e d

Congress-led UDF, the KeralaCongress (M), a major con-stituent of the front for the pastthree decades, on Sundayannounced its decision to quitthe coalition in protest againstthe allegedly deliberate andconsistent bid by a section inthe Congress party to destroyit and defame its leader.

“In order to secure thepride of the party and to safe-guard the interests of the work-ing class, the party has decid-ed to remain in the StateAssembly as a separate bloc dis-sociated totally from the UDFwith the aim of functioning asa responsible Opposition partywith independent standpoint,”KC(M) chairman KM Manitold media persons, after asteering committee meeting ofthe party at the end of its two-day leadership camp atCharalkunnu inPathanamthitta district.

The KC(M)’s divorce fromthe Congress and the UDFcame almost nine months afterMani, an octogenarian politi-cian with a 51-year Legislativecareer, was forced to resign asFinance and Law Minister inthe former UDF Governmentover the charge that he hadtaken �1 crore as bribe from barowners. The KC(M) had “foundout” that the charge and thesubsequent case against himwere the result of a conspiracyby a section in the Congress.

Asked whether the allegedconspiracy by certain Congressleaders over the bar briberycharge against him was the rea-son behind the decision toleave the UDF, Mani said, “It isjust one of the reasons. Aren’tthere several reasons? How canthe relations be all right ifthere is no mutual love ortrust in the front? We werebeing viewed as enemies (with-in the UDF).

“We are viewing withextreme seriousness the delib-erate attempts by ‘certainCongress centres’ to attack andinsult the Kerala Congress (M),especially its leader (Mani himself), despite the fact that

we are a long-standing con-stituent of the UDF,” the formerMinister, who had on Saturdayitself given clear indications ofthe path the party was planningto take, said.

Though the party haddecided to leave the UDF, Manisaid it would continue to pro-vide issue-based support tothe UPA. The KC(M) has onemember each in the Lok Sabhaand Rajya Sabha. “Also, theparty does not want to severerelations with the UDF in thelocal bodies and cooperativeinstitutions,” he said.

The most interesting aspectof the decisions taken by theleadership meeting of the

KC(M) was perhaps that itwould not join the CPI(M)-ledLDF or BJP-headed NDA con-trary to the speculations. “Weare not going to the LDF. Weare not going to the NDA. Weare not going to the BJP. Wewill stand on our own, totallyindependently,” Mani said.

With the departure of theKC(M), the strength in theAssembly of the UDF, whichhad faced a terrible defeat inthe May 16 election, wouldcome down to 41 from the ear-lier 47 in the 140-memberHouse in which front leaderCongress has only 22 seats. Theruling LDF has 91 membersand the BJP has one.

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Though leaders belonging tominority communities

express their apprehensions overthe safety of their communitiesin the country, Tamil Nadu hasemerged as an exception to thisrule. A research by a team ofdemographic scientists havefound that Tamil Nadu is themost favourable State in India forthe growth of Christianity.

The study by AP Joshi, MDSrinivas and JK Bajaj of the Ce-ntre for Policy Studies, a Chennaithink-tank, has found that theChristian community recordedthe most remarkable growth ofpopulation during the 1951 to2011 period. The three expertsanalysed the census results from1951 to 2011 which threw outthe interesting findings.

As per the 2011 census,there are 2.78 crore Christians inIndia. The Christian population

in Tamil Nadu is 44 lakh. “Thisconstitute 6.12 per cent of thetotal population in the State(7.2 crore). Their number andshare in Tamil Nadu is the high-est of all major States except theadjoining Kerala,” said Prof JKBajaj while explaining the salientpoints of the findings.

Tamil Nadu and Keralatogether account for more thanone crore Christians in the coun-try, pointed out Prof Bajaj andSrinivas, both theoretical physi-cists-turned-demographic sci-entists. While the Christiansconstituted only 4.74 per cent ofthe Tamil Nadu population in1951 when the first census washeld, it increased in an impres-sive manner over the last sixdecades to 6.12 per cent. “Thelast decade (2001 to 2011) sawthe Christian population grow-ing up by 16.73 per cent,” saidProf Bajaj.

At the same time the popu-lation of Hindus which consti-

tuted 90.47 per cent of the State’spopulation in 1951 has comedown to 87.58 per cent by 2011.Though the Christian populationis spread out across the State,they are more concentrated insouthern Tamil Nadu, especial-ly in the districts ofKanyakumari, Tirunelveli andThoothukudi. The district ofKanyakumari has 46.8 per centChristians as per the 2011 cen-sus, pointed out Prof Bajaj.

Interestingly, all the sixAssembly constituencies in thedistrict were swept by the DMK-Congress alliance in the lastassembly election in the back-drop of the call given by the var-ious Churches to elect the DMK-Congress combine. Theresearchers believe that a studyon the growth in Christian andMuslim population and thedecrease in the Hindu popula-tion could throw out some moreinteresting facts which would beof importance to policy makers.

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In second such collapse inone week, eight persons,

including a female child, threewomen and two boys, werekilled and at least six othersinjured when a three storeydilapidated building caved inproverbial cards at Bhiwandi inthe neighbouring Thane district.

The toll in the three storeybuilding collapse rose to eightby the evening, as the local firebrigade and National DisasterResponse Force (NDRF) per-sonnel four more bodies fromunder the debris of the struc-ture located at the HanumanTekdi in the powerloom town.The rescuers brought oneelderly person alive from underthe debris. He was rushed in an

injured condition to the IndiraGandhi Municipal Hospital.

The Bhinwandi-NizampurMunicipal Corporation haddeclared the building “danger-ous” and had served it an evic-tion notice. As many of the res-idents refused to shift out, theauthorities had cut off electrici-ty and water supply on Friday.Resident deputy collector,Vandana Suryavanshi identifiedtwo of the persons killed in themishap as building’s ownerSajjanlal Mahadev Gupta (60)and wife Satyawati Sajjan Gupta(55). “We received the informa-tion at 7 am. Our team with fireengines rushed to the scene. Werescued 25-30 trapped residents.Some were rescued through liftand stairs. By evening, we hadfound eight bodies.

Mumbai: A fortnight after ittook into custody a man whowas allegedly recruiting youthsfor the ISIS of Iraq and al-Sham,Maharashtra’s Anti-TerrorismSquad (ATS) on Sunday arrest-ed a 24-year-old youth fromParbhani in Marathwada for hisalleged ISIS links.

Shaikh Iqbal Shaikh KabirAhmed, the ATS officials said,was arrested from Madina Nagarlocality at Parbhani. Shaikh is thefifth person to have been arrest-ed in Maharashtra less than onemonth for alleged links with ISIS.

Following Shaikh’s arrest,the ATS has sounded highalert at Parbhani railway sta-tion, where security has beenintensified and passengers arebeing frisked. PNS

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Scores of protesters got injuredin police action at Langate

township of north Kashmir’sKupwara district on Sundayeven as a semblance of peacelaced with fear and uncertaintyhad prevailed in Kashmir valleyduring the day that marked the30 days of turmoil that beganafter the August 8 killing ofHizbul Muhaideen commanderBurhan Wani.

Sources said that around 90people were injured in the policeaction when the security forcestried out to break eveningprotests in the area. At least 5persons, injured with pellets,have been shifted to Srinagar fortreatment. The day was markedwith sporadic protest rallies,congregational prayers in desert-ed market places and cleanlinessdrives initiated at the sepa-ratists’ call. The authorities con-ducted the civil services exam-

ination though only 1,704 out of5,912 candidates made it to theexam centers.

Officials said that curfewcontinued in Khanpora andChadoora towns of centralKashmir’s Budgam district andAnantnag town in southKashmir. The restrictions underSection 144 preventing assem-bly of more than four personscontinued in other southKashmir districts of Pulwama,Shopian and Kulgam besidesnorth Kashmir’s Baramulla,Pattan, Sopore, Kupwara andBandipora towns. The curfewlike restrictions under Section144 also continued in severalparts of capital Srinagar andadjacent ganderbal town.

The normal life was paral-ysed across Valley on the 30thday of continued shutdowncalled by the separatists toprotest against the civiliankillings and grievous injuries tohundreds of civilian protesters.

However, life returned partial-ly to business hub Lal Chowkarea in line with the relaxationin shutdown by the separatistsafter 6 pm. as many shopsreopened while light privateand public transport plied inthe evening hours.

During the month-long tur-moil, 53 civilians have beenkilled, mostly in the age groupof 18-35 years. The authoritiesmaintain that most of the slainyouth were part of anti-Indiaprotests. Two policemen havealso been killed in attacks by theprotesters. The local newspapersput the civilian death toll at 57.

Over 3,000 civilians andabout 2,000 security personnelwere injured in the clashes.More than 200 persons have sus-tained grievous pellet injuries intheir eyes. Scores of grievouslyinjured civilians with bullets, pel-lets and tear smoke shells areundergoing treatment at varioushospitals.

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Assam CM SarbanandaSonowal has requested the

Ministry of Home Affairs todeploy 75 companies of CentralArmed Police Force (CAPF),which had been withdrawnfrom Assam after the Stateelections in April this year.

Sonowal visited Kokrajharon Sunday, where the militantshad sprayed bullets on civilianson Friday, killing 14 people andinjuring 20 others. CM reviewedthe law and order situationwith the top police and civiladministration as well as withthe top brass of the Army andasked them to be on vigil till theIndependence Day celebrations.

He asked the DCs and SPsto hold security review meet-ings and nagarik samiti meet-ings and to take all precau-tionary and preventive mea-sures to avoid any untowardincident in the run up to theIndependence Day and also tosecure the lives and property ofthe people.

Jhansi: Supporting the state-ment of PM Narendra Modithat in the name of Gau Rakshasome people are indulging inbusiness, BJP State unit hasasked the Akhilesh Governmentto set up a ‘task force to nab theoffenders and punish them’.

“If UP Government is seri-ous on cow protection then itshould set up a task force toarrest the offenders who areslaughtering cow and thosetaking law in their hand,”Keshav Prasad Maurya toldmedia here on Sunday afterconclusion on two-day Stateworking committee meeting.

When asked why the RamMandir was not mentioned inthe party’s resolution, Mauryasaid the BJP was always in fav-our of the Ram Temple at Ayo-dhya but “the matter is pendingin SC and we are expecting afavourable decision”. BJP MPfrom Phulpur was howevercritical of CM Akhilesh Yadavwho claimed his Governmentwill return to power. PNS

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The lawyers of Narada NewsCEO Mathew Samuels are

planning to move a contemptpetition against Kolkata Policefor ignoring the Calcutta HighCourt order to carry on parallelinvestigation into the Naradavideo case.

Hours after Samuels wasdetained-and later released atDelhi Airport on his departurefrom Dubai on Saturday in per-suasion of a “look out notice” bythe Kolkata Police, his lawyersclaimed the act was a sheer vio-lation of the Court directiveand would invite contempt pro-ceedings.

The Kolkata Police whichpromptly sent across a rejoinderto the authorities concerned inDelhi so that Samuels could be

released said there was a com-munication error.

A senior IPS officer said afterSamuel’s lawyers shot off a letterto Kolkata Police CommissionerRajiv Kumar protesting the inci-dent, “we respect the order of thehonourable High Court and willabide by the same.”

Notwithstanding, Samuels’slawyer Arunabha Ghosh said acontempt petition will be filed atthe High Court demanding “sixmonth’s jail” for the officers“responsible for this gross viola-tion of the Court order.”

The Division Bench of ChiefJustice Manjula Chellur andJustice A Banerjee had earlierordered an interim stay into theNarada sting operation probelaunched by the Kolkata Policetill the next date of hearing onAugust 19.

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Srinagar: Criticising the ill-timed inauguration of IIT inJammu, the main OppositionNational Conference (NC) onSunday lashed out at rulingBJP for its “attempts” to dividethe state of Jammu & Kashmir.The party said that BJP hasaugmented the perception ofits prejudice against the peo-ple of Kashmir.

“When you cut ribbons inJammu at a time when Kashmiris on fire and when coffins ofyoung boys are being loweredinto graves here, it highlightsyour abject lack of humanity andempathy. How would people inJammu have felt if an IIT wasbeing inaugurated in KashmirValley at a time of similar griefand mass mourning in Jammu?This act of insensitivity andruthlessness perfectly exemplifiesBJP’s politics in J&K”, the NCSpokesperson Junaid Mattu saidin a statement. PNS

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The ISIS is using new waysto radicalise Malaysian

youths through Internet andencouraging them to carry outjihad as “lone wolves”, expertshave warned.

Malaysian ISIS membersare asking their countrymen tofight alongside the dreadedterror group in the wake of its“recognition” of the southernPhilippines-based Abu Sayyafas part of the ISIS “caliphate”,they said.

“ISIS is now encouragingits supporters to carry out theirown jihad in their countrywithout any need for organi-sation,” Dr Maszlee Malik,political analyst at theInternational Islamic UniversityMalaysia, was quoted as sayingby Bernama news agency.

He referred to a chilling 21-minute video uploaded onsocial media on June 23, call-ing on Malaysians to join the“Philippines brotherhood”entrusted by ISIS to lead the“caliphates army”.

Featured in the video was

Malaysian Mohd Rafi Udin,also known as Abu Aun al-Malysi, who said “sympathisers

who could not go to Mindanaoshould launch their own jihadon Malaysian soil using what-ever means at their disposal.”

In the video Mohd Rafisaid “You have a car, knockthem down. You have a weaponor a knife, even a small one,stab them in the chest. Do notbe afraid.”

What was clear from thevideo, said Maszlee, was that ISwas encouraging a newmethod of destruction — thelone wolf attack.

“Lone wolf attacks involveself radicalised individuals whoare IS sympathisers. They canlaunch their own attack andconsider it a ‘jihad’. This waswhat happened in Puchong.Rafi Udin’s call was a clear indi-cation that he was giving ordersto lone wolves. It was not anorganised, well planned attack.A few sympathisers answeredthe call to launch their ownattack,” he said.

On June 28, eight peoplewere injured after a handgrenade exploded at an enter-tainment centre in the suburbof Puchong here.

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South Korea on Sundayrejected China’s criticism

over the planned deploymentin the South of a US anti-mis-sile system, saying Beijing’sfailure to curb its ally NorthKorea had created the situation.

Seoul’s decision to deploythe powerful US system, tocounter a growing threat fromNorth Korea’s nuclear and mis-sile programmes, threatens todamage relations with its largesttrading partner Beijing.

China has condemned theTerminal High Altitude AreaDefence (THAAD) system as amove against its own nationalsecurity interests and said itwould further heighten region-al tension. The People’s Dailyeven warned Seoul on Thursdayof the potentially costly “domi-no effect”, saying the Southwould “inevitably be the first tar-get” in any conflict betweenChina and the US.

The South’s presidentialoffice however urged China towork harder to tame its neigh-bour North Korea, sayingTHAAD would have beenunnecessary had there been nothreat from it.

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Republican presidentialnominee Donald Trump

slammed HillaryClinton as mentallyunstable at a campaignrally, seizing on heradmission that she“short-circuited” incomments about herprivate email use at theState Department.

“The people of this coun-try don’t want somebody who’sgoing to short circuit up here,”Trump told supporters in NewHampshire. “She’s a dangerousliar,” the real estate mogulsaid of the Democratic formersecretary of state. “She is a

totally unhinged person. She’sunbalanced.”

Trump’s supporters chant-ed “Lock her up!” during the

event in the town ofWindham. On Friday,Clinton acknowledgedshe “may have short-circuited” when shetried to clarify state-ments about her use ofa private email server.

The Democrat had told FoxNews Sunday that FBI direc-tor James Comey said her“answers were truthful” aboutwhether she sent or receivedclassified material via privateemail. That comment wasbranded false by Washington-based fact-checkers.

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Israel’s Energy Minister onSunday criticised a landmark

nuclear accord between theJewish state’s arch-foe Iran andworld powers but said Tehranhad so far respected the deal.

The agreement, which wassigned in July 2015 and cameinto force in January, sawTehran accept curbs to itsnuclear programme in exchangefor a lifting of economic sanc-tions by world powers.

“It’s a bad deal but it’s anaccomplished fact and duringthe first year we spotted no sig-nificant breach from the

Iranians,” said Youval Steinitz,who is close to Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu.

“But it’s still too early toconclude that this 12-year dealis a success,” he told publicradio.

Steinitz’s comments cameafter US President BarackObama on Thursday defendedthe accord.

Israel’s defence ministry,led by hardliner AvigdorLieberman, on Friday com-pared the deal with Iran to the1938 Munich Agreement,which allowed Nazi Germanyto annex parts of thenCzechoslovakia.

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Anew Guinness WorldRecord for the most robots

dancing simultaneously has beenset in China where 1,007 robotsshimmied in unison, nearly dou-ble the previous record.

Each of the 43.8 cm talldancing machines at theQingdao Beer Festival werecontrolled using just onemobile phone and they had todance for a full minute inorder to count towards therecord total, the GuinnessWorld Records said.

A few robots were disqual-ified because they did not danceor fell over, but the majority ofthe mechanical dance troupecompleted the 60 second rou-tine in perfect unison.

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Syrian regime forces were onthe defensive around

Aleppo on Sunday after a rebelalliance said it inflicted a majorsetback by breaking a three-week government siege of thebattered city.

A coalition of rebels andjihadists surged through regimeterritory on Saturday to open anew route into Aleppo’s besiegedeastern neighbourhoods, hometo an estimated 250,000 people.

The breakthrough was metwith euphoric scenes amongcivilians and opposition fight-ers in eastern districts, but

sparked fear of food shortagesamong residents of regime-controlled western areas.

Rami Abdel Rahman, headof the Syrian Observatory forHuman Rights, said the devel-opment was one of the mostsignificant setbacks for gov-ernment forces since the con-flict erupted in March 2011.

“Despite more than 600Russian strikes, the regimeforces were not able to holdonto their positions,” he said.

Steadfast regime allyMoscow has provided air sup-port for forces loyal toPresident Bashar al-Assad sinceSeptember 2015.

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Philippine President Rodrigo Dutertepublicly linked more than 150 judges,

mayors, lawmakers, police and militarypersonnel to illegal drugs today, order-ing them to surrender for investigationas he ratcheted up his bloody waragainst what he calls a “pandemic.”

Duterte promptly relieved mem-bers of the military and police henamed from their current posts andordered government security person-nel to be withdrawn from politicianshe identified in a nationally televisedspeech. He also ordered gun licensesof those named revoked.

“All military and police who areattached to these people, I’m giving you24 hours to report to your mother unitor I will whack you. I’ll dismiss you fromthe service,” Duterte said in the speechat a military camp in southern Davao city.

Istanbul: Hundreds of thou-sands of flag-waving support-ers gathered in Istanbul onSunday for a giant rally tomark the end of nightlydemonstrations since Turkey’sJuly 15 abortive coup that leftmore than 270 people dead.

The gathering at theYenikapi meeting area by theMarmara Sea waterfront in

Istanbul’s European side, offi-cially called the “Democracyand Martyrs’ Rally,” aims to rep-resent Turkish unity and wasbilled as a cross-party event.

Religious leaders and twoof Turkey’s three oppositionparties were attending. Thepro-Kurdish People’sDemocracy Party, or HDP, wasnot invited. AP

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China has installed a radarwith potential military

functions in a disputed area ofthe East China Sea, Japanesemedia said on Sunday, in thelatest flare-up of tensionsbetween the two countries.

The Japanese foreign min-istry said China had placed asurface search radar and sur-veillance camera on one of itsstructures in a gasfield whichis claimed by both countries,the Nikkei business dailyreported.

The ministry on Fridaycomplained to Beijing throughdiplomatic channels, the news-paper reported.

The paper said it was thefirst radar unit known to havebeen installed on any of theChinese structures in the area,which is believed to be rich inoil and gas deposits.

Tokyo is analysing theradar’s capability and is con-cerned that Beijing could beintending to strengthen itsmilitary power in the EastChina Sea.

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Belgium on Sunday opened aterrorism probe into a

machete assault that woundedtwo policewomen, in whatappeared to be the latest in astring of jehadi attacks in Europe.

“We have been informed byfederal prosecutors that an inves-tigation has started for attempt-ed terrorist murder... given cer-tain elements (in the case),”Prime Minister Charles Micheltold reporters.

Michel, who saluted thecourage of the police victims, wasreferring to the attacker’s cry of“Allahu Akbar” (God is greatest)during the assault in front of a

police station. No informationwas given about the identity ofthe attacker, who had been shotand killed by police, at the pressconference in Brussels.

Saturday afternoon’s attackoutside the main police stationin the city of Charleroi left oneof the policewomen with “deepwounds to the face” while theother was slightly injured.

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People who are lazy spend more timeengaged in thought, leading them to be

more intelligent than their active counter-parts, a new study suggests.

Active people are more physical as theyneed to refresh their minds with externalactivities, either to escape their thoughts orbecause they get bored easily, researchers fromFlorida Gulf Coast University in the US said.People with a high intelligent quotient (IQ)get bored less easily, leading them to spendmore time engaged in thought, they said.Researchers gave a classic test — which datesback three decades — to a group of students.

The ‘need for cognition’ questionnaireasked students to rate how strongly theyagree with statements like “I really enjoy atask that involves coming up with new solu-tions to problems”, and “I only think as hardas I have to”.

From the candidates, researchers led byTodd McElroy, selected 30 ‘thinkers’ and asmany ‘non-thinkers.’ For the next one

week, both groups wore a device on theirwrist which tracked their movements andactivity levels, giving a constant stream ofdata on how physically active they were, ‘TheIndependent’ reported.

The results showed that the thinkinggroup were far less active during the weekthan the non-thinkers, researchers said.

The findings are ‘highly significant’ and‘robust’ in statistical terms, they said.According to researchers, non-thinkers getbored more easily, so they need to fill theirtime with physical activity. However, they sug-gest that less active people, no matter howintelligent they are, should aim to raise theiroverall activity levels to improve their health.

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Washington: John Kasich con-firmed on Sunday he had been sounded out as a possible run-ning mate of Donald Trump ina call the Republican candi-date's son made to an aide ofthe Ohio governor.The New York Times reportedlast month that Donald TrumpJr broached the possibility in acall to a senior Kasich adviser inMay, telling him Trump's vicepresident would be responsiblefor domestic and foreign policy.Kasich said in a CNN interviewthat he was never contacteddirectly but that one of his aidesreceived the call from DonaldTrump Jr and that the Times'account of the conversation wasaccurate. AFP

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Iran confirmed on Sundaythat it has executed an

Iranian nuclear scientist whogave the US intelligence aboutthe country’s contested nuclearprogramme.

The official IRNA newsagency quoted a spokesmanfor Iran’s judiciary,Gholamhosein Mohseni Ejehi,confirming the execution ofShahram Amiri, an Iraniannuclear scientist caught up ina real-life US spy mysterywho later returned to his homecountry and disappeared.

He did not say where orwhen the execution took place,but said Amiri’s initial deathsentence had been reviewed byan appeal court and that he hadaccess to a lawyer.

Amiri “provided the eneywith vital information of thecountry,” Ejehi said.

Amiri, who worked for auniversity affiliated to Iran’sdefence ministry, vanishedin 2009 while on a rel igious pi lgr image toMuslim holy sites in SaudiArabia, only to reappear ayear later in a set of onlinevideos filmed in the US.

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Thai voters on Sundayapproved a new junta-

backed Constitution that wouldpave the way for an electionnext year and give the military,which seized power in a couptwo years ago, the final say onfuture elected Governments.

Thai voters cast ballots forthe first time since the militarytoppled the Government,choosing whether to approve orreject a junta-backedConstitution.

Thailand’s ElectionCommission said that with 91per cent of the votes counted,61 per cent have voted infavour.

The draft won approval inall regions, except theNortheast, which is the strong-hold of former premierThaksin Shinawatea.

The new charter couldpave the way for polls next year.

Voters also supported anadditional question on the bal-lot, which proposes that theappointed senate would beinvolved in selecting a primeminister. Nearly 58 per centgave “Yes” vote for the addi-

tional question.The military has said the

new Constitution would stemendemic political corruptionand bring stability, but criticshave said it will entrench mil-itary control.

Campaigning against thedraft had been banned anddozens have been detained.Thailand's biggest political par-ties rejected the Constitution.

After casting his ballot at apolling station in Bangkok,Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha said: "Come out (to vote)because today is important forthe future of the country.

"This is your duty and thisis part of democracy, of aninternationally-recognisedprocess."

After the 'yes' vote, thedraft will become theConstitution, enhancing themilitary government's legiti-macy in the run-up to an elec-tion which Prime MinisterPrayuth has promised will hap-pen next year.

The military junta whichtook power after a coup in 2014called for the Constitution to berewritten to ensure "clean pol-itics" in the country.

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In a case of alleged discrim-ination in the US, a young

Muslim woman was fired fromher job at a dental clinic forwearing a hijab as her employ-er wanted to keep a “neutralenvironment” in office.

Najaf Khan, who was hiredas a dental assistant at FairOaks Dental Care in FairfaxCounty, Virginia, said she wasfired from the new job becauseshe wore a Muslim head scarfto work.

“I was really upset. Theday that it happened, I wasdevastated,” Najaf told NBCWashington.

She did not wear the hijabfor her interview or on the first

two days of employment. Onthe third day, she chose to wearit because Najaf felt that shewould stay at the job andwearing it was part of her spir-itual journey.

At work that day, she saidthe owner of Fair Oaks DentalCare, Dr Chuck Joo, told herto take off the hijab.

Joo told her that theywanted to keep a “neutralenvironment” in office. Theemployer asked her to removeit because the Islamic headscarf would offend patientsand he wanted to keep religionout of the office.

Khan said Joo gave her anultimatum — she could con-tinue wearing the scarf and befired or work without it.

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Every individual, evenwithout having studiedeconomics, is best inmanaging his/her per-sonal finances. As a pri-

mary school student in aGovernment school in Abohar,and then as a student in a middleschool in Jalalabad, where a pieceof land was allotted to my fatherand grand father, my dailyallowance was half-anna.

It was in 1953, when I was astudent in a high school inFerozepur, my father gave me �20for month expenditure. Thisincluded my hostel fees, my food-ing, school fees and fare for vis-iting my parents from Ferozepurto Jalalabad. There were no pri-vate schools, but a few colleges inthat category.

Even when I went for myhigher studies in a Governmentcollege in Ludhiana, I had ashoestring budget of a princelysum of �125 per month. If I, asa student, without having stud-ied economics, can manage myexpenses well within the abovementioned budget, why can’tour rulers, who have vast expe-rience and understanding of gov-ernance, and enough parliamen-tary material, do the same?

Even when an individualmoney lender advances money toanybody, he makes sure that hetakes adequate security mea-sures, in the form of jewellery orany other property, so that hisown interests are safe guarded.

There are people call themoney lenders, usurer or literal-ly a blood sucker, as they chargehigh interest rates so that at leasttheir original loan amount doesnot vanish. But our Governments,by way of nationalised banks,which are also our Governmentbanks, have the opposite approach.

Except for the judiciary, theElection Commission and theComptroller and Auditor-General of India, all otherGovernment agencies functionas per its expressed or impliedor anticipated wishes.

Even our Legislators, at thenational or even at the Statelevel, with the exception of a few,are not above the level of makingrecommendations of all kinds,including huge Government bankloans, which are euphemisticallycalled non-performing assets(NPAs), and not bad debts.

Taking suo motu cognisance ofa media report that public sectorbanks (PSBs) had written off�1,14,000 crore in the last threeyears, the Supreme Court directedthe Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to

submit a list of defaulters who owe�500 crore or more to the banks.

Adducing the list, the RBI saidthat it was “extremely necessary” tokeep these names confidential dueto their “fiduciary relationship”.Funny argument and incomprehen-sible to most of us, as to what pur-pose it serves, nationally.

Data from 16 banks show thatthe write-off by State Bank of India(SBI) and Bank of India stood atmore than �83,000 crore in the last10 years whereas it was around�44,850 crore for 14 other PSBs.

In 2011-2012, SBI wrote off�982 crore as NPAs, but this fig-ure shot up to �15,509 crore in2014-2015. Almost all banks wit-nessed a consistent rise in baddebts since 2011-2012. IDBI’swrite-off jumped five times since2011 when it declared �319 croreas NPAs whereas in 2014-2015, itwrote off �1,609 crore.

Data provided by PSBs, inresponse to a Right to Information(RTI) application filed, shows thatthe amount written off by SBI andBank of India is 250 per cent morethan that by 14 other banks in thelast three years.

While most of us learn fromour mistakes and do our best to

avoid them, but as far asGovernments are concerned, suc-cessive Governments have a dif-ferent approach. They feel thatthey know better than their pre-decessors. Committing a dacoityor robbery is a cognisable offenceand is criminally punishable, butrarely action has been takenagainst individual bank looters,except in some cases.

It is not that this problem doesnot have a solution. It can besolved in a jiffy, only if theGovernment wants. The All IndiaBank Employees’ Association(AIBEA) has named 5,610 wilfuldefaulters, who collectively defraud-ed public sector and private sectorbanks in India of a staggeringamount of �58,792 crore as onMarch this yera. As per the All IndiaBanker’s Union, the followingnames of NPA firms figure in theBanks List, to quote only a few:

Top defaulters of PSU banksand financial institutions includedWinsome Diamonds and JewelleryLtd with a default amount of over�2,266 crore, Forever Precious jew-ellery & Diamonds (�1,001 crore),Kingfisher Airlines Ltd (�1,201crore), Deccan Chronicle HoldingsLtd (�884 crore), Indian Technomac

Co Ltd (�625 crore), RankIndustries (�566 crore), RazaTextiles (�694.59 crore), Rei AgroLtd (�580 crore), S KumarsNationwide Ltd (�598 crore),Zenith Birla (India) Ltd (�139crore), Zoom Developers (�1,710crore), and Electrotherm India(�385 crore).

For SBI and its five associatebanks, the number of wilful default-ers was 1,546 with a total default-ed amount at �18,576 crore. TheGovernment should ask the IncomeDepartment to inquire that in thecases of loanees, as to how much taxthey have paid and whether it isagainst the loans taken.

Moreover, the existing lawsshould be changed so that thebanker, whose loans become NPAswould be personally responsible forit. This will curb political interfer-ence. There should no tribunals tohear appeals aginst the recovery.

There is a Punjabi saying whichsays, ‘pehle chhori, phir seena zori’ (first you commit theft and then arebrazen about it). The contractsshould be enforceable straight awayand the new law should contain aprovision that first charge on thethe assets and money held either intheir names or their associatesshould of loanee bank

It is a fiction to give money tocompanies and not to individuals.It is open to misuse. If one compa-ny becomes bankrupt, it crooksopen another company with thesame address. There should be apre-verification before giving anyloan and properties should bepledged and not sheer promises.The Companies Acts should beabolished because it is useless.

A report says that theGovernment, to boost lending, ispumping nearly �23,000 crore intoPSU banks. This is a classic case ofthe Government’s left hand doingwithout letting the right handknowing. If the same effort is spentto cover the so-called ‘NPA’,Government would not have to taxpeople except for development.

Money lending in the nameof brand names for hundreds ofcrores of rupees should stop.Only men of integrity should beappointed to be the Chairmanand Managing Director of banks.Government instructions alreadyexist of all telephonic requestsshould be recorded in the files. Ifthey had been implemented, theGovernment would have morethan ample funds for advance-ment of the country. The secretof doing anything worthwhile issimple: Do not expect miraculousresults if you do not put every-thing in place.

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Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “For a unified tax regime”(August 5). It is the spirit of coop-erative federalism that has helpedachieve the Goods and ServicesTax Bill the required political con-sensus. Though the current dis-pensation deserves credit for theGST Bill, we must not forget thatGST alone will not translate intoimprovement in the ranking ofease of doing business index.

There are other issues such ascomplicated labour laws, deficientinfrastructure, rampant corrup-tion and bureaucratic logjam,which needs to be sorted out. Toremain as the ‘bright spot’ of theworld, we must kick-start devis-ing other reforms, otherwise, thetumbling world market will notshy in consuming India too.

Gaurav SinghalRewari

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Sir — The Delhi High Court’s rul-ing that Delhi is yet a UnionTerritory means that it is not aState, despite having a LegislativeAssembly. This also means thatthe Lieutenant Governor is notbound to act on the aid and

advice of the elected Government. This ruling has come out in

support of the LieutenantGovernor Najib Jung. It hasdeclared him as Delhi’s adminis-trative head. The court alsoupheld Jung’s repeated nullifica-tion of the Aam Aadmi PartyGovernment’s appointments andpolicy decisions.

Delhi Chief Minister ArvindKejriwal must now make peacewith the fact that Delhi does nothave full-Statehood and thatthe Government of India willenjoy administrative clout in thenational capital. Hope the AAPGovernment and the LieutenantGovernor will do well to turnover a new leaf.

Meghna A Via email

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Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “Happy meal more happier”(August 6). It is heartening thatfast food giant McDonanld’s hasat last brought some changes init’s menu based on customer’sfeedback and it may give itsmenu a healthier look.

Having said that, we shouldnot confuse ourselves by mixingjunk food with a more healthierand nutritious food option. As a

junk food will remain a junkfood, how so ever different pack-aging it is sold under, until andunless food chains likeMcDonald’s comes out with a dif-ferent menu which has healthiersnacks to offer. I do not thinkMcDonald’s will ever ventureinto this uncharted territory.

Bal GovindNoida

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Sir — This refers to the report,“Bodo terror revisits Assam: 14dead” (August 6). Bodo terror hasrevisited Assam. It is surprisinghow the terrorists equip them-selves with sophisticated AK47without proper check by thelocal agency. It is really a sense-less and barbaric attack thatneeds to be condemned.

The BJP too seems to be nobetter than the UPA in contain-ing external/internal terror. It isa matter of concern. Politicalwill lacks in containing terror. Itis time that a concerted effort isinitiated before the problembecomes more serious.

NR RamachandranChennai

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India’s Department of AtomicEnergy and Pakistan’s militaryruler Muhammad Zia-ul-

Haq have something in com-mon. General Zia, after depos-ing the then Prime MinisterZulfikar Ali Bhutto in 1977,declared martial law and appoint-ed himself as the Chief MartialLaw Administrator. Though Ziahad told the country that hewould hold democratic electionwithin months, it did not mate-rialise. Whenever there was pres-sure from the international com-munity, for holding elections, Ziawould declare that he would holdthe election within two months.But the elections never materi-alised as long as Zia was around.One of the popular anecdotesthose days was about Zia’s assur-ances about holding elections inPakistan. His official designation— Chief Martial LawAdministrator — ended up as‘Cancel My Last Announcement’!

The Department of Atomic

Energy (DAE) is also entangledin a Chief Martial LawAdministrator syndrome becauseof the 500MW Prototype FastBreeder Reactor (PFBR) comingup at Kalpakkam, 70km north ofChennai. The work for the reac-tor began in 2004 and it wasdeclared by top nuclear scientiststhat the reactor would becomecritical by 2010. When a nuclearreactor is ready for generatingpower, it is said that the reactorhas become critical.Conventional nuclear reactors inIndia are pressurised heavy-water reactor. The fuel used inthese reactors is enriched urani-um. Since India does not havesufficient stock of enriched ura-nium, we are dependent oncountries like Russia and France,which sell us enriched uraniumat exorbitant rates.

The Fast Breeder Reactor(FBR) uses an oxide of plutoni-um and uranium as fuel. Theadvantage of the FBR is that the

fuel used to operate the reactorgets converted into more fuel. Inother words, these reactors breedmore fuel than what they con-sume. This means that the spentfuel from one reactor could beused to power another reactor.

In May 2005, when the raftof the FBR was completed (raftis the platform on which the reac-tor stands), Baldev Raj, the thendirector of the Indira GandhiCentre For Atomic Research,Kalpakkam and Prabhat Kumar,project director FBR, told themedia that the reactor would befully operational by 2010. Thiswas widely reported in all news-papers and TV channels.

The authorities of IGCARand the Bharatiya NabhikiyaVidyut Nigam Limited(Bhavani), which is in charge ofsetting FBRs all over India, keptthe country posted about alldevelopments. The proposal wasto simultaneously launch worksof the second and third FBR at

Kalpakkam itself. The commissioning of the

reactor vault in 2007 and theinstallation of the giant reactorvessel made of special steel intothe vault in 2009, were celebrat-ed with gaiety. I remember oftouching the reactor vessel as itwas lowered into the vaultbecause once it was set up in thevault, outsiders will never be ableto touch it. The office room of SCChetal, the master brain behindthe designing of the fast breed-er reactor looked like a warroom about which we read innewspapers. Thousands of engi-neering drawing, heated discus-sions and brain storming sessionsbetween engineers, scientists andmetallurgists. These were dailyroutines at Kalpakkam.

P Chellapandi, a mechani-cal engineer with doctoratefrom the Indian Institute ofTechnology, Madras, came outwith a path-breaking innovationin 2009. His team made the FBR

resistant to earthquake.Chellapandi said no earthquakesmeasuring up to nine in theRichter scale could harm thereactor as it would switch offautomatically in the eventuali-ty of high intensity earthquakes.

The deadline was modifiedto 2011. Since then, Raj retiredas IGCAR director and Chetaltook over. However, nothinghappened. In 2014, there was anannouncement by the then chair-man, DAE that the FBR wouldbe commissioned by September2014. But there is no sign of theFBR coming alive even in 2016.Raj said that power generatedfrom the FBR could be sold at�2.50 per unit. The total cost ofthe 500MW reactor was estimat-ed at �3,500 crore. Now it hasbeen revised to �5,600 crore. Thismeans that power from FBRwould cost more.

A reactor which was expect-ed to yield power to the nation-al grid at least by 2011, is still in

a state of limbo. If one was to goby the words of Raj, Kalpakkamwould have housed four FBRs by2017 and the country would havebeen richer by 2,000MW. Butthat target remains a mirage only.In 2005, India’s nuclear scientistshad claimed that the country wasa global leader in FBR technol-ogy. It is about the experiencegained by nuclear scientists inoperating a fast breeder testreactor for 25 years. Hence, it isnot lack of experience or exper-tise which has slowed the coun-try’s ambitious FBR programme.

With the signing of theIndia-US nuclear deal, the FBRtook a backstage as the US want-ed to dump as many nuclearreactors as possible in India. Lastheard, the Minister in charge ofAtomic Energy Jitendra Singhtold the Parliament that the FBRwould be commissioned bySeptember 2017. Will it too endup as CMLA? The winner is, ofcourse is the US.

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Aadhaar is a 12-digit uniqueidentification numberissued by the UniqueIdentification Authorityof India (UIDAI) for all

residents in the country on a volun-tary basis. The number is stored in acentralised database and is linked tobasic demographics and biometricinformation-photograph, 10 finger-prints and iris of each individual. Itensures uniqueness and there can beno space for duplicity in the future asper the present technology.

Initially, Aadhaar was used onlyfor identification purpose, but now, itis being used as a device for directbenefit transfers (DBT) to the poorand needy under various Governmentschemes. Aadhaar is a real game-changer for this country. Till now, dueto various cases in the SupremeCourt, only a few schemes related tothe poor and needy viz, the NationalRural Employment Guarantee Act(MNREGA), the National SocialAssistance Programme, the PradhanMantri Jan-Dhan Yojana, variousscholarship programmes, LPG subsidyetc, could become Aadhaar-based.

The total savings on behalf ofleakages due to Aadhaar-based seed-ing, during the last five and a halfyears, tantamount to billions ofrupees. A World Bank study whichapplaudes the Aadhaar-based seedingpoints out, “India’s fuel subsidy pro-gramme, implementing cash transfersto Aadhaar-linked bank accounts, tobuy liquefied petroleum gas cylinders,saved about one billion dollar per yearwhen applied throughout the country.”

According to another report, theimplementation of Aadhaar enabledfour States viz, Andhra Pradesh,

Telangana, Pondicherry and Delhisave a total amount of �2346 crore.

On the other hand, theGovernment estimates to have savedover �27,000 crore by cash transfersfor payments to beneficiaries undervarious welfare schemes in the last twoyears. DBT has resulted in significantsavings across welfare schemes. It hasalso resulted in weeding out of dupli-cate beneficiaries. For instance, over1.6 crore (16 million) bogus rationcards have been deleted, resulting insavings to the tune of �10,000 crore.

Similarly, 3.5 crore duplicate ben-eficiaries were weeded out in thePAHAL scheme, resulting in savings ofover �14,000 crore in 2014-2015 alone.Similar efforts in MGNREGS led to asaving of �3,000 crore — roughly 10per cent of the entire annual budget ofthe reform. Several States and UnionTerritories too have achieved signifi-cant savings through DBT.

On April 4, UIDAI generated the100th crore Aadhaar. Also, the Aadhaar(Targeted Delivery of Financial andother Subsidies, benefits and services)Act, 2016, was passed on the March 11by the Lok Sabha.

The generation of the 100th croreAadhaar and the passage of the AadhaarAct will be remembered as two land-mark events in the history of India. Withthis, Aadhaar has become the largestonline digital identity platform in theworld. Not only this, presently, it is theworld’s one of the most secured datarepository system too. Functionally, itis better than the digital identity systemof Chile, Ghana, Pakistan, South Africa,Turkey or Egypt.

Very few people are aware of thefact that Aadhaar-based identificationsystem is more mammoth, more

secure and more unique than theUnited States’ Social Security number-based identification system whichdoes not cover the biometrics and irisof individual. It covers only the demo-graphic data of an individual andhence, it cannot be unique and secure.It can be fudged, altered or manipu-lated which is not true for Aadhaar-enabled system in India.

The passage of the Aadhaar Act,2016, will facilitate the formation of astatutory unique identification author-ity of India and the linkages ofAadhaar-enabled system to variousschemes, programmes and services ofGovernment of India, starting fromtaking benefit of a scheme to railwayreservations, to income tax collections.Every scheme and service in India canbe connected to the Aadhaar network.

This new Act provides for sever-al measures for the security and con-fidentiality of information. There arerestrictions on sharing of informationand there are punishments and penal-ties for misuse of information/imper-sonation in the Act.

Hence, the new Aadhaar Act, atone time, provides for the facilitationof the Aadhaar-based linkages withthe different schemes/services ofGovernment of India which will helpsave billions of exchange every year.At the same time, it has tried to securethe information provided by citizen inthe best possible way by having var-ious provisions to ensure the securi-ty of information.

The future of it lies in the speedwith which the services and schemesare linked with Aadhaar in as little timeas possible. Every activity of business,enterprise or Government has a poten-tial of being linked with Aadhaar-based

system which, at this time, is one of themost well-secured information infra-structure of the world.

Even mobile companies can maketheir mobiles Aadhaar-enabled. Thiswill help the citizens avail any servicefrom a click of a mobile in a securedway. Also, the Government of Indiaspends huge money in elections andin managing the election structure.Aadhaar-enabled voting system, ifimplemented in the future, will notonly help the Government save bil-lions of rupees, which are beingincurred in providing EPIC cards,revision of electoral rolls, and elimi-nating duplicate entries from suchlists, but will also help generate everyindividuals vote. Sooner or later,Aadhaar has to become the aadhar ofthe country.

This very Aadhaar programme,ideally supports the motto of ‘maxi-mum governance and minimumGovernment’, that was echoed by theNDA Government at the Centre.This will surely help in heralding anew age in India’s governance systemwhich is badly in need of an imme-diate overhaul.

While bringing governance tothe maximum use of people, throughthe medium of information and com-munication technology, Aadhaar cantruly be regarded as one step ahead inan emerging global power like India.Indians having an identity proving to be more than what theyhave in the past, Aadhaar needs to bepromoted across the country througheducation campaign in schools and innews media in a massive way what itis done today.

(The writer is Additional DirectorGeneral of UIDAI)

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��+� �� Reserve BankGovernor Raghuram Rajan iswidely expected to hold the keyinterest rate in his last monetarypolicy review on Tuesday asretail inflation continues to beabove the comfort zone.

Rajan, whose 3-year termwill come to an end onSeptember 4, may prefer thatRBI assesses the full impact ofmonsoon rains before taking aview on the interest rate.

This is going to be the lastbi-monthly monetary policy tobe decided by the central bankGovernor as the broad-based 6-member panel may take overthe job before the next reviewon October 4.

In conjunction with namingits 3 members on the MonetaryPolicy Committee, theGovernment is also likely toname a successor to Rajansometime this month.

The Governmentannounced last week that it

would like the RBI to focus onmaintaining retail inflation rateof 4 per cent for the next fiveyears, based on which the newinterest rate setting panel wouldtake its monetary policy deci-sions going forward.

The move, which providesfor a margin of plus or minus 2per cent in this target thus fix-ing the upper tolerance level at6 per cent till 2021, is being seenas Government putting the sealon Rajan’s inflation-first modelof monetary policy.

“We are expecting that therewill be no change in rate becausevegetable prices are on the rise...It will take a few months for thevegetable prices to come downwhen the kharif crops come intothe market,” SBI ChairpersonArundhati Bhattacharya said.

Consumer Price Indexbased retail inflation rose by5.77 per cent in June, the fastestpace in 22 months and it isexpected that the implementa-

tion of the new Goods andServices Tax (GST) may push itup further.

However, Yes BankManaging Director RanaKapoor believes that macro-economic conditions augurswell for at least 50 basis point cutin interest rate by the RBI.

He said rates are comingdown across geographiesincluding the UK, which has

strengthened the case for ratecut by RBI.

“There are lot of favourabledevelopments in the economy -- above average monsoon, lowG-Sec rate, high forex reserve,low bond yield, twin deficit wellwithin the range -- augurs wellfor rate cut of at least 0.5 percent,” he said.

Rajan, criticised for follow-ing hawkish monetary policy for

too long before starting to lowerrates, has reduced the bench-mark interest rate by 1.5 per centsince January last year, and hasbeen persuading banks to fullytransmit the benefit of the pol-icy rate cut to customers.Experts say that Cash ReserveRatio will not be tinkered witheither as liquidity is sufficient.

“Nothing is going to changein this policy as CPI has notreduced to the level where theRBI wanted it to be. The mar-ket has already discounted thatrate is not going to be cut thistime,” said a treasury head of astate-run bank.

“Even the liquidity condi-tion in the system is sufficient,so CRR will not be altered,” headded.

Another senior banker saidthat there are expectations thatnothing is going to change asthis is the last policy of theGovernor and a rate cut isunlikely.

According to Bank ofAmerica Merrill Lynch, how-ever, RBI is expected to cut keyinterest rates by 25 basis pointsin its third bi-monthly policyreview for 2016-17 on August 9,if good rains damp pulse priceinflation.

“With good rains, pulses’sowing for the kharif season hasjumped 39 per cent above lastyear’s sowing. This should pulldown pulses prices by 20 percent and cool CPI inflation to5.1 per cent by March,” it said.

DBS said, on the otherhand, RBI may keep the keyinterest rates on hold in theupcoming policy meet as infla-tion for the second quarter hashastened to 5.7 per cent andJuly-August prints may alsostay high.

The room for further easingby the Reserve Bank is depen-dent on the inflation path andmake-up of the monetary pol-icy committee, it said. � �

�9��4��

��+��: In a sharp jump, aver-age CEO salary at top listedcompanies in the private sector isapproaching �20 crore -- doublethe level seen just two years agoat about �10 crore.

However, this remains lessthan one-sixth of the averageCEO salaries at the top listedcompanies in the US, whichstood at close to $20 million(about �130 crore) in 2015 despitea decline from the previous year.

In India, the average CEOsalaries at top private companies,on the other hand, is way abovethe same at their public sectorcounterparts at just about �25-30lakh.

An analysis of the CEOsalaries for the latest financial year2015-16 disclosed by the country’stop listed companies, formingpart of the stock market bench-mark index Sensex, shows thatthey paid an average overallremuneration of close to �19 croreto their top executives.

This includes salary, com-missions, allowances, value of allperquisites and ESOPs exercisedduring the year, among other ben-efits disclosed by the companies

as part of the total remunerationto their top-paid executives whichincluded Executive Chairpersons,CEOs or Managing Directors.

The analysis is based on thedisclosures made by 20 out of thetotal 24 private sector companieson the Sensex, as the remainingfour are yet to disclose their fig-ures.

Among the six PSUs on theSensex, the figure for 2015-16 isavailable as yet only in case of StateBank of India (SBI), whoseChairperson ArundhatiBhattacharya got just about ̀ 31.1lakh.

Among the private sectorgiants on the Sensex, the highest-paid in 2015-16 included L&T’sAM Naik (�66.14 crore, morethan half of which was ‘value ofperquisites’ at nearly �39 crore),Infosys’ Vishal Sikka (�48.73crore) and Lupin’s Desh BandhuGupta (�44.8 crore).

Those at the lower end interms of overall remunerationwere mostly bankers and includ-ed Axis Bank’s Shikha Sharma(�5.5 crore), ICICI Bank’s ChandaKochhar (�6.6 crore), HDFCBank’s Aditya Puri (�9.7 crore).

At housing finance giantHDFC Ltd, Chairman DeepakParekh was paid just �1.89 crore,while Vice Chairman and CEOKeki Mistry got�9.3 crore andMD Renu Sud Karnad got �8.5crore.

The latest figures were notavailable for four companies --Sun Pharma, Maruti, HeroMotoCorp and Cipla.

The average CEO salary atthe Sensex companies stoodatabout �9.9 crore in 2013-14,before rising to nearly �14 crorein 2014-15. It was lower at �8.5crore in 2012-13.

For the latest fiscal, RIL’sMukesh Ambani got �15 crore asits Chairman and ManagingDirector, while Gautam Adaniwas paid �2.8 crore in the samerole at Adani Ports and SEZ.

At Adani Ports, Whole TimeDirector Malay Mahadevia waspaid �10.7 crore, while the com-pany said that Karan Adani, whowas appointed CEO with effectfrom January 1, 2016, did notdraw any remuneration for theyear.

At Bajaj Auto, ChairmanRahul Bajaj was paid �11.3 crore,

while son Rajiv Bajaj got �22.32crore as its MD. Vice ChairmanMadhur Bajaj was paid �8.5crore.

In case of Tata Motors, thenewly appointed CEO and MDGuenter Butschek was paid �5.04crore for the one-and-half-monthperiod that he served during thefiscal ended March 31, 2016. Hisremuneration for period startingFebruary 15, 2016 till March 31next has been pegged by the com-pany at �27.24 crore.

At M&M, chief AnandMahindra was paid�6.58 crore,while Executive Director PawanGoenka got �11.6 crore (a sig-nificant part of which came fromexercise of stock options). HULCEO Sanjiv Mehta’s total remu-neration was �13.87 crore.

Engineering and construc-tion conglomerate L&T paid S NSubrahmanyan, who has beennamed as Naik’s successor, �22.12crore, while K Venkatramanan,who retired during the last fiscal,got �43.3 crore.

Among other Sensex com-panies, Asian Paints CEO KBS Anand got �7.7 crore (up 27per cent), while Dr Reddy’s

Chairman K Satish Reddy waspaid �8.8 crore and CEO G VPrasad got �11.9 crore.

Tata Steel’s MD T VNarendran got �7.3 crore,while Whole Time Directorand CFO Kaushik Chatterjeegot �7.4 crore.

The total remuneration ofLupin’s Vice Chairman KamalSharma was �25.7 crore, asagainst Chairman DB Gupta’s�44.8 crore. TCS’s NChandrasekaran got totalremuneration of �25.6 crore,while the same for ITC’s Y CDeveshwar was �15.15 crore.

At Wipro, Chairman AzimPremji got �2.17 crore, whilethe same for his son and ChiefStrategy Officer Rishad was lit-tle lower at �2.15 crore. ViceChairman and former CEO TK Kurien got Rs 13.66 crore,while the new CEO AbidaliNeemuchwala got �11.96crore.

In case of Bharti Airtel,Chairman Sunil Mittal’s totalremuneration was �27.8 crore,while that of MD and CEO(India and South Asia) GopalVittal was �10.4 crore. � �

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��%�� EnforcementDirectorate has identifiedassets worth over �6,000crore which it plans to attachas part of its fresh actionagainst liquor baron VijayMallya in connection with amoney laundering probeagainst him and others in analleged bank loan fraud case.

The agency is preparingto initiate the second roundof attachments under theprovisions of the Preventionof Money Laundering Act(PMLA) after the embattledbusinessman recently skippedappearance before a specialPMLA court here under aproclamation order issuedunder sect ions of theCriminal Procedure Code(CrPC).

The agency, sources said,has identified some pledgedshares, associated immov-able and movable assets ofMallya and his family mem-bers that would be seized andfrozen as part of its actionplan to widen probe in thecase.

“Similar action can beinitiated against few othersnamed in the case apart fromMallya,” they said.

They said the agency hasalready written to banks andother financial institutionsto obtain details in thisregard.

The agency, meanwhile, isalso in the process of gettinga ‘proclaimed person’ orderissued from the special courtwhich will be further sent tothe Ministry of ExternalAffairs (MEA) in order toexecute the India-UK MLATto bring Mallya back to Indiato join investigations.

ED, in June, had soughtthe proclamation notice to beissued against Mallya as itsaid he had “multiple” arrestwarrants pending againsthim, including a non-bailablewarrant (NBW) under thePMLA, and that the agencywants him to join the probe“in person”.

ED has already attachedhis properties worth about�1,411 crore under PMLA inthis case few months back.

The agency has beenwanting Mallya to join inves-tigations “in person” in itsPMLA probe against him andothers in the �900 crorealleged loan fraud of IDBIbank and has v ir tual lyexhausted all legal remedieslike seeking an Interpol arrestwarrant and getting his pass-port revoked.

The business baron andothers are alleged to havediverted a part of the loan tosome of their offshore busi-nesses.

ED had already sought toinvoke the India-UnitedKingdom Mutual LegalAssistance Treaty (MLAT) tohave Mallya extradited fromBritain.

He had left India onMarch 2 this year using hisdiplomatic passport.Theagency has registered amoney laundering caseagainst Mallya and othersbased on an FIR registeredlast year by the CBI.

A Delhi court had onlyyesterday issued a non-bail-able warrant against him in a2012 cheque bounce case,saying coercive steps wererequired to ensure Mallya’sappearance in the court. � �

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��+��Luxury cars, FMCGproducts, consumer durables,electronics items and ready-made garments will becomecheaper once GST is rolled outnext year, but mobile phones,banking and insurance services,telephone bills as well as air trav-el will be dearer due to highertax.

Under the new indirect taxesregime, likely to take effect fromApril 1, 2017, levy on manufac-tured goods will come down,while consumers may end upspending more as service taxburden would go up, as GST isa consumption based tax.

While the Government issure of the benefits the Goodsand Services Tax will bring to thecommon man, it says it is stillearly days to predict which itemswill become more expensive orcheap.

“On the whole, GST willbring down the burden of taxeson common man. However,unless the rate structure isfinalised, it is not possible to pre-dict which items will get relief,”Revenue Secretary HasmukhAdhia told the news agency.

Tax experts claim that thecurrent practice of tax on tax --for example, VAT being chargedon not just the cost of produc-tion but also on the excise dutythat is added at the factory gateleading to cost build-up -- will goonce GST is rolled out.

This will help bring downprices of a range of products --from FMCG to consumerdurables and electronics toreadymade garments.

On the other hand, forgoods which currently attract

low rate of duty like small cars(excise duty of 8 per cent), theimpact of GST will bring abouta price hike. However, for SUVsand big cars that attract exciseduty of 27-30 per cent, will seea marked drop in prices.

Tax experts feel that all ser-vices, barring essential ones likeambulance, cultural activities,pilgrimages and sporting eventsthat are exempt from levy, willbecome costlier as the present14.5 per cent rate is likely toincrease to 18-22 per cent.

Therefore, eating out, trav-el, telephone bills, banking andinsurance services, hiring cabs,broadband, movies, brandedjewellery and popular sportingevents such as IPL will becomeexpensive.

“We cannot predict specifi-cally any such thing. Once therate structure of various items isdecided then only we can predictthe items on which the tax willgo up or come down,” Adhiasaid, when asked if tax on ser-vices like mobile bill paymentwill go up with GST.

GST, hailed as the mostpowerful tax reform that Indiahas seen, aims to do away withmultiple-tax regime on goods

and services and bring themunder one rate.

GST will alter the presentsystem of production-based tax-ation to a consumption-basedone. While manufactured con-sumer goods will become cheap-er as the incidence of excise dutyand VAT will come down from25-26 per cent at present, the costof services would by and large,go up from the present 15 percent levels.

Currently, a consumer pays25-26 per cent tax over andabove the cost of production dueto excise duty (peak of about 12.5per cent) and value added tax(VAT).

While there is no indicationof what the GST rate will be,experts put it between 18 and 22per cent which will, in all likeli-hood, make basic goods cheap-er.

Certain essential items suchas raw food articles are nottaxed at present and are expect-ed to remain out of GST.

The key products that wouldwitness price reduction underGST are luxury automobiles,processed food, FMCG andpharma products.

Processed food will contin-

ue to be taxed, but the applica-ble GST is likely to be lower thanthe current combined tax onsuch products. Hence, expectthese to become slightly cheap-er.

The services that may wit-ness increase in cost are telecom,rent-a-cab, movies, music con-certs and tickets for sports eventslike IPL, according to MaheshJaising, Partner, BMR &Associates LLP.

Tax advisory firm Nangia &Co said essential services formass consumption may see alower rate as they may be kept inlower tax bracket. Investmentmanagement and insurancepremiums, which attract a ser-vice tax now, may also becomecostlier with the higher rate ofGST.

“GST is a mixed bag for thetelecom sector. Customers arepresently paying 15 per cent oncell phones and data card,which may see an upwardmovement. However, DTHplayers and cable companiesmay see a reduction in cost ofservices,” said Nitish Sharma,Partner (Indirect Taxation)Nangia & Co.

Economic Laws PracticePartner Rohit Jain said com-mon man could see some priceescalation in services, whilethe taxation of real estate sec-tor needs some clarity.

“For a common man, thecost of services may go up, butthere will be a reduction ofprice of goods,” Jain said,adding that land should bekept out while calculating thetax for purchase of real estateproperty. � �

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The standard tax rate near18 per cent under GST

will prove to be an ideal oneand in all probability, will notstoke significant inflation asassumed by many, theConfederation of All IndiaTraders (CAIT) on Sundaysaid.

However, finalisation ofthe tax rate depends much onclassification of goods and ser-vices under the exempted cat-egory and also under nominaltax rate which may be 1 percent, CAIT said in a statement.

CAIT national PresidentBC Bhartia and SecretaryGeneral Praveen Khandelwalsaid that under the currentVAT regime, items placedunder the 5 per cent tax slabwill be attracting standardrate of tax, which may be 18per cent, and it is feared thatsuch a situation will lead toinflation.

However, it may be notedthat goods placed under 5 percent are largely used as rawmaterial for finished goodsand have been attractingexcise and service tax so farwith no advantage of inputcredit for MSME.

Under GST, these will beplaced under a higher slab andwill be eligible for input taxcredit for not just goods butservices.

In spite of all these math-ematics, in initial days, theremight be some inflation whichwill subside once the taxationsystem is duly adopted in itsletter and spirit, the statementadded.

��+��The Government isconfident of rolling out theGST regime from April 1 nextyear but the deadline may bedifficult to meet if resolution ofissues like the rate of tax anditems to be exempted takelonger, Revenue SecretaryHasmukh Adhia said onSunday.

The GST Council, com-prising of Union FinanceMinister and representative ofall 29 states, will decide on thecentral and state taxes that areto be subsumed in the nation-al sales tax (GST) as well as thecesses, he told the news agencyin an interview here.

Adhia said the GST Councilshall make recommendation tothe Centre and states on thecesses and surcharges levied bythe Union, states and local bod-ies which may be subsumed inthe Goods and Services Tax(GST).

“Which all cesses will mergewill depend upon the decisionof the GST Council. If all cess-es are merged in the GST, therequirements of revenue forUnion Government would haveto be assessed higher, becausethe income coming to Unionfrom GST instead of cess willnow have to be devolved at therate of 42 per cent to the states,”he said.

While the taxes to be sub-sumed under GST are to bedecided by the Council, he saidthe taxes which will not haveseparate identity include exciseduty, VAT, service tax, addi-tional excise duty, CVD, specialadditional duty of customs,entertainment tax, luxury tax,Octroi, entry tax, purchase tax,taxes on lottery, betting and

gambling, among others.“As of now we are optimistic

of achieving the target of April1, 2017. We have already madea plan for training of 60,000 offi-cials, which has already started.5,000 officers are alreadytrained. The IT backbone will beready for testing by January,2017,” he said.

Stating that theGovernment will do its best toachieve the target date of roll-out, Adhia said the only concernremains resolution of issues bythe GST Council.

“If the resolution of variousissues in the GST Council takesmore time than expected, thenthere would be difficulty inachieving the target,” he said.

In case the deadline ismissed, it is theoretically possi-ble to roll out GST from themiddle of the year but the tradeand industry will need to beconsulted as some of the bigcompanies have to change theirsoftware to accommodate thenew taxation regime, he added.

On the GST rate beingtalked about in the range of 18-20 per cent, he said, “The rateand rate structure can only bebased on facts and figures on theexisting revenue of states andCentre which are to be dis-cussed in the GST Council.

“At the moment it is notpossible to say yes or no to anysuch artificial number. Thedecision on rates will alsodepend on list of exempt items,list of demerit commodities,among others.”The GST, hesaid, will bring down burden oftaxes on the common man.“However, unless the rate struc-ture is finalised, it is not possi-ble to predict which items will

get relief,” he said.On worries of a spike in

service tax rate from current 15per cent, Adhia said it is impor-tant to take care of services sec-tor at the time of finalising therate structure.

“We cannot suddenly spikethe tax on the services sector.The facility of giving input taxcredit on goods against serviceswill also give relief to the ser-vices sector.

“We will have to fit servicesin the slab which is neither toohigh or low at the time of decid-ing the final rate structure,” hesaid.

The official said GST isunlikely to cause loss to theGDP.

“However, if projections ofGST do not go through then itmay have an impact on the fis-cal deficit to that extent. Also,the requirement of compensa-tion to be given will have to beincluded while calculating shareof Central Government in GST,”he said.

Asked about the govern-ment’s fiscal deficit beingimpacted because of compen-sation it has to pay to states forany loss of revenue due toGST, he said the arithmetic hasto be done correctly so that theCentre does not end up havinga huge fiscal deficit.

“Of course, it is the respon-sibility of the central govern-ment to devolve all taxes includ-ing GST under theConstitution. So it is not aworry,” he added.

Asked about exemptions tobe given under GST, he saidexemptions are supposed to beeliminated under the GSTregime. � �

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��+��Logistics sec-tor, which accounts fornearly 14 per cent of theGDP, could see savings tothe tune of $200 billionannually on implementa-tion of GST, which willensure faster movementof goods and less idlehours, say experts.

With the introduc-t i on of G o o d s an dServices Tax, many taxa-t i on pro c e du re s w i l lcome down, nearly halv-ing the cost of inventoryas customers will notneed to pile up stocks indifferent warehouses, sayexperts.

“For a $2-3 trilliond ol l ar e c onomy, t h i scould mean a potential of$200 bi l l ion wastefulinventory spent beingavailable to deploy inproductive value creationand further propellingthe economy’s growth,”s a i d D e e p a k G arg ,founder of logistics firmRivigo. � �

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NEW DELHI: French automajor Renault is looking toenhance exports from India toneighbouring countries andAfrica as it seeks to make thecountry a manufacturing hub.

“Last month we startedexporting Duster and Kwid to SriLanka. This month we will beentering Nepal while we also pre-pare to enter Bhutan,” SumitSawhney, country CEO and man-aging director, Renault IndiaOperations, told PTI. Not only theneighbouring countries, Renaultwill be looking to tap opportuni-ties in Africa as well.

“We are working on strat-egy for exports to South Africa,hopefully, it will be finalisedsoon. Besides, we are looking atother countries in Africa,”Sawhney said. Even to Brazil,where the company's small carKwid will be manufactured

and sold, Renault will be look-ing to export components.

“Certain sets of componentswill be supplied from here inIndia,” he said. As per SIAM data,Renault India has exported 441units so far in the April-June peri-od this fiscal, as against just 56 unitsexportedin the same period last fis-cal. Keeping in view the increaseddemand for Kwid in the domes-tic market and plans for exports,Renault India has also increasedproduction of the small car.

“We have started the thirdshift at our Chennai plant. Weare producing about 9,000-9,500 units of the Kwid now,”Sawhney said. In the domesticmarket, Renault India's cumu-lative sales in the January-July period stood at 73,863units as against 25,032 in thecorresponding period last year,a growth of 195 per cent. PTI

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Giving credit to an aspira-tional society for forcing

politicians to support reforms,Finance Minister Arun Jaitleyon Sunday said Indian econo-my has defied global slowdownand geo-political tensions andis now poised to seize theopportunity to grow faster.

He, however, regretted thatwhile the developed world hasbeen able to control populationsurge, India has been missing onits population stabilisation tar-get.

Noting that India hasmissed the bus because of itsconventional thinking when itcame to industrial and tech-nology revolutions, Jaitley saidIndians have now become aspi-rational, which is putting pres-sure on politicians to supportreforms initiatives. He said thewhole world is in a slowdown

mode in which if a country isgrowing by 1.5-2 per cent, it hasa sense of satisfaction that it isnot in a negative zone.

“India, of course, is defyingthat trend. While we are defyingthat trend, for the first time inhistory, we are coming outmuch better than the rest of theworld, having missed so manyhistorical opportunities,” he saidat the convocation ceremony ofthe OP Jindal Global University.

Globally, Jaitley said, coun-tries are resorting to desperatemeasures like negative or neg-ligible interest rates, competitivedevaluation of currencies. Whilesome are facing job losses, otherparts of the world are affected bygeo-political crises - refugeesand terrorism.

“India because of conven-tional thinking has occasional-ly lost the opportunity, wemissed the bus when it came to

the industrial revolution - theAmericans and Europeansgrabbed the opportunity. Whenthe technology revolution tookplace, we missed the bus,” hesaid. According to the FinanceMinister, there is a strong pub-lic opinion in India that thecountry needs to grow.

“Both two landmark legis-lations back to back -- the bank-ruptcy and GST -- have beenpassed unanimously and one ofthe factors why these laws havepassed unanimously is that thereis a very strong public opinionwhich has been inflicted uponpoliticians that we don’t wantnow to go slow and miss thisopportunity,” he explained.

The InternationalMonetary Fund (IMF) had lastmonth cut global growth fore-cast for 2017 by 0.1 percentagepoint to 3.4 per cent. It pro-jected India to grow at 7.4 percent in 2016 and 2017.

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The CBI has been made thenodal authority for banks to

report high value frauds worth over�50 crore in public sector banks.The move comes after ReserveBank of India (RBI) noticed thatbanks do not have a focal point forfiling complaints with the CBI. Asa result, the investigative agency hasto deal with dispersed levels ofauthorities in banks.

“The CBI will act as centralisedagency to receive complaints of fraudsfrom banks,” Central VigilanceCommissioner KV Chowdary toldPTI. A Joint Director level officer hasnow been authorised in the CBI toreceive complaints of frauds of over�50 crore from the banks. Afterreceiving such reports, the officercan recommend investigation byany of the agency's wings (Anti-Corruption, Economic Offences orBank Security and Fraud Cell), offi-cial sources said on Sunday.

The officer-in-charge can thenalso recommend a probe by theEnforcement Directorate, they said.The Chief Vigilance Officers, who actas distant arm of Central VigilanceCommission (CVC) to check cor-ruption, of banks have been askedto act as nodal officers to co-ordi-nate in reporting such cases to theCBI, the sources said.

The CVC exercises superin-

tendence over CBI for probingcorruption cases. A total of 171bank fraud cases involving fundsof over �20,000 crore wereprobed by the CBI during 2015.One of the high-profile bankfraud cases being probed by theCBI and ED is of liquor baronVijay Mallya involving anamount of over �9,000 crore.

As per norms, the complaintsin cases of frauds in public sectorbanks involving Rs three crore andupto �25 crore are to be made withCBI’s Anti Corruption Branch(where staff involvement is primafacie evident) or with theEconomic Offences Wing of theagency in cases where staff involve-ment is prima facie not evident.

For amounts �25 crore andless than �50 crore, the complaintwill be looked into by the CBI’s

Banking Security and FraudCell. The Joint Director (Policy)in the agency has now been man-dated to receive complaints offrauds in the public sector banksinvolving over �50 crore.

For private sector and foreignbanks, complaints of fraud ofamounts involving �one lakh andabove need to be made to statepolice. If the amount is over �onecrore, then the complaint has to befiled with Serious FraudInvestigation Office (SFIO) inaddition to the state police con-cerned, as per the RBI guidelines.

The complaints in cases offrauds of �10,000 and above,committed by staff of private andforeign banks, need to be madeto state police, it said. The officialsconcerned in the banks andtheir CVOs will have to ensurethat the complaint lodged by thebank with the law enforcementagencies is drafted properly.

As per the central bank’snorms, banks are required tolodge the complaint with the lawenforcement agencies immedi-ately on detection of fraud asdelays may result in the loss ofrelevant ‘relied upon’ documents,non-availability of witnesses,absconding of borrowers andalso the money trail getting coldin addition to asset stripping bythe fraudulent borrower.

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Natural gas price paid to pro-ducers like state-owned Oil

and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC)and Reliance Industries is likely tofall 20 per cent to $2.45 in October.This will be the fourth reductionin last 18 months following theformula approved by theGovernment in October 2014.

Price of natural gas produced

from existing fields of ONGC andRIL is likely to fall to $2.45 per mil-lion British thermal unit witheffect from October 1 as opposedto $3.06 currently, a senior officialsaid. This rate is on gross calorificvalue (GCV) basis. The gas pricewas last cut on April 1 from $3.82per mmBtu to $3.06 per mmBtu.On a net-calorific value (NCV)basis, the gas price was on that daycut to $3.4 per mmBtu as com-

pared to $4.24 previously. OnNCV basis, the new gas price islikely to be $2.7 from October 1.As per the new gas pricing formulaapproved by the NDA-Government in October 2014,gas prices are to be revised everysix months and the next change isdue on October 1.

The reduction in natural gasprices would mean lower rawmaterial cost for compressed nat-

ural gas (CNG) and natural gaspiped to households (PNG) andwould translate into reduction inretail prices. This will be the fourthconsecutive reduction since theimplementation of the domesticgas pricing formula that calculatesthe rate on a volume weighted aver-age of rates in gas surplus nationsof the US, Canada and Russia,based on the 12-month trailingaverage price with a lag of three

months. The price of gas hasdeclined by around 39 per centsince the implementation of the gaspricing formula in October 2014.On October 1, 2015 price of nat-ural gas was lowered to $3.82 permmBtu from $4.66. The price cuton October 1, 2016 will put furtherpressure on finances of upstreamproducers who do not find the cur-rent rate incentivising enough toinvest more in oil and gas hunt.

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Subscribers of National PensionSystem will have to inform the

Central Recordkeeping Agency(CRA) at least 15 days in advanceif they wish to continue con-tributing to their accounts evenafter attaining the age of 60 years.

Coming out with clarifica-tion on its May 2015 norms onexits and withdrawals from thesocial security scheme, regula-tor PFRDA also said that sub-scribers who choose to con-tribute beyond 60 years of agecan exist at any point later.

Further, such subscriberswill continue to enjoy the facili-ties and options like access toCRA system and switch pensionfund managers and investmentchoice. However, “option ofdeferment of purchase of annu-ity would not be available to thesubscribers who have voluntari-ly opted to continue to contributebeyond 60 years of age or super-annuation”, the regulator added.

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With at least one buy-backannouncement from

PSUs every month, theGovernment is expected togarner over �16,000 crore in itsdisinvestment kitty over thenext couple of months. Besidesthe usual OFS (offer for sale)route for disinvestment, thenewly created Department ofInvestment and Public AssetManagement (DIPAM) hasnudged PSUs to buy backshares if they have extra cashwhich are not put to use forcapital expenditure.

The boards of five PSUs --Coal India, NMDC, Nalco,MOIL and Bharat Electronics -- have cleared buy-back pro-posals. Government holdings inthese PSUs are in range of 75-81 per cent and the buy backwould be conducted on a pro-portionate basis.

Together, these buy backs

would fetch over �13,500 croreto the exchequer. Besides, thegovernment has already rakedin �3,183 crore from stake salein NHPC, employee subscriptionin IOC and NTPC disinvest-ment. “Buy-back announcementshave been been made. We esti-mate over �16,000 crore com-ing in as and when the buy-backprocess is completed over thenext couple of months,” a topofficial told the news agency.

This �16,000 crore is morethan half of the �30,000 crorethat the Government has bud-geted from minority stake salein PSUs in the current fiscal.In its capital restructuringguidelines, the DIPAM hasmandated that every CPSEhaving net worth of at least�2,000 crore, and cash andbank balance of over �1,000crore shall exercise the optionto buy back their shares.

State-owned companieshave cash and free reserves

estimated at �2.6 lakh crore andthe newly created DIPAM hasbeen entrusted with the task ofensuring its optimal utilisation.

“We have conducted twobuy-backs last fiscal and itshows that the transaction hashelped the company in improv-ing the market capitalisation ofthe CPSEs,” the official added.

While renaming theDepartment of Disinvestmentas DIPAM in the Budget,Finance Minister Arun Jaitleyhad said that the department“will adopt a comprehensiveapproach for efficient man-agement of the Governmentinvestment in CPSEs byaddressing issues such as cap-ital restructuring, dividend,bonus shares.”

Post this, DIPAM hashelped exchequer garner Rs4,500 crore through buy backof shares by cash richHindustan Aeronautics andBharat Dynamics in March.

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NEW DELHI: Coal India (CIL)will this month hold special for-ward e-auction for power pro-ducers, amid Government'splans to provide round-the-clock electricity to all.

“Special forward e-auctionfor 2016-17 for power produc-er phase III will be held thismonth,” an official said, addingthat CIL subsidiaries likeMahanadi Coalfields andCentral Coalfields will holdthe auctions. The auctions willbe held on August 17, 20, 23and 24, the official said.

The first phase of the auctionwas held by the PSU in Aprilwhile the second phase was heldin May. The Coal Ministry hadearlier said power producersbeing supplied coal through theMoU route by CIL will now haveto take it via special e-auctionbeing conducted for the powersector as the Government hasdecided not to extend thepact beyond June 30. PTI

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NEW DELHI: ICICI Bank isaiming to facilitate 30 lakhtransactions through its inter-operable electronic toll collec-tion facility on national high-ways by March 2017.Electronic toll collection (ETC)enables vehicles to pay highwaytolls electronically withoutstopping at toll plazas.

The country’s largest pri-vate sector lender, also thefirst bank to have rolled out thefacility, is also planning toissue 4 lakh tags to motoriststo allow them a hassle-free pas-sage through toll plazas on thenational highways.

“ICICI Bank aims to issue4 lakh ETC tags and recordthree million transactions byMarch 2017. A vehicle with the'FASTag' can use the dedicatedlanes on either side of the tollplaza to avoid long queues inthe cash lanes of the toll plazas,”its Managing Director andChief Executive Officer

Chanda Kochhar said. ETCtags enhance convenience formotorists to avoid congestionat toll booths as drivers don'thave to stop and pay the fee,saving their time. Keeping inview its benefits, this technol-ogy will play a crucial role inthe growth of cashless pay-ments in India, Kochhar said.

Currently, there are 343ICICI Bank enabled locationsacross major national highwaysthat cover about 90 per cent ofthe tolled national highwaysnetwork. Till date, ICICI Bankhas issued over 30,000 FASTagswhich are in use. It began theservice first in the country on

the Mumbai-Vadodara corri-dor of NH-8 in 2013.

For making an electron-ic payment at toll booths, aprepaid Radio FrequencyIdentification Device (RFID)tag known as FASTag isaffixed on the windscreen ofa vehicle. As a vehicle cross-es a toll plaza, the informa-tion written on the FASTag iscaptured by a reader installedat the toll plaza.

The information is thenpassed to the Bank to debitthe motorist's tag prepaidaccount created at the cen-tral clearing house set-upby the Bank. Then the tollamount is deducted andtransferred to the conces-sionaire 's account e lec-tronically. Customers canrecharge their TAG accountby making payment throughvar ious ways inc ludingcredit/debit/NEFT/RTGS ornet banking. PTI

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KOLKATA: The CBDT has notset any collection or declaration tar-get under the income declarationscheme that closes on September30. “There is no target for collec-tion or declaration, but we are try-ing our best to communicate to taxevaders that it is their goldenchance to evade action againstthem,” CBDT Member GopalMukherjee told the news agency.

“We have information aboutconcealed transactions in ourdata warehouse and the numberof them is 7.5 lakh. The taxdepartment is issuing letters basedon our intelligence information.”

He was in city for promotingthe scheme at the annual confer-ence of Direct Taxes Professionals’Association. Under the AnnualInformation Returns, varioustypes of high-value transactionsare being reported to the ITD.These include reporting of cashdeposits of �10 lakh or more ina savings bank account, sale/pur-chase of immovable property val-ued at �30 lakh and the like. PTI

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As financial trouble dis-rupted the operations of

two regional carriers, a topofficial said the airlines oper-ating under the regional con-nectivity scheme will not facesuch difficulties unlike othersin the market.

As the Civil AviationMinistry draws up the finalcontours of the ambitiousRegional Connectivity Scheme(RCS), turbulent financialweather faced by Air Pegasusand AirCosta have sparkedoff concerns over the viabilityof such airlines.

Assuring that theGovernment would be open toexamining any request for helpfrom airlines, Civil AviationSecretary RN Choubey saidRCS provides for ‘huge conces-sions and benefits’ for regionalcarriers. On whether theepisodes of Air Pegasus andAirCosta could be a negative forRCS, Choubey said the two air-lines were functioning under thetemplate of market forces.

“RCS, it gives huge conces-sions by way of ‘fiscal concessionand also by way of viability gapfunding. This is somethingwhich is not available to region-al airlines which are operatingpurely in a market dynamics’.“Therefore, difficulties whichregional carriers may be facingin the market forces, those dif-ficulties would not happenwhen they work in the templateof RCS,” he told PTI.

Embarking on ambitious

plans to enhance regional airconnectivity, the governmenthas come out with RCS in thenational civil aviation policy.Under RCS, the Civil AviationMinistry has proposed a mix offinancial incentives as well asconcessions along with viabili-ty gap funding.

The proposed RCS, whichis expected to be operationfrom mid-August, would seethe Centre pitching with 80 percent share and states concernedmaking up the remaining 20per cent towards viability gapfunding. In case ofNortheastern region, the state’sshare would be 10 per cent.

After suspending opera-tions for a day on Aug 4 andthen operating a curtailedscheduled on Friday, AirCostayesterday announced resump-tion of full-fledged opera-tions. The services were dis-rupted for two days in thewake of financal issues with itslessors over alleged non-pay-ment of rental dues. Thedevelopment close on theheels of another regional air-line Air Pegasus deciding tosuspend services indefinitelyfollowing financial turmoil.

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NEW DELHI: Combined mar-ket valuation of six of the top-10 firms rose by �16,445.27crore last week, with TCS lead-ing the chart with maximumgain. While TCS, HDFC Bank,CIL, Sun Pharma, HUL andONGC saw gain in their marketcapitalisation (m-cap) for theweek ended on the last Friday,RIL, ITC, Infosys and HDFCsuffered losses.

The m-cap of TCS surgedby �5,980.25 crore, to�5,21,946.66 crore, emergingas the biggest gainer among thetop-10 firms. ONGC’s valuationjumped �5,004.96 crore to�1,93,182.97 crore and that ofSun Pharma by �3,032.43 croreto �2,02,727.88 crore. The m-cap of HDFC Bank advanced by

�1,045.56 crore to �3,17,052.47crore and that of CIL rose by�884.29 crore to �2,08,061.04crore. HUL added �497.78 croreto �1,99,933.02 crore in its val-uation. On the other hand,HDFC's valuation plunged�5,363.14 crore to �2,12,065.33crore.

Infosys lost �1,504.5 crore to�2,45,175.87 crore and that ofITC fell by �1,208 crore to�3,03,750.88 crore. The m-capof RIL declined by �283.86crore to �3,29,013.53 crore. Inthe ranking of top-10 firms, TCSretained its numero-uno posi-tion followed by RIL, HDFCBank, ITC, Infosys, HDFC, CIL,Sun Pharma, HUL and ONGC.In the past week, the Sensex andthe Nifty rose 0.09 per cent and

0.51 per cent respectively. Myles,which started operations withjust 14 vehicles two years back,now has a fleet of 1,200 vehicles.

“It (Myles) is going to bevery huge business for us. By theend of the year, we aim to havea fleet of around 5,000 cars,” theCEO said. He added that thecompany has establishedResearch and TechnologyDevelopment Lab in Delhi andBangalore, besides a NationalCommand Centre (NCC).

The company is addingmanpower in these centres inorder to support future growth,he said. “The current strengthof NCC will go up from 200 to600 while employee strength inBangalore will go up to 200 fromthe current 50,” he added. PTI

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NEW DELHI: Retirementfund body EPFO and the LifeInsurance Corporation havedecided to invest in NHAIbonds that the highway regu-lator plans for road projects, atop official on Sunday said.

“Both the EPFO and theLIC have in-principle agreed toinvest in our bonds. NHAI hasraised �5,000 crore by sellingbonds to EPFO and rates arebeing negotiated for furthersale,” NHAI Chairman RaghavChandra told PTI.

The � 5,000-crore bondsale to EPFO is part of thefund-raising plan of NHAIfor highway projects. “EPFOhas invested in NHAI bondsunder the PSU category,”Chandra said. The authorityhas plans to raise at least�50,000 crore in 2016-17 tomeet its requirement of fundsfor highway projects. PTI

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As the world grapples with therefugee crisis and growing

scourge of terrorism, ViceChairperson of the Hinduja BankSwitzerland Shanu SP Hinduja hassaid world leaders should notdivide people and instead need towork with an one-point agenda tosave lives. “It is the people whomake up the world, not nations.But leaders at every level andbelonging to all sectors divide fortheir own agenda, which they feelis beneficial to managing affairs oftheir own country,” Hinduja said.

“Leaders serve their term,serve their agenda in their ownway. But each leader now has to

start thinking in broader terms.They need to not only addressissues of their own nations but alsoreflect what its consequences onthe rest of the world will be andtake steps for their own countryrelative to the problems of theworld,” she told the news agency.

Hinduja noted that if devel-oped nations, which have theresources, take the lead, it willautomatically give solutions at theother end of the spectrum to issueslike poverty, which is the rootcause for the growing speed of thedestruction of the planet. Shelamented that the current state ofglobal affairs, where war is forc-ing people to leave their homesand seek refuge in foreign lands

and thousands of innocent peo-ple are losing their lives due to ter-ror attacks across the world.Hinduja opined that people mustbe deeply concerned in theirevery day lives at the growingdestruction and conflict on theplanet.

“The rate at which the plan-et is being destroyed by conflicts,

there is growing fear among cit-izens for the safety of the futuregenerations,” Hinduja said. “Ifthe situation continues like this,soon there will be no countries leftto lead. I am sure people are eagerto see which global leader is will-ing to move forward, take up thewhite flag of peace and give it thebacking it needs to stop the slan-

dering of nations,” she said.Hinduja underscored that

nations and leaders have to give uptheir differences as ‘there is a muchbigger war that has to be dealt with’.“There should be only one-pointagenda of global leaders and thatis to save lives. World leaders canachieve this by talking to theircounterparts. Today it is not justabout their own country but mostimportantly it is about the planet,”Hinduja said. “Which world lead-ers are really going to be taking thesteps towards globalisation to savethe world and lives of its people.The plethora of problems that theworld today faces has been creat-ed by mankind and it is mankindthat has to stop it,” she said.

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NEW DELHI: Realty major DLFplans to raise up to �2,500 crorethrough issuance of non-con-vertible debentures for workingcapital requirements and reduc-ing debt.

The country’s largest realtyfirm has sought shareholdersapproval through a special reso-lution in its annual general meet-ing scheduled to be held onAugust 30.

“In order to augment long-term resources for businessneeds and to reduce reliance onthe banking system, the com-pany intends to issue non-con-vertible debentures (NCDs) upto �2,500 crore,” DLF said in anotice to the shareholders. PTI

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�� After launching several

phones in the India market,LeEco is set to launch its TVsin India this month under theSuper TV brand. The threenew TVs are capable of display-ing content at 4K/Ultra HD res-olution, run Android underthe hood along with the EUIinterface. What is interesting isyou don’t even need a cable con-nection but just a fast internetconnection to start consumingcontent on these TVs as theycome with a free 2 year premi-um membership which givesyou access to 2,000 Full HD/HDfilms from Hollywood andBollywood, 100 satellite TVchannels and more.

The Super 3 X55 will retailat Rs 59,790, Super 3 X65 at Rs99,790 and the top of the lineSuper 3 Max 65 with 3D func-tionality will cost Rs 1,49,790.The TVs will be available tousers through LeMall andFlipkart with pre-orders start-ing on August 10 and come witha two-year product warrantyand four-year warranty for thepanel.

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Xiaomi hopes to take thesub-Rs 1,0000 phone market bystorm with the introduction ofthe Redmi 3S and 3S Prime. TheRedmi 3S comes at an attractive

Rs 6,990 price point and ispowered by a QualcommSnapdragon 430 processor with2GB of RAM alongside.Features include 5-inch HDdisplay, 16 GB of storage,13MP/5MP cameras, 4GVOLTE support and a massive4100 mAh battery which couldoffer two days of usage.

The beefed-up Redmi 3SPrime with double the storage,3GB of RAM and a fingerprintsensor on the back will beavailable for Rs 8,999. Thephones will be available in threecolours — grey, silver, gold andfeature a premium metallicdesign. Redmi 3S Prime will goon sale on August 9 on mi.comand flipkart.com followed bythe Redmi 3S on August 16.

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Store non-critical contentlike music and photos on amemory card if your phonesupports one and not on the

phone memory as these tend totake up a significant amount ofspace easily, over time slowingdown your phone. You could geta phone with more built-instorage too.

Do turn off GPS andBluetooth when not used. GPSis known to both heat up thephone and deplete battery lifesimultaneously if left on for longperiods of time. A bad networkmight actually make your workharder to look for a signalhence draining it sooner. Doconsider talking to your serviceprovider or switching providersif this a major concern. Disableor uninstall unwanted apps andretain only the apps you use orneed frequently. Do take fre-quent backups of the importantinformation stored on yourphone and do turn on featureslike Find My iPhone or AndroidDevice Manager which are help-ful in case your phone gets lost.

It has finally come full cir-cle for designer SamantChauhan. After graduat-

ing from NIFT, he gave shapeto his designs in a single-floortenement in the serpentineturns of Shahpur Jat. Today,he has a full-fledged designstudio spread over three lev-els in this hip hangout.

It’s not just a store but areinvention of his oeuvre.The designer is currentlyworking on a denim line,trousers below Rs 5,000, shirtsand T-shirts, one of which hashis signature ramp walks emblazoned across it.There’s a new line of charcoal grey leather bags,leather shoes, home decor and an experimen-tal jewellery collection, complete with medal-lions.

“I was alone those days. The ground floorwas my studio and I used to live on the floorabove it. I lived here for one-and-half or twoyears I believe. The house number was 421. Ididn’t get that corner building but came prettyclose to it (his store is at 417). I have maturedand gotten older here. So I always intended toopen my signature store here and have been sav-ing up over a period of time. Of course, the char-acter of Shahpur Jat has changed but we see stillthe discerning clients, particularly foreigners,heading here instead of glitzy designer malls.Foreign visitors, in particular, want to absorb theactual character of India. So they see our crafts-men working on an embroidery and get fasci-nated by it,” Chauhan tells us. The master crafts-men working behind the studio will offer a sneakpeek into their humdrum world.

At the entrance is a sofa for his guests, kit-ted out in his trademark — the finest Bhagalpuriraw silk — and an embroidered patch at theback. Chauhan is now replicating the successof Bhagalpuri silk in other home-grown fabricsand textures. “We have started working withChanderi and organza because they are light-weight. We have developed handloom denimwith the help of the Denim Club of India inBijnore and we are currently working on Kotasaris and Phulia. Cottons were always therethough the silk got talked about more,” says he.

The designer’s wooden furniture immedi-ately draws your attention, particularly the chan-delier with an overlapping door and windowfixed together simply because one was not strongenough to be suspended alone. “These are allbroken, discarded pieces that I have retrievedand pieced together, like that coffee table puttogether entirely from broken wood pieces andshards that nobody wants,” he says.

Chauhan is using his reuse and recycle

mantra everywhere. His home furnishing lineand a permanent 50 per cent discountedclothes rack make use of leftover fabric fromeach collection he spools out. “We make cush-ion covers and bed sheets out of it. It’s more likean archive of our work.”

More than the commercial aspect, Chauhansees this studio as a process of learning and anart residency of sorts. “I have observed thatwhether it’s the Press, a buyer or a student, theywant to know how we work. This is where theywill get a demonstration,” he emphasises,pointing to the solid wood discussion tables andthrowabout stools on each floor, meant for dis-plays.

As somebody who single-handedly rescuedBhagalpur silk, what does he think of the “Makein India” bandwagon? And Chauhan does somestraight-talking. “I think 90 per cent of thedesigners who are on board are trying to helpcreate a buzz which revolves around selling thatparticular product, but ultimately the producthas to be good. No matter what your story is.When we used to participate in any event, weused to work on an elaborate write-up, list theweavers’ names and other factoids. A lot of peo-ple started doing the same. So we said OK, let’sjust be silent and let our work speak for itself.

Despite commercial pressures, you will not seeme using any kind of polyester or Chinese fab-ric. Nowadays, if buyers like your design, theyput a lot of pressure to change the fabric, espe-cially if they want to order more. I have cate-gorically mentioned that I do not fall into theevening wear category as that would mean acompromise.”

That doesn’t mean Chauhan is not into cer-emonial wear. We spot richly embroidered bridallehengas, some weighing around 18-19 kg. “Iknow it’s a tad too heavy but when we ask thecustomer if we should remove some of theembroidery so that they can walk around bet-ter, they say ‘No’, they will manage.” Such is thedelicate artistry, palette and contemporaneity ofthe design that it is difficult to resist the origi-nal.

Chauhan is happy his weavers are doing bet-ter. Nowadays, his weavers are running as manyas 15-20 looms. “We try and develop around twoor three fabrics every season because our ordersare not that big. We get around 2,000 to 3,000units. But I am proud to say that some of themtoday are running a really big business, like big-ger than me when we started. With the wholeFab India style business model coming into thepicture, it has become really massive. It’s goodto see our weavers empowered and continuingtheir artistry,” he informs us.

That’s typically Chauhan. Humble, simple,grounded yet sure-footed and happy. Servingevery guest himself, he tells us, “You know, I stilldon’t think I belong to this industry or under-stand how it works. So, we just try and stick toour own work. We have a huge team now andwithin our team we argue sometimes, ‘We haveto do this and that.’ I just tell them, ‘We just needto do a nice collection, that’s it.’”

Designers are now seriously joininghands to promote handloom clusters

across the country, help traditional artsacquire a contemporary attire and begina new-age ethnic revolution.

Over the weekend, designer AnitaDongre met Union Textile MinisterSmriti Irani to take forward her#IwearHandloom campaign on socialmedia by collaborating with the govern-ment on chosen clusters. Dongre has beenworking towards elevating and providingsustained employment to Charoti villageon the outskirts of Mumbai. Her clusterwill be along the same lines. “We have hada very successful project at Charoti. Wehope to repeat the Charoti format withhandloom clusters,” said Dongre. “We arelooking at starting with at least four clus-ters and we will identify them by nextweek. We will definitely take one clusterto the northeast,” she added.

With Prime Minister Narendra Modideclaring the textile sector as second toagriculture, the fraternity, which has

been working in an isolated manner solong, hopes to make hand-weaves a bigmovement. Designer Payal

Khandelwala joined in the chorus say-ing, “Weavers need all the support andattention we can give them. Weaving ispart of our history and it makes our coun-try so unique. We must retain a craft thatmakes us so special.” Craft revivalist andtextile conservationist, Madhu Jain, whohas been working only with naturalfibres that are quintessentially Indian inethos and execution, is delighted that thefocus of the fashion industry has finallybeen diverted to handlooms. “I have beenin this industry for 30 years and I knowhow difficult it is to make profits sellinghandloom products. There was a timewhen weavers’ children didn’t want toenter the profession and started migrat-ing, but now, with the Prime Ministerbeing the torch-bearer, I am optimisticabout the future of handlooms in India,”she said.

At the moment there are only a fewbrands that sell handloom products, FabIndia, W and Khadi Gramudyog to

name a few. But looking at the attentionand support that the government has beenable to garner in just a span of a week, itcan be said that the ancient handloomindustry will boom and many morebrands will come up. Celebrated design-er Anavila Misra is of the opinion that itis important for us to know and respectour roots. “I think it is a good initiativeto mobilise people into consciously think-ing about what they are wearing andwhere they come from. As a country richin textiles and weaving skills, such initia-tives reinforce the value of our heritageand how we need to reinvent ourselves tokeep it alive,” she said.

In our interaction with weavers fromBanaras and Jharkhand, we found thatthere has been a sharp downfall in theirlivelihood because of the downwardtrend in exports. Shahabuddin, a weaver

who hails from Bhagalpur, said, “We getonly �20 to 30 an hour and that too isseasonal. How is a man supposed to sup-port his family with such meagre earn-ings? If we organise ourselves, we sure willbe able to ensure better fortunes for our-selves.” Another weaver Rehman, whotook to weaving after completing his grad-uation from Banaras, said, “This is the onlybusiness we know. My father, grand fatherand uncle had not given up but when I tookthis up, I never knew that my decisionwould pose a threat to my kids’ future. Ithas been 23 years now. I want my kids tobe educated. I want them to access inter-net and know what others know, but I can-not afford to buy them a computer or amobile phone. There have been policiesbefore, none of which has helped. I hopethis awareness works and improves our bot-tomlines on the ground.”

It is noteworthy that Ms Irani was atthe Handloom Haat a few days ago, hop-ing to get some traction for the work ofweavers. “There was media everywhere,mostly foreigners, but they just talked toher and left. They did not find the need tocome and see what we had on offer. Hadthat happened, we would have got somepeople to know about us and that wouldhave increased our sales,” said a weaverwho did not wish to disclose his identi-ty.

When we asked Rehman about thegovernment’s initiative to expand theirmarkets through e-commerce, he smiledand said, “What is the use? They say theywill eliminate the middle man but it is alsovery difficult to survive competition intoday’s world. If we list our products onthe internet, will our designs remain safe?Someone or the other would copy it and

sell the same in their big showrooms.What will we get? Nothing. So we needtrademarks.”

He also talked about buyers’ cartelswho rule the market with such commandthat they have no option but to sell theirproducts to them at lower prices. “Theyquote the lowest price possible and sell thesame to giants like Fabindia who in turnmake some changes and put it up in their-air conditioned spaces. We don’t have amarket. If we don’t sell it to them, our stockwill only pile up and after a point of timebecome obsolete. I am a weaver myself andI know how difficult it is to survive.Therefore, we need an organised distrib-ution and retail system as well.”

Publicity is one thing. But if theseweavers’ inputs are not taken into consid-eration, handlooms will continue to strug-gle, only serving as accents of couture lines.

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Friendship is, perhaps, the only relation that canstand next to our family that all of us could rely

because a friend is the only person who knows usinside out and loves us the way we are. When wehonestly ask ourselves a question that who is thatperson in our life who means a lot to us? It is thosewho, besides advices us and giving solutions, havealso chosen to share our pain and touch our woundswith a warm and tender hand. It is these qualitiesthat make a normal person into an extraordinaryhuman being whom we all usually call "My BestFriend".

So, how lucky we are tohave a friend with allsuch qualities? Well,most of us are lucky tohave a good friend,

but for afriendshipto be inti-mate andl a s t i n g ,

b o t hf r i e n d sshould havesome specialqualities. Likeever y rela-

tionship in our life,we all face challengesin our friendships

too. In order to have a long lastingfriendship, first of all, one needs to have unselfishlove. It is the very essence of friendship, becausea man who is concerned only about his own inter-ests and feelings, is unlikely to get an unselfishfriend who will admire him, serve him and sharehis interests with him. One should not forget thatfriendship is a two way affair and it flourishes onlyby give-and-take. A selfish person can never be atrue friend.Secondly, a successful friendship needs consisten-cy. Unfortunately some people start with muchenthusiasm, but they would soon get attracted tosomething else and give up. They are incapable tohave a life-long-friendship with anyone.

Good friendship is all about trust and loyaltywherein two friends are loyal to each other, and oneshouldn't doubt the other. Those who do not standup for their friends when they are being criticized,who readily believe in rumours and gossips abouttheir friends and who don't trust one another cannever make good friends. Lastly , there must bemutual feeling of sympathy towards each otherwithout which the relation wont last long. After lis-tening to all these, one would wonder whether itis possible to get an individual who has all the abovesaid qualities? It is not possible, to tell the truth,for all of us are human beings with certain limi-tations. But the one who has no limitations and whois free from bondage could be our true friend. Heis none other than the "Almighty Supreme". We canshare our intimate secrets with the 'Almighty' with-out any fear. He wont misunderstood, he wontbetray. So, let us all make him our best friend andenjoy ever-lasting friendship.

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The festival is close to my heart asit is dedicated for my father. It wasstarted solely for classical music in

Chennai in 1992. My father had a dreamto make Indian violin an instrument thatcould be played globally. He was keenthat foreigners shouldn't think that theIndian violin is a folk or ethnic instru-ment that can't be used in classicalmusic. Now that I am too elated that thefestival is entering its silver jubilee andthat it has turned into a globallyacclaimed event. We have had legendslike Bismillah Khan, Pandit Jasraj andMS Subbulakshmi playing at the festi-val and there is western symphonyorchestra and jazz on the other side,"Subramaniam says.

The festival has been held across 49cities in 20 countries and five continents.The date and venue of this year's festi-val is yet to finalise. Thanks to legendslike Subramaniam, violin, over theyears, has transformed from an accom-panying instrument to a solo perform-ing one. Even students from abroad arekeen to learn the instrument now. Forcontinuous learning and training theSubramaniam family, in which everyone is a musician, has started onlineteaching through Skype which is beingtaken care of by his daughter Bindu andson Ambi. "My foreign students shouldbe able to continue learning even afterthey return to their home countries. Theonline sessions help us to stay connect-ed. We have to support our children tolearn music as we insist them to learnother subjects. We lose talented musi-cians solely because of lack of guidingand training at the right time, he says.

It was this vision that made him tofound Subramaniam Academy ofPerforming Arts (SAPA). The aim of theAcademy, began in November 2007 inBangalore, was to make music a viablecareer option like medicine or engineer-ing. At SAPA children from the age ofthree are admitted. Subramaniam hasalso been associated with Virsa, a dig-ital interactive learning programme to

deliver art lessons, launched by Routes2 roots in collaboration with UnionMinistry of Culture.

Subramaniam believes that musicnurtures the personality of a person andmakes him a civilized human being."Music gives peace of mind. It mouldsyour personality and turns you into abetter human being. Being civilized isnot the same as acquiring degrees. Musicmakes a human being cultured which,I believe, leads to build a civilized anddeveloped nation", he ascertains.

"I believe that there are two phas-es in a musician's life. The first is whenhe is concerned about the externalthings like the audience, concerts andpublicity. We would feel stressed thenas we chase goals and struggle to bemore in tune with ourself. Then comesthe 'internal' phase - nurturing the musicwithin you, and communing with some-

thing more profound which is inher-ently higher than yourself. It needs prac-tice, like to learn music, to reach thatstage", says the violinist who has earnedrare repute.

It was legendary musician YehudiMenuhin who had said that "I find noth-ing more inspiring than the music of myvery great colleague Subramaniam".These words aptly suit Subramaniamwho composed for almost all the lead-ing orchestras of the world. His collab-oration include Yehudi Menuhin,Stephane Grappelli, Jean-Pierre Rampal,George Harrison, Stevie Wonder,Ruggiero Ricci, Herbie Hancock, JoeSample, Stanley Clarke, George Duke,Al Jarreau, Jean Luc Ponty, Earl Klugh,Larry Coryell, Ernie Watts, CorkySiegel, Tony Williams, Billy Cobham,Arve Tellefsen, John Surman, MaynardFerguson, Ravi Coltrane, Solo Cissokho,Baba Olatunji, Jei Bing Chen and MiyaMasaok.

"The opportunity to play with musi-cians outside our traditional sphereopened up many things - my own innateconnection with my instrument, theability to learn about how the violin isapproached in the West, their techniqueand their dedication to the art. Whetherplaying with Stanley Clarke or Jean-Pierre Rampal, it is the vision that myfather fostered, and my quest in con-necting with my instrument that hasheld me firm to the ground. I remem-ber how in the 70s, when I was invitedto do master classes and guest lecturesat a conservatory in Germany, I wasamazed by the technical control, finesseand clarity of tone that even an under-graduate student had", he recalls.

Subramaniam composed music toa few films such as Bernardo Bertolucci'sLittle Buddha and Missisippi Masala.When asked about his future projects hesaid, "I don't do music for films unlessI am really interested. I am not inter-ested in Bollywood commercial films.I love film music that is used as back-ground score", he says.

Days after the social mediagiant introduced "Stories" for-

mat for its photo-sharing appInstagram that clones Snapchat'spopular feature, it is now testinga Facebook app that opens to acamera, encouraging users to cap-ture and share content.This newversion of the app that hasSnapchat-like features not onlyencourages users to capture morephotos and videos but also adornthem with filters and stickers.People are increasingly sharingcontent via videos and photos --on Facebook and beyond. It's ourjob to create experiences that helppeople create and share in the waysthey want. The test which beganin Canada and Brazil on Friday -- incorporated, for the first time,the technology from Belarusianstartup MSQRD -- a video effectsapp that the company acquiredearlier this year to "continueenhancing the Facebook videoexperience”. As far as testing isconcerned, participants in the testin Brazi l covering SummerOlympics in Rio de Janeiro will usethe app. Facebook product man-ager Sachin Monga, who will betesting the app in Canada, said thatposting photos and videos usingthe app has been "super cumber-some" in the past. "Something assimple as posting a picture of theCanadian flag has been a multi-step process. The test is designedto get people sharing more withfew taps," he said.The Facebook

flagship app opens to the NewsFeed as usual but in the field thatasks "what's on your mind?", userswill now see an open camera. Tapit to open the camera in fullscreen mode and from there a usercan take a picture or record a shortvideo clip. If users are using thefront-facing camera, they can useone of MSQRD's augmented real-ity filters to take a more creativeselfie.

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Talking about the Hindi drama show that was pre-miered on Sunday, Merchant told us, "It was after

a long time that I did Brahmarakshas. The storyof the drama revolves around a Brahman man

who kills newly- wed brides. When he diedstars were in positioned in such way that he

didn't die but became a 'rakshas' (mon-ster) instead and hence the drama wasnamed 'Brahmarakshas- Jaag UthaShaitan'.

About her char-acter in the showMerchant told us,"After Bigg Boss Iwas waiting for agood offer to comemy way. This wasthe first one tocome and I took it.I am playingAparajita in it. It'sa negative character, who is afraid of hersecond husband. I love doing negativecharacters as they are very interesting.In positive roles, sometimes, all thatyou get to do is just to smile or cry",she quips.

Merchant was last seen in BiggBoss season 9 from which she had toquit involuntarily. She told us that sheis in touch with everybody 'including'Mandana of Bigg Boss season 9 . "I amin touch with everyone except Aman",she said. Aman Verma, are you listen-ing?

"My fiSrst facebook fan pagewas made after Pyaar ki ek kahani. I

became popular after my vampire show butit grew a lot more after Big Boss," she added.

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Returning to the Olympics after ahiatus of 36 years, Indian women'shockey team showed tremendous

fighting spirit and came from two goalsdown to eke out a 2-2 draw against high-er-ranked Japan in their opening Pool Bmatch at the Rio Games, here on Sunday.

The Indians, ranked 13th in theworld, were trailing by two goals at halftime after World No. 10 Japan scoredthrough Emi Nishikori (15th minute) andMie Nakashima (28th).

But the Indians made a valiant fight-back as Rani Rampal (31st) and LilimaMinz (40th) scored a goal each in thethird and fourth quarters to securepoints for their side.

The Indian girls got off to a brightstart in the match before losing the plottowards the end of the first quarter.

They dominated the share of posses-sion but failed to create clear-cut scoringopportunities in the first 30 minutes.Whatever chances India created, thestrikers misfired inside the rival circle.

Japan, on the other hand, took timeto settle down but got into the groove asthe game progressed.

India's first scoring chance came inthe seventh minute but Preeti Dubey, whowas lurking in front of Japan goal, failedto get a touch to Deepika's cross. Aminute later Poonam Rani shot wide frominside the circle. Just 10 seconds from theend of first quarter, India conceded apenalty corner and Japan broke thedeadlock through a fine dummy goalfrom Nishikori.

In the second quarter, the Indiangirls enjoyed more possession butwere guilty of giving away theball too easily.

Japan doubled their leadtwo minutes from halftime from a swift breakthrough Nakashima who deflected

in a cross from left which India captainSushila Chanu failed to cut off.

Down by two goals, Indiacame out with more pur-pose after the change of

ends and put pressure on the Japanesegoal with relentless attacks. The Indiansearned their first penalty corner with theopening move of the third quarter andRani Rampal was bang on target with aslap shot to reduce the margin.

Japan missed their second short cor-ner, but India utilised the second of twomore penalty corners they earned in the

third quarter when Lilima Minz scoredfrom a rebound to level the scores.

Goalkeeper Savita made a brilliantdiving save in the final second of the thirdquarter to deny Yuri Nagai and keep Indiaalive in the match. India came out withaggressive intent in the final quarter andcreated numerous chances but failed toconvert them into goals.

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Indian women's archery teamon Sunday narrowly missed a

place in the semifinals after los-ing 23-25 to Russia in a nail-bit-ing shoot-off. Russia will nowface Italy in semifinals.

Just like the WorldChampionsships last year,India yet again wentdown to Russia.

After leading thepack 4-2 at one stage, Indianwomen stumbled, allowingthe Russians to crawl backto make it 4-4. In theshoot-off, Indians even-tually lost.

Earlier, India made it to thequarter-finals of the recurveevent after beating Colombia 5-3 at the Olympic Games, here onSunday.

Indian women archerswould feel relieved especially

Deepika Kumari and LaishramBombayla Devi, who were a partof the team that lost to Denmarkin the opening round at the 2012London Games.

Indian women will faceRussian Federation in the quar-terfinal. The trio of Deepika,

Laxmirani Majhi andBombayla were not at theirbest but managed to pre-vail over an even more

erratic Colombian team.The two teams were

on even keel at 3-3 after firstthree sets and the turningpoint came in the final set.

Needing 28 points withfinal three arrows to beat India'sset score of 52, Colombianarcher Caroline Aguirre com-mitted a harakiri as she lost con-trol and the misdirected arrowfetched her only 3 points, muchto the relief of the Indian camp.

The Indians won the set by

52-44, thereby getting the cru-cial two points for winning theset and taking an unassailable 5-3 lead. However, it wasn't a greatperformance from the Indiangirls as they could hit the per-fect 10 only twice — Bombaylain the first set and Deepika in the3rd set. Deepika, India's biggesthope in archery, was not in herelements as she started off poor-ly hitting a 7 with the final arrowof the first set, which India man-aged to pip the opposition by apoint.

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Indian shooters disappoint-ing run at the Rio Olympics

Games continued with HeenaSindhu crashing out of the10m Air Pistol Women'sQualification round here onSunday. The 26-year-old 2010Guangzhou Asian Games sil-ver medallist shot an overall380, which included 13x.

Heena, who had finished12th in her maiden Olympicsin London 2012, failed torecover from a poor start andbecame the fourth shooter tobe eliminated in day two ofthe competition.

The cut for the eight team

finalists was applied at 384with seven closest to the cen-tre circle which was shot bySonia Franquet of Spain.

The 2010 CommonwealthGames gold medalist Heenabegan with a poor 94 in thefirst series. She improvedher scoring by onepoint to finish with ascore of 95 in the secondseries but only to lielowly at 26th position.

On Saturday, theduo of ApurviChandela and Ayonika Paulfailed to qualify in women's 10mair rifle event. It was Jitu Rai whocould make the final in 10m airpistol but finished eighth.

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Indian shooters Manavjit Singh Sandhu andKynan Chenai were placed at the 17th and

19th spots after the first day of Men's Trap qual-ification event at Olympic Games here onSunday.

Sandhu and Chenai could come up withscores of 68 and 67 respectively in the three

rounds after a total of 33 shooters par-ticipated on day 1 with each athlete tak-

ing 75shots each.

S a n d h uscored 23, 23,22, whileChenai post-

ed 22, 23, 22in the threerounds at theshotgun rangein Olympicshooting cen-tre here.

After the completion of the first round,Sandhu was placed at 14th while Chenai lied at28th spot. The former improved a place with ascore of 46 in the second round, while Chenaitoo rose to the 16th spot with a score of 45.

The duo will return on Monday for the sec-ond day of qualification where there will be twomore rounds of 25 targets each.

At the top, Fabbrizi Massimo of Italy wasthe only shooter to produce a record score of75, while Great Britain's Ling Edward and ItalianPellielo Giovanni were placed at the second andthird spot with 73 each.

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Dipa Karmakar is guaranteed aplace in the Finals after manag-

ing a sixth place in the vault here onSunday.

However, she is out of medal con-tention in the floor exercise as shemanaged a score of 12.033 only.

At the time of page release, Dipais currently 6th in vault, 47th inuneven bars, 37th in balance beamand 43rd in floor exercises. But shethen fell to 25th in the all-roundstandings with a total score of 51.665.If things finish as they are, Dipa willqualify for the vault finals, while miss-ing out on all the other categories.

RIOLYMPICS

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+#�� 00+��TIME: 5:30pmMEDAL PROSPECTS: Very bright

Bindra’s innocuous tweet 15days ago that he would beincommunicado with the

outside world till his fifth and lastOlympics campaign begins sumsup the mood in the shooting camp.The Beijing gold medalist will per-haps be in his last and fifth SummerGames and he would like to bow out ona high.

The 33-year-old has won Gold in 2002,2006, 2010 and 2014 Commonwealth Games

and also has a Gold in the ISSFWorld Shooting

Championships 2006, Zagreb,in the 10m air rifle event.

Four years after settingup the gold standard inBeijing, Bindra crashed toa 16th place finish in2012 London, but thistime the shooter fromZirakpur, who is knownto pay minute attention to

details, has created Rio-likesettings at his home.

Bindra, who is the coun-try’s first individual Gold

medallist, will look to add anoth-er medal to his kitty.

RIO DE JANEIRO/AGENCIES

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TIME: 7:30pmRIO DE JANEIRO: After registeringIndia’s first victory since the 2004Athens Olympics, the PR Sreejesh-ledteam will take on the reigning OlympicChampions Germany in a match thatpromises to be an exciting encounter onAugust 8, 2016.

Against Germany, India held theirnerve at the FIH Champions Trophywhere they had an early lead of 3-1 untilthe third quarter but a few defensiveerrors in the last quarter had forced adraw. It was an inspired performance bythe Indian team though Germany wasnot playing its full squad in London.

The Olympic Games is different andIndia will have to go all-out, giving morethan their 100 percent to get pastGermany and stamp a victory.

He also insisted on going back andwatching the video of the match against

Ireland on Saturday to take learningsfrom the game and ensure the team isready for the German side that beatCanada 6-2 in their opening game onSaturday.

However, India’s campaign againstthem did not go as planned in the recent-ly held Six Nations Tournament inValencia, Spain, where the team lost 0-

4 to a full strength German squad. India last won a match against

Germany in the Olympics in the 1996Atlanta Olympic Games where theIndian team beat them 3-0 in the open-ing match.

Can India produce another historicwin against Germans? Well, the Captainis optimistic. “Though we won narrowlyagainst Ireland, the team is motivated aswe have started on a winning note andhave earned three points. We arepumped up and we always enjoy takingon big teams like Germany. I am sure wewill put up a tough fight against them,”said Sreejesh.

The strong German squad com-prises of five Olympic Gold medalistsfrom London, and midfielder-turned-defender Moritz Fürste who is consid-ered amongst the best players in theworld. PTI

RIO DE JANEIRO: For RioOlympics India are going onebetter this time in swimming

compared to the lone Indian representation at the2012 London Olympics.

Last time it was Ullalmath Gagan who was theonly one to represent the country in the 1500mfreestyle. This time though the country have twoparticipants in Sajan Prakash and Shivani Kataria.

Kerala-born Sajan, 22, will swim in the men’s200m butterfly while 18-year-old Shivani will com-pete in the women’s 200m freestyle. The two willbe accompanied by National coach PradeepKumar.

Following the absenceof a swimmer with an OQT(‘A’ time), India was award-ed Universality places (oneman and one woman) byFINA, after the qualifica-tion window shut on July 3.

In order to take a uni-versity place, a swimmermust have participated in the2015 World Championshipsin Kazan. Based on which,the SFI selection committeechose Sajan ahead of Sandeep Sejwal, VirdhawalKhade, Aaron D’Souza and Saurabh Sangvekar.

Sajan’s magnificent performance at the AgeGroup Long Course swimming meet in HongKong on July 2, when he clocked 1:59.69 in the200m butterfly helped him became an importantmember of Indian swimming fraternity. Withwhich he also became the first Indian ever to dipunder the two-minute-mark. With that he betteredRehan Poncha’s 7-year-old record of 2:00:70.

Meanwhile in the women’s section, Haryana’sShivani was the only Indian woman to competeat the Worlds and thus was the only one eligible.Shivani will also be first Indian woman swimmerat the Olympics since 2004. AGENCIES

RIO DE JANEIRO: Indian table ten-nis quartet led by veteran AchantaSharath Kamal ended its Olympiccampaign on the opening day itself asall four players lost their first roundmatches, here.

Save Mouma Das, who was blownaway by 0-4 margin in just 21minutes, Sharath andSoumyajit Ghosh got a gameeach from their respectiveopponents before goingdown 1-4. Debutant Manika Batrawas the best performer as she lostby scoreline of 2-4. India’s most dec-orated player Sharath lost to anotherveteran Crisan Adrian of Romania 11-

8, 14-12, 9-11, 11-6, 11-8. Adrianwas world No 20 at one point of

time in his career and is currently atop-100 player (ranked 90th).

PTI

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World No 1 doublesplayer Sania Mirza’s

campaign in the women’sevent came to an end as sheand her partner PrarthanaThombare lost their firstround match against theChinese pair of ShuaiZhang and Shuai Peng.

Zhang and Peng won aclosely contested match 7-6 (8-6), 5-7, 7-5 that lastedtwo hours and 44 minutesas the Indian duo did putup a stiff resistance.

Indian challenge intennis now remains con-

fined to Sania and RohanBopanna in the mixeddoubles — the only eventwhere they are supposed tohave realistic medal chance.

Had his partner been

close in terms of quality,Sania would have takenIndia home as she shoul-dered bulk of the respon-sibility.

Prarthana,considered to bethe weak link,showed fighting

skills but thequality was

simply notthere.

In the first set thatlasted 70 minutes, the serv-ing was erratic for both theIndian as well as Chinesepairs as they traded breaksthrice.

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� � �� 00:3�� TIME: 5:30pmMEDAL PROSPECTS: Good

Gagan has bagged a rich haul of medals in the Commonwealth Games— eight gold medals and a silver and a bronze. After missing the Finalin the 2008, Beijing Olympics, Narang made up for it, winning a bronze

in the 10m air rifle event in the 2012 Olympics, London.The 33-year-old will be participating in his fourth

Olympics and will no doubt be one of the senior mem-bers in the Indian contingent. He will be participating in

10m air rifle event, 50m rifle prone and 50m rifle 3 posi-tions event. After Monday’s event, he will next play in Rioon 12th and 14th this month and will hope to add a medalin one of those days. RIO DE JANEIRO/AGENCIES

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