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KOLKATA | NEW DELHI | SILIGURI | BHUBANESWAR

LOTUS WILL BLOOM PARRIKAR’S HEALTH GERMANY PARTIES RONALDO SCORES

IN KERALA AND IMPROVING, SAYS STRIKE COALITION BRACE AS MADRID
KARNATAKA: YOGI GOA BJP CHIEF DEAL BEAT GETAFE 3-1
P5 P7 P12 P15

WEATHER
Conrad meets Guv, BSP likely to back SP in
UP Lok Sabha bypolls
Mainly clear sky. Mist in the morning.

stakes claim for govt

Maximum and minimum temperatures
likely to be around 31 and 16 degrees
Celsius respectively.
RAINFALL: Nil
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
RELATIVE HUMIDITY
Max.82% Min. 30%
Claims support of 34 Meghalaya MLAs; Rio, Zeliang stake claim in Nagaland LUCKNOW, 4 MARCH

TEMPERATURE SNS & PTI For the first time in almost

Max: 33.1°C (+6)
SUN RISES
Min: 16.6°C (+3)
SUN SETS
SHILLONG, 4 MARCH Tripura BJP 25 years and in a politically
06:41 hrs 18:23 hrs MLAs to significant move to take on

N
PP president
MOON RISES MOON SETS
21:49 hrs 09:34 hrs
Conrad Sangma
met Meghalaya
Governor Ganga
Prasad on Sunday evening
and staked claim to form
the government in the
THUMBNAILS state with the support of
34 MLAs in the 60-mem-
ber Assembly.
Meghalaya threw up a
fractured mandate on Sat-
urday with the ruling Con-
gress emerging as the largest
party, marginally ahead
of its rival, the National Peo-
ple's Party (NPP), an ally
of the BJP at the Centre and
in Manipur.
“We met the Governor
and submitted a letter of
support from 34 MLAs ~ 19
of the NPP, six of the Unit-
ed Democratic Party (UDP),
four of the People's Demo-
cratic Front (PDF), two
each of the Hill State Peo-
ple's Democratic Party
(HSPDP) and the BJP and
an Independent,” 40-year-
old Sangma told reporters
outside Raj Bhavan here.
The NPP leader is the
youngest son of former
Lok Sabha Speaker (L) P A
Sangma who died in 2016.
Conrad Sangma
He was elected a Member
of Parliament in a by-elec-
tion from Tura constituency
after his father's death.
A delegation of three
Congress leaders -- Kamal
Nath, Ahmed Patel and C
P Joshi -- had yesterday
staked claim to form the
government in the state at
a meeting with the Gover-
nor. “We met the Governor
and sought his invitation
to the single largest party
to be called first to form the
government as per con-
vention,” former Union
minister Nath had told PTI.
The Congress won 21
seats out the 59 that went
to polls last month. The
party is 10 seats short of a
simple majority. The Con-
gress has been in power in
the state for the last 10
years. The Congress this
time got eight seats less than
in the last elections. The BJP,
Mukul Sangma
which drew a blank in the
last elections, bagged two
seats. Outgoing Chief Min-
ister Mukul Sangma had
contested and won the
elections from two seats. He
will have to give up one seat.
Nagaland: The issue of
government formation in
Nagaland took a new turn
today with both NDPP
leader Neiphiu Rio and
outgoing Chief Minister T
R Zeliang of the NPF stak-
ing claim to form the gov-
ernment with the support
of a majority of the MLAs
in the 60-member Assem-
bly. Governor P B Acharya
gave both the leaders 48
hours time to submit the
signatures of the MLAs
supporting them. Earlier in
the day, the Governor said
Rio, who claimed the sup-
port of 32 MLAs, had the
majority and should form
the government.
elect leader
tomorrow
AGARTALA, 4 MARCH
Newly elected MLAs of
the BJP and its ally IPFT
in Tripura will meet
here on March 6 to elect
their leader, state BJP
president Biplab Deb
said on Sunday.
The BJP has 35 MLAs
and the Indigenous
People's Front of Tripu-
ra (IPFT) has eight.
Union minister Nitin
Gadkari will be present
at the meeting, Deb
told PTI.
He said Prime Min-
ister Modi and many
other Union ministers
are likely to attend the
oath-taking ceremony.
The elections in 59
seats of the 60-member
Assembly were held on
Feb 18. Earlier today,
CM Manik Sarkar sub-
mitted his resignation
to the Governor fol-
lowing the poll
debacle. PTI
the Bharatiya Janata Party,
arch political rivals Sama-
jwadi Party and Bahujan
Samaj Party have decided
to come together in the
upcoming Lok Sabha by
elections in Gorakhpur
and Phulpur in Uttar
Pradesh. Though an offi-
cial announcement about
the proposed electoral
understanding is yet to be
made either by BSP pres-
ident Mayawati or SP chief
Akhilesh Yadav, reports
quoting BSP's zonal coor-
dinators have said that the
party cadres have been
asked to support the SP can-
didates in Gorakhpur and
Phulpur.
The BSP is not con-
testing the bypolls. This
move is in tune with
Mayawati's decision to not
contest the Assembly and
Lok Sabha bypolls. This
has been her stand ever
since the BSP lost power in
Uttar Pradesh in 2012.
However, the Congress
has announced its candi-
dates for the two by elec-
tions, slated for March 11,
which means that it will not
be a part of a broader
alliance of Opposition par-
ties. Results will be declared
on March 14.The decision
to support the Samajwa-
di Party candidates has
been conveyed to the BSP
workers by the coordina-
tors of the party in Gorakh-
pur and Phulpur. BSP's
zonal coordinator Ashok
Gautam said in Allahabad
on Sunday that in order to
defeat the BJP, the BSP
workers have decided to
support and vote for the SP
candidate Nagendra Singh
Patel in Phulpur.
Gautam said the deci-
sion has been taken on
the instructions of the BSP
president Mayawati. Gau-
tam, however, reportedly
made it clear that the BSP
will not share the dais with
the SP leaders during cam-
paigning in Phulpur.
In the Gorakhpur bypoll,
the BSP will support SP's
Pravin Kumar Nishad. The
announcement to this
effect was made by the
party’s zonal coordinator
Ghanshyam Chandra Khar-
war at a BSP workers meet
in Gorakhpur on Sunday.
The Gorakhpur district
president of Samajwadi
Party, Prahlad Yadav was
present at the meeting.
The forthcoming bypolls
are crucial for the ruling BJP,
which would want to retain
both the seats, as well as
for the Opposition par-
ties, mainly, the SP and the
BSP, which would like to
stop the BJP's juggernaut.
The poll outcome is
equally important for Uttar
Pradesh chief minister Yogi
Adityanath, who was five
times MP from Gorakhpur
before he resigned from the
seat after taking over the
top post.
Phulpur was repre-
sented by deputy chief
minister Keshav Prasad
Maurya. Both the bypolls
have been necessitated by
the resignation of Yogi
Adityanath and Maurya.

'Hindu woman elected to Pak senate in

historic first': Kirshna Kumari Kolhi from Pak-
istan's Sindh province has become the first-
ever Hindu Dalit woman Senator in the Mus-
lim-majority country, the Pakistan People's
Party has said. Kolhi, 39, from Thar is a mem-
UP IN ARMS
CBI grills
ber of Bilawal Bhutto Zardari-led Pakistan Peo-
ples Party (PPP). She was elected Senator on a
minority seat from Sindh. The PPP awarded
her the Senate ticket. Her election marks a
Karti and
Indrani
major milestone for women in Pakistan. P12

Nearly 87 crore bank accounts seeded with

Aadhaar: A month before the expiry of the PRESS TRUST OF INDIA
deadline, around 80 per cent of bank MUMBAI, 4 MARCH
accounts and 60 per cent of mobile connec-
tions have been linked with national biometric Karti Chidambaram, arrest-
identifier Aadhaar, according to a senior offi- ed in the INX Media case,
cial at UIDAI. The government has mandated was on Sunday brought to
submission of the 12-digit unique identity the Byculla prison here
number by every bank account holder by and confronted with
March 31, 2018 to weed out unaccounted Indrani Mukerjea as part
wealth. Aadhaar linking with PAN has also of the CBI's probe into the
been made mandatory. P11 matter, a senior official to get down from the foot-
said. board before they left the
Karti Chidambaram, jail premises.
Mamata backs KCR for national role: West the son of senior Congress Karti Chidambaram
Bengal chief minister Miss Mamata Banerjee leader and former Union was arrested by the CBI on
on Sunday called up her Telangana counter- minister P Chidambaram, February 28 after a con-
part Mr K Chandrashekar Rao and said that was brought to the jail in fessional statement was
she fully supports his call for a qualitative central Mumbai around given by Mukerjea before
change in the country’s politics. “Hum aap se 11.15 am by a six-member a magistrate.
ek mat hai. Hum aapke saat rahinge, (I agree team of the Central Bureau He was sent in a five-day
with you. We will be with you)”, she was quot- of Investigation (CBI), he CBI custody on March 1.
ed as saying to Mr Rao. Alongside former said. Karti Chidambaram,
Jharkhand chief minister Mr Hemanth Soren The official said Karti 46, was arrested at Chen-
telephoned Mr Rao and told him that the lat- People hold placards and roses during a protest against the ongoing conflicts in Syria in New Delhi on Sunday. Lakhs of people have been killed since Chidambaram and Muk- nai airport on his return
ter should play a key role in politics. the civil war broke out in Syria in 2011. SUBRATA DUTTA erjea were brought face-to- from the United Kingdom,
face and questioned by in connection with the FIR
the CBI team for about lodged on May 15 last year
four hours. alleging irregularities in

Oppn set to corner Govt in Parliament on financial scams Mukerjea, a former

SNS & PTI
NEW DELHI, 4 MARCH
The second part of Parliament's
Budget Session is likely to begin
on a stormy note with the Con-
gress and other opposition
parties set to raise the issue of
multi-crore financial scams
involving public-sector banks
in both the Houses.
The Houses of Parliament will
meet on Monday after a month-
long recess in the session.
Opposition parties would
seek an answer from Prime
Minister Narendra Modi on
how the Punjab National Bank
(PNB) fraud and other banking
scams took place and how the
government failed to stop them.
The government, on its part,
is seeking to counter the oppo-
sition's offensive by bringing the
Fugitive Economic Offenders
Bill.
The legislation, once passed,
will grant powers to the gov-
ernment to attach assets of
persons declared fugitive.This
will include benami assets too.
While the opposition has not
planned any joint strategy so
far, it is likely to meet in a day
or two to chalk out a plan for
the Parliament session.
Sources said that while the
financial sector and banking
scams would dominate the
proceedings in both Houses,
issues related to crime against
Dalits and women, farmers,
the economy and unemploy-
ment would also raised by the
opposition benches.
The second part of the ses-
sion would primarily see dis-
cussions on the demand for
grants for various ministries.
The opposition would also
press for a debate on a num-
ber of contentious matters and
important issues confronting
the country.
The government has listed
a few bills for consideration and
passage in both Houses.
In the Lok Sabha, it intends
to bring The Payment of Gra-
tuity (Amendment) Bill, 2017,
and The Specific Relief (Amend-
ment) Bill, 2017, tomorrow,
and The Dentists (Amend-
ment) Bill, 2017, on Tuesday.
In the Rajya Sabha, the gov-
ernment has listed The Motor
Vehicles (Amendment) Bill,
2017, and The State Banks
(Repeal and Amendment) Bill,
2017, for the first day of the ses-
sion.
Congress leaders said that
they would soon be holding a
meeting with other opposi-
tion parties to chalk out a joint
strategy for the session.
The aim is to corner the gov-
ernment unitedly and demand
answers from it on various
issues which it has evaded in
the past, a leader from the
party said.
CPI leader D Raja said the
issue of PNB fraud will be taken
up and the new bills that the
government proposes to bring
would also be discussed. “We
will demand answers from the
government on how the fraud
happened. The banking sector
is in a deep crisis and its cred-
ibility is under stake,” he told
PTI.
Raja also said that issues per-
taining to atrocities and crimes
against Dalits and women,
which he claimed were on the
rise, would also be taken up.
He, however, said the finan-
cial crimes will be the highlight
of the session.
TMC leader Derek O'Brien
said his party is for a debate and
a discussion in Parliament,
and would evolve a joint oppo-
sition strategy soon.
“We will coordinate with
other opposition parties to
expose this BJP government that
has not delivered on their
promises. I don't want to name
any particular issue as there are
many. We have issues for every
day in Parliament,”he said.
O'Brien also claimed that the
BJP had gone “overboard” with
its victory in Tripura.
“If you look at the bypoll
results of Madhya Pradesh,
Rajasthan and Odisha, it is
very clear that their tally will
come down,” he said.
The TMC leader claimed
that Prime Minister Modi will
not deliver his address from the
Red Fort in 2019.
“If their target is West Ben-
gal out target is Red Fort. BJP
did not win Tripura, the Left sur-
rendered it,” he said.
Union minister Manoj Sinha
has blamed the Congress-led
UPA dispensation for the Rs
12,700 crore scam at the Pun-
jab National Bank (PNB).
“The country knows the
corrupt elements,” he told
reporters on the sidelines of a
programme here yesterday.
Without taking the name of
diamond trader Nirav Modi, who
is at the centre of the PNB
scam, the Minister of State for
Railways said, “A letter by for-
mer Union finance minister P
Chidambaram recommend-
ing loan for the person who had
fled the country has become
public...
“The Narendra Modi gov-
ernment is working in a trans-
parent manner, and all those
who are involved in the fraud
will soon be behind bars,” he
asserted. Nirav Modi and his
uncle Mehul Choksi of Gitan-
jali Group have been accused
of defrauding the Punjab Nation-
al Bank of Rs 12,700 crore. The
CBI filed the first FIR in the scam
on February 14 against Nirav,
his wife Ami, brother Nishal,
uncle Choksi and his firms
Diamond R US, Solar Exports
and Stellar Diamond. The
agency had stated that the
fraud involved an amount of
around Rs 6,400 crore.
director of INX Media (P)
Ltd, is lodged in the jail in
connection with the Sheena
Bora murder case.
After the questioning,
the CBI team left the prison
along with Karti Chi-
dambaram and headed
towards the Mumbai air-
port. While entering the
prison, Karti Chidambaram
waved at the media persons
who had assembled out-
side the high secu-
rity prison. Karti Chi-
dambaram and Mukerjea
were questioned by the
CBI as a part of its probe
in the INX Media deal in
which the former alleged-
ly received kickbacks.
The doors of the pris-
ons were shut and no other
person from outside was
allowed to enter the premis-
es when the two were ques-
tioned, the official said.
The CBI team came
out of the prison around
3.15 pm and a smiling
Karti Chidambaram waved
again at the media persons
while standing on the foot-
board of a car being used
by the agency. He was
asked by the CBI officials
Foreign Investment Pro-
motion Board (FIPB) clear-
ance to INX Media for
receiving overseas funds
worth about Rs 305 crore
in 2007 when his father was
the Union finance minis-
ter. It is alleged that Karti
had received funds to the
tune of Rs 10 lakh in the case,
officials had earlier said.
The fresh evidence in the
case, which triggered his
arrest, was based on the
statement of Mukerjea,
who recorded it under sec-
tion 164 of CrPC before a
magistrate on February
17. The CBI alleged that
Karti Chidambaram also
received money from INX
media to scuttle a tax probe.
The firm was owned at
the time by former media
baron Peter Mukerjea and
Indrani, who are current-
ly in jail on charges of
murdering Indrani's daugh-
ter Sheena Bora.
The Enforcement Direc-
torate has also registered
a money laundering case.
The CBI and the ED
had carried out a series of
searches at the houses and
offices owned by the Chi-
dambarams.
02
NEW DELHI, MONDAY 05 MARCH 2018
THUMBNAILS
Delhi BJP President Manoj
Tiwari with Northeast BJP
party workers addressing a
press conference in the
Capital on Sunday SNS
Partly cloudy Sunday
morning in Delhi: It was a
partly cloudy Sunday
morning in the national
capital with the minimum
temperature recorded at
17.3 degrees Celsius, four
notches above the sea-
son's average, the Met
Office said. "With no rain-
fall prediction, the sky will
remain clear. However,
strong thunderstorm is
likely to occur in the after-
noon or evening," an India
Meteorological Depart-
ment (IMD) official told
IANS. The maximum tem-
perature is likely to hover
around 30 degrees Celsius.
The humidity at 8.30 a.m.
was 72 per cent while visi-
bility stood at 2,500
metres. The maximum
temperature on Saturday
settled at 33.1 degrees
Celsius, six notches above
the season's average and
the minimum temperature
was recorded at 16.6
degrees Celsius, three
notches above the sea-
son's average. IANS
Students' protest: JLN
Metro station remains
shut: The JLN Stadium sta-
tion of the Delhi Metro
remained closed for public
for the second day on Sun-
day in the wake of a
protest by students at the
nearby CGO Complex, offi-
cials said. The station falls
on the Delhi Metro net-
work's busy Violet Line that
connects Kashmere Gate to
Escorts Mujesar. It was
closed around 9 am yester-
day on the advise of Delhi
Police. "As advised by
police, the JLN Stadium sta-
tion will remain closed
today also for public till fur-
ther directions," a senior
Delhi Metro Rail Corpora-
tion (DMRC) official said. PTI
Ensure fair portrayal of
CPR: Ex-IMA chief to CBFC
PTI
NEW DELHI, 4 MARCH
Former Indian Medical Asso-
ciation (IMA) chief K K Aggar-
wal has written to the Central
Board of Film Certification,
seeking accurate portrayal of
cardiopulmonary resuscitation
(CPR) in movies saying lives
can be saved if people are
educated about the emer-
gency procedure.
CPR is the most basic pro-
cedure to save a life in the event
of a sudden cardiac arrest. It
consists of using chest com-
pressions and artificial venti-
lation to maintain circulato-
ry flow and oxygenation dur-
ing cardiac arrests.
The emergency procedure,
sometimes continued for as
long as 45 minutes, has suc-
cessfully revived many lives.
In India, statistics indicate,
deaths due to sudden cardiac
arrest are more than those
from diabetes, road accidents,
Court summons top officials of
financing company in cheating case
PTI
NEW DELHI, 4 MARCH
A Delhi court has summoned
the managing director, the
chief executive officer and the
business head of financing
companyKotak Mahindra
Prime Limited in a case of
alleged cheating and forgery
related to the purchase of a
car in 2001.
Metropolitan magistrate
ManishaTripathy issued sum-
monses to Kotak Mahindra
Prime Limited, its MD
UdayKotak, CEO Sumit Bali
and the firm's business head
AmitLabroo, asking them to
be present before the court
on September 14.
The court's direction came
on a complaint filed by Delhi-
based Pegasus Computers
which alleged that the finance
firm has dishonestly altered
Anna seeks CBI probe
into SSC paper leak
PTI
NEW DELHI, 4 MARCH
S
ocial activist Anna Haz-
are on Sunday
demanded a CBI probe
into the alleged paper
leak of a Staff Selection Com-
mission exam, over which
hundreds of aspirants have
been protesting here, his aide
Dinesh Nain said.
Hazare met students
protesting outside the Staff
Selection Commission's office
at Lodi Road, and supported
their demand for a CBI probe,
Nain said.
He further said Hazare
also noted that although the
protest was justified, it should
be done peacefully.
"This is a clear case of
corruption. If such people are
selected in class I and II serv-
ices, then one can imagine the
plight of administration,"
Nain quoted Hazare as say-
Delhi draft parking plan
envisages variable charges
PTI
NEW DELHI, 4 MARCH
The draft parking manage-
ment area plan (PMAP), being
firmed up by the Delhi gov-
ernment, envisages variable
charges for residential and
commercial areas to influence
the parking demand in the
national capital.
The transport department
has put the guidelines of the
draft PMAP, a part of the
parking policy 2017, in the
public domain and sought
suggestions from stakehold-
ers.The guidelines suggest a
pricing strategy to eliminate
free parking and introduce
effective parking charges. A
detailed guideline on the
strategy is being developed
by a sub-group, a transport
department official said.
The guidelines call for
introducing variable park-
ing rates to influence park-
ing demand considering peak
and dementia, combined.
Aggarwal said several per-
sonalities have died due to sud-
den cardiac arrest, including
former president APJ Abdul
Kalam and former Union min-
ister Sultan Ahmed.
“It is important for every sin-
gle Indian national to be
trained in the technique of
hands-only CPR or compres-
sion-only CPR, as this can
help in saving many lives...
There is also a need to equip
every healthcare setting with
conventional defibrillators,” he
said in the letter to CBFC chief
Prasoon Joshi.
A defibrillator is a device that
gives a high energy electric
shock to the heart through the
chest wall to someone who is
in cardiac arrest.
Aggarwal said films have a
tremendous reach and an
analysis of various movies has
suggested that a large number
of these movies depicted the
revival method incorrectly.
‘Illicit relations charge causes mental agony’
the books of accounts, as
reflected in its statements of
account.
"This alteration/falsifica-
tion of accounts appears to
have been committed with
intent to conceal the alleged
wrongful acts of the accused
person and support their
case and to cause injury to
the complainant," the court
said.
According to the com-
plaint filed by the comput-
er firm, they had purchased
a Santro car on January 25,
2001 for a total price of Rs
4,09,047 and paid Rs 1,47,047
as advance through cheques
and remaining amount of
Rs 2,50,000 was financed by
Kotak Mahindra Primus Lim-
ited which was to be repaid
in 48 EMIs.
Advocate VarunChandiok,
appearing for the complainant
ing. He added that Hazare had
written to the prime minis-
ter in this regard.
The aspirants have been
protesting outside the Staff
The transport
department has put
the guidelines of
the draft PMAP, a
part of the parking
policy 2017, in the
public domain
and non-peak hours, dura-
tion of stay-longer duration
higher rates, commercial
importance of area, particu-
lar day of the week-weekdays
and weekends, among oth-
ers.
They suggest abandon-
ing the practice of allowing
annual or monthly charges for
parking in commercial areas.
"Annual passes allow unlim-
ited use and do not reduce
demand. Commuter behav-
iour will remain unresponsive
to pricing," the guidelines
say. In commercial areas,
based on the methods to be
adopted by urban local bod-
Man gets 5-yr term for murder attempt
PTI
NEW DELHI, 4 MARCH
A Delhi court has sentenced
a man to five years in jail for
stabbing his friend while he
was trying to pacify him dur-
ing a quarrel observing there
was no justification in inflict-
ing such a deep wound on
someone who was only ask-
ing him to forget the past.
District and sessions judge
AshaMenon handed down
the jail term to south Delhi res-
ident Manoj while holding him
guilty of the offence of attempt
to murder under the IPC.
The judge also refused to
show any leniency towards
him on the ground of pover-
ty considering that the victim
too was from the same back-
ground.
"There had been a quar-
rel amongst the friends and
the injured had only tried to
pacify him. The response of
the convict was not at all
commensurate with any
firm's proprietor P PKhattar,
also argued that in February-
March 2001, an amount of Rs
2,52,750 was shown to be
repayable in 47 EMIs instead
of an amount of Rs 2,50,000
in 48 EMIs and despite
encashment of cheques worth
Rs 1,47,047 towards the down
payment, only Rs 1,37,950 was
shown to have been received.
The firm claimed that
when it pointed out the dis-
crepancies, the financier ter-
minated the hire purchase
agreement on false pretext of
regular default in payment of
EMIs.
It also said that the finan-
cier firm invited the propri-
etor to sort out the issue but
when the meeting was on,
some goons went to his house
and locked his wife and took
away the car with certain
valuables in it.
Secular parties can no longer work in isolation
and will have to strike an electoral understand-
ing for survival
Selection Commission (SSC)
office at CGO complex in
Lodhi Road since February 27,
seeking a CBI investigation
into the alleged paper leak in
ies, an hourly base price may
be fixed and made variable
according to the demand.
Residential parking permits
may be issued during the
first phase of implementation.
Parking charges should be
optimal and not be so high
as to reduce occupancy dras-
tically or too low that it
induces more demand, they
say.The optimal pricing should
ensure that at least 85 per cent
of available parking space is
occupied during peak time.
About 15 per cent of the
parking space should remain
available at any time to
encourage short-term park-
ers, the guidelines recom-
mend.
As per the Delhi Mainte-
nance and Management of
Parking Rules of 2017 notified
by Lt Governor Anil Baijal in
January, the city government
is required to implement the
parking management area
plan.
action of the injured which the
convict may have consid-
ered hostile to his interest.
There was no justification at
all in the convict inflicting such
a deep wound on the victim
for asking him to forget the
past. "Poverty alone would not
be extenuating circumstance
in view of the fact that the
injured also belongs to the
same background as the con-
vict," the judge said.
The court also imposed a
fine of Rs 10,000 on Manoj and
directed the Delhi Legal Ser-
vices Authority (South) to
PTI
NEW DELHI, 4 MARCH
False allegations of illicit rela-
tions cause mental pain and
agony to a husband and give
rise to an apprehension that
it would be dangerous to live
with a wife who also threat-
ens to commit suicide, the
Delhi High Court has said.
The high court's observa-
tion came while upholding a
family court's order allowing
the estranged couple to divorce
as the woman treated her
husband with cruelty.
"We find that levelling of
false allegations of illicit rela-
tions of such nature and mag-
nitude causes mental pain,
agony and suffering to the hus-
band," the court said.
"Such allegations cause
profound and lasting disrup-
tions in the relationships and
also causes deep hurt and rea-
sonable apprehension that it
the Combined Graduate-
Level (CGL) examination held
from February 17-21.
Extending their support to
the protesting aspirants, Delhi
Chief Minister Arvind Kejri-
wal and Swaraj India presi-
dent Yogendra Yadav have
also demanded a CBI probe
into the matter.
On the other hand, Con-
gress has also extended its sup-
port to the protesting aspirants.
Hitting out at the Bharatiya
Janata Party (BJP) govern-
ment, the Congress on Sat-
urday dubbed the SSC paper
leak scandal as another Vya-
pam scam and demanded a
thorough CBI probe into the
matter.
Congress communica-
tions in-charge Randeep Sur-
jewala said the government
should immediately agree to
all the demands of the agitat-
ing students and order a CBI
probe into the paper leak.
Metro advises commuters to behave
PTI
NEW DELHI, 4 MARCH
Next time you choose to sit
or lean in a coach junction area
in a Delhi Metro carriage,
think again as the DMRC has
introduced a new advisory
according to which such
behaviours are not in line
with public etiquette.
Top officials said the advi-
sory has been officially incor-
porated recently and sig-
nages to that effect have
already been put up in some
of the coaches to begin with.
"We decided to introduce
this new advisory, based on
the feedback we received
from our staff. It was found
that many commuters sat in
the coach junction area or put
their foot up to lean onto its
body (corrugated rubber),
making it dirty in the process,"
a senior DMRC official told PTI.
He said the new signage
seeks to bring awareness
among the metro riders to not
provide relevant compensa-
tion to the victim.
According to the prosecu-
tion, on July 16, 2015 at
SangamVihar here, the
accused had a fight with his
friend and when victim Man-
ish intervened and tried to
resolve the dispute, Manoj
stabbed him with a knife
causing a life threatening
injury.
"Prosecution has proved
the case completely against
the accused that he stabbed
the injured with a knife in a
manner that had death been
would be dangerous to live
with a wife, especially when
she is also threatening to
commit suicide," a bench of
justices SiddharthMridul and
Deepa Sharma said.
On the woman's claim
that her husband was having
illicit relations with his sister-
in-law, the bench said such
unsubstantial allegations cer-
tainly fall with the category
M VEERAPPA MOILY
CONGRESS LEADER
Encroachments in Azadpur:
NGT notice to Delhi govt
PTI
NEW DELHI, 4 MARCH
A plea alleging encroach-
ments leading to traffic con-
gestion in Azadpur area here
has prompted the National
Green Tribunal to issue show
cause notices to the Delhi gov-
ernment and others.
A bench headed by Justice
Jawad Rahim issued notices
to the AAP government, North
Delhi Municipal Corpora-
tion, Delhi Pollution Con-
trol Committee and others
while seeking their replies in
two weeks explaining why
action has not been taken
against the squatters.
"In the meanwhile, we
direct respondents to show
cause why the order passed
by Public Grievance Commis-
sion has not been complied
and the present status of the
factual position. It shall be
done along with filing count-
er to the main application.
"In case report is not sub-
mitted, we will summon the
use the junction area as it caus-
es inconvenience to fellow
commuters.
"Besides cleanliness issue,
people sitting or standing at
coach junction areas also
obstruct path of other com-
muters. So, it is not in line with
public etiquettes," the senior
official said.
The Delhi Metro Rail Cor-
poration (DMRC) has put up
the new signage in "our new
rolling stock to begin with".
"Slowly, we will introduce
those stickers (signage) inside
the carriages of old rolling
stocks too, such as the Yellow
and Blue Lines," he added.
The court also
imposed a fine of Rs
10,000 on Manoj and
directed the Delhi
Legal Services
Authority to pro-
vide relevant com-
pensation to the
victim
caused he would be guilty of
murder," the court said.
During the proceedings,
the accused had pleaded
innocence and claimed he was
falsely implicated. After con-
viction, he sought leniency
from the court on the ground
that he was poor.
The court, however, reject-
ed his contentions and said,
"In the totality of the facts and
circumstances of this case, the
convict is sentenced to rigor-
ous imprisonment for a peri-
od of five years and to a fine
of Rs.10,000."
of "grave and weighty cruel-
ty".
"These unsubstantiated
allegations are of the nature
to cause mental suffering to
a person against whom such
allegations are levelled," it said.
"The woman has not only
levelled such bald allegations
against her husband, but also
against her sister-in-law (wife
of elder brother of the man)
officers for explanation," the
bench said.
The tribunal was hearing
a plea by city residents
SushilBaheti and RiteshGoel
seeking removal of encroach-
ments from Azadpur area
here saying these were caus-
ing traffic congestion.
The plea, filed through
advocate Rahul Khurana,
claimed that the issue raised
by the applicants was dealt
by the Public Grievances
Commission of the Delhi
government which directed
Deputy Commissioner (Civil
Lines Zone), North Delhi
Municipal Corporation to
remove encroachments on
regular basis.
Existing advisories include,
commuters to not use the floor
of the carriage for sitting, not
eat inside a coach, or play loud
music within it.
The official made it clear
that advisories are issued for
greater public convenience,
and are not a punishable
offence, unlike the act of spit-
ting, anywhere in the metro
premises, which attracts a
monetary punishment.
The DMRC operations are
governed by the rules and reg-
ulations based on the Metro
Railway (Operations and
Maintenance) Act.
The 'Offences and Penal-
Medical, Bar panels to
support 'RapeRoko'
IANS
NEW DELHI, 4 MARCH
The #RapeRoko campaign,
started by the Delhi Women
Commission (DCW ) after
the rape of an eight-month-
old baby, has received sup-
port from the Indian Medical
Association (IMA) and the Bar
Associations of Delhi, the
Commission said on Sun-
day.
"Today Indian Medical
Association and Bar Associ-
ations of Delhi have extend-
ed support to the #RapeRoko
movement of DCW to ensure
completion of trials of sexu-
al crimes cases against women
and children by fast track
courts within six months and
death penalty to child rapists,"
said a statement by DCW.
In a letter addressed to the
DCW Chairperson Swati Mali-
wal, IMA said: "we strongly
support the people's move-
ment 'Rape Roko' launched
and thereby maligning her rep-
utation as well. She has in fact
indulged into an act of char-
acter assassination of her
husband and his sister-in-law,"
it said.
A family court here had in
October last year allowed the
man's divorce petition on
the ground of cruelty by his
wife.
The man and woman got
"Vide the same order it was
also directed SHO of Adarsh
Nagar not to allow any unau-
thorised vendor once the
area is cleared by the civic
agency. It is pertinent to men-
tion herein that the Grievances
Commission observed that the
issue of encroachment at the
Azadpur area is a very chron-
ic matter that needs to be
resolved and advised to
approach the tribunal for
getting corrective orders to
resolve the grievance," the plea
said. The plea has also sought
directions to the Delhi Pol-
lution Control Committee
to install ambient air quali-
ty monitoring station in the
area.
ties' section of the Act, include
drunkness or nuisance in
metro railway premises, penal-
ties for carrying offensive
material, defacing property,
counterfeiting tickets, and
endangering the safety of
persons travelling by metro
by rash or negligent act or
omission."The metro coach-
es carry signages of 'Don't eat
inside a carriage', 'Don't sit
on the floor' but many peo-
ple still don't follow it. We
expect commuters to display
public etiquettes and want to
ensure no one is inconve-
nienced, so we have these advi-
sories. People themselves
should contribute towards a
better metro experience,"
the official said.
The DMRC time to time has
been introducing new signages
in coaches, besides bringing
in indoor advertising. So, a
CISF helpline was earlier
introduced to lodge com-
plaints related to security
issues.
The #RapeRoko cam-
paign, started by the
Delhi Women Com-
mission (DCW) after
the rape of an eight-
month-old baby
by DCW Chief to demand a
robust criminal justice sys-
tem which ensures cases of
sexual crimes against women
and children are tried by fast
track courts within six months
and rapists of children are
essentially accorded death
penalty as a strong deterrent
for others against such
crimes."
The IMA has also request-
ed its state and local branch-
es in Delhi to join the #Rap-
eRoko movement in full force.
The co-ordination commit-
tee of all the District Court Bar
Associations of Delhi has
also supported the cam-
paign.
married in July 2008 and a son
was born to them in March
2010. The man alleged in his
plea that his wife used to
quarrel and abuse him and
other family members and also
threatened to commit suicide.
The woman, however,
claimed that the man was hav-
ing an illicit relationship with
his sister-in-law and when she
objected to it, they joined
hands to get rid of her.
The bench, which did not
find any fault with the fami-
ly court's order and dismissed
the woman's appeal, said the
trial court judge had arrived
at the conclusion that the
husband has succeeded in
proving the facts that the
wife was abusive and was in
the habit of picking up quar-
rel frequently and also threat-
ened to commit suicide and
implicated the husband and
his family members in the sui-
cide note.
 NEW DELHI, MONDAY 05 MARCH 2018 03
FIDDI BHAI
SPITTING MATCH

I
n this season of Vintage Car rallies
one is reminded of Frederick
Bosman's phaeton, which has passed
into the realms of gossip, but in its
heyday it used to be a slick vehicle,
which romped through the streets. Those
were the days when there were few cars
on the roads and horse-driven carriages
were the general mode of conveyance.
Bosman Sahib drove his phaeton in
the evenings, when he was back from col-
lege, where he was a demonstrator in the
science laboratory. But on days on which
he was playing in a hockey match, the
phaeton was parked at his house and the
horse allowed to graze until late.
The joke was that the horse gener-
ally ended up with a bout of indigestion
on such occasions, causing a lot of worry
for "Fiddi Bhai", as he was known to friends
and acquaintances. Now that the phaeton
has almost vanished, one was amazed
to see one in a wedding possession.
"Fiddi Bhai" would have been great-
ly excited had he been around now in
an age of sleek cars and Vintage beau-

W
indow seats are
much sought
after, no matter
which mode of
transportation ~ cars, buses,
trains and planes. It's very
common to hear passengers
requesting at an airline
check-in counter for a win-
dow seat. Usually there is a
mad scramble for this cov-
eted seat and often a pas-
ed a harrowing experience
with a young niece, who
needed to be near a window.
By the time the group board-
ed the bus, all the window
seats were already taken.
Request to some of pas-
sengers to give the seat to
the little girl did not yield
any result. The young girl
had to settle for an aisle seat,
with a warning to her co-
ties in Delhi. But the glanders disease out-
break has become a dampner for horse
lovers, who still revive the old days at polo
matches, in which even the best of cars
can't compete.
Sridevi and because better discretion was expect-
ed from the "Queen of Hearts"
year, as also places like Agra, Bareil-
ly, Kanpur, Lucknow, Jaipur and
another book when Father Time over-
took him before his 83rd birthday
colleague went out into the village
for some errand and found the
Helen while she was alone in her Dubai
hotel room. Nevertheless, Sridevi's
Kolkata. One remembers that Tay-
lor, a still handsome man,
in 2006. Born in 1924, he died in East
Sussex, but the ebullient, limping
people giving him strange looks that
left him feeling awkward. The puz-
demise must have made Helen approached father, who introduced war veteran is still greatly missed by zle was resolved when he over-

senger boarding a bus first
looks around for a window
seat before proceeding to
occupy the nearest empty
one. A few days back, a col-
league noticed a young lad
passenger to allow her
access to the window in
the event of any emergency.
But the girl's father was
determined to teach his
fellow passenger a lesson for
T
he death of Sridevi created
so much euphoria that it
made a professor of English
remark that such outpour-
ing of grief couldn't have been wit-
nessed when Helen of Troy, the
turn in her grave because of the adu-
lation even she did not receive in
the then known world!
Old India hand
him to The Statesman through the
then News Editor M L Kotru. He liked
to stay in old hotels, an interest he
shared with novelist John Masters
(also a former British-India Army
officer) and Dr Rosy L Jones, who
old-timers. heard a passerby wondering how a
bridegroom, who had just got mar-
Wrong clothes ried last night, was roaming around
at that hour. His silk kurta was the
T
he clothes one purchases for culprit for the mix-up, he realised.
one's wedding are rarely Mightily embarassed, a little boy came

climbing into a bus through
a window. When asked
about his antic, the youth
replied he wanted to occu-
py the window seat. Usu-
ally, this seat-preference is
to enjoy the view outside.
However, some people trav-
refusing to yield his seat. As
soon as the bus moved
away, he popped a paan and
began chewing it. Soon,
enough spittle formed in his
mouth and he leant over his
neighbour to spit out of
the window. He repeated this
O
most beautiful woman in the world,
died on a remote Greek island 3,000
years ago.
Besides TV, radio and the print
media, the common people also went
over the top in their reaction to the
tragic end of the actress, who had
stolen hearts and minds all over the
n 27 February was the
death anniversary of Peter
Taylor, who contributed a
popular column to The
Statesmanfor 20 years . Like Col Philip
Meadows Taylor, who wrote his
19th century masterpiece on the
strangler thugs, major PJO Taylor was
is luckily still around.
Major Taylor would go out
looking for sites like the Pande Hut
and other 1857 landmarks on the
Ridge, since he was an expert on the
history of the "Mutiny". He visited
colonial bungalows and spoke to old
horse grooms, khansamas and gar-
worn afterwards and one
looks for occasions to take
them out. Thus it is that many peo-
ple, mainly the newly married, wear
these clothes on occasions such as
weddings of friends and relatives as
well as festive occasions. There is
nothing wrong in this as one's wed-
to his rescue when he pointed out
that this was not the bridegroom.
Realising his mistake, our colleage
fled home and quickly changed
into "normal" clothes!
Tailpiece

elling by road have genuine
need for a window seat as
they suffer from motion
sickness and want fresh air.
Such passengers have a
tough time if all the window
seats are occupied. Our
colleague, travelling with
some relatives to a wedding
venue near Patna, narrat-
exercise every now and
then. This certainly irritat-
ed the fellow passenger,
who was, however, ada-
ment not to budge from his
seat. But still the father had
the pleasure of having dis-
turbed most of the win-
dow seat passengers on his
side of the bus!
country and abroad too.
A grey-bearded man, walking
on the footpath near Victoria Zenana
(now Kasturba) Hospital, while
reading an Urdu paper, kept refer-
ring to her as Sirhi (which translates
to silly) Devi, without realising that
he was mispronouncing the name.
A youth walking behind him was
amused no doubt but said in an aside
that the oldie was not wrong in a way
also an old India hand though he
belonged to the 20th century. Com-
ing to the country in 1943, he joined
the Maratha Light Infantry and was
soon engaged on the eastern front
of World War II, where the British-
India Army was fighting the Japan-
ese. He also served in Italy and
Japan.
Taylor, who did his MA from
Oxford, visited Delhi almost every
deners. Once he spent a full day look-
ing up Col Skinner's ruined house
in Nicholson Road and St James'
Church. One of his close friends was
Lt-Gen Stanley Menezes (late com-
panion of Rosy Jones) with whom
he liked to spend a lot of time in Delhi.
Besides his "Mutiny" chronicles, Tay-
lor also wrote A Star Shall Fall,
Spice of Life and A Sahib Remem-
bers. He was planning to bring out
ding clothes are often the best
clothes in the wardrobe and they too
need to be worn. However, this
simple logic was the cause of a
hilarious mix-up for a colleague, who
had donned his favourite silk kurta
for a relative's wedding in his vil-
lage in Bihar. In an unusual coin-
cidence, the bridegroom was also
wearing a similar kurta. On the
morning after the wedding, our
A
n old-timer, commenting
on last week's Assembly
polls, quipped that the
North-East, known for its
green cover, was turning colour ~
into saffron.
***
Contributed by: R V Smith,
Rakesh Kumar and Asha
Ramachandran

ChiefSecyliedbeforeHC: Congress holds BJP, AAP responsible

AccusesAssemblypanel for hike in petroleum products in city
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE demonstrators, Maken said and diesel to Rs 37 per litre.
PTI on fraudulent papers in NEW DELHI, 4 MARCH that both BJP & AAP are Maken said that Modi gov-
NEW DELHI, 4 MARCH Delhi Nagrik Sarkari Bank,” responsible for the rising ernment is increasing the
he said, adding that despite Delhi Congress staged a protest prices as BJP-lead Central prices of the petroleum prod-

A
committee of the
Delhi Assembly
today accused Chief
Secretary Ansh u
Prakash of “lying” before
the Delhi High Court with
regard to a breach of privi-
lege notice issued to him for
allegedly skipping a meet-
ing called by the panel.
Members of the
Question and Reference
Committee said that they
would also initiate “forgery
p ro c e e d i n g s” a g a i n s t
Prakash for misinforming the
court.
The panel had on Feb-
ruary 21 recommended priv-
ilege proceedings against the
chief secretary (CS) for con-
tempt of House after he
skipped the meeting called
by the committee.
Anshul Prakash
“We have learnt that the
CS has moved the High
Court challenging the breach
of privilege notice served to
him by accusing us of arm-
twisting him in a matter
related to alleged attack on
him, but he is hiding the fact
that the meeting was relat-
ed to rising NPAs,” AAP
MLA Saurabh Bharadwaj, a
member of the committee,
said.
“This issue is going on for
over a year. An MLA filed a
complaint with the Ques-
tion and Reference Com-
mittee when he was not
given a satisfactory answer
in the Delhi Assembly for a
question related to rising
NPAs and bank loans based
summoning the CS, pre-
sent and former Registrar
Cooperative Societies (RCS),
they did not turn up for the
meeting for three consec-
utive days.
“Whoever is lying in the
affidavit before the Delhi
High Court, forgery pro-
ceedings should be initiat-
ed against him. We shall do
the same,” Bhardwaj said.
“The committee mem-
bers challenge the CS to
stick to the contents of his
affidavit and not alter these
contents. The chief secre-
tary is clearly trying to
shield those involved in the
multi-crore scam, which
appears to be on the lines
of the Punjab National Bank
scam,” the committee said
in a statement.
across the national capital
on Sunday against the BJP-led
Centre and AAP government
in Delhi holding them respon-
sible for rising prices of petrol,
diesel, kerosene, LPG & other
essential commodities.
Delhi Pradesh Congress
Committee (DPCC) President
Ajay Maken held both the
Narendra Modi government
at the Centre Arvind Kejriw-
al government in Delhi respon-
sible for the rising prices.
Maken said that that due to
inflation, the essential com-
modities have gone beyond
the reach of the common
people, making their life dif-
ficult.
Maken participated in
many protest demonstra-
tions held across the nation-
al capital. Addressing the
government has increased
the Excise Duty 11 times on
petrol & diesel whereas Delhi
government has increased
VAT 3 times on the petroleum
products resulted into 95 per-
cent increase in Excise & VAT
on Petrol and 208 percent
increase in Excise & VAT on
Diesel between 2014 and
2018.
Maken said that in the
year 2013-14 the rates of crude
oil in the international mar-
ket were 105.52 dollar per
barrel whereas in 2016-17
these rates slashed to 47.56 dol-
lar per barrel but the prices
of petrol and diesel have been
going up continuously. He
further said that the rates of
per litre diesel and petrol are
Rs 62.88 and Rs 72.26 respec-
tively in Delhi.
Congress supporters carry an
effigy during a protest
against price hikes in the
Capital on Sunday
SUBRATA DUTTA
Maken said that if the
Excise and VAT (Modi+Kejri-
wal Tax) are removed from the
petrol and diesel, the rates will
come down to Rs 37 per litre
ucts just to help his friends like
Adani and Ambani. He said
that the poor people are even
striving to have meal twice in
a day. By citing the example,
he added that in the year
2014, rice was sold at Rs 21 per
kg whereas today in the year
2018 one kg rice is available
at Rs 40 per kg.
Maken blamed Modi govt
for unemployment saying
that though Modi has
promised to give employ-
ment to 2 crore people in a year
and Kejriwal promised to give
employment to 10 lakh peo-
ple in a year in Delhi but both
have failed in their promises
and instead of giving employ-
ment to people, they are ren-
dering the traders and their
workers jobless by sealing
the premises of traders.

2 civil defence
constables pose
as police, held
NEW DELHI, 4 MARCH
Two constables of the Delhi
Civil Defence department
were arrested for allegedly
extorting money from peo-
ple by posing as police per-
sonnel, police said.
Nine mobile phones, a
motorcycle along with 67
voter identity cards have
been recovered from their
possession, they said.
The accused ~ Sukhram
(28) and Suresh (36)~ were
arrested yesterday, from
Bawana. Along with other
things, a Delhi Police uni-
form, a Civil Defence uni-
form have also been recov-
ered, Deputy Commissioner
of Police (Rohini) Rajneesh
Gupta said. PTI
25-yr-old to cross English Channel to raise funds to end child trafficking
SYED HASHIM NAJMI
NEW DELHI, 4 MARCH
Leah Chowdhry, a 25-year-old
woman of Asian descent from
the United Kingdom has a
dream to stop child trafficking
in India. She is known to be a
powerful long distance swim-
mer. In a tete-a-tete she told The
Statesman that she has decid-
ed to swim across the English
Channel coming summer for
raising funds for charity to stop
child trafficking in the Indian
sub-continent.
She said she would swim 22
miles in nearly 13 hours, in light
and dark, and fluctuating tem-
pertures of 13 degrees C.
Leah’s plans to swim across
the English Channel is aimed
at financially helping a chari-
table project run byThe British
AsianTrust. She clarified:“At the
moment, I am working with the
British Asian Trust and my
main aim is to focus on child
trafficking in India. I am sup-
porting a campaign to end
child trafficking in Mumbai.”
“Recently, I completed a
London marathon but now
the focus is very much on sup-
porting the British Asian Trust
to end child exploitation in
India,” she said.
On being asked about her
training, she said: “I started
training to swim in the English
Channel last July. My training
consisted of 25 km per week
which takes about 10 hours.”
Replying to a question about
when she started learning swim-
ming and her transformation
from a pool to a cross-country
and sea swimming, she only
replied: “I was a national-level
swimmer when I was younger.
Those times were different and
we had a very different style of
swimming.”
About the challenges she may
face during crossing the Chan-
nel, she said, “The water in the
Channel will be very cold. You
have to stay warm. It is a very
challenging task to do 10 to 12
hours of training.”
She, however, declared: "I am
going to do this very challeng-
ing task. My parents too are of
the view that it is very danger-
ous. However, the main thing
is that you do it for passion and
with a good intention, and I am
doing it for charity. Yet, swim-
ming in the Channel is a huge
challenge.”
Elaborating on her plan,
Leah Chowdhry Leah, who runs a childcare
company in the UK, said,” The
reason why I am doing swim-
ming for charity is that I want
to make sure that every child,
whether in the UK or in India,
has a better future.”
Her father, Jeffry Chowdhry,
who is a Mutual Fund Manag-
er in the UK said, “As a parent,
we thought it is quite a dangerous
task.” On being asked what
should be done so that morepeo-
ple come forward to help char-
itable organisations, he said,“In
a country like India, lots of
good work is done by NGOs and
individuals but I think there is
not much publicity in the areas
which need help.”
“She was passionate about
making a difference. She is
putting her life at risk to help
others,” her mother Rita
Chowdhry added.
04
NEW DELHI, MONDAY 05 MARCH 2018
Congress, CPM fighting
for survival: Himachal CM
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
SHIMLA, 3 MARCH
Himachal Pradesh Chief Min-
ister Jai Ram Thakur on Sun-
day said the opposition par-
ties Congress and Communist
Party of India (Marxist) are
fighting for survival in the
country as the people of the
country has once again
reposed faith in BJP led Union
government's policies.
Talking to media after tak-
ing part in celebrations over
BJP's win in Tripura and Naga-
land at party headquarters
here,Thakur said the landslide
win has clearly proved that the
people of country are not
falling for divisive agenda of
opposition parties.
"The concerted campaign
against Prime Minister Naren-
dra Modi government and
its policies has failed in North-
Eastern states and the com-
mon masses have again shown
their faith in inclusive devel-
opment agenda of the party,"
he said.
Taking a dig at the Congress
party, the Chief Minister said
Kangra admin bans illegal tents at Triund
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
DHARAMSHALA, 4 MARCH
Now only few selected travel agen-
cies will get nod for pitching the tents
in Kangra's famous trekking site at
Triund, located few km away from
Mcleodganj, the abode of Tibetan's
spiritual guru Dalai Lama.
The administration will now
allow tents in stepwise manner
only at 11 selected spots at Triund
which is situated in the lap of
Dhauladhar range at an altitude of
9,350 ft. Officials said the steps are
being taken to ensure the beauty
of the place.
The uncontrolled convention-
al tourism is posing threat to the
natural grass at Triund and now the
local service providers who are
already linked with tourism and for-
est society will only be allowed to
pitch the tents for the tourists.
"We will display the list of the
allowed service providers on our
website to stop illegal tenting sys-
tem. Last year we made an eco-
tourism society to provide various
facilities to the tourists and to put
Effective implementation of labour laws for welfare of workers in HP: Govt
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
SHIMLA, 4 MARCH
Committed for the welfare of
workers in the organized as well
as unorganized sector Himachal
government is implementing
several labour laws.
An official spokesperson
said here on Sunday that the
government was ensuring that
the workers are not deprived
of their legitimate rights and
at the same time a conducive
and peaceful environment is
provided for the entrepre-
LEISURE
10 MINUTE CROSSWORD
ACROSS DOWN
1 Gun dog (6) 2 Insect (6)
5 Breathed wearily (6) 3 Up to now (4,3)
8 Pulverised (6) 4 French sculptor (5)
9 Glacial period (3,3) 5 Iron-rich vegetable (7)
10 Small orchestra (8) 6 Shine brightly (5)
11 Backless slipper (4) 7 Overwhelm (6)
12 Wilful betrayal (9) 13 One more (7)
17 A long time (Informal) (4)
19 Old-fashioned (8) 14 Eradicate (4,3)
21 Outcast (6)
22 Refrain (6)
15 Tropical lizard (6)
16 Dressing-down (6)
23 Kitchen utensil (6) 18 Smart (Informal) (5)
24 Restricting rope (6) 20 Unspoken (5)
SOLUTIONS TO YESTERDAY’S CROSSWORD
11 Satellite DOWN
ACROSS
1 Fen, dish, 1 Fakir,
3 Sing 15 Item, 2 Neptune, 16 Musty,
(Fencing), 17 Doorstep, 3 Sit-in,
20 Mystery, 4 Nonplus, 19 Edict.
7 Skip,
8 Cheat on, 21 Asia, 5 Acme,
22 Stay, 6 Septet,
9 Argument,
10 Null, 23 Nit. 12 Attempt,
By arrangement with The Independent
Figures in parentheses denote
the number of letters in the words required
Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur addressing media in Shimla on Sunday
the party is fighting for its sur-
vival and in Himachal, even
the senior leaders stayed away
from event which was meant
to gear up for upcoming Lok
Sabha polls.
a check on the number of visitors
visiting the place," said Praveen
Kumar, Divisional Forest Officer,
Dharamshala.
Under this plan, a check post is
under construction at Galu for the
registration of the tourists visiting
the trek.
Presently, the registration for Tri-
und trek is being done on tempo-
rary basis and the increase in the
number of tourists is resulting ille-
gal camping activities, causing
degradation of environment.
"Rooting of tents at selected
places is harming the natural grass
neurs.
The provisions of applica-
ble Labour Laws are imple-
mented by conducting peri-
odical inspections of the pri-
vate establishments and in
case of violations, prosecution
cases are filed in the compe-
tent courts of law, he said.
Himachal Pradesh is the first
State in the country to amend
HP Contract Labour (Regula-
tion and Abolition) Riles, 1974
and HP MinimumWages Rules,
1978 making it mandatory for
the industrial establishments
BEETLE BAILEY/Mort Walker
RED EYE/Bill Yates & Mel Casson
HENRY/Dick Hodgins
13 Ledger,
14 Disdain,
18 Onyx,
The BJP had in the last four years worked against the interests of the
people in Rajasthan, and was left with no time now to rectify their
mistakes and bring about change
SACHIN PILOT
RAJASTHAN CONG CHIEF
Shimla-based
NGO holds
cleanliness
drive
AROUND TOWN
ENGLISH FILM
Red Sparrow
Raja Garden -12.50pm,
8.15pm.
3:40pm, 9pm, 11:40pm.
Director's Cut, Delhi -
9:20am, 12:15pm,
PVR Vasantkunj, Delhi - Black Panther 6:55pm.
10am, 12:25pm, PVR Vasantkunj, Delhi - PVR Anupam, Saket -
5:50pm, 11:15pm. 10am, 7pm. 8:20am, 11:50am,
Director's Cut, Delhi - Director's Cut, Delhi - 5:20pm, 10:50pm.
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE 9:05am, 3pm, 8:20pm. 12:05pm. PVR Select City Walk -
SHIMLA, 4 MARCH PVR Anupam, Saket - PVR Anupam, Saket - 9am, 2:40pm, 8:40pm.
3pm, 11:25pm. PVR Chanakya -1:25pm,
the basis of caste, religion PVR Select City Walk -
2:30pm.
7:10pm.
and region. A local youth brigade of the PVR Select City Walk -
4:50pm, 10:40pm. 11am, 1:55pm, 7:45pm. PVR Sangam -11am,
"BJP has now become the Shimla based NGO, 'The PVR Chanakya -3pm, PVR Pacific Mall - 4:40pm.
10:45pm. PVR Naraina -11:50am,
one of the biggest political Voice' on Sunday orga- PVR Naraina -12:30pm,
9:10am, 2:40pm.
party not only in India but nized a cleanliness drive in Wave Cinema, Kausham- 2:30pm, 8:15pm,
6:50pm. bi -12.40pm, 5.40pm. 10:55pm.
across the world as the party the periphery of Shimla, PVR Pacific Mall - Wave Cinema, Raja Gar- PVR Pacific Mall -9am,
12Noon, 8:40pm. den -10.15am, 5.35pm. 12Noon, 5:30pm,
is now ruling in 21 states Himachal Pradesh. PVR Shalimar Bagh - 10:50pm.
which constitute 70 percent The Voice, President 2pm, 8pm.
HINDI FILM
PVR Vikaspuri -11:50am,
population of the country," he Ramandeep Bholta said, Wave Cinema, Noida - Pari: Not a Fairy tale 5:35pm, 10:40pm.
said. "The cleanliness drive 12.45pm, 5.25pm, PVR Vasantkunj, Delhi - Wave Cinema, Noida -
11pm. 10am, 11:20am, 9.45am, 3.15pm,
There was a time when peo- was organized along the Wave Cinema, Raja Gar- 12:55pm, 2:15pm, 5.50pm, 8.20pm,
ple used to describe BJP as a National Highway near den -2.50pm, 10.20pm. 5:10pm, 8:05pm, 10.45pm.
party of businessman or a party Dhalli, Chahrabra and 9:55pm, 11pm. Wave Cinema, Kausham-
Death Wish Director's Cut, Delhi - bi -9.45am, 3.05pm,
based in North India without Hassan Valley as a part of 9:05am, 1:15pm, 5.50pm, 8.25pm,
PVR Vasantkunj, Delhi -
having any base in North-East the ongoing monthly 10am, 3:25pm, 8:50pm. 7:45pm, 10:55pm. 10.50pm.
or Southern parts of the coun- activity of the organiza- Director's Cut, Delhi - PVR Anupam, Saket - Wave Cinema, Raja Gar-
try. tion. Our objective is to 5:45pm10:55pm. 8:40am, 11pm, 2:40pm, den -9.45am, 2.50pm,
PVR Anupam, Saket - 5pm, 8:40pm, 11:35pm. 5.20pm, 8.20pm.
But the assembly poll spread amongst the pub- 9:15am, 9pm. PVR Select City Walk -
results of Tripura and Naga- lic the need to keep our PVR Select City Walk - 9:05am, 2:45pm, Sonu Ke Titu Ki
land have proven otherwise environment clean and 10:45pm. 8:45pm, 11:40pm. Sweety
PVR Chanakya - PVR Priya -1:10pm, PVR Vasantkunj, Delhi -
now and all the credit for the green." 10:20am, 6pm. 10:30pm. 10:20am, 1:25pm,
same goes to PM Modi and "We also distributed PVR Pacific Mall - PVR Plaza -10am, 4:30pm, 7:35pm,
party chief Amit Shah, he bands to the people, with 9:35am, 6:15pm. 7:20pm. 9:50pm, 10:40pm.
Wave Cinema, Noida - PVR Rivoli -3:40pm, Director's Cut, Delhi -
said, adding now the common an appeal to keep our 10.05am, 3.35pm, 9:50pm. 9:55am, 4:25pm,
masses trust BJP's agenda of Himachal clean and green 6.15pm, 11.05pm. PVR 3C'S -10:30am, 9:55pm.
inclusive development for and to inculcate it as an Wave Cinema, Kausham- 4:40pm, 10:50pm. PVR Anupam, Saket -
bi -10.15am, 3.15pm, PVR Chanakya -10:30am, 8:45am, 11:35am,
all. essential habit to keep 8pm. 1:50pm, 4:45pm, 1:55pm, 5:35pm,
He also take a jibe at CPM cates towards BJP's accept- All these development the surrounding envi- Wave Cinema, Raja Gar- 7:40pm, 10:35pm. 7:55pm, 11pm.
and said the party is now ability among masses across would lead to party's victory ronment clean," he added. den -12.40pm, 5.50pm, PVR Sangam -10am, PVR Select City Walk -
limited to Kerala only and it the country who had clearly in 2019 Lok Sabha polls which As many as 35 youth 11pm. 12:55pm, 6:55pm, 9:20am, 11:40am,
10:30pm. 5:40pm, 11:20pm.
was nearing its complete neglected the false propa- would be even bigger than participated in the clean- Lady Bird PVR Naraina -8:55am, PVR Priya -10:05am,
downfall. ganda of opposition parties 2014 general elections, he liness drive, said Raman- PVR Vasantkunj, Delhi -
11am, 1:55pm, 4:50pm, 7:25pm.
He said the win also indi- who tried to divide them on said. deep Bholta. 7:45pm, 10:40pm. PVR Plaza -4:15pm,
12:45pm, 5:45pm, PVR Pacific Mall -9am,
10:45pm. 10:15pm.
11:40am, 2:35pm, PVR Rivoli -9:30am,
Director's Cut, Delhi - 5:30pm, 8:25pm,
6pm, 11:20pm. 12:35pm, 6:45pm.
11:40pm. PVR 3C'S -1:35pm,
PVR Select City Walk -
Caste discrimination continues
PVR Vikaspuri -8:55am, 7:45pm.
12:25pm, 5:45pm. 12:50pm, 3:55pm, 7pm, PVR Chanakya -10:45am,
PVR Chanakya -12:45pm, 10:55pm.
8:30pm. 4:05pm, 9:50pm.
across Himachal schools
Wave Cinema, Noida - PVR Pacific Mall -
PVR Pacific Mall - 9.40am, 12.25pm,
of the area and the decision of 5:45pm, 10:45pm. 9:30am, 12:35pm,
3.20pm, 5.55pm, 3:40pm, 6:45pm,
placing these in stepwise manner DT MOIN, Noida -Wave 8.40pm, 11.20pm.
Cinema, Noida - 9:50pm, 11:20pm.
has been taken to solve the prob- IANS caste community. 12.50pm, 9pm.
Wave Cinema, Kausham- Wave Cinema, Noida -
bi -9.40am, 12.20pm, 9.30am, 12.15pm, 3pm,
lem to some extent," he said. SHIMLA, 4 MARCH "You can visit any government Wave 3.20pm, 5.40pm,
Cine- 5.45pm, 8.30pm,
He said the grass revives every school in the trans-Giri area and you 8.20pm, 11.10pm. 11.15pm.
ma, Wave Cinema, Raja Gar- Wave Cinema, Raja Gar-
winter under the snow but because Caste discrimination continues to leave will findseparate queues for Dalit stu-
den -10am, 12.10pm, den -9.30am, 12.15pm,
of the changed climatic condi- abad taste among students savouring dents during the midday meal. Even 3.05pm, 8.35pm, 3pm, 5.45pm, 8.30pm,
tions, the peak winters are almost their midday meals in almost every rural the head cook employed for prepar- 11.05pm. 11.15pm.
over and less snowfall resulted in government school of Himachal ing the meals is not from a lower caste,"
no rejuvenation of the natural Pradesh, a state where the literacy rate Verma, who runs the People's Action Veerey Ki Padmaavat
Wedding
grass. The rotation of tents will be is at a high of 82.8 per cent. for People in Need (PAPN) NGO in Sir- PVR Vasantkunj, Delhi -
PVR Vasantkunj, 12:50pm.
done by the department in its 11 Lower caste students face social dis- maur, told IANS. Delhi - Director's Cut, Delhi -
selected sites at Triund. The tents criminationinallschoolactivities,includ- He said the students belonging to 10:05am, 3:15pm.
will be pitched only for few hours. ing partaking of the midday meal. Even the higher castes are tutored by their 1pm, PVR Anupam, Saket -
The tents will be placed at 6 or the chefs employed in 15,000-plus gov- parents against mingling with their 11:40am.
PVR Select City Walk -
7 pm in the evening and will be ernment schools for cooking meals are peers belonging to the lower castes 5:20pm.
removed in the morning every day. largely from the higher castes. and to sit separately while in school. PVR Priya -4:05pm.
"Only 500 tourists will be allowed The latest instance of segregating Locals in the trans-Giri areas, main- PVR Plaza -12:55pm.
PVR Naraina -
to go to Triund per day and a max- Dalit students in a government school ly farmers cultivating ginger on small 3:30pm.
imum 100 will be allowed for a night in Kullu district during a live telecast landholdings, have been fighting for PVR Pacific Mall
stay," an official of Forest depart- of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's pro- decades to get the status of a Sched- -2:55pm.
Wave Cine-
ment said. gramme has hogged the headlines. But, uled Tribe. ma, Noida -
In the first phase, the department claim social activists, that was not a An optimistic Ashwani Kumar 12.10pm.
would setup bio-toilets at Triund, stray incident. Social activist Kuldeep Thakur, principal of the Government
check post at Galu and online reg- Verma said caste-based discrimina- Senior Secondary School at Chikhar
istration of the trekkers. tion during the serving of the midday Satlai, one of the remotest schools A scene from
While in second phase, first-aid meal is common in the state, more located some 50 km from the state Veerey Ki Wedding
centres at Galu check post and Tri- prominent in the extremely back- capital, told IANS they are educat-
und will be developed along with ward trans-Giri areas of Sirmaur dis- ing the students about caste dis-
other facilities. trict, and calls for dignity for the lower- crimination laws.
TODAY IN DELHI Estate, 9.30 a.m. Gallery Art Positive
MUSIC & DANCE (onwards) (till 7 Mmarch) presents "In the Round",
EXHIBITIONS a group show of
Habitat World presents sculptures by five
"21 Years of Raag
Ranjini", Santoor Recital
by Raj Kumar Majumdar,
WWF-India presents
"FrogFest", a show of frog
artefacts. Frog Fest
internationally renowned
sculptors, at F-213/B,
Old MB Road, Lado Sarai,
and hydro electric projects to imum wages for the unskilled under the provisions of the Pay- interface between the workers accompanied by Pt. showcases the amazingly 11 a.m to 7 p.m. (till 15
Pradeep Chatterjee on diverse interpretations
issue Identity Cards to the workers working in scheduled ment of Wages Act 1936 to and the establishments, the reg- March)
Tabla. Followed by dance of the form of the frog.
workers which are required to unemployment is Rs 6300 per this effect are being amended istration and licensing/renew- ballet by Kathak dancer Akar Prakar presents
The display of Frog Art
be attested by the Labour Offi- month. accordingly. In order to prevent al under the provisions of Fac- Shovana Narayan & her presents the personal "For Noah (From My
cer of the concern area, he said, There is an additional the exploitation of contract tories Act, 1948, the Contract senior disciples, at The collection of Seema Bhatt Album)" a solo show of
adding that with these amend- increase of 25 % to 45 % over labour, the government is Labour (Regulation and Abo- Stein Auditorium, India with over 500 frog sculptures by Prithpal
ments the principal employ- and above in wages so fixed for implementing the provisions lition) Act, 1970, the Inter State Habitat Centre, Lodhi artefacts from 40 S. Ladi, at First Floor, D-
er and contractors cannot the workers working in tribal of Contract Labour (Regulation Migrant Workmen (Regula- Road, 7 p.m. countries, at 172-B, Lodhi 43 Defence Colony, 10
escape the responsibility to pro- areas and under construction and Abolition) Act, 1970 very tion of Employment and Con- FILMS Estate, 9.30 p.m. to 5 p.m. a.m. to 7 p.m. (till 7
April)
vide legal dues to the workers. power projects, he said. effectively," he said. ditions of Services) Act, 1979 India International (till 30 April)
The government has pro- "Himachal Pradesh is Labour Officers have been the Motor Transport Workers Centre presents "The Vadehra Art Gallery Korean Cultural Centre
gressively raised the mini- among the few states in the appointed as Registering and Act, 1961 and The Himachal 14th IAWRT Asian presents "Holy Shiver", presents ‘Seoul, Mumbai
mum wages for the sched- country where wages to the Licensing Officers under the Pradesh Shops and Commer- Women’s Film Festival", a solo show of artworks to New Delhi’, a group
at Main Building, India by Riyas Komu, D-53 art show, at A - 25, Lajpat
uled employments since 1958 workers are being paid through said Act. cial Establishment Act, 1969 has
International Centre, 40 Defence Colony, 10 a.m. Nagar IV, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
under the MinimumWages Act, banks to reduce exploitation In order to make the process been made online, said the (till 7 March)
Max Mueller Marg, Lodhi to 7 p.m.(till 3 March)
1948 and as on date the min- of workers and the state rules transparent and minimize the spokesperson.
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SUDOKU
Directions Make a 2 to
7 letter word from the
letters in each row.
Add points of each
word, using scoring
directions at right, 7-
letter words get 50-
point bonus. "Blanks"
Sudoku is a number-placing
used as any letter
have no point value. puzzle based on a 9x9 grid with
All Judd's words are
in The Official several given numbers. The
Scrabble Players object is to place the numbers 1
Dictionary(Merriam-
Webster) and OSW to 9 in the empty squares so
Official Scrabble that no row, no column and no
Srabble and Scrabble Tiles are registered trademarks. Words(Chambers).
3x3 box contains the same
All rights in the game are owned in the U.S.A by Hasbro Judd's solution answer to
Inc., in Canada by Hasbro Canada Inc., and elsewhere by number. The difficulty level
J.W. Spear & Sons Limited, a subsidiary of Mattel, Inc.
tomorrow.
10-25-12
previous
puzzle increases through the week.

THUMBNAILS
People take part at the
Lions Diabetes Yoda
Walkathon, in the
Capital on Sunday. SNS
Pakistan shelling: Pak-
istani troops shelled the
forward posts and villages
along the LoC in Poonch
district of Jammu and
Kashmir overnight, police
said on Sunday.There was
no immediate report of
any casualty or damage in
the shelling. PTI
Bihar pilgrim dies: A 58-
year-old woman pilgrim,
Ramakashi Devi, of Ram-
pur in Bihar, died of car-
diac arrest after paying
obeisance at the shrine of
Mata Vaishno Devi in Reasi
district of Jammu and
Kashmir, a police official
said on Sunday. PTI
Avalanche hits Kupwara:
One person was critically
injured while two others
were evacuated safely
after they were buried by
an avalanche near Farkin
Top in north Kashmir's
Kupwara district on Sun-
day, police said. PTI
Elephant corridors: The
Supreme Court will hear
on 6 April the issue of ele-
phant corridors in the
country, particularly in
the Rajaji National Park in
Uttar Pradesh, to curb
human-animal conflict.The
CJI-led bench had posted
the matter for hearing in
the first week of April. PTI
Adityanath: Lotus will bloom in Karnataka, Kerala
UP Chief Minister nudges Rahul saying ‘Cong on path of defeat’; predicts BJP rule from Kashmir to Kanyakumari
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA
LUCKNOW, 4 MARCH
UP chief minister Yogi
Adityanath today credited
the BJP’s “historic” perfor-
mance in north eastern states
to “development-oriented”
policies of Prime Minister
Narendra Modi and “organ-
isational skills” of Amit Shah
and said the day is not far when
one party will be in power right
from Kashmir to Kanyakumari.
He also took the opportu-
nity to slam the Congress,
saying after Rahul Gandhi
became its president, this is
the fifth defeat for his party.
“After Rahul Gandhi
donned the mantle of Congress
chief, this is the fifth defeat for
his party and the pace of this
record will gather speed in the
near future,” he said. The
chief minister was addressing
a press conference at the BJP
headquarters here after the
party’s good show in Assem-
bly polls in Tripura, Nagaland
and Meghalaya. He said that
VS: Join hands with secular forces to fight RSS
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM,
4 MARCH
The ruling CPI(M) in Kerala
said today that the party’s
defeat in the Assembly elec-
tion in Tripura should be
viewed with utmost seri-
ousness. Veteran party leader
and former chief minister V
S Achutanandan urged the
party leadership to join hands
with secular forces to fight RSS.
“The country is facing
serious challenges. The Con-
gress, which had ruled for
decades in the post-Inde-
‘Students need to aim high’
VP Venkaiah Naidu says while addressing the 67th annual convocation of Panjab University in Chandigarh
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
CHANDIGARH, 4 MARCH
V
ice President M
Venkaiah Naidu today
said that the univer-
sities in the country
should become centres of
excellence.
Naidu stressed upon revis-
iting the curriculum and pro-
gramme of learning in the
context of 21st century so as
to equip young people with
necessary skills for their con-
tribution towards the nation.
The vice president of India,
also the Chancellor of Panjab
University (PU) was address-
ing faculty and students here
during the 67th PU annual con-
vocation.
He urged the students to
master mother language and
to work hard to aim high to
achieve heights. He added
that there is no substitute for
ethics and value system.While
addressing the students, Naidu
said, “Hindu is not a religion.
Hindu is a culture. It is a way
of life.” He urged the youth for
DefExpo: Showcasing India's
weapon, military hardware
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA
NEW DELHI, 4 MARCH
For the first time, the upcom-
ing defence expo, an exhibi-
tion of weapons and military
hardware, will project India's
defence manufacturing capa-
bilities and showcase its poten-
tial to be a major exporter of
military platforms, the defence
ministry said today.Nearly 50
countries have already con-
firmed their participation in
the Expo to be held in Chen-
nai from April 11 to 14.Offi-
cials said India will showcase
a range of indigenously devel-
oped military helicopters and
aircraft, missiles and rockets
and its capabilities to manu-
facture submarines, frigates,
corvettes and other ships.
BJP workers celebrate victory in the Assembly polls, in the
Capital on Sunday.
during the run up to the
Gujarat Assembly elections,
Rahul Gandhi was coronat-
ed as Congress president and
that time itself he had said,
would make the BJP’s job
easier. “Under Rahul Gandhi's
presidentship, the Congress
has lost five states and when
he was the party vice presi-
dent, the Congress frittered
away ten states,” Adityanath
said, noting that it was a mat-
ter of “happiness” for the saf-
fron party.
“The BJP’s sterling per-
formance in northeast will go
a long way in fulfilling devel-
opment aspirations of people,”
he said. Adityanath said for the
first time after Independence,
these northeastern states will
get chance to join the nation-
al mainstream and enjoy fruits
of development.
The UP chief minister,
who had campaigned for the
saffron party in these Assem-
pendence period, has become
weaker now,” the 94-year-old
Marxist veteran said. The
Left parties, which ruled West
Bengal and Tripura, were
also “weak,” Achutanandan,
who supported the party
general secretary Sitaram
Yechury’s line of having an
understanding with Con-
gress to fight the BJP, said. As
the Left parties had no
strength now to fight and
defeat the Sangh forces on its
own, a tactical move with sec-
ular forces was necessary.
Senior party leader and
state minister A K Balan
BJP’s victory in Tripura has proved that there is no
alternative to the BJP in the country
will, skill and kill using the right
means of communication that
technology has provided to
facilitate social harmony and
to cultivate a culture of healthy
and civilised discussion on
many of the pressing problems.
He further stated that it is
appreciable that PU is con-
tinuing with its commendable
tradition of honouring some
of the outstanding Indian sci-
entists, doctors, writers, edu-
cationists and leaders from
industry.
Many illustrious leaders
and makers of the nation in
many fields have been asso-
Nearly 50 countries
have already con-
firmed their partici-
pation in the Expo to
be held in Chennai
from 11 to 14 April
“DefExpo 2018 will, for
the first time, project Indias
defence manufacturing capa-
bilities to the world. It will brand
India as a defence exporter of
several defence systems and
components for all three ser-
vices -- Army, Navy and Air
Force,” the defence ministry
said in a statement.
It said showcasing the
potential of Indias public sec-
tor as well as private indus-
tries to manufacture com-
SNS
bly elections, said Prime Min-
ister Narendra Modi’s devel-
opment oriented policies and
organisational skills of BJP
President Amit Shah led to his
party’s “sterling performance”.
He said the ‘lotus’ will now
bloom in Karnataka, Kerala,
West Bengal and Odisha,
thanks to the development-
oriented policies of the prime
minister and his good gover-
nance, and the guidance of the
party chief Amit Shah.
“That day is not far when
one party will be in power right
from Kashmir down to
Kanyakumari,” he said.
After the outcome of
Assembly elections in the
three northeastern states, the
BJP is set to lead or be a part-
ner in 21 of India’s 31 state gov-
ernments, underlining a saf-
fron dominance of the nation-
al political map like no other
time. Adityanath also exud-
ed confidence that the BJP will
alleged that the saffron party
had “misused” money and
power at the Centre for their
victory in the northeastern
state, which was considered
as the fortress of the Left
party.
BJP’s victory was a chal-
lenge to the democracy and
the national integrity, Balan
said. “The BJP’s victory in
Tripura was the sabotage of
democracy. What had hap-
pened there was not the peo-
ple’s mandate,” he said.
Balan said the saffron
party had even joined hands
with “separatists” for the poll
RAJASTHAN CHIEF MINISTER VASUNDHARA RAJE
AFTER BJP’S BIG WIN IN TRIPURA
ciated with the PU, including
colleagues of national and
international stature. Such
intellectual heights are achieved
when ‘the mind is without
fear and the head is held high’,
when people of a nation, free
from colonial domination,
build their own frameworks of
thought, he added.
He further stated that for
the students receiving their
degrees on what is a momen-
tous occasion in their lives,
these ideas have a great mean-
ing and resonance. It is cer-
tainly a privilege and an
achievement to attain degrees
ponents and sub-systems of
major platforms will also be
a focus area.
India has been one of the
largest importers of defence
hardware and the govern-
ment has been trying to pro-
mote the domestic defence
industries to cut dependence
on foreign procurement.
The officials said state-
run aerospace major Hin-
dustan Aeronautics Ltd's var-
ious flying platforms includ-
ing domestically designed
and manufactured fourth-
generation Light Combat Air-
craft (LCA) - Tejas, Advanced
Light Helicopter - Dhruv and
Light Combat Helicopter
(LCH) and Dornier civilian air-
craft will be the major high-
light of the expo.
win Lok Sabha by-elections
next week in Gorakhpur and
Phulpur constituencies in
Uttar Pradesh. He took pot-
shots at arch- rivals SP and BSP
on reports that they might join
hands to take on the BJP in
the next week’s Lok Sabha by-
elections in Phulpur and
Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh.
“Who doesn't know the
guest house episode? Can
one forget who had threatened
to damage statues (of Dalit
icons),” he said without elab-
orating.
His reference was to an
attack allegedly engineered by
SP supporters on then chief
minister Mayawati in the
Meerabai Road state guest
house in the state capital over
two decades back. On the
possibility of SP-BSP coming
together in the Parliamentary
by-polls, he described the
two parties as “ker-ber”
(banana and Indian plum) and
asked as to whether the two
different fruits could gel.
Asked for which parties he
used the expression “ker”
and “ber”,Adityanath smilingly
said, “It’s for you to judge.”
Continuing its winning
streak, the BJP wrested Tripu-
ra, and received invitation to
be part of the government in
Nagaland, while Meghalaya
elected a hung Assembly.
The main Opposition Con-
gress is in power in only four
states- its lowest-ever tally
which includes Mizoram and
Puducherry.
victory. Senior CPI(M) leader,
M V Jayarajan said in a Face-
book post that the BJP’s vic-
tory in Tripura was the result
of money power and the
“unholy alliance with terror
groups.”Jayarajan, alleged
that the Congress leaders
and cadres had moved
towards BJP.
He also said that the poll
result of the state should not
be viewed lightly and all the
patriots in the country have
the responsibility to check and
isolate any effort of the com-
munal forces gaining strength
in the country.
of higher education at a pre-
mier university. Along with this
justified sense of pride and
achievement, there is also a
sense of hope and expectation
of what the future will bring.
And it is also a time for plan-
ning the next stage of life, and
of working in the competitive
environment we see around
us, added Naidu.
“Today, we have broad
consensus in the country
about reforms. Reforms are the
need of the hour. Prime Min-
ister Narendra Modi has given
three words advice -Reform,
Perform and Transform. Trans-
formation of the country is very
much required. About 65 per
cent of Indian population is
below 35 years,” he said.
“We have demographic
dividend. This younger gen-
eration should be shown a
proper path, they should be
given proper guidance and that
is the duty of the universities,
duty of institutions, all tech-
nical as well as other institu-
tions,” he said.
“Universities should aim
Climate change has resulted in reduction of coral cover
PRESS TRUST OF I NDIA
NEW DELHI, 4 MARCH
Climate change has resulted in
“substantial” reduction of the
country's coral cover and
growth in the last two decades,
according to conservation
group WWF India which has
stressed the need for formu-
lating a “holistic” approach
for their protection.
It said the connectivity of
India's freshwater, coastal, off-
shore and marine systems
must be taken into account
when conserving such (corals)
habitats and the management
regimes must reflect this.Coral
diversity and formation of
reefs are centred around four
major regions - the Gulf of
Kutchh and the Lakshadweep
atolls on the west to the Gulf
of Mannar and the Andaman
Myth broken
that BJP wins
only Cong
states: MP CM
BHOPAL,4 MARCH
Terming the BJP’s win in the
Assembly polls in Tripura as
“historical”, Madhya Pradesh
chief minister Shivraj Singh
Chouhan today said it had
broken a myth that the BJP
only captured power in Con-
gress-ruled states.
“When the BJP lost the
elections in Delhi and Bihar,
a notion gained currency
that the BJP can’t prevail over
other parties, apart from the
Congress, in state elections.
This myth stands shattered
with the outcome of Tripu-
ra,” he said.
“BJP has soundly defeat-
ed the Left Front govern-
ment led by Manik Sarkar
which has ruled Tripura for
the last 25 years. We got a his-
torical mandate in Tripura.
We have bagged a majority
on out own, and along with
our allies, we have won a two-
third majority. In Nagaland
too, the BJP’s performance is
good,” Chouhan said.
“We did not get victory in
Tripura easily. 20 BJP work-
ers were killed in the past one
year. Be it Kerala, Bengal or
Tripura, the Communists
resort to violence,” he
claimed. PTI
‘BJP will win Karnataka as well’
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA
MUMBAI, 4 MARCH
Hailing the BJP’s perfor-
mance in recently-held elec-
tions in three North-East-
ern states, Maharashtra chief
minister Devendra Fadnavis
today said the party will reg-
ister victory in poll-bound
Karnataka as well.
“The BJP has not only
won the elections but secured
49 to 50 per cent votes in the
three north-east states. It
shows the mandate is inclined
towards the BJP. The poll
outcome is also a boost for
NEW DELHI, MONDAY 05 MARCH 2018
at becoming the centres of
excellence. You must strive
hard to reach there,” he fur-
ther said.
“There is also a greater
social responsibility that youth
has to shoulder.There is a need
to exercise judgement while
looking at social issues and be
a part of the traditions of tol-
erance and respect that are
characteristics of our plural-
istic culture,” he said.
The vice president also
exhorted students to aim high
and work hard to excel in
their lives. Naidu also asked
senate and syndicate of uni-
versities to focus on enhanc-
ing the standard of education.
Meanwhile, Professor Arun
K Grover, Vice Chancellor, PU
said that PU campus in
contemporary times com-
prises over seventy five close-
ly knit university departments
and institutes, the equivalent
of this campus did not exist at
Lahore, the city of PU’s origin
and the enforcement of Indi-
an Universities Act (1904) on
it.
GLOBAL WARMING EFFECT
�Coral diversity and formation
of reefs are centred around four
major regions - the Gulf of Kutchh
and the Lakshadweep atolls on
the west to the Gulf of Man-
nar and the Andaman and
Nicobar islands on the East.
and Nicobar islands on the East.
Besides these hotspots,
patchy reefs are present in
other coastal regions, from
the coast of Goa and parts of
the Malvan marine national
park to the Kanyakumari dis-
trict in southern Tamil Nadu.
Ajay Arun Venkataraman
of WWF-India said that recent
years have seen a slew of anthro-
pogenic impacts threaten the
future and health of coral
reefs.“Climate change is the
BJP continues to expand
footprint across India
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA
NEW DELHI, 4 MARCH
With the BJP toppling the Left
in Tripura and likely to be a
part of ruling alliances in
Nagaland and Meghalaya, the
party is set to lead or be a part-
ner in 21 of India’s 31 state
governments, underlining a
saffron dominance of the
national political map like no
other time.
Prime Minister Naren-
dra Modi and BJP president
Amit Shah had yesterday
picked Karnataka - the only
Congress-ruled state which
sends 20 or more MPs to the
Lok Sabha as their next tar-
get, with Modi asserting that
the Opposition party will
not be in power following elec-
tions there.The BJP has had
a spectacular rise under Modi
and Shah in the last four
years as the tally of states ruled
by it before it stormed to power
at the Centre in May 2014 has
risen from seven to 21. It will
have 17 chief ministers after
its elected legislature party
leader takes oath in Tripura.
The states ruled alone or in
alliance by the BJP include
Jammu and Kashmir,
Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat,
forthcoming assembly elec-
tion in Karnataka,” the chief
minister said a day after the
BJP won Tripura and is
believed to be in reckoning
to form governments with
alliance partners in Nagaland
and Meghalaya.
Analysing the poll out-
come, Fadnavis said the BJP
did not win the elections
because of some vote division,
but due to the people’s trust
in Narendra Modi and party
president Amit Shah.
Fadnavis said the BJP is
now in power in 21 states cov-
ering 78 per cent of geo-
Iran-Pak gas pipeline
row intensifies
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI, 4 MARCH
Iran and Pakistan are involved
in a fresh row over the delay
in the implementation of
the much talked about Iran-
Pakistan (IP) gas pipeline
project.
The row coincides with the
ground-breaking ceremony
of the Afghanistan section of
the Turkmenistan-Afghan-
istan-Pakistan-India (TAPI)
gas pipeline.
Tehran has threatened to
drag Pakistan to the inter-
national arbitration court to
seek damages worth over $1
billion for allegedly shelving
the project, apparently under
US pressure. Tehran has
warned Islamabad of invok-
ing the penalty clause of the
Gas Sales Purchase Agreement
under which Pakistan has to
pay $1 million per day if it fails
to comply with the agreement,
reports suggest.
Iran and Pakistan started
negotiating the project in
1995 and subsequently signed
a preliminary agreement for
primary threat, with multiple
bleaching events occurring in
the last two decades, resulting
in substantial reductions to
coral cover and growth.
“Increased atmospheric carbon
dioxide levels have other more
insidiouseffectsonreefs,decreas-
ing the pH of oceans and result-
ing in ocean acidification, which
seriously hinder the reef build-
ing capacity of corals,” he said.
He pointed out that under the
looming shadow of climate
Bihar, Goa and Maharash-
tra.With the next Lok Sabha
elections barely a year away,
BJP leaders have underlined
the significance of its per-
formance in the three north-
east states, with Shah claim-
ing that it is an indication of
the verdict expected not only
in Karnataka Assembly but
also the next Parliamentary
polls.
The timing of its unpre-
cedented performance in
Tripura, where it will form its
maiden government, and
Nagaland, where it has for the
first time won 12 seats, has
come handy for it at a time
when the Opposition parties
have sought to corner it over
a host of issues, including
banking scams and per-
ceived farm crisis.
The motivation which
the Congress might have
drawn from its win in the
recent bypolls will dissipate
and the message to its cadre
and the masses is that peo-
ple continue to back Modi and
his party. Shah had yesterday
pointed out that in three
state polls, including Gujarat,
Himachal Pradesh and Tri-
pura, his party has received
close to 50 per cent of votes.
graphical area of the coun-
try, and will repeat its historical
win in the 2019 general elec-
tions as well.
“There is a social media
which says the Congress
wants bypolls to be held only
in those areas where it has
improved its performance,”
he said .
“I wanted to thank the vot-
ers of Tripura for one more
reason. In the last six months,
as many as 27 workers of the
BJP were killed in violence.
Despite so much opposi-
tion, BJP clinched victory,” he
said.
05
constructing the pipeline
from Iran’s South Pars gas field,
in the southwest of the coun-
try, to Karachi in Pakistan.
Later, India proposed join-
ing the project. In February
1999, Iran and India also
inked an agreement, thus
giving the project the nomen-
clature of the Iran-Pakistan-
India (IPI) gas pipeline or the
‘peace pipeline’. However,
India withdrew from the pro-
ject in 2009, over pricing and
security issues.
In September 2012, Iran
and Pakistan announced that
the project would commence
in October 2012 and be com-
pleted by December 2014. But
Pakistan has yet not begun
constructing the pipeline
though it maintains that the
IP project was still alive. ‘’To
the best of my knowledge, the
IP gas pipeline project is still
on,’’ according to Pakistan For-
eign Office spokesperson
Mohammed Faisal.Initially it
would bring 750 million cubic
feet of gas per day, which could
later be enhanced to one bil-
lion cubic feet per day.
change, overfishing,unregulated
coastal development, nutri-
ent, heavy metal and chemical
pollution, coral and coal min-
ing, and sedimentation are a few
examples of human impacts,
all working together to degrade
the world's reefs.“Increased
coastal infrastructural devel-
opment and a high depen-
dency on coral reef systems, as
a source of nutrition and liveli-
hoods, place the future of not
only our natural habitats but also
our economic and social sta-
bility at risk.“In addition, altered
freshwater inputs into the
ocean, bringing more sedi-
mentcancausesiltationonexist-
ing reefs. Development plans
for the Lakshadweep atolls and
the Andaman and Nicobar
Islands similarly threaten our
island's reefs,”Venkataraman
pointed out.
Secular parties
need to strike
electoral
understanding:
Moily
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA
HYDERABAD, 4 MARCH
With the BJP’s winning jug-
gernaut rolling on, senior
Congress leader MVeerappa
Moily said today that sec-
ular parties can no longer
work in isolation and will
have to strike an electoral
understanding for survival.
Moily also claimed that
the Congress would stage
a comeback in Madhya
Pradesh, Rajasthan and
Chhattisgarh, where elec-
tions are due later this year,
and asserted that the party
was going from strength to
strength in poll-bound Kar-
nataka.
“When we are facing a
communal demon like the
BJP, no non-communal
people and secular party
can work in isolation. At
some level, some under-
standing,minimum under-
standing will have to take
place to fight against fas-
cist, communal forces,”
Moily said. He also reject-
ed suggestions that the
country was heading
towards a “Congress-mukt
Bharat”, and the Left par-
ties were going to be irrel-
evant in some years from
now.
“That can never hap-
pen. How can it be? Has it
happened in Punjab? Is it
happening in Rajasthan,
where we got two Parlia-
ment seats and one Assem-
bly seat; is it happening in
Gujarat, where we were
about to win but for the gim-
micks played by them, mis-
using the GST power with
them?” Moily asked. On the
Left front's poor show in
Tripura, he said no politi-
cal party can become irrel-
evant in India.
06
Heavy snowfall in Kedarnath affects work
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
DEHRADUN, 4 MARCH
H
eavy snowfall in
Kedarnath affect-
ed reconstruction
work. Many VIPs
were to visit the holy town-
ship, located in district Rud-
erprayag, on Sunday to
review the revamp work.
But they had to return to
Dehradun from Guptkashi,
due to bad weather.
LEGAL NOTICES
IN THE COURT OF
MS. SURYA MALIK GROVER
Additional District Judge-01,
Room No. 616, Sixth Floor,
South-East Delhi,
Saket District Court,
New Delhi
PC/1540/2016
1. Nazara Begum w/o Sira-
juddin r/o 1-E/1, Zamrudpur,
Opp. LSR College, New Delhi-
110048.
2. Keira Malik d/o Sham-
suddin r/o 1-E/1, Zamrudpur,
Opp. LSR College, New Delhi-
110048.
3. Aaron Malik s/o Sham-
suddin through their father
being natural guardian Sham-
suddin s/o Sirajuddin r/o 1-E/1,
Zamrudpur, Opp. LSR College,
New Delhi-110048.
Versus
1. State (Govt. of NCT of
Delhi)
2. Riyazuddin s/o Sirajuddin,
RZ-750, Gali No. 13, Tughlak-
abad Ext., New Delhi.
3. Shamim d/o Sirajuddin
w/o Nawab r/o C-30, Jyoti
Colony, Durgapuri Chowk,
Shahadara, Delhi.
4. Raziya d/o Sirajuddin w/o
Yasin Malik r/o F-418, Gali No.
15, Chand Bagh, Delhi-110092.
5. Rehana d/o Sirajuddin
w/o Noushad r/o 750, Bhola
Road Khadoli, Meerut Highway
NH-58, 250005.
6. Shamsheera d/o Sirajud-
din w/o Sunil Kumar, Present-
ly at:- Zamrudpur, Opp. LSR
College, New Delhi-110048.
7. Naseem d/o Sirajuddin
w/o Shakil r/o C-17, Gali No.17,
Okhla Vihar, Delhi.
Whereas a Petition under
Section 276 of The Indian Suc-
cession Act for grant of Letters
of Administration in respect of
the immovable property bear-
ing No. 1-E/1, Zamrudpur,
Opp. LSR College, New Delhi
and One shop bearing No. 13,
DDA Market, Auto Complex,
Zamrudpur, New Delhi of
deceased Late Sh. Sirajuddin
has been filed by the peti-
tioner before this court.
Notice is hereby given to
the general public having any
interest in the Probate/Let-
ters of Administration of the
Estate of the abovenamed
Petitioner/deceased may if
he/she desires, appear in this
court on 12-04-2018 and par-
ticipate in the in the pro-
ceedings before the Grant of
Letters of Administration/Pro-
bate.
Given under my hand and
the Seal of the Court on this
23rd day of January, 2018.
Additional District
Judge-01,
South-East Delhi,
Saket District Court,
New Delhi
Seal of the Court
CL 04248
PROCLAMATION REQUIRING
ATTENDANCE OF
DEFENDANT
(Order 5, Rule 20 of the
Code of Civil Procedure)
In the Court of
Sanjay Sharma-I
Addl. District Judge-02
(East)
Court Room No. 12,
Karkardooma Courts, Delhi.
Case No. 226/2017.
M/s. Sikka Media and Adver-
tisement Pvt. Ltd.
— Plaintiff
Versus
AVJ Developers Pvt. Ltd.
— Defendant
To,
AVJ Developers Pvt. Ltd.,
through its Director, D-237,
1st Floor, Vivek Vihar, Phase-
I, Delhi-110095.
The Defendant Above-
named.
Whereas you are inten-
tionally evading service of
summons it is hereby noti-
fied that if you shall not
defend the case on the 7th day
of May, 2018 the day fixed for
the final disposal, it will be
heard and determined ex-
parte.
Given under my hand and
the Seal of the Court, on this
the 22nd day of February,
2018.
Addl. Distt. & Sessions
Judge-02 (East)
Karkardooma Courts,
Delhi.
Seal of the Court
CL 04249
IN THE COURT OF
SH. SANATAN PRASAD
Additional District Judge-01,
East District, Room No. 3,
2nd Floor,
Karkardooma Courts, Delhi
G.P. No. 7/2017
Sh. Shyam Sunder Sharma
s/o Late Jagdish Mitra r/o
House No. 581, Near Satya
Ganga Coaching Centre, Jheel
Khuranja, Krishna Nagar,
Delhi-110051.
— Petitioner
Versus
1. The State (Govt. of NCT
Delhi)
2. Smt. Pushpa w/o Late
Jagdish Mitra r/o House No.
601-A, First Floor, Near Ronak
Banquet Hall, Jheel Khuranja,
Krishna Nagar, Delhi-110051.
— Respondents
PETITION UNDER SECTION 7
OF GUARDIANS AND WARDS
ACT 1980, TO APPOINT THE
PETITIONER AS GUARDIAN
OF PERSON AND PROPERTY
OF MINORS (MASTER CHI-
RAG SHARMA AND BABY
MEHAK SHARMA) FOR
ISSUANCE OF GUARDIAN-
SHIP CERTIFICATE.
Whereas an Petition Under
Section 7 of the Guardian-
ship Act, 1980, for issuance of
the Guardianship Certificate.
Whereas in the above noted
petition the applicant/peti-
tioner has applied for appoin
tthe applicant as a guardian of
the minors property and Life
Insurance Policy of ICICI Pru-
dential Smart Kid-New Unit
Linked R.P.
1. Policy No. 06415450 Policy
NEW DELHI, MONDAY 05 MARCH 2018
Snowfall began on Saturday and continued all
day on Sunday to drop the temperature in
Kedarnath. The pilgrimage centre was cov-
ered with about 1.5 feet snow. It continued
on Sunday to force the reconstruction agency
to halt the development works.
Snowfall began on Sat-
urday and continued all
day on Sunday to drop the
temperature in Kedarnath.
The pilgrimage centre was
Terms 19 Years, said Policy
is Rs. 2,00,000/- and Waiver of
Premium Rider Rs. 12,000/-.
2. Policy No. 06445972 Policy
Terms 16 Years, said Policy
is Rs. 2,00,000/- besides Acci-
dental and Disability Benefit
Rider Rs. 100,000/-.
Whereas the 08-03-2018 at 10
O' clock in the forenoon has
been fixed for hearing of the
case, notice is hereby given
that person having any inter-
est in the administration of the
shares and debentures con-
cerned may if he/she desire to
appear in this Court on the
said 08-03-2018 and see the
proceedings before the
issuance of Guardianship Cer-
tificate.
Given under my hand and
the Seal of this Court on this
27-02-2018.
Additional District
Judge-01,
East District, Karkar-
dooma Courts, Delhi
Seal of the Court
CL 04250
IN THE COURT OF
SH. SANATAN PRASAD
Additional District Judge-01,
East District, Room No. 3,
2nd Floor,
Karkardooma Courts, Delhi
G.P. No. 7/2018
Devendra Kumar s/o Sh.
Praveen Kumar r/o 16/482,
Kalyanpuri, Delhi-110091.
— Petitioner
Versus
The State & Ors. through
the Chief Secretary N.C.T. of
Delhi.
— Respondents
PETITION FOR UNDER
SECTION 276 OF THE INDIAN
SUCCESSION ACT FOR THE
GRANT OF PROBATE OF
IMMOVABLE PROPERTIES IN
RESPECT OF THE 'WILL'
DATED 27-05-2016
EXECUTED BY LATE SMT.
SHYAMA DEVI W/O ALTE
DAULAT RAM, R/O H.NO.
16/482, KALYANPURI,
DELHI-110091.
Whereas an Petition under
Section 276 of the Indian Suc-
cession Act, for grant of Pro-
bate of 'WILL'.
Whereas in the above noted
petition the applicant/peti-
tioner has applied for Pro-
bate of 'WILL' dated 27-05-
2016, Hon'ble Court under
Section 276 of the Indian Suc-
cession Act 1925, in respect of
the Immovable Property at:-
H.No. 16/482, Kalyanpuri, Delhi-
110091, in favour of the Peti-
tioner.
Whereas the 23-04-2018 at 10
O' clock in the forenoon has
been fixed for hearing of the
case, notice is hereby given
that person having any inter-
est in the administration of the
concerned may if he/she
desire tp appear in this Court
on the said 23-04-2018 and see
the proceedings before the
grant of Probate of 'WILL'.
Given under my hand and
the Seal of this Court on this
19-02-2018.
Additional District
Judge-01,
East District, Karkar-
dooma Courts, Delhi
Seal of the Court
CL 04251
PROCLAMATION REQUIRING
ATTENDANCE OF
DEFENDANT
(Order 5, Rule 20 of the
Code of Civil Procedure)
In the Court of
Ms. Richa Sharma
Civil Judge-01 (West)
Room No. 118,
Tis Hazari Courts, Delhi.
Suit No. CS
SCJ/613420/2016.
Tata Power Delhi Distribu-
tion Ltd.
— Plaintiff
Versus
SBN Security Services Pvt.
Ltd.
— Defendant
To,
(a) SBN Security Services
Pvt. Ltd., through Sh. Sanjay,
Ground Floor, MCD Parking
No. 13, Pandav Nagar, Land-
mark Near Metro Station,
Delhi.
(b) SBN Security Services
Pvt. Ltd., 44-D, 3rd Floor, AJ
Market, Shalimar Bagh, Delhi-
110088.
(c) SBN Security Services
Pvt. Ltd., through Authorized
Representative, Mr. Pankaj
Sharma, s/o Sh. Suresh Shar-
ma, 3/60, Gali No. 3, Block
Khadda Colony, Swaroop
Nagar, Delhi-110042.
The Defendant Above-
named.
Whereas you are inten-
tionally evading service of
summons it is hereby noti-
fied that if you shall not
defend the case on the 2nd
day of April, 2018 the day
fixed for the final disposal,
it will be heard and deter-
mined ex-parte.
Given under my hand and
the Seal of the Court, on this
the 30th day of January, 2018.
Civil Judge
Delhi.
Seal of the Court
CL 04252
IN THE COURT OF
SH. SANJAY KUMAR
Addl. District Judge-02
(West)
Room No. 202, 2nd Floor,
Tis Hazari Courts,
Delhi-110054.
PC No. 9/2018.
Dayawanti & Anr.
Versus
The State
CITATION UNDER SECTION
283(2) OF SUCCESSION ACT,
1925.
Whereas an application
under the Indian Succession
Act, 1925 for grant of Probate
of the Will or for Letters of
Administration to the estate
of Late Smt. Indra Malik, w/o
Late Sh. Khairati Lal in respect
of property bearing No. 7/107,
Ramesh Nagar, New Delhi,
died on 17th March, 2013 at
Meerut has been made by
Smt. Dayawanti, w/o Sh. Bansi
Lal, r/o E-34, Hospital Area,
Ward No. 2, Nilokheri, Karnal,
Haryana-132117.
covered with about 1.5 feet
snow. Uttarakhand’s Chief
Secretar morning.
It continued on Sunday
to force the reconstruction
Whereas the 23rd day of
March, 2018 has been fixed for
hearing of the case. Notice
is hereby given that any per-
son having any interest in
the Administration of the
Estate of the said deceased
may if he/she desires to
appear in this Court on the
above said date and see the
proceedings of the Grant of
Probate (or for Letters of
Administration).
Given under my hand and
the Seal of this Court on this
the 20th day of February, 2018.
Addl. District Judge-02
(West)
Tis Hazari Courts, Delhi.
Seal of the Court
CL 04253
IN THE COURT OF
SH. SANJAY KUMAR
Addl. District Judge-02
(West)
Room No. 202, 2nd Floor,
Tis Hazari Courts,
Delhi-110054.
PC No. 8/2018.
Bimla Kakkar
Versus
The State & Ors.
CITATION UNDER SECTION
283(2) OF SUCCESSION ACT,
1925.
Whereas an application
under the Indian Succession
Act, 1925 for grant of Probate
of the Will or for Letters of
Administration to the estate
of Late Sh. Raj Paul Kakkar, s/o
Late Sh. I. D. Kakkar in respect
of the property bearing No. M-
53, Ground Floor, Rajouri Gar-
den, New Delhi-110027 and
Shop No. 21, Paschim Puri,
New Delhi, died on 2nd day of
April, 2015 at Delhi has been
made by Smt. Bimla Kakkar,
w/o Late Sh. R. P. Kakkar,
Rajouri Garden, New Delhi-
110027.
Whereas the 22nd day of
March, 2018 has been fixed for
hearing of the case. Notice
is hereby given that any per-
son having any interest in
the Administration of the
Estate of the said deceased
may if he/she desires to
appear in this Court on the
above said date and see the
proceedings of the Grant of
Probate (or for Letters of
Administration).
Given under my hand and
the Seal of this Court on this
the 19th day of February, 2018.
Addl. District Judge-02
(West)
Tis Hazari Courts, Delhi.
Seal of the Court
CL 04254
IN THE COURT OF
SH. SANJAY KUMAR
Addl. District Judge-02
(West)
Room No. 202, 2nd Floor,
Tis Hazari Courts,
Delhi-110054.
PC No. 14/2018.
Kamal Kumar Gupta
Versus
The State & Ors.
CITATION UNDER SECTION
283(2) OF SUCCESSION ACT,
1925.
Whereas an application
under the Indian Succession
Act, 1925 for grant of Probate
of the Will or for Letters of
Administration to the estate
of Late Sh. Inder Dev Gupta,
s/o Late Sh. Tek Chand Gupta
in respect of property bearing
No. A-35, (Approx. Area 16.36)
of Nangloi Shopping Complex
of Delhi Metro Rail Corpora-
tion, Delhi, died on 21st
December, 2011 at Delhi has
been made by Sh. Kamal
Kumar Gupta, s/o Late Sh.
Inder Dev Gupta, r/o H. No.
22, Block-B, Extension No. 2,
Near Kaushik Road, Nangloi,
Delhi.
Whereas the 15th day of
March, 2018 has been fixed for
hearing of the case. Notice
is hereby given that any per-
son having any interest in
the Administration of the
Estate of the said deceased
may if he/she desires to
appear in this Court on the
above said date and see the
proceedings of the Grant of
Probate (or for Letters of
Administration).
Given under my hand and
the Seal of this Court on this
the 16th day of February, 2018.
Addl. District Judge-02
(West)
Tis Hazari Courts, Delhi.
Seal of the Court
CL 04255
IN THE COURT OF
SH. GAJENDER SINGH
NAGAR
Administrative Civil Judge-
cum-
Addl. Rent Controller
(Central)
Room No. 323, 3rd Floor,
Tis Hazari Courts, Delhi.
Petition No. SUCC/119/2017
Date of Hearing: 24-04-2018.
Smt. Priyanka w/o Late Sh.
Aditya Kumar Shukla r/o M-37,
Block-M, Gali No. 2, Near Shiv
Mandir, Shastri Nagar, Central
Delhi-110052.
— Petitioner
Versus
The State
— Respondent
FOR SUCCESSION
CERTIFICATE UNDER INDIAN
SUCCESSION ACT, 1925.
To,
All Concerned.
Whereas in the abovenoted
Petition the applicant/Peti-
tioner has applied for Suc-
cession Certificate to the
Hon'ble Court under Section
372 of the Indian Succession
Act, 1925 in respect of the
debts and securities amount
of Rs. xxx. as per record to be
standing in the name of Sh.
Aditya Kumar Shukla the
deceased.
Whereas the 24-04-2018 at
10-00 O'clock in the forenoon
has been fixed for hearing of
the application notice is here-
by given to the concerned.
Given under my hand and
the Seal of the Court on this
26-02-2018.
Administrative Civil
Judge-cum-
Addl. Rent Controller
(Central)
Tis Hazari Courts, Delhi.
Seal of the Court
CL 04256
PROCLAMATION REQUIRING
ATTENDANCE OF
DEFENDANT
(Order 5, Rule 20 of the
Code of Civil Procedure)
In the Court of
Ms. Pragati
Civil Judge-03 (Central)
Room No. 15,
Tis Hazari Courts, Delhi.
Suit No. CS
SCJ/600806/2016.
Abdul Rasheed Khan
— Plaintiff
Versus
R. R. Tours Travels
— Defendant
To,
R. R. Tours & Travels through
its C.E.O. Sh. Manoj Pandey, r/o
A-30, Street No. 2, Madhu
Vihar, I.P. Extension, Delhi-
110092.
Also at : WZ-8, Main Road,
Near Bus Stand, Palam Vil-
lage, Delhi-110045.
The Defendant Above-
named.
Whereas you are inten-
tionally evading service of
summons it is hereby noti-
fied that if you shall not
defend the case on the 17th
day of March, 2018 the day
fixed for the final disposal,
it will be heard and deter-
mined ex-parte.
Given under my hand and
the Seal of the Court, on this
the 23rd day of February, 2018.
Civil Judge
Delhi.
Seal of the Court
CL 04257
PROCLAMATION REQUIRING
ATTENDANCE OF
DEFENDANT
(Order 5, Rule 20 of the
Code of Civil Procedure)
In the Court of
Sh. Harish Kumar
Addl. District Judge-13
(Central)
Room No. 123, First Floor,
Tis Hazari Courts, Delhi.
CS No. 1925/2017.
State Bank of India
— Plaintiff
Versus
Rajesh Kumar
— Defendant
To,
1. Sh. Rajesh Kumar, s/o Sh.
Laxman Dass Malhotra, r/o
G-17/5, Second Floor, Sector-
15, Rohini, Delhi-110085.
The Defendant Above-
named.
Whereas you are inten-
tionally evading service of
summons it is hereby noti-
fied that if you shall not
defend the case on the 12th
day of March, 2018 the day
fixed for the final disposal,
it will be heard and deter-
mined ex-parte.
Given under my hand and
the Seal of the Court, on this
the 22nd day of February,
2018.
Addl. District Judge-13
(Central)
Tis Hazari Courts, Delhi.
Seal of the Court
CL 04260
IN THE COURT OF
SH. SANJAY KUMAR
Addl. District Judge-02
(West)
Room No. 202, 2nd Floor,
Tis Hazari Courts,
Delhi-110054.
PC No. 3/2018.
Chander Dev Chawla
Versus
The State & Ors.
CITATION UNDER SECTION
283(2) OF SUCCESSION ACT,
1925.
Whereas an application
under the Indian Succession
Act, 1925 for grant of Probate
of the Will or for Letters of
Administration to the estate
of Late Sh. Gobind Lal Chawla,
s/o Late Sh. Godha Ram
Chawla, in respect of Entire
KOLKATA
Statesman House,
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Kolkata-700 001
Tel: (033) 22127070-76,
(033) 41071700
Fax: (033) 2212-6181 / 7107-1780
Email: thestatesman@vsnl.com
statesmandisplay@gmail.com
thestatesmanclassified@gmail.com
DELHI
Statesman House,
148, Barakhamba Road,
New Delhi-110 001
Tel: (011) 2331 5911
Fax: (011) 2331 5295
Email:
thestatesmandelhi@thestatesman.net
delhistatesman@gmail.com
3/10, INS Building
(3rd floor) Rafi Marg,
New Delhi-110 001,
Tel: (011) 2371 8434
Email:
thestatesmandelhi@thestatesman.net
shivaji.samaddar@gmail.com
Ishan House (2nd floor)
A-90, Sector II NOIDA,
UP 201 301
Tel: (0120) 95120-3891800/810,
Fax: (0120) 95120-2547216
SILIGURI
13A, Dabgram Industrial Growth
Centre,
P.O. Satellite Township,
Siliguri-734015
Tel: 2568615, 2568063 and 2568787.
Fax: (0353) 2568296,
Email:
thestatesmansiliguri@thestatesman.net No. 68, First Floor, Gold Tower,
sil_statesman@yahoo.co.in /
kkc099@gmail.com
City Office: The Statesman Ltd.,
AIR-SURCHARGE; Kathmandu - Re. 2, Eastern Region - Re. 1
I am of the opinion that Telangana Chief Minister
Chandrashekar Rao will play an important role
before and after Parliament elections.
Ground Floor and First Floor
without roof/terrace rights
of built up property bearing
No. B-71, Built up Plot No. 20,
land measuring 60 sq. yds.
situated in Sharda Puri, New
Delhi-15 died on 19th May,
2010 at Delhi has been made
by Sh. C. D. Chawla, r/o K-105,
Hauz Khas Enclave, New Delhi-
110016.
Whereas the 9th day of
March, 2018 has been fixed for
hearing of the case. Notice
is hereby given that any per-
son having any interest in
the Administration of the
Estate of the said deceased
may if he/she desires to
appear in this Court on the
above said date and see the
proceedings of the Grant of
Probate (or for Letters of
Administration).
Given under my hand and
the Seal of this Court on this
the 7th day of February, 2018.
Addl. District Judge-02
(West)
Tis Hazari Courts, Delhi.
Seal of the Court
CL 04258
PROCLAMATION REQUIRING
ATTENDANCE OF
DEFENDANT
(Order 5, Rule 20 of the
Code of Civil Procedure)
In the Court of
Sh. Harish Kumar
Addl. District Judge-13
(Central)
Room No. 123, First Floor,
Tis Hazari Courts, Delhi.
CS No. 1926/2017.
State Bank of India
— Plaintiff
Versus
Pawan Kumar
— Defendant
To,
1. Sh. Pawan Kumar, s/o Sh.
Rajpal Singh, r/o H. No. 609,
Plot No. 5, Super Tech Resi-
dency, Vaishali, Ghaziabad-
201010.
Also at : H. No. 521/06, Gali
No. 4, Vijay Park, Maujpur,
Delhi-110053.
The Defendant Above-
named.
Whereas you are inten-
tionally evading service of
summons it is hereby noti-
fied that if you shall not
defend the case on the 12th
day of March, 2018 the day
fixed for the final disposal,
it will be heard and deter-
mined ex-parte.
Given under my hand and
the Seal of the Court, on this
the 22nd day of February,
2018.
Addl. District Judge-13
(Central)
Tis Hazari Courts, Delhi.
Seal of the Court
CL 04259
IN THE COURT OF
DR. AJAY GULATI,
Additional District Judge-02
(South),
Court No. 606, Sixth Floor,
Saket District Courts,
New Delhi
P.C.- 7/2018
Date of Hearing:- 28-04-2018
Shri Sanjiv Sharma s/o Late
Shri Ved Prakash Sharma r/o
Property No. 85, B-7 Exten-
sion, Safdurjang Enclave, New
Delhi-110029.
— Petitioner
Versus
The State & Ors.
— Defendants
Whereas, the petitioner
abovenamed has applied by a
petition under Section 276 of
the Indian Succession Act,
1925, for grant of Letters of
Administration, or Probate or
Succession Certificate in
respect of the estates left by
the deceased Late Smt. Urmi-
la Sharma w/o Sh. Ved Prakash
Sharma r/o B-7 Extension/85,
Safdurjang Enclave, New Delhi
died on 29-11-2017.
3rd Floor, Rina Bhawan, Opp.
HDFC Bank, Panitanki More,
Sevoke Rd., Siliguri-734015.
Ph.: 0353-2524077
SHIMLA
The Statesman Ltd.
Cabin No. 305, P. C. Chambers
Near Jodha Niwas
The Mall Shimla-171001, H.P.
Mob: 09418027177
naveensharma.thestatesman@g
mail.com
CHANDIGARH
SCO 56-57 (First Floor)
Near G.P.O, Sectro-17D
Chandigarh-160017
Mob: 09779188811
email: anandjjn@gmail.com
BHUBANESWAR
Plot 3A, Zone B, Sector A,
Mancheswar Industrial Estate,
Bhubaneswar- 751 010.
Tel: (0674) 2588060/61/
62/2586371,
Telefax: 0674-2588061
Email:
thestatesmanbhubaneswar@thestatesm
an.net
statesmanbbsr@gmail.com
HYDERABAD
The Statesman Limited, 2nd
Floor, UNI Building,
A.C. Guards, Hyderabad-500004,
Ph.: 040-2339 1739
Email:
thestatesmanhyderabad@thestatesman.
net
thestatesman.hyd@gmail.com
BANGALORE
50 Residency Road, Bangalore-
560025.
Tel.; 9945735845,
All other stations in India - Re. 1
Notice is hereby given to
the general public having any
interest in the Letters of
Administration/Succession
Certificate of the estate of
the abovenamed deceased
may if he/she desires, appear
in this court on 28-04-2018
at 10:00 a.m. and participate in
the proceedings before the
grant of Letters of Adminis-
trations/Probate/Succession
Certificate or if desire to
oppose the application of the
petitioner aforesaid, he/she
should enter appearance in
persons in this court on the
aforesaid date and be pre-
pared to adduce on that day
any documentary and oral
evidence which he/she may
desire to adduce in support of
his/her claim of opposition
to the application of the peti-
tioner aforesaid.
Given under my hand and
the Seal of this Court on this
26th day of January, 2018.
Additional District
Judge-02 (South),
Saket District Courts,
New Delhi
Seal of the Court
CL 04261
PUBLICATION NOTICE
UNDER ORDER 5 RULE 20
CPC
In the Court of
Sandeep Kumar
Civil Judge
Junior Division
Faridabad.
Next Date, Purpose of Case,
Orders and Judgments as
well as other case informa-
tion is available on
http://ecourts.gov.in
Case No. CS/1884/2017.
CNR No. HRFB02-002857-
2017.
Bal Singh s/o Partap Singh
etc., r/o Village Mewla
Maharajpur, Distt. Faridabad.
Versus
Radhey Mohan
Publication Issued to :
Radhey Mohan, s/o Alosi
Mohan, r/o W-106, Greater
Kailash, New Delhi.
SUIT FOR PARTITION
Whereas it has been proved
to the satisfaction of the Court
that the defendant(s)/respon-
dent(s) abovenamed cannot
be served in the ordinary way
of service. Hence, this procla-
mation under Order 5 Rule
20 CPC is hereby issued
against him/them and should
appear personally or through
their counsel on 16-3-2018 at
9-30 a.m.
Take notice that in default of
his/their appearance on the
day beforementioned, the
above said case will be heard
and determined in his/their
absence according to law.
Given under my hand and
the Seal of the Court on this
the 1st day of March, 2018.
Civil Judge
Junior Division
Faridabad.
Seal of the Court
CL 04262
PUBLICATION NOTICE
UNDER ORDER 5 RULE 20
CPC
In the Court of
Ms. Ramneet Kaur
Civil Judge
Junior Division
Ludhiana.
CS/1101/2016.
CNR No. PBLD02-001959-
2016.
9-3-2016.
Peshi : 2-4-2018.
Satvinder Singh, s/o Late
Sh. Pritam Singh, s/o Sh. Mota
Singh, r/o B-XIII-458, Kucha
No. 7, Field Ganj, Ludhiana.
Now at 1454, Pawnee Road,
North Brunswick, New Jer-
sey-08902 (USA).
Versus
1. Surinder Singh, s/o Late
080-22229129, 080-22234813
Email:
thestatesmanbangalore@thestatesman.net
tsmbangalore @yahoo.com
MUMBAI
5, Kasturi Buildings Jamshedji
Tata Road, Mumbai-400 020
Tel: (022) 2202 1045, 2202 1394,
Fax: 2204 4877
Email:
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thestatesman.mumbai@gmail.com
CHENNAI
Fagun Mansion (4th floor) 26,
Ethirai Road, Chennai-600 008,
Tel: (044) 28278037, 28279984
Fax: 28224800
Email:
thestatesmanchennai@thestatesman.net
LUCKNOW
2/2, Butler Palace (Near Jopling
Road), Lucknow-226 001,
Ph.: (0522) 2206705, 9696000004
Email:
thestatesmanlucknow@thestatesman.net
devendrasingh@thestatesmangroup.
com
RAIPUR
Mr. Manish Saluja 53, Sahid
Samarak Complex Bombay
Market, G.E. Road,
Raipur 492001
Tel.: 5035985, (M): 9425202097
RANCHI
11/C, Road#1, Ashoknagar,
Ranchi - 834 002
Fax: (0651) 2247054
Email:
thestatesmanranchi@thestatesman.net
binodenarayansingh@yahoo.co.in
ASADUDDIN OWAISI
AIMIM CHIEF
Sh. Pritam Singh, s/o Sh. Mota
Singh, r/o B-13/458, Kucha No.
7, Field Ganj, Ludhiana.
2. Krishan Lal (Since
Deceased), s/o Sh. Mishri Lal,
s/o Shiv Dayal, r/o House No.
40, Mishri Ashram, Street No.
3, Ferozepur Cantt., through his
legal heirs :
(i) Shobha Rani, widow of
Sh. Krishan Lal, deceased.
(ii) Ravi Jaiswal, s/o Sh.
Krishan Lal, deceased.
(iii) Chander Mohan, s/o
Sh. Krishan Lal, deceased.
(iv) Nishi, d/o Sh. Krishan Lal,
deceased.
(v) Kamini, d/o Sh. Krishan
Lal, deceased.
(vi) Manju, d/o Sh. Krishan
Lal, deceased.
(vii) Ranjna, d/o Sh. Kris-
han Lal, deceased all r/o
House No. 40, Mishri Ashram,
Street No. 3, Ferozepur Cantt.
3. Sham Lal, s/o Sh. Mishri
Lal, s/o Shiv Dyal, r/o House
No. 40, Mishri Ashram, Street
No. 3, Ferozepur Cantt.
4. Phool Chand, s/o Sh.
Mishri Lal, s/o Shiv Dyal, r/o
House No. 40, Mishri Ashram,
Street No. 3, Ferozepur Cantt.
Publication Issued to :
2. Krishan Lal (Since
Deceased), s/o Sh. Mishri Lal,
s/o Shiv Dayal, r/o House No.
40, Mishri Ashram, Street No.
3, Ferozepur Cantt., through his
legal heirs :
(i) Shobha Rani, widow of
Sh. Krishan Lal, deceased.
(ii) Ravi Jaiswal, s/o Sh.
Krishan Lal, deceased.
(iii) Chander Mohan, s/o
Sh. Krishan Lal, deceased.
(iv) Nishi, d/o Sh. Krishan Lal,
deceased.
(v) Kamini, d/o Sh. Krishan
Lal, deceased.
(vi) Manju, d/o Sh. Krishan
Lal, deceased.
(vii) Ranjna, d/o Sh. Kris-
han Lal, deceased all r/o
House No. 40, Mishri Ashram,
Street No. 3, Ferozepur Cantt.
SUIT FOR SEPARATE
POSSESSION BY THE WAY
OF PARTITION.
Whereas it has been proved
to the satisfaction of the Court
that the defendant(s)/respon-
dent(s) abovenamed cannot
be served in the ordianry way
of service. Hence, this publi-
cation under Order 5 Rule 20
CPC is hereby issued against
him/them and should appear
personally or through their
counsel on 2-4-2018 at 9-30
a.m.
Take notice that in default of
his/their appearance on the
day beforementioned, the
above said case will be heard
and determined in his/their
absence.
Given under my hand and
the Seal of the Court on this
the 1st day of March, 2018.
Civil Judge
Junior Division
Ludhiana.
Seal of the Court
CL 04265
PUBLICATION NOTICE
UNDER ORDER 5 RULE 20
CPC
In the Court of
Amandeep Kaur
Addl. Civil Judge
Senior Division
Phillaur.
Next Date, Purpose of Case,
Orders and Judgments as
well as other case informa-
tion is available on
http://ecourts.gov.in
CNR No. PBJLB0-001364-
2017.
Ajit Singh alias Jit Singh,
s/o Karam Singh, s/o Natha
Singh, r/o Village Moron, Tehsil
Phillaur, District Jalandhar at
present r/o Village Jagatpur
agency to halt the develop-
ment works.
Kedarnath reconstruc-
tion work is on high prior-
ity of Prime Minister Naren-
dra Modi.
Very recently live video
through drone camera was
provided to the PM. Making
a tweet recently, Prime Min-
ister Modi says, “We had a
fruitful Pragati Session this
evening. The issues dis-
cussed included the progress
Jattan, Tehsil Phagwara, Dis-
trict Kapurthala.
Versus
Amrik Singh & Others
Publication Issued to : 1.
Amrik Singh, s/o Karam Singh,
s/o Natha Singh, r/o Village
Moron, Tehsil Phillaur, Dis-
trict Jalandhar, presently
residing at U.K., England.
Whereas it has been proved
to the satisfaction of the Court
that the defendant(s)/respon-
dent(s) abovenamed cannot
be served in the ordinary way
of service. Hence, this procla-
mation under Order 5 Rule
20 CPC is hereby issued
against him/them and should
appear personally or through
their counsel on 13-3-2018 at
9-30 a.m.
Take notice that in default of
his/their appearance on the
day beforementioned, the
above said case will be heard
and determined in his/their
absence according to law.
Given under my hand and
the Seal of the Court on this
the 26th day of February, 2018.
Addl. Civil Judge
Senior Division
Phillaur.
Seal of the Court
CL 04266
PUBLICATION NOTICE
UNDER ORDER 5 RULE 20
CPC
In the Court of
Akbar Khan
Civil Judge
Junior Division
Phillaur.
Next Date, Purpose of Case,
Orders and Judgments as
well as other case informa-
tion is available on
http://ecourts.gov.in
CNR No. PBJLB0-000142-
2018.
Case No. CS/76/2018.
DOI : 5-2-2018.
Peshi : 20-3-2018.
Gurcharan Singh
Versus
Bahadur Singh
Publication Issued to :
(2) Balvir Singh, s/o Baldev
Singh, s/o Pal Singh, r/o Village
Shadipur, Tehsil Phillaur, Dis-
trict Jalandhar, presently r/o
26, Saga Brook Road, Bramp-
ton, 16P2Y5, Canada. (4)
Palvinder Singh, s/o Baldev
Singh, r/o Village Shadipur,
Tehsil Phillaur, District Jaland-
har, presently r/o 58-14 32nd
Avenue, Woodside, New York-
11377, USA, (5) Swaran Singh,
s/o Baldev Singh, r/o Village
Shadipur, Tehsil Phillaur, Dis-
trict Jalandhar, presently r/o
26, Saga Brook Road, Bramp-
ton, Ontario, Canada, (6) Man-
jit Kaur, w/o Tara Singh, s/o Pal
Singh, (7) Gian Singh, s/o
Baldev Singh, both r/o Village
Shadipur, Tehsil Phillaur, Dis-
trict Jalandhar.
SUIT FOR SEPARATE
POSSESSION
Whereas it has been proved
to the satisfaction of the Court
that the defendant(s)/respon-
dent(s) abovenamed cannot
be served in the ordinary way
of service. Hence, this procla-
mation under Order 5 Rule
20 CPC is hereby issued
against him/them and should
appear personally or through
their counsel on 13-3-2018 at
9-30 a.m.
Take notice that in default of
his/their appearance on the
day beforementioned, the
above said case will be heard
and determined in his/their
absence according to law.
Given under my hand and
the Seal of the Court on this
the 1st day of March, 2018.
Civil Judge
Junior Division
Phillaur.
Seal of the Court
CL 04267
PROCLAMATION REQUIRING
ATTENDANCE OF
DEFENDANT
(Order 5, Rule 20 of the
Code of Civil Procedure)
In the Court of
Anil Antil
Addl. District Judge-05
South East District,
Room No. 603,
Saket Courts, New Delhi.
Suit No. CS-1052/2017.
B. K. Ahluwalia & Anr.
— Plaintiffs
Versus
Shahbuddin Saifi
— Defendant
To,
Shahbuddin Saifi, s/o Shri
Rashid Saifi, r/o 26/20, East
Patel Nagar, New Delhi.
The Defendant Above-
named.
Whereas you are inten-
tionally evading service of
summons it is hereby noti-
fied that if you shall not
defend the case on the 13th
day of March, 2018, the day
fixed for the final disposal,
it will be heard and deter-
mined ex-parte.
Given under my hand and
the Seal of the Court, on this
the 22nd day of February,
2018.
Addl. District Judge-05
South East District,
Saket Court Complex,
New Delhi.
Seal of the Court
CL 04269
IN THE COURT OF
SH. TARUNPREET SINGH,
PCS
Judicial Magistrate
1st Class,
Rupnagar.
CNR No. PBR003001423-2016.
Petition No. 41.
Date of Institution : 23-8-
2016.
Date of Hearing : 28-3-2018.
Balwinder Kaur, wife of
Amardeep Singh, resident of
Village Badali, Tehsil and Dis-
trict Rupnagar now residing
with her parental house at
Village Mianpur, Tehsil and
of the Kedarnath Recon-
struction Work.
The Uttarakhand Gov-
er nment presented the
progress of the work using
drone imagery."
Prime Minister Narendra
Modi, chaired his twenty-
fourth interaction, on 28
February , through PRA-
GATI - the ICT-based, multi-
modal platform for Pro-
Active Governance and
Timely Implementation.
District Rupnagar.
— Petitioner
Versus
Amardeep Singh, son of
Labh Singh, resident of Vil-
lage Badali, Tehsil and Dis-
trict Rupnagar.
— Respondent
Notice to :
1. Amardeep Singh, son of
Labh Singh.
7. Manpreet Kaur.
9. Paramjit Kaur, w/o Rattan
Singh, all residents of Village
Badali, Tehsil and District
Rupnagar.
Whereas it has been proved
to the satisfaction of the Court
that the defendants abovenot-
ed cannot be served in the
ordinary way of service. Hence
this publication is hereby
issued against them and they
should appear personally or
through their counsel on 28-3-
2018 at 9-30 a.m., failing which
ex-parte proceedings shall
be taken against him/them.
Given under my hand and
the Seal of the Court on this
the 27th day of February, 2018.
Judicial Magistrate
1st Class
Rupnagar.
Seal of the Court
CL 04268
LOST & FOUND
NOTICE
Notice is hereby given that
the Share Certificate for
Harmesh Kaur Equity Shares
bearing No. H004276 and Dis-
tinctive Nos. 2152793-2152892
of Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd.
standing in the name(s) of
Harmesh Kaur, w/o Sardul
Singh have been lost or mis-
laid and the undermentioned
has applied to the company to
issue duplicate certificate(s)
for the said shares. Any per-
son who has a claim in
respect of the said shares
should lodge such claim with
the company at its Registered
Office Gateway Building, Apol-
lo Bunder, Mumbai-400001
within 15 days from this date
else the company will pro-
ceed to issue duplicate cer-
tificate(s).
Name of the Shareholder :
Harmesh Kaur.
Date : 1-3-2018.
CL 04264
I, PRADEEP Kumar Sanghi,
s/o Late Mr. Sushil Kumar
Sanghi, r/o F-2/7, Model Town,
Delhi-110009, hereby declare
that I am the Karta of Sushil
Kumar Pradeep Kumar (HUF)
which includes (1) Mrs. Kamla
Sanghi, w/o Late Sushil Kumar
Sanghi, (2) Mr. Pramod Kumar
Sanghi, s/o Late Sushil Kumar
Sanghi, (3) Mr. Raj Kumar
Bhotika, h/o Late Mrs. Sudha
Bhotika, (4) Mr. Rahul Bhotika,
s/o Late Mrs. Sudha Bhotika,
(5) Mr. Siddhartha Bhotika,
s/o Late Mrs. Sudha Bhotika,
& (6) Ila Dudani, d/o Late
Sushil Kumar Shanghi are the
only members/coparcener of
Sushil Kumar Pradeep Kumar
(HUF).
If any person has any
claim/right in the aforemen-
tioned HUF he/she may con-
tact within 7 days from the
date of publication of this
notice.
CL 04270
THIS is to inform General
Public that my client Mukesh
Kumar, s/o Mr. Balbeer Singh,
r/o A-18, Sansal API, Sushant
Aquapolis, Doondahera, Cross-
ing Republic, Ghaziabad, U.P.
Proprietor of M/s. Sheetal
Residency has purchased
property Plot No. B-2/7 & B-
2/8, Mahendra Enclave Colony,
Rajpur, Ghaziabad, U.P. from
Mrs. Ranjana Sharma by virtue
of Registered Sale Deed dated
12-7-2017, Mrs. Ranjana Shar-
ma inherited the aforemen-
tioned property by virtue of
Registered Will dated 5-3-
2016 executed by Late Mr.
Rishikul Tilak Gaud in her
favour. If any person has any
claim in regard to aforemen-
tioned property or Will he
may contact within 15 days
from the date of publication of
this notice.
Avnish Shukla
Advocate
Chamber No. E-419,
Karkardooma Courts,
Delhi-110032.
CL 04271
BY THE Order dated
16.01.2016, the Learned
Court 9th Bench ADJ at
Alipore has approved a
scheme and by dint of the
same the interested shebait
hereby invites offers to
lease a 20 cottahs property
at 41 & 47, Dent Mission
Road, Kolkata-700023, P.S.
Ekbalpur, for a tenure of 3
years as a source of income
for seba puja of the deities
Shree Shyam Sundar
Lakshmi Janardan Jew.
Interested persons are to
post their offer at Box PN
050318, Statesman, Kolkata-
700001.
Rupa Maity
Advocate
Mob.: 8583991271
RE: ALL that the several
pieces or parcels of Plots
of Land in aggregate
measuring 3.56 acres be
the same a little more
or less situated lying at
and comprised in R.S. Dag
Nos. 4313, 4314, 4316,
4317, 4318, 4319, 4320, 4322,
4323, 4324, 4325, 4326, 4327,
4328 and 4332 under Khatian
Nos. 6393, 8488, 6514, 7585,
21753, 7597, 7586, 8554, 6513,
7598, 21294, 21300 and
21301 within Mouza:
Gopalpur, P.S.: Rajarhat, J.L.
No. 20.
Notice is hereby given to
all concerned that our
client, Arrjav Builders
Private Limited of No. 54A,
Sarat Bose Road, Kolkata-
700025, had on the 22nd
October, 2015 entered into
Agreement with the owners
Sri Babulal Verma and oth-
ers for undertaking devel-
opment of the above Plots
of Land on agreed terms
and that our client have
since filed a suit being Title
Suit No. 127 of 2017 before
the Civil Judge (Senior
Division), 2nd Court at
Barasat (Arrjav Builders
Private Limited -Vs- Babulal
Verma & ors.) with respect
of the above Plots of Land,
inter alia, for Declaration,
Specific Performance of the
Agreement dated
22.10.2015, Mandatory
Injunction directing the
defendants and each one of
them to perform the acts
agreed upon under the
Contract dated 22.10.2015,
Perpetual Injunction
restraining the defendants
and each one of them, their
men, agents, servants,
assigns from changing the
nature and character of the
said Plots of Land and for
other reliefs. The said Title
Suit and proceedings
thereunder are still
pending before the Learned
Court.
In view of the pendency of
the above Title Suit, if any
person enters into any
negotiation or agreement or
contract with the owners /
defendants with regard to
the above Plots of Land or
portions thereof, he will do
so at his own risk and
responsibility.
B.K. Jain & Co.
Advocates
6A, K.S. Roy Road
Gr. Floor, Kolkata-700001
SALES BY
AUCTION
M/S MUKESH Auction Mart
will auction in SRT Nagar Post
office, New Delhi-55 on Dt.
06/07/14/15/21/22-03-2018 at
11:00a.m. Stores: Unclaimed
ARticles/Parcels, Terms:- Cash
& carry Basis.
CL 04272
I, 6374957X Ex. Nk BK Nath
declared that my wife Jaya
Maya Nath (DOB: 03-05-
1958) shall be known as
Jogmaya Nath (DOB: 01-01-
1966), vide affidavit by 1st
Class Judicial Magistrate,
Alipur on 22.02.18.
I, 6310449A Ex. Nk AK
Chattopadhyay declared
that my wife Pranoti (43
yrs.) shall be known as
Pranoti Chatterjee (DOB: 18-
02-1956), vide affidavit by
1st Class Judicial
Magistrate, Alipur on
22.02.18.
I, SAMAD Middey, S/o.
Mortaja Middey, Vill.:
Khayjapur, P.O.: Belkulai,
P.S.: Panchla, Dist.: Howrah,
Pin-711322 hereby solemnly
affirm & declare that Samad
Middey & Samad Mirde is
same & one identical per-
son, vide affidavit No. B-
1136, Dt.: 27.02.18 sworn
before the Notary Public at
Uluberia, Howrah.
DISTRICT HEALTH
& FAMILY WELFARE
SAMITI
Purba Medinipur
Sealed tenders are invit-
ed from reputed agencies
for the Construction
works (Civil). For more
details, visit to
https://wbtenders.gov.in
and or office of the
undersigned.
Sd/-
CMOH & Secretary
DH&FWS
Purba Medinipur

BJP bid to bolster base before LS polls
Central leaders want Bengal candidates to file nomination from all booths for panchayat polls, seek list within March
RAJIB CHAKRABORTY
KOLKATA, 4 MARCH
F
ollowing the massive
poll victory in Tripu-
ra, central party lead-
ers of the BJP now
want its candidates to file
nomination from all the booths
for the panchayat polls so
that it could strengthen the
party base before the Lok
Sabha polls.
In the last panchayat elec-
tion, the state BJP was able to
give 25 per cent candidates in
the state, citing TMC’s alleged
terror and armed attack on the
BJP candidates.
BJP central party leaders
have already asked the state
leaders to complete the list of
candidates contesting the
panchayat polls within March
to ensure they contest from
all the booths. The party has
also fixed some guidelines
for candidate selection.
Though the central party
has decided that only whole-
timers of the BJP will be given
Haryana CM
rules out
Assembly polls
with Parl
elections
CHANDIGARH, 4 MARCH
Haryana chief minister
Manohar Lal Khattar on
Sunday made it clear that
next elections to the state
Assembly would be held
on time and not simulta-
neously with the Parlia-
mentary elections.
The CM said that
although Prime Minister
Narendra Modi had pro-
posed ‘one nation-one elec-
tion’ concept in all party
meeting, which he also sup-
ported, yet this concept
cannot be implemented
unless all political parties
reach consensus.
He said that this being a
hot topic, is discussed by
intellectuals, stakeholders
and could be implemented
near 2024 and not in 2019.
Holding elections to Par-
liamentary and Legislative
Assemblies simultaneous
would require constitu-
tional amendments and
changes and this requires
time.
Speaking on the Bhartiya
Janta Party’s performance in
northeast state, the CM said
that with the results of
Assembly elections to three
northeast states, the BJP
has expanded its reach, but
the Congress seems to have
touched the lowest ebb. As
compared to the BJP, no
political party has ever
gained so much influence
among the masses during
last 70 years, he added.
While congratulating the
party workers for this vic-
tory either on its own or in
alliance in Tripura, Nagaland
and Meghalaya, he said that
changes in the country
began in 2014 when PM
Narendra Modi assumed
the office of PM.
The impact of BJP has fur-
ther increased with the elec-
tion results of three north-
eastern states. SNS
Who has let the ghosts out: Spectres haunt lawmakers
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA
NEW DELHI, 4 MARCH
An opera of phantoms is play-
ing out across the country. And
in the audience are sections
of spooked out lawmakers.
A spectre seems to be hau-
nting legislators in the states
~ from Bihar and Rajasthan
to Madhya Pradesh and Aru-
nachal Pradesh. And they are
looking at ways of dealing
with spooks with the help of
purification rituals or by simp-
ly steering clear of what they
believe are ghost-filled hous-
es.
While RJD leader Lalu
Prasad’s son and former Bihar
minister Tej Pratap recently
BJP activists celebrate Tripura win, in Kolkata on Sunday.
priority to contest the three-
tier panchayat election, the
central leaders have asked
the state party to ensure that
sufficient women candidates
file nomination for the pan-
chayat election.
The central committee,
with BJP president Amit Shah’s
consent, has asked the state
party to start panchayat poll
campaign as soon as possi-
ble in the rural belts.
The central committee
PM: Only integration can
counter radicalisation
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI, 4 MARCH
Indirectly referring to BJP’s
victory in the North East
Assembly elections, Prime
Minister Narendra Modi on
Sunday said the Union Gov-
ernment has resolved for
emotional integration of the
North East region. “Only
integration can counter rad-
icalisation,” he added.
Addressing a state-level
Youth Convention at Tumaku-
ru (Karnataka) via video-
conference, Mr Modi said
“Over the last four years, the
Union Government has
resolved for emotional inte-
gration of the Northeast and
has achieved success”.
He urged youth to make
a resolve and dedicate their
energy to nation-building.The
convention ~ ‘Youth Power:
A Vision for New India’ at
Tumakuru was organised to
mark the Silver Jubilee Cel-
ebrations of the Ramakrish-
na Vivekananda Ashram,
Tumakuru, to celebrate the
125th anniversary of Swami
Vivekananda’s address in
Chicago and to celebrate
Sister Nivedita’s 150th birth
anniversary.
Mr Modi said he had tried
BLURRED LINES
A cloudy afternoon, in the Capital on Sunday.
vacated his government-pro-
vided bungalow in Patna be-
cause he said ghosts had been
let loose there, BJP MLAs in
the Rajasthan Assembly feared
the building was haunted.
“I decided to vacate the
bungalow because (chief min-
ister) Nitish (Kumar) and
deputy chief minister Sushil
Kumar Modi had released
ghosts in it. The ghosts were
haunting me, the 28-year-
old Rashtriya Janata Dal leader,
whose father is in jail, told the
media.
The politician had earlier
made some alterations to the
bungalow to bring in ele-
ments of Vaastu Shastra ~
traditional architectural beliefs
games to distract people’s attention from their failures
has directed the state party to
send guidelines on the selec-
tion of candidates to all dis-
trict president and committees.
“District committees will have
to prepare a report on the
selection of candidates to con-
firm the person has no crim-
inal background. Mondal
(zone) committee presidents
must check the credential of
the candidate,” said a senior
leader of the BJP.
The state party has already
to meet the youth to under-
stand their hopes and aspi-
rations and work accord-
ingly. He said the focus of com-
memorations was Swami
Vivekananda.
The Prime Minister said
the youth should devote their
energies to nation-building.
He recalled the government’s
efforts to enhance avenues
for the youth and spoke of
Mudra Yojana, self-employ-
ment and skill development.
The Prime Minister said
that the youth today wish to
learn from the past for a bet-
ter present and future.
In Begaluru, the PM said
the people of the Northeast
have rejected the “politics of
hate” by“unanimously” vot-
ing the BJP to power. “The
brothers and sisters of the
Northeast have rejected the
politics of hate by unani-
mously voting the BJP to
power,” he said.
~ and also used the rear exit
instead of the main entrance
to ward off evil spirits.
But Tej Pratap found the
changes did little to deter the
stubborn ghosts. The MLA
finally moved out.
MLAs in the Rajasthan
Assembly fear the worst, too.
BJP legislator Habibur Rah-
man believes that a part of the
land on which the Assembly
building stands was previ-
Now both BJP and TRS are jointly playing mind
RIDICULING KCR’S PLAN TO FLOAT NON-CONG AND NON-BJP FRONT AT THE CENTRE
formed a committee com-
prising district presidents and
a state leader to finalise the
name of candidates after they
get final report from the dis-
tricts. The central party has
asked state party leaders to
avoid discrimination and party
rivalry while selecting candi-
dates.
Persons having police cases
or accused in the FIR cannot
contest for the panchayat poll.
School teachers, intellec-
Parrikar’s health
improving: Goa BJP
PTI
PANAJI, 4 MARCH
The Goa BJP on Sunday said
Chief Minister Manohar Par-
rikar's health is improving and
he is expected to chair the
state cabinet meeting on 7
March.
Rubbishing Congress' alle-
gations that the state admin-
istration was on the verge of
collapse, BJP Goa unit chief
Vinay Tendulkar said his party
does not need advice from
the opposition on governance.
Parrikar was admitted to the
Lilavati Hospital in Mumbai on
15 February where he received
treatment for a pancreatic ail-
ment.He was discharged on 22
February, and on the same day
attended the session of the Goa
Legislative Assembly, where he
presented the budget and
made a brief speech. The ses-
sion was truncated to four
days owing to Parrikar's illness.
The CM was later admitted
toGoaMedicalCollegeandHos-
pital near here on 25 February
after he suffered mild dehy-
dration. He was discharged from
the hospital on 1 March.
Tendulkar said the chief
minister has been working
SNS
ously a cremation ground
and thus unholy.
Panic spread after two
MLAs died within six months.
A purification ritual is now on
the cards, reports said.
Rationalists said they were
worried about the trend.
Mukta Dabholkar, daugh-
ter of slain rationalist Naren-
dra Dabholkar, said it was
disheartening that lawmak-
ers had no scientific temper
TPCC PRESIDENT N UTTAM KUMAR REDDYA
DILIP DUTTA
tuals, state or Central gov-
ernment employees, who wish
to contest voluntarily will be
given priority. The state party
was asked to check the cre-
dentials of candidates who
are joining BJP from the Tri-
namul Congress and want to
contest panchayat poll as BJP
candidate.
BJP will also prepare a list
of the sensitive areas, where
their candidates could face
attack. The state BJP did not
from home and he is in con-
stant touch with his cabinet col-
leagues. There is no affect on
the administration of the state,
he told reporters here.
“As far as the BJP govern-
ment is concerned, we don't
need advice from the Congress
party. We have a chief minis-
ter who is in constant touch with
his cabinet colleagues and
clearing the files,” Tendulkar
said. He said the chief minis-
ter is taking stock of the situ-
ation and is expected to attend
the state cabinet meeting on
7 March.
Parrikar's health is improv-
ing and he would attend the
party's foundation day func-
tion next month, he said.
The Congress' Goa chief,
Shantaram Naik, had claimed
that the state administration
was on the verge of collapse due
to Parrikar's absence. He had
said the chief minister should
hand over his powers to a
senior minister untill he returns.
Modi acknowledged democratic
culture in Congress, says Jakhar
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
CHANDIGARH, 4 MARCH
Just a day after Prime Minis-
ter Narendra Modi took a jibe
at Punjab chief minister
Amarinder Singh while calling
him an independent solider
while saying that neither Pun-
jab CM nor his partyconsid-
er each other their own, the
Punjab Congress on Sunday
jumped into the controversy
to defend Amarinder Singh.
Punjab Congress president
Sunil Jakhar has said that Modi
had actually acknowledged
the free and democratic cul-
ture prevailing in the Con-
gress under the leadership of
Rahul Gandhi. Besides, the PM
had also recognised the self-
respecting and independent
character of the Punjabis rep-
resented by Amarinder Singh.
“This is quite contrary to the
autocratic and dictatorial cul-
or spirit of inquiry.
“If something is not going
right it has to have some ex-
planation. You cannot explain
it in terms of black magic or
a bad curse, she said.
Some legislators made
such statements because they
lacked a scientific tempera-
ment, she said.
Or perhaps they want to
distract peoples attention
from real issues, said Dab-
holkar, who is also a member
of her fathers organisation, the
Maharashtra Andhashrad-
dha Nirmoolan Samiti.
Senior CPI leader Atul
Kumar Anjan alleged that the
BJP government was giving
patronage to superstition.
NEW DELHI, MONDAY 05 MARCH 2018
get any panchayat samity, zila
parishad in 2013 panchayat
poll though it got 31 pan-
chayats.
A BJP delegation led by
Mukul Roy already met Ben-
gal state election commis-
sioner Amarendra Kumar
Singh and urged him to deploy
adequate Central forces for free
and peaceful panchayat elec-
tion as unprecedented vio-
lence had been witnessed in
the last panchayat polls dur-
ing the Trinamul Congress
regime.
In 2013, panchayat polls
were held in five phases. The
State Election Commission
office emphasised to con-
duct panchayat polls in few
phases and has written a let-
ter to know the state govern-
ment’s opinion in the matter.
BJP leaders also urged the
Election Commission of India
(ECI) to send a team toinspect
how the TMC allegedly manip-
ulate the vote and terrorise the
voters so that the ECI could act
accordingly during the polls.
‘Nobody paid
attention to
building toilets
before Modi’
MUMBAI, 4 MARCH
Nobody paid attention to
constructing toilets, an
important aspect connect-
ed to the health of women,
before Prime Minister Naren-
dra Modi, Madhya Pradesh
Governor Anandiben Patel
on Sunday said.
“There is not a single
field where women have
not moved ahead in the last
25 years. There are many
challenges before women but
they are marching ahead by
making a way out of the dif-
ficulties,” she said.
She said that women
have made considerable
progress in the fields of
social work, engineering,
medicine and space.
“It has been many years
since Independence, how-
ever, nobody paid atten-
tion to an aspect that is
connected to the health of
women. But our PM
appealed to 125 crore peo-
ple to build toilets,” Patel said.
She added that women
were now happy as they
did not have to wait for
darkness to go to defecate
in the open. PTI
PM had also recog-
nised the self-
respecting and inde-
pendent character of
the Punjabis repre-
sented by Amarinder-
Singh
ture prevailing in the Bhartiya
Janata Party under the lead-
ership of Narendra Modi where
saner and seasoned voices
like those of LK Advani, Murli
Manohar Joshi, Yashwant
Sinha and Shaturgan Sinha
have either been silenced or
banished to the Marg Darshak
Mandal”, Jakhar said in a state-
ment here today.
Asserting that the Con-
gress needed no certificate
from the BJP about watching
the interests of Punjab, the Pun-
jab Congress president chal-
lenged the PM that if he was
Yadav, however, belongs to a
party opposed to the BJP.
Anjan recalled that sever-
al years ago, a minister at the
Centre had called tantriks
and witch-doctors agents of
social welfare who practised
forms of knowledge.
He said this knowledge
should be made a part of uni-
versity curricula.
Efforts have often been
made to eradicate what is
called the evil eye. In Decem-
ber, some members of the
Madhya Pradesh Assembly,
while questioning the untime-
ly demise of nine MLAs in four
years, demanded a puja. They
claimed the building was not
Vaastu compliant.
Party facing severe
crisis, says Yechury
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
KOLKATA, 4 MARCH
CPI-M general secretary Si-
taram Yechury today admit-
ted that the party is facing
severe crisis following poll
debacle in the Tripura. He was
in the city to attend the par-
ty’s state conference.
Mr Yechury said country’s
communal forces united to
oust the communists, as the
saffron brigade considers
communists as its main
enemy. He said money power
and subversive activities were
used to defeat the Left Front
in Tripura.
“The country is facing seri-
ous challenges. BJP’s victory
was a challenge to the democ-
racy and the national integri-
ty. BJP-led Central government
strengthened the hands of the
Israel and USA,” he said. He
also said the party must play
a big role to isolate any effort
by the communal forces to gain
strength in the country.
He said the party’s defeat
India, Vietnam set $15
billion target by 2020
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI, MARCH 4
India andVietnam will explore
“substantive and practical
measures” to achieve the
bilateral trade target of $15
billion by 2020, according to
a joint statement issued here.
Prime Minister Naren-
dra Modi held delegation
level talks with Vietnamese
President Tran Dai Quang yes-
terday, who is on a three-day
visit to India.
The joint statement fur-
ther said both the sides
agreed to hold the next meet-
ing of the Joint Sub-Com-
mission on Trade in Viet-
nam’s capital city Hanoi in
2018 at the earliest.
“In order to realise poten-
tial to both increase the vol-
ume of trade and diversify its
composition, they (Modi
and Tran) requested the rel-
evant ministries and agen-
cies on both sides to explore
substantive and practical
measures to achieve the
trade target of USD 15 billion
by 2020 including but not lim-
ited to utilising established
mechanisms, strengthening
exchanges of trade delega-
tions, business-to-business
contacts, regular organisation
of trade fairs and events,” the
really such a well wisher of Pun-
jab, he should reimburse Rs
31,000 crore that was siphoned
off by the previous state gov-
ernment. Similarly, he remind-
ed the PM that it was twice dur-
ing the BJP regime at the cen-
tre that special packages were
given to the hill states of
Himachal Pradesh and Jammu
and Kashmir at the cost of Pun-
jab’s economic and industri-
al interests.
Punjab economy is still
suffering on account of these
packages, he added, while
pointing out, the Centre had
never provided any relief pack-
age for border areas in the state.
He also referred to the anti-
Punjab and pro-Haryana stand
of the Modi government at cen-
tre on the Satluj Yamuna Link
issue in the SC, which other-
wise had been settled by
Amarinder Singh way back in
2004.
The Arunachal Pradesh
government recently decid-
ed to convert the official bun-
galow of the chief minister into
a state guest house. The bun-
galow in the state capital was
thought to be haunted after
former chief minister Kalikho
Pul committed suicide on 9
August last year.
It is sad that at this time and
age when we have the Manga-
lyaan and are talking about
building a colony on the
moon, some people are rein-
forcing and sometimes
reinventing age-old myths
and propagating them through
modern means, said
CPI(M) leader Mohammed
Salim.
07
in the Assembly election in
Tripura should be viewed
with utmost seriousness. “We
are organising state conferen-
ce and preparing central con-
ference at a time when all the
communal forces are striking
hard on the country’s secu-
larism,” he said.
He urged all communists
to join hands with secular for-
ces to fight the Sangh Parivar.
A three-day conference
will be held from tomorrow
at Promodh Dasgupta Bha-
van. Three processions arrived
today at the venue from Es-
planade Lenin statue, Bally-
gunge Phari and Khanna.
Tomorrow, the conference
will begin after hoisting party
flag. Around 200 representa-
tives will join the conference.
joint statement said.
As per the statement,
both the sides urged leaders
of business and industry of
both countries to explore
new trade and investment
opportunities in identified pri-
ority areas of cooperation.
Tran applauded Modi’s
efforts which improved India’s
ranking in the ‘ease of doing
business,’ it added.
Referring to defence coop-
eration, the joint statement
pointed out that their coop-
eration in oil and gas explo-
ration, thermal and hydro-
electric power and renewable
energy and energy conser-
vation is registering remark-
able progress.
Tran “welcomed Indian
businesses to expand their
oil and gas exploration and
exploitation activities on
land and in the continental
shelf and Exclusive Eco-
nomic Zone of Vietnam,” the
joint statement said.
It also pointed out that the
Vietnamese side took note of
the request by India on active-
ly considering signing the
Framework Agreement of
the International Solar
Alliance with a view to
strengthening the coopera-
tion in the renewable ener-
gy space.
When Gandhi
found nothing
objectionable
with Madhushala
MUMBAI, 4 MARCH
Amitabh Bachchan has
recounted the time when
his father, celebrated poet
Harivansh Rai Bachchan was
receiving brickbats for his illus-
trious book of poetry Mad-
hushala, and revealed it was
Mahatma Gandhi who came
to his rescue.
The 75-year-old actor
today recalled the incident at
the Benares Hindu Univer-
sity that in 1935 where his
father was accused of stray-
ing the youth of the then
British-ruled India by glam-
ourising liquor.
“'Madhushala' written in
1933...Yes 1933... 85 years ago...
Still bears fruits of its brilliant
thought and longevity... Yet
when it was first demon-
strated to resounding
applause and encore at the
BHU,there were the naysay-
ers that brought threat,
unsavoury proclamations,
in times to come... Com-
plaints were made to Mahat-
ma Gandhi ji too...
“'There is this young man
that is polluting the youth of
the country by aggrandising
the qualities of alcohol... Cor-
rupting the young... And
must be stopped or arrested'
They complained,” Bachchan
wrote in his blog.The star said
Gandhi took notice of the
“loud voices of dissent” and
sent for his father. “He heard
several verses from the recita-
tion that day and spoke up...”
Bachchan wrote that after lis-
tening close Gandhi said,
“But there is nothing objec-
tionable in this...? ” Relieved,
my father made a hasty exit
from the great man’s presence,
fearing if he did not, there
could be a possibility of a
change of mind...” PTI
08 NEW DELHI, MONDAY 05 MARCH 2018 Vol. CXXXXIX 53

Incorporating and directly descended

from THE FRIEND OF INDIA - Founded 1818
Indo-Iranian port trust~I A MEMBER
OF THE

Russian tradition?
T he frost is fairly dense in the midst of the
bleak winter in either country. With a lan-
guage of determination that is almost remi-
niscent of the Cold War, Vladimir Putin has threat-
ened an arms race against the United States with a
signal of intent that envisages new missiles, indeed
a “new line of nuclear-capable weapons that can
breach US defences”. Is there a certain disenchant-
ment across the Atlantic a year after President
Trump’s inaugural? Unmistakable is the remark-
ably calculated timing of the Russian President’s
address to the nation ~ weeks before the presiden-
tial election on 18 March when he will seek a fourth
term and no less crucially a reasonable confirma-
tion that the Kremlin has interfered in the US elec-
tion of 2016. Mr Putin has announced that Russia
has developed and is testing a new line of strategic
nuclear-capable weapons that would be able to
outmanoeuvre US defences. This possible signal of
a new arms race between Moscow and the West
comes a year after the post-Cold War bonhomie,
which in itself was a quirky facet to international
relations. As he exhibited Russia’s arsenal through a
video presentation, he made it pretty obvious that
he was engaged in a “weapons war” to buttress the
Kremlin’s adversarial response to US policy since
ASIAN VOICES
The operationalisation of Chabahar port, west of the Gwadar port developed by China,
after Indian ratification of the International Road Transport (TIR) convention is going GST hike: more
to be a game-changer in India-Afghanistan-Iran relations
help for low and
middle income
L
ower-and middle-income fami-
lies as well as elderly people in
need will receive additional help
when the goods and services tax (GST)
is raised, Finance Minister Heng Swee
Keat promised yesterday (Mar 1).
Wrapping up an at-times contentious
Budget debate in Parliament, he said
the permanent GST Voucher Scheme
to cushion the impact of the tax will be
enhanced and a transitional offset
package favouring those of lower and
middle incomes will also be launched
when the GST is increased to 9 per
cent.
The voucher scheme currently
offers annual utility rebates of up to
S$390 (US$295) to Housing Board flat
dwellers, cash of up to S$300 for adults
with less income and Medisave top-
ups of up to S$450 for the elderly poor.
“Let me assure everyone that we are
mindful of the impact of tax changes
play spoilsport is evident from at least $ 21bn to the Chabahar- shipping $150 million worth of on households, particularly the lower-

2001. It was a power-point presentation of anima-
tions of ICBMs, nuclear-powered cruise missiles,
underwater drones and other weapons that he
claimed Russia had developed as a result of the US
pulling out of the 1972 anti-ballistic missile treaty
signed with the Soviet Union. “You didn’t listen to
our country then,” was Putin’s caveat. “Listen to us
now.” Some of the weapons were already being test-
ed, he asserted. Markedly, his address to the nation
has followed the Pentagon’s new nuclear arms pol-
icy, which can be contextualised with President
Trump’s pledge to develop an arsenal “so strong
and powerful that it will deter any acts of aggres-
sion”.
Clearly, President Putin has utilised the oppor-
tunity afforded by his national address to reinforce
his defiance, an attitude that is concordant with
the traditional Soviet policy towards the US. “I
would like to tell those who have been trying to
escalate the arms race for the past 15 years ~ to
gain unilateral advantages over Russia ~ and to
impose restrictions and sanctions. The attempt at
curbing Russia has failed,” he assured the domestic
constituency barely three weeks before the first vote
is cast. Indeed , the sabre-rattling against the US
overshadowed the pre-election economic promises
to the people. The State of the Union address was in
the main a platform to show off Russia’s latest
weaponry, some of it capable of delivering a
nuclear strike anywhere in the world. His address
usually focuses on domestic issues such as the
economy and corruption. This time around, it was
riveted to marketing Russia’s latest military tech-
nology.
S
ubstantive discussions
between Prime Minister
Narendra Modi and the
Iranian President, Hassan
Rouhani, during his three-day
visit to Delhi in mid-February
have taken Indo-Iranian rela-
tions to a higher level. Nine
agreements were signed on such
issues as avoidance of double
taxation, Chabahar, terrorism
and so on. The two sides
exchanged instruments to ratify
an Extradition Treaty signed in
2008.
However, it is the agreement
relating to Chabahar that was the
highlight of Rouhani's visit.
Under this deal, India will lease
the Shahid Beheshti Port at
Chabahar for a period of 18
months. India has committed $
85 million towards developing
Chabahar port, strategically
located just 90 km from Pak-
istan's Gwadar port, which is
being operated by a Chinese
company. It was only a few
months ago that India began
using Chabahar port to ship
wheat to Afghanistan, providing
a boost to its overland trade with
Afghanistan, Central Asia and
beyond. India and Iran have now
taken their cooperation to the
next level. With India now oper-
ating a part of Chabahar port, it
has a stronger presence at the
the fact that Taliban looted two Hajigak corridor, including $ rail tracks to Chabahar to devel- income, and will help them to adjust
of the 25 containers of wheat, 85m for the development of op the port container tracks and while maintaining a fair and progres-
sent to Afghanistan from Kandla Chabahar port by India, $150m build $1.6 billion Chabahar- sive system of taxes and transfers,” Mr
port last October, near Mazar-e- line of credit by India to Iran, Zahedan railway built by India's Heng said.
Sharif. $8bn India-Iran MoU for Indian Ircon International for which He noted that MPs Lim Biow
The development of Chaba- industrial investment in Chaba- India pledged an additional $400 Chuan (Mountbatten) and Lee Bee
har port with the trilateral trade har Special Economic Zone, $11- million and Iran allocated $125 Wah (Nee Soon GRC) had asked about
and transit agreement between billion Hajigak iron and steel million in December 2016, thus setting up a Committee Against Profi-
India-Iran-Afghanistan will also mining project awarded to seven taking the total allocation to teering to combat any illegal over-
open the international north- Indian companies in central $575 million (out of $1.6 billion charging. The Government is prepared
south transport corridor all the Afghanistan, and India's $2bn needed for the rail route) till the to do so to ensure businesses do not
way up to Central Asia, Russia commitment to Afghanistan for end of 2016. use the GST hike as an excuse to raise
and Europe. If India presses the developing infrastructure includ- The trilateral transit agree- prices beyond the increased tax, he
accelerator and delivers on time, ing the Chabahar-Hajigaj rail- ment signed by India, Iran and said. He also addressed concerns
this route has the potential to way, with the potential for more Afghanistan allows Indian goods raised by MPs such as Mr Chong Kee
rival the Chinese one-belt-one- trade via connectivity to 7,200- to reach Afghanistan through Hiong (Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC), Ms
road (OBOR) initiative. Time is of km-long multi-mode Iran. It links ports in the western
the essence as it took 15 years for North–South Transport Corridor coast of India to the Chabahar
India and Iran to operationalise (INSTC) connecting to Europe port and covers the road and rail
the Chabahar port after it was and Turkey, R297 Amur highway links between Chabahar and the Foo Mee Har (West Coast GRC) and
first proposed during the NDA and Trans-Siberian Highway Afghan border. Dr Intan Azura Mokhtar (Ang Mo Kio
dispensation under across Russia, and The bilateral agreement GRC) over the need to raise GST, and
Atal Behari Vajpay- planned Herat to between India and Iran gives who had offered alternatives to the
ee. While New Delhi Mazar-i-Sharif rail- India the right to develop two hike.
put the project on way providing berths of the Chabahar port as A broad-based tax like the GST is
the backburner due access to Turk- agreed in 2015 and allows them required to fund Singapore’s broad-
to its impact on menistan, Uzbek- to be operated for 10 years by based spending needs, such as health-
international sanc- istan, Tajikistan and India Ports Global, a joint ven- care, security and education, Mr Heng
tions against Tehran Kyrgyzstan. Chaba- ture between Jawaharlal Nehru said. “Each generation should strive
at that time, the lat- har Port also pro- Port Trust and Kandla Port Trust, to pay for its own spending through
ter also proceeded vides direct access in partnership with Iran's Aria sustainable means, instead of draw-
slowly on the basis to India's Farkhor Banader. India Ports Global has ing down more than is prudent from
of its own priorities. PK Air Base in Tajik- guaranteed handling of 30,000 the reserves or by borrowing and pass-
During Presi- VASUDEVA istan. The Chabahar TEUs by the third year of opera- ing on the cost of current spending to
dent Rouhani’s visit, The writer is retired route will result in tions, and aims to eventually future generations.”
Professor of International
there were positive 60 per cent reduc- handle 250,000 TEUs. On the timing of the increase, Mr
developments
Trade. He can be reached
at vasu022@gmail.com tion in shipment The berths will be devel- Heng said the Government had deter-
towards India hav- costs and 50 per oped at a cost of $85 million over mined the need for it would arise

Churning in the sand mouth of the Straits of Hormuz,

through which much of India's
oil from the Gulf passes.
ing a stake in the

sian Gulf. With the Iran-Pakistan- Central Asia.

cent reduction in
"Farzad B" gas field in the Per- shipment time from India to
the course of 18 months. Under
the agreement, India Ports Glob-
al will refurbish a 640-meter-long
some time between 2021 and 2025 by
studying major trends and how they
might affect Singaporeans. It then

Y et another sweeping overhaul of state insti-

tutions has been effected in Saudi Arabia by
Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman. This
time the import is tremendous when viewed
through the prism of the military and the societal
construct. It thus comes about that the army’s Chief
of Staff has been dismissed along with a host of top
commanders. The timing is direly significant ~
towards the end of the third year of the bloody con-
flict with Yemen’s Houthi rebels. A Saudi-led coali-
tion supporting Yemen’s government has been
fighting the Houthis since 2015 in a conflict that
has led to what the United Nations describes as the
world’s worst humanitarian crisis. More than 9,200
people have been killed in the conflict and an esti-
mated 2,200 Yemenis have died of cholera amid
deteriorating sanitation conditions, according to
the World Health Organisation. The desert king-
dom’s intervention in Yemen was Prince Salman’s
initiative ~ long before he was anointed as the heir
apparent to the octogenarian King Salman. Thus
did the prince jettison, three years ago, the coun-
try’s traditional caution. In retrospect, the Saudi
meddling in Yemen has come a cropper though it
has enabled the ousted government to re-establish
The operationalisation of
Chabahar port, west of the
Gwadar port developed by
China, after Indian ratification of
the International Road Transport
(TIR) convention is going to be a
game-changer in India-
Afghanistan-Iran relations. In the
next three years, India is com-
mitted to laying a 600-kilometre
railroad from Chabahar port to
Zahedan, which will provide
seamless export of Indian goods
and humanitarian assistance to
Afghanistan via the Zalranj-
Delaram axis without interfer-
ence from Pakistan.
Zalranj in Nirmuz is con-
nected to Chabahar while
Delaram in Farah province has
access to the Herat-Kandahar
highway in Afghanistan. That
Pakistan will do its utmost to
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
India pipeline not working out India and Iran first agreed to
due to Islamabad’s intransigent plans to further develop Shahid
attitude, the other option is to Beheshti port in 2003, but did
have a deep-sea pipeline via not do so on account of sanc-
Chabahar or Bandar Abbas to tions against Iran. As of 2016, the
container handling facility, and
reconstruct a 600-meter-long
container handling facility at the
port. India Ports Global will
modernize ancillary infrastruc-
assessed what it had to do in response
to these trends, and how it should find
the resources to support these plans.
By announcing the GST increase
early, he said the Government is being
Kandla port in Maharashtra to port has ten berths. In May 2016, ture by installing four rail- honest and upfront about the nation’s
extract natural gas from Iran. India and Iran signed a bilateral mounted "gantry cranes", 16 needs, and what has to be done. “We
From the Indian perspec- agreement in which India would rubber-tyre gantry cranes, two are giving ample notice to citizens and
tive, apart from Chabahar and refurbish one of the berths at reach stackers, two empty han- businesses that we will need to raise
the trade corridor, the Iranian Shahid Beheshti port, and recon- dlers, and six mobile harbour GST,” he said. “I hope that it helps
President's visit is also a part of struct a 600-meter-long contain- cranes. India will also develop everyone to understand our shared
New Delhi’s efforts towards er handling facility at the port. various industries, including alu- challenges in coming years,” he
bridging the Shia-Sunni divide in The port is intended to provide minum and urea production added. In fact, Mr Heng noted, the 2
West Asia. Before he hosted Pres- an alternative for trade between plants, in the Chabahar econom- percentage-point GST increase will
ident Rouhani, Prime Minister India and Afghanistan. This port ic zone attached to the port. not fully cover Singapore’s expendi-
Modi cemented ties with the is 800 kilometers closer to Iran's ambassador to Pak- ture needs, but only make the fiscal
UAE and Oman. India’s relations Afghanistan than Pakistan's istan, Mehdi Honardoost, stated gap more manageable.
with West Asia will get an impe- Karachi port. The port handled that Pakistan and China had The GST hike is expected to raise
tus when King Abdullah of Jor- 2.1 million tons of cargo in 2015 both been invited to contribute revenues worth about 0.7 per cent of
dan arrives in New Delhi on Feb- to be upgraded to handle 8.5 to the project before India, but gross domestic product each year. But
ruary 28. million tons by 2016, and to 86 neither China nor Pakistan had future spending needs on healthcare,
India-Iran-Afghanistan million tons in the future. expressed interest in joining. security and pre-schools already
MoU and plans have committed In July 2016, India began (To be concluded) exceed this amount, he said.
editor@thestatesman.com

Greater empowerment of women

its foothold. The nub of the martter must be that
both countries have suffered, and it is open to
question whether a change of guard in the military
will turn the tide. The Yemen factor is much too
complex, and a dramatic change in policy must
transcend a reshuffle of the military brass though
the heads of the air defence and land forces have
also been replaced. For Saudi Arabia, the prolonged
conflict has entailed a drain on the exchequer; for
the storm-centre that is Yemen. it has been nothing
short of a humanitarian disaster. From the per-
spective of the palace, Crown Prince Salman, who
also happens to be the defence minister, has con-
solidated his grip further still. Barely a few months
ago, he had locked up princes, ministers, and bil-
lionaires, in Riyadh’s five-star Ritz-Carlton hotel in
course of a drive against corruption. The kingdom
bears witness to a conflict within the royalty, and
there appears to be a division at the helm on the
problems and policies of Saudi Arabia. Another
compulsion was the anxiety to accord prominence
to the younger generation within the military, and
thus bolster the system with fresh blood.
Not wholly unrelated has been the appoint-
ment of a woman, Tamadur bint Youssef al-Ramah,
as the deputy labour minister ~ an unprecedented
ministerial portfolio for a woman in a theocratic
and profoundly conservative kingdom. The
appointment can be contextualised with the simul-
taneous decision to invite applications from
women to enlist in the military. This ranks as one
among a welter of reforms to enhance the rights of
women. Unmistakable is the churning in the desert
sands.
SIR, This refers to the report, “Pres-
ident Kovind for women in new
fields” (1 March). While addressing
the students of a girls’ college in
Chandigarh, the President called
upon parents and families to give
women their due freedom so that
they can think independently and
acquire experience in newer
spheres.
He has cited the examples of
Mary Kom, Saina Nehwal, P.V.
Sindhu, Sania Mirza, Aruna Reddy,
Phogat sisters and the Chandigarh
girl, Neerja Bhanot, who have
proved their mettle in the male-
dominated fields like boxing, bad-
minton, tennis, wrestling, piloting
the fighter jet as well as passenger
aircraft. Thus did they bring lau-
rels to their country. He has also
encouraged women to become
engineers given the fact that tech-
nology is a male-dominated seg-
ment. There is little doubt that par-
ents and families can play a major
role to ensure gender equality. Of
course, there are individual cases
of courage, grit and determination.
In order to ensure gender equality
in general, it is imperative to fight
against patriarchy which has its
roots in societal mores.
Gender is a social construct
and gender inequality is its prod-
uct. There has to be a fundamental
social change. But social change is
a prolonged process, and we
should not waste time waiting for
it to happen. As parents and fami-
lies, we should encourage our girl
child to dream ambitiously. It
devolves on the State as an entity
of governance to take appropriate
steps in order to empower women
politically, like implementing 33
per cent reservation in central and
state legislatures. Political empow-
erment will give women the power
to identify their social and eco-
nomic needs and priorities in the
process of development. Our
Prime Minister, in his weekly radio
talk a few days back, had said: “The
dream of a New India envisages
women who are strong, empow-
ered and equal partners in devel-
opment”.
Yours, etc., Narayan Datta,
Burdwan, 1 March.
ILLOGICAL WAR
SIR, Your editorial, “Logic of War”(1
March) is spot on. After the col-
lapse of ISIS in Syria it is now a
proxy war between two super pow-
ers ~ Bashar al-Assad, supported
by Russia, and the rebels encour-
aged by the United States. This
ruthless, bloody war will continue ashamed of their conduct. They
until the two great powers force must help end this relentless
their proteges to strive for a nego- bloodshed to establish their credi-
tiated settlement. The mindset bility before the international
reminiscent of the Cold War has community.
destroyed a small country. Both Yours, etc., Aranya Sanyal,
America and Russia ought to be Siliguri, 1 March.
BENGAL PANORAMA
SIR, In his article, “With an eye firmly focused on quality” (Split
Screen, 24 February) Swapan Mullick recounts many untold stories
and takes me back to the black-and-white era in cinema. Decades
back prominent writers, notably Premen Mitra and Sailajananda
Mukherjee had directed entertaining films. Chupi Chupi Asey is a
detective story set in the backdrop of a heavy shower and a man
clad in a rain coat and felt-hat.
The film created an eerie feeling and suspense right up to the
end. Film productions like Aurora and Agradoot presented several
quality productions to the Bengalee audience. Ajantrik ~ the story
of a ramshackle car ~ was directed by Ritwik Ghatak and was a
commercial flop, but in Bimal, driver of the car, Ghatak discov-
ered a talented actor ~ Kali Banerjee.
It bears recall that Dr BC Roy had diverted some funds from
PWD to complete Pather Panchali. Gangapada Bose had brilliant-
ly played the role of an upstart contractor in Jalsaghar and he was a
matching partner to Chhabi Biswas, who was endowed with a rich
voice. With variation of tone he could express his feelings passion-
ately. Variations in facial expression perfectly reflected every mood
of the character ~ an office clerk who became the owner of a ‘gold
mine’ in Paras Pathar. Tulsi Chakraborti made the film extremely
delightful. Satyajit Ray was a born film-maker, indeed a versatile
genius.
Yours, etc., Susanta Kumar Ghose,
Kolkata, 25 February.
 NEW DELHI, MONDAY 05 MARCH 2018 09
Organic farming
and pesticides. So they are keen to 100 YEARS AGO
move back to their traditional farm-
ing which of course was entirely
organic. This project helps them to OCCASIONAL NOTE
make the shift in a risk-free way, while Two officers of the Royal Army Medical
at the same time offering additional Corps have been carefully investigating a

within reach
opportunities. But what tribal fami-
lies value even more is that they are
getting back the nutrition and health
provided by organic food.
Yet it cannot be denied that even
small farmers are keen to sell some
crops because they badly need cash
for their various needs. In this con-
text it is a win-win situation if they
are able to sell the surplus in the form
of organic produce which provides
much healthier and safer food to city
people and in the process also earn
some extra money. To facilitate this a
Participatory Guarantee System of
certification is used (with technical
support from Keystone Foundation)
which can provide low-cost certifica-
tion recognised by the government
and can open doors to the better
price available for certified organic
produce.
This project builds further on the
earlier work done by these organisa-
tions based on an integrated view of
plants and crops with farm animals,
birds, manure, water and market,
emphasising the close linkages at var-
ious levels and the need to use the
waste of one system as input for the
other, thereby minimising waste and
cost. There is an emphasis on better
understanding of local resources so
that their best possible use can be
made, increasing self-reliance of
people.
An important component of this
is the protection of traditional seeds.
Fortunately, at least in the villages
that I visited recently in Jharkhand,
traditional seeds are available with
these farmers, although this availabil-
ity needs to be increased by making
special efforts.
A big constraint to progress in
these villages, however, is water. Due
to water scarcity, even enthusiastic
efforts of farmers can progress only
BHARAT DOGRA The marketing focus of expensive an organisation working against is coming out as a campaign in some up to a point. Rainfall in normal years
organic farming is also on richer con- hunger called Welthungerhilfe cities to create conditions which are is adequate, but neglect of water har-
matter that has puzzled most people, -
what becomes of the flies during winter?
They have published their results in the
journal of their service. It has been com-
monly believed that while the majority of
flies die off in the autumn, a few adults go
into winter quarters, hibernating in some
quiet and warm corner till spring comes
round. The observations now recorded do
not support this view, but indicate that the
flies’ eggs, deposited mainly in manure
heaps during late autumn, are the source of
next year’s plague of flies. On March 3rd,
1917, after weeks of bitterly cold weather,
living fly larvae were found three feet down
in a heap of old manure which had lain
untouched since October, 1916, and was
covered with grass and leaves. The practical
result of these observations is to show that
heaps of manure must be looked upon as a
source of danger at all periods of the year. At
the same time, while this may be the princi-
pal means of preserving fly life from one
season to another, there is good reason to
believe that a number of adult flies do man-
age to live through the winter.
NEWS ITEMS
BREAKDOWN OF
TELEPHONE SERVICE
AT DELHI
Regarding the fire in the Delhi telephone
exchange the origin is at present under
investigation, but what is known is that the
fire burst out suddenly at 6-30 P.M. on Sun-
day and blazed with great violence among
wires coated with paraffin and indiarub-
ber. The fire was got under control in a
remarkably short space of time, but the
resulting damage is very considerable and
in these days of short supplies very seri-
ous. The Telegraph Department is doing
its utmost to cope with the situation, and it
is understood that about half-a-dozen
essential connections were re-established
at about 1 A.M. on Monday. In the mean-
time the exchange is a charred mass of

O
n the one hand there is increas-
ing realisation that both from
the point of view of food
safety as well as saving the nat-
ural fertility of soil, it is important to
spread organic farming. On the other
hand, it is also becoming apparent that
the progress of organic farming has been
slow and it is far from becoming a mass
movement. Why is this so?
One important reason is that
organic farming has not been co-
related properly to the needs of our
country and the majority of our farm-
ers who are small farmers. For them
organic farming necessarily must also
be low-cost farming. But the trend of
a big share of organic farming
appears to be in a different direction
as it involves expensive certification.
Hence organic farming gets distanced
from the livelihood of small farmers.
CROSSWORD
sumers. Hence there is alienation also (WHH in short).
from the improvement of nutrition of Small workers working on their
weaker sections and small farmers own will find it hard to organize mar-
themselves, which actually should be keting of their organic produce.
the priority. Hence this project is plans to get
Hence there is clear need for them together in farmer-producer
corrective action in the form of spe- organisations. Small farmers find it
cial efforts to relate organic farming difficult to add value, process their
closely to the livelihood and nutri- produce and take up other activities
tion needs of small farmers, apart which demand investment. So this
from the well-established role of project is creating Common Facility
organic farming in protecting the Centres which will make available
rural environment, land fertility and several processing and packaging
soil health. This is the basic thinking facilities under one roof that several
behind a ‘safe food’ and ‘India for small farmers can share. They will be
Eco-Foods’ project which is being helped in various ways in the initial
implemented by leading voluntary difficult period to help them estab-
organisations like the Centre for lish a strong base in not-so-friendly
World Solidarity in Jharkhand, Liv- existing market conditions. This
ing Farms in Odisha and DRCSC in process has already started in signifi-
West Bengal. This project with a lot cant ways.
of potential has been supported by Among other things, the project
NO 27158
IT CAME TO MIND
more conducive to the marketing of
organic produce by small farmers.
While improving organic food
marketing opportunities, it is no less
important to improve nutrition of
small farmers themselves. In a com-
mercial approach to promote organic
farming, small and marginal farmers
are often ignored as their marketable
surplus is likely to be very limited and
is not considered to be worth invest-
ing in. What makes the project differ-
ent is that the health and nutrition of
small farmers and other weaker sec-
tion villagers is accorded a much
higher value than any consideration
of cash gain.
Many tribal farmers to whom I
talked recently in Rajnagar block
(Saraikela district, Jharkhand) said
that their health deteriorated when
they shifted to chemical fertilisers
vesting has led to water scarcity. Local
people have good ideas about reme-
dial action. In Rajnagar block people
say that it is possible to construct a
check dam on Kharkai river at a suit-
able point in such a way that no dis-
placement or harm to a flowing river
will be caused but at the same water
scarcity of five panchayats can be
tackled by lift irrigation from this
source.
Perhaps the organic farming pro-
ject can also add a water conserva-
tion dimension so that opportunities
being opened up to local farmers can
be better utilised. A ray of hope has
been created, and many people will
look forward to replicating the
lessons of this project at a wider level.
The writer is a journalist and has been
involved with several social initiatives and
movements
entangled wires. The telephone connec-
tion with Simla is, fortunately, unharmed,
but at present people desirous of commu-
nicating with Simla must themselves
attend at the exchange, their own tele-
phonic connection with the exchange
being interrupted.
GURU AND GIRL WIFE
A curious civil suit came on for hearing on
Monday before Babu Hem Chunder Bose,
Second Munsiff of Howrah. The plaintiff
in the case is a guru of some 80 years of
age named Sri Sri Swami Satchidanand
Balkrishna Purmananda. The plaintiff’s
allegations are that in August last year he
married a nine year old girl named Nan-
darani Debi, daughter of Bhanu Charan
Chuckerbutty of Amta, the defendant in
the case. The suit is for restitution of conju-
gal rights. The plaintiff alleges that the
defendant has refused to allow him to take
charge of his wife. The plaintiff also prays
for an injunction restraining the defendant
from remarrying Nandarani. The defen-
dant’s written statement is that the plaintiff

Reaching Home
never married Nandarani but from time to
time used to make her the subject of
kumari (maiden worship). The plaintiff
appeared in court with dhatura flowers
round his ears, gold ornaments on his per-
son and a trident and a horn in his hands
in the fashion of Mahadeva, one of the
gods of the Hindu Trinity. The case is pro-
ceeding.

BANGALORE SOLDIERS
AID MOVEMENT
BANGALORE, 4 MARCH
At a meeting of the Bangalore Soldiers’ Aid
Committee held on Saturday at the Resi-
dency, General H.A. Iggulden presiding the
accounts of the committee were laid and
the work done by the Y.M.C.A. and other
Associations was explained. The meeting
then considered subjects in connection
with the approaching arrival of furlough
men, who, the chairman said, would begin
to come early in April and be here till the
end of September. Accommodation is
being made for 3,000 men at a time.
Among other things it was proposed to
start a refreshment room on the Maidan
Illustration: Debabrata Chakraborti under the auspices of the I.O.G.T., and to
ACROSS young whippers- 7 Agent finally mana-
run an institution at Hebbal for furlough
napper (5) ged second class
1 Dividing pound
24 Vibration limited bydisguise (9) MANISH NANDY in which I was born, just like my great Just the world? No, I have changed men only, to be managed by ladies under
from fellow’s
plane manufactur-8 Lunatic shows off grandfather. too. As I moved from house to house, military control. As the secretarial work of
working capital (6)
4 Basically, here in
er’s absorbent behind lorry (10) “One never reaches home.” That was not to be. I worked for city to city, and country to country, my the committee is very considerable, it is
coat (8) 9 Effigy stuffed with Hermann Hesse international groups, a UN entity and food, my clothes, my habits, my whole proposed to obtain the services of a whole-
row 15 (2,6)
27 Source of iron rule vile contents lit up

M
10 Pitcher’s taunt
in strictly secular with shame (8)
y great grandfather, whom I the diplomatic service, and acquired a point of view changed. I don’t think and time paid secretary, to organise sub-com-
having thwarted never saw, died in the house spouse who too did overseas work. It was feel the way I used to any more just as I mittees, and arrange so far as may be nec-
school? (3) 14 Arm policeman
Ruth’s hit? in which he was born in India. a big deal if I lived more than three years don’t eat what I once ate happily. Loves essary details for the carrying on of the
28 Story of modern with soldiers
(1,3,3,4)
11 Back from travel
life in England: blocking minor My grandfather moved just in the same house. If the country had a and hates, wars and riots, children and work. Various financial arrangements were
Uber all over the thoroughfare (10) once, when he changed his home from the coup d’état or a civil war, I moved much refugees, all have infinitely added to and suggested and adopted and subscriptions
after success in
place (5,6) 16 ‘Endless Buns’:
exam (3) village to the metropolis of Kolkata. My faster. I learned to accept the loss, not enlarged my life. were invited.
29 1a (19 only) caught study on doughnut
12 Large inflatable
by anybody playing researchers’ rela father moved nine times. The first when just of familiar bearings, but all that goes I would have been quite content,
nipple burst by the
German comic (8)
Irish anthem (5,3) xed attitude (9) his uncles ejected his mother from the with it: neighbours, friends, grocers, bar- like my great grandfather, to have died in EUROPEAN ASSOCIATION
13 Services for cara-
30 Chap engaged in 17 Identification parental home, the second when he could bers, even street vendors and known taxi the house where I was born, in a tiny
van wheel in its
ogling? Not half (6)marks (8) not pay the rent, and the third when he drivers. I learned to live friendless and brick cottage in central India on a cloudy RANGOON, 4 MARCH
19 Rider cycled here could - by taking a job in another city. Then with strangers. autumn morning (said my mother), but I According to the annual report of the
current condition
DOWN without hard seat
(5) (8) he found a good job in Kolkata and But, while my houses changed, so am not unhappy that my children seem Burma branch of the European association
15 Extremely racy 1 Put down face up returned, but the job entailed moves, did the world around it. The Web grew; destined to live in many more than the the membership of the branch is 468. There
22 ‘Sirrah, go’ said
novel arrangement (4)
2 Marriage ring like
sweet ... (6) and so we lived in four more houses. When email became common; we all started thirty houses I have lived in. have been two deasths. The Committee’s
might make Austen 24 ... old Hindu gentle-
rich (10) the piggy-wig’s? he retired, he chose to live in two small- sending photos to friends and calling The last time I saw my younger activities during the year have been direct-
man, initially blam-
18 Wanting pair bagg- (5) ing archaism on er houses. them across continents. My children daughter, she handed me her four- ed towards the deplorable defectiveness of
ing a couple of 3 Big event for deficient text (5) I heard about the first four moves, went to college in other countries, but month baby and said simply, “Hold her, asylum accommodation for lunatics. A
Oscars? (4) sports college, and 25 Beeb’s unending but the latter five I experienced as his they called me and wrote me. I could dad.” I took the baby, marveled at her sub-committee of enquiry made recom-
20 Main Oscar choices sound equipment’s concerts, originally
power’s down (8)
young son. These were traumatic experi- enjoy new friends and colleagues with- large, limpid eyes, and then kissed her mendations and Sir Reginald Craddock has
whittled down (4) with Henry Wood
21 Tease hip Republi- 5 Get fitter, time (5)
ences for me. I was perfectly content in out losing my link with older acquain- plump cheeks and wondered what roads urged the necessity of a new and improved
can with comedy drops (5) 26 Enter Germany each house and did not want to move. tances. When my daughter graduated her now-tiny feet will traverse and if one asylum. Similar pioneer work was done
skin piercing (10) 6 Fur upset environ- where 5 leaves Every time we moved, even if it was to a and threw her cap in the air, I could see will end some day at my home. regarding the defective state of contagious
23 Outspoken bright mental group (6) across river (4) larger or better house, I longed for the the Pyramids at the back in a video. diseases and plague hospital. The annual
earlier house and mourned its loss with When I flew to Cuba I could Skype and The writer is a Washington-based meeting of the association, with Sir Arthur
NOTE: Figures in parentheses denote the number of letters in the words required. international development advisor and had
(By arrangement with The Independent, London) endless nostalgia. Given the chance, I tell her what I was seeing. The loss had worked with the World Bank. He can be reached Binning in the chair, takes place in Ran-
would have preferred to die in the house become a little bearable. at mnandy@gmail.com goon on the 7th instant.
10
It is quite natural to feel the absence of any person if he
goes out (of the alliance)
UNION MINISTER AND RASHTRIYA LOK SAMTA PARTY CHIEF UPENDRA KUSHWAHA
NEW DELHI, MONDAY 05 MARCH 2018 OVER JITAN HAM(S) CHIEF RAM MANJHI'S ABSENCE

THUMBNAILS
‘NE people rejected politics of hate’ Cauvery issue:
AIADMK
denounces
DMK’s offer on
BJP won Tripura, the Left bastion, and received an invitation to be part of the government in Nagaland
MPs’ resignation
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA jubilee celebrations of the ated them, but his government country has sent a strong victory and defeat of political
BENGALURU, 4 MARCH Ramakrishna Vivekananda has been working relentless- message that they were with parties, but what is important CHENNAI, 4 MARCH
Ashram in Tumakuru and cel- ly to wipe off this feeling. their dreams and sentiments. is that the whole country

A labourer works at a brick
kiln on the outskirts of
Jalandhar on Sunday. AFP
Rhino killed by poachers
in Assam: An adult rhino,
strayed away of the Kazi-
ranga National Park, was
killed and its horn taken
away by poachers in
Majuli district, a forest
department official said
on Sunday. PTI
Special status demand
for Andhra: Opposition
parties from Andhra
Pradesh comprising the
Congress and the CPI will
hold a joint protest in
Delhi on Monday
demanding the special
category status for the
southern state which
was bifurcated in 2014.
“The protest will be held
at the Jantar Mantar on
a day the second leg of
the Budget session
begins,” said Andhra
Pradesh CPI Secretary K
Rama Krishna. PTI
Egg, meat production up
two-fold in MP: Madhya
Pradesh has witnessed a
nearly two-fold rise in the
production of eggs and
meat in the last five
years, according to official
data. In the same period,
the growth in milk produc-
tion has been less than
that of egg and meat. The
egg production during
2012-13 was 87.12 cr
pieces, which went up to
169.41 cr in FY 2016-17,
according to the data in
the recently released
“MP's Economic Survey
2017-18”. PTI
P
rime Minister Naren-
dra Modi said today
that the people of the
Northeast have reject-
ed the “politics of hate” by
“unanimously” voting the
BJP to power.
The BJP yesterday wrest-
ed Tripura, the Left bastion,
and received an invitation to
be part of the government in
Nagaland, while Meghalaya
elected a hung Assembly.
Modi, while addressing a
youth convention in Tumaku-
ru about 70 km from here via
video-conferencing, said the
YSRC to boycott Andhra
Budget session today
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA
AMARAVATI, 4 MARCH
The opposition YSR Con-
gress today said that it would
boycott the Budget session of
the Andhra Pradesh Legisla-
ture starting here tomorrow.
The ruling TDP and the BJP,
in the absence of the YSRC
from the session, claimed
that they would be “the gov-
ernment as well as the oppo-
sition”.
The YSR Congress said
that it would boycott the ses-
sion till its demand, of dis-
qualification of 22 of its MLAs
who crossed over to the Tel-
ugu Desam Party, was met.
The 22 MLAs include four
ministers in the Chandrababu
Naidu Cabinet.
“If the Speaker acts against
the 22 defectors, we will cer-
tainly attend the session,”
YSRC MP V Vijayasai Reddy
and Leader of Opposition in
the Legislative Council
Ummareddy Venkateswarlu
said.
“We have also submitted
a second petition to the Speak-
er seeking their disqualifica-
tion,” they pointed out.
Meanwhile, the TDP
announced that it would play
the role of government as
poll results of Tripura had
given him immense joy.
“The brothers and sisters
of the Northeast have reject-
ed the politics of hate by
unanimously voting the BJP
to power,” he said.
The convention is being
organised to mark the silver
well as the opposition in the
session that begins tomorrow.
“Our leader (Chief Minis-
ter Chandrababu Naidu) has
clearly asked our legislators
to unhesitatingly raise pub-
lic issues and even offer con-
structive criticism. We are
the government and we are
the opposition as well.We dont
need any other opposition,”
state Information and Pub-
lic Relations Minister Kalva
Srinivasulu told PTI.
TDP leaders said that it
would initiate special dis-
cussions on at least 27 sub-
jects, including the AP Reor-
ganisation Act, 2014, the Cen-
tral assistance to the state in
the last three-and-a-half years,
construction of the state cap-
ital city Amaravati, the inter-
linking of Godavari-Krish-
na-Penna rivers and double-
digit economic growth of the
state.
“We will maintain 'coali-
tion dharma' but we will not
shy away from raising issues
of public concern. Since the
main opposition (YSRC) will
not be attending the session,
we will play that role as far as
peoples issues are concerned,”
BJP floor leader in the Assem-
bly P Vishnu Kumar Raju
said.
ebrate the 150th birth anniver-
sary of Sister Nivedita, a social
worker and a disciple of Swami
Vivekananda.
Modi, speaking on the sub-
ject of 'Youth power: A Vision
for New India', said a fitting
reply to radicalisation could
only be given by the resolve
for integration.
Hitting out at the previous
Left and Congress regimes in
the Northeast, Modi said the
people there earlier were feel-
ing cut off from the Indian
mainstream because of poli-
cies and decisions that alien-
MOHE RANG DE
Revellers covered in coloured powder dance as they celebrate Holi in Bangalore on Sunday.
“Our government has
resolved to work in such a way
that no part of the country and
no group feels alienated and
we have proved this by work-
ing towards it,” he said.
“This wave of integration
can also be felt among the peo-
ple of Karnataka,” he said.
The mandate which the
people of Northeast have
given is in itself is a very big
change, Modi said.
By participating in the
happiness of the people of the
Northeast through the Assem-
bly polls results, the whole
“For the country's unity,
showing solidarity to the sen-
timents of the Northeast is a
necessity and very big thing,”
he said.
Modi said the results of
Northeast Assembly polls
have created an environment
of festivity in the entire coun-
try.
The Prime Minister said the
Assembly polls also brought
the whole country together to
celebrate the happiness of
the people living there.
“I don't see Northeast poll
results through the lens of
became participants in the
happiness of people residing
there,” he said.
Modi said such occasions
were rare that accomplish-
ments of the Northeast become
accomplishments of the whole
country.
“We all saw this happen-
ing when many Indians, who
were glued to the television as
though they themselves were
in the electoral battlefield,
started to realise the happi-
ness, dreams and sentiments
of the people of the Northeast
as their own,” he said.
AFP
The ruling AIADMK today
denounced the DMK’s
suggestion that Tamil
Nadu MPs should resign
if Prime Minister Narendra
Modi did not meet an all-
party delegation on the
Cauvery issue, asking
the opposition party to spell
out what it did on the mat-
ter for 17 years when it was
part of the central govern-
ment.
Senior AIADMK leader
and Fisheries Minister D
Jayakumar said the DMK
“enjoyed plum posts” while
being part of the central dis-
pensation for 17 years and
asked if it had done anything
on the lines of the suggestion
made by DMKWorking Pres-
ident MK Stalin yesterday.
The DMK was part of the
NDA government led by Atal
BihariVajpayee, and a key con-
stituent in UPA I and II. It held
cabinet portfolios in all the
three dispensations.
“What I am asking is, you
were supporting the central
government for 17 years and
enjoyed plum posts.”
“But there were many
livelihood issues concerning
Tamil Nadu (including) Cau-
very during these 17 years.
What did you do then?” he
told reporters here.
Jayakumar was respond-
ing to Stalin's suggestion to
Tamil Nadu chief minister K
Palaniswami that all the MPs
from the state should resign
if Modi did not meet a pro-
posed all-party delegation to
press setting up of the Cau-
very Water Management
Board.
Stalin, Leader of
Opposition in the assem-
bly,
met Palaniswami here yes-
terday at the state secretari-
at to discuss the Cauvery
issue.
Today, Jayakumar said there
should be no politics on the
Cauvery issue and underlined
the Tamil Nadu government's
“magnanimity to take on-
board everyone” on the mat-
ter. PTI

Cong dithers on action on Disability rights activist Two cruise

2 ‘inactive’ MLAs: The
Congress in Maharashtra
Javed Abidi dies at 53
is avoiding taking discipli-
nary action against its
two MLAs ~ Nitesh Rane,
son of former Congress
leader Narayan Rane, and
Kalidas Kolambkar, a
staunch supporter of the
senior Rane ~over their
conduct in the Assembly
for fear of losing the
post of leader of the
Opposition in the Lower
House. PTI
TENDER
IANS
NEW DELHI, 4 MARCH
Disability rights activist Javed
Abidi passed away on Sunday
after succumbing to chest
infection. He was 53.
He passed away around
1.30 p.m, a friend of Abidi said,
adding that he had been ailing
for the past few weeks.
"Javed was having a breath-
ing problem for past a few
weeks due to smog and bad
weather. He got a chest infec-
tion four-five days back," she
said.
Heis survived by his moth-
er, a younger brother and
younger sister.
Javed Abidi was the pioneer
of the cross-disability move-
ment in India having found-
ed the Disabled Rights Group
in 1993 to work specifically on
cross-disability issues.
He has also been instru-
mental in promoting cross-dis-
ability civil society participa-
tion from the Global South at
multi-lateral platforms such as
the Conference of State Parties
to the CRPD, among others.
He was instrumental in the
setting up of the National Cen-
tre for Promotion of Employ-
ment for Disabled People
(NCPEDP) in 1996 and had
been its Director since 1997 and
the Convenor of
the National Dis-
ability Network,
India. He was also
the Global Chair,
Disabled People Internation-
al (DPI), a world body with spe-
cial consultative status to the
United Nations.
Under his leadership, DPI
hosted the first Global Forum
on Disability, the first and only
such initiative for voices so far
unheard in the global disabil-
ity movement.
As an impassioned advo-
cate of 'Nothing About Us,
Without Us', he gave voice to
an "invisible minority" -- one
that has been denied to them
for decades, by catalysing
path-breaking changes in
the policy and legislative
space.
vessels call at
New Mangalore
Port on single day
MANGALURU, 4 MARCH
Two luxury cruise vessels
called at the New Mangalore
Port (NMP) on Saturday,
taking the number of ves-
sels visiting the port during
the current financial year to
20.
MV Costa Victoria with
1,771 passengers and 809
crew and MV Insignia with
612 passengers and 407
crew docked at the port
and were berthed along-
side each other, a release
from NMP said.
MV Costa Victoria, an
Italian cruise vessel with
passengers representing 35
nations of the world, a
majority of them from
France, the Netherlands
and Germany, came from
Colombo and sailed out
the same evening to Salalah.
MV Insignia, a Norwegian
cruise liner with passen-
gers from the United States
and Canada came from
Male and sailed
out the same evening to
Kochi. PTI
Goa BJP pins hope on Amit Shah to
resolve Mahadayi water row
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA
PANAJI, 4 MARCH
The BJP in Goa today
expressed confidence that
party chief Amit Shah would
be able to resolve the logjam
between Karnataka and Goa
over diversion of the Maha-
dayi River water.
Karnataka and Goa, the
riparian states of the Maha-
dayi (known as Mandovi in
Goa), have been locked in a issue,” he said. it will not allow the diversion
bitter battle over the sharing
of water of the river, which orig-
Shah, during his election
campaign rally in Karnataka,
of water at any cost.
Last year, the Supreme
inates in Belagavi in Kar- had earlier given an assurance Court had ordered Karnata-
nataka. on resolving the Mahadayi ka to stop the work on the con-
The matter is pending water dispute issue, if the BJP struction of the canal, which
before the MahadayiWater Dis- comes to power in the state. was aimed at diverting water
pute Tribunal. Tendulkar said that while from the Mahadayi tributary.
The Goa BJP unit president, Goa has agreed for a solution, Goa had claimed that it has
Vinay Tendulkar, said he is his party's stand on opposing photographic evidence to
hopeful that a solution to the diversion of the river water will support its claim that the
issue would be worked out remain unchanged. work has begun. However,
soon. Goa Chief Minister Karnataka had rejected the
“We have full faith that Manohar Parrikar had earli- claim saying there was no
our party president Amit Shah er said his state could share such activity. The Goa gov-
will resolve the problem,” the river water with Karnata- ernment last month told the
Tendulkar told reporters here. ka for drinking purposes and tribunal that the Mahadayi river
“We also have faith in the expressed his willingness for water demand by neigh-
inter-state water dispute tri- bilateral talks. bouring Karnataka is actual-
bunal too. We are waiting for However, the BJP's ally ly for irrigating its sugarcane
the tribunal's order on the Goa Forward Party had said crop areas.

Last opportunity
Perfectly healthy, Cat brought from Gulf country to submit data
says Vijayan
IANS
detained at Kochi airport regarding price
movement
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM,
4 MARCH PRESS TRUST OF INDIA of 19 medical
Kerala Chief Minister
KOCHI, 4 MARCH
devices: NPPA
Pinarayi Vijayan who A pet cat brought from a Gulf NEW DELHI, 4 MARCH
had undergone a med- country was detained at the
ical check up at the Apollo Hospital in Chen- International Airport here as National drug pricing regu-
nai, returned here on Sunday and said he was it was not the recommend- lator NPPA has said medical
perfectly healthy. ed route for it to travel, a top devices makers and importers
"This was a routine check up that I have been Customs official said here are being given the last
undergoing for the past 15 years and contrary today. opportunity to submit data
to a section who are against me and give wrong An Indian couple travel- regarding price movement
news, I am perfectly healthy and I have no health ling from Jeddah on 2 March of 19 medical devices noti-
issues," Vijayan told the media at the airport on Saudia Airlines had brought fied as drugs by 15 March,
here soon after he arrived. the cat along with them. documents necessary for have a quarantine facility, 2018.
He was accompanied by his wife Kamala The animal was seized bringing a pet to India. the official said. This is in order to
Vijayan. The Kerala Chief Minister was discharged and detained by the Cus- “Import of pets is only “Import of pets is allowed monitor the price
on Saturday evening. Eyebrows were raised when toms sleuths as it was not a allowed after production of only at Delhi, Mumbai, movement of 19 medical
TV channels here had flashed the news thatVijayan recognised route for import- required health certificate Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore, devices out of 23 medical
was hospitalised on March 2. ing the pets, Customs Com- from the country of origin and Hyderabad Airports which devices notified as drugs
Vijayan's office, which is otherwise very active missioner Sumit Kumar told examination by our animal have animal quarantine facil- under the Drugs and Cos-
in the social media by giving instant updates PTI here. The official said quarantine office,” he said. ity,” Kumar said. metics Acts, National Phar-
on his programmes, speeches and Facebook posts, Saudia Airlines was asked to Besides, Kochi Interna- The seizure was subject to maceutical Pricing Author-
was ,however, tight-lipped about his admission send the cat back to Jeddah tional Airport is not a route adjudication, payment of ity (NPPA) said in a memo-
to the hospital. as the couple had not carried for bringing pets as it does not fine and penalty, he added. randum. PTI

THUMBNAILS
Sebi move: Seeking to join
forces with other agen-
cies to check financial
frauds, the Sebi plans to
make it mandatory for
listed companies to make
urgent disclosure about
all major loan defaults.
Concerned over an alleged
loan fraud of over Rs
12,000 crore at Punjab
National Bank remaining
undetected for years, the
Sebi is revisiting its “on-
hold” proposal to mandate
listed firms to disclose all
"substantial" loan defaults
within a day. PTI
PSU insurers: Taking cue
from ONGC buy-out of
HPCL, the government
may look at replicating
the same in the insurance
sector by asking a cash-
rich PSU general insurer to
buy out the smaller ones.
A finance ministry official
said apart from buy-out
by cash-rich general insur-
ers, a share-swap could
also be considered for
smaller insurers. PTI
Assocham plea: Industry
body Assocham on Sunday
urged the government to
relax the deadline for link-
ing bank accounts, partic-
ularly those in the PSBs to
Aadhaar, saying post-PNB
scam, the PSU lenders are
fire fighting to protect
their core business and
are hard pressed for
human and other
resources. PTI
AirAsia plan: Budget carri-
er AirAsia India has chart-
ed out expansion plans to
connect more tier-II and III
cities and set a target to
commence flights to over-
seas destinations by Janu-
ary 2019, a top official
said. It last week inducted
its 16th aircraft and
announced the addition of
Nagpur and Indore to its
list of destinations. PTI
CIBIL launch: TransUnion
CIBIL, India’s leading credit
information company, has
announced the launch of
unlimited access, a new
subscription product to
provide Indian consumers
with faster access to their
CIBIL score and reports.
Consumers need access to
their credit information to
help them make informed
decisions, and a good CIBIL
score can help them gain
access to credit offers
faster. SNS
Razorpay-IRCTC tie-up:
Razorpay has announced
its collaboration with Indi-
an Railway Catering and
Tourism Corporation to
help customers make
online payments on IRCTC
website and mobile app
through UPI (Unified Pay-
ment Interface), in addi-
tion to payments through
netbanking, wallets and
credit/debit cards, accord-
ing to a Press release. SNS
Bajaj Finance: Bajaj
Finance Ltd, lending arm
of Bajaj Finserv, has
announced an addition of
160 medical procedures in
its life care financing seg-
ment. Bajaj Finserv has
tied up with Ruby Hall Clin-
ic, Pune's first nationally
accredited hospital, for
providing EMI finance
option on 13 categories,
said a Press release issued
by the company. SNS
Steel demand picks up, says Icra report
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA
MUMBAI, 4 MARCH
Helped by buoyant automo-
bile sector and growth recov-
ery in construction and cap-
ital goods, domestic steel
demand has grown to 5.2 per
cent for nine months ended
December of financial year
2017-18, says a report.
According to Icra, the
growth in steel demand was
led by a healthy growth rate
of 6.2 per cent in December
2017 and the rating agency
expects the domestic con-
sumption growth to remain
favourable going forward on
the back of government's
thrust on infrastructure, par-
ticularly towards affordable
housing, power transmission
and the railways.
Banks write off NPAs
worth `516 crore in H1
38 loan accounts of wilful defaulters were written off the books of banks
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA
NEW DELHI, 4 MARCH
P
ublic sector banks
have written off loans
worth Rs 516 crore
owed by wilful default-
ers in the first half of the cur-
rent financial year, as per the
data collated by the finance
ministry.
As part of this exercise, 38
loan accounts of wilful default-
ers were written off the books
of banks during April-Sep-
tember period of fiscal 2017-
18, it said.
Write-off in banking par-
lance means that the bank has
made 100 per cent provision
from its earning against that
account. Following this, non-
performing asset (NPA) is no
longer part of its balance
sheet.
However, the write-off
puts pressure on balance
sheet of banks as it erodes
operating profit.
Since recovery in case of
wilful default is very remote
so the possibility of write-
back in the future is also very
little, said a senior bank
official.
NCAER pegs India’s GDP
growth at 7.5% in FY19
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA
NEW DELHI, 4 MARCH
The Indian economy is pro-
jected to grow at 6.7 per cent
in the current financial year
and 7.5 per cent in financial
year 2018-19, economic think-
tank NCAER has said.
The figures are in line
with the growth projections
in this year's Economic Sur-
vey, which said India is like-
ly to clock 7-7.5 per cent
growth in fiscal 2018-19, up
from 6.75 per cent in the
current fiscal.
“NCAER forecasts a growth
of 6.7 per cent for the Gross
Domestic Product (GDP) at
market prices... For 2018-19,
NCAER forecasts a growth of
7.5 per cent for GDP at mar-
ket prices,” it said.
In a statement, the Nation-
5.2% GROWTH IN FIRST NINE MONTHS
“Domestic steel demand
growth has improved to 5.2 per
cent in the first nine months
of fiscal 2017-18 as against 4.5
per cent in the first seven
months of the current fiscal,
aided by a healthy growth
rate of 6.2 per cent reported
WILFUL DEFAULT
� As many as 1,762 wilful defaulters owed Rs 25,104
crore to State Bank of India as on 31
March 2017
� Punjab National Bank
is next on the list with
1,120 wilful defaulters
having outstanding
non-performing assets
(NPAs) or bad loans
of Rs 12,278 crore
� Total outstand-
ing loans due to
public sector banks
by 8,915 wilful
defaulters amount-
ed to Rs 92,376
crore
A wilful defaulter is some-
body who has essentially not
used the fund for the purpose
it has been borrowed or he has
not repaid when he can do so;
he has siphoned off the funds
or he disposed of the assets
pledged for loan without the
bank's knowledge.
If there is wilful default then
where is the possibility of
recovery, when the entire
exercise was undertaken with
al Council of Applied Eco-
nomic Research (NCAER)
also said that in 2017-18, the
real agriculture Gross Value
Added (GVA) is envisaged to
grow at 1.0 per cent, real
industry GVA at 5.2 per cent,
and real services GVA at 8.0
per cent.
It further said the whole-
sale price index (WPI) infla-
tion is projected at 6.4 per cent
for 2017-18.
The growth rates in exports
and imports, in dollar terms,
are estimated at 12.8 per
cent and 24.8 per cent, respec-
tively.
The statement said current
account balance and central
fiscal deficit, as percentages
of GDP, are projected at 2.0
per cent and 3.5 per cent,
respectively, for fiscal 2017-
18.
� Domestic steel demand has grown to 5.2 per
cent for nine months ended December of finan-
cial year 2017-18, says a report prepared by Icra
� The growth in steel demand was led by a
healthy growth rate of 6.2 per cent in Decem-
ber 2017
� The rating agency expects the domestic con-
sumption growth to remain favourable going
forward on the back of government's thrust on
infrastructure, particularly towards affordable
housing, power transmission and the railways
in the month of December
2017,” the report said.
“This improvement was
supported by sustained buoy-
ancy in the automobile sec-
tor and recovery in growth rates
in the construction and cap-
ital goods sectors,” it added.
Strict H-1B visa rule unlikely to have any
significant impact on Indian IT companies
a clear intention of default, the
official said, adding that banks
could only get few of their
assets which have been dis-
closed.
Recovery forms only
minuscule part of the out-
standing loan in most of the
cases, the official added.
The Reserve Bank of India
in its direction to banks in 2015
said lenders should initiate
legal proceedings wherever
The think-tank also said
that in the agriculture sector,
the estimated output of major
crops based on area and out-
put equations, suggests that
the output of kharif foodgrain
is expected to be 139.8-141.2
million tons.
The output of rabi food-
grain is also expected to
remain close to last year's out-
put of 137 million tons.
Noting that the Reserve
Bank of India maintained
status quo at its sixth bi-
monthly policy meeting in
February 2018, the state-
ment said: “Based on the
current and evolving macro-
economic situation of the
economy, the Reserve Bank
of India is expected to con-
tinue with the neutral liq-
uidity stance in the coming
months.”
Further, it noted that a
combination of favourable
domestic demand, remuner-
ative prices in both interna-
tional and domestic markets,
and lower growth in imports
are likely to support domes-
tic steel production growth in
T V MOHANDAS PAI
IT INDUSTRY VETERAN
warranted, against the bor-
rowers or guarantors and
foreclosure for recovery of
dues should be initiated expe-
ditiously. The lenders may
initiate criminal proceedings
against wilful defaulters, wher-
ever necessary.
The country's largest lender
State Bank of India (SBI)
accounts for over 27 per cent
of the total amount owed to
public sector banks by wilful
defaulters as of March 2017,
according to the finance min-
istry data.
As many as 1,762 wilful
defaulters owed Rs 25,104
crore to State Bank of India
(SBI) as on 31 March 2017,
putting pressure on its balance
sheet. Punjab National Bank
(PNB) is next on the list with
1,120 wilful defaulters having
outstanding non-perform-
ing assets (NPAs) or bad loans
of Rs 12,278 crore.
Together these two banks
account for Rs 37,382 crore or
40 per cent of the total out-
standing loans.
Total outstanding loans
due to public sector banks by
8,915 wilful defaulters amount-
ed to Rs 92,376 crore.
Chemical
industry set to
double by 2025
MUMBAI, 4 MARCH
The chemicals industry is
expected more than double
and touch $300 billion by 2025
from $147 billion now, accord-
ing to Chemexcil.
“The chemical sector is
expected to double to $300
billion by 2025, clocking an
annual growth rate of 15-20 per
cent. To achieve this, the gov-
ernment is also working on a
draft chemical policy that will
focus on meeting the rising
demand for chemicals and
reduce imports,” chemicals
export promotion council
(Chemexcil) chairman Satish
Wagh said here.The industry is
also targeting chemical exports
of $18 billion by 2020 from $12
billion in financial year 2016-
17. In the first half of this fis-
cal, exports rose almost by 27
per cent to $7.19 billion. PTI
Nearly 87 crore bank accounts
seeded with Aadhaar
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA
NEW DELHI, 4 MARCH
A month before the expiry of
the deadline, around 80 per cent
of bank accounts and 60 per cent
of mobile connections have
been linked with national bio-
metric identifier Aadhaar,
according to a senior official at
UIDAI.
The government has man-
dated submission of the 12-digit
unique identity number by
every bank account holder by
31 March 2018 to weed out unac-
counted wealth.
For the same purpose, Aad-
haar linking with income-tax
permanent account number or
PAN has also been made
mandatory.
By 31 March, all mobile
SIM cards are also to be linked
with Aadhaar to establish the
identity of mobile phone users.
the near-term.
At the same time, Icra
senior vice-president Jayan-
ta Roy said with the lifting of
winter production curbs in
China post March 2018, “inter-
national steel prices are like-
ly to correct somewhat, and
would in turn exert pressure
on domestic steel prices in the
first quarter of next fiscal”.
Meanwhile, the report
observed that the resolution
process under the Insolven-
cy and Bankruptcy Code (IBC)
regime for five steel compa-
nies, which accounts for
around 17 per cent of the
current domestic installed
capacity, would help the steel
industry.
“At present, top three
domestic steel producers
account for around 40 per cent
NEW DELHI, MONDAY 05 MARCH 2018
IOC bids for
stake in
Vietnam refinery
NEW DELHI, 4 MARCH
State-owned Indian Oil Corp
(IOC) has bid for a stake in
Vietnam's Binh Son Refin-
ing and Petrochemical Com-
pany as it looks at the South
Eastern nation to expand
business beyond Indian
shores.
IOC is among the at least
four companies that have
evinced interest in becom-
ing strategic partner in Binh
Son Refining and Petro-
chemical Company (BSR)
by taking 49 per cent stake,
official sources said.
Indonesian state-owned
oil firm Pertamina, Viet-
nam's biggest petrol dealer
Petrolimex and Thailand's
Bangchak Corporation Pub-
lic Company Ltd are the
other firms which have put
in an expression of interest
(EoI). Vitol of Switzerland and
Spain's Repsol too had ini-
tially shown interest in tak-
ing a stake in the company
but it was not clear if they put
in an EoI at expiry of the dead-
line last month.
Binh Son Refining and
Petrochemical Company
owns and operates Viet-
nam's first oil refinery, Dung
Quat Refinery (DQR). It has
a capacity of 6.5 million tons
a year. PTI
Harmonising spectrum for
5G: Telecom secy
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA
BARCELONA (SPAIN), 4 MARCH
The government has started
tuning spectrum for 5G ser-
vices as part of its roadmap
to become early adopter of the
next-generation services,
which is expected to provide
download speed over 1,000
megabit per second on mobile
devices.
“On spectrum, we are
already more or less aligned
with global position in 5G.
Those bands we are har-
monising in line with global
community,” telecom secre-
tary Aruna Sundararajan said.
She was here to attend
global telecom event Mobile
World Congress and held
meeting with key players in
the sector, including Bharti Air-
tel, Vodafone, Nokia, Ericsson,
CURRENT STATUS
� Out of the 109.9 crore
banks accounts, almost 87
crore have been seeded with
Aadhaar. Of this, 58 crore have
already been verified while
in case of the rest the authen-
tication process is underway
� As against the 142.9 crore
active mobile connections, 85.7 crore have already been
linked with Aadhaar
Out of the 109.9 crore banks
accounts, almost 87 crore have
been seeded with Aadhaar,
said the official of the Unique
Identification Authority of India
(UIDAI), which issues the
national ID number.
Of this, 58 crore have already
been verified while in case of
the rest the authentication
process is underway with the
documents that have been
of India's annual crude steel
production, and given the
initial readings in the resolu-
tion process thus far, the
domestic steel industry is
heading towards further con-
solidation in the near to medi-
um-term,” the report said.
“This augers well for the
industry, given that these
large capacities have been
operating at sub-optimal util-
isation levels thus far,” it
added.
Reportedly, Tata Steel and
JSW Steel have emerged as the
highest bidders for acquiring
the assets of Bhushan Steel,
Bhushan Power & Steel as
well as Monnet Ispat & Ener-
gy, cumulatively representing
around 45 per cent of the
steel capacity currently under-
going resolution, Icra said.
PNB fraud: NCLT bars
over 60 entities
from selling assets
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA
NEW DELHI, 4 MARCH
Amid the ongoing multi-
agency probe into the Rs
12,700-crore Punjab Nation-
al Bank scam, the NCLT has
restrained more than 60 enti-
ties, including Mr Nirav Modi,
Mr Mehul Choksi, various
individuals, companies and
limited liability partnership
firms, from selling their assets.
The National Company
Law Tribunal (NCLT) has
passed the directions against
Mr Nirav Modi and Mr Mehul
Choksi, the alleged main per-
petrators of the fraud, as well
as their firms and relatives,
among other entities, as per
a public announcement by the
corporate affairs ministry.
The ex-parte order was
passed on a petition filed by
the ministry under various sec-
tions of the Companies Act,
2013.The ministry moved the
petition under various pro-
visions such as section 221,
which pertains to freezing of
assets of company on inquiry
and investigation, and section
222 that relates to imposition
of restrictions upon securities.
It has been passed against
64 entities that include Mr
Huawei, Qualcomm, Medi-
atek, NTT, Intel, etc.
The department of telecom
has started harmonising spec-
trum in 3,500 megahertz band
and 26 Gigahertz band along
with E and V band, she said.
At present 4G services are
provided in spectrum band
below 2,600 Mhz.
With increase in frequen-
cy band count, the signal
coverage area reduces, but as
per technology trend, speed
of transmitting data has been
increasing.
The government has
already harmonised spec-
trum in 700 MHz band which
can be used for 5G services.
Telecom players are run-
ning trials to use 5G in auto-
mated cars, robotic surgery
from remote locations, edu-
cation, etc.
submitted to the banks, the offi-
cial said.The official further said
that as against the 142.9 crore
active mobile connections,
85.7 crore have already been
linked with Aadhaar.
When contacted, UIDAI
CEO Ajay Bhushan Pandey
said: “Yes, about 80 per cent of
the bank accounts have been
seeded with Aadhaar, and we
hope that the remaining will be
GMR-Megawide’s $3b
plan for Manila airport
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA
HYDERABAD, 4 MARCH
The GMR-Megawide con-
sortium that manages the
Mactan-Cebu international
airport in the Philippines has
submitted a $3-billion pro-
posal to decongest and rede-
velop the Ninoy Aquino inter-
national airport in Manila.
According to a regulatory
filing by Megawide to the
Philippines Stock Exchange
in Manila, the $3-billion rede-
velopment proposal involves
increasing the capital city's air-
port's capacity to 950-1,000
aircraft movements a day
from the present 730 move-
ments and take the overall pas-
senger handling capacity to
72 million per annum.
11
Nirav Modi, Mr Mehul Chok-
si, a few individuals related to
Punjab National Bank, vari-
ous companies and limited lia-
bility partnerships.
Gitanjali Gems, Gilli India,
Nakshatra Brands and Firestar
Diamond are among the
barred companies, while part-
nership firms include Solar
Exports and Stellar Diamond.
According to the ministry,
the petition came up for
urgent hearing before the
Mumbai Bench of the NCLT
on 23 February and that an ex-
parte order was passed.
There is an injunction
against these entities from
“removal, transfer or dispos-
al of funds, assets and prop-
erties” till further order, accord-
ing to the announcement.
The NCLT has posted the
matter for further hearing on
26 March when the entities
concerned have been asked
to present before the tribunal.
As per the public
announcement, in case the
entities fail to appear on that
day, then the matter would be
heard ex-parte. Apart from the
CBI and the Enforcement
Directorate, the Serious Fraud
Investigation Office is also
probing the matter.
Union telecom minister
Manoj Sinha has asked tech-
nology companies to look for
using 5G services in agricul-
ture sector as well, she said.
“All the players are posi-
tioning themselves for India
as a big 5G market. One of the
leading chipset company in
a meeting told us that India
will have one of the biggest IoT
(Internet of things) user base
and the company is keen to
partner with C-DoT for devel-
oping various IoT solutions.
India is a forerunner and will
be an early adopter of 5G,” she
said. According to Bharti Air-
tel chairman Sunil Bharti Mit-
tal, 5G services in India will
start once standards for the
technology will be freezed
by global telecom body Inter-
national Telecommunica-
tions Union next year.
covered soon...Financial loss-
es caused to banks and genuine
account holders through iden-
tity frauds will be curbed.”
With over 1.2 billion residents
already enrolled for Aadhaar ~
a unique 12-digit number
backed by fingerprints, iris
scans and certain demographic
details ~ the programme today
is the world's largest biomet-
ric database. Aadhaar is required
as an identity proof of residents
by various government and
non-government entities.
While a five-judge Consti-
tution bench is hearing a clutch
of pleas challenging the con-
stitutional validity of the Aad-
haar programme, as things
stand today, PAN, bank accounts,
credit cards, insurance policies,
mutual funds, pension plans
and social welfare benefits will
have to be linked to Aadhaar
by 31 March 2018.
The Mactan-Cebu inter-
national airport is the second
largest airport in the Pacific
island nation and is operat-
ed by GMR Group and Megaw-
ide in a 40:60 joint venture.
According to the Manila
International Airport Author-
ity, the city's aerodrome han-
dled nearly 37 million pas-
sengers in 2017.
“As an experienced pri-
vate operator, we have a deep
understanding of the problem
experienced by the Manila air-
port and we would like to offer
our solution. Our team has
transformed the New Delhi
international airport as one
of the top five in the world
today,” Louie Ferrer, a repre-
sentative of the consortium,
was quoted as saying.
12
NEW DELHI, MONDAY 05 MARCH 2018
WEATHER
CITY MAX MIN
SINGAPORE 31°C 25°C S
HONG KONG 22°C 19°C CL
TOKYO 16°C 10°C CL
LONDON 09°C 06°C CL
DUBAI 24°C 20°C CL
SAN FRANCISCO 03° C 01° C CL
NEW YORK 04° C 02° C CL
MOSCOW -08° C -04°C H AGENCIES
S= sunny, CL= clear,
H=hazy, R= rainy...
THUMBNAILS
A seagull slides as it tries
to land on a frozen pond
in St James Park in central
London on Sunday. AFP
Egypt militants: Egypt's
military said on Sunday
four soldiers and 10
jihadists were killed in a
military operation in Sinai
against IS group
jihadists.The deaths raise
military casualties to at
least 16 dead,along with
more than 100 jihad- ists,
since the start of the ope-
ration on 9 February. AFP
Plane black box retrieved:
Rescue teams have recov-
ered the black boxes of a
plane that crashed last
month in the mountains
of Iran leaving 66 people
dead, official media
reported on Sunday. They
were to be handed over
to investigators seeking
to determine the cause of
the accident. AFP
UK fire: Three men arrest-
ed earlier this week in the
UK for the building fire in
Leicester city that killed
five people, including
three of an Indian-origin
family, have been charged
with manslaughter and
arson, police said on Mon-
day. Police named the
men as Aram Kurd, the
owner of the Polish mini-
supermarket,Zabka. PTI
US auction: A pair of
signed letters written by
the founder of psycho-
analysis Sigmund Freud -
one to his sick former stu-
dent a few days before
her death, and one send-
ing condolences to her
husband - is expected to
sell for USD 14,000 at a US
auction. AFP
Trump jokes
about his
impeachment,
mocks media
WASHINGTON, 4 MARCH
US President Donald Trump
joked about his own impeach-
ment and mocked several
media organisations at a
high-profile gathering of
journalists and politicians.
Arriving late at the Grid-
iron Club's white-tie din-
ner, at which dozens of jour-
nalists and politicians gath-
er to trade barbs, Trump said
he was late because his son-
in-law Jarred Kushner could
not get through the securi-
ty.The security clearance of
Kushner was recently down-
graded.Ivanka, youve got to
do something! Trump said.
Both Ivanka and Kushner
were seated at the head table
along with the First Lady.
The president talked about
planning his remarks and said
he discussed them with the
funniest people in theWhite
House, including Vice Pres-
ident Mike Pence. Trump
called Pence a good straight
man.He is straight! said
Trump.Trump went on to joke
that Pence begins every day
asking, Is he impeached yet?
You cant be impeached when
theres no crime. Put that
down! Trump said.Noting
that Attorney General Jeff
Sessions was in attendance,
he said he offered to bring Ses-
sions to the dinner.I offered
him a ride over and he recused
himself, saidTrump.Towards
the end of his speech, Trump
talked about Deferred Action
Against Childhood Arrival. PTI
Merkel hails new govt with
SPD for the good of Germany
Will be sworn in for a 4th term by mid-March, in a repeat of the grand coalition that has governed since 2013
AGENCIES
BERLIN, 4 MARCH
G
ermany’s Social
Democrats (SPD)
voted decisively for
another coalition
with Chancellor Angela
Merkel’s conservatives on
Sunday, clearing the way for
a new government in Europe’s
largest economy and ending
months of political uncer-
tainty.
Two thirds of the mem-
bership voted“yes” to the
deal, a party official said — a
wider margin than many had
expected — meaning Merkel
could be sworn in for a fourth
term by mid-March, in a
repeat of the grand coalition
that has governed since 2013.
The challenges are piling
up for Merkel, who has been
acting chancellor for more than
five months since an incon-
clusive election, with Europe
looking to its largest country
for leadership on a host of eco-
nomic and security issues.
Addressing party activists
lining the balconies around
the atrium of the party’s Berlin
May defends credible Brexit plan
THE INDEPENDENT
LONDON, 4 MARCH
Theresa May has been forced
to defend her Brexit plans
amid claims the EU is likely
to reject them.
The Prime Minister insist-
ed proposals outlined in a
major speech on Friday to
maintain an open border in
Northern Ireland and ensure
a close trading relationship with
Europe were “credible”.
It comes as European lead-
ers suggested the plan would
be difficult to accept because
it would undermine the EU’s
single market.Ireland’s for-
eign minister, Simon Coveney,
was among those suggesting
the EU may reject the plan.
He told the BBC’s Andrew
Marr Show: “She hasn’t real-
ly gone into any more detail
than we’ve already heard in
terms of how she’s going to
solve the problem of main-
taining a largely invisible bor-
der on the island of Ireland.”
Coveney said he was “not
sure that the European Union
will be able to support” the UK’s
plan because it poses a threat
to “the integrity of the single
Netanyahu against early poll
AFP
JERUSALEM, 4 MARCH
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu has said he oppos-
es early election, as corruption
probes linked to him intensi-
fy speculation over his
future.Israeli media have raised
the possibility of a June poll,
with graft investigations poten-
tially weakening the premier's
ability to hold together his right-
wing coalition.“There is no rea-
son for that to happen if there
is good will,” Netanyahu said
before departing for a visit to
the US. “For me, there is good
will. I hope that the other
(coalition) partners also have
it.” Netanyahu will meet US
President Donald Trump on
Monday at the White House
and is set to address pro-
Israel lobbying group AIPAC
First Dalit Hindu woman elected to Pakistan senate
PTI
KARACHI, 4 MARCH
Kirshna Kumari Kolhi from
Pakistan's Sindh province
has become the first-ever
Hindu Dalit woman Senator
in the Muslim-majority coun-
try, the Pakistan People's
Party has said.
Kolhi, 39, belonging to the
remote village of Dhana Gam
in Nagarparkar in the interi-
or Sindh province is a mem-
ber of Bilawal Bhutto Zardari-
led Pakistan People's Party
(PPP).
Bhutto said the election of
Kolhi, who was elected on a
minority seat from Sindh,
showed that minorities had
rights in Pakistan and she
could play an effective role in
Pakistani politics.
Kolhi said she was happy
headquarters early on Sunday,
acting SPD leader Olaf Scholz
said:“We now have clarity:
the SPD will join the next
German government.”
Merkel took to her party’s
Twitter feed to congratulate
the SPD.“I look forward to
working with the SPD again
for the good of our country,”
she said.European Commis-
sioner for Economic and
Financial Affairs Pierre
Moscovici congratulated the
SPD for“their responsible and
decisive vote” on Twitter and
said Germany was now“ready
to engage for a stronger
market”.He said: “When some-
body from the British gov-
ernment definitively says that
something will be the case,
people assume that that is the
negotiated outcome. Of course
it’s not."While of course we will
explore and look at all of the
proposed British solutions, they
are essentially a starting point
in negotiations as opposed to
an end point.”
In a major speech in Lon-
don on Friday, Ms May con-
firmed the UK will be leaving
the customs union and sin-
gle market but suggested an
open border could be main-
tained in Northern Ireland
through technological solu-
tions and ensuring similar
regulations are maintained
between Britain and the EU.
Coveney said: "This isn't
on Tuesday. Israeli police rec-
ommended Netanyahu's
indictment in two corrup-
tion cases last month and
investigations are continu-
ing in others.He and his wife
Sara were questioned by police
on Friday in a third case of
alleged graft.At the same time,
there are signs that a split is
emerging within his coali-
tion that threatens to pull the
government apart.Ultra-Ortho-
dox Jewish parties want a law
passed to allow religious stu-
dents to continue to be exempt-
ed from military conscrip-
tion.
Other members of the
coalition oppose such a law,
but the ultra-Orthodox have
threatened to block a 2019 bud-
get that Finance Minister
wants to see approved this
month.
that the PPP had reposed
faith in her and in her work.
“I am a human rights
activist and try to highlight the
problems faced by the minori-
ties especially Hindus. PPP
could have nominated any
other woman for the seat but
they showed they have regard
for minorities as well,” she said
today.
Known as Kishoo bai by her
parents and friends for her fiery
temper and activism, Kolhi
said she knew how much
work needed to be done for
the oppressed and poor in the
interior areas.
“I, my family members
and relatives were in bondage
labour in a private jail owned
by an influential landlord in
Umerkot district and we were
only freed during a police
raid,” she said.
I have a line in one of my journals. I think
women are more powerful than men
Europe”.French Finance Min-
ister Bruno Le Maire wrote on
Twitter that he had spoken to
Scholz and acting finance
minister Peter Altmaier, a
Merkel ally, by telephone on
Sunday morning to discuss giv-
ing the euro zone new impe-
tus after the SPD’s vote,
adding:“Resolved to work
closely together!”
The SPD ballot pitted the
leadership of the centre-left
party against the radical youth
wing, which wanted the SPD
to rebuild in opposition after
a disastrous election showing.
“I’m happy it worked out
a question of either side want-
ing to put up borders, but if
you have to protect a func-
tioning single market, just
the same way Britain wants
to protect its own single mar-
ket, then you have to under-
stand that if goods move from
one customs union to anoth-
er then there needs to be
some checks, unless there is
some mechanism that is nego-
tiated and put in place that pre-
vents that."
If negotiations fail to reach
an agreement then the “back-
stop” plan of full British align-
ment with the customs union
and single market would have
to be put in place, he said, insist-
ing that the UK Government
had “committed clearly” to this
last year.
Labour peer Lord Man-
delson, a former European
Commissioner, also claimed
the EU would never accept the
plan “in a month of Sundays”.
He said: "What Theresa
May is doing is trying to dance
on the head of a pin that sim-
ply doesn't exist."
"It will be painful for the
country as a result."
Responding to claims her
South Korea to
send envoys to
North today
SEOUL, 5 MARCH
South Korean President
Moon Jae-in will send a
team of special envoys ~
including Seoul's spy chief
~ to the North on Monday
to push for talks between
Washington and Pyongyang
on nuclear weapons.The
delegation, announced by
Moon's office on Sunday,
is the latest chapter in a
remarkable Olympics-dri-
ven detente between the
two Koreas. An intense
rapprochement saw the
two foes march together at
the Winter Olympics, with
the Kim Jong-un sending
his sister as a special envoy
to the event. AFP
Noting that she was a lit-
tle girl when the incident
took place, Kolhi said it
prompted her to fight for the
rights of women and children
belonging to the minority
communities.
“My husband and family
supported me a lot in my
studies and work and it allowed
me to get required education
VETERAN ACTOR-DIRECTOR BARBRA STREISAND
THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER.
this way,” Andrea Nahles, the
SPD’s likely next leader, told
media.Scholz declined to
comment on reports that he
would be finance minister, say-
ing only that the SPD would
appoint three men and three
women to the federal cabinet.
As part of the price for its sup-
port, the SPD will take the helm
at key ministries, including the
finance ministry.
The outcome means the
far-right Alternative for Ger-
many (AfD) will be the largest
parliamentary opposition
party. In a tweet, they labelled
the SPD’s decision a“cata-
strophe” for Germany, promis-
ing fierce opposition over the
coming four years.
Kevin Kuehnert, head of the
SPD’s youth wing, said he
was disappointed but that
the“Jusos” (youth wing) would
keep up their criticism, sig-
nalling that, after bringing in
a flood of new members, they
would be a thorn in the lead-
ership’s side.
“Criticism of the grand
coalition remains. The SPD
needs to be more like it has
been in recent weeks and less
proposals were unrealistic,
May insisted her speech con-
tained “credible” proposals for
maintaining an open border
in Northern Ireland.
"We've got proposals as to
how we're going to achieve that
- now we're going to be able
to sit down and talk with oth-
ers about how we're going to
do that," she told Marr.
“This is an ambitious deal
but what I’ve put forward is
credible because it is based in
practicality.”She denied the
plan amounted to“cherry-pick-
ing” saying: “If you look at the
European Union today, it has
different trade agreements
with different countries around
the world.
“If you say that looking at
what suits your particular
economies and putting that
into a trade agreement is
cherry-picking, then they are
cherry-picking in every trade
agreement they put forward.”
In the first signs of Con-
servative dissent over Ms
May’s speech, Tory grandee
Lord Heseltine said it proved
the Government had “no
answer” on how to imple-
ment Brexit.
Syrian war turning gruesome
BEIRUT, 4 MARCH
AGENCIES
Residents are reported to be
fleeing the rebel-held Eastern
Ghouta enclave in Syria as
the situation there was
described as "beyond critical".
Syria's military appears to
be increasing pressure on sev-
eral fronts to try to retake the
enclave just to the east of the
capital, Damascus.
Government forces have
taken 10per cent of the area,
Syrian Observatory for Human
Rights monitors say.The Obser-
vatory and the Syrian Civil
Defense said civilians fleeing
the advancing troops were
taking cover in underground
shelters. “It is a scorched-
earth policy,” said Ghouta-
based activist Nour Adam.
despite my Dalit caste back-
ground,” she said.
Kolhi's election represents
a major milestone for women
and minority rights in Pakistan.
Earlier, PPP had elected first
Hindu woman Ratna Bhag-
wandas Chawla as a senator.
While Chawla belonged
to a well-known Hindu fam-
ily in Sindh, Kolhi is the first
like it has been in recent years
- the Jusos will ensure this,”
he tweeted.
The party, already one of
Europe’s largest, has seen
tens of thousands of new
members join this year. Turn-
out in the poll was over 78 per-
cent.German business greet-
ed with relief the news that Ger-
many would get a government
after its longest-ever post-
election interregnum.
“While the United States are
starting a trade war and China
is challenge our industrial
leadership, we have been
unnecessarily self-absorbed,”
engineering trade union
VDMA’s managing director
Thilo Brodtmann said.
The SPD was forced to
revisit its original plan to go
into opposition after the fail-
ure of Merkel’s initial attempt
to form a coalition with two
smaller parties.
With her conservatives,
they thrashed out a coalition
agreement which SPD lead-
ers hailed for its commit-
ments to strengthening the EU
and giving them key govern-
ment roles.
UK storm
Emma travel
disruption
goes on
LONDON, 4 MARCH
After days of devastation to
Britain’s transport network,
Sunday morning dawned
at the UK’s busiest railway
station with an unfamiliar
air of normality. The first
trains trundled off to sub-
urban south-west London on
schedule, while passengers
on longer-distance services
to Portsmouth and Wey-
mouth are enduring the
expected bus replacement
services because of sched-
uled engineering work.
South Western Railway
plans to run a normal Sun-
day service, though it is the
exception; most train oper-
ators are warning travellers
of some disruption.
InWales, no trains are run-
ning west of Carmarthen,
while the line from Cardiff
to Shrewsbury is closed.
Arriva Trains Wales said:
“The situation is extremely
changeable”.
THE INDEPEDENT
“People are moving out because
of the relentless bombing.” A
UN aid convoy planned for
Sunday has not been able to
enter the enclave.
The fighting since 18 Feb-
ruary has left more than 600
people dead, many of them
children.Neither a daily five-
hour truce ordered by the
Russians - Syria's main back-
ers - nor the ordering of a
nationwide ceasefire by the UN
Security Council have led to
any humanitarian relief for the
enclave.Eastern Ghouta, home
to some 400,000 people, has
been under a crippling siege
and daily bombardment for
months. More than 600 civil-
ians have been killed in the last
two weeks alone.
The UN says that the "col-
lective punishment of civilians
lower caste woman to come
to the Senate.
Born to a poor peasant
Jugno Kolhi in February 1979,
Kolhi and her family members
spent nearly three years in a
private jail owned by the
landlord of Kunri of Umerkot
district. She was a grade 3 stu-
dent at the time.
She was married to Lalc-
hand at the age of 16, when
she was studying in 9th grade.
However, she pursued her
studies and in 2013 did her
masters in sociology from
the Sindh University.
Kolhi had joined the PPP
as a social activist along with
her brother, who was later
elected as Chairman of Union
Council Berano.
Kolhi also actively partic-
ipated and worked for the
rights of the marginalised
Italy votes in
uncertain poll
stalked by populism
ROME, 4 MARCH
Italians went to the polls on
Sunday in a vote that could
bring political gridlock after
an election campaign marked
by anger over the listless econ-
omy, high unemployment
and immigration.
Pollsters have predicted that
former prime minister Silvio
Berlusconi’s centre-right party
and his far-right allies will
emerge as the largest bloc in
parliament but fall short of a
majority.
The anti-establishment 5-
Star Movement looks set to be
the biggest single party, feed-
ing off discontent over
entrenched corruption and
growing poverty, while the
ruling centre-left Democra-
tic Party (PD) is seen limping
home in third place.
Heavily indebted Italy is the
third-largest economy in the
19-member euro zone and,
though investors have been
sanguine ahead of the ballot,
prolonged political stalemate
could reawaken the threat of
market instability.
“I’d like to see the parties
work together more for the
good of the country ... there
was too much mud-slinging
during the campaign,” said 20-
year-old Luca Hammad while
leaving a polling station in
Rome.
“I hope these elections
bring change for young peo-
ple. Even if you find a job, wages
are so low that it is hardly worth
working.”
In the latest sign of the divi-
sive climate ahead of the vote,
some homes in Pavia, near
Milan, were marked overnight
with stickers that said“Here
lives an anti-fascist”.
Neo-fascist movements
have been gaining ground in
Italy, where a Nazi sympathiser
last month injured six Africans
in a shooting incident.
Polling stations close at 2300
(2200 GMT), with exit polls due
immediately afterwards. The
vote is being held under a com-
plex new electoral law that
could mean the final result will
not be clear until late on
Monday.
Confusion over the new law
led to mistakes in 200,000
ballots that had to reprinted
overnight in Palermo, where
some polling stations delayed
opening amid protests from
voters.The campaign has
marked the return to frontline
politics of 81-year-old Berlus-
coni, who was forced to quit
is simply unacceptable". The
organisation said it had failed
to obtain permission from
Syrian officials to allow 40
trucks carrying humanitarian
supplies to enter the key town
of Douma. "Instead of a much-
needed reprieve, we contin-
ue to see more fighting, more
death, and more disturbing
reports of hunger and hospi-
tals being bombed," UN region-
al humanitarian co-ordinator
Panos Moumtzis said.
Some 393,000 people are
trapped in the besieged
enclave.Opposition sources
and journalists on the ground
say that hundreds of people
have been fleeing the bom-
bardment of Beit Sawa, south
of Douma and on the eastern
edge of the densely populat-
ed centre of the Eastern Ghou-
communities living in Thar dis-
trict and other areas.
Pakistan's ruling PML-N of
ousted prime minister Nawaz
Sharif yesterday won 15 seats
in Senate and became the
largest party in the upper
house of Parliament, accord-
ing to the provisional results.
Provincial and federal law-
makers voted to elect 52 Sen-
ators in the Senate elections,
according to the Election
Commission of Pakistan
(ECP).
Twelve seats each from
Punjab and Sindh, 11 each
from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa
and Balochistan, four from
tribal region and two from fed-
eral capital territory were up
for grab due to retirement of
52 senators this month.
More than 130 candidates,
including those nominated
Pollsters have predict-
ed that former prime
minister Silvio Berlus-
coni’s centre-right
party and his far-right
allies will emerge as
the largest bloc in par-
liament but fall short
of a majority.
as prime minister in 2011 at
the height of a sovereign debt
crisis and was widely written
off after sex scandals, legal woes
and ill health.
A 2013 conviction for tax
fraud means he cannot hold
public office and he has put
forward Antonio Tajani, pres-
ident of the European Par-
liament, as his candidate for
prime minister.Tajani’s mod-
erate profile is aimed at allay-
ing fears in Europe about his
populist allies, notably the
League, whose leader Matteo
Salvini has promised to deport
the 600,000 boat migrants
who have arrived in Italy over
the past four years.Some poll-
sters say the League could over-
take Berlsuconi’s Forza Italia
party on Sunday.
Populist parties have been
on the rise across Europe
since the 2008 financial cri-
sis, but mainstream parties in
Italy have found it especial-
ly hard to contain voter anger,
with the economy still 6 per-
cent smaller than a decade ago
and unemployment stuck at
about 11 percent.
The 5-Star Movement, led
by 31-year-old Luigi Di Maio,
has been particularly suc-
cessful at tapping into the dis-
affection in the underdevel-
oped south and has promised
a monthly universal wage of
up to 780 euros ($960) for the
poor.“I think 5-Star will win
... but I’m also worried that
there won’t be a winner. Both
scenarios look catastrophic to
me,” said Giuseppe Ottaviani,
who voted in Amelia, central
Italy.Economists say that, like
many party pledges, Italy can
ill-afford the universal wage.
But many of the more wild
campaign promises are like-
ly to fall by the wayside if there
is a hung parliament and a
power-sharing accord has to
be hammered out.
Although all party leaders
have ruled out any post-elec-
tion alliances with rivals, Italy
has a long history of finding
a way out of apparently
intractable political stale-
mate.
ta. The enclave is an agricul-
tural region about the size of
Manchester in the UK.
Residents, many of them
women and children, are
reported to have fled into the
centre of the enclave to seek
shelter. Fighting has intensi-
fied in Beit Sawa between
government forces and Jaish
al-Islam, one of three main rebel
groups.
A resident speaking to the
media described the situation
in the Eastern Ghouta as
"beyond critical".everal reports
suggest government forces are
attempting to cut the region
in two.Syrian state media say
the army has advanced on sev-
eral fronts, and has taken
control of villages and farms
while attacking from the east-
ern side of the enclave.
by political parties and inde-
pendent candidates were in
the contest.
Hindus makeup just two
percent of the total popula-
tion of Pakistan and have
long complained of victimi-
sation. Hindu lawmakers
have for long protested the
forcible conversion of poor
Hindu girls to Islam by some
landowners and their religious
leaders particularly in inte-
rior Sindh and Kolhi has also
been working to highlight
this problem.
Ironically, she will take
her oath later this month to
the Senate seat in a house
dominated by feudal land-
lords, but social activists say
her election even on a reserved
seat is a sign of changing
times in Pakistan for minori-
ties.
 NEW DELHI, MONDAY 05 MARCH 2018 13
Capital: Ankara

Currency: Turkish lira

'Keen to make India teaching partner'
TURKEY Ethnic groups: Turkish 70-75%, This is our way to demonstrate
done to the H1B1 visa in the
US.Whatareyourobservations
students. We provide our stu-
dents the best quality work-
Kurdish 19%, other minorities 7- how globally focused we are on this? shops and seminars so that they
12% (2016 est.) and how important our part- earn a recognition in the Eng-
ners in India are. We have I am not aware of any such lish companies. In
Languages: Turkish (official),
Kurdish, other minority lan-
UNITED KINGDOM collaborated with the Symbio-
sis University in Pune and
political challenges existing in
the United Kingdom. We have
Bournemouth University, every
student has an academic advi-
guages UK-based Bournemouth Uni- also, we have our faculty mem- a very straightforward sor and they guide the students
versity organised the 3rd edi- bers of media and communi- approach. We work on the under the self-development
Religions: Muslim 99.8% (mostly tion of the Global Festival of cation in Chennai as well. We applications of the candidates programmes. It is up to the stu-
Sunni), other 0.2% (mostly Chris- Learning,recently in the Cap- are ready to recognise talents in the Bournemouth Univer- dents how they make most of
tians and Jews) ital.The Festival tried to explore in India and we are looking for- sity and based on their acad- the opportunities.
the changes in the areas of ward to make India our teach- Milena Bobeva emic grades, the appropriate
SECULAR CELEBRATIONS media,health,technology and
education. Milena Bobeva,
ing partner.
age our students to start apply-
candidates are selected and
granted visas. So, such chal-
The present Indian govern-
ment is focusing more on
The major secular celebrations and official holidays begin with New Year's Day on interim Associate Dean (Glob- Many of the Indian Universi- ing for work experience from lenges aren't here. start-ups and entrepreneur-
1 January, an adoption from the West. National Sovereignty Day on 23 April com- al Engagement), MBA Direc- ties are still way behind in pro- the very beginning. We also ship. Being a management
memorates the first meeting of the Grand National Assembly and 23 April is also tor, Faculty of Management, viding skill-based training to make sure that the work expe- What are the differences in the teacher yourself, what is your
National Children's Day. Youth and Sport Day, commemorating Atatürk's birth, is Bournemouth University, students that can earn them rience doesn't have to be a academiccurriculumbetween advice to those who are look-
celebrated on 19 May. Victory Day, celebrating victorious battles during Turkey's shared her views about study- better employment opportu- blockage. So we make sure that Indian and the United King- ing for opportunities in entre-
War of Independence, is observed on 30 August. Republic Day, 29 October, com- ing in the UK and discussed nities. What arrangements they work for one or two days dom's universities that you preneurship?
memorates Atatürk's proclamation of the republic in 1923. insights into business and has the UK made to provide in a week. That equals to 20 have observed so far?
management degrees. In a jobs once a student graduates hours in a week. The students Innovation and creativity are
conversation with The States- from any university? can develop opportunities Well, I haven't got enough the key features. Three years
man,Bobeva talked about the with the company and be time to know the real differ- ago we introduced courses
FOOD AND DRINK INDIAN PRESENCE opportunities Indian students Our actions are regulated by offered a suitable job when they ences as this is my first visit in innovation management and
can avail of in the United registered agencies in the graduate. to India. So even I am asking entrepreneurship and in the
Turkish food combines culinary tra- The Indian community in Turkey is small, Kingdom. Excerpts: United Kingdom. For interna- the same questions to my col- years we have seen a growth
ditions from the people's nomadic past about 1,700 persons, mostly working in busi- tional students, we make sure There are many challenges a leagues working here. But we in its popularity. We work on
in Central Asia with influences of the ness establishments and universities in What are the main points on to make them understand student or a worker faces do have very strong personal certain programmes to make
Middle Eastern and Mediterranean cui- Istanbul and Ankara. A small number of pro- which the Bournemouth Uni- how their visa will enable while abroad, due to changes development-based curricu- more resources available so that
sine. Turkish food is excellent, with wide fessionals and skilled and semi-skilled versity is focusing on Indian them to take most of our work in political scenarios, such as lum, based on the ideas embed- the students can be benefit-
variation, going far beyond the famil- workers are also working in the TANAP pro- students? experiences. We try to encour- the recent amendments being ded in the curriculum for the ted by them.
iar kebab. Meat is a large component ject and Star Refinery in Izmir. SBI has a rep-
of the Turkish diet, with lamb featur- resentative office in Istanbul.
ing heavily and dishes tend to be fra-
grantly spiced, although they are not
as hot as those found in Indian cui-
sine. Vegetarians will find they are eas-
WEATHER AND CLIMATE Future is happening in India: Trudeau
ily catered for, as meze ~ a selection Turkey is a huge country, and its climate varies
of sauces, dips and vegetables ~ can widely from region to region as well as sea- CANADA discuss gender equality and leader pointed out that guests from the Sikh com-
be found on almost every menu and sonally. For sightseeing holidays, the best women's rights, and the diversity is a key to munity, for whom Canada is
it's not unusual to have them as a main times to visit are spring (April-May) and KUNAL ROY other will be "Oceans and resilience and success and like a "second home".
meal. Dolma (stewed vegetables) are autumn (October-early November), when Plastics", to chalk out a plan also mentioned about his Trudeau, with his dancing

A
also veggie-friendly dishes. Some of days are generally warm and sunny but not fter speaking, observ- for clean environment and cabinet, where the number moves earned cheers and
the specialities are Köfte, Shish kebab, uncomfortably hot. Rainy spells and cloudy ing and exchanging sustainable development. of male and female office applause from the audi-
Pide, Dolma and Lokum (Turkish days are possible, however, in spring and ideas with the Indian The Group of Seven, or G-7, holders are divided in equal ence.
Delight ~ originally made from dates, autumn, so the best months for a sun-and- youth, Canadian Prime consists Canada, France, ratio. In his brief address, he
honey, roses and jasmine bound). sea holiday on the Aegean or Mediter- Minister Justin Trudeau Germany, Italy, Japan, the In his week-long visit to spoke about strong ties
ranean coast are June to end September. feels that the future is hap- UK and the US. India,Trudeau also courted between India and Canada.
pening in India. Addressing Trudeau, who is immensely a few controversies but the ''Many of you don't know it
the United Nations Young popular among the youth leader didn't fail to impress but when I came here with
Changemakers Conclave at for his participation to pro- the audience at the Canada my father in 1983, I had to
ECONOMIC RELATIONS the Indira Gandhi Stadium mote gender equality and House, where he performed attend school here for the
on 24 February, Trudeau women rights, was accom- Bhangra to the beats of the days I was here,'' he told his
The Bilateral Trade Agreement between India and Turkey was signed in 1973. Bilat- said, "The number of young panied by his wife, Sophie Dhol, at a dinner hosted in audience. The 46-year-old
eral India-Turkey trade has increased significantly in the preceding decade-and-a- people I spoke to, the num- Grégoire Trudeau on the his honour by the Canadian Prime Minister then intro-
half. As per the provisional data for the period January-November 2017, Turkey's imports ber of young people I stage. Affirming his belief in High Commissioner Nadir duced to the guests six of
from India were US$ 5,572.363 million and exports to India were US$ 688.049 mil- observed and after exchang- democracy and gender Patel. Dressed in a black and his ministers accompanying
lion. The major Indian exports to Turkey include medium oils and fuels, man-made ing ideas in a country, where equality, Trudeau further gold kurta, Trudeau, accom- him, four of whom were of
filaments and staple fibres, automotive spare parts and accessories, and organic chem- two-third of its population added that India and panied by his wife Sophie, Indian origin.
icals. Turkey's exports to India include broken/unbroken poppy seeds; machinery is under the age of 35, I see Canada are the world's two surprised everyone with his During his week-long visit
and mechanical appliances, iron and steel articles thereof, inorganic chemicals, pearls the future happening here." Prime Minister said he will largest democracies and dance moves as he took to to India, Trudeau visited the
and precious/semi-precious stones and metals (including imitation jewellery) and Throwing light on the G-7 be introducing two addi- have enough opportunities the stage. The venue, Taj Mahal in Agra, Golden
marble. Indian companies such as ONGC, Mahindra and Mahindra, Punj Lloyd, Dr meeting, which is scheduled tional themes on the table to work together on various decked up like a big, fat Temple in Amritsar, Jama
Reddy's Laboratories and Voltas had entered into collaboration with Turkey Compa- to be held in Canada in June for discussions. The first issues. Indian wedding, was Masjid in Delhi and other
nies for various projects. this year, the Canadian topic will be "Gender", to In his speech, the Canadian attended by nearly 100 places.

VISA MEXICAN ARCHITECTURE BROUGHT ALIVE

Visa: For tourist visa documents required are Visa application form, Passport (valid
MEXICO tographs in the 1930s and
1940s. Some of the monumen-
for at least 6 months upon arrival in Turkey and have 2 full blank pages available), NIVEDITA R tal architecture seen in these
Original Leave letter from employer /covering letter in personal business letter- photographs have disappeared

A
head (if self-employed) with authorised signatory, name and designation with n exhibition titled, An
company seal. If covering letter is on business letter-head please also provide copy Imaginary City, featuring
of company registration certificate originally attested by the Mantralaya or MEA Mexican architecture of
and notorised. If the applicant has his own business/partner/proprieter/direc- the 19th and 20th centuries in
tor (please provide incorporation certificate/memorandum of association/part- photographs by Luis Márquez,
nership deed/proprietorship proof and applicants's name should be mentioned. curated by Prof Louise Noelle
Original Notary and Mantralaya/MEA attestation needs to be done for each appli- and Prof Lourdes Cruz González
cant irrespective of whether the applicant is travelling in a group or not (for Mum- Franco, opened on 20 Febru-
bai and its satellites). Last 3 months personal bank statement in original or copies ary, in Jamia Millia Islamia's M
attested by bank (with original stamp and sign) and with sufficient funds (Rs 1 F Husain Art Gallery.
lakh and above) and for applicants who are employed, should provide salary account Envisioned as a collabora-
and salary slips (for the last 3 months with original stamp and sign) as manda- tive project in which Jamia
tory documents. Tour itinerary, Hotel reservation, Confirmed return ticket. Trav- Millia Islamia (JMI); UNAM,
el Insurance is mandatory requirement (covering medical, evacuation and repa- Mexico City; and the Institute
triation expenses, personal accidental death, personal liability and daily allowance of Aesthetic Research came
in hospitalisation cases. This plan should cover the insured for a minimum of Euro together, the exhibition has
30000). Income tax return (last two years) and Form16 (last one year) and Autho- brought Luis Marquez (1899-
rization letter from the applicant in case application is submitted by Travel Agent 1978), an avant-garde Mexican
along with Photo ID of travel agent. photographer, to the Delhi
audience.
"This exhibition is aimed
TOURIST ATTRACTIONS to strengthen cultural and
artistic ties between Mexico and
India. It is an important exhi-
bition and the photographs are
from the period, which was very
important in terms of art and
politics. I believe photogra-
phy is an important artistic
medium and I am proud that
this exhibition took place in
JMI," Prof Nuzhat Kazmi, Dean,
Faculty of Fine Arts, JMI, said,
commenting on the exhibi-
tion. "Marquez captured the
Mexican urban landscape doc-
umenting the architecture of
the pre-Hispanic period, the
colonial and modern Mexi-
co." The artist took these pho-
and, therefore, curators bring
to us a city that in more sense
than one has become imagi-
nary.
Vice-chancellor-JMI, Prof
Talat Ahmad, inaugurated the
exhibition in the presence of
the Mexican Ambassador Melba
Pria and Prof Louise Noelle, a
renowned art historian from
UNAM. The exhibition was
viewed on its inaugural day by
dignitaries including Daniel
Gutierrez, Embassy of El Sal-
vador, New Delhi; JMI stu-
dents and faculty members,
including Prof Nuzhat Kazmi,
Dean, Faculty of Fine Arts,
Prof Hina Zia, Dean Faculty of
Architecture and Ekistics, Prof
Wahajuddin Alvi, Dean, Facul-
ty of Humanities and Lan-
guages and Prof Mukesh Ran-
jan, Coordinator, Office of the
International Relations.

Chinese folklore through puppets

SINGAPORE
DIVYA GIRI

S
hiv Nadar School, Noida
hosted a puppet show
Aya Sofya: Renowned as one of the most beautiful buildings in the world, the spell- performed by Paper Mon-
binding Byzantine glory of the Aya Sofya Museum (Hagia Sophia) is one of the top key Theatre, a five-member
places to visit in Turkey. The staggering bulk of its exterior is rimmed by delicate group from Singapore. The
minarets added after the Ottoman conquest, while the sumptuous and cavernous show, which presented a Chi-
frescoed interior is a grand reminder of old Constantinople's might and power. nese folk tale, The Magic
Lantern, was directed by the
Ephesus: The mighty ruin of Ephesus is a city of colossal monuments and mar- celebrated Benjamin Ho and
ble-columned roads. One of the most complete, still-standing Roman cities in the offered the children lessons on
Mediterranean region, this is the place to experience what life must have been like love and family values.
during the golden age of the Roman Empire. Before beginning the tra-
ditional rod and hand puppet
Cappadocia: The surreal swooping rock valleys of Cappadocia are every photog- show, held on 23 February,
rapher's dream. Cliff ridges and hill crests are home to rippling panoramas of wave- that had theatrical elements and The mighty Er Lang Shen dis- connect with the kids and so many countries in Asia,
like rock or wacky-shaped pinnacles that have been formed by millennia of wind live music performance, Ben- approved this marriage and develop an art of creativity these values continue to exist
and water action. This is one of the world's top destinations to take a hot air bal- jamin Ho narrated a small imprisoned the mother beneath among them through the play, among our families. Today,
loon ride. part of the plot, where he gave a mountain. Chen saw it as his which forced them to think we can see that families are
a brief description of each and responsibly to rescue his moth- beyond their imagination. breaking apart, it is important joy of learning. Also, with their
Topkapi Palace: Sumptuous beyond belief, the Topkapi Palace takes you into the every character used in his er from Er Lang Shen's trap and Towards the end of the show, for children to know about culture, which they carry with-
fantastical, opulent world of the sultans. The interiors, with their decadently exu- play. The 45-minute show he was forced to face an impos- the performing artists interact- our culture through art form," in, and the attire that they
berant tiling and lavish jeweled decor, are an unforgettable peek into the Ottoman's depicted the travails of a young sible battle. Towards the end ed with the kids and taught said Benjamin Ho. wear. Thus, the kids can learn
power base. Other exciting attractions are: Pamukkale, Sumela monastery, Mount boy Chen Xiang, who faces all the play left a question for the them the art of puppetry. School Principal Shashi about the culture and lifestyle
Nemrut (top sightseeing drawcard for Eastern Turkey), Anil, Aspendos, Blue Cruise odds to save his mother. students to think: Will love "This play is about a moth- Banerjee said, "We invited this in (another) country. Lan-
(Cruising the Mediterranean), Prince's Island, Patara and Butterfly Valley (Olud- The story was all about Chen conquer all and will Chen be er's love for her child. Through group from Singapore so that guage may be a barrier but con-
eniz). Xiang, who was born from a for- able to set his mother free? this play I want to show the we could get in touch with the nection could not be."
bidden marriage between a The main motive of the play, Asian family values. Despite the
Compiled by Kunal Jain (kunaljain@thestatesman.com) heavenly goddess and a human. Benjamin Ho informed, was to cultural differences between Diplomatic Editor Ashok Tuteja (ashoktuteja@thestatesmangroup.com)
14 NEW DELHI, MONDAY 05 MARCH 2018

Surprises galore
guard the rights of their people and the PLUS POINTS
modern state too has reneged from its
responsibility to ensure equity and fair
play.
So why has the rural population of
Keeping jumbos
Meghalaya become landless? Is it
because of the land guzzling coal mining
away
activity? Or have the cement companies
Whichever party or parties form the next government in the three in the state taken over large tracts of trib-
al land despite the existence of a Land
states of Nagaland, Tripura and Meghalaya, unemployment should be Transfer Regulation Act (1978)?
on the top of their radar and this is also perhaps the reason why Both answers are in the positive.
There is a lot of benami ownership of
people have voted for change land in Meghalaya. While land is in the
name of affluent tribal elite it is being
PATRICIA MUKHIM used by non-tribal businessmen who see
the huge limestone resources as natural

W
hile the results of Nagaland
and Meghalaya were along
expected lines, the one for
Tripura has left the Marxists
shell-shocked. So the RSS pracharak-
turned-BJP chief election organiser inTripu-
ra, Sunil Deodhar has much to celebrate.
He has been a rock solid worker in Tripu-
ra mobilising voters at the polling booth
levels —the RSS’s forte. “Chalo Paltai” the
slogan for Tripura has well and truly
worked. In Nagaland it could be a tie between
the Naga Peoples’ Front and the Naga
Democratic Peoples’ Party-BJP combine
and it would be difficult to predict who
will head the government there.
In Meghalaya it was always predict-
ed that the Congress would emerge as
the party with the single largest majority.
And they did. At the time of writing this
piece, the full results had not been
declared but the Congress is leading in
20 seats, while the National Peoples’
Party, which is not averse to an alliance
with BJP, is leading in 18 seats and the
BJP has so far won two seats. The region-
al parties between them are leading in 18
seats and since they are part of the North
East Democratic Alliance they will most
likely team up with the NPP-BJP com-
bine to form the government in Megha-
laya, although the Congress too has
rushed in its national leaders Kamal
Nath, Ahmed Patel et al to snatch the
government from the hands of the NPP-
BJP.
So, as of now, it appears that all
three states will either have BJP-led gov-
ernments or those in alliance with the
BJP. That leaves the Congress only with
Mizoram out of the seven sister states.
So what were the issues this time
that are different from the 2013 elections
in all these three states? This time the
churches have played a prominent role
in trying to influence voters to not vote a
party or parties that have no respect for
religious diversity and religious minori-
ties — in this case the Christians. The
Nagaland Baptist Church Council, the
apex body of all Baptist churches in
Nagaland, had given a clarion call not to
vote the NDPP-BJP combine. They
reminded people of incidents that hap-
pened on Christmas last year where car-
ollers were attacked and some priests
were taken to the police station for ques-
Biplab Kumar Dev and Sunil Deodhar after the BJP’s victory in Tripura
tioning in Satna District, Madhya
Pradesh.
Turning Christmas Day to Good
Governance Day, and Good Friday last
year to Digital India Day have all added
to make Christians in these two states
with a Christian majority population, jit-
tery and insulted. While the BJP has
fielded its Union tourism minister KJ
Alphons, its only visible Christian face
to woo the electorate, the former civil
servant seems to have bungled big time.
In Meghalaya he publicly declared that
the tourism ministry would assist
churches with Rs 70 crore to give them a
facelift so that they become tourist des-
tinations. Church leaders did not take
too kindly to this offer and felt that
Alphons was actually trying to woo them
with money. At least two churches pub-
licly declined the offer. So a bad strategy
cancels out the good intentions that
Alphons may have had.
That said, this election has seen one
of the worst forms of mud-slinging
between the BJP and the Congress.
When Rahul Gandhi visited Meghalaya,
all he could talk about were the evils of
the BJP-led NDA Government at the
Centre. The AICC president did not
unveil the Congress’s main election
plank and it released its manifesto just
two days before the polls. Gandhi’s
rhetoric has failed to convince large sec-
tions of voters. The Congress-led Megha-
laya United Alliance government in
Meghalaya failed to come up with poli-
cies on key areas of human develop-
ment. Besides, people in the tribal states
of Nagaland and Meghalaya do not usu-
ally vote on party lines — they vote for
individuals. As predicted earlier in these
columns, the BJP is stuck with single
digit mark in Meghalaya. It is the NPP,
although it calls itself national, is seen as
a very local and regional face consider-
ing it was born in Meghalaya. The NPP
has given the Congress its biggest chal-
lenge. The late PA Sangma had formed
this party in 2013 just before the Presi-
dential elections, which he contested.
The party is now led by Conrad Sangma
— a graduate of the Wharton School of
Business, USA and currently the Lok
Sabha MP from Tura, Garo Hills. The
NPP’s baggage is that it is aligned with
the NDA Government at the Centre. So
the NPP is termed by rival parties as
team B of the BJP. Both parties have been
denying this and saying they are fight-
ing each other in several constituencies
but voters know better.
The major issues confronting all
three states of Tripura, Nagaland and
Meghalaya are poor communication
and a huge infrastructural vacuum. The
number of school and college drop-outs
is on the rise and successive govern-
ments have failed to come up with
strategies or a long term vision on how to
integrate these disaffected youth, many
of who get into substance abuse. While
Nagaland has been on the radar for drug
abuse, the police in Meghalaya have stat-
ed that drug peddling and drug use will
be the biggest challenge for the state
because of the spin-offs from both.
Except for Tripura, both Meghalaya and
Nagaland have very poor health indica-
tors going by the NFHS survey 2013. But
was this even an issue? Not if we fol-
lowed the election trail.
In Meghalaya, rural landlessness is
a big issue. According to the Socio-Eco-
nomic-Caste Survey 2011, 76 per cent of
rural Meghalaya is landless. For a tribal
state that used to boast of community
ownership of land, this figure is fright-
ening because it means that the tradi-
tional institutions have failed to safe-
capital that they can extract and turn to
cement. Coal mining and trading is a
huge business until the National Green
Tribunal banned coal mining in April
2014 after a PIL was filed by a student’s
body from Assam, stating that rivers
flowing downstream from the Jaintia
Hills coal belt are toxic and no longer
sustain riverine life. The NGT asked the
state government to come up with a
Mining Policy but that is still hanging in
the balance.
The Congress-led MUA govern-
ment served two terms. Within those
terms foundations stones were laid for
two medical colleges five years ago. Till
date not even a single brick has come
up. Meghalaya’s state assembly building
was gutted in 2001. Till date the state
could not come up with an alternative
building although architectural designs
have been submitted by firms several
times. Things just don’t work here. Shil-
long used to be the capital of the entire
North Eastern Region, which was then
undivided Assam, yet the state does not
even have a functional airport till date.
Even the rail link came only three years
ago and only to the Garo Hills.
Unemployment is an issue that cuts
across all the three North-eastern states.
The Report on Fifth Annual Employ-
ment-Unemployment Survey (2015-16)
of the Ministry of Labour and Employ-
ment, Government of India shows
Meghalaya’s unemployment rate to be
48 out of 1,000 while that of Tripura is
197 of 1,000 and Nagaland, 85 of 1,000.
When the demographic dividend of a
state or country is not absorbed into its
workforce it can become a huge liability.
Imagine such huge numbers of young-
sters not having any work to do. How do
they spend their waking hours? Is this
also the reason why militancy in Megha-
laya and Nagaland has become an
employment option?
Hence whichever party or parties
form the next government in the three
states, unemployment should be on the
top of their radar and this is also perhaps
the reason why people have voted for
change.
The writer is Editor of the Shillong
Times and can be contacted at
patricia.mukhim@gmail.com
To keep away marauding wild elephants
from destroying standing crops some
villages in the Borbil area of Nagaon dis-
trict, bordering Karbi Anglong, have suc-
cessfully checked the menace through
an innovative approach, says a report in
the Assam Tribune. Locals say they were
growing paddy but had to abandon it
because of frequent depredations by ele-
phants. Surendra Rabha, a farmer said
that with the support of the Nabard and
NGO Kalong Kapili, they had started
cultivating mustard, ginger, sesame,
turmeric, areca nut, colocatia, et al,
which the elephants avoid. Another
farmer, Kalong Kapil said, “As the
Nabard-sponsored initiative was an
integrated project with fishery, piggery,
poultry, soil and water conservation, as
components, we converted the swamps
into fishery tanks with steep banks. This
had another deterring effect on elephant
movement, and as of today, elephant
raids have stopped completely.” The
farmers are also putting thorny hedges
with visible impact.
In a sad state
Superficial decors outside and tell-tale
sign of negligence inside is the bitter
state of the Khuman Lampak sports
complex indoor stadium in Imphal, says
a report in the Imphal Free Press. The
precious sports infrastructure asset of
the state has been left unattended by the
authority concerned for many years. The
3,000-seat audience gallery seats are not
only covered with thick layers of dust,
but are full of cobwebs and waste mate-
rials — it has not been cleaned for years.

Getting closer to neighbours which 443 kms are in Tripura and

Meghalaya, while 180 km and 263 kms
are in the Mizoram and Assam sectors.
away from the present “barter system”,
which by its very nature, is confined
to local agro-based products and can-
The two electronic scoreboards,
installed during the 5th National Games
in 1999, are still unused.

It is time to take a look at border trade as a major Of the 263 km in the Assam sector,
143.90 km is riverine of which 222 km
plank of the North-east regional development
strategy
of fencing had been completed and
flood- lights installed. These facts and
security aspects need appreciation
because border trade in South Asia is
more a political and strategic move
than a commercial activity.
This becomes clear when we look
at the 4,057km Sino-Indian border
along Jammu and Kashmir, Uttarak-
hand, Himachal Pradesh, Sikkim and
Arunachal Pradesh, to note that there’s
little border trade except through
Nathu-la (Sikkim). Potential of other
trading points have remained
unutilised, mainly due to lack of
enthusiasm on the part of the Chinese
who prefer to go slow in expanding
border trade.
In the backdrop of the Act East
policy and Prime Minister Narendra
Modi’s vision of making the North-
east the engine of India’s growth, if we
take a hard look at the border trade
with Myanmar, the entry point to the
Association of South East Asian
Nations, one is struck by the fact that
the size of the border trade, carried
out through land customs points at
Moreh (Manipur), Zawkhathar (Mizo-
ram) and Tamu and Rhi on the Myan-
marese side, is around US $1-2 mil-
lion at the most till date. The agree-
ment was signed in 1994 and opera-
RANGAN DUTTA even commented “it is one of the most handling, as security and matters like tonalised a year later.
dangerous borders”. There could be no illegal migration, smuggling, especial- Myanmar was given concessional
not get the border region to a high
Mizoram farm
growth path and might facilitate set-
ting up of more land Customs points.
In contrast the border trade with centre
Bangladesh from the North-east has
been on the rise due to increase in
export of coal, limestone, sand and
stones, cement from Meghalaya and
value-added products from Tripura,
like vulcanised rubber, bicycle parts,
citrus fruits and plywood and wood
products.
The value of the North-east- Mizoram will have a centre for agricul-
Bangladesh border trade has been ture. The first-of-its-kind in the North-
around US $1 billion annually and has east with Israeli collaboration, it was set
huge potential once the Kaladan up at a cost of Rs 10 crore and will be
Multi-Modal Transport Project inaugurated this week. A delegation led
becomes operational. Only then the by Israeli ambassador, Daniel Carmon
North-east could reap the benefits of met Union minister for Development of
the South Asia Free Trade Zone. the North-east Region, Jitendra Singh in
The trade through Nathu-la with New Delhi and discussed various issues
Tibet that began following the India- of common interest, including start-ups,
China trade agreement in July 2006 food processing, innovation and tech-
seems to have progressed well and is nology. The envoy told the minister that
in favour of India because while 15 Haryana, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh,
duty- free import items from China Rajasthan and Punjab, also have such
are primary products like sheep and centres.
goat skin, yak tail, goat cashmere,
which are processed for value addi- Nava Thakuria
tion in India, high demand in Tibet for
the Indian manufactured products
like bicycles, kerosene oil, watches, Illicit poppy
agro-chemicals that are within the list
of 29 duty- free exportable items have plantation
enabled India to score an edge in
trade balance.
Contrary to the popular percep-

T
he political maps drawn up
after the British left South Asia
has not only fractured the region
but also created borders that are
difficult to demarcate because of its sheer
length, inhospitable terrain, overlapping
population. They even went against
nature as no large delta anywhere in the
world is known to have been “partitioned”
except Bengal.
Indeed, the 1947-48 political
changes disrupted and destroyed the
vibrant sub-regional economy that
encompassed India’s East and North-
east, Myanmar, Tibet and even the
Thailand and Malay Peninsula.
From this perspective, it is clear
that India’s border trade policy and
strategy is to revive the old links on a
modern basis and to undo the dam-
age. However, it could not even be
considered along our 2,900km border
with Pakistan as it is fenced with
50,000 floodlights on the Indian side.
It is said it is visible even from space,
and former US President Bill Clinton
border trade given the fact that India’s
share with Pakistan is less than one
per cent of its total foreign trade.
The internationally-recognised
definition of border trade is “flow of
goods and services across interna-
tional borders between jurisdictions”.
In this sense, it is part of normal legal
trade that flows through the
export/import framework of nations.
Border trade is different from that
through air, land and sea routes as
those involve Customs clearance and
is in large volumes. Border trade is
“overland”, by way of “exchange of
commodities” from a bilaterally
agreed list by the people living on both
sides of the international border; and
it is mainly trade in locally-produced
commodities as per the prevailing
customary practices.
So it is clear that the objective is
to minimise disruption of the normal
economy of the people of border
regions, founded on friendship and
cooperation. This often requires deft
ly of illicit drugs, create a challenge to
ground-level cooperation for both the
countries and, more so, when the
fencing is carried out by a country to
deal with these problems.
The ongoing joint fencing project
along the 1,643-km India-Myanmar
border with Arunachal Pradesh, Naga-
land, Manipur and Mizoram sectors
indicates the common security con-
cerns of India and Myanmar. However,
the fencing along the 4,156 km India-
Bangladesh border, the fifth longest
in the world, of which roughly
1,741km, pass through the North-east,
is entirely India’s decision for security
reasons. The setting up of fencing
gained momentum in 2007, and as of
now, 2,649 km along 3,326 km of bor-
der roads have been completed — a
commendable achievement by any
standard, given the difficult terrain
and the task of construction in high
rainfall and flood-prone areas.
India has an 856-km border with
Bangladesh in the North-east, out of
five per cent duty-free on 40 approved
items while other high value ones
were allowed to be traded normally on
payment of Customs duty.
The value of illegal trade is
believed to be at least five times more
than the legal one. The items include
products from China, Thailand, Korea
and Japan. To restore the balance,
appropriate trade investment policies
are needed. To remove constrains on
the supply side faced by the North-
east states, there is need to set up spe-
cial economic and technology zones
on the Yunnan model, close to the
Myanmar border for manufacturing
products, which are in great demand
in upper Myanmar and regions adja-
cent to the North-east.
These include cement, machin-
ery and engineering goods, dairy
products, car and bicycle parts, plas-
tics and pharmaceuticals as these
could be manufactured or assembled
close to the Myanmar border. This
seems to be the only way to move
tion, the Tibet trade has high potential
because parts of Tibet, close to
Uttarakhand and Himachal, had till
1950 robust trade through trading out-
posts like Lipi Lekh and Ship Kela in
UP. These can be revived to the advan-
tage of both countries.
In the same way, the potential of
Jelep-la in the Kalimpong sector as a
major trade point for Tibet could be
tapped. And, such a synergy — as
global experience shows — stabilises Large-scale “illicit” poppy cultivation is
borders by creating constituencies for going on in some hill areas of Manipur’s
peace and progress. Quite possibly Senapati district, adjoining Nagaland,
India’s Act East Policy initiative under- despite crusaders’ efforts to destroy
scores the need for such a coherent them, says a report in the Dimapur-
synergy. based Morung Express. A campaign that
It is, therefore, time to take a look kicked off last month has received sup-
at border trade as a major plank of the port from many quarters and chief min-
North-east regional development ister N Biren Singh has thanked the dis-
strategy. trict authorities, youngsters and various
organisations for collectively fighting the
The writer is a retired ias officer of the menace. So far more than 250 acres of
assam-meghalaya cadre and has served
as a scientific consultant in the office poppy plantation in more than 13 loca-
of the principal scientific advisor to the tions, including 30 bags of ganja, have
government of india
been destroyed.

THUMBNAILS
Bengaluru FC's Spanish
defender Juanan Gonzalez
has put pen to paper in a
new deal that will keep him
with the Blues till the end of
the 2020 season.
Thingalaya disappoints:
India's Siddhanth Thin-
galaya finished a disap-
pointing sixth in his 60m
hurdles heat in the IAAF
World Indoor Champi-
onships in Birmingham on
Sunday. Thingalaya clocked
7.93seconds in heat num-
ber three and failed to
qualify for the semifinals.
Mexico Open: Juan Martin
del Potro won the Mexico
Open for his 21st ATP Tour
title, beating Kevin Ander-
son 6-4, 6-4 to improve to
7-0 against the 6-foot-8
South African in Acapulco
on Sunday. Earlier in the
hard-court event at
Princess Mundo Imperial,
Lesia Tsurenko successfully
defended her women's title
with a 5-7, 7-6 (2), 6-2 victo-
ry over Stefanie Voegele.
Southgate's England seek
seclusion at World Cup
AGENCIES
REPINO (RUSSIA), 4 MARCH
England'sWorld Cup squad will
seclude themselves in a mod-
est hotel in the woods near Saint
Petersburg, opting for the calm
of a history-steeped village
rather than a city closer to
their group matches.
The four-star ForRestMix
Club Sport and Relax -- an
affordable option for Russians
looking to get away from it all
-- offers little entertainment but
plenty of sleep.
Nervous fans back home
might frown at the choice
since England are playing
nowhere near Saint Peters-
burg, Russia's so-called north-
ern capital. Their three group
stage matches will take Harry
Kane and his teammates from
the Volga River to the edge of
Poland, making a total of 6,400
kilometres (4,000 miles) of
back and forth travel.
England will play in Vol-
gograd againstTunisia on June
18, in Nizhny Novgorod against
Panama on June 24, and in
Coleman wins 60m in world
indoors C’ship in record time
AGENCIES
BIRMINGHAM, 4 MARCH
World record-holder Chris-
tian Coleman added the
championship record to his
growing list of achievements
in winning the 60 meters at
the world athletics indoors.
Coleman smashed Mau-
rice Greene's 20-year-old
world record last month by
clocking 6.34 seconds and he
came within 0.03 seconds of
that at Arena Birmingham.
The American, who turns
22 on Tuesday, never looked
in danger as he beat Su Bingt-
ian of China by 0.05 and U.S.
teammate Ronnie Baker by
0.07. Other world indoors
records tumbled: American
Kendra Harrison set a new
mark in the 60-meter hurdles
as did compatriot Sandi Mor-
ris in the pole vault, and New
Zealand's Tomas Walsh in
the shot put.
The oldest record belong-
ing to the world indoors fell
when Walsh's last hurl of
22.31 meters eclipsed the
record of 22.24 set by Ulf
Timmermann in 1987, five
years before the New Zealan-
der was born.
It was a third world indoor
silver medal for David Storl
of Germany. He and Tomas
Stanek of the Czech Repub-
lic threw 21.44 but Storl had
a superior second best throw.
America was favored to
sweep the podium in the 60
hurdles and although Harri-
Madrid beat Getafe 3-1
Zidane’s team is headed next to France to face Paris Saint-Germain
AGENCIES
MADRID, 4 MARCH
Z
inedine Zidane field-
ed his regular starters
before the Paris Saint-
Germain match and
Real Madrid will travel to
France boosted by a good
performance by their stars and
a comfortable win in the
Spanish league.
Cristiano Ronaldo scored
twice and Gareth Bale once
as Madrid eased past 10-man
Getafe 3-1.
Madrid face PSG in the last
16 of the Champions League
on Tuesday, leading 3-1 from
the first leg.
“It was important to win
before a match like we have
on Tuesday,” Zidane said.
“We will have three days
of good mood in the squad.”
Ronaldo became the fastest
player to reach 300 goals in
La Liga, taking his tally to 301
in 286 matches. He goes to
Paris having scored 10 goals
in his last five matches in all
competitions. Madrid are in
a fight for third place with
Valencia, who are only four
points behind going into their
home match against Real
Betis today.
Spanish leader Barcelona
hosts second-place Atletico
Madrid on Sunday to defend
its five-point advantage.
Zidane rested Ronaldo and
other starters this week when
they lost at Espanyol 1-0.
He played with the “BBC”
Kaliningrad against Belgium
on June 30.
But coach Gareth Southgate
has decided that peace and
quiet on the Gulf of Finland was
what his men needed most.
“We want that environ-
ment where the players are
relaxed,” he said in October as
the FA settled its choice on the
outskirts of PresidentVladimir
Putin's home town.
Located 27 kilometres (17
miles) northwest of Saint
Petersburg, the village England
will be calling home is named
after Ilya Repin, a realist painter
who settled there at the turn
of the 20th century.
Repino became famous
for its wooden country hous-
es favoured by Russian artists,
intellectuals and nobles, before
being transformed into a Sovi-
et rest home for workers and
children. These traces of his-
tory are still visible today: by
the understated four-floor
hotel stand quaint tsarist-era
cottages and an imposing con-
crete sanatorium built by the
communists.
son and Christina Manning
finished one-two respec-
tively, Nadine Visser of the
Netherlands edged Sharika
Nelvis for bronze.
There was another Amer-
ican one-two in the women's
400. Courtney Okolo con-
trolled from the start and
won in 50.55 seconds. Team-
mate Shakima Wimbley
moved ahead of Britain's
Eilidh Doyle on the final
straight to finish second.
Oscar Husillos thought
he broke a championship
record in the 400 but he and
Luguelin Santos, who origi-
nally crossed the line in sec-
ond, were disqualified for
lane infringements, hand-
ing a third successive world
Contrary to what might have been written or said...,
decisions have had the complete agreement of Neymar
of course, his family, all the staff at PSG
trio of Karim Benzema, Bale,
and Ronaldo yesterday, a sign
of his possible lineup for the
match against PSG. Left back
Marcelo returned from injury
as a second-half substitute.
Bale opened the scoring
from close range in the 24th
minute. Ronaldo made a pair
of nice moves to clear defend-
ers inside the area in first-half
injury time for his first. His sec-
Title contenders East Bengal take
on Shillong Lajong in crucial match
PTI
SHILLONG, 4 MARCH
East Bengal take on Shillong
Lajong in a crucial I-League
match here tomorrow, with
the Kolkata side needing a win
to remain in contention for
the title.
The Kolkata giants need to
win tomorrow's match, their
penultimate game, to fancy
their chances of winning a
maiden I-League title. Shillong
Lajong, however, have the
wherewithal to dent East Ben-
gal's chances and they are high
on confidence after their win
against Aizawl FC in their
previous match.
For Shillong Lajong, this will
be their final match and they
would look to end their sea-
son on a high note at the JLN
Stadium.
East Bengal have also come
into tomorrow's match with
a lot of confidence after their
7-1 drubbing of Chennai City
in their previous game.
“We will be playing freely
in tomorrows match. We are
indoors title to Pavel Maslak.
Morris attempted to break
the world indoor pole vault
record but failed in three
attempts at 5.04 meters.
She was runner-up at the
2017 world championships
and 2016 Olympics, plus at
the previous world indoors.
Morris finally got her
hands on a gold medal when
she broke the championship
record with her third attempt
at 4.95, although she faced an
anxious moment with one
more woman left in the com-
petition.
Anzhelika Sidorova could-
n't match Morris and fin-
ished second, ahead of
Olympic and world champi-
on Katerina Stefanidi.
FRENCH DOCTOR REPRESENTING PSG AT THE HOSPITAL
ond goal was a header in the
78th from a pass by Marce-
lo. Ronaldo, who had a goal
disallowed for offside midway
through the second half, was
substituted shortly after his
second goal.
Getafe's lone goal was a
65th-minute penalty kick
converted by Francisco Por-
tillo.
Getafe, 10th in the stand-
under no pressure whatsoever.
We will be playing with the
same team but the starting XI
will be finalised on Monday,”
East Bengal coach Khalid
Jamil said.
Asked about his plans for
this match particularly, Jamil
said, “We are not thinking
about the points or our posi-
tion in the standings. We are
only focusing on the game and
we are going to go all out for
the win.”
“Lajong are a very good side
and they will be under less
pressure tomorrow as they
have nothing to lose since they
are out of the league title
contention. They will also be
playing on their home ground
which is an advantage,” he said.
On the other hand, Shil-
long Lajong assistant coach
Alison Kharsyntiew said, “We
are not underestimating East
Bengal. They are a very good
side. This is our last game and
we will try our best to be in
the top five. We have had a
good break following our pre-
vious match and it has been
Squash coach flies back home,
leaving CWG squad in lurch
PTI
NEW DELHI, 4 MARCH
India's foreign coach Achraf
El Karargui has flown back
home in mysterious cir-
cumstances, raising doubts
over his return with less
than a month to go for the
Commonwealth Games in
Gold Coast.
Sports Authority of India
(SAI) had extended Karar-
gui's contract last year to
continue till July 2019 but
his move has left medal
contenders Joshna Chi-
nappa, Saurav Ghosal and
Dipika Pallikal in a spot
ahead of the April 4-15
Games.
SAI official confirmed
that the Egyptian has left for
his country.
"It was 10 days ago that
he wished to resign due to
personal reasons. Howev-
er, he is expected to continue
till the Commonwealth
Games," the official said.
It has been learnt that the
Alexandria-based may not
even return to coach the
team in Gold Coast.
The Egyptian commu-
nicated to SAI that he is quit-
ting due to "personal rea-
sons" but his growing dif-
ferences with the Squash
Rackets Federation of India
(SRFI) played a big role in
his decision.
The final straw was SRFI
not allowing Karargui fly
home after attending the
GERARD SAILLANT
ings, played a man down
from the 47th after striker Loic
Remy was sent off for a reck-
less foul on Nacho Fernandez.
Girona's impressive debut
in the league continued in
beating Villarreal 2-0, a result
that put the modest Catalan
club in position to make it to
the Europa League.
Christian Stuani and sub-
stitute Anthony Lozano scored
for Girona, who moved to
seventh place and the final
qualification spot for the sec-
ond-tier European competi-
tion. It was the fourth win in
six matches for Girona, who
are one point behind sixth-
place Villarreal and five behind
fifth-place Sevilla. Villarreal
lost their second straight
game.
“We reached our first goal,
which was to reach 40 points
and earn the right to remain
in the first league for anoth-
er season,” Girona coach
Pablo Machin said.
“Now we will keep trying
to win, and with five rounds
to go we will see what are our
chances regarding the Euro-
pean competitions.”
Girona, whose main goal
at the beginning of the sea-
son was to avoid demotion,
are 20 points clear of the rel-
egation zone with 11 match-
es remaining. The teams in fifth
and sixth place receive an auto-
matic spot in the Europa
league, while the seventh-
place team enters a qualify-
ing round.
Chennai City ask
for immunity
PTI
NEW DELHI, 4 MARCH
Locked in a battle with
Churchill Brothers to avoid
relegation from the I-League,
Chennai City FC have asked
the All India Football Fed-
eration (AIFF) to grant them
immunity this season.
A stunning 2-1 win over
leaders Minerva Punjab on
Friday helped Chennai City
FC breathe easy, days after
being at the receiving end of
a 7-1 drubbing by another
title contenders East Bengal.
Chennai City have already
finished their league
engagements with 19 points
from 18 matches, while
Churchill Brothers have 17
points from as many outings.
good for the team. They are
now fresh and renewed and
ready for tomorrow's game.”
Windy City Open in Chica-
go last month. The SRFI
wanted the coach to come
back to India instead of fly-
ing to his hometown Alexan-
dria straight from Chicago.
Upset at the federation's
plan, the coach left for
Egypt and chose not to trav-
el with the players to Chica-
go.
While SRFI office-bear-
ers were unavailable for a
comment, a source close to
the development said Karar-
gui was not allowed to work
freely.
"He was supposed to
leave with the players to
Chicago but instead was
told to come back to India.
His resignation was very
much on the cards as he
developed serious differ-
ences with SRFI over the past
six months," the SRFI source
claimed.
T ho ug h C h in ap pa ,
Ghosal and Pallikal are
experienced campaigners,
the suspense over coach's
future before the Com-
monwealth Games is cer-
tainly not ideal prepara-
tion. All three players have
praised Karargui's style of
coaching in the past.
Chinappa and Pallikal
had won a historic gold in
women's doubles at the
last edition in Glasgow four
years ago. They are also
medal contenders for the
Asian Games to be held in
Indonesia later this year.
NEW DELHI, MONDAY 05 MARCH 2018
Roma end Napoli's 10-win streak to
throw Serie A title race wide open
AGENCIES
ROME, 4 MARCH
Napoli's 10-match winning
streak in Serie A came to an
end when they slumped to
a shock 4-2 home defeat to
AS Roma as the leaders suf-
fered just their second league
loss this season.
The result kept Napoli on
top of the table but their
lead is now just one point after
Juventus earlier defeated
Lazio courtesy of an injury-
time strike from Paulo Dybala.
Juventus, crucially, also
have a game in hand -- at
home against Atalanta in 10
days' time.
“There were a lot of pos-
itives in this game,” insisted
Napoli coach Maurizio Sarri
whose only other league loss
this season had been at home
to Juventus in December.
“We had 27 shots so we are
just trying to figure out how
Roma scored so easily. We are
sorry for our great crowd
but the tifosi know that we
always give our maximum.”
When Lorenzo Insigne
gave Napoli the lead from
close range after six min-
utes it seemed the evening
would be straightforward.
But Turkey's Cengiz Under
levelled just a minute later
with a deflected shot.
That set the stage for Edin
Dzeko to carve out a little bit
of personal history.
He made it 2-1 in the 26th
minute with a header from
Vinicius Jr: latest in Brazil's talent
pipeline of upcoming football stars
AGENCIES
RIO DE JANEIRO, 4 MARCH
Everyone's heard of Neymar
but now make way for the lat-
est footballing diamond from
Brazil's seemingly inexhaustible
talent mine: Vinicius Junior.
Recruited for $ 45 million
(36.5 million euros) by Real
Madrid last year, the rising star
from Rio de Janeiro side Fla-
mengo has done everything to
persuade fans that he really is
the next big thing. And he's only
17.
When the Spanish giant put
down that kind of money last
May for Vinicius it looked like
a gamble. After all, he'd played
just two professional games at
the time.
Nine months later, his per-
formances for Flamengo has
eased any fears and as soon as
he turns 18 in July he'll be on
a plane to join the reigning
European champions.
He says he's ready.
“I talk from time to time to
(fellow Brazilian players at
Neeraj seeks personal
best and medal in CWG
PTI
NEW DELHI, 4 MARCH
The Commonwealth Games
may be taking place early in
the athletics season but
India's top javelin thrower
Neeraj Chopra says he can hit
top gear and better his per-
sonal best to win a medal at
Gold Coast next month.
The 20-year-old Chopra,
whose personal best of 86.48m
in 2016 remains the junior
world record, said his off-sea-
son three-month stint in
Offenburg, Germany under
prominent coach Werner
Daniels has been beneficial
to him.
He is hoping that he will
better his personal best this
year after failing to do so
last season.
“It was more about
strength training, strength
building in Offenburg and I
feel I have achieved with
what I have set out before the
German stint. I have improved
in my core strength and I feel
I am stronger than before,”
he told PTI in an interview.
The Haryana thrower said
that touching his personal best
should fetch him a medal in
the April 4-15 CWG as well
as the Asian Games in August-
September.
“After I set the junior world
record in 2016, I could not
improve upon my personal
best in 2017. My target this
an Alessandro Florenzi cross
before he curled in a terrif-
ic left-foot strike from the edge
of the area in the 79th minute
for 3-1.
That goal allowed the
Bosnian striker to become the
first player to score at least
50 goals in three of Europe's
major leagues -- Italy's Serie
A, the German Bundesliga and
the Premier League in Eng-
land.
Diego Perotti made it 4-
1 ten minutes from time
after pouncing on a lazy
clearance from on-loan Roma
left-back Mario Rui.
Dries Mertens pulled one
back for Napoli in time added-
on but the three points
allowed Roma to move into
third place in the table, albeit
16 points behind the pace-
setters.
Argentina striker Dybala
marked his comeback after
a month on the sidelines by
scoring a last-gasp winner in
Juve's 1-0 victory at Lazio in
Madrid) Casemiro and Marce-
lo. I went to Madrid at the end
of last year and I got to know
more players, like Cristiano
Ronaldo,” he told AFP.
“It's a fantastic club, but
everything in its good time. For
now, I am focused on Fla-
mengo,” he said in emailed
comments.
With his horizons rapidly
expanding, Vinicius hopes he
year to consistently throw
above 85m mark and do bet-
ter than my personal best. I
feel I can do that at Gold Coast
and win a medal for my
country. That will be my first
medal in a big multi-sport-
ing event,” he said.
“This year is an important
one for me. There are these
CWG and Asian Games and
then I will take part in some
Diamond League series and
other international events
also,” said Chopra who will
be one of the top stars in the
Federation Cup Senior Cham-
pionships beginning in Patiala
tomorrow.
Last year, Chopra had a
85.63m effort in Patiala for his
best of the season. He won
the Asian Championships
gold in Bhubaneswar. He
also took part in three Dia-
mond League series events,
15
Fiorentina
captain Astori
dies suddenly
AGENCIES
MILAN, 4 MARCH
Fiorentina captain and
defender Davide Astori died
of a sudden illness on Sun-
day morning at the age of 31,
the Serie A club said, leav-
ing Italian football in a state
of shock.
Serie A announced that
all of Sunday’s matches,
including the derby between
AC Milan and Inter Milan,
would be postponed.
a perfect boost ahead of next
week's Champions League
clash at Tottenham.
Dybala, left out of the
Argentine squad this week,
shrugged off his rustiness
by pouncing in the third
minute of injury time.
can even get called up for this
summer's World Cup in Rus-
sia. After all, the great Ronal-
do went at 17 with the Cup-
winning team to the United
States in 1994, even if he did-
n't play.
Another Brazilian legend,
Ronaldinho, gave him the
idea. “We met not long ago and
he told me that they often
take a younger player so he can
get close to the others. He
told me to stand by,”Vinicius
told Globoesporte.com last
week. With Neymar now fac-
ing an anxious wait to be fit for
the finals, Vinicius's chances
might have risen.
Although Brazil coach Tite
has not yet called him up,
Vinicius has made waves in the
national under-17 team.
Brazilian television played
a highlight over and over last
year -- just before Real Madrid
announced they had signed
him -- where the youngster tor-
mented Paraguay with three
successive flicks over the heads
of opponents.
finishing fifth in one. But he
disappointed in the London
World Championships, fail-
ing to make it to the final
round after a best effort of
82.26m.
Chopra was in Germany
till the first week of last month
and he bagged a silver at a
competition in Offenberg
where he hit 82.80m to fin-
ish second behind world
champion Johannes Vetter of
Germany.
“Vetter also trains at the
same facility at Offenburg
though our training timings
are different. I met him on a
few occasions but did not
interact much,” he said.
He is now with the leg-
endary German Uwe Hohn,
a former world record hold-
er and the only javelin throw-
er to cross 100m mark, at the
NIS Patiala.

THAN LAST YEAR’
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger says he is not in denial
about the Premier League club’s faltering campaign, believ-
ing that the north London outfit are worse off than last
season. “This season is worse than last season because
For more updates
THUMBNAILS
Roger Bannister, the British
athlete famed as the first
man in history to run the
four-minute mile, has died at
the age of 88. Bannister, who
was diagnosed with Parkin-
son's Disease in 2011, died at
his home in Oxford, his family
said in a brief announcement
on Sunday.
Team leaves: The Rohit
Sharma-led Indian team
on Sunday departed for
the Nidahas T20 Trophy
to be played in Sri
Lanka from Tuesday.
Key players including
captain Virat Kohli and
Mahendra Singh Dhoni
have been rested for
the tri-series involving
India, Sri Lanka and
Bangladesh. The tourna-
ment begins on March 6
when India will take on
the hosts at the R Pre-
mdasa Stadium in
Colombo. The final will
be played at the same
venue on March 18. All
three teams will each
other twice and the top
teams make the final.
All matches will be
played in Colombo.
Rizvi wins gold; bronze for Jitu, Misfiring India draw 1-1 against England in Azlan Shah Cup
Mehuli in India's strong showing
PTI
NEW DELHI, 4 MARCH
Unheralded Indian shooter
Shahzar Rizvi clinched the
gold medal with a world
record score in a memorable
maiden ISSF World Cup
appearance, while Jitu Rai and
Mehuli Ghosh bagged a
bronze each in Guadalajara,
Mexico.
The Meerut-based Rizvi
shot a world record 242.3 in
the 10m air pistol event's
final to beat reigning Olympic
champion Christian Reitz of
Germany, 239.7, to win the top
prize.
Pistol ace Rai won the
bronze in the event with a
score of 219, as three Indians
made it to the finals of the sea-
son's first World Cup.
Om Prakash Mitharval,
the other Indian shooter in
the event, finished at cred-
itable fourth position with a
score of 198.4 points.
Mehuli, also a senior World
Cup debutant, added to
Justice done as England win after freak run out
AGENCIES
WELLINGTON, 4 MARCH
Justice was done for Eng-
land with a freakish run out
which set up their four-run
win over New Zealand in the
third one-day international
here today, with the tourists'
captain acknowledging the
lucky turn.
Mitchell Santner was in a
potentially match-winning
partnership with Kane
Williamson when he was run
out after the ball deflected on
to the stumps from a dropped
caught-and-bowled chance.
England captain Eoin Mor-
gan admitted the wicket was
a match-turning fluke, but he
was also adamant Santner
should have been given out
87 runs earlier when Jason Roy
took a ground-level catch
with New Zealand already in
dire straits at 112 for six in reply
to England's 234.
Countless replays proved
inconclusive, and Santner
was given not out after the tele-
vision umpire Rod Tucker
could not be certain the ball
had not brushed the grass.
Santner progressed from
two to 41 and New Zealand
were 199 for six with victory
Printed and published by SHIVAJI SAMADDAR for THE STATESMAN LTD, Statesman House, 148 Barakhamba Road, New Delhi � Editor: RAVINDRA KUMAR � Resident Editor: USHA MAHADEVAN � Printed at Vibha Publication Pvt Ltd, D-160 B, Sector 7, NOIDA 201301 (UP). ��The Statesman Ltd. RNB REG. No. M-8905,RNI No. 507/57
‘ARSENAL IN WORSE POSITION
last season we won the cup and we made 75 points,”
Wenger told British media. “I don’t deny that, but
we’ll analyse that at the end of the season. Don’t
worry, I can live with reality. At the moment,
we lost a cup final and we lost a big champi-
onship game.”
www.thestatesman.com
Shubhankar on brink of history at WGC
The 21-year-old became the first Indian to hold a 54-hole lead in a World Golf Championship, as he added two-under 69 to move to 13-under
PTI
MEXICO CITY, 4 MARCH
S
hubhankar Sharma
upstaged the biggest
n a m e s i n g o l f by
bravely maintaining
his overnight two-shot lead
following the third round
of the $ 10 million World Golf
Championships here, ven-
turing into a territory hith-
erto unknown to Indian
golfers.
The 21-year-old became
the first Indian to hold a
54-hole lead in a World Golf
Championship, as he added
a grinding two-under 69 to
move to 13-under.
Shubhankar, with three
birdies against one bogey on
the front nine, was four shots
clear at one stage. He later
had two each of birdies and
bogeys but made some great
saves, including one on 18th.
He is two ahead of some
of the biggest names in con-
temporary golf on a crowd-
ed leaderboard.
The top-10 after three
rounds are separated by four
shots and they include four
Major winners -- Phil Mick-
elson (65) and Sergio Garcia
(69) at T-2, Dustin Johnson
(68) at T-6 and at Tied-10th
is Justin Thomas, who was
on fire with a record-break-
ing 9-under 62 at the Club
de Golf Chapultepec.
In the morning five-time
Major winner and Hall of
famer, Mickelson, initially
mistook him for a fan or a
journalist and waved Shub-
India's medal tally as she
shot a world junior record
228.4 to win bronze in the
women's 10m air rifle event.
In this women's event too,
three Indian shooters pro-
gressed to the final.
Anjum Moudgil finished
at fourth position with 208.6
points, while Apurvi Chandela
was seventh in the standings
with 144.1 points.
India had a fruitful open-
ing day in the competition as
they won three medals - a gold
and two bronze.
Shahzar finished second
in the qualifying, behind
Reitz, shooting 579 to the
German's 588 after 60-shots.
Rai was one behind
Shahzar with 578, while Om
Prakash shot 576 to qualify
in fourth place.
While Jitu and Om Prakash
maintained their positions at
the end of the finals, Shahzar
turned the tables on Reitz in
style, staying ahead of the
classy German throughout the
length of the 24-shot final.
in sight when Chris Woakes
failed to grasp a drive from
Williamson.
But the ball deflected off
his fingertips into the stumps
at the non-striker's end where
Santner was out of his crease.
“You earn a little bit of luck
along the way,” Morgan said
Sunday as the teams pre-
pared to move to Dunedin for
game four on Wednesday.
“Woakesy was trying to
catch the ball and it's a real-
ly unlucky way to get out. Obvi-
ously, a significant moment
hankar off at the practice
green before the start of the
third round, thinking he was
a member of the media.
Mickleson soon realised
his error, apologised and
wished as he went to the first
In the womens 10m air rifle
final, Mehuli and Anjum were
in medal contention from
the beginning, and after a sea-
saw battle between the two
a 9.9 on the 17th shot meant
Anjum ended in fourth posi-
tion with a score of 208.6.
Mehuli won bronze while
Chinas Hong Xu won silver
with 251.0.
Romanias Laura George-
ta Coman, who won gold in
the Munich World Cup last
year and a silver at the World
Cup Finals, came up with a
classy display, leading
throughout to win the gold
medal with 251.5.
National Rifle Associa-
tion of India (NRAI) president
Raninder Singh lauded the
efforts of his shooters.
“I am thrilled that our
faith in youngsters are giving
results. This was a stupendous
performance particularly
from Shahzar as not only did
he win gold in his first senior
World Cup, but did so with a
world record score.
in the game.”
But Morgan was certain
Santner had been legitimately
caught when he clipped a
Moeen Ali ball to Roy at mid-
wicket in an incident similar
to a denied catch in a Twen-
ty20 match against Australia
in Hobart last month.
”I think it was the exact
same,” Morgan said. “I had a
worse view of this one, but on
the TV it's not going to look
out, from front on. He (Roy)
said he had his fingers under
it and I believe him.”
tee for the start of his round.
The best position for an
Indian at a WGC was Tied-
1st for Jeev Milkha Singh
after the first round at WGC
at Doral in 2009 and at the
same event, Jeev was T-9
PTI
IPOH, 4 MARCH
India wasted chances galore
to settle for a 1-1 draw against
England in the their second
match at the Sultan Azlan
Shah Cup hockey tournament
here today.
It was India's first point in
the tournament after having
lost 2-3 to Olympic champi-
ons Argentina in their tour-
nament opener yesterday at
the Sultan Azlan Shah Stadi-
um.
Young Shilanand Larka
(14th minute) scored his first
international goal in the dying
minutes of the first quarter to
give India the lead, which the
men in blue maintained till the
53rd minute, when Mark
Gleghorne converted a penal-
ty stroke.
By virtue of this draw, last
year's bronze medallist India
are now placed fourth in the
table in the six-team tourna-
ment.
The Indians, who have
fielded a young and inexpe-
Roy's immediate reaction
was to indicate he was unsure
if he had taken the ball clean-
ly and Morgan said that was
a deliberate ploy.
“After the decision in
Hobart we were told 'if you
can, don't celebrate or throw
the ball away, throw the ball
in until it's called dead'. We
celebrated in Hobart, and
they ran one. We were told if
he threw the ball up and it went
over the rope it would be five
overthrows if it was given
not out.”
after second round, T-3 after
three rounds and eventual-
ly finished T-4, the best-
ever for an Indian. The win-
ner was Mickelson.
Arjun Atwal, in 2010, car-
ried a 3-shot lead into the
final round of the Wynd-
ham Championships, which
he won by one shot, and more
recently Anirban Lahiri car-
ried a four-shot lead into the
final round of the 2016 CIMB
Classic, but dropped to Tied-
third at the end.
While Shubhankar at 21
years and seven months is
the youngest in the field,
Mickelson stands at the
other end of the age spectrum
at 41 years and eight months.
It is not just Mickelson who
is in hot pursuit, but a whole
lot of others.
Shubhankar, who was
born five years after Mick-
elson turned pro, has been
enjoying himself in the com-
pany of super stars.
He said, “For me, it's actu-
ally almost like watching
TV. I was telling to Baaz,
who's on my bag there,
watching all of these guys on
the range, it just seems like
there's a TV in front of me
and I'm watching them
through the TV.
“Obviously the broad-
casts these days are so clear
in high definition, it just
feels so unreal just watching
them right in front of you.
It just feels like there's a TV
in front of me and I'm actu-
ally watching it through a TV.
“But yeah, it's great just
rienced team in the tourna-
ment under Sardar Singh's
leadership, only had themselves
to blame as they wasted as
many as nine penalty cor-
ners besides a few great scor-
ing chances from the field.
India were slow to get off
the blocks as England put
pressure on the rival citadel with
continuous raids upfront.
But India took the lead
against the run of play a minute
Australia close to victory despite Markram
AGENCIES
DURBAN, 4 MARCH
Aiden Markram led a stirring
South African fightback but
could not prevent Australia from
closing in on victory on the
fourth day of the first Test at
Kingsmead today.
Opening batsman Markram
made 143 but South Africa were
hanging on at 293 for nine, still
124 runs short of a target of 417,
when bad light stopped play.
South Africa were in des-
perate trouble at 49 for four but
Markram shared stands of 87
with Theunis de Bruyn (36) and
147 with Quinton de Kock (81
not out) which gave South
Africa hope that they could pull
off a miracle victory.
His dismissal, though,
opened the door for Australia
to rip through the tail. Mitchell
Starc took three wickets in
five balls to have South Africa
nine down.
That caused the umpires to
tell Australian captain Steve
Smith that play could only
continue if he used slow
bowlers. De Kock and Morne
Morkel survived nine overs
in ever-deteriorating light
against Smith and Nathan
Lyon before the umpires took
the players off five minutes
to see the way some of the
guys like Dustin strike the
ball. I think it just pushes guys
like me to play even better.”
He added that he remem-
bered all Majors and fin-
i sh es be ca us e h e h a d
watched them on TV in the
middle of the night in India.
“Yeah (we watched till) ,
4:00 or 5:00, 6:00 sometimes.
Mostly (it was with) my dad.
Mom as well. But yeah, dad
and me are very passionate
about it. I remember all the
majors pretty much by heart
and pretty much all the
shots, and I remember Phil
winning in 2013 and the
shot on the 13th was just fab-
ulous.
“The best I think was
when Rory won the U.S.
Open. It went on until 6:00
in the morning back home.
I remember I was so inspired
that I didn't sleep, I just
went straight to the range and
hit balls for two hours.”
Keeping calm, a trait he
picked from his father, Col
M L Sharma, an Army man,
who gave him all his time in
the growing years, Shub-
hankar showed little emotion
even while chatting with his
caddie, Gurbaaz, on the
course.
But the 11-12 footer on the
18th for par did see him
heave a sigh of relief and a
fist pump.
“It was very important.
Obviously Rafa had a birdie
putt and could have been a
two-shot swing. I think I got
a bit unlucky on the second
before the first quarter when
Shilanand pounced on a
rebound afterTalwinder Singh's
initial shot was saved by Eng-
land goalkeeper Harry Gibson.
The Indians, however, were
on top in the second quarter
and earned as many as eight
penalty corners with close
succession, but the dragflcik
battery of Varun Kumar and
Amit Rohidas failed to breach
the England defense led by
before the scheduled close.
That South Africa would
even entertain faint hopes of
victory seemed impossible
when their four most senior
batsmen were dismissed with-
out reaching double figures.
But Markram, in only his
seventh Test, remained calm
amid the carnage. The recov-
ery started with a determined
partnership for the fifth wick-
et with De Bruyn, who made
a stylish 36 before he was
caught behind off Josh Hazle-
wood. It was the only wicket
to fall between lunch and tea.
Markram was joined by
NEW DELHI, MONDAY 05 MARCH 2018
Postal Reg. No. DL (ND)-II/6088/2018/-19-20
Mickelson thought we were
media at first: Shubhankar
PTI
MEXICO CITY, 4 MARCH
From taking the golfing
world by storm to being dis-
missed as a member of the
media by an icon of the
sport, India's Shubhankar
Sharma is experiencing it all
at the WGC Mexico Cham-
pionship here.
42-time PGA Tour winner
Phil Mickelson dismissed
Sharma as a member of the
media when the 21-year-
old Indian, who would stay
up in the middle of the night
to watch who are now leg-
ends to him, worked up the
courage to introduce him-
self to the veteran American
on the putting green.
“He thought we were
media and he said, not right
now, after the round,” Shar-
ma said of the World Golf Hall
of Famer.
Then he just realised (and
said) so sorry, I thought you
were media. He said hi. I said
shot. Right before my shot
we checked the wind and it
was still.”
In Mexico players have to
adjust for the higher altitude
which makes ball travel
almost 15 percent more and
then there is distance to be
adjusted for uphill layout.
Shubhankar could poten-
goalkeeper George Pinner,
who replaced Gibson.
The third quarter witnessed
a midfield slugfest between
both the sides as England
pressed hard for the equalis-
er and in the process secured
a penalty corner, which was
wasted.
The Indians secured their
ninth and final penalty corner
in the 48th minute but as has
been the story in the match,
they failed to utilise the oppor-
tunity and it eventually proved
costly for Sjoerd Marijne and
his team.
Seven minutes from the
final hooter, England were
awarded a penalty stroke for
a stick infringement inside
the Indian circle and Gleghorne
stepped up to convert the
chance with ease past goalie
Krishan B Pathak.
Thereafter, both the teams
tried hard to find a winner but
failed in their efforts.
After a rest day tomorrow,
India will next play world no.1
Australia onTuesday, while Eng-
land will be up against Ireland.
De Kock, whose form leading
into the Test had been dismal.
But the left-handed wicket-
keeper looked in good touch
from the start and took the fight
to the Australians.
It was Markram's third Test
century but easily his impor-
tant innings. He made hundreds
against Bangladesh and Zim-
babwe, two of cricket's lesser
powers, earlier in the season.
He showed good composure,
a sound technique and some
elegant off side drives in a
218-ball innings which includ-
ed 19 boundaries.
The damage was done
before lunch when Dean Elgar,
Hashim Amla, AB deVilliers and
captain Faf du Plessis all fell
cheaply. Markram and Elgar put
on 29 for the first wicket before
SCOREBOARD
Australia 1st Innings 351-10 (110.4)
South Africa 1st Innings 162-10 (51.4)
Australia 2nd Innings 227-10 (74.4)
South Africa 2nd Innings
A Markram c Paine b M Marsh
D Elgar c Paine b Starc
H Amla lbw b Hazlewood
AB de Villiers run out (Warner/Lyon) 0
F du Plessis (c) b Pat Cummins
T de Bruyn c Paine b Hazlewood
Q de Kock (wk) batting
V Philander c Paine b Starc
16
hi. And then he made a few
putts and then he came
back to me and said, Have
a good day. It was nice.”
Sharma survived some
anxious moments to main-
tain his two-shot lead ahead
of some of the biggest names
such as Sergio Garcia, Dustin
Johnson and Jordan Spieth,
apart from Mickelson.
Five-time major cham-
pion Mickelson will be up
against the Indian in his
first PGA Tour event - they
will tee off in the final group
along with Tyrrell Hatton at
Club de Golf Chapultepec.
tially have a career-chang-
ing win with the winner's
cheque worth $ 1.7 million,
an exemption onto the PGA
TOUR through the 2020-21
season, 550 FedExCup points
and starts in almost every
major championship includ-
ing THE PLAYERS Champi-
onship this season.
Dinesh Karthik
appointed as
KKR skipper
PTI
MUMBAI, 4 MARCH
Wicketkeeper-batsman
Dinesh Karthik was today
appointed captain of Kolkata
Knight Riders and Robin
Uthappa his deputy for the
upcoming Indian Premier
League (IPL) season.
Karthik said he would like
to emulate current India
skipper Virat Kohli and lead
from the front.
“Virat is a captain who
leads by his action. He is
somebody who shows with
his performance and that is
something that I can try and
emulate -- lead by example
rather than speaking, go
on the ground and show with
the scores or the way I play
etc,” Karthik told reporters
here. He also said that even
if he does not look aggres-
sive, there is aggression
deep inside and he would
not change that while lead-
ing the side.
Elgar edged a sharply lifting
delivery from Starc to wicket-
keeper Tim Paine to be out for
nine. Amla avoided a pair but
only made eight before he
was leg before wicket to Hazle-
wood.
South Africa then suffered
a hammer blow when DeVil-
liers, their top scorer in the first
innings, was run out for nought.
Markram turned a ball from
off-spinner Nathan Lyon
behind square leg and did not
respond when DeVilliers called
him through for a run. DeVil-
liers had to turn and tried to
go back but could not beat
DavidWarner's throw to Lyon.
Pat Cummins struck with
his third ball of the innings when
he beat Du Plessis for pace and
flattened his off stump.
K Maharaj b Starc 0
K Rabada b Starc 0
M Morkel batting 0
Extras (b 2, lb 3, w 0, nb 1, p 0) 6
143 Total (9 wkts, 89 Ov) 293
9 Fall of wickets: 29-1, 39-2, 39-3,
8 49-4, 136-5, 283-6, 290-7, 290-8 ,
290-9.
4 Bowling: M Starc 16-1-74-4, J
36 Hazlewood 14-1-57-2,N Lyon 32-7-86-
81 0, P Cummins 15-3-47-1, M Marsh 7-
6 2-21-1,S Smith 5-3-3-0.