Ahmedabad January 8 2017

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AHMEDABAD,LATE CITY
JANUARY 8, 2017
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SUNDAY STORY
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AGES
WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
10-11
The father, the son and a spirit
The most unwanted
How is the family feud playing out on the ground? From

the homes of Akhilesh and Mulayam in Lucknow to Saifai
About 14,000 Muslim Rohingyas are refugees in India,

eking out a living in slums, and, till lately, free of politics
At the Kochi-Muziris Biennale, artists

push audience to reacquaint
themselves with the changing idiom
of international art
Chhattisgarh
police raped,
assaulted 16
Govt wants details women: NHRC
URJIT PATEL TO APPEAR BEFORE PAC ON JAN 28, LIST OF 10 QUESTIONS SENT
Explain demonetisation, your role, flip-flops,

secrecy: Parliament panel to RBI Governor
ANAND MISHRA
NEW DELHI, JANUARY 7
THE PUBLIC Accounts Committee (PAC) headed by senior
Congress leader K V Thomas,
which has asked Reserve Bank of
India (RBI) Governor Urjit Patel
to appear before it on January 28,
has asked him 10 probing questions on the demonetisation issue from the decision-making
process to the level of RBIs involvement, impact on the economy, and flip-flops in RBI regulations over the last two
months.
In the questionnaire sent on
December 30, accessed by The
Sunday Express, the parliamentary panel has asked the RBI
Governor why he should not be
prosecuted and removed for
abuse of power of office if there
are no laws that impose restrictions on withdrawal of cash. The
PAC has also sought to know
how much of the currency was
demonetised, and how much
has returned into the banking
system.
The list of questions:
Union Minister Piyush Goyal
has said on the floor of the House
that the decision to demonetise
was taken by the RBI and its
Board. The government merely
acted upon this advice. Do you
concur?
CONTINUED ON PAGE 2
SECYS WANT MEETING

PUT OFF, PAC SAYS NO
PAGE 8
of cash deposited
before note ban
Finance Ministry says bank account
holders must submit PAN by Feb 28
AANCHAL MAGAZINE
Prime Minister Narendra Modi waits for Portugal Prime Minister Antonio Costa, in New
REPORT, PAGE 9
Delhi on Saturday. Renuka Puri
PM: Poor have accepted decision,

we dont see them as vote bank
ABANTIKA GHOSH
PRIME MINISTER Narendra
Modi set the tone for the partys
pitch in the poll-bound states of
Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Goa,
Punjab and Manipur, saying the
poor and poverty were not vote
banks for the BJP but an opportunity to serve, and that despite
their hardships, the poor had
been extremely supportive of
demonetisation. Modi was delivering the concluding speech
at the two-day national executive of the BJP.

Union Minister Ravi Shankar
Prasad quoted the PM as having
said that the poor of India have
the inner strength to fight their
poverty and it is the governments intention to strengthen
them and that they had voluntarily responded to his appeal on
demonetisation.
Addressing the audience
comprising former party presidents, incumbent BJP chief ministers and delegates from across
CONTINUED ON PAGE 2
IDEA
EXCHANGE
PAGE 12
SINCE NOV 8,
WE ARE
WINNING ALL
POLLS. LETS LEAVE FINAL
ANALYSIS TO PEOPLE
RAVI SHANKAR PRASAD
Union Law and Information
Technology Minister
Sakshi Maharaj blames Tap Kashmiris young so

Muslims for population, they are not spoiled, MoS
poll panel seeks report tells RSS Muslim wing
ISHITA MISHRA
MUZAMIL JALEEL
BJP MP
Sakshi
Maharaj
AGRA, JANUARY 7
THE CHIEF Electoral Officer
(CEO) of Uttar Pradesh has
sought a report from the district
administration on the allegedly
communal remarks that BJP MP
from Unnao, Sakshi Maharaj,
made at a religious event in
Meerut on Friday. Besides, the
Meerut Police has lodged an FIR
against the MP on charges of
promoting enmity between
groups on grounds of religion
and caste.
Speaking at a sant sammelan
in Meerut, Sakshi Maharaj had
said, Desh mein samasyaein
khadi ho rahi hain jansankhya ke
karan. Uske liye Hindu zimmedar
nahin hain... Zimmedar toh wo
hain jo chaar biwion aur chalees
bachchon ki baatein karte hain.
(There are problems in the

country because of the growth
of population. Hindus are not
responsible for that. Those responsible are the ones who talk
of four wives and 40 children.)
He also said that the money
earned from cattle slaughter
was being used to fund terrorism.
The BJP MPs remarks come
CONTINUED ON PAGE 2
RAM GOPAL SUBMITS

AFFIDAVITS TO EC
PAGE 6

MINISTER OF State in the Prime
Ministers Office Jitendra Singh
on Friday said the Muslim
Rashtriya Manch (MRM), an RSS
affiliate, should tap Kashmiri
students at a young age, so that
they are not spoiled later.
Speaking at a conference of
Kashmiri students organised by
the MRM on Saturday, Singh, referring to the students in the audience, said, The Kashmiri
youth is awake now and the
problem is primarily of the generation that I belong to. It is our
responsibility not to allow these
youngsters to get spoiled.
Turning to senior RSS leader
and MRM patron Indresh Kumar,
Singh said, We must tap these
children when they are in class
Jitendra
Singh, MoS,
PMO
eight... tenth because they are
misled later. The first corrupting
influence are their parents... Then
confusion arises (in them) later.
Indresh Kumar said the conference showed that every
Kashmiri... is an Indian at heart...
who wants peace and not conflict. He said that the message
of this programme was that
Kashmir belongs to Indians and
India belongs to Kashmiris.
Kashmir and India were never
separated and will never be separated (from each other).
The conference was attended
by around 300 Kashmiri
CONTINUED ON PAGE 2
Kerala tops states with pending

matrimonial cases in family courts
50,000 cases of discord cleared in
2015, over 52,000 on wait list; Bihar
follows with 50,847 pending cases
UTKARSH ANAND
KERALA TOPS the list of states
with the highest number of matrimonial disputes pending in
family courts, with over 52,000
cases awaiting adjudication at
the end of November 2016, according to data compiled by the
Department of Justice. Though
the courts wrapped up 50,000

such disputes in 2015, the number of cases on the wait list in
Kerala alone is more than the aggregate pending cases of 19
other states.
The state, which accounts for
less than 3 per cent of countrys
total population, has more pending cases than Uttar Pradesh,
West Bengal, Tamil Nadu,
Rajasthan, Karnataka, Gujarat,
THE WAIT LIST

KERALA: 52,446 cases
before 28 courts
BIHAR: 50,847 cases

before 39 courts
MP: 46,866 cases before
50 courts
MAHARASHTRA, DIU,
DAMAN, DADAR AND
NAGAR HAVELI: 45,690
cases before 25 courts
TN: 37,618 cases before

20 courts
Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and

Odishastates that together
make up more than half the
countrys total population.
The data shows that 28 family courts in Kerala disposed of
43,914 cases in 2013, 53,564 in
2014 and 51,288 in 2015.
However, the latest data shows
that 52,446 cases are still pending in Kerala in 2016.
Family courts, which deal
with divorce cases while also issuing orders on alimony, ordering custody of children and restitution of conjugal rights, are
meant to offer an efficient and
CONTINUED ON PAGE 2
IN A new set of rules notified on

Saturday, the Ministry of Finance
has asked banks and post offices
to furnish details of cash deposits
made during April 1-November
9 last year for amounts adding
up to Rs 2.5 lakh or more per person, in all accounts other than
current accounts.
For current accounts, banks
and post offices have to give details of cash deposits adding up
to Rs 12.5 lakh or more per person in the same period.
The ministry has also directed bank account holders
who have not given their
Permanent Account Number

(PAN) or Form 60 to do so by
February 28.
The ministrys latest directive,
making changes to Rule 114 E of
the Income-Tax Rules, 1962, follows its November notification
wherein it had asked banks and
post offices to furnish information of cash deposits, as per the
specified limits, made after the
demonetisation decision from
November 9 to December 30.
Banks and post offices have
been asked to submit details of
these transactions by January 15.
The notification states that
the February 28 deadline for furnishing PAN or Form 60 is not
applicable to those who have
CONTINUED ON PAGE 2
DIPANKAR GHOSE
RAIPUR, JANUARY 7
THE NATIONAL Human Rights
Commission (NHRC) has found
that 16 women were prima facie victims of rape, sexual and
physical assault by state police
personnel in Chhattisgarh in
Bijapur district in October 2015,
and said it is of the view that
prima facie, human rights of the
victims have been grossly violated, for which the state government is vicariously liable.
Stating that it could not
record the statements of 20
other women, the NHRC has
asked for those statements to be
recorded within a month. It has
also sent a notice to the chief secretary, asking the state government to show cause as to why it
should not recommend interim
monetary relief of Rs 37 lakh to
the victims.
In its press release, the NHRC
said it took suo motu cognizance
of The Indian Express report
dated November 2, 2015, and
sent an investigation team to the
The Indian Express report

on November 2, 2015
spot on February 22, 2016.
As reported by The Indian
Express, women from five villages of Bijapur district
Pegdapalli,
Chinnagelur,
Peddagelur, Gundam and
Burgicheru had alleged that
Chhattisgarh Police personnel
sexually harassed and assaulted
more than 40 of them, and gangraped at least two. Villagers in
Pedagellur alone alleged that
four women had been raped, including a 14-year-old who was
allegedly blindfolded and gangraped.
...the grave allegations of
physical as well as rape/ sexual
assault committed by security
personnel of the government of
CONTINUED ON PAGE 2
2 THE SECOND PAGE
THE SUNDAY EXPRESS, JANUARY 8, 2017
AMC draft budget promises to make

Ahmedabad digital, clean & inclusive
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
AHMEDABAD, JANUARY 7
AHMEDABAD MUNICIPAL Commissioner
Mukesh Kumar presented the budget before
the standing committee on Saturday. The Rs
6,061-crore draft municipal budget for 201718 bears the promise of making Ahmedabad
a digital, clean and inclusive city. It makes
43 per cent of capital budget allocation for infrastructure facilities and 24 per cent for the
housing for the poor. This includes Rs 2,951
crore for revenue expenditure and Rs 3,150
crore for capital expenditure.
Riding the bandwagon of digital payments, the budget plans to encourage citizens
to make civic payments through cashless system, using BHIM app. It is also planning to increase the ambit of janmitra card under
smart city project. The budget claims that
Ahmedabad will become the first city in the
country providing city payment gateway
which will be based on common city payment
system (CCPS) using open loop smart card.
As was expected in an election year, there
is no proposal for any increase in general tax,
water tax and conservancy and vehicle tax.
Still, a 21.19 per cent hike in revenue income
has been projected while a 12.63 per cent increase in revenue expenditure is proposed
as compared to previous year. Also, transfer
of funds to capital account from revenue account is shown on a higher side by 21.94 per
cent.
For inclusive growth of the city, Rs 25
crore in earmarked in the budget for construction of a weir behind Kotarpur water
works.
Major provisions made in the

budget are as follows:
Bridge projects
The budget proposes construction of one
rail over bridge on the road connecting S G
Highway with S P Ring Road in west
Ahmedabad.
In the eastern part, one bridge at the BRTS
junction at Ajit Mill Char Rasta (from
Sarangpur side) on 132-Feet Ring Road is
proposed.
Besides these, two rail over bridges at
Chainpur and Jagatpur are planned to be
build PPP basis, each costing Rs 23 crore.
On the Sabarmati Riverfront, where construction of SRFDCL house is under way, and
work on a biodiversity park costing Rs 48.82
crore is going on, 18,000 trees are to be
planted on the river front and a single-span
foot over bridge and an international exhibition centre are part of this budget.
Moreover, it is stated that the state government has approved the sale of two plots as
per GDCR.
A pedestrian overbridge will be developed
to link the proposed exhibition centre and
event garden on the west bank of the river
costing Rs 67 crore.
Navrangpura municipal market on C G
Road is proposed to be redeveloped.
Rs 25 crore is allocated for creating infrastructure while developing new town planning schemes.
As a step towards women empowerment
and uplift of the poor, Sakhi mandals of
women of BPL category to be formed who
will be given revolving fund of Rs 50,000.
Housing
The budget proposes to build 18,745
houses costing Rs 937.25 crore in 2017-18
which include 3,710 houses under EWS
houses for Prime Minister Aawas Yojana
costing Rs 215 crore. Moreover, Rs 51 crore
is allocated for basis facilities in housing
board/slum clearance board/EWS houses,
which is claimed to be the highest allocation
so far.
Rs 1,306 crore, which is 29 per cent of the
total development works allocation, is proposed to be spent on inclusive city plans
which include affordable housing, slum free
project, hospitals, vendor stands etc for the
poor and economically backward population.
Health
Rs 12.39 crore is allocated for nine new urban health centres. Two community health
centres will also be renovated in the year.
Valsad BJP Kerala tops states with

threatens
pending matrimonial cases
govt officials in family courts
SURAT, JANUARY 7
VALSAD BJP MP on Saturday allegedly exhorted the sarpanchs to report to him, if any
government official was found to be behaving indifferently with them. He also threatened to take action against such officials after the conclusion of Vibrant Gujarat Global
Investors Summit.
He said this while
speaking at a felicita- Dr K C Patel
tion function of newly
elected sarpanchs of asks govt
Vapi and Pardi talukas officials to
in Valsad district on behave,
Saturday afternoon at
Vapi. The function was threatens
organised by Valsad action after
district BJP unit.
Vibrant
Dr K C Patel, Valsad
MP; Kanu Patel, Pardi Summit
MLA; Bharat Patel,
Valsad MLA; Vivek Patel, Gujarat Housing
Board Chairman; district BJP president
Jitendra Patel and several other leaders were
also present at the function.
While addressing the sarpanchs, K C Patel
said, The officer friends are mad and we
have to make them alright. If any government officer does not behave well with you,
do tell us after the Vibrant Gujarat programme. We will teach them a lesson even at
midnight. We will not tolerate any disrespect
either to elected representatives or party
workers.
He further added, During the Congress
party rule we were not given proper respect
and we were made to wait outside their offices and humiliated. Now, our party is in
power in Centre-, state-level to district panchayat- and taluka panchayat-level. So there
is nothing to worry and we should not be
afraid of them.
When The Sunday Express contacted him,
Patel said, We have good rapport with the
police department and there is nothing to
worry. Our issues are with the district administrative officials who are not supporting us. Strict action will be taken against such
officials after the Vibrant Summit ends.
www.facebook.com/indianexpress
expeditious mechanism to deal with discords. Kerala has now replaced Tamil Nadu
as the state with the highest number of
pending matrimonial cases. Tamil Nadu,
which had the most pending cases among
states in 2014 and 2013, now stands at the
fifth position with 37,618 cases awaiting adjudication in its family courts. The states
courts disposed of more than 40,000 cases
between 2013-15.
Bihar, whose population is three times
that of Kerala and which has an area twice
that of the southern state, has the second
highest number of cases pending in family
courts - 50,847. However, the states disposal
rate has been sluggish compared to Keralas,
with its 39 functional family courts disposing
of 12,717 cases of matrimonial disputes in
2013, 13,506 in 2014 and 13,756 in 2015 - the
aggregate of which is less than the total number of cases pending in its courts in 2016.
Madhya Pradesh is third on the list with
46,866 pending cases while Maharashtra,
which has been clubbed with Diu, Daman,
Dadar and Nagar Haveli, follows Madhya
Pradesh with 45,690 cases.

Uttar Pradesh, the state with the highest
population, almost seven times that of
Keralas, has just 5,466 cases pending in its
76 family courts - the highest number of such
courts for any state. Uttar Pradeshs bare minimum pendency can be attributed to its rate
of disposal in the last three years - the state
decided more than 2 lakh cases between
2013 and 2015, with the family courts there
disposing of over 1.19 lakh cases in 2015
alone.
In the list of top ten states with highest
number of matrimonial cases, Karnataka,
Odisha, Haryana, Rajasthan and Jharkhand
occupied ranks 6 to 10. Delhi has 11,862 such
cases awaiting adjudication although the
courts disposed of more than 12,000 cases
every year between 2013-15.
According to the Department of Justice,
there are no family courts in Himachal
Pradesh and Meghalaya while statistics on
disposal was not available for some states
such as Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and
Gujarat.
Sakshi Maharaj blames

Muslims for population
four days after the Supreme Court ruled that
political parties and candidates cant seek
votes in the name of religion or caste and
with a just over a month left for the first
phase of polling in Uttar Pradesh on February
11. UP Chief Electoral Officer T Venkatesh told
The Indian Express, A detailed report has
been sought from the Meerut district administration after taking cognisance of the reports received through different media. The
CEO said he had also asked for a video of the
BJP MPs speech and details about the event
where Maharaj made the alleged comment.
Meerut police said they had taken suo
motu cognisance of the matter and lodged
the FIR against the BJP MP and Dharamdaas,
one of the organisers of the event.
The FIR against BJP MP Sakshi Maharaj
and one other has been filed under IPC sec-
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tions 153B, 295A, 188, 505(3) and 298 for

making derogatory remarks against a particular community and also for violation of the
model code of conduct, said Sadar Bazar police station SHO Pankaj Pant.
While the Opposition condemned Sakshi
Maharajs remarks, the BJP sought to distance
itself. BJP UP general secretary Vijay Bahadur
Pathak said that the Unnao MPs statements
are neither the views of the ruling party nor
of the NDA government at the Centre.
However, Mohammad Abbas, Samajwadi
Party state executive member from Meerut,
said, Sakshi Maharaj has made such a remark to hurt the sentiments of Muslims and
with an aim to polarise the voters in the elections. His remark is in violation of the Model
Code of Conduct and action should be taken
against him.
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Explain note ban move, flip-flops:

House panel to RBI Governor
If the decision was indeed RBIs, then
when exactly did the RBI decide that it was
in Indias best interests to demonetise currency?
What was the exact rationale laid out by
the RBI for this decision to invalidate Rs
500 and Rs 1,000 notes overnight?
RBIs own estimates show fake/ counterfeit currency to be a mere Rs 500 crore.
Indias cash to GDP was 12%, lower than
Japan (18%) and Switzerland (13%). High
denomination notes as a share of currency
was 86% in India, but 90% in China and 81%
in US. So, what was so alarming that the
RBI decided India needed to demonetise
suddenly?
When was the notice sent to the RBI
Board members calling for an emergency
meeting on November 8? Which of them
attended this meeting? How long did the
meeting last? And where are the minutes
of this meeting?
In the subsequent note sent to the
Cabinet recommending demonetisation,
did the RBI explicitly mention that this decision would mean invalidating 86 per
cent of the countrys currency and its attendant cost? How long did the RBI say it
would take to remonetise?
The RBI notification of November 8, 2016

under Section 3 c(v) issued a restriction on
withdrawal from a bank account over the
counter to Rs 10,000 per day and Rs 20,000
per week. There was a similar limit of Rs
2,000 per day in an ATM. Under what law
and powers of the RBI, were these limitations imposed on people to withdraw their
own cash? What gave the powers to the
RBI to ration currency notes in the country? If there are no laws that you can cite,
why should you not be prosecuted and removed for abuse of power of office?
Why have there been so many flip-flops
in RBI regulations over the past two
months? Please give us the name of the
RBI officer who came up with the idea to
ink people for withdrawal? Who drafted
the notification on marriage related withdrawal? If it was not the RBI that drafted
these but the government, is the RBI now
a department of Ministry of Finance?
How much exactly was demonetised
and how much has been deposited back
in old currency? What was the expectation of notes to be extinguished when the
RBI advised the government to demonetise on November 8?
Why has the RBI refused to reveal infor-
mation under the RTI, citing inane reasons

such as fear of personal injury? Why is the
RBI not providing information under RTI
to queries that come?
On Friday, the Rajya Sabha Standing
Committee on Subordinate Legislation
also questioned Patel as well as RBI
Deputy Governors N S Vishwanathan and
R Gandhi on demonetisation. According
to sources, JD(U) member Ali Anwar
Ansari asked if RBI was informed in advance about the demonetisation decision.
Stating that not taking steps to avoid inconvenience to people amounted to
criminal negligence, he said it was all
the more dangerous if RBI was not consulted in time.
We raised issues about demonetisation and how they coped with it... the impact, problems in implementation, problems faced by the banking sector and how
to fix all that... Many questions did not get
addressed, said a source who attended
the meeting.
The members also asked how the demonetisation decision was taken on
November 8. It was a constructive dialogue... We asked probing questions, said
a member of the panel.
Tap Kashmiris young so they are not

spoiled, MoS tells RSS Muslim wing
students from various educational institutions in Rajasthan, Noida and Delhi. Singh
was the only minister who attended the
meeting; Home Minister Rajnath Singh,
who was to be the chief guest, and J&K
Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh did
not turn up. J&K BJP leader and
Lakshadweep Administrator Farooq Khan
and Jamia Vice Chancelor Talat Ahmad too
spoke at the conference.
While MRM had projected the conference as a way forward towards Kashmirs
complete integration into Indian Union
and a defeat to separatist forces in
Kashmir, the students in the audience had
no idea about the organisers. Most of them
believed it was a government function
where representatives of various Central
ministries, especially Home and Human
Resource Development, would be present
to resolve their issues related to government scholarships and address their concerns about personal security and problems of harassment and police
verifications while studying outside J&K.
A majority of the students at the conference were from Mewar University, a private institution in Chittorgarh, Rajasthan.
Ashok Kumar Gadiya, chairman of Mewar
University who led his contingent of more

than 100 students, said, We have around
1,100 students from Kashmir in our university. There is a student from almost every
tehsil of the Valley. We brought them to attend this conference because we wanted
their issues resolved. Some of our students
are on the PMs special scholarship while
there are others who pay their own fee...
This is a wonderful platform for our
Kashmiri students. We brought them here
to share their problems and aspirations
about themselves and the country. Gadiya
said he was not associated with the RSS as
such and that he joined this programme
for the welfare of my students.
Sharafat Ahmad of Anantnag, an undergraduate at Mewar University, said they
had received an email from the University
authorities asking them to join the conference. Ruqaya Mohammad, a student of
physiotherapy at the university, said they
were told that they would meet important government officials and ministers
who will resolve our problems, especially
(those related to) scholarships.
There were a few students from
Galgotias University in Noida and Panipat
Institute of Engineering and Technology
(PIET), who said they were here on the invitation of a BJP youth leader from Kashmir.
One of the main organisers of the conference and vice-president of BJPs youth
wing in the Valley, Engineer Ajaz, did raise
issues of security and scholarships in his
address. Why are our students harassed?
Why are they being rusticated (by institutions)? Students feel scared as soon as they
leave Kashmir. If you go to a hotel, they
check your Aadhar card thrice and keep
asking questions before letting you stay,
he said. He criticised the governments implementation of the various scholarship
schemes for Kashmiri students.
Minister Singh said the government
was duty-bound to help youngsters studying outside the state, but said, Few of the
issues will have to be raised with the state
government too, he said.
He was critical of the J&K government
too. We gave two AIIMS, an IIT, and an IIM
(to the state)... But how will (the state government) run them... In a situation where
our children dont want to stay there,
which young super specialist would agree
to go and serve (at AIIMS in J&K)? We have
to improve the situation and create incentive for the outsiders to serve us.
Police raped, assaulted 16 women: NHRC

Chhattisgarh, made in the FIRs, were reiterated before the NHRC team, which conducted spot investigation, and/ or before
the magistrate u/s 164 CrPC or both, the
commission said in a statement.
The NHRC said its team could only
record the statements of 14 victims, out of
the total 34 mentioned in the FIRs, and
statements under Section 164 of the CrPC
had only been recorded in respect of 15
victims. Almost all the victims in these
incidents, covered under the three FIRs, are
tribals. However, Scheduled Castes and
Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities)
Act has not been invoked in any of the
cases. As a result, the due monetary relief
under the SC/ST Act has not been paid to
the victims, said the rights body.
In its showcause notice, the chief secretary has been asked why monetary relief to
the tune of Rs 37 lakh should not be recommended. This includes Rs 3 lakh each to
eight victims of rape, Rs 2 lakh each to six
victims ofsexual assault, and Rs 50,000 each
to two victims of physical assault, it said.
The commission has directed its DIG
(Investigation) to depute a team of officials
from the Investigation Division and Law
Division to record the statements of 15 victims whose statements were not recorded
either by the NHRC team or by the magistrate u/s 164 CrPC and submit the same to
the commission within one month. It has
also said the statements of 19 victims
should be recorded before a magistrate,
and put up before the commission within
a month.
Asking the chiefsecretary to grant monetary relief under the SC/ST Act at the earliest, the NHRC has asked the police to en-
sure that the provision of law is invoked in

all cases where the victims are SCs or STs.
The commission has said the directions given are of interim nature and a final view will be taken in respect of other
victims and also with regard to other issues involved in this matter in due course
of time.
During the course of this enquiry, the
commission received another complaint
dated January 21, 2016, bringing to its notice more incidents of sexual violence by
the security personnel against women that
took place between January 11-14, 2016 at
Bellam Lendra (Nendra) village, Bijapur
district, at Kunna village, Sukma district,
and Chotegadam village, Dantewada district. The commission sought reports from
the state authorities regarding these incidents also, it said.
We dont see poor as vote bank, says PM

the country, Modi said, For us, poor and
poverty are not just about winning elections; we do not look at them only through
the lens of vote-bank politics. This is our
opportunity to serve because serving the
poor is equivalent to serving the Lord. I was
born into poverty and have lived it. Do not
be scared of any criticism or accusations.
Our inner conviction will see us through.
According to data given out by the erstwhile Planning Commission in 2013, in
2011-12, the percentage ofpeople living below the poverty line (BPL) in these states
ranged from 36.9 per cent in Manipur to 5.1
per cent in Goa. In Punjab, 8.3 per cent people were BPL, 11.3 per cent in Uttarakhand
and 29.4 per cent in Uttar Pradesh.
Defending the decision to demonetise
high-value currency notes, Modi said unregulated flow of currency was the
mother of corruption, that the evil of
benaami properties derived its strength
from cash and that corruption bred
poverty.
The Prime Minister expressed confidence that the party would do well in the
upcoming Assembly elections, including in
the politically crucial Uttar Pradesh. He asked
workers to focus on booths and said, The
situation is in our favour in the elections.
Modi also warned party activists
against exerting pressure on the leadership for tickets for their family members.
We are all for transparency in political
funding and the prime minister spoke
about the need for transparency in elec-
tions, said Prasad.

He said the prime minister had started
off by congratulating the party and its
workers for their ground connect. Our
workers are our strength and they not only
know the direction of the wind but have
the capacity to change it too, Prasad said.
BJP national vice president Vinay
Sahasrabuddhe made a presentation using data from the Niti Ayog and other government sources to show how BJP-ruled
states were better performers when compared to states ruled by other parties.
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj
Chouhan made a presentation on how to
double the income of farmers. Prasad said
the party would hold its next national executive meeting on April 15-16.
Govt wants details of cash deposited before note ban

Happy Birthday Bipasha Basu: How
the dusky ramp beauty went on to
rule Bollywood's horror genre
MOST COMMENTED
No proof required:
Financing basic income for the
bottom 50 per cent
Markandey Katju predicts
BJP rout in UP elections, places
bet on Akhilesh-led SP
Om Puri passes away: His
was a face made to put on
other faces, become the story
Opinion Poll
Do you think the proposed
changes in the chit fund law
will help shield investors
effectively?
Yes
No
Cant say
45% 32% 23%
time deposits or a Basic Savings Bank

Deposit Account (BSBDA).
Tax experts said the directive on PAN
would help to link bank accounts with tax
details of the person, making it easier for
authorities to detect any tax evasion.
The directive on account history of cash
deposits will help the tax authorities compare details for the period before and after
the demonetisation decision on November 8.
Quoting of PAN is already mandatory
for cash deposits exceeding Rs 50,000 in a
day. The Central Board of Direct Taxes
(CBDT) had also made it mandatory to
quote PAN for cash deposits of Rs 2.5 lakh
or more made during November 9December 30, 2016, as per an amendment
notified on November 15.
Form 60 has to be submitted by those

who do not have a PAN but undertake any
of the transactions covered under Rule
114B, such as sale or purchase of motor vehicles that require registration by a registering authority, opening deposits with cooperative banks, post offices, deposits of
over Rs 5 lakh in a year, cash payment for
a bank draft, pay order or bankers cheque
of over Rs 50,000 in a single day, a contract
for sale or purchase of unlisted securities of
over Rs 1 lakh among others.
Following the demonetisation decision, tax authorities have been scrutinising high-value bank deposits to keep a
check on unaccounted money and possible money laundering. Although the reporting guidelines for banks were for sav-
ings account deposits of over Rs 2.5 lakh

made in scrapped currency, deposits below this threshold are also being scrutinised if they are from unexplained sources
or through splitting of transactions within
a group or family.
Under Rule 114E of the Income-Tax
Rules, 1962, for furnishing Statement of
Financial Transactions (SFT), which came
into effect from April 1, 2016, a person is
required to furnish a statement on transactions involving receipt of cash exceeding
Rs 2 lakh for sale of goods or service.
The ministry had earlier clarified that
businesses and traders receiving cash exceeding Rs 2 lakh in any single transaction
of sale of goods and services are required
to report it to the authorities.
4 GUJARAT
2008 AHMEDABAD BLASTS: ACCUSED PLEA JUNKED
218 fishermen released by Pak at Wagah GIFT CITY
Ahmedabad: A special designated

court Friday refused to entertain
a plea moved by some accused
facing trial in 2008 Ahmedabad
serial bomb blasts. The defence
lawyers for the accused had objected to the deposition of a document pertaining to Suspected
Detection System (SDS) which
was placed on record by a witness
from Forensic Science depart-
Vadodara: A six-member team of

Gujarat fisheries department on
Saturday took custody of the 218
Indian fishermen, who were released by the Pakistan government as a goodwill gesture at the
Wagah border, a government official said.
The team, headed by K R Patni,
has been camping in Amritsar
since January 5 to receive the freed
fishermen and bringing them to
Gujarat. We have received the
218 fishermen early Saturday
morning at the Wagah border.
Most of them belong to different
places like Jamnagar, Junagadh,
Gir-Somnath, Veraval, Navsari of
ment. The defence lawyer contended that as per a judgment of

SC such a report is not admissible
as evidence. However, the prosecution said that the special courts
judgment was pertaining to
Narco analysis, brain mapping
and polygraphy test and not SDS.
Special judge P C Raval ordered
that the matter be kept open and
be decided later. ENS
Indian fishermen released

by Pakistan at a Red Cross
centre, before they leave for
their home state of Gujarat,
in Amritsar on Saturday. PTI
Gujarat, Daman and Diu, while

few hail from other states, Patni
told PTI from Amritsar over
phone. The first batch of fishermen will leave for Vadodara by
train on Saturday evening, he said,
adding that they have also requested the Railway to make necessary arrangements for fishermen to reach Vadodara.
The fishermen were freed
from Malir jail in Karachi on
January 5. This was the second
batch of Indian fishermen released from Pakistan jails since relations between the two countries
became tense after the terror attack on an Indian army base in Uri.
According to Patni, fisherman
Jeeva Bhagwan from GirSomnath district, who was also
lodged in the Karachi jail, died ofa
cardiac arrest just a day before the
release of his compatriots. PTI
BSEs international bourse

to be worlds fastest: CEO
AVINASH NAIR
GANDHINAGAR, JANUARY 7
WHEN PRIME Minister Narendra

Modi will strike an electric gong
at the GIFT City on Monday, he
will herald the beginning of BSEs
International Exchange, that will
not only be the fastest in the
world, but will also trade for 22hours every day.
GIFT City will emerge as
Indias own Hong Kong... It will
help bring $1-3 trillion investments in the next 10-15 years,
said Ashish Kumar Chauhan,
Managing Director and Chief
Executive Officer of Bombay
Stock Exchange (BSE), which is
opening this exchange at Indias
first International Financial
Services Centre (IFSC) in
Gandhinagar.
In the next three years, BSE
will be investing another Rs 500
crore in this exchange which is
the worlds fastest stock exchange... It has an order response
time of four microseconds (median trade speed)... It is better
than BSEs own system at
Mumbai that has a speed of six
microseconds. The fastest international exchange in the vicinity is in Singapore which has a
response time of 60 micro seconds, he said while visiting GIFT
City on Saturday.
BSE had become the fastest
exchange in the world in 2015
with a median trade speed of six
microseconds.
Every day, this exchange at
GIFT City will start trading activities at 4 am, when the exchanges in Japan open, and will
stop only at 2 am the next day,
Ashish Kumar Chauhan,

MD and CEO of BSE, and
Niranjan Hiranandani, cofounder of Hiranandani
Group, take a tour of BSEs
new international exchange
at GIFT City, Gandhinagar,
on Saturday. Avinash Nair
when the exchanges in USA
close. We will be conducting
trading for 22 hours daily,
Chauhan added. BSE has tied up
with Dubai Gold and
Commodities Exchange (DGCX)
for reciprocatory exchange of
price feed and product licence
agreements and is also in talks
with other international exchanges for similar agreements.
Narrating his experience in
this project, Chauhan said,
When Modiji visited BSE in
2013, he had invited us to GIFT
City... We had signed an MoU
with the Gujarat government
during the Vibrant Gujarat
Summit-2015 and before the
2017 Vibrant, the India
International Exchange is going
to be inaugurated by the PM.
BSEs international exchange has
been set up on the first floor of
the 16-storey Hiranandani
Signature tower which is the
first commercial building to
come up in the IFSC zone of the

GIFT City campus.
We had signed up for space
in this building about two
months ago and in just 45 days
we are ready with the exchange, Chauhan said while
taking a tour of the new exchange, along with Niranjan
Hiranandani, the co-founder of
Mumbai-based Hiranandani
Group that owns the tower in
IFSC with 4.2 million square feet
of office space.
Here we are starting with
100 employees, most of whom
have been sent from Mumbai.
We have also hired a few locals
and foreign employees to run
the exchange. In the next six
months, we will have people
moving here with their families, Chauhan said, adding that
trading at this exchange will begin on January 16 after Makar
Sankranti.
According to the BSE official,
about 100 brokers have already
applied to shift to this new tower
in IFSC of which about 50 of
them have already taken space.
Banks operating out of a temporary structure in the IFSC has already conducted business of $1
billion.
Talking about the tower that
houses BSEs international exchange, Niranjan Hiranandani
said, We have signed final
agreements for 30 percent of the
space in this tower. This includes
Kotak Mahindra Bank and a host
of brokerages....This year, we
have constructed about 42
buildings, but this one at GIFT
City stands out because it promises to usher in a revolution in
the financial world.
AAP minister: Vibrant Summit aims to

benefit industrialists at the cost of poor
THE AAM Aadmi Party (AAP)
Saturday said that the Vibrant
Global Gujarat Investors
Summit (VGGIS) being held by
the state government was intended to benefit the industrialists at the cost of the poor people of the state. Minister in the
Delhi government Gopal Rai,
who is on a two-day visit to the
city in connection with the
partys organisational work, told
mediapersons Saturday that the
VGGIS is merely a drama for the

propaganda of Prime Minister
Narendra Modi and BJP.
Vibrant Gujarat summits are
being held since 2003 and hundreds of crores of public money
has been spent on organising
these programmes, but the conditions of Dalits and adivasis
have not improved. Medical and
educational facilities are not
available to the people in rural
areas of the state. Adivasis have
not been given their rights over
the land they are tilling for generations, said Rai.
Adivasis are, in fact, living in
MAN HELD FOR KIDNAPPING BHUJ TRADER IN 2015

New Delhi: A man has been arrested for allegedly kidnapping a
Gujarat-based trader in Delhi in
2015, police said Saturday. Sajid
(23) was nabbed from a bus stop
near Ashram Thursday, Ravindra
Yadav, Joint Commissioner of
Police (Crime), said.
In December 2015, the trader,
Valji Bhai, had come to Delhi from
Bhuj after getting phone calls from

unidentified persons, informing
him about cars available at throwaway prices, police said. There,
Valji met a man who took him to
Palwal to show him the car. He
was kidnapped by five to six persons who beat him up and called
up his son demanding Rs 5 lakh,
Yadav said. PTI
a pitiable condition in the state.

They dont have even clothes to
cover their bodies properly. Most
of them, particularly their
women and children, are suffering from malnutrition and different kinds of disease, with government turning a blind eye to
these issues. Will summits like
VGGIS solve the problems of adivasis and other poor?, he asked,
The government has become
totally indifferent to the poor
people. Is this patriotism to neglect the most backward communities and leave them all alone ?
he wondered.
Villagers protest
against shortage
of notes in rural
areas of state
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA
VILLAGERS, WHO were agitated
after the banks allegedly refused
to dispense enough cash,
protested by pelting stones at a
bank branch, locking office of another bank and blocking a state
highway in three separate incidents in Gujarat on Saturday, police said. At Khimana village in
Shirohi taluka of Banaskantha
district, angry account holders
pelted stones at the branch of
Dena Bank alleging that it refused to give money citing cash
limit. Police resorted to lathicharge to control the crowd, a
police official said.
Some account holders
started creating ruckus outside
the bank branch after complaining that it was not giving cash despite a long wait, said
Banaskantha Dy SP Umesh Patel.
Soon villagers gathered outside the branch and started pelting stones. Police resorted to mild
lathicharge. At least two police
officials received minor injuries
in the incident. As a precautionary measure, the bank was
locked from outside so that no
bank officials were hurt, Patel
said. He said no FIR was lodged
yet in this connection but police
are investigating the matter.
In a similar kind of incident,
angry account holders locked
the branch of Bank of India at
Modhwada village in Porbandar
district after complaining that
the bank refused to give them
money despite standing in
queue for hours, police said.
Later, police reached the village and brought the situation
under control, officials of
Porbandar police control room
said. Agitated account holders at
Dhrol town and nearby villages
of Jamnagar resorted to blocking
of a state highway.
GUJARAT 5
VADODARA
Sex racket busted, 2 girls rescued

VADODARA, JANUARY 7
THE VADODARA city police
busted a high-profile sex racket
operating through websites and
WhatsApp, on Saturday. The
Special Operations Group (SOG)
of the Vadodara police laid a trap
to arrest an agent of the racketeers in the city, who happened
to be an auto driver. The SOG rescued two girls who were supplied to a dummy client as part
of the trap.
According to the SOG, the
trap was laid after several
months of research on websites
operating inter-city sex rackets
to supply call girls to clients in
Vadodara. H M Vyas, Police
Inspector of SOG, said that the

department had been tracking
the activity of a website called
Highest standard call girls escort service Vadodara that was
operating through Internet communication. On Friday, the SOG
team laid a trap posing as clients
and struck a deal with an agent
on the mobile number mentioned on the website. Vyas said,
The agent sent us pictures of the
girls through WhatsApp and
asked us to take a pick. We randomly chose two girls and were
told that the rate would be Rs
6,000 per girl. We were told that
the girls would be delivered to
us by a local agent an auto
driver from Vadodara at a public
place, from where we could take
them to our destination.
Accordingly, the police team met

the auto driver at OP Road and
handed over Rs 12,000. A few
metres ahead, another unit of officers arrested the auto driver
and the girls were rescued and
handed over to the Mahila Police
Station as they are victims in the
eyes of law, Vyas said.
Vadodara Commissioner of
Police, Manoj Sashidhar, said
that the department was pursuing the case to crack down on the
inter-city trade. The websites
are a very easy way for these organised network as it is difficult
to trace the actual criminals behind this racket. They could be
sitting in another city and operating the network. Even in this
case, the girls are of Nepalese origin and they travelled to
Vadodara after the deal was

struck, said Sashidhar.
According to the police, the
girls were forced into flesh trade
to support their poor families.
Vyas said, One of the girls said
that she was forced into prostitution due to her fathers ill
health and hospitalisation, while
the other girl is an orphan who
has a younger brother. She has
enrolled her brother in a good
school back home and is working as a call girl to ensure that he
gets good education.
The police have arrested the
auto driver Siyaram Ramnarayan
Yadav, who has been remanded
to three days in custody of the
Mahila Police Station by a local
court. The Mahila Police station
will now investigate the case.
Ahmedabad is a neoliberal city: US scholar

HAILING THE city as being first in
many aspects, noted US historian
and writer Howard Spodek, who
has spent a number of years
studying the city, categorised
Ahmedabad as a neoliberal one
and compared it with Los Angeles.
Delivering the second Shrenik
Lalbhai Annual Chair Lecture on
New Directions in the study of
Ahmedabad at the Amrut Mody
School of Management on
Saturday, Spodek drew from a
range of writers who had written
on Ahmedabad from different

perspectives for the talk. He said
that while the city has all the characteristics of a neoliberal city,
Ahmedabad is a city ofthe world
and the strong influence of the
many Gandhian institutions, including SEWA in the city... keep it
from being ruthless.
He said that a neoliberal city is
based on free markets and operates on elements of demand and
supply. Labour is paid less, there is
more foreign investment, the government is minimal in the sense
that it withdraws itself from being a welfare state and does not
hand out subsidies, he said.
Talking about the internally

displaced people (of the
Sabarmati riverfront), he said
they face a similar situation like
the international refugees of
Syria. He spoke of resilience
shown by people who have suffered but would not want to leave
through various examples.
Spodek showed of parts of a film
to the audience and said that
while in some cases it had added
to the communal conflicts among
people, a few families had mitigated the change well.
There is no consultation,
these people arent consulted at
all. It wasnt out of the blue but
they (people) certainly did not

know where and they certainly
were not consulted...It turns out
that often times the monthly payments are not collected mostly
due to political reasons. People
are told no one will ever evict youeven if you dont pay up but that
leaves people in limbo. Ifthey pay,
they run out of money and if they
dont pay, they dont get the property deeds, he said.
In the talk, Spodek also traced
the advent of how low-income
housing became part of the citys
agenda just ahead of2012 polls as
political parties seized the idea in
lieu of votes.
Bird flu scare: Central

team carries out survey
Ahmedabad: Experts from the
Union Health Ministry on
Saturday took stock of the situation at Hathijan village in the district where over 1,400 birds were
culled following the death of
Guinea fowls brought from
Mumbai due to bird flu.
Two experts from Centres
Health Ministry arrived here
Friday and were joined by another
expert on Saturday. They carried
out survey in Hathijan area and
talked to locals as well as 52 persons who were quarantined,
Ahmedabad Collector Avantika
Singh said.
Singh said the situation was
under control and the quaran-
tined persons will remain under

observation for at least 10 more
days as required by Centres bird
flu protocol.
Fifteen members of the NGO
Asha Foundation and 37 members ofthe animal husbandry department who carried out culling
of birds have been quarantined,
she said. Over 1,500 birds in the
area, including those kept at an
animal health care centre run by
the Foundation, were culled by
the animal husbandry department after avian influenza virus
(H5N1) was confirmed to be the
reason behind the death ofseven
birds which were brought here by
the NGO. PTI
Rajkot BJP leader apologises for

remarks against Sonia Gandhi
Rajkot: Following protest by
Congress workers here, BJP
leader and chairman of Gujarat
Municipal Finance Board
Dhansukh Bhanderi on Saturday
apologised for his remarks about
Congress president Sonia
Gandhi. I do not intend to hurt
anyones sentiments. I am a disciplined party worker and I apologise for my remarks if it has
hurt anyones sentiments,
Bhanderi told PTI.
Addressing a public gathering at Jasdan in the district on
Friday, Bhanderi had made certain remarks about Sonia Gandhi
while talking about the leadership crisis in the party.
Congress workers protested
and burnt his effigy at Trikaun

Baug area here on Saturday.
Police detained over 25 persons,
including former Congress MP
from Rajkot and city party president Kunvarji Bavaliya, Vashram
Sagathiya and GPCC secretary
Mahesh Rajput. PTI
6 DECISION
2017
Sidhu likely
to join Cong
on Jan 10
CRICKETER-TURNED-POLITICIAN NAVJOT Singh Sidhu is set
to join the Congress. Sources
said he could join the party on
January 10.
He is likely to be fielded as
the Congress nominee from the
Amritsar East Assembly seat,
now represented by his wife
Navjot Kaur.
Navjot Kaur had joined the
Congress in November. The
Congress had left it to the couple to decide who would contest from the seat. Kaur last
week said that Sidhu may contest from Amritsar East.
Sidhu, who had represented
Amritsar in the Lok Sabha between 2004 and 2014 on a BJP
ticket, last month met Congress
vice-president Rahul Gandhi to
discuss the modalities of his entry into the Congress.
Rahul is yet to return from
his New Year trip abroad and
sources said Sidhu would join
the Congress only after his return because he wanted to join
the party in his presence.
The Central Election
Committee of the Congress will
also meet on January 10 to finalise the candidates for the remaining 40 seats in Punjab. The
party has so far announced candidates for 77 seats in two
tranches.
Sidhu and his wife had quit
the BJP last year over differences with the top leadership.
Ram Gopal submits

signed affidavits to EC
Claims 90 pc of legislators, delegates with Akhilesh
SP GENERAL secretary Ram Gopal
Yadav on Saturday submitted affidavits signed by party legislators
and office-bearers to the Election
Commission and claimed that the
Akhilesh Yadav camp should be
given the cycle symbol and considered the real SP. Yadav submitted the documents in copies of
seven, as asked by the poll panel.
Later, talking to reporters, he
claimed that the documents run
into over 1.5 lakh pages and bear
signatures of over 200 MLAs, 56
of the 68 MLCs, 15 of the 24 MPs
and nearly 4,600 of over 5,000
delegates supporting Akhilesh.
Ninety per cent ofthe legislators and delegates are with
Akhilesh Yadav, therefore it is crystal clear that we are the real SP...
we should be given the cycle symbol and considered the real SP, he
said. Ram Gopal also claimed that
a set of the papers was sent to the
latter at his Delhi residence but he
refused to acknowledge the receipt. Now it will be sent to his
Lucknow address, Ram Gopal
added.
With truce efforts between
the warring factions so far yielding no result, the Mulayam camp
is likely to submit its set of affidavits on Monday as per the deadline set by the EC to furnish papers
in support of their claims.
Akhilesh continues to skip

meetings at Mulayam house
LALMANI VERMA
LUCKNOW, JANUARY 7
WITH NO sign ofreconciliation in
sight, CM Akhilesh Yadav on
Saturday stayed away for the second consecutive day from the
marathon meetings held at the
house of his father Mulayam
Singh Yadav, whom he had replaced as SP national president in
a party convention on Sunday.
While visits from senior party
leaders to Mulayams residence
continued throughout the day,
Akhilesh focused on his official
duties and held a meeting with
senior officials to review the governments work. Chief advisor
Alok Ranjan and Cabinet minister
Rajendra Chaudhary were present at the meeting. Akhilesh also
tweeted a picture of the meeting
from his personal Twitter handle.
Mulayams younger brother
Shivpal Singh Yadav, Cabinet ministers Azam Khan and Gayatri
Prasad Prajapati, Assembly
Speaker Mata Prasad Pandey, exminister Narad Rai, Ambika
Chaudhary and Shadab Fatima
met Mulayam at his residence.
Azam and Shivpal both met with
Mulayam in different sessions but
no official decision was an-
nounced by the camp. Sources

said RS member Amar Singh was
in the city, but did not meet
Mulayam on Saturday.
Mulayam wanted the entire
party to accept him as the national
president, according to sources,
whereas Akhilesh reportedly
wanted to hold on to the post for
at least three months the period
of the Assembly elections.
Party insiders claimed
Akhilesh is not ready to compromise on the party national president and state president posts,
and on the right to distribute
Assembly tickets. The Mulayam
camp is reportedly in a fix after the
Akhilesh camp claimed to have
the support of more than 4,000
party delegates.
Meanwhile,
outside
Mulayams residence, a party
worker from Gorakhpur Sanjay
Yadav cut his finger and wrote a
message using his blood on a
poster, appealing to Mulayam to
have faith in Akhilesh and give
him his blessings to lead the party.
The party state headquarters,
which is now under the control of
new state president Naresh Uttam
saw ticket seekers visiting and
waiting till late evening for news
of a compromise between
Mulayam and Akhilesh.
EXPRESS NETWORK 9
Pravasi Bharatiya
Divas begins in
Bengaluru
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA
BENGALURU, JANUARY 7
THE 14TH edition ofthe three-day
Pravasi Bharatiya Divas, billed as
the largest convergence of Indian
diaspora, began in the countrys IT
hub on Saturday with the spotlight on the role of youth in transforming the society and Indias
potential to play the role of a
Vishwa Guru again. The Youth
Pravasi Bharatiya Divas was inaugurated as part of the PBD 2017
with an aim to connect with the
youth, the new generation of
pravasis growing up all over the
world. An initiative to engage with
young diaspora that provides forum to discuss issues that concern
them was attended by Suriname
Vice-President Michael Ashwin
Adhin, Minister of Youth Affairs
and Sports Vijay Goel and MoS
External Affairs V K Singh.
Judge cant shut criminal case

by its end result: Apex court
UTKARSH ANAND
A JUDGE cannot shut a criminal
case by simply recording the end
result of conviction or acquittal,
the Supreme Court has ruled. The
court stated this while maintaining that accused are not the lone
receivers of justice and that victims of a crime must be treated
equally. A bench ofJustices Dipak
Misra and Amitava Roy said that
it was incumbent upon courts to
pass reasoned orders, specifying
law and examination ofevidence
that lead to acquittal or conviction.
A trial judge should remember that he has immense responsibility as he has a lawful duty to
record the evidence in the prescribed manner keeping in mind

the command postulated in
Section 309 of the CrPC (no unnecessary adjournments) and
pronounce the judgment as provided under the code, the bench
said. A judge in charge of the
trial has to be extremely diligent
so that no dent is created in the
trial and in its eventual conclusion.
The court said this while dismissing appeal of an accused,
challenging the Chhatisgarh
High Courts order of transferring
his trial for abetting his wifes suicide to another court. The trial
was transferred after the high
court found that the previous
trial judge had acquitted the accused in a one-page order while
claiming the judgment had been

typed separately. No separate
judgment was prepared explaining the reasons for the acquittal.
The apex court said that the
trial courts order had no effect
in the law and had dangers of
eroding faith in the system.
When a situation like the present one crops up, it causes agony,
an unbearable one, to the cause
of justice and hits like a lightning
in a cloudless sky. It hurts the justice dispensation system and no
one, and we mean no one, has
any right to do so, said the bench.
The court underlined that the
plinth of justice system is
founded on the faith, trust and
confidence of the people. It
added that nothing can be allowed to contaminate and cor-
rode the same. There are victims of the crime. Law serves
both and justice looks at them
equally. It does not tolerate that
the grievance of the victim
should be comatosed in this
manner, it added.
The apex court upheld the
high courts order of transferring
the case after forcing voluntary retirement of the trial judge. It
added that the judiciary has a
paramount duty ofbeing the preserver as well as the protector of
the law. Effective functioning of
the said sacrosanct duty has been
entrusted to the judiciary and that
entrustment expects the courts to
conduct the judicial proceeding
with dignity, objectivity and rationality and finally determine the
same in accordance with law.
PAYING TRIBUTE
Mehbooba Mufti pays tribute at the grave of her father and former chief minister Mufti
Mohammad Sayeed on his first death anniversary, at Bijbehara on Saturday. Shuaib Masoodi
CMS BROTHER JOINS PDP

BASHAARAT MASOOD
In 80 per cent farmer-suicides due to debt,

loans from banks, not moneylenders
DEEPTIMAN TIWARY
LOCAL MONEYLENDERS are usually portrayed as the villains in
Indias farmer-suicides narrative,
but government data shows that
80 per cent of farmers killed
themselves in 2015 because of
bankruptcy or debts after taking
loans from banks and registered
microfinance
institutions.
According to National Crime
Records Bureaus latest farmersuicides data, of the over 3,000
farmers who committed suicides
across the country in 2015 due to
debt and bankruptcy, 2,474 had
taken loans from banks or microfinance institutions. Its for the first
time that the NCRB has categorised farmers suicides due to
debt or bankruptcy based on the
source of loans. The figures show
that only 10 per cent farmers had
committed suicide due to debts
caused by loans taken from both
However, Sen
said, moneylenders were
BANKRUPTCY/DEBT
ILLNESS
more flexible
FARM-RELATED ISSUES
Crop
failure
due
to
879
Prolonged
ill-health
625
compared to
Loans from financial
2,474
natural calamities
institutions (banks,
banks and
Insanity/ mental illness 186
registered microfinance, etc)
Crop failure due to
673
microfinance
Cancer
16
other reasons
Loans from moneylenders, 302
institutions.
Total (including other
Inability to sell crop
10
non-financial institutions
causes)
842
The organTotal
1562
Loans from both
321
ised sector is
DRUG ABUSE/ALCOHOL
less flexible
ADDICTION
Total
3,097
FAMILY PROBLEMS
because rules
Total
330
SOURCE: NCRB report for 2015
Total
933
dont permit
them flexibilbanks and moneylenders the Madhya Pradesh (516) led the ity. The microfinance sector is
share of loans from moneylend- table. Karnataka saw a more than worse. They put pressure by
ers under this section was 9.8 per three-fold rise in farmer suicides telling others in self-help groups
cent. As first reported by The in 2015, as compared to 2014 that their share would be cut if
Indian Express on August 19, 2016, when around 300 farmers ended one person does not pay loans in
farmer suicides saw a spike of41.7 their lives.
time. This creates social pressure,
per cent in 2015 from 2014. The
The latest data is interesting as well. Many also send goons to
year 2015 saw 8,007 suicides by because all of us thought that the neighbourhood to scare borfarmers compared to 5,650 in moneylenders were the culprits rowers, he said. According to the
2014, according to NCRB data.
of the piece. Even today, more NCRB data, bankruptcy and inAmong the states, the data than half the people take loans debtedness witnessed the
showed, Maharashtra (3,030), from moneylenders, said Abhijit sharpest spike in 2015, registering
Telangana (1,358), Karnataka Sen, a former member ofthe erst- an almost three-fold increase
(1,197), Chhattisgarh (854) and while Planning Commission. (3,097) as compared to 2014
SUICIDES BY FARMERS IN 2015
(1,163).
Similarly, farm-related issues,
too, have seen a sharp spike of
over 61 per cent. While 969 suicides were recorded due to cropfailure and other farm-related issues in 2014, 2015 saw 1,562
suicides in this category.
Among states, Maharashtra
(1,293) reported the maximum
number of suicides due to indebtedness, followed
by
Karnataka (946)
and Telangana
(632). With 131
deaths,
Telangana reported the highest number of
suicides by farmers who took
loans from moneylenders, with
131 deaths, followed
by
Karnataka (113).
SRINAGAR, JANUARY 7
JAMMU & Kashmir Chief
Minister Mehbooba Muftis
brother, Tasaduq Mufti, 45, joined
the ruling Peoples Democratic
Party (PDP) on the first death anniversary of their father, Mufti
Mohammad
Sayeed,
on
Saturday.
It is a big day for me,
Tasaduq told thousands of PDP
workers, who had gathered to
commemorate his father. All
my life, I was not interested in
politics, but today I have joined.
He pledged to carry forward his
fathers mission.
Peace process must begin at home: CM

Srinagar: Pitching for peace and reconciliation in J&K on the first death anniversary of her father, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, Chief Minister
Mehbooba Mufti Saturday said a good atmosphere in the state will
compel India and Pakistan to come together. The PDP chiefsaid the peace
process should start in the state and first we should talk within us as our
people are fighting against each other. PTI
10 BIG PICTURE
11
Oinam Anand
A girl at the slums near

Madanpur Khadar in
Delhi. The slums are
home to 57 families.
Was told I could earn Rs 300, I immediately left for Jammu

card. When Bibis six-year incarceration
ended in 2015, however, there would be no
Yakub. He had died of tuberculosis in 2014.
Woh last time, mere ko bachhon ke saath
WHEN JAHURA Bibi, 60, illegally crossed the
borders of two countries in 2009, she was- mila tha (The last time he met me was with
nt just fleeing the persecution back home. our children), says Bibi, now living with
Her husband, Mohammad Yakub, had gone her children in a jhuggi at Narwal on the
into hiding and the family Bibi and her outskirts of Jammu city.
The Rohingyas in Jammu have grown
seven children, all minor at the time were
hoping to locate him. That expectant re- from the single family, which was arrested
union, stifled by a protracted legal battle, in the 80s while attempting to cross over
to Pakistan from the international border
would never happen at least for Bibi.
When the family landed in India, in the Kanachak sector, with much of the
migration coming in
through Bangladesh,
the wake of the 2009
they were appreJAMMU
unrest in Myanmar.
hended by police at
Though there are
Kolkata. A local court
no official numbers, a
sentenced Bibi to 14
recent police survey
months in prison for
found 1,100 Rohingya
not possessing valid
families comprising
documents,
while
4,500 people in the city,
sending her children to
many reportedly lured by the chance of
a juvenile home.
Yakub would eventually discover that crossing over into Pakistan. A senior police
his family was jailed in India. Woh merey official believes their total number in
ko jail mein mila. Woh hume dhoondtey hu- Jammu may be around 7,000 to 8,000.
Their presence though has become a
marey baad mein Bangladesh se India aaya.
(He met me in jail. He came looking for us political and economic flashpoint in a state
from Bangladesh), says Bibi says. Yakub, sticky about its demography and its scarcity
she adds, got himself a refugee card from of jobs. BJP leaders have threatened to raise
the United Nations High Commission for the issue of increasing number of
Refugees (UNHCR) in Delhi and spent time Rohingya Muslim refugees in the ongoing
in Jammu, where he knew fellow Budget Session of the Assembly, which began on January 2.There are no records reRohingyas, before reaching Kolkata.
While he succeeded in getting custody garding them, and their settlement in a senof his children, Bibi continued to remain in sitive border state is a great threat to
jail even after the completion of her sen- national security as these people can be eastence as she hadnt yet received her refugee ily used by anti-national elements, BJP
ARUN SHARMA
4,500 ROHINGYAS
IN NEARLY A DOZEN CAMPS IN
JAMMU AND ITS OUTSKIRTS
Reconstruction at Narwal, where a blaze destroyed 81 homes. Arun Sharma

Nowshera MLA Ravinder Raina had said.
Without naming the Rohingyas, the
Chamber of Commerce and Industry of
Jammu has called the presence of foreigners in the city and its outskirts a sinister
campaign to change the demography of
the area by unseen forces. It alleged that
they were employed by the Railways for
loading and unloading of goods trains.
The opposition National Conference,
however, says the BJP is opposing the
Rohingyas purely on religious grounds and
that by the same yardstick, it should also
not support West Pakistani refugees, nearly
all of them Hindu.

Apart from being a natural choice due
to its Muslim majority, the Rohingyas say
they pick Jammu and Kashmir on economic
consideration. And most of them follow a
similar pattern: Once a Rohingya reaches
Jammu, he stays a few months and then invites other relatives, informing them of job
opportunities and better pay.
Farid Alam, 33, says he came here alone
in 2009 and later married. Farid, who has
two children Rukhsan Bibi, 6, and Kashar
Bibi, 3 later called his parents and four
brothers. Now, two of his brothers are also
So much land. Cant govt give us some?

MAHIM PRATAP SINGH
he has collected through the day at what

looks like a garbage collecting point.
This is what what most of us do here,
AE BURMA, this man wants to talk to your
people, an autorickshaw driver hails Mujib, Mujib says. There are a few who pull rickin a lane outside Welcome Colony, home to shaws, but most are garbage collectors.
Children share space with roosters amid
a majority of the Rohingya families in Jaipur.
Burma is the generic term used by locals heaps of garbage. The women swiftly move
for people ofthis colony. For them, it is a pool into houses at the sight of strangers.
Why did we leave? When the governofcheap labour. Mention Rohingyas, or even
ment does not want you around, there is litrefugees, and the locals shrug ignorance.
tle else you can do,
Mujib, 27, left
says Kadir (50).
Buthidaung in Rakhine
JAIPUR
He adds that they
about a year ago. He
didnt have a destinacrossed
over
to
tion in mind. We did
Bangladesh and into the
not plan for Jaipur or
heart of Hindustan
Jammu, nobody promas the Rohingyas call
ised
us
anything,
there was no leader.
India through Kolkata.
Welcome Colony houses around 300 Everyone just wanted to save themselves.
Kadirs small house, for which he pays
Rohingyas in the heart of the city, next to a
choked drain. Squatting on government Rs 2,500 as rent, has a makeshift partition;
land, it draws its name from Welcome Hotel on the other side are his newly married son
nearby. The other two camps are in and daughter-in-law.
His face lights up as he talks about his
Hathwara and in the outskirts of the city.
Headed to the home of the more vocal 10-acre paddy farm in a village in
Kadir Hussain, Mujib, who has picked up Maungdaw city. We had a large house
Hindi, stops to drop off a sack full of trash there, with five rooms for the family and
THE
MOST
UNWANTED
They are State-less, with Myanmar
disowning them; they are dying, with
1,00,000 homeless; and they are
forgotten, with the Muslim Rohingyas not
an attractive cause for the world. Around
14,000 of them are registered refugees in
India, eking out a living in slums, and, till
lately, free of politics. The Sunday Express
tells their stories of flight and hope
n October 9, 2016, about 400 armed men attacked three Border

Guard Posts on Myanmars border with Bangladesh in the
north-western state of Rakhine, home to 8,00,000 to 1 million
Muslims who call themselves Rohingya. Nine policemen were
killed; eight of the attackers lost their lives.
Myanmar blamed the Aqa Mul Mujahideen (also known as Harakah Al
Yaqin or Organisation of Faith) and launched a massive crackdown on the
Rohingyas. Fearing for their safety, thousands of Rohingyas fled across the
border to Bangladesh; the International Crisis Group estimated that about
27,000 of them had reached by November. The number could be double now.
In Myanmar, the word Rohingya is taboo. The government terms them
Bengali, the ethnic description deliberate, meant to drive home the national belief, and Buddhist Myanmars official position, that the Muslim minority in Rakhine, different
from the countrys Burman
Muslims,
are recent migrants
Jammu
CHINA
from Bangladesh, a charge
that has been angrily reDelhi
BANGLADESH
jected by Bangladesh. The
Mewat
country has also not recognised the Rohingya as among
Jaipur
its 135 ethnic groups under
INDIA
its 1982 citizenship Act.
The last big displacement
Hyderabad
of the Rohingya was in 2012,
Kolkata
when a large number ofthem
Coxs Bazar
Chennai
arrived in India. The UNHCR
says approximately 14,000
Rakhine
State
Rohingya are spread across
six locations in India
Jammu, Nuh in Haryanas
Mewat district, Delhi, Hyderabad, Jaipur and Chennai. It has given Refugee
Status certificates to approximately 11,000 Rohingyas in India; the remaining
3,000 are asylum seekers. But more importantly, the Indian government has
given Long Term Visas to 500 Rohingyas, which, an UNHCR official in Delhi
says, will help them open bank accounts and secure admission in schools.
But India, wary of Chinas influence in Myanmar, has made no official comment about the handling of the Rohingya crisis. Myanmar watchers say the
Rohingya issue is a complex problem, but given the delicate geo-strategic
balance, New Delhi would be unwise to make any pro-Rohingya statements,
and can only try and persuade the Myanmar government to find a political
resolution. The silence, however, hides a growing unease in Indias security establishment of the consequences, of the heavy-fisted military response by
Myanmar, for the entire region.
MYANMAR
NIRUPAMA SUBRAMANIAN
400 ROHINGYAS
IN 3 CAMPS
We dont want to go to Bangladesh or Pak,

both are equally violent. We are fine here
We call
back home
only at night
space left over for guests, he smiles. But

the government just took it away. Officials
come with measuring tapes, and thats it.
On why he came to India, Noorun Amin,
at the Hathwara camp, says, Hindustan has
never asked us for our identity. It has allowed us to earn a living and live without
the fear of violence. It is like a mothers lap.
The refugees say they dont face many
problems in Jaipur, since most of them have
identity cards issued by the UNHCR. They
are, however, required to register themselves with the Sodala police station nearby,
once or twice a year.
Most of the children study at a nearby
madrasa. Around 50 go to a primary government school.
Whats weighing most on their minds
here is that the drain by which most of them
live may be demolished soon. Once that
happens, they will evict us. We dont know
where we will go. People dont rent out
their houses to ragpickers, Amin says.
We dont demand anything from the
government here, no citizenship or any
other rights. The government has so much
land. Cant they give us some? he says.
HEAVILY PREGNANT, Taslima fled Prangla

village in Rakhine in Myanmar one damp
August afternoon in 2010, haunted by the
murder of a close friend. All 11 family
members were huddled together uncomfortably in the back of a jeep, she remembers. My two-year-old daughter wouldnt
stop crying.
The family had sold all its belongings for
Rs 6 lakh. If we had stayed back, we would
have been killed, Taslima says.
Now 25 and the mother of four, the
youngest of them nine-months-old,
Taslima lives in a shanty made of bamboo
sticks, with tarpaulin sheets stretched over
them, in Camp No. 2 of Haryanas Mewat
district, over 3,000 km from home.
There are six Rohingya camps in the district, all within a 1-km radius, set up on state
government land. Taslimas camp is the
largest, with 108 families (327 people).
Taslima says they faced constant torture
in Myanmar. Then, they killed her friend. I
just couldnt live there anymore, Taslima
says. From our village we took a jeep to
Mundu, four hours away. The journey cost us
Rs 5,000. We waited in Mundu till midnight,
and then took a boat to Teknup in Bangladesh.
It was a two-hour journey on a small boat that
cost us Rs 10,000 per person. We had heard of
security personnel in Bangladesh shooting
down Rohingyas the moment they got off
boats, but fortunately that night there were
none. I remember praying the entire time,
she says in broken Hindi.
The family, including her husband
Mohammad Noor, 30, stayed in a refugee
camp in Coxs Bazar in Bangladesh for two
years. It was hell. There was no electricity, no
water, and hot all the time. Here we have
some semblance of a home, she says.
To leave for India, the men worked as
daily wagers for a month in Coxs Bazar. We
collected Rs 40,000, crossed the Ichamati
river on boat and arrived at Basirhat in West
Bengal, paying Rs 1,300 per person. But the
moment we arrived, police caught us. We
had to give them all our money, around Rs
25,000. When we reached Sitapur railway
station near Kolkata, we again had no money.
We begged on the platform for two days and
IN 1 CAMP
ARUN JANARDHANAN
Sona Miya, 30, a father of four, claims to have been among the first Rohingyas to arrive in Mewat. Amit Mehra
boat overturned on way to Bangladesh. And
bought tickets to Delhi, says Taslima.
Mohammad Naseem, 41, Taslimas rela- Hasrat Miya who reportedly became deaf
tive and zimmedar(in-charge) of Camp No. in one ear after being thrashed by a guard in
2 that has 50 huts, says the first few days a camp in Bangladesh.
Earning a living continues to be tough.
were a nightmare, as they didn't know anybody in Delhi or the language. Somehow No one is ready to give us a job, they all ask
for Aadhaar cards. We have been working
we reached the UNHCR office.
as daily wagers in Sohna
After getting their
and Gurgaon, and
refugee cards, the famMEWAT
barely make Rs 300 a
ily settled in Mewat. I
day. Some members of
also made a trip to
the Jamaat-e-Islami
Jammu, where I had
group had visited us in
heard there were many
Myanmar and told us
Rohingyas. I stayed
there for eight months but couldnt find a that life in Mewat will be good. That there is
no discrimination between Hindus and
permanent job, says Naseem.
At Camp No. 2, there is Rohima, who Muslims and we will earn good money. But
was sold to a Muslim farmer in Uttar we cant do anything without citizenship,
Pradeshs Saharanpur after being brought says Sona Miya, 30, a father of four, who
to India by a dalaal (agent) with six other claims to have been among the first to argirls. The 25-year-old now stays with two rive in Mewat.
Electricity supply to the camps is erratic
young children and begs for a living.
Then there is Dil Nahar Begum, 51, who and there are just two toilets per camp. The
lost her son and daughter-in-law after their men and children go to the fields to relieve
1,300 ROHINGYAS
IN 6 CAMPS
themselves, says Miya, holding his twoyear-old son in his arms.

Last year, the government school in Nuh
allowed admission to 35 children from the
camps after several protests. We don't even
get SIM cards with the UN card. There are just
five phones with connections in the entire
camp, which some locals got us, Miya says.
Like many others at the camp, Miya too
wants to shift to Delhi. There are more jobs
there... Last year in May someone told us
about an empty plot in Jaffrabad (northeast
Delhi) where we could settle. So 20 of us
went there and started pitching tents. But in
the night, over 10 policemen came,
thrashed us and sent us back, he says. We
will try again in the summer.
Taslima says she is in no hurry to go anywhere. We dont want to go back to
Bangladesh or move to Pakistan, like some
Rohingyas have. Both countries are equally
violent. We are better off here, we are free
and alive. We dont even have to wear
burqas. I like wearing salwar-kameez.
AT THIS two-storey community hall in

Kelambakkam, a Chennai suburb, cotton
saris act as a partition for Rohingya families. There are 19 families living here, including some 40 children, dependent on the
scrap they collect every day.
Their journey to Tamil Nadu, through
Bangladesh and Kolkata, was through middlemen. The first of the families landed here
weeks after the riots in July 2012 left hundreds of Rohingyas dead.
We paid Rs 9,000 per head to flee
Bangladesh. It was a long bus journey to
Kolkata. We spent only two days there as
there were so many criminals and thieves
around. An agent promised us the work of
collecting scrap in Chennai, says
Mohammed Yusuf, the 28-year-old representative of the group.
They first moved to the community hall
four years ago, and say they also earn more
now. The agent promised us Rs 400 and finally paid us only Rs 100 or sometimes just
gave us food. Now we earn up to Rs 300 per
day, says Muhammed Rafeeq, who has a
family of six.
The Rohingyas say most of their money
is spent on mobile data packs their only
window to those left behind in Myanmar.
We call them only in the night as using a
phone is also a crime there. My sister was
sentenced to three years after she was
caught talking to me, says one of them,
who did not want to be named.
The UNHCR discovered their presence
in Chennai only in 2014, when members of
a local masjid brought five families to it.
Then UNHCR officials started proceedings
to get them registration cards, a senior
state government official says.
"If the UNHCR helps stop the violence
in Myanmar, we will definitely go back,"
says Noor Khaida, 16. Meanwhile, she has
learnt to read and write Tamil.
IN 1 CAMP, 7 OTHER SETTLEMENTS
Mohammad Johar teaches at the madrasa for Rs 5,000 a month. Amit Mehra
ANKITA DWIVEDI JOHRI
CHENNAI
94 ROHINGYAS
DELHI
1,000 ROHINGYAS
We wanted to live in a place with Here, even children

carry mobiles
some Muslim population
SREENIVAS JANYALA
ANKITA DWIVEDI JOHRI
married and have a child each.

Zahid Hussain, 45, his wife Rabiya
Khatoon and 8-year-old son Mohammad
Zubair had left Rakhine in 2009, after the
Junta confiscated all his property. He says
that when he landed in India, after a guide
helped him through Bangladesh, his family took a train to Jaipur, where he worked
in a soap factory for Rs 150 a day. It was
while he was seeking refugee status at the
UNHCR office in Delhi that he came in contact with other Rohingyas, who told him
that they had been working for Rs 300 a day
in Jammu. I immediately made up my
mind, returned to Jaipur and left for Jammu
along with the family, he added.
The Rohingyas here work as ragpickers,
collect scrap, work in wholesale vegetable
and fruit mandis, shops and even local industrial estates in Jammu city and its outskirts. They have set up their clusters
around Muslim-dominated localities of
Jammu and its outskirts, where landowners
charge them Rs 500-800 per jhuggi. While
they are not entitled to electricity or water
supply, the local landlord gets a water connection in his name for a cluster of 10-12
jhuggis and charges them an additional Rs
200 each for electricity supply.
Local NGOs have chipped in, running
schools for the children, setting up community sheds and even toilets for the
Rohingyas. With donations from local
Muslims and other Myanmar refugees, prefabricated huts with tin sheds have come
up at a place in Narwal where three
Rohingyas were killed when a blaze reduced 81 jhuggis to ashes last November.
ZIA-UR-RAHMAN of Al Le Than Kyaw village, Rakhine, says it was but natural that
he came to Hyderabad. We are welcome
here, unlike in Bangladesh, where they despise us. At the refugee camps in Coxs
Bazar, migrating to Hyderabad is the first
preference, says the 30-year-old, standing
outside his hut in Hyderabads Camp No. 8.
There are 3,200 Rohingyas living in 12
camps around Hyderabad, as per UNHCR figures. Their stories almost all mirror Zia-urRahmans, who fled after sectarian violence
in 2012. The camps have huts of cardboard
and blue plastic sheets, for which each family pays Rs 600 as rent to the plot owners.
Two weeks ago, two community toilets
came up in Camp No. 6, with the help of the
UNHCR and Confederation of Voluntary
Organisations (COVA), and water connection was provided.
A majority of the Rohingyas in At Camp 6. The man, who didnt give his name, hasnt found work. Sreenivas Janyala
Hyderabad work in meat factories and meat
shops. They earn Rs 8,000-Rs 10,000 a
Nazrul remembers the 26-hour journey, chop us there. In whatever conditions we
month. The rest work as scrap collectors or
daily wagers, says Zubair Mohammed, the 14 months ago. We had no money to even are living here, we are much better of, says
coordinator at the UNHCR office at purchase food on the train. When we got Rashida, who fled from Caab Bazar.
The Rohingya children go to two govdown at the station, some autorickshaw
Chandrayangutta.
ernment primary schools, and two private
Aziz ur Rahman, in Camp No. 11, says drivers pooled money and gave it to us.
At the camp, the family shares a small schools. Some eight-year-old kids rethere are few elderly in the camps, as they
generally stay back in Bangladesh and send hut with four others who arrived recently. cently had to start from Class 1, a COVA
the younger ones to India. They arrange A portable TV occupies pride of place, draw- offical says.
Zubair Mohammed, 26, the coordinathe marriage of their sons or daughters and ing many from all over the camp to watch
tor at the UNHCRs Hyderabad office, is one
the couples leave for India together. It en- Bengali and Hindi serials and movies.
Zia-ur-Rahman says he and his friend of the few Rohingyas to have studied in an
sures safety for the girls, and also the couples have a chance of getting rehabilitated Zazumddin, from Drajaza village in English-medium school, and hence crucial
Rakhine, first travelled to helping newly arrived refugees settle in.
quickly, says the 24He arrived with his young bride at
from Kolkata to Punjab,
year-old.
HYDERABAD
where they worked at a Hyderabad in August 2015. Unlike the othIn
Buthidaung
meat factory. But we ers who left Bangladesh in haste, Zubair
Township area in
wanted to live in a place says he and his father stayed there for 12
Rakhine, he was a wellwith some Muslim years, doing odd jobs. Finally, before he left
to-do landlord, living in
population... We work for India, the family married Zubair to a girl
a two-storied house
with his wife and two children, says as scrap collectors and make Rs 300 each from their village.
After duty hours at the UNHCR office,
Mohammed Nazrul, in Camp No. 6. When per day, Mohammed Salim says, who met
where he works as an interpreter, he runs a
violence started in 2012, the government Zia-ur-Rahman first at Cox's Bazar.
He adds that he continues to be in touch mobile accessories shop.
took away my land. We fled to Bangladesh.
Sitting at a house that he has rented out,
Then, I worked as a labourer at Coxs Bazar with relatives and friends back in Rakhine.
and paid an agent Rs 6,000 to help us cross The news gets worse each passing week. overlooking the slum with other refugees,
over into India. In Kolkata, I worked as a We think of home but I do not think we will he says he misses his parents and grandparents, who refuse to come and prefer to
labourer for a fortnight and saved money ever be able to go there.
Rashida Begum, 21, in Camp. No 12, live in Bangladesh. And keep hoping that
to purchase train tickets. From Howrah, we
came to Hyderabad, says the 40-year-old. shudders at the thought of it. They will one day they can go back to Myanmar.
3,200 ROHINGYAS
IN 12 CAMPS
They stabbed me, snatched all my

money and screamed in my ear: yayi
kepra (You are a guest here), says
Mohammad Salim, sitting in his twostorey tenement in a refugee camp for
Rohingya Muslims in Delhis Kalindi
Kunj. I knew right then that I had to
leave Rakhine state, he says, holding
back tears. I was convinced Burma is
not my country.
Salim arrived in India a little over a
year ago, taking the same route that
thousands from his community have
taken since 2010 a midnight boatride
to Bangladesh, dodging security personnel, a one-week stay at a refugee camp
in Bangladesh, and finally another boat
journey to the West Bengal border.
I had to pay off people at every
stage. I had left my village, Tanmyahati,
with Rs 2 lakh. By the time I got to
Kolkata, I was broke, he says.
Now the 30-year-old stays with 45
other families in Kalindi Kunj, one of the
only official Rohingya refugee camps in
the Capital. Multi-storey homes made
of wood planks, cardboard, plastic
sheets and just about any scrap material line the narrow pathways of the settlement, that was built on land donated
by the NGO Zakat Foundation.
It was Salims grandmother, Zora
Hatum, 70, who first came to India in
2012. I told the 10 others in the family
that you come when I tell you it is safe.
I am old, I didnt care if I died on the
way, says Hatum, adding that she hasnt bothered about getting a refugee card
made. I will die soon, what is the
point?
Salim, who speaks in broken Hindi,
works at a chicken farm in Panipat for
Rs 3,500 a month. I feed the chicken
and clean the place. We have rooms to
stay there. I come here on weekends,
says Salim. He wants to eventually go to
Saudi Arabia when he saves up enough.
I have heard a lot of money can be
made there.
In the past four years, says the
camps 38-year-old zimmedar Abdul
Karim, the 215 people in Kalindi Kunj
have largely settled down. Most of the
children go to the government school

in Jasola Vihar. The rest go to a madrasa
in the camp. A few educated men from
back home take turns to teach there.
We also have our own masjid and
shops, says Karim, who runs a small
grocery store.
Unlike the Rohingyas in other parts
of the country, most of them in the
Capital have long-term visas which entitle them to admission in government
schools and to government hospital facilities. We dont get anything else.
Earlier, NGOs would give us blankets
and rice, adds Karim. The visa has to be
renewed every year.
Mohammad Johar, 23, says the visa
has done little to improve their lives. He
teaches at the madrasa for Rs 5,000 a
month. I have been in India for five
years, but couldnt find a job, says Johar,
who was married at the camp and now
has a one-year-old child.
Johar also regrets that there is very
little coverage on Myanmar in the
Indian media.
A kilometre away from Kalindi Kunj,
65 Rohingya families live in a slum in
Shaheen Bagh. It is not an official camp,
and the over 300 Rohingyas here share
space with migrant labourers from Bihar
and Assam. Manohara Begum, 18, lives
with her husband, who works at a construction site, and two-year-old son. My
family parents, two sisters and three
brothers arrived in India with a dalaal
and got dropped off at a chicken farm in
Panipat. He charged us Rs 30,000. I dont
even remember the route we took, it all
seems so hazy now, says Manohara,
asking her mother how many years it
has been in India. Her mother, Dilma, 48,
tending to her own newborn, looks confused. Maybe four, she says.
Manohara says she likes Delhi.
People are nice, they even helped me
learn Hindi.
Looking at her son, who is sitting
near a garbage mound, she adds, Chotechote bacchon ke haath me mobile hai
yahan (here, even children carry mobile
phones). In Myanmar, our phones were
snatched and police asked for fines as
high as Rs 3 lakh... We are here for now,
in the future we will go where the government sends us.
12
13

Vol. XIV No. 41 RNI No. GUJENG/2002/21854, Printed and Published by Kevin Santos on behalf of The Indian Express Private Limited (Former name : The Indian Express Limited). Published at : 3rd Floor, Sambhav House, Bodakdev, Ahmedabad 380 015.
Phone (Board) : 26872481- 82- 83, Fax No. 26873950. Printed at : Bhaskar Print Planet, Survey No. 148P, Changodar-Bavla Highway, Tal. Sanand, Dist. Ahmedabad. Chairman of the Board : Viveck Goenka, Chief Editor : Raj Kamal Jha, Editor : Unni Rajen Shanker, Editor : (Gujarat) Leena Misra *
(*Responsible for selection of News under the PRB Act) Copyright : The Indian Express Private Limited. All rights reserved. Reproduction in any manner, electronic or otherwise, in whole or in part, without prior written permission is prohibited. The Sunday Express

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