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DELHI, WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 21, 2015<br />
Regd. DL(ND)-11/6110/2006-07-08 ● RNI No. TNENG/2012/49940 ● ISSN 0971 - 751X ● Vol. 5 ● No. 17 ● CITY EDITION ● 20 Pages ● Rs. 8.00 ● www.thehindu.in<br />
Printed at Chennai, Coimbatore, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Madurai, Noida, Visakhapatnam, Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi, Vijayawada, Mangaluru, Tiruchirapalli, Kolkata, Hubballi, Mohali, Allahabad and Malappuram<br />
• •<br />
Change at<br />
the helm at<br />
The Hindu<br />
The Board of Directors of<br />
Kasturi and Sons Ltd.<br />
(KSL), publishers of The<br />
Hindu and Group publications,<br />
at its meeting on<br />
January 20, unanimously<br />
appointed Malini Parthasarathy<br />
as the Editor<br />
of The Hindu effective<br />
February 1, 2015. Dr. Malini<br />
Parthasarathy will be<br />
in charge of all editorial<br />
operations, and be the<br />
Editor responsible for selection<br />
of news under the<br />
Press and Registration of<br />
Books (PRB) Act.<br />
N. Ravi, Wholetime Director,<br />
will step down<br />
from his role as Editorin-Chief<br />
of The Hindu on<br />
January 31, 2015. The<br />
Board placed on record<br />
Mr. Ravi’s contributions<br />
to maintaining The Hindu’s<br />
pre-eminent position<br />
as the most<br />
respected English newspaper<br />
in India.<br />
The Board also noted<br />
that Dr. Malini Parthasarathy<br />
has the rare distinction<br />
of being The<br />
Hindu’s first woman Editor,<br />
and wished her the<br />
very best in taking The<br />
Hindu to greater heights.<br />
INSIDE <br />
OBAMA VISIT<br />
Tackling terror<br />
In an exclusive article, Bruce<br />
Riedel, Director, the Intelligence<br />
Project, the Brookings<br />
Institution, discusses how<br />
tackling terrorism will be high on<br />
the agenda during<br />
Barack Obama’s visit to India,<br />
coming as it does when the<br />
terrorist threat environment in<br />
the subcontinent is in transition.<br />
COMMENT | PAGE 11<br />
EMPOWER<br />
— on Page 8<br />
DU student<br />
drugged, raped<br />
Staff Reporter<br />
NEW DELHI: A Delhi University<br />
student was raped allegedly<br />
by her friend at his residence<br />
on Monday. The incident has<br />
been reported from South<br />
Delhi’s Vasant Vihar. The accused<br />
was arrested on Tuesday<br />
morning.<br />
According to police, the incident<br />
took place when the<br />
victim, who is a resident of<br />
Munirka area went to a party<br />
at her friend’s residence in<br />
South Delhi. The accused was<br />
known to the victim for last<br />
three years.<br />
In her statement to the police,<br />
the victim said that after<br />
the party, the accused promised<br />
to drop her home.<br />
“Before leaving , the accused<br />
offered her a drink that<br />
was laced with sedative. After<br />
consuming the drink, the girl<br />
became unconscious and the<br />
accused raped her. After few<br />
hours when she woke up, she<br />
realised that she had been<br />
raped. Somehow she managed<br />
to reach home and narrated<br />
the incident to her<br />
mother who later approached<br />
the police ,” an officer said.<br />
She was taken for the medical<br />
examination which confirmed<br />
rape.<br />
A case of rape was registered<br />
on the basis of the girl’s<br />
statement and the accused<br />
was arrested from his residence.<br />
The identity of the accused<br />
has not been disclosed<br />
by the police.<br />
CM<br />
TIGER CENSUS GOOD NEWS FROM THE JUNGLE<br />
Giant leap for big cat<br />
Western Ghats<br />
Landscape holds<br />
the world’s<br />
single largest<br />
population<br />
Meena Menon<br />
NEW DELHI: India now has 70<br />
per cent of the tiger population<br />
in the world with<br />
the latest assessment estimating<br />
2,226 big cats, up 30<br />
per cent from 1,706 in 2010,<br />
show preliminary estimates<br />
in “Status of Tigers in<br />
India, 2014.”<br />
The largest increase is recorded<br />
in the Western<br />
Ghats Landscape complex<br />
— Kerala, Karnataka, Goa<br />
and Tamil Nadu — with 776<br />
tigers (up from 402 in<br />
2006). The Mudumalai-<br />
Bandipur-Nagarahole-<br />
Wayanad complex holds<br />
the world’s single largest tiger<br />
population currently<br />
estimated at over 570 tigers<br />
(in 11,000 sq.km of habitat),<br />
the report says. Goa now<br />
has a persistent tiger presence<br />
with three to five animals.<br />
However, the Sunderbans<br />
did not report an increase<br />
in the numbers<br />
because of a low prey base<br />
and other factors. Odisha<br />
reported a fall in number.<br />
Releasing a summary of<br />
figures of the third round of<br />
CBI examines ex-PM in coal scam<br />
Devesh K. Pandey<br />
the country-level tiger assessment,<br />
Union Minister<br />
of State for Environment<br />
and Forests Prakash Javadekar<br />
said here on Tuesday<br />
that the increase in numbers<br />
was a great achievement<br />
and a result of the<br />
combined efforts of passionate<br />
officers.<br />
With so many tigers, India<br />
could send them to<br />
countries where there was<br />
demand for them. Mr. Javadekar<br />
said 9,753 camera<br />
traps had been set up and<br />
over 100 people were<br />
trained to use them.<br />
The latest round of assessment<br />
used state-of-the<br />
art technology of double<br />
sampling, using camera<br />
traps to estimate the assessment<br />
and distribution<br />
of tigers over 3,78,118 sq.km<br />
Manmohan Singh<br />
NEW DELHI: The Central Bureau<br />
of Investigation has recorded<br />
the statement of former Prime<br />
Minister Manmohan Singh in<br />
connection with alleged irregularities<br />
in the allocation of an<br />
Odisha coal block to industrialist<br />
Kumar Mangalam Birla’s<br />
company Hindalco.<br />
Although CBI officials confirmed<br />
that Dr. Singh’s statement<br />
was recorded, they<br />
remained tight-lipped over<br />
when exactly the agency approached<br />
him.<br />
Dr. Singh’s statement was<br />
recorded following a direction<br />
by the Special CBI Court last<br />
month. Observing that a concerted<br />
effort was being made<br />
to manipulate the entire government<br />
machinery so as to<br />
protect the interest of Hindalco,<br />
the court directed the agency<br />
to examine the then Coal<br />
Minister (Dr. Singh) on various<br />
aspects of the coal block<br />
allocation to the company.<br />
The CBI had sought closure<br />
of the case, in which Mr. Birla,<br />
former Coal Secretary P.C. Parakh<br />
and others were named as<br />
accused. However, the court<br />
directed the agency to carry<br />
out further investigations in<br />
the case and submit a progress<br />
report on January 27, stating<br />
that before examining the<br />
matter further, it was appropriate<br />
that the then Coal Minister<br />
was first examined.<br />
The CBI in October 2013<br />
registered the case alleging<br />
that Mr. Birla and Mr. Parakh,<br />
along with other accused persons,<br />
entered into a criminal<br />
of forests in 47 reserves in<br />
18 States. The only portions<br />
which were not scanned<br />
were some parts of the<br />
north-east and Jharkhand.<br />
Rajesh Gopal, Additional<br />
Director and head of the<br />
National Tiger Conservation<br />
Authority, said the<br />
state-of-the art technology<br />
meant that there was very<br />
little extrapolation based<br />
on data. There were 1,540<br />
photos of individual tigers<br />
aged above a year and a half<br />
for the first time.<br />
Mr. Gopal said tigers<br />
from India had been in demand<br />
in countries such as<br />
Laos and Cambodia.<br />
ANTI-POACHING STEPS PAY OFF;<br />
PERIYAR TIGER RESERVE WINS NTCA<br />
AWARD | PAGE 12<br />
conspiracy to facilitate partial<br />
allocation of the Talabira coal<br />
block to Hindalco in 2005.<br />
The move prompted the<br />
PMO to issue a detailed statement<br />
in Dr. Singh’s defence.<br />
The PMO said Dr. Singh was<br />
“satisfied” that the final decision<br />
was “entirely appropriate”<br />
and based “on the merits<br />
of the case placed before him,”<br />
and that he had formally endorsed<br />
the Coal Ministry’s decision<br />
to overturn the 25th<br />
screening committee’s recommendation<br />
to accommodate<br />
Kumar Mangalam Birla’s company<br />
for the allocation of the<br />
coal block in question.<br />
The Hindu in July last reported<br />
that the CBI was then<br />
planning to seek clarifications<br />
from the former Prime Minister<br />
as a witness in the coal<br />
block allocations scam. Dr.<br />
Singh held the charge of the<br />
Coal Ministry for almost five<br />
years from the time the United<br />
Progressive Alliance came to<br />
power in 2004. Several coal<br />
block allocations made during<br />
the period are under the CBI<br />
scrutiny.<br />
Sowmiya Ashok<br />
NEW DELHI: Protests broke out<br />
at Pant Marg headquarters of<br />
the BJP here on Tuesday after<br />
party workers from rival factions<br />
gathered in a show of<br />
strength demanding tickets<br />
for their leaders. Dheer Singh<br />
Bidhuri, an aspirant from Okhla<br />
constituency, resigned after<br />
he was denied the ticket.<br />
Supporters of Delhi BJP<br />
chief Satish Upadhyay were<br />
among the protesters as his<br />
name was not included in the<br />
list of candidates released late<br />
on Monday night. The party<br />
released names of 62 candidates<br />
but did not name the<br />
candidate for Malviya Nagar<br />
constituency from where Mr.<br />
Upadhyay is seeking the ticket.<br />
His supporters, however,<br />
demanded the party consider<br />
fielding him from Mehrauli<br />
which is a BJP stronghold. The<br />
constituency was held by former<br />
Chief Minister Sahib<br />
Singh Verma’s son Pravesh<br />
Verma who went on to become<br />
Member of Parliament from<br />
SC reposes faith in SIT on black money<br />
Krishnadas Rajagopal<br />
NEW DELHI: Trusting the government<br />
and its own Special<br />
Investigation Team to<br />
complete the job of unearthing<br />
black money Indians<br />
have stashed away in<br />
foreign banks, the Supreme<br />
Court on Tuesday spoke in<br />
the voice of the common<br />
man: “We are interested in<br />
seeing the money come<br />
back to us [nation], not in<br />
names, details.”<br />
A Bench of Chief Justice<br />
H.L. Dattu and Justices Madan<br />
B. Lokur and A.K. Sikri<br />
made the oral observation<br />
on an application by Rajya<br />
Sabha member and senior<br />
lawyer Ram Jethmalani<br />
that not a “single rupee has<br />
come out in the past six<br />
months” and investigation<br />
into black money has been<br />
reduced to “a raid here, an<br />
attachment there and that’s<br />
Jethmalani angry<br />
Legal Correspondent<br />
NEW DELHI: Senior lawyer<br />
Ram Jethmalani expressed<br />
his displeasure in the Supreme<br />
Court on Tuesday at<br />
the “silence” of the government<br />
to a draft law prepared<br />
by him to check the flow of<br />
black money out of the<br />
country. Mr. Jethmalani<br />
told a Bench led by Chief<br />
all.”<br />
It was on Mr. Jethmalani’s<br />
petition in 2009 that<br />
the court set up the SIT, led<br />
by two retired Supreme<br />
Court judges — Justices<br />
M.B. Shah and Arijit Pasayat<br />
— to retrieve the<br />
money.<br />
Senior advocate Anil Diwan,<br />
counsel for Mr. Jethmalani,<br />
said the BJP<br />
manifesto had promised to<br />
take steps on a “priority basis<br />
to minimise the scope of<br />
corruption by minimising<br />
the hoarding of black money.”<br />
But Attorney-General<br />
Mukul Rohatgi strongly objected<br />
to the line of argument.<br />
“It is completely wrong in<br />
Justice of India H.L. Dattu<br />
that he drafted the legislation<br />
on the advice of the<br />
Special Investigation Team.<br />
“I sent it to the SIT and to<br />
the Prime Minister. It is a<br />
matter of regret that I have<br />
not heard one word from<br />
the Prime Minister,” Mr.<br />
Jethmalani said. The court<br />
did not react to his comments.<br />
Release funds<br />
to Greenpeace,<br />
HC tells Centre<br />
Mohammed Iqbal<br />
NEW DELHI: The Delhi High<br />
Court on Tuesday directed the<br />
Centre to release foreign contributions<br />
to Greenpeace India<br />
that were frozen by the Ministry<br />
of Home Affairs in June last<br />
year, observing that there was<br />
no material on record to restrict<br />
the environmental NGO from<br />
accessing foreign fund.<br />
Greenpeace India hailed the<br />
court’s decision as a “victory for<br />
democracy and free speech” and<br />
recognition of the vital role<br />
NGOs play in a free society.<br />
Disposing of Greenpeace India’s<br />
writ petition, Justice Rajiv<br />
Shakdher said the Home Ministry<br />
had not produced any material<br />
on record against<br />
Greenpeace India or Greenpeace<br />
International. “The<br />
amount in fixed-deposit in the<br />
bank be unblocked and transferred<br />
to Greenpeace India’s account,”<br />
the court said. It had, in<br />
September last year, ordered<br />
that the frozen foreign donations<br />
totalling €2,35,000 be<br />
kept in interest-earning fixed<br />
deposit till further orders.<br />
Pulling up the Centre for not<br />
issuing notice to the NGO before<br />
freezing its account, the<br />
court said the recipient was entitled<br />
to an opportunity to be<br />
heard. However, the Centre was<br />
free to take action against<br />
Greenpeace India if it was found<br />
violating the FCRA norms.<br />
GREENPEACE HAIL HIGH COURT<br />
RULING | PAGE 13<br />
Odds of escaping poverty<br />
in India, U.S. same: WB<br />
Study says urbanisation, non-farm jobs offering mobility<br />
Puja Mehra<br />
Suhasini Haidar<br />
NEW DELHI: When<br />
U.S. President Barack<br />
Obama lands<br />
in New Delhi the<br />
coming weekend,<br />
the Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD),<br />
headed by Hafiz Saeed, a<br />
26/11 accused, will hold a<br />
NEW DELHI: A World Bank report<br />
has challenged the conventional<br />
understanding of<br />
India’s inequality. The report,<br />
“Addressing inequality<br />
in South Asia,” has found<br />
that the probability of a poor<br />
person moving out of poverty<br />
in India in 2014 was as<br />
good as that in the U.S.<br />
“There is good news — India<br />
is no longer the land of<br />
extremes and there are<br />
some bright spots,” said<br />
Martin Rama, one of the authors<br />
of the report and<br />
World Bank Chief Economist<br />
for South Asia.<br />
The report has found that<br />
sons from Scheduled Caste<br />
and Scheduled Tribe households<br />
are no longer stuck in<br />
the jobs done by their fathers.<br />
Across generations,<br />
mobility of occupational<br />
profiles among Muslims has<br />
been similar to that of higher<br />
caste Hindus, whereas<br />
mobility among Scheduled<br />
Castes and Scheduled<br />
Tribes and Other Backward<br />
Classes has become higher<br />
than that of upper caste<br />
massive public rally<br />
in Karachi, putting<br />
paid to reports that<br />
Pakistan had assured<br />
the U.S. of a<br />
crackdown on the<br />
organisation.<br />
With Saeed and the JuD<br />
planning to go ahead with<br />
their so-called “million<br />
Hindus over time.<br />
The report shows that one<br />
of the main drivers of upward<br />
mobility is the increase<br />
in number of<br />
non-farm jobs in rural India.<br />
URBANISATION REDUCING<br />
INEQUALITY; “JOBS CAN OFFSET THE<br />
DISADVANTAGES OF CASTE” | PAGE 12<br />
TERROR CHALLENGE Hafiz Saeed plans ‘million march’<br />
On day Obama lands, JuD rally in Pak.<br />
The scene outside Delhi BJP office on Tuesday.<br />
PHOTO: SUSHIL KUMAR VERMA<br />
West Delhi.<br />
Different factions of party<br />
workers -- supporters<br />
of Mr. Upadhyay,<br />
Shikha Rai and some<br />
from the poorvanchal<br />
community -- shouted<br />
slogans and held a<br />
dharna against the top<br />
leadership. According<br />
to the police, party<br />
supporters scuffled inside the<br />
NEW DELHI: Delhi Police Commissioner<br />
B.S. Bassi on<br />
Tuesday said they would<br />
probe the IPL angle in Sunanda<br />
Pushkar’s death in<br />
January 2014.<br />
Talking to reporters at<br />
the police headquarters<br />
here, Mr. Bassi said, “former<br />
Union Minister Shashi<br />
Tharoor was questioned for<br />
over three hours on Monday<br />
night and he was cooperative.”<br />
According to sources, one<br />
of the important questions<br />
that Mr. Tharoor was asked<br />
related to the IPL controversy<br />
that broke out in early<br />
2010 when Mr. Tharoor was<br />
Minister of State for External<br />
Affairs.<br />
There were allegations<br />
that he had misused his authority<br />
to ensure that Rs. 70<br />
crore, a sum equivalent to<br />
19 per cent equity in IPL<br />
Kochi<br />
franchise<br />
Rendezvous Sports, was<br />
paid to Ms. Pushkar.<br />
Ms. Pushkar who was Mr.<br />
Tharoor’s friend at that<br />
time had refuted allegations<br />
of any wrongdoing.<br />
“I am rendering services<br />
for Kochi franchise. (I) have<br />
march” on Sunday in protest<br />
against the French<br />
magazine Charlie Hebdo’s<br />
latest cartoons of Prophet<br />
Mohammad, it is clear the<br />
reports were unsubstantiated.<br />
PAKISTAN DENIES ANY MOVE<br />
FOR BAN | PAGE 12<br />
Protest breaks out at Delhi BJP office<br />
saying that not a penny has<br />
come up. Some of them [627<br />
Indian account-holders]<br />
have paid penalties. Besides,<br />
time was given to us<br />
till March 31, 2015, to complete<br />
prosecution of black<br />
money holders abroad under<br />
the Income Tax Act,”<br />
Mr. Rohatgi countered.<br />
“Everything the government<br />
has is with the Supreme<br />
Court’s SIT. We have<br />
shared every single document,<br />
name, account details<br />
with them. Nothing has<br />
been hidden from them.”<br />
Chief Justice Dattu interjected,<br />
saying: “We are interested<br />
in seeing the<br />
money come back to us [nation],<br />
not in names, details.”<br />
Mr. Rohatgi submitted<br />
that the government and<br />
the SIT should be allowed to<br />
do their job. Chief Justice<br />
Dattu said, “We are certain<br />
the SIT will do its job well.”<br />
Sunanda case: IPL angle under lens<br />
Kritika Sharma Sebastian<br />
office premises. “Force was<br />
deployed outside the office, so<br />
when the scuffle broke<br />
out, our personnel<br />
took control of the situation,”<br />
said a police<br />
officer.<br />
Mr. Upadhyay tried<br />
to pacify but the unrelenting<br />
supporters<br />
kept on shouting slogans<br />
against the leadership.<br />
Shashi Tharoor<br />
He had earlier indicated his<br />
willingness to fight the polls;<br />
but on Tuesday he said he voluntarily<br />
opted out to focus on<br />
campaigning in the city. “I<br />
want to contest on all the 70<br />
seats. I want to focus on entire<br />
Delhi and that is why I am not<br />
contesting. BJP workers want<br />
the party to win and this is<br />
their feeling,” he said.<br />
“These are momentary issues.<br />
We want the party to win<br />
under Kiran Bedi's leadership.<br />
We have to oust Arvind Kejriwal.<br />
I am a worker of the<br />
party and it is my responsibility<br />
to make BJP victorious,”<br />
he told his supporters. "It is<br />
my own decision (to not contest).<br />
The Parliamentary<br />
Board asked me and I conveyed<br />
them my decision."<br />
Party workers also staged a<br />
protest in Rohini in West<br />
Delhi.<br />
Late on Tuesday night the<br />
BJP released the names of the<br />
candidates for the remaining<br />
four seats in which Mr Upadhyay’s<br />
name was missing.<br />
SEE ALSO | PAGE 2 & 3<br />
advised them in getting IPL.<br />
I am also advising them on<br />
marketing and branding<br />
and hence I am getting<br />
sweat equity. It is only on<br />
paper now. I have not yet<br />
got it,” Ms. Pushkar had said<br />
in a statement when the IPL<br />
controversy had broken out.<br />
‘SIT team will analyse<br />
what Tharoor had said’<br />
“Special Investigating<br />
Team (SIT) will analyse<br />
what Mr. Tharoor had told<br />
them and then take further<br />
action”, Mr. Bassi stated.<br />
“We are investigating the<br />
case with an open mind. We<br />
are trying to ascertain what<br />
happened …..whether somebody<br />
is criminally liable and<br />
who that person is. So it is<br />
an open-ended questioning,”<br />
Mr. Bassi added.<br />
He also hinted that Mr.<br />
Tharoor might be called for<br />
a second round of questioning.<br />
ND-ND
NOIDA/DELHI<br />
2 THE HINDU WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 21, 2015<br />
When gates at BJP<br />
office were locked<br />
Staff Reporter<br />
The ruckus caused by<br />
party workers in the<br />
Delhi BJP office here caused<br />
the police to intervene and<br />
escort some of them outside<br />
the premises. Some of them<br />
were disgruntled with the<br />
way Poorvanchalis have been<br />
represented in the BJP list.<br />
When police personnel<br />
approached protesters and<br />
asked them what their<br />
demands were, they replied<br />
they were there for a “quiet<br />
sit-in”, which was contrary to<br />
what they were actually<br />
doing.<br />
The gates of the Delhi BJP<br />
headquarters were then<br />
locked to keep the protesters<br />
out. However, the guards who<br />
were in possession of keys<br />
disappeared leaving several<br />
journalists, party workers and<br />
visitors to the office stranded<br />
inside the premises with no<br />
way out. The only escape<br />
route was climbing the<br />
compound wall. One party<br />
worker broke the lamp while<br />
doing so.<br />
Congress’ Amar,<br />
Akbar and Anthony<br />
Staff Reporter<br />
The Congress’ new face<br />
and General Secretary<br />
Ajay Maken chose a unique<br />
analogy to put to rest<br />
speculation over a seeming<br />
rift between him and Delhi<br />
Pradesh Congress Committee<br />
(DPCC) chief Arvinder Singh<br />
at a press conference a day<br />
after Mr. Singh was asked not<br />
to contest the Assembly polls.<br />
Standing with Mr. Singh<br />
and veteran leader Haroon<br />
Yusuf, Mr. Maken amicably<br />
declared that they were not<br />
only a troika but the “Amar,<br />
Akbar and Anthony” of the<br />
Delhi Congress in an open<br />
reference to the 1977 hit<br />
revolving around three<br />
brothers separated during<br />
childhood.<br />
The only difference,<br />
however, according to a jovial<br />
Mr. Maken, was that “they<br />
had a Singh instead of an<br />
Anthony.”<br />
Every<br />
Minister and<br />
government<br />
official will work<br />
together. I<br />
will bring<br />
a clean<br />
govt. in<br />
Delhi, which<br />
would focus on<br />
every department<br />
KIRAN BEDI<br />
BJP's CM candidate<br />
I never<br />
wanted to<br />
contest and BJP<br />
as<br />
a party will<br />
work<br />
together<br />
and win<br />
the Delhi<br />
Assembly polls<br />
this time<br />
SATISH UPADHYAY<br />
Delhi BJP chief<br />
People want<br />
to know<br />
whether BJP will<br />
reduce power and<br />
water tariff, and<br />
how it will<br />
bring<br />
down<br />
prices of<br />
essential items,<br />
how it will put an<br />
end to bribery and<br />
corruption<br />
ARVIND KEJRIWAL<br />
AAP convenor<br />
CM<br />
YK<br />
KEJRIWAL AND KIRAN BEDI TURNED ON THE POLL HEAT WHEN THEY VISITED KRISHNA NAGAR ON TUESDAY. WHILE<br />
THE AAP LEADER DREW HUGE CROWDS, THE BJP'S CM CANDIDATE INTERACTED WITH WORKERS IN A BASEMENT<br />
CAMPAIGN HITS THE ROAD<br />
Kejriwal does it again<br />
AAP supporters at Krishna Nagar on Tuesday. PHOTO: SANDEEP SAXENA<br />
Shubhomoy Sikdar<br />
Once bitten, twice shy. But not if you<br />
are Arvind Kejriwal.<br />
On a day when he received his second<br />
notice for asking voters to accept bribe<br />
from the BJP and the Congress, but only<br />
vote for the Aam Aadmi Party, he made<br />
the statement once again.<br />
Addressing a jan sabha in support of<br />
his party candidate S.K. Bagga from the<br />
Krishna Nagar constituency, where the<br />
BJP has fielded its chief ministerial candidate<br />
Kiran Bedi, the former Delhi<br />
Chief Minister told the crowd gathered<br />
that other parties will offer them bribe,<br />
but they had to make the right decision<br />
by choosing the AAP.<br />
Earlier on Sunday, he made a similar<br />
statement during a public rally in Uttam<br />
Nagar following which the BJP and the<br />
Congress lodged complaint with the EC.<br />
However, Mr. Kejriwal seemed undeterred<br />
and repeated the statement while<br />
Sowmiya Ashok<br />
In a corner of a large tent at<br />
the Pandit Pant Marg office<br />
of the Bharatiya Janata<br />
Party, a young woman is surrounded<br />
by party supporters<br />
sharing couplets that sang<br />
her praise. She smiled affectionately<br />
at them, applauded<br />
their efforts and coaxed others<br />
to stand up to introduce<br />
themselves.<br />
It was a meeting of BJP<br />
party workers from the Gole<br />
Market mandal and the<br />
sooner Nupur Sharma gets<br />
to know them, the better it is<br />
for this “almost 30-year-old”<br />
to begin campaigning for the<br />
February 7 polls. It had not<br />
even been 24-hours since<br />
her name was announced as<br />
the candidate from the New<br />
Delhi Assembly constituency<br />
and Ms. Sharma had decided<br />
to hit the ground<br />
running.<br />
In the winter of 2013, it<br />
was the same constituency<br />
from where a newcomer<br />
named Arvind Kejriwal had<br />
entered the big fight against<br />
a veteran Congress leader<br />
Sheila Dikshit. This year,<br />
Ms. Sharma is the newcomer<br />
and Mr. Kejriwal is her “big<br />
attacking Ms. Bedi at her constituency,<br />
which is a traditional BJP bastion.<br />
He alleged that the former IPS officer<br />
was unaware about the ground realities<br />
in Delhi.<br />
“Kiranji said in a television interview<br />
that people of Delhi did not need reduced<br />
power tariffs and were capable of<br />
paying their electricity bills. She has no<br />
idea about how people live here. She<br />
should come out and talk to people to<br />
know what they really need,” said Mr.<br />
Kejriwal, while reiterating claims about<br />
relief given to the people during his tenure.<br />
He further claimed that roping in Kiran<br />
Bedi was a ploy by the BJP to ensure<br />
that they have a scapegoat to blame for<br />
an “imminent election debacle”.<br />
“On February 10 (when the election<br />
results will be announced), Ms. Bedi will<br />
realise that she was brought in just to<br />
take the blame for the defeat,” said Mr.<br />
Kejriwal.<br />
Schoolchildren take a peek from a classroom window as AAP chief Arvind<br />
Kejriwal takes out a road show in New Delhi on Tuesday. PHOTO: AFP<br />
Nupur gears up for the big fight<br />
fight”, prompting the Aam<br />
Aadmi Party to have referred<br />
to her as a “lamb fielded for<br />
slaughter”.<br />
“Was Arvind Kejriwal the<br />
lamb ready to be slaughtered<br />
when he fought against Sheila<br />
Dikshit?” asks Ms. Sharma<br />
after she is done interacting<br />
with her colleagues. “Today,<br />
he stands with almost 80 per<br />
cent of his party leadership<br />
not standing with him. You<br />
can’t betray the trust of people,<br />
run away from power,<br />
come back and expect people<br />
to accept you. You are<br />
not a child!” she says.<br />
Since Tuesday morning,<br />
Ms. Sharma has received a<br />
string of visitors, mostly<br />
mandal and zila workers excited<br />
that the BJP has chosen<br />
a “local candidate”,<br />
keeping her away from visiting<br />
her 95-year-old grandfather<br />
who was the one who<br />
encouraged her to request<br />
the party for a ticket to contest.<br />
“When you contest<br />
elections, people repose<br />
their faith in you. They expect<br />
you to be there through<br />
happiness, sadness, problems<br />
and grievances. You<br />
need to stand with them,”<br />
she says.<br />
BUSY DAYS AHEAD: Nupur Sharma during a<br />
meeting with party workers on Tuesday.<br />
PHOTO: SUSHIL KUMAR VERMA<br />
Mixed welcome for Bedi<br />
Jatin Anand<br />
The Bharatiya Janata Party’s Kiran<br />
Bedi, on Tuesday, received a<br />
mixed welcome at East Delhi’s<br />
Krishna Nagar constituency after arriving<br />
to address party cadres in<br />
what was her maiden interaction<br />
with them after being anointed chief<br />
ministerial candidate a day earlier.<br />
In tow was Dr. Harsh Vardhan, a<br />
Union Minister who has been an<br />
MLA from the Assembly constituency<br />
since 1993 and evidently continues<br />
to enjoy tremendous local<br />
support in spite of Ms. Bedi’s newly<br />
announced candidature from it by<br />
BJP president Amit Shah on Monday.<br />
Slogans of “Dr. Harsh Vardhan<br />
zindabad” (long live Dr. Harsh Vardhan)<br />
clashed with “Kiran Bedi zindabad”<br />
(long live Kiran Bedi) as soon as<br />
both arrived at the middle-class, East<br />
Delhi neighbourhood and kept resounding<br />
throughout the event.<br />
On his part, Dr. Vardhan introduced<br />
his former constituents to<br />
Shubhomoy Sikdar<br />
Displaying a show of strength in his<br />
Assembly constituency of New Delhi,<br />
Aam Aadmi Party convenor Arvind<br />
Kejriwal apparently “failed” to file his<br />
nomination papers here on Tuesday.<br />
Mr. Kejriwal was scheduled to file the<br />
nominations at Jamnagar House after a<br />
road show from Mandir Marg to Jantar<br />
Mantar. However, he announced in<br />
front of his supporters that he had missed<br />
the 2 p.m. deadline, attributing it to<br />
the “overwhelming support” his show<br />
received. He said the time taken to reach<br />
the District Magistrate’s office at Jamnagar<br />
House was longer than expected<br />
due to the huge crowd.<br />
In the days leading up to the nomination<br />
date, the AAP had appealed people<br />
from all parts of the city to join Mr.<br />
Kejriwal to the nomination centre.<br />
He was flanked by his senior party<br />
colleagues Manish Sisodia, Ashutosh<br />
and Somnath Bharti.<br />
Oblivious of the fact that Mr. Kejriwal<br />
Yet, from a party that has<br />
in the last week “parachuted”<br />
big netas, Ms. Sharma<br />
believes in working through<br />
the party ranks inspired by<br />
Prime Minister Narendra<br />
Modi.<br />
“The point is you need to<br />
start with a strong base and I<br />
have been working in the organisation<br />
for a long time. As<br />
a public representative, how<br />
does it work if you are disconnected<br />
from the people?<br />
You need to be connected to<br />
them.”<br />
For Ms. Sharma, canvassing<br />
in New Delhi is much<br />
easier than manoeuvring the<br />
lanes of Delhi University.<br />
“Geographically, DUSU was<br />
more spread out and it was<br />
difficult managing traffic. It<br />
will be easier in New Delhi<br />
and I plan to knock on every<br />
door.”<br />
their new candidate as ‘behen (sister)<br />
Kiran’. “Our sister has come<br />
home to talk to us today,” Dr. Vardhan<br />
said at the conclusion of a protracted<br />
welcoming at a cramped<br />
basement functioning as a party office<br />
in the area.<br />
Ms. Bedi chose to acknowledge,<br />
and seemingly respect, the support<br />
the gathering displayed for Dr. Vardhan<br />
without qualms and went to the<br />
extent of saying that she was expecting<br />
him to be the CM and would treat<br />
the constituency as a garden and him<br />
as a trusted advisor.<br />
“Krishna Nagar is a very pure constituency,<br />
which is why I said that I<br />
will nurture this garden well. I’m going<br />
to be here temporarily only, as a<br />
caretaker. I hope Dr. Sahab will be at<br />
rest as this caretaker is also very effective<br />
and hardworking and knows<br />
the work which needs to be done.<br />
He’ll be my advisor, if I have any<br />
problem, I will go to him,” she said.<br />
She promised longer interaction<br />
on Wednesday when she would file<br />
her nomination.<br />
Kiran Bedi addressing workers during a meeting at Krishna<br />
Nagar on Tuesday. PHOTO: SANDEEP SAXENA<br />
Jatin Anand<br />
Faces representing each of<br />
the three major<br />
contenders of the upcoming<br />
Delhi Assembly polls took to<br />
debating the validity of a<br />
public debate on issues facing<br />
the Capital, and what<br />
solutions they are willing to<br />
bring to the table.<br />
Early Tuesday, after news<br />
of AAP national convenor<br />
Arvind Kejriwal’s challenge<br />
to the BJP’s newly anointed<br />
chief ministerial candidate<br />
Kiran Bedi through a tweet<br />
began doing the rounds, the<br />
issue became the topic of a<br />
tug-of-war for them, with the<br />
Congress’ Ajay Maken<br />
joining the fray.<br />
Ms. Bedi chose to accept<br />
Mr. Kejriwal’s challenge, but<br />
only in part saying that she<br />
would rather debate with<br />
him on the floor of the Delhi<br />
Assembly. Mr. Maken said he<br />
was all “for a structured<br />
discussion among the three<br />
politicians who are leading<br />
the campaign of their parties<br />
BJP’s ally Akali Dal to<br />
contest from four seats<br />
Staff Reporter<br />
The day after its ally,<br />
the Bharatiya Janata<br />
Party, released its list of 62<br />
candidates to the Delhi<br />
Assembly Polls, the<br />
Shiromani Akali Dal on<br />
Tuesday said it will contest<br />
from four seats in the city,<br />
one of which it will contest<br />
in the weighing scale<br />
symbol.<br />
Manjinder Singh Sirsa<br />
will be contesting from<br />
Rajouri Garden, Harmeet<br />
Singh Kalka from Kalkaji<br />
and Jitender Singh Shunti<br />
from Shahdara. The party<br />
left out Shyam Sharma<br />
from the Hari Nagar seat<br />
and instead chose Avtar<br />
Singh Hit.<br />
Among the four, Mr.<br />
Sirsa will contest on Akali<br />
Dal’s weighing scale<br />
for the Assembly polls”.<br />
This lack of consensus<br />
among them of the future<br />
debate was echoed by<br />
political observers and<br />
academicians.<br />
“Debates like these are,<br />
and can only be, an urban<br />
phenomenon and I’m against<br />
these,” said Professor Sanjay<br />
Kumar, director, Centre for<br />
the Study of Developing<br />
Societies. “Though dialogue<br />
is welcome in a<br />
Parliamentary democracy it<br />
should centre around issues<br />
such as poverty in a country<br />
like ours instead of around<br />
symbol, while the other<br />
three candidates will fight<br />
on the BJP’s lotus symbol.<br />
Drug menace not an<br />
issue: Punjab CM<br />
Punjab Chief Minister<br />
Parkash Singh Badal on<br />
Tuesday said the drug<br />
menace was hardly an<br />
issue in the upcoming<br />
Delhi Assembly polls and<br />
described it as a “malicious<br />
propaganda” unleashed by<br />
the Opposition to “defame<br />
Punjabis and tarnish the<br />
State’s image”.<br />
“Drug problem was<br />
neither an issue in Punjab<br />
nor in Delhi, but it is being<br />
blown out of proportion by<br />
the opposition under a<br />
deep rooted conspiracy to<br />
tarnish the image of hard<br />
working Punjabis,” he said.<br />
(With inputs from PTI)<br />
AAP chief ‘fails’ to file nomination<br />
MISSES 2 P.M. DEADLINE, ATTRIBUTES IT TO THE PRESENCE OF HUGE CROWD<br />
FEAT OF STRENGTH: Arvind Kejriwal and his supporters during the<br />
road show in New Delhi on Tuesday. PHOTO: SHANKER CHAKRAVARTY<br />
had disbanded the road show at Gole<br />
Dak Khana , some supporters kept waiting<br />
for his arrival at Jantar Mantar. They<br />
were told by the police deployed there<br />
that the nomination had been postponed.<br />
The former Delhi Chief Minister<br />
would now file his nomination on<br />
Wednesday, which is also the last date<br />
for filing<br />
Kejriwal challenges Bedi<br />
for debate, Maken says yes<br />
leaders representing political<br />
parties,” he added.<br />
Professor Neera<br />
Chandhoke from Delhi<br />
University’s Department of<br />
Political Science seemed to<br />
agree and warned against a<br />
rapid build up of a cult of the<br />
leader and the dangers this<br />
posed to the essence of<br />
Parliamentary government.<br />
“There must be public<br />
debates on substantive issues<br />
in the manifestos between<br />
leaders and members of the<br />
political public, so that<br />
instead of an audience,<br />
citizens can become<br />
participants,” she said.<br />
According to renowned<br />
social scientist Shiv<br />
Visvanathan, however, such<br />
debates could go a long way<br />
in bringing politicians out of<br />
their comfort zones provided<br />
they were structured and<br />
regulated.<br />
“I’m all for these given<br />
neutrality in issues, time<br />
provided to each participant<br />
and a ruthless moderator,”<br />
Professor Visvanathan said.<br />
ND-ND
NOIDA/DELHI<br />
THE HINDU WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 21, 2015<br />
CITY<br />
3<br />
DELHI TODAY<br />
Jan RISE 07 14 Jan RISE 07 14 Jan RISE 07 13<br />
21<br />
22<br />
23<br />
SET 17 52<br />
SET 17 53<br />
SET 17 54<br />
RISE 07 30 RISE 08 18 RISE 09 04<br />
WED SET 18 58 THU SET 20 05 FRI SET 21 11<br />
Focus of the entire world is<br />
on Delhi election, says CEC<br />
Staff Reporter<br />
NEW DELHI: Chief Election Commissioner<br />
(CEC) H.S. Brahma<br />
on Tuesday said that the Delhi<br />
election on February 7 is a crucial<br />
one as it is a standalone<br />
election and the focus of the entire<br />
world is on it. “Delhi being<br />
the capital of the country, ruling<br />
Delhi has a separate meaning<br />
and it is a big challenge for the<br />
Election Commission (EC) to<br />
put the most effort into ensuring<br />
free and transparent elections<br />
in the Capital,” Mr.<br />
Brahma said.<br />
Talking about how the EC has<br />
grown over the years, Mr. Brahma<br />
said in the first Lok Sabha<br />
polls held in 1951, India had<br />
17.32 crore voters and today it<br />
has 83 crore voters, nearly two<br />
crore voters more than those<br />
who were eligible to participate<br />
in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.<br />
The CEC was speaking at the<br />
inauguration of the week-long<br />
Voters’ Fest organised at Dill<br />
Haat to celebrate the National<br />
Voters Day on January 25. A<br />
EXERCISE YOUR RIGHT: Chief Election Commissioner<br />
H. S. Brahma on Tuesday at Dilli Haat during an<br />
exhibition that showcase elections down the years.<br />
S— PHOTO: SHIV KUMAR PUSHPAKAR<br />
photography exhibition in celebration<br />
of democracy was inaugurated<br />
by the CEC that takes<br />
viewers on a journey though the<br />
many elections that the Election<br />
Commission has conducted<br />
over the years.<br />
From black and white images<br />
of prominent leaders casting<br />
their vote to the harsh terrain<br />
the polling officers have crossed<br />
to set up polling booths.<br />
There is even a ‘selfie’ wall<br />
that shows many celebrities<br />
posing with ink on their fingers.<br />
There was also a street play performed<br />
by members of the Asmita<br />
Theatre group that<br />
encouraged voters to stop making<br />
excuses and come out to<br />
vote. A model polling station has<br />
been set up at the venue so that<br />
voters can familiarise themselves<br />
with the entire process.<br />
BJP declares names of<br />
4 remaining candidates<br />
NEW DELHI: BJP on Tuesday<br />
night declared its remaining<br />
four candidates for the<br />
February 7 Delhi Assembly<br />
elections and left four other<br />
seats for its ally Shiromani<br />
Akali Dal.<br />
BJP had on Monday declared<br />
a total of 62 candidates<br />
for the 70 Assembly<br />
seats in Delhi Assembly.<br />
The Central Election<br />
Committee has decided to<br />
field Sanjay Singh from Vikaspur<br />
Assembly seat, Nandani<br />
Sharma from Malviya<br />
Nagar, Sarita Chaudhary<br />
from Mehrauli and Rakesh<br />
Gulia from Greater Kailash<br />
constituency for the elections,<br />
BJP general secretary<br />
J. P. Nadda said in a<br />
statement.<br />
BJP has left Rajouri Garden,<br />
Hari Nagar, Kalkaji<br />
and Shahdara for Akali Dal<br />
which also announced its<br />
candidates on Tuesday.<br />
Avtar Singh Hit will contest<br />
from Hari Nagar, Harmeet<br />
Singh Kalka from<br />
Kalkaji, Jatinder Singh<br />
Shunty from Shahdara and<br />
Manjinder Singh Sirsa from<br />
Rajouri Garden for Akali<br />
BJP candidate from<br />
Mehrauli Sarita<br />
Chaudhary<br />
BJP had on Monday<br />
declared a total of 62<br />
candidates for the 70<br />
Assembly seats<br />
Dal.<br />
SAD Delhi unit chief<br />
Manjit Singh GK said that<br />
the party candidate from<br />
Rajouri Garden Manjinder<br />
Singh will contest on SAD<br />
symbol while the remaining<br />
three party nominees will<br />
contest on BJP’s Lotus<br />
symbol.<br />
In the last assembly polls<br />
in Delhi, SAD had contested<br />
four seats, two of which<br />
were contested on their<br />
own symbol.— PTI<br />
Suspected Ebola<br />
victim admitted<br />
to AIIMS<br />
NEW DELHI: A man having severe<br />
fever was admitted to<br />
AIIMS on Tuesday amid<br />
fears that he has contracted<br />
Ebola, which the hospital authorities<br />
are yet to confirm.<br />
The patient, referred by a<br />
private hospital in Jodhpur,<br />
was admitted to the Medicine<br />
department.<br />
“The patient has been admitted<br />
in the Medicine department<br />
of AIIMS under<br />
professor Dr Sanjeev Sinha.<br />
He has symptoms of high<br />
grade fever and appears to be<br />
suffering from viral hemorrhagic<br />
fever. His condition is<br />
being constantly monitored<br />
and tests are being carried<br />
out,” said a doctor from<br />
AIIMS.<br />
When asked if the patient<br />
had contracted Ebola, the<br />
hospital authorities said, so<br />
far, nothing could be said.<br />
“His samples might be<br />
sent to the National Institute<br />
of Communicable Diseases<br />
(NICD) or RML for<br />
confirmation if he is infected<br />
by Ebola virus. But, as of now<br />
it doesn’t appear that he has<br />
got the disease,” said the<br />
doctor.— PTI<br />
Plea in High Court seeks CBI<br />
probe into Pushkar’s death<br />
Mohammed Iqbal<br />
NEW DELHI: A public interest<br />
writ petition seeking a CBI inquiry<br />
into the suspicious death<br />
of Sunanda Pushkar was filed in<br />
the Delhi High Court on<br />
Tuesday.<br />
The petitioner, Anti-Corruption<br />
Front, has claimed that the<br />
investigation by the Delhi Police<br />
was “tainted and aimed at<br />
saving some influential persons”.<br />
It said the police, by registering<br />
an FIR in the case on<br />
January 1 after a delay of a year,<br />
had flouted the basic law of the<br />
land and ignored guidelines laid<br />
down in various Supreme Court<br />
judgments.<br />
EC issues second show<br />
cause notice to Kejriwal<br />
Special Correspondent<br />
NEW DELHI: Aam Aadmi Party<br />
(AAP) chief Arvind Kejriwal<br />
was issued a show cause notice<br />
by the Election Commission<br />
on Tuesday, the second in the<br />
last three days, for “prima facie”<br />
violation of the poll code:<br />
he allegedly made a provocative<br />
speech in which he asked<br />
voters to take bribes<br />
from the BJP and<br />
the Congress but only<br />
to vote for his<br />
party.<br />
The statement,<br />
the EC notice said,<br />
was made at a public<br />
rally on January 18<br />
in the capital’s Uttam<br />
Nagar and it amounted to<br />
“abetting and promoting the<br />
electoral offence of bribery”<br />
under the relevant sections of<br />
the Representation of People<br />
Act read with the IPC.<br />
In the speech that invited<br />
the EC notice, Mr Kejriwal<br />
said, “It’s election time. When<br />
people both from BJP and<br />
Congress come offering money,<br />
don’ refuse, accept …..some<br />
have looted money from 2G,<br />
some have looted money from<br />
coal scam...Take money from<br />
both the parties but vote for<br />
AAP…We will fool them this<br />
time. They have been deceiving<br />
us for the last 65 years. Now it’<br />
our turn.”<br />
The EC notice follows complaints<br />
from political parties.<br />
It had asked the Chief Electoral<br />
Officer of Delhi to submit a<br />
CD of the speech made for a<br />
Statement make at a<br />
rally in Uttam Nagar<br />
amounted to<br />
“abetting and<br />
promoting the<br />
electoral offence of<br />
bribery”, said the EC<br />
notice<br />
review by it.<br />
Mr Kejriwal has<br />
been asked to respond<br />
and present his side by<br />
4pm on Thursday, failing<br />
which the EC<br />
“shall take a decision<br />
without any further<br />
reference” to him. The Commission’s<br />
notice says the Model<br />
Code of Conduct (MCC)<br />
envisages that parties and candidates<br />
participating in the<br />
electoral fray shall “avoid scrupulously<br />
all activities which<br />
are corrupt practices and offences<br />
under the election law,<br />
such as bribing of voters.”<br />
This notice follows another<br />
on January 17 when the AAP<br />
leader was issued a show cause<br />
notice by the EC for “prima<br />
facie” violating the MCC with<br />
remarks alleging that BJP is<br />
trying to incite communal violence<br />
in Delhi.<br />
The deadline for his reply to<br />
that notice was Tuesday but,<br />
the EC, accepting Mr Kejriwal’s<br />
request, gave him three<br />
more days to respond to its<br />
earlier show cause notice issued<br />
on January 17.<br />
Key member of<br />
international<br />
drug cartel held<br />
NEW DELHI: An alleged key member<br />
of an international drug<br />
cartel which smuggled heroin<br />
from Myanmar to Delhi via Manipur<br />
and Bareilly, has been arrested,<br />
police said on Tuesday.<br />
The Special Cell of Delhi Police<br />
arrested Ganpat (32) from<br />
Bareilly in Uttar Pradesh on<br />
Saturday.<br />
They also recovered two mobile<br />
handsets along with two<br />
SIM cards used by him to communicate<br />
with his associates for<br />
drug trafficking activities.<br />
Ganpat is already wanted in<br />
cases of NDPS Act by Guwahati<br />
and Delhi Police. Police had<br />
earlier arrested two drug suppliers,<br />
Dharamraj and Chander<br />
Sekhar and recovered heroin<br />
weighing 1.5 kg from them.<br />
Their interrogation led to the<br />
arrest of Javed Khan and Pankaj,<br />
both resident of Bareilly,<br />
who supplied drugs to Delhi<br />
and NCR through their couriers.—<br />
PTI<br />
Published by N. Ram at Kasturi Buildings, 859 & 860, Anna Salai, Chennai-600002 and Printed by S. Ramanujam at HT Media Ltd. Plot No. 8, Udyog Vihar, Greater Noida Distt. Gautam Budh Nagar, U.P. 201306, on behalf of KASTURI & SONS LTD., Chennai-600002. Editor-in-Chief: N. Ravi (Editor responsible for selection of news under the PRB Act), Editor: Malini Parthasarathy<br />
CM<br />
YK<br />
ND-ND
CITY/NCR<br />
NOIDA/DELHI<br />
4 THE HINDU WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 21, 2015<br />
NDMC parks fraught with safety hazards<br />
Councillors raise concern over live wires, dilapidated swings and lack of security<br />
Damini Nath<br />
NEW DELHI: Municipal parks<br />
across Delhi have become<br />
safety hazards, with live<br />
wires, dilapidated swings and<br />
lack of security being highlighted<br />
by councillors themselves.<br />
A 24-year-old lawyer, Gaurav<br />
Rana, was electrocuted by<br />
an exposed wire at a North<br />
Delhi Municipal Corporation<br />
park in Pitampura on Sunday.<br />
The incident evoked sharp<br />
criticism from municipal<br />
councillors, who said the accident<br />
was just waiting to<br />
happen.<br />
While the North Corporation<br />
has started a probe, the<br />
state of municipal parks<br />
across Delhi is in question.<br />
Officials admit there is a<br />
shortage of staff, including<br />
gardeners and security<br />
guards, and that it has led to<br />
parks being neglected.<br />
Councillors said repeated<br />
complaints had gone unaddressed<br />
and the parks posed a<br />
threat to the children and senior<br />
citizens who frequent<br />
them.<br />
DU V-C to take<br />
charge of new<br />
online course<br />
Staff Reporter<br />
NEW DELHI: Delhi University<br />
Vice-Chancellor Dinesh<br />
Singh will be in-charge of<br />
the University’s first and<br />
soon-to-be launched online<br />
course on India in the<br />
21st Century.<br />
10 lectures<br />
The course comprises 10<br />
lectures, all to be delivered<br />
by Prof. Singh, and will be<br />
open to people from all<br />
over the world. It will<br />
come with a certificate if it<br />
gets approved by the University’s<br />
Academic Council.<br />
A statement issued from<br />
the Registrar explains that<br />
this course is designed to<br />
portray some of the great<br />
milestones in the India’s<br />
modern history, with perspectives<br />
from the past<br />
and indications into the future.<br />
The course can be accessed<br />
by students and<br />
others in the University<br />
community by using the<br />
DU internet network, but<br />
others will have to enrol<br />
for the course to view the<br />
lectures on the University<br />
website. The course will<br />
begin from January 30.<br />
CM<br />
YK<br />
OPEN DANGER: Lack of coordination between the electrical division and<br />
Horticulture Department results in lights not being repaired at municipal<br />
parks in Delhi. — PHOTOS: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT<br />
South Delhi Municipal<br />
Corporation councillor Virender<br />
Kasana said his Chittaranjan<br />
Park ward had many<br />
such parks where naked wires<br />
pose a threat.<br />
“A six-year-old boy had<br />
died in 2009 after being electrocuted<br />
at an Alaknanda<br />
park, but we don’t seem to<br />
have learned. The parks in<br />
South Delhi still have so<br />
many risks,” Mr. Kasana told<br />
the House on Tuesday.<br />
The light poles in municipal<br />
parks are installed by the<br />
electrical division, while the<br />
greenery is maintained by the<br />
Horticulture Department.<br />
Mr. Kasana added that the<br />
lack of coordination between<br />
the two departments was responsible<br />
for the lights not<br />
being repaired and<br />
maintained.<br />
SDMC Mayor Khushi Ram<br />
Fortis does a first with<br />
rare heart implant<br />
Bindu Shajan Perappadan<br />
NEW DELHI: Doctors at the Fortis<br />
Escorts Heart Institute<br />
implanted India’s first Subcutaneous<br />
Implantable Defibrillator<br />
(S-ICD) on a 48-year-old<br />
heart patient from Bihar.<br />
The S-ICD system is approved<br />
for patients who are at<br />
a risk of sudden cardiac death<br />
due to life threatening ventricular<br />
arrhythmias and<br />
those who do not require a<br />
pacemaker. The patient was<br />
treated by Ashok Seth, chairman,<br />
Fortis Escorts Heart Institute,<br />
and Anil Saxena,<br />
director of Cardiac Pacing<br />
and Electrophysiology, who<br />
implanted the device.<br />
The patient, Arvind Sahay,<br />
had suffered damage to his<br />
heart following a heart attack<br />
in October, 2014, and his<br />
heart was pumping at a low<br />
efficiency of only 25-30 per<br />
cent. He had undergone angiography<br />
and angioplasty<br />
with three stents after the<br />
heart attack and was breathless<br />
on occasions. In view of<br />
his poor heart function and<br />
the risk of sudden death, the<br />
decision to implant the subcutaneous<br />
ICD was taken.<br />
Dr. Seth said, “This first<br />
case of S-ICD in India will be a<br />
strong hope for several potential<br />
ICD patients who could be<br />
S-ICD is approved for<br />
patients who are at a<br />
risk of sudden cardiac<br />
death due to life<br />
threatening<br />
ventricular<br />
arrhythmias<br />
at risk of sudden death, including<br />
those with poor veins<br />
and those at high risk for major<br />
infection associated with a<br />
transvenous lead.’’<br />
He said that sudden cardiac<br />
death is a major public health<br />
problem in India and accounts<br />
for about 10 per cent<br />
of all deaths in the country.<br />
Nearly, 80 per cent of these<br />
deaths are due to ventricular<br />
arrhythmias, a large number<br />
of which can be prevented by<br />
timely resuscitation.<br />
Implantable defibrillators<br />
(ICDs) have changed the outlook<br />
for such patients, by significantly<br />
reducing the risk of<br />
sudden cardiac death and totally<br />
external subcutaneous<br />
ICD is a landmark advancement<br />
in this direction. The<br />
subcutaneous ICD is an innovative<br />
device which does<br />
not require any lead to go into<br />
the chamber of the heart for<br />
its functioning unlike the<br />
other previous devices.<br />
ordered the Commissioner to<br />
give a report about the status<br />
of the Corporation’s parks in<br />
the next meeting of the<br />
House. Meanwhile, the North<br />
Corporation is investigating<br />
the Pitampura incident to fix<br />
the responsibility of officials<br />
concerned.<br />
The three municipal corporations<br />
of Delhi have a total of<br />
15,000 parks under their jurisdiction.<br />
Uber driver<br />
alleges attack<br />
in prison van<br />
NEW DELHI: The Uber cab driver,<br />
accused of rape, alleged in<br />
a court here on Tuesday that<br />
he was threatened and attacked<br />
in a prison van. Accused<br />
Shiv Kumar Yadav’s<br />
counsel Alok Dwivedi moved<br />
a plea alleging that the driver<br />
was threatened and attacked<br />
in the prison van by fellow<br />
inmates while he was being<br />
taken back to jail after the January<br />
17 court proceedings.<br />
Additional Sessions Judge<br />
Kaveri Baweja asked the lockup<br />
in-charge for a report on<br />
the allegations.<br />
Yadav had earlier made a<br />
similar complaint to the<br />
court, which had directed the<br />
Delhi Police and Tihar jail authorities<br />
to ensure his security<br />
and provide him a separate<br />
enclosure in the prison van.<br />
Meanwhile, the court recorded<br />
the statements of two<br />
Delhi Police officers — a constable<br />
and an official of the<br />
malkhana (where evidence<br />
related to cases is stored) —<br />
and a nodal officer of Vodafone.<br />
Constable Arvind told<br />
the court that on December<br />
12, 2014, he had deposited the<br />
mobile phone recovered from<br />
Yadav at the time of his arrest<br />
with the CFSL office for forensic<br />
tests. — IANS<br />
NHRC directs Chief Secretary to<br />
submit report on church attacks<br />
Says these may violate fundamental right to freedom of religion<br />
Mohammed Iqbal<br />
NEW DELHI: The National Human<br />
Rights Commission has<br />
taken suo motu cognisance of<br />
reports about a church in Vikaspuri<br />
, which was vandalised<br />
last week. Prior to this,<br />
four other incidents of attacks<br />
and suspected arson at<br />
Christian religious institutions<br />
have occurred in Dilshad<br />
Garden, Rohini and<br />
Jasola since December 1,<br />
2014.<br />
The NHRC has observed<br />
that these frequent attacks on<br />
religious institutions of the<br />
minority community, if true,<br />
may violate the fundamental<br />
right to freedom of religion<br />
and cause “immense harm” to<br />
the country’s social fabric.<br />
The culprits involved in these<br />
incidents should be brought<br />
to book, it said.<br />
The commission has issued<br />
notice to the Delhi Chief Secretary<br />
calling for a report on<br />
these incidents within four<br />
weeks.<br />
The Chief Secretary was also<br />
directed to submit a report<br />
about the action proposed to<br />
Street vendors protest<br />
delay in issuing licence<br />
Street vendors say in the absence of legal documents they have<br />
to pay bribes to operate. — FILE PHOTO<br />
Staff Reporter<br />
NEW DELHI: Street vendors from<br />
across the Capital on Tuesday protested<br />
outside the offices of the municipal<br />
bodies against the delay in<br />
issuing licences to hawkers.<br />
The three municipal corporations<br />
and the New Delhi Municipal<br />
Council were supposed to conduct a<br />
survey before allotting vending licences<br />
as per the Street Vendors<br />
Bill, 2014.<br />
The National Association of<br />
Street Vendors of India (NASVI)<br />
that organised the protests, said<br />
be taken to prevent recurrence<br />
of such incidents in the<br />
Capital.<br />
The church in Vikaspuri<br />
was allegedly vandalised by<br />
two men in the early hours of<br />
January 14, even as the<br />
church authorities claimed<br />
that the attack was carried<br />
out to stoke communal tension.<br />
Marching to the tune<br />
Christians at a candle light vigil against the fire in<br />
a Delhi Church. — FILE PHOTO<br />
Captured on CCTV<br />
The incident was captured<br />
on closed circuit television<br />
cameras installed in the vicinity<br />
of the church.<br />
When the priest arrived at<br />
the church in early morning,<br />
he found the glass cabinet<br />
mounted on the outside wall<br />
broken and the statue of<br />
Mother Mary lying on the<br />
ground. Video footage reportedly<br />
showed two men on a<br />
motorcycle vandalising the<br />
church, first by breaking the<br />
glass cabinet and returning<br />
shortly after to push the statue<br />
causing a fall.<br />
Earlier, an incident of arson<br />
was reported at St. Sebastian’s<br />
Church in Dilshad<br />
Garden, which is among the<br />
biggest churches in East Delhi,<br />
in December.<br />
The entire interior, including<br />
the altar, the Cross and<br />
religious scriptures, were reduced<br />
to ashes in the incident.<br />
The church was active till a<br />
night before the burning because<br />
of religious ceremonies<br />
for Catholic children receiving<br />
their first Holy<br />
Communion.<br />
The NHRC had taken cognisance<br />
of the incident of arson<br />
at St. Sebastian’s Church<br />
as well, while observing that<br />
the destruction of a place of<br />
worship with intent to insult<br />
the religion of any group was<br />
an offence under the Indian<br />
Penal Code.<br />
FLYING HIGH: Rehearsal for the Beating Retreat ceremony under way at Vijay Chowk on<br />
Monday ahead of the Republic Day celebration. — PHOTO: SHIV KUMAR PUSHPAKAR<br />
that the vendors had to pay bribes<br />
to be able to operate in the absence<br />
of legal documents.<br />
NASVI national coordinator Arbind<br />
Singh said the corporations<br />
had set up town vending committees,<br />
but “not a single vendor was<br />
given a licence in the past 10 years”.<br />
The street vendors handed over a<br />
memorandum to the three municipal<br />
commissioners and the chairperson<br />
of the NDMC.<br />
According to the NASVI, the officials<br />
assured the vendors that challans<br />
would not be issued till the<br />
surveys were completed.<br />
PK makers accused of plagiarism<br />
NEW DELHI: Novelist Kapil Isapuri<br />
has approached the Delhi High<br />
Court, accusing the makers of Aamir<br />
Khan’s film “PK” of plagiarism.<br />
He said certain portions from his<br />
Hindi novel “Farishta” published in<br />
2013 were “stolen and copied” and<br />
used in the film. Isapuri has sought<br />
punitive damages of Rs.1 crore from<br />
the filmmakers along with credit<br />
for his work. The Rajkumar Hirani<br />
directorial, which raises questions<br />
about religion and people’s blind<br />
faith in godmen, has been co-produced<br />
by Vidhu Vinod Chopra and<br />
Hirani.<br />
The movie also stars Anushka<br />
Sharma and Sanjay Dutt. The plea,<br />
filed through advocate Jyotika Kalra,<br />
alleged that the makers of the<br />
film as well as scriptwriter Abhijat<br />
Joshi stole the characters, expression<br />
of ideas and sequences from<br />
the novel “Farishta”. — IANS<br />
Court indicts PMO officials for<br />
hiding facts in coal block case<br />
Nirnimesh Kumar<br />
NEW DELHI: A Special court<br />
here dealing with coal block<br />
allocation scam cases on<br />
Monday indicted the then<br />
Prime Minister’s Office<br />
(PMO) officials for hiding<br />
facts on the allocation of a<br />
coal block to a private company<br />
in Maharashtra.<br />
Special Judge Bharat Parashar<br />
put the officials in<br />
the dock while considering<br />
a charge-sheet in connection<br />
with the allocation of<br />
“Lohara (East) Coal Block”<br />
to Messrs Grace Industries<br />
Limited allegedly in an illegal<br />
manner.<br />
The Central Bureau of<br />
Investigation has chargesheeted<br />
only one director of<br />
the company. It has given a<br />
clean chit to the other director<br />
and the public ser-<br />
NEW DELHI: Four people, including<br />
a government pharmacist,<br />
have been arrested<br />
for illegally selling Central<br />
Government Health Scheme<br />
(CGHS) medicines in the<br />
open market, police said on<br />
Tuesday.<br />
Shahid Usmani(32) — the<br />
kingpin of the racket —<br />
along with Manoj Rajpal(35)<br />
was arrested on January 17<br />
from Bhagirath Palace,<br />
wholesale market in old Delhi,<br />
where he had gone to deliver<br />
a consignment of<br />
stolen medicines.<br />
Sanjay Kumar (42) and<br />
Swaraj Dhankad (57) were<br />
arrested from different locations<br />
on Monday for their<br />
involvement in selling the<br />
medicines meant strictly for<br />
government hospitals and<br />
vants involved in the<br />
allocation of the coal block<br />
to the company.<br />
Referring to the specific<br />
opinion by the then Minister<br />
of State of Coal, Dasari<br />
Narayan Rao, that GIL was<br />
not ‘eligible’ for allocation<br />
of the coal block applied for,<br />
the judge said that “the<br />
PMO officials should have<br />
highlighted the same before<br />
the file was submitted to<br />
then Prime Minister Manmohan<br />
Singh”.<br />
The PM was at that time<br />
also holding the additional<br />
charge of the Ministry.<br />
“…I am constrained to<br />
observe that even the working<br />
of the officers of the<br />
PMO also does not appear<br />
to be above board,’’ the<br />
judge said<br />
“Cognisance of the aforesaid<br />
offences thus needs to<br />
ESI dispensaries.<br />
Police have recovered life<br />
saving and antibiotic medicines<br />
worth Rs. 5 lakh from<br />
their possession.<br />
“We have arrested four<br />
people, including a government<br />
employee, for illegally<br />
selling CGHS medicines in<br />
the market and seized medicines<br />
worth Rs.5 lakh from<br />
their possession,” Joint<br />
Commissioner of Police<br />
(Crime Branch) Ravindra<br />
Yadav said.<br />
be taken including that of<br />
the offence of criminal conspiracy<br />
against the public<br />
servants (H C Gupta, Secretary,<br />
Coal, K S Kropha,<br />
Joint Secretary, Coal, and<br />
Vishwas Sawakhande, Director,<br />
Directorate of Geology<br />
and Mining,<br />
Government of Maharashtra.<br />
At the same time the<br />
private parties involved in<br />
the process i.e. M/s GIL and<br />
its two directors, Mukesh<br />
Gupta and his wife Seema<br />
Gupta, cheated the Government<br />
of India by making<br />
false claims regarding net<br />
worth of the company and<br />
its installed capacity so as<br />
to obtain wrongful gain i.e.<br />
seeking allotment of the<br />
coal block,” the judge said.<br />
The court also ordered<br />
the CBI to further investigate<br />
the case.<br />
Four held for selling CGHS medicines<br />
Police have recovered<br />
life saving and<br />
antibiotic medicines<br />
worth Rs. 5 lakh from<br />
their possession<br />
He said the accused disposed<br />
off the medicines at<br />
Bhagirath Palace.<br />
“The investigation conducted<br />
so far has revealed<br />
that Dhankad and Kumar<br />
used to obtain costly medicines<br />
meant for government<br />
health scheme<br />
beneficiaries and then sell<br />
the same to Usmani on<br />
charging their commission.<br />
Usmani would further sell<br />
the same to Rajpal,” Yadav<br />
said.<br />
“The accused were indulging<br />
in this illegal trade<br />
for around five years,” Yadav<br />
said.<br />
Dhankad, a pharmacist at<br />
a government dispensary in<br />
Najafgarh, met Usmani five<br />
years ago and agreed to sell<br />
him the medicines.— IANS<br />
ND-ND
NOIDA/DELHI<br />
THE HINDU WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 21, 2015<br />
Traditional crafts with a chic makeover<br />
Jaideep Deo Bhanj<br />
OLD MEETS NEW: The Design Fair is on at Nature Bazaar in Andheria Modh<br />
till January 27.<br />
NEW DELHI: Dastkar Haats are<br />
always about interacting<br />
with artisans trying to keep<br />
their crafts alive by adapting<br />
to contemporary taste.<br />
Buyers learn about crafts<br />
that are unique to a region<br />
and help the artisans sustain<br />
themselves by making purchases.<br />
However, the current<br />
Design Fair being organised<br />
at the Nature Bazaar in Andheria<br />
Modh here is a bit<br />
different.<br />
The fair connects buyers<br />
directly with jewellery, textile<br />
and décor designers who<br />
have adapted crafts in contemporary<br />
styles. The new<br />
ideas and designs from these<br />
creative minds have helped<br />
give a new lease of life to artisans<br />
struggling to sell their<br />
crafts as designs have not<br />
evolved for decades.<br />
The event, organised in<br />
partnership with Delhi Tourism,<br />
has many items up for<br />
grabs, including stoles, jackets,<br />
accessories and garments<br />
made from recycled<br />
textiles; jewellery made using<br />
ancient techniques interpreted<br />
in modern designs;<br />
innovate block-printing<br />
techniques; and new motifs<br />
and graphic designs that are<br />
executed on the looms of traditional<br />
handloom weavers.<br />
Many of the stalls are a result<br />
of a design intervention<br />
project by the National Institute<br />
of Design or other notable<br />
designers who have<br />
helped craftsmen make their<br />
products more appealing to<br />
the customer.<br />
Chhandak Jana, a fashion<br />
designer based in West Bengal<br />
who is participating in the<br />
fair, says he has used motifs<br />
inspired by Madhubani<br />
paintings and new block<br />
print designs on his clothes.<br />
“The problem was that<br />
there were very limited motifs<br />
and block print designs.<br />
Although people liked the<br />
style, they did not purchase<br />
more as two garments would<br />
look similar. Now that I have<br />
used new motifs, people will<br />
have a lot more to choose<br />
from,” he adds.<br />
Another stall set up by<br />
Amanda Brown sells poly-fill<br />
duvets for kids’ bedrooms.<br />
During her quest to find decent<br />
bed furnishings for her<br />
kid’s room Amanda came<br />
across very limited and expensive<br />
options. So she took<br />
a trip to Jaipur, met with<br />
block-print artisans and<br />
came up with a line that is<br />
moderately-priced and safe<br />
for kids.<br />
“Many kids in the city develop<br />
allergies due to the<br />
dust around. Therefore, it is<br />
very important to choose<br />
materials that do not attract<br />
dust,” she says.<br />
Apart from the usual pinks<br />
and blues, she has come up<br />
with line of gender neutral<br />
colours like mauve, yellow,<br />
green and orange for parents<br />
fed-up with pinks and blues.<br />
The exhibition is on till January<br />
27 at Nature Bazaar,<br />
Kisan Haat, Andheria Modh,<br />
opposite Chhatarpur Metro<br />
Station, Delhi.<br />
STATE<br />
5<br />
DUTA to<br />
approach<br />
President<br />
Staff Reporter<br />
NEW DELHI: Alleging that misgovernance<br />
of University administration<br />
had resulted in<br />
the decline of several institutions,<br />
the Delhi University<br />
Teachers’ Association (DU-<br />
TA) is planning to approach<br />
President Pranab Mukherjee,<br />
who is the Visitor of the University,<br />
Vice-President Hamid<br />
Ansari, who is the<br />
Chancellor, and the Union<br />
Ministry of Human Resource<br />
Development.<br />
‘Inefficiencies’<br />
“The sharp decline in the<br />
number of DU-maintained<br />
institutions, as a result of the<br />
current administration’s misrule,<br />
is increasing exponentially<br />
by the day,” said DUTA<br />
president Nandita Narain,<br />
adding that three institutions<br />
had been affected by the administration’s<br />
inefficiencies.<br />
“In Kirori Mal College, the<br />
governing body is protecting<br />
an acting-Principal facing<br />
criminal investigation following<br />
Court orders on serious<br />
charges of financial bungling<br />
levelled by the University<br />
Grants Commission. On the<br />
other hand, it has dismissed<br />
the suspended Principal,<br />
even though a statutory inquiry<br />
headed by a former Supreme<br />
Court Judge<br />
exonerated him,” said DUTA<br />
member Saikat Ghosh.<br />
The recent loss of the University<br />
College of Medical<br />
Sciences (UCMS) to the Delhi<br />
Government has also not<br />
gone down well with the<br />
DUTA.<br />
“The UCMS, which is the<br />
most important medical college<br />
under DU, has been severely<br />
neglected by the<br />
University administration<br />
and now, surreptitiously<br />
handed over to the Delhi Government<br />
without discussion<br />
and approval of the University<br />
Executive Council,” said<br />
Ms. Narain.<br />
She added that at the Vallabhbhai<br />
Patel Chest Institute<br />
too, two Assistant<br />
Registrars who raised the<br />
twin issues of corruption and<br />
financial irregularities were<br />
terminated by the governing<br />
body; one of them, despite<br />
having a High court order reinstating<br />
him, and the other,<br />
through an inquiry, despite<br />
the fact that the governing<br />
body has no disciplinary power<br />
against such employees<br />
“The fact that the University<br />
administration is treating<br />
its medical colleges with such<br />
contempt and indifference<br />
shows the scant regard it has<br />
for the health and well-being<br />
of the University community,”<br />
said Ms. Narain.<br />
She added that the DUTA<br />
had already asked for an appointment<br />
with the Visitor,<br />
and is currently awaiting a response<br />
from Rashtrapati<br />
Bhavan.<br />
CM<br />
YK<br />
Portraits of women through the ages<br />
Rana Siddiqui Zaman<br />
NEW DELHI: A show of nearly<br />
300 works of art by 100 artists,<br />
from circa 1900 to 1980,<br />
is going to be unveiled on<br />
January 23 at Swaraj Art Archive<br />
in Noida’s Sector 2.<br />
Aptly titled Stri Avalekha,<br />
which means women in<br />
painting, the show has been<br />
culled from the Swaraj Art<br />
Archive. The works explore<br />
the female form as painted<br />
and photographed by both<br />
male and female painters<br />
and photographers through<br />
the ages.<br />
For instance, it shows<br />
how women, especially<br />
women models, reacted to<br />
painters and photographers.<br />
The motions and reactions<br />
can be seen in the gestures<br />
and body language — coy,<br />
bold, careless, conscious and<br />
so on.<br />
What makes the show<br />
unique is its unusual display<br />
method. The works of art are<br />
devoid of the name of the<br />
artist, period, chronology or<br />
titles in order to allow visitors<br />
enjoy them without the<br />
influence of “tags”, as show<br />
curator Smriti Rajgarhia<br />
Bhatt puts it.<br />
“No chronology, names,<br />
periods, etc. will allow the<br />
viewer to read and dwell into<br />
the artwork itself, rather<br />
than assess it pragmatically<br />
based on market researches<br />
associated with specific artists.<br />
A small effort has been<br />
made with this exhibition<br />
for the art to speak for itself<br />
without being weighed<br />
down or enhanced by the<br />
artists’ biographies. The<br />
viewer will then experience<br />
art without judgement and/<br />
or in comparison with the<br />
plethora of stylistic languages<br />
through Indian art,” she<br />
added.<br />
The works have been divided<br />
into categories like<br />
love, pride, devotion and acquiescence.<br />
They will include<br />
works by legendary<br />
painters like Raja Ravi Verma<br />
and M. F Husain, and<br />
A show of nearly 300 works of art by 100 artists,<br />
titled Stri Avalekha, will be unveiled on January 23<br />
at Swaraj Art Archive in Sector 2 of Noida<br />
modern and post-modern<br />
artists like F. N. Souza and<br />
Rekha Rodwittiya.<br />
However, a pamphlets<br />
mentioning the names and<br />
histories of each work will<br />
be available for the visitors.<br />
“The show will provide a<br />
visual comparative of the<br />
iconography associated with<br />
each of the artists and their<br />
muse,” said Prarthna, the research<br />
personnel of the<br />
show.<br />
Some of the works at the<br />
exhibition are by foreign<br />
artists who were inspired by<br />
India, specifically Goddesses<br />
Kali and Durga as depicted<br />
by artists from around<br />
the globe and not by those<br />
from the Bengal school of<br />
art.<br />
For instance, Kali and<br />
Durga as painted by the famous<br />
Nandlal Bose and unknown<br />
Dutch Bengal<br />
painters in stark contrast to<br />
nude models as painted by<br />
students in college and<br />
known/unknown painters<br />
and photographers, Raja Ravi<br />
Verma’s women deities,<br />
which finally became a<br />
house hold possession, especially<br />
the portraits of Goddesses<br />
Lakshmi and<br />
Sarawati, etc.<br />
The show also has Bollywood<br />
lobby cards, pictures<br />
of popular arts by modern<br />
and post-modern masters.<br />
The show will be on till April<br />
1.<br />
From March 1, Swaraj will<br />
hold several workshops for<br />
students and others around<br />
the show to educate them<br />
about Indian and foreign<br />
artists and their sensibilities<br />
with the reference to the female<br />
form.<br />
ND-ND
NORTHERN REGION<br />
NOIDA/DELHI<br />
6 THE HINDU WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 21, 2015<br />
Haryana Govt’s decision to<br />
reduce retirement age upheld<br />
Gaurav Vivek Bhatnagar<br />
CHANDIGARH: The retirement<br />
age of Haryana government<br />
employees now stands reduced<br />
to 58 years from 60 years as the<br />
Punjab and Haryana High<br />
Court has upheld the decision<br />
of the Manohar Lal Khattar<br />
government to the effect.<br />
The decision is likely to impact<br />
nearly 5,000 of the 3 lakh<br />
employees on an immediate basis.<br />
Government sources had<br />
earlier claimed that while the<br />
reduction in retirement age<br />
would result in an additional<br />
burden of Rs. 200 crore on the<br />
exchequer on immediate basis<br />
it would prove beneficial in the<br />
long run as it would lead to<br />
more job opportunities at the<br />
entry level.<br />
It was on November 25 that<br />
Mr. Khattar had announced the<br />
reduction in retirement age of<br />
employees.<br />
He had also stated that all<br />
employees who had completed<br />
Staff Reporter<br />
PATNA: Almost all the villagers<br />
who fled the strife-torn Azizpur<br />
village following a violent attack<br />
on Sunday by members of the<br />
majority community returned<br />
to their homes on Tuesday amid<br />
heavy security deployment.<br />
“Yes, the villagers who had<br />
fled have returned. The situation<br />
is under control and the<br />
administration is taking all<br />
measures to ensure peace,” said<br />
R.K. Mishra, Muzaffarpur Superintendent<br />
of Police.<br />
The villagers who returned to<br />
their half burnt homes on Tuesday<br />
were seen taking stock of<br />
the damage amid heaps of burnt<br />
boxes and trunks.<br />
Azizpur is a village of about<br />
70 families, mostly belonging to<br />
the minority communities. A<br />
Haryana Chief Minister<br />
Manohar Lal Khattar<br />
58 or 60 years in their respective<br />
categories and were still<br />
serving would be retired on November<br />
30, 2014.<br />
Though the Chief Minister<br />
had noted that the decision had<br />
been taken to ensure maximum<br />
employment opportunity to the<br />
youth, several employees<br />
unions and individuals had appealed<br />
against the decision in<br />
the High Court.<br />
On Tuesday, the court dismissed<br />
the petitions filed by the<br />
mob from the neighbouring Bahilwara<br />
Mali Tola had unleashed<br />
violence after the body<br />
of a youth from their village was<br />
found in an agricultural field in<br />
Azizpur.<br />
The Opposition BJP has<br />
blamed the State’s JD(U) government<br />
and demanded a judicial<br />
probe into the incident.<br />
Five policemen have been suspended<br />
for negligence.<br />
“Nothing is left, everything<br />
has either been burnt or looted…<br />
even my half-thatchedhalf-concrete<br />
house has been<br />
gutted,” Mohd Nasirrudin told<br />
The Hindu over phone.<br />
The administration has distributed<br />
cheques and some cash<br />
for reconstructing homes and<br />
buying kitchen utensils. A police<br />
check point has come up at<br />
the village and there is heavy<br />
employees against the decision.<br />
In their petition, the employees<br />
had charged that the decision<br />
was politically motivated<br />
as the previous Congress government<br />
under Bhupinder<br />
Singh Hooda had only in August<br />
2014 increased the retirement<br />
age to 60 and also increased the<br />
age limit for entry into government<br />
services by two years to<br />
42.<br />
The petitioners had also<br />
sought parity with other cadres<br />
stating that judicial officers, Indian<br />
Administrative Services<br />
officials and teachers of colleges<br />
aided by the government<br />
were still retiring at 60.<br />
Raising a question of law, the<br />
petitioners had also charged<br />
that the decision of the BJP<br />
government was illegal and<br />
void as the Council of Ministers<br />
lacked the minimum numbers.<br />
But the Single Bench of Justice<br />
Tejinder Singh Dhindsa<br />
dismissed the bunch of<br />
petitions.<br />
Azizpur villagers return home<br />
deployment of security personnel<br />
to restore the confidence of<br />
the frightened villagers. “I’ve<br />
suspended five officials following<br />
the directive of the Additional<br />
Director General of<br />
Police Gupteshwar Pandey,”<br />
said the Muzaffarpur SP.<br />
Meanwhile, leaders from various<br />
political parties continued<br />
to visit the village.<br />
Senior State BJP leader Sushil<br />
Kumar Modi, who visited on<br />
Tuesday, blamed the State for<br />
the incident. The BJP also demanded<br />
a judicial probe. Mr<br />
Modi said the government must<br />
sanction Rs. 10 lakh as<br />
compensation.<br />
Some RJD and LJP leaders<br />
too visited the village on Tuesday.<br />
RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav<br />
is also expected to pay a visit<br />
soon.<br />
2 constables<br />
injured in<br />
Maoist attacks<br />
Pavan Dahat<br />
RAIPUR: Two constables were<br />
injured in Maoist attacks in<br />
the Bastar region of Chhattisgarh<br />
on Tuesday.<br />
Pankuj Thakur, a constable<br />
with the 13th battalion of the<br />
Chhattisgarh Armed Force,<br />
was injured when a pressure<br />
bomb exploded near Murdonda<br />
village of Bijapur, the<br />
police said.<br />
He is said to be out of danger<br />
now. Suspected Maoists<br />
attacked a “Sayakak Arakshak”<br />
(auxiliary constable),<br />
Kichche Soya, with sharp<br />
weapons at a marketplace at<br />
Pollamapalli in Sukma.<br />
Camp busted<br />
In another incident, a joint<br />
team of Dantewada and Bijapur<br />
police busted a Maoist<br />
camp in the Hurrepal forests<br />
of Dantewada.<br />
Three Maoists surrendered<br />
before the police in Dornapal<br />
town of Sukma district on<br />
Tuesday.<br />
Madkam Sukka (28), Padam<br />
Ayata (35) and Kichche<br />
Ayata (36) surrendered before<br />
the Sub-divisional Police<br />
Officer and Central Reserve<br />
Police Force officers, Additional<br />
Superintendent of Police<br />
Santosh Singh said.<br />
SC panel raps<br />
Punjab govt.<br />
Sarabjit Pandher<br />
CM<br />
YK<br />
CHANDIGARH: The National<br />
Commission for Scheduled<br />
Castes (NCSC) on Tuesday<br />
expressed serious reservations<br />
over the failure of the<br />
Punjab government to implement<br />
the provisions of<br />
the Prevention of Atrocities<br />
against Scheduled Castes<br />
(PoA) Act, as well as underutilised<br />
or mis-utilised funds<br />
and financial assistance under<br />
the Scheduled Caste Special<br />
Component Plan<br />
released by the Centre in<br />
2010.<br />
Talking to reporters after<br />
a review meeting for Punjab<br />
and Chandigarh, NCSC<br />
Chairman P. L. Punia said<br />
that the State vigilance and<br />
monitoring committee,<br />
headed by the Chief Minister,<br />
had not held its meeting<br />
since 2006 even though the<br />
PoA Act mandated its meeting<br />
every six months. Similarly<br />
meetings at district<br />
levels were also not being<br />
held on regular intervals.<br />
ND-ND
NOIDA/DELHI<br />
THE HINDU WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 21, 2015<br />
7<br />
CM<br />
YK<br />
ND-ND
8 THE HINDU WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 21, 2015<br />
NOIDA/DELHI<br />
FOR JOB LISTINGS & ARTICLES, VISIT www.thehindu.com/jobs<br />
CM<br />
YK<br />
ND-ND
NOIDA/DELHI<br />
THE HINDU WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 21, 2015<br />
SOUTHERN REGION<br />
9<br />
ASKS PEOPLE TO HAVE MORE CHILDREN<br />
Naidu’s remark stirs up hornets’ nest<br />
Ravi Reddy<br />
HYDERABAD: Andhra Pradesh<br />
Chief Minister N. Chandrababu<br />
Naidu has drawn flak from<br />
political parties for his remark<br />
calling people to have<br />
more children.<br />
Mr. Naidu on Monday said<br />
a ‘demographic crisis’ loomed<br />
large over Andhra Pradesh.<br />
Interacting with people at<br />
Bramhanagudem, Unagatla<br />
and Chagallu on the last leg of<br />
his two-day programme in<br />
West Godavari district, he expressed<br />
fears of the ageing of<br />
the country following a sharp<br />
decline in the birth rate.<br />
The family planning programme<br />
with “one or none”<br />
slogan resulted in population<br />
growth coming to a standstill<br />
leading to a reversal of the<br />
demographic profile of the<br />
State of late, he said. Quoting<br />
Karnataka first<br />
in country to<br />
give universal<br />
health coverage<br />
Nagesh Prabhu<br />
BENGALURU: Karnataka on<br />
Tuesday became the first in<br />
the country to provide universal<br />
health coverage with<br />
the launch of two schemes,<br />
the Rajiv Arogya Bhagya for<br />
APL households and the<br />
Jyothi Sanjeevini for government<br />
employees.<br />
The health coverage is estimated<br />
to cost the government<br />
Rs. 120 crore annually.<br />
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah,<br />
who launched the<br />
schemes, said APL family<br />
members would be entitled<br />
for a health check costing up<br />
to Rs. 1.5 lakh a year.<br />
In special cases, if the expenditure<br />
exceeds Rs. 1.5<br />
lakh, the government could<br />
sanction an additional sum of<br />
Rs. 50,000, he said. The<br />
scheme proposes to cover 449<br />
surgical procedures and 50<br />
follow-up packages.<br />
Beneficiaries can avail<br />
treatment in 160 hospitals,<br />
including 14 hospitals outside<br />
the State.<br />
The government employees<br />
will get cashless treatment<br />
in 124 empanelled<br />
private hospitals under the<br />
Jyothi Sanjeevini scheme.<br />
Vigilance books<br />
5 officials in<br />
Titanium case<br />
Special Correspondent<br />
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Vigilance<br />
and Anti-Corruption<br />
Bureau (VACB) on Tuesday<br />
booked five Travancore Titanium<br />
Products (TTP) officials<br />
on the suspicion of corruption<br />
in the setting up of an effluent<br />
treatment plant at the public<br />
sector industrial unit.<br />
In a First Information Report<br />
(FIR) filed in the court of<br />
the Vigilance Enquiry Commissioner<br />
and Special Judge<br />
here, the VACB named as accused<br />
former managing director<br />
Eapen Joseph, chief<br />
manager Santosh Kumar, executive<br />
director A.M. Bhaskaran,<br />
former chief manager<br />
Thomas Mathew, and former<br />
chief commercial manager<br />
Gopakumar Nair.<br />
The allegation was that the<br />
accused had conspired together<br />
to appoint M/s. MECON,<br />
Ranchi, as consultant, causing<br />
undue pecuniary advantage to<br />
the private firm and consequent<br />
loss to the public sector<br />
entity.<br />
Ramadoss appears<br />
before judge<br />
Special Correspondent<br />
CHENNAI: The PMK founder,<br />
S.Ramadoss, on Tuesday appeared<br />
before the Principal<br />
Sessions Judge (PSJ), Chennai,<br />
in connection with a case<br />
of alleged defamation against<br />
him. Earlier, the City Public<br />
Prosecutor had filed a complaint<br />
before the court on behalf<br />
of the Food Minister,<br />
R.Kamaraj, that Mr.Ramadoss<br />
had defamed the Minister.<br />
The matter pertained to<br />
the procurement of pulses.<br />
Dr.Ramadoss issued a statement<br />
and it was carried in a<br />
Tamil eveninger on November<br />
17 last year.<br />
Contending that the statement<br />
defamed the Food Minister,<br />
the CPP filed the<br />
complaint on his behalf.<br />
CM<br />
YK<br />
Chandrababu Naidu<br />
the latest official data, Mr.<br />
Naidu said the ratio of births<br />
and deaths looked similar and<br />
if this situation continued,<br />
the State would end up with<br />
BJP may seek permission<br />
to prosecute Siddaramaiah<br />
B.S. Satish Kumar<br />
Siddaramaiah<br />
BENGALURU: The Bharatiya Janata<br />
Party is expected to file a<br />
petition before Karnataka<br />
Governor Vajubhai R. Vala<br />
this week seeking permission<br />
to prosecute Chief Minister<br />
Siddaramaiah over his alleged<br />
involvement in the denotification<br />
of land acquired for the<br />
formation of Arkavathi Layout<br />
in Bengaluru.<br />
However, contrary to the<br />
belief that the BJP itself may<br />
file such a petition, the party<br />
is likely to get an individual<br />
either from its cadre or from<br />
outside to approach the<br />
Governor.<br />
There were expectations in<br />
the political circles that leader<br />
of the Opposition and former<br />
Chief Minister Jagadish<br />
Shettar or BJP State president<br />
Pralhad Joshi would file<br />
TCS revokes employee<br />
termination order<br />
K.T.Sangameswaran<br />
and Sangeetha Kandavel<br />
CHENNAI: The Tata Consultancy<br />
Services has revoked<br />
the order terminating a<br />
woman employee following<br />
which the Madras High<br />
Court on Tuesday dismissed<br />
as infructuous a petition<br />
filed by her.<br />
Sasirekha Thangavel Natarajan,<br />
working as an Assistant<br />
Consultant in Tata<br />
Consultancy Services Ltd.,<br />
Chennai, since March 2011,<br />
said that her employer had<br />
issued a termination order<br />
dated December 22 last<br />
year stating that she would<br />
be relieved on January 21.<br />
She moved the High<br />
Court challenging the termination<br />
order. On January<br />
13, Justice M. Duraiswamy<br />
granted an interim injunction<br />
for four weeks restraining<br />
the company from<br />
removing the employee.<br />
When the matter came up,<br />
the company counsel submitted<br />
that TCS had revoked<br />
the order dated<br />
December 22. He also produced<br />
the order and the<br />
court placed it on record.<br />
Mr.Justice Duraiswamy<br />
said that since the company<br />
had revoked the letter<br />
which was the subject matter<br />
of the writ petition, he<br />
did not find any reason to<br />
keep the petition pending<br />
further and dismissed it as<br />
infructuous.<br />
A senior official in TCS<br />
told The Hindu, “The fact<br />
that she was pregnant was<br />
not made known to us during<br />
her exit. As per our Tata<br />
Group’s policy we always<br />
ensure that pregnant women<br />
are taken care off.’’<br />
The company also issued<br />
a statement saying, Ms Sasi<br />
Rekha has stated in the affidavit<br />
before the Madras<br />
High Court that she is pregnant.<br />
This fact was not<br />
made known to TCS by Ms<br />
Sasi Rekha during the exit<br />
process.<br />
CHENNAI: “Perumal Murugan<br />
should return and pen more<br />
enlightening pieces with<br />
strong social themes for the<br />
generation next,” was the<br />
united call from those who<br />
gathered at Valluvar Kottam<br />
on Tuesday morning to express<br />
solidarity for the author.<br />
The protesters also<br />
condemned the reactions by<br />
State authorities in the case.<br />
Mr. Murugan’s novel Madhorubhagan<br />
released in 2010<br />
was criticised by a few caste<br />
outfits that cried foul over the<br />
portrayal of a temple ritual in<br />
Tiruchengode in the 1930s. In<br />
January, the author was<br />
forced to tendering an apology<br />
and also offered to remove<br />
the alleged<br />
controversial portions from<br />
book. He abstained from<br />
writing after the incident.<br />
Scholars, senior journalists,<br />
free thinkers and political<br />
leaders voiced in support<br />
of Mr. Murugan and lashed<br />
out on Namakkal police and<br />
local Revenue officials alleging<br />
ill treatment of the author<br />
and termed it a cowardice act<br />
suppressing freedom of<br />
expression.<br />
While participating at the<br />
Tuesday’s protest, Communist<br />
Party of India’s senior<br />
leader R. Nallakannu, condemned<br />
the role played by<br />
the State authorities in withdrawing<br />
a fine work that<br />
talks about freedom on women<br />
in society and atrocities in<br />
the name of caste. “This is a<br />
clear case of freedom of expression<br />
being crushed and it<br />
is ridiculous that such an act<br />
against a work of fiction is<br />
initiated after four years,” he<br />
less number of youth, resembling<br />
the precarious condition<br />
of Japan, he cautioned.<br />
It was time people come<br />
out of the earlier mindsets<br />
vis-à-vis the size of families<br />
and have two to three children<br />
as the young generation<br />
held the key to realisation of<br />
his smart village/town mission.<br />
Claiming that he was the<br />
one who took the lead in the<br />
past in his capacity as Chief<br />
Minister in implementing<br />
birth control measures, Mr.<br />
Naidu said it was time to revisit<br />
such policies.<br />
‘Naidu pleasing<br />
Sangh Parivar’<br />
At a press conference here,<br />
CPI national general secretary<br />
Suravaram Sudhakar Reddy<br />
said Mr. Naidu’s remark<br />
was surprising, to say the<br />
least, and amounted to pleasing<br />
the Sangh Parivar. “Anyway,<br />
Mr. Naidu will not be<br />
allowed to exist politically till<br />
the 2019 general elections.<br />
He is simply wasting his<br />
breath, but coming from the<br />
Chief Minister of a State, it<br />
raises eyebrows about his political<br />
motives,” Mr. Narayana<br />
said.<br />
He wondered if it meant<br />
that India’s family planning<br />
programme no longer had<br />
any importance.<br />
Lok Satta founder president<br />
N. Jayaprakash Narayan<br />
said Mr. Naidu’s call to young<br />
couples to have more children<br />
is outrageous. Andhra<br />
Pradesh’s birth rate is 17.5<br />
and population is growing at 1<br />
per cent PA.<br />
(With additional reporting<br />
by G. Nagaraja in Eluru and<br />
Suresh Krishnamoorthy in<br />
Hyderabad)<br />
the petition. However, party<br />
sources said they wanted an<br />
individual rather than the<br />
party or its leaders to do the<br />
formalities due to the “legal<br />
nitty-gritty”.<br />
Sources denied that such a<br />
decision had been taken to<br />
prevent embarrassment to<br />
party national vice-president<br />
B.S. Yeddyurappa, who is facing<br />
denotification cases.<br />
“Any person who files such<br />
a petition will have to be<br />
physically present at the<br />
courts regularly and monitor<br />
the legal process. This may<br />
not be possible for a political<br />
leader and hence, we want the<br />
formalities to done by an individual,”<br />
sources said.<br />
added.<br />
Addressing mediapersons<br />
after the event, Viduthalai<br />
Chiruthaigal Katchi leader<br />
Thol Thirumavalavan said<br />
that the actions are not<br />
against a single writer but<br />
totally against freedom of expression.<br />
“When a pen is broken,<br />
more pens such rise and act<br />
against such injustice. Perumal<br />
Murugan should return<br />
SC grants Janardhan Reddy bail<br />
Krishnadas Rajagopal<br />
NEW DELHI: The Supreme<br />
Court on Tuesday granted<br />
bail to former Karnataka<br />
Minister G. Janardhan Reddy<br />
in an illegal mining case<br />
involving Obulapuram<br />
Mining Company (OMC) on<br />
the condition that he does<br />
not visit any of the mining<br />
zones in Karnataka or Andhra<br />
Pradesh.<br />
A three-judge Bench, led<br />
by Chief Justice of India H.L.<br />
Dattu and comprising Justices<br />
A.K. Sikri and Arun Mishra,<br />
took on record the<br />
submission by the CBI that it<br />
had no objection to the court<br />
granting bail to Mr. Reddy as<br />
the investigation is<br />
complete.<br />
Additional Solicitor-General<br />
Maninder Singh submitted<br />
that the CBI had already<br />
filed a charge sheet and supplementary<br />
charge sheet in<br />
the case.<br />
“Since the investigating<br />
CHENNAI: The unexpected decision<br />
of Union Finance Minister<br />
Arun Jaitely to call on<br />
former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa<br />
on Sunday has sent<br />
shockwaves through the Tamil<br />
Nadu BJP unit, some<br />
leaders of which want the<br />
party to reconsider decision<br />
to contest the Srirangam bypoll.<br />
The high-profile meeting<br />
between the two leaders,<br />
which Mr. Jaitely termed as a<br />
“courtesy call,” took the Tamil<br />
Nadu BJP by surprise at a<br />
time when it was gearing to<br />
field a candidate in the bypoll.<br />
The constituency was of<br />
significance as it was vacated<br />
by Ms. Jayalalithaa following<br />
her conviction in the disproportionate<br />
assets case.<br />
A senior BJP leader lamented<br />
that the BJP Central<br />
“Perumal Murugan should write more’’<br />
Staff Reporter<br />
Writers express their solidarity with novelist Perumal Murugan in Chennai on<br />
Tuesday. - PHOTO: M.PRABHU<br />
to writing and offer more<br />
works to the society without<br />
fear,” Thirumavalan added.<br />
Organised by the Karuthurimai<br />
Padhukappu Kootamaippu,<br />
Tamil Nadu Kalai<br />
Ilakiya Perumandram and<br />
the Tamil Nadu Progressive<br />
Writers and Artists Association,<br />
the protest meet also<br />
witnessed the launch of a<br />
signature campaign in support<br />
of Perumal Murugan.<br />
G. Janardhan Reddy<br />
leadership was now acting<br />
like that of the Congress,<br />
which hardly ever consulted<br />
the Pradesh committees before<br />
making important decisions.<br />
“None of us were<br />
informed that Mr. Jaitely<br />
would meet the AIADMK<br />
leader. We have been mounting<br />
severe criticism on the<br />
AIADMK government over<br />
the last four months. All that<br />
has crashed with this one<br />
meeting,” the leader said, requesting<br />
anonymity.<br />
A state general secretary of<br />
the BJP said the idea of contesting<br />
the Srirangam by-poll<br />
was to send a strong message<br />
to the electorate that the party<br />
wanted to be a formidable<br />
alternative to the two Dravidian<br />
parties. “But now that a<br />
senior Union Minister has<br />
met Ms. Jayalalithaa, it has<br />
reiterated a notion that the<br />
two parties were always<br />
Nine killed as bus falls into gorge<br />
Staff Reporter<br />
DHARMAPURI: Nine persons,<br />
including two women and<br />
two children, were killed after<br />
a State Transport Corporation<br />
bus swerved off the<br />
ghat road near Hogenakkal<br />
and fell into a 100-foot-deep<br />
gorge on Tuesday.<br />
G.Nagammal (50), M.Shivashankatri<br />
(10) both of-<br />
Kammalapatty in Palacode,<br />
K.Vengatammal (50), Kaliappan<br />
(55) both of Alakappadu<br />
in Dharmapuri; M.<br />
Sahadevan (50) of Mallapuram<br />
in Pennagaram, C.Manivannan<br />
(50) of<br />
Dharmapuri, M. Manikandan<br />
(10), Sudhakar of Krishnagiri<br />
(38) were killed on the<br />
spot. Duraisamy (50) of<br />
Dharmapuri died at the<br />
Dharmapuri GH.<br />
Over 40 passengers were<br />
rushed to Pennagaram and<br />
Dharmapuri Govenrment<br />
Hospitals with injuries.<br />
The Tamil Nadu State<br />
Chevening<br />
scholarship for<br />
Indian students<br />
to go up<br />
S. Prasad<br />
PUDUCHERRY: There will a fourfold<br />
increase in funding for<br />
Chevening scholarships for<br />
Indian students over the next<br />
two years making India the<br />
largest recipient in the world,<br />
said Andrew Soper, Minister<br />
Counsellor (Political and<br />
Press), British High Commission.<br />
Addressing mediapersons<br />
here on Tuesday on the eve of<br />
inauguration of the Great<br />
U.K. education seminars, Mr.<br />
Soper said the British Council<br />
was giving an opportunity to<br />
750 Indian students to<br />
achieve scholarship worth<br />
around 1.51 million pounds<br />
(approximately Rs. 151 million).<br />
The U.K. attracts over<br />
400,000 overseas students to<br />
its institutions annually, of<br />
which almost 30,000 are<br />
from India, he said.<br />
India, which has the second<br />
largest Chevening programme<br />
after China, will see<br />
an increase from 0.6 million<br />
pounds to 2.4 million pounds<br />
funding for the 2014-2015<br />
and 2015-16. Mr. Soper said<br />
the U.K. government’s global<br />
scholarship programmes<br />
aims to make India the largest<br />
recipient in the world over<br />
the next two years.<br />
agency has no objection, we<br />
are granting bail to Reddy,”<br />
Chief Justice Dattu recorded<br />
in the court order, dictated<br />
after a brief hearing.<br />
Senior advocate Dushyant<br />
Dave, counsel for Mr. Reddy,<br />
submitted that his client had<br />
been in jail for over three<br />
years and agreed with the<br />
court’s caution to co-operate<br />
in the trial before a special<br />
court in Hyderabad.<br />
The court acceded to the<br />
conditions put by the CBI, including<br />
that Mr. Reddy<br />
would surrender his passport,<br />
not influence witnesses<br />
and refrain from visiting Ballari<br />
district in Karnataka, and<br />
Anantapur and Cuddapah in<br />
Andhra Pradesh. It further<br />
ordered Mr. Reddy to furnish<br />
two sureties of Rs. 10 lakh<br />
each as condition for bail.<br />
In a hearing in December,<br />
Mr. Reddy had drawn the<br />
court’s attention to the long<br />
time he has spent in jail. He<br />
had sought bail in view of his<br />
poor health, among other<br />
reasons.<br />
Mr. Reddy had approached<br />
the apex court challenging a<br />
2013 High Court order rejecting<br />
his bail petition.<br />
The petitioner and his<br />
brother-in-law B.V. Srinivas<br />
Reddy, managing director of<br />
OMC, were arrested by the<br />
CBI on September 5, 2011,<br />
from Ballari and brought to<br />
Hyderabad. He, along with<br />
others, is facing five other<br />
cases.<br />
friends,” the functionary said,<br />
calling the timing of the<br />
meeting as most “unfortunate.”<br />
The leader added that not<br />
only would it be difficult to<br />
face the voters in Srirangam,<br />
the party organisation too<br />
would be demoralised by this<br />
“constant shift in position.”<br />
“On Sunday morning, our<br />
national president gave a very<br />
positive signal about contesting<br />
the by-poll. In the evening,<br />
a senior leader goes and<br />
meets Ms. Jayalalithaa. All of<br />
us are totally confused. There<br />
has to be some clarity on what<br />
our position in the State<br />
should be,” the leader pointed<br />
out.<br />
The growing opinion in the<br />
party since Sunday was that<br />
entering the fray in Sririangam<br />
should be avoided. Rather,<br />
a candidate of one of the<br />
allies could be supported. But<br />
The bus which fell into a deep gorge near<br />
Hogenakkal on Tuesday. — PHOTO: SPECIAL<br />
ARRANGEMENT<br />
Transport Corporation bus<br />
from Bommidi to Anjetti<br />
left Dharmapuri town at<br />
11.40 a.m with over 60 passengers.<br />
The driver lost control<br />
while negotiating the<br />
narrow hill road about sixkm<br />
down the Forest Department<br />
check post in Hogenakkal.<br />
It swerved off the<br />
Sabarimala<br />
temple closes<br />
Radhakrishnan Kuttoor<br />
PATHANAMTHITTA: The Ayyappa<br />
Temple at Sabarimala was<br />
closed on Tuesday after the customary<br />
darshan for the representative<br />
of the Pandalam<br />
Palace, Kerala Varma Raja,<br />
marking the end of the twomonth<br />
Mandalam-Makaravilakku<br />
pilgrim season.<br />
Head priest (Melsanthi), E.N.<br />
Krishnadas Namboodiri,<br />
opened the temple at 5.30 a.m.<br />
Tantri Kandararu Rajeevararu,<br />
assisted by the Melsanthi, performed<br />
the Ashtadravya Maha<br />
Ganapati homom. Later, the<br />
Melsanthi closed the sanctum<br />
sanctorum and handed over the<br />
keys to the royal representative<br />
The royal-designate and his<br />
entourage descended the holy<br />
18-steps (Pathinettampady)<br />
and returned the keys to the<br />
Melsanthi at the Lower Tirumattom,<br />
in the presence of the<br />
Devaswom Executive Officer<br />
and Administrative Officer.<br />
Jaitley meet confuses Tamil Nadu BJP<br />
Sruthisagar Yamunan<br />
UDF likely to show<br />
KC(B) the door<br />
Girish Menon<br />
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The<br />
‘Oust Balakrishna Pillai” movement<br />
in the United Democratic<br />
Front (UDF) gathered momentum<br />
on Tuesday with ruling<br />
coalition leaders arriving at a<br />
general agreement that the Kerala<br />
Congress (B) leader should<br />
be shown the door without further<br />
delay. At the end of daylong<br />
discussions UDF convener<br />
P.P. Thankachan held with senior<br />
leaders here, including telephone<br />
conversations with<br />
leaders of some coalition partners<br />
who were not in the State<br />
capital, it has become almost<br />
certain that the Kerala Congress<br />
(B) will be expelled from<br />
the ruling coalition when its<br />
high-power committee meets<br />
on January 28.<br />
Kerala Congress (M) leader<br />
and Finance Minister K.M. Mani<br />
is adamant about ousting Mr.<br />
Pillai from the ruling coalition<br />
and has hinted that he would be<br />
forced to keep away from UDF<br />
meetings if a decision was not<br />
taken immediately.<br />
Mr. Thankachan held discussions<br />
with Chief Minister Oommen<br />
Chandy, Indian Union<br />
Muslim League leader and Industries<br />
Minister P.K. Kunhalikutty,<br />
Home Minister Ramesh<br />
Chennithala in Thiruvananthapuram,<br />
besides following it<br />
up with phone calls to SJ(D)<br />
leader M.P. Veerendrakumar,<br />
and Mr. Mani himself.<br />
The current mood in the UDF<br />
is quite different from last<br />
month when KC(B) MLA K.B.<br />
Ganesh Kumar, Mr. Pillai’s son,<br />
came out with corruption allegations<br />
against Public Works<br />
Minister P.K. Ebrahim Kunju<br />
and his staff. According to UDF<br />
leaders’ evaluation, the controversial<br />
telephone conversation<br />
that Mr. Pillai had with Thiruvananthapuram-based<br />
hotelier<br />
Biju Ramesh has given a different<br />
dimension because Mr. Pillai<br />
has not only made new<br />
corruption charges, but also appears<br />
to be part of a conspiracy<br />
against Mr. Mani. Another reason<br />
why UDF leaders are keen<br />
on taking quick action against<br />
Mr. Pillai is because of the nuisance<br />
value he will have being<br />
part of the coalition.<br />
DEATH<br />
ANNIVERSARIES<br />
this line seemed unviable on<br />
Tuesday with the PMK openly<br />
declaring that it would neither<br />
field a candidate nor<br />
would support anyone in the<br />
by-poll.<br />
Sources in the DMDK, the<br />
other ally in the NDA, said the<br />
district unit of the party<br />
wanted to contest the byelection<br />
alone. But time is<br />
running out to take such a decision.<br />
“The last date for filing<br />
nominations is January 27. A<br />
decision like this has to be<br />
taken at least a month earlier<br />
so that you can prepare the<br />
ground. The opinion in the<br />
party is that it is too late now<br />
to make any impact. But the<br />
final decision would be taken<br />
by our party president,” a<br />
DMDK MLA said.<br />
Both the DMK and the<br />
AIADMK have already announced<br />
their candidates.<br />
ghat road and rolled into a<br />
gorge.<br />
According to police, the<br />
narrow stretch overlooking<br />
an Anjenayar temple had already<br />
witnessed two accidents<br />
an year ago. After a<br />
five-hour-long operation,<br />
the fire service personnel<br />
hauled out the wreckage.<br />
DEATH<br />
DEATH<br />
ANNIVERSARIES<br />
ND-ND
EDITORIAL<br />
NOIDA/DELHI<br />
10 THE HINDU WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 21, 2015<br />
Ideology and the rise of terror<br />
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 21, 2015<br />
Short of<br />
stalwarts<br />
A<br />
prize catch or a liability, a master stroke or a<br />
mistake? In projecting new entrant Kiran Bedi<br />
as its chief ministerial candidate in the<br />
Delhi Assembly election, the Bharatiya Janata<br />
Party must have entertained visions of beating the principal<br />
rival Aam Aadmi Party at its own game. Ms. Bedi,<br />
whose post-retirement political activism was centred<br />
on Anna Hazare’s anti-corruption movement, was seen<br />
as the ideal counter to Arvind Kejriwal, who too was a<br />
prominent member of Team Anna before forming the<br />
AAP. The saffron party’s strategy was to cut into the<br />
freshly built vote bank of the AAP: the aspiring middle<br />
class that had tired of the political class, perceived as<br />
corrupt and inefficient. But in leaning too heavily on a<br />
newcomer to lead the campaign, the BJP showed itself<br />
up as a party that was short of stalwarts in Delhi. After<br />
Harsh Vardhan, who was propped up as the clean,<br />
incorruptible face of the party in Delhi in the last<br />
election, moved to the Lok Sabha and then the Union<br />
Cabinet, the BJP was left without a widely acceptable<br />
leader. Whether Ms. Bedi can unite the warring factions<br />
of the BJP, or whether she would end up adding one<br />
more faction to the mix, is the big question. What is<br />
certain is that Ms. Bedi’s entry will not be smooth; she<br />
was earlier a strident critic of the BJP and Prime Minister<br />
Narendra Modi. Already there are murmurs of protest<br />
at the manner in which she was made the chief<br />
ministerial candidate without broad consultations<br />
within the party.<br />
Like Mr. Kejriwal before her, Ms. Bedi failed to win<br />
the support of Mr. Hazare for her political ambitions.<br />
Mr. Hazare has stayed away from all political parties,<br />
but for a brief spike in interest in the Trinamool Congress.<br />
Although she was a prominent face in Team Anna,<br />
Ms. Bedi is unlikely to win the backing of all those who<br />
had joined the anti-corruption crusade behind the<br />
Gandhian at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar in 2011. She might<br />
match Mr. Kejriwal’s crusading spirit, but whether she<br />
will be able to capture the popular imagination remains<br />
to be seen. At one level, her entry — just days before the<br />
election — comes across as politically opportunist. For<br />
the Narendra Modi-Amit Shah team, Delhi is of a different<br />
order from the Assembly polls held after the Lok<br />
Sabha election. Here the BJP has no ally to shed, and<br />
there can be no excuse for falling short of an absolute<br />
majority. Anything short of a majority will likely be seen<br />
as a failure, and not as the success of a bold experiment<br />
of going it alone. In that sense, Delhi will be a greater<br />
test than Maharashtra or Haryana or Jharkhand. How<br />
far Ms. Bedi, who is expected to turn the campaign into<br />
a direct contest between her and Mr. Kejriwal, will help<br />
the BJP in this endeavour, remains to be seen.<br />
Focus on public<br />
investment<br />
T<br />
he idea that the government should lead investment<br />
revival by spending from its purse<br />
seems to be gaining ground quickly. The<br />
thought was first expressed by Chief Economic<br />
Adviser Arvind Subramanian a month ago while releasing<br />
the government’s mid-year review of the<br />
economy. Mr. Subramanian was of the opinion that<br />
public investment may have to play a greater role to<br />
complement and “crowd-in” private investment. Of<br />
course, this had to be done within the constraints of the<br />
fiscal situation. In an interaction with industrialists in<br />
Chennai on Monday, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley<br />
endorsed this view, saying that the government would<br />
take some “special steps” to increase public investment<br />
while pointing out that it would be a challenge to do so<br />
within the constraint of the fiscal deficit. Mr. Jaitley<br />
expressed the government’s predicament well. It is a<br />
fact that private investment in infrastructure is in a<br />
comatose state thanks to over-leveraged balance sheets<br />
and excess capacities that may take a long time to be<br />
absorbed. The banking system is groaning under the<br />
collective weight of the overdues of private borrowers,<br />
and banks are clearly unwilling to lend for new projects.<br />
Of course, some companies have already started to<br />
repair their balance sheets by shedding assets through<br />
mergers and acquisitions and using the proceeds to<br />
settle their dues with banks. Clearly, though the deleveraging<br />
process has begun, it will be a while before<br />
the private sector cleans up its act and goes for fresh<br />
investment. The onus to stimulate a revival is, therefore,<br />
clearly on the government now. The Centre has<br />
been appropriating a part of the bounty from falling<br />
global oil prices in the form of higher excise duties, and<br />
the Finance Minister is on record as saying that this<br />
money will go directly towards building new roads and<br />
highways and not into the Consolidated Fund of India.<br />
This will give an impetus to the highways expansion<br />
programme that has been struggling for want of adequate<br />
interest from private developers. But then, the<br />
scale and quantum of public investment required is<br />
much bigger, and this is where the government will run<br />
into the fiscal wall. With 99 per cent of the projected<br />
deficit for this year already accounted for in the first<br />
eight months, headroom for additional spending is nonexistent<br />
this fiscal, even if one were to account for<br />
bountiful proceeds from the spectrum auction that is<br />
due next month. The focus is therefore on the coming<br />
fiscal, and the Budget will provide an insight into the<br />
government’s plans on this front. Clearly, some tightrope<br />
walking will be required as the Centre seeks to<br />
increase spending on infrastructure projects to compensate<br />
for private investment.<br />
CM<br />
YK<br />
Vasundhara Sirnate<br />
The first two weeks of 2015 have not<br />
helped moderate Muslims anywhere<br />
in the world. Between the<br />
Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant<br />
(Syria) [ISIS/ISIL and now IS], the Tehreeke-Taliban<br />
Pakistan, Boko Haram and the renegade<br />
gunmen claiming allegiance to the al-<br />
Qaeda in Yemen that shot the cartoonists of<br />
Charlie Hebdo, the world seems to have exploded<br />
in a frenzy of Islamic ideology-fuelled<br />
killing. Reactions to Islamic radicals conducting<br />
acts of terror have been varied. Between<br />
the Moroccan-born Mayor of Rotterdam,<br />
Ahmed Aboutaleb, rudely telling Muslims to<br />
get out of his country, the thousands of people<br />
in Germany marching in an anti-Islam demonstration,<br />
anchor Jeanine Pirro on Fox<br />
News saying “we need to kill them” and Rupert<br />
Murdoch tweeting about holding Muslims<br />
collectively responsible for terrorism, common<br />
Muslims everywhere are being forced to<br />
apologise and take responsibility for the dangerous<br />
actions of less than one per cent of the<br />
world’s total Muslim population.<br />
CARTOONSCAPE<br />
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR<br />
Words of advice<br />
Even though President Pranab<br />
Mukherjee’s words of advice to the<br />
political class to ensure the passage<br />
of laws is timely, Article 108 of the<br />
Constitution, which deals with joint<br />
sittings of Parliament, does not<br />
stipulate any limit regarding the<br />
number and frequency of joint<br />
sittings (“‘Joint session no solution<br />
to end Rajya Sabha logjam,” Jan.<br />
20). To conclude that a joint session<br />
could be called whenever a Bill does<br />
not get through would be based on a<br />
narrow reading of Article 108.<br />
The Opposition in the Rajya<br />
Sabha appears to be looking out for<br />
issues each day in order to stall the<br />
functioning of the House. There<br />
should be ways and means to<br />
explore how there can be healthy<br />
debates.<br />
Arulur N. Balasubramanian,<br />
Chennai<br />
There have been a number of<br />
incidents obstructing and stalling<br />
the passage of important Bills. On<br />
many an occasion, there has been<br />
no spirit of cooperation, harmony<br />
and purpose as both ruling party<br />
and Opposition MPs have been<br />
adamant and selfish without giving<br />
any thought to how the taxpayer’s<br />
money is being wasted.<br />
Each tries to avoid finding a<br />
solution citing previous cycles of<br />
disturbances. The honourable<br />
President himself was a<br />
parliamentarian not very long ago<br />
and should note that the party to<br />
which he belonged, the Congress,<br />
has hardly functioned with a spirit<br />
of cooperation and harmony in the<br />
House. The need now is for every<br />
political party to think about the<br />
aspirations of the people. A<br />
parliamentarian must think of<br />
himself/herself as a student who<br />
attends school regularly, fearing<br />
and respecting the school head and<br />
Militant ‘Islamic’ movements are organisations<br />
born out of particular configurations of geopolitics<br />
and superpower interventions. Beginning as<br />
resistance movements and later moving on by<br />
aiming to create new states, their strategies have<br />
been ideological and violent with scant regard for<br />
human rights<br />
Insurgents as global terrorists<br />
People that believe such things seem to<br />
have missed some key pieces of information<br />
pertaining to the rise of some of these movements.<br />
In this piece, I will attempt to historicise<br />
the rise of some militant “Islamic”<br />
movements so that in our public debate we<br />
may have balance and some context. This is<br />
important because the rationalisations that<br />
are coming our way use Islam as the driving<br />
force behind all recent acts of terror. I believe<br />
that we need to shift this debate onto more<br />
logical terrain, i.e., we need to understand the<br />
conditions which beget certain types of insurgent<br />
and terrorist organisations. I assert<br />
here that Islamic ideology alone is not the<br />
driving force behind these organisations. Islamic<br />
ideology is merely the fabric in which<br />
an articulation of inequality, marginalisation,<br />
and alienation is embedded or stitched. Islamic<br />
ideology is deployed to get new recruits<br />
to particular terrorist groups. Think of such<br />
ideology as an advertising strategy or a marketing<br />
campaign to get people to adhere to the<br />
political causes being championed by these<br />
groups at the barrel of a gun.<br />
Let’s start with the usual suspect, the Taliban.<br />
Raised by the Central Intelligence Agency<br />
(CIA) to fight the Soviet invasion in<br />
Afghanistan in 1979, the Taliban went on to<br />
capture power in Afghanistan after its western<br />
handlers left and the Cold War ended.<br />
What followed in Afghanistan was brutal<br />
fighting between several Taliban leaders;<br />
some of whom under Mullah Omar were able<br />
to consolidate a new Afghan state. Common<br />
Afghans suffered during this period of civil<br />
war and deal brokering. Osama bin Laden,<br />
initially a Taliban recruit, floated al-Qaeda,<br />
which, after 9/11, was forced into a partnership<br />
with the Taliban in a resistance against<br />
the American invasion of Afghanistan. The<br />
war with the U.S. destroyed whatever state<br />
the Taliban had created and fragmented both<br />
organisations — the Taliban and al-Qaeda —<br />
leading to different splinters of the same<br />
groups in West Asia and South Asia, each<br />
practising deadlier violence to distinguish itself<br />
from its competitors.<br />
Similarly, IS was once known as Al-Qaeda<br />
in Iraq (AQI) led by the Jordanian terrorist Al<br />
Zarqawi, who was killed in 2006 in a targeted<br />
attack by the U.S. Air Force. In 2003, AQI<br />
began fighting the American occupation of<br />
Iraq. Later it merged with other small resistance<br />
groups and turned into the Mujahideen<br />
Shura Council, before emerging as the ISIS<br />
under the leadership of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.<br />
Again, IS also emerged as a reaction to<br />
western intervention in West Asia and gradually<br />
broadened its scope to Syria during the<br />
protests against President Bashar al-Assad.<br />
Boko Haram (western education is forbidden)<br />
arose in Nigeria in the mid-1990s as a<br />
moderate Islamic group in the aftermath of<br />
the Biafran War, which left two million people<br />
dead between 1967-1970 following the<br />
brutal suppression of the people of Biafra by<br />
the Nigerian government, supported by<br />
prominent western countries and oil companies.<br />
Boko Haram started as a movement that<br />
criticised the corrupt, oil-wealthy government<br />
of Nigeria and became a provider for the<br />
poor undertaking state-like welfare functions<br />
in northeast Nigeria. As Boko Haram receded<br />
“<br />
With the left discredited in societies with strong ethnic and<br />
religious sentiments, the fallback ideology of rebellion is mostly<br />
religion-based.<br />
”<br />
the teachers. The season of sermons<br />
must end.<br />
J.P. Reddy,<br />
Nalgonda, Telangana<br />
The President’s words, “a noisy<br />
minority cannot be allowed to gag a<br />
patient majority”, sums up the<br />
parliamentary logjam. The number<br />
of sittings has shrunk from 677<br />
during the first Lok Sabha session to<br />
357 in the 15th session.<br />
Cancellations have become the<br />
order of the day, and events no<br />
longer newsworthy. We spend<br />
crores of rupees on elections and<br />
then waste mandays in Parliament.<br />
Self-interest and self-concern have<br />
become the factors guiding<br />
parliamentary business.<br />
A.J. Rangarajan,<br />
Chennai<br />
Very often, the media focus on<br />
scenes of pandemonium that<br />
prevail in Parliament. The Speaker<br />
is often shown to be helpless. Why<br />
cannot the rules be modified? For<br />
instance, if anyone rushes to the<br />
well of the House to protest, he or<br />
she must be debarred for the whole<br />
session. All members must speak<br />
only from their designated seats.<br />
Opposition Parties must play their<br />
roles creatively. Forms of<br />
punishment and of discipline,<br />
which would be something new to<br />
our parliamentarians, must be<br />
considered.<br />
Thomas Edmunds,<br />
Chennai<br />
The electorate has given its<br />
mandate to the ruling party to rule<br />
the nation for five years and fulfil its<br />
promises. Similarly, the Opposition<br />
is expected to oppose, expose and<br />
tweak the ears of the government<br />
whenever it errs. It may sound<br />
philosophical, but the fact remains<br />
that one hand cannot clap without<br />
the other. The ruling party requires<br />
the support of the Opposition<br />
parties, and vice versa. Respecting<br />
the other is the only way out to<br />
establish comity and amity for a<br />
healthy atmosphere to prevail in<br />
Parliament. One wishes that our<br />
elected members give credence to<br />
the sermons of the President in the<br />
interest of the nation.<br />
H.P. Murali,<br />
Bengaluru<br />
Members of the Rajya Sabha must<br />
be educated on the purpose for<br />
which they are elected through an<br />
indirect process. Both Houses now<br />
function like Tweedledum and<br />
Tweedledee. This was not the intent<br />
with which the Rajya Sabha, the<br />
equivalent of the House of Lords,<br />
was created. Members of the Rajya<br />
Sabha are dignified and experienced<br />
seniors and they are expected to rise<br />
above party politics and serve the<br />
nation through effective debates.<br />
Nikhil Balan,<br />
Thiruvananthapuram<br />
U.S. & ‘Make in India’<br />
This refers to the report, “U.S.<br />
worried at ‘Make in India’ rule”<br />
(Jan.19). As the U.S. is known to<br />
tenaciously safeguard its own<br />
interests while blithely overlooking<br />
the interests of the less powerful<br />
nations with whom it has bilateral<br />
cooperation, it is small wonder that<br />
during his visit to the ‘Vibrant<br />
Gujarat’ summit U.S. Secretary of<br />
State John Kerry voiced concern<br />
over the push for the use of<br />
indigenous capabilities. That this<br />
concerns the renewable energy<br />
policy, particularly solar energy, is a<br />
fact. If New Delhi has announced a<br />
series of 1,000 MW grid-connected<br />
solar photovoltaic (PV) power<br />
projects that has a mandatory<br />
condition that all PV cells and<br />
modules used in solar plants set up<br />
under this scheme will be made in<br />
India, it is apparently because the<br />
into the jungles of northeast Nigeria, successive<br />
governments repeatedly ignored the<br />
growing radical and militant nature of the<br />
group.<br />
The place of Islam<br />
The Taliban, Boko Haram, al-Qaeda and IS<br />
are organisations born out of particular configurations<br />
of geopolitics and superpower interventions<br />
and invasions. They started as<br />
resistance movements that were aimed at<br />
creating more ideal states and opposed foreign<br />
invasions, bad governance and despotic<br />
regimes. These groups are trying to create<br />
new states. This is why their strategies have<br />
been ideological and extremely violent with<br />
Letters emailed to letters@thehindu.co.in must carry the full<br />
postal address and the full name or the name with initials.<br />
need is to revive the ailing<br />
manufacturing sector and also<br />
address the unemployment<br />
problem.<br />
Even if it is imperative that the<br />
world’s largest democracy<br />
maintains a healthy relationship<br />
with the world’s oldest, the Indian<br />
government must ensure that<br />
bilateral cooperation with the U.S.<br />
is on an equal footing, irrespective<br />
of whether it means losing out on<br />
investments from the U.S. at the<br />
moment. As the U.S. wields<br />
immense power in the WTO,<br />
Washington will most certainly<br />
deploy its rule that prohibits<br />
measures that discriminate against<br />
imported goods in order to<br />
browbeat New Delhi into toeing its<br />
line. The U.S. needs to be reminded<br />
that as a developed nation with a<br />
historical responsibility to mitigate<br />
greenhouse gas emissions, it is<br />
bound by the Copenhagen<br />
Declaration of December 2009,<br />
which calls on the rich,<br />
industrialised nations to<br />
economically and technologically<br />
help developing nations like India<br />
reduce emissions.<br />
Nalini Vijayaraghavan,<br />
Thiruvananthapuram<br />
War on tobacco<br />
The war on tobacco has to be won at<br />
any price (Editorial, Jan.20) as it<br />
eats into the vitals of our youth —<br />
and our nation’s human capital. In<br />
this, the Act is the first right step<br />
towards winning the war. In this<br />
tussle between tobacco companies<br />
(which have assured and<br />
guaranteed markets for their<br />
products) and the government<br />
(which tries to contain/eliminate<br />
the tobacco menace while<br />
attempting to stand up to the<br />
powerful tobacco lobby), the<br />
winner should be the government. I<br />
would suggest an online strategy<br />
involving counselling and<br />
scant regard for human rights; for state formation<br />
is a messy, bloody affair. Just think of<br />
Europe between 900 and 1900 AD.<br />
So what about Islam? I suggest here that<br />
Islam is the only commonly known ideology<br />
and script in these regions in which an articulation<br />
of resistance can be embedded, which<br />
common folk can understand, practise and<br />
stand by. Islam gives these movements legitimacy.<br />
It gives them a discourse and it attracts<br />
money. It is their USP. The movements are<br />
not initially motivated by Islam but by bad<br />
and corrupt governments, unequal power relations<br />
between countries, invasions by foreign<br />
powers and global income inequalities<br />
made persistent by the current global economic<br />
regime where the metaphorical one<br />
per cent has captured half of the world’s<br />
wealth. Let us not for one moment forget that<br />
most Muslims live in democratic countries<br />
like India, Malaysia and Indonesia and practise<br />
their religions peacefully and within the<br />
bounds of law. Let us also not forget that<br />
there are strong overlaps between Muslim<br />
countries with terrorist groups aspiring to<br />
statehood and where there has been a prolonged<br />
war with at least one great power.<br />
Similarly, the Algerians who killed 12 people<br />
in France last week lived on the margins of<br />
French society and were immigrants from a<br />
country which had been virtually socially, economically<br />
and politically destroyed by<br />
France, which many historians agree was always<br />
the worst country to get colonised by.<br />
One million Algerians died to overthrow<br />
French colonialism. This was followed by a<br />
postcolonial regime (the FLN state) that willingly<br />
killed over 1,00,000 of its own people in<br />
order to safeguard its oil interests backed by<br />
western powers.<br />
Neo-mercantilism and terror<br />
Let me be clear that historicising these<br />
groups does not mean that one condones<br />
their actions. None of these groups can find<br />
ethical support because indiscriminate violence<br />
used by IS, Boko Haram, al-Qaeda, the<br />
Taliban and their hydra-headed babies has<br />
snatched away the human rights of thousands<br />
of people. However, we absolutely must understand<br />
the current rise of religious extremism<br />
as what it really is — the only readily<br />
available response in a shrinking political discourse<br />
that can challenge, or even attempts to<br />
challenge, the current world system. The left<br />
is popularly discredited and doesn’t find purchase<br />
in societies with strong ethnic and religious<br />
sentiments, so the fallback ideology of<br />
rebellion is mostly religion-based.<br />
If we want to make sense of terrorism we<br />
need to launch a strong challenge to the current<br />
economic system that breeds and perpetuates<br />
global inequality and encourages a<br />
neo-mercantilism of sorts where western nations<br />
have encouraged and backed despots to<br />
preserve economic interests, and have undertaken<br />
military invasions to cement control<br />
over economic and natural resources.<br />
But we must not, under any circumstance,<br />
demand that Muslims all over the world take<br />
collective responsibility for the actions of a<br />
fraction. In doing so terrorism unwittingly<br />
wins, because the whole point about terrorism<br />
is to fracture communities, destroy social<br />
capital and scare people into changing how<br />
they relate to each other. The need of the hour<br />
is to think carefully and hard about the factors<br />
and variables that have led to the formation<br />
of anti-state groups, treat each case as<br />
unique and not indulge in religion blaming.<br />
Terrorism and insurgency are businesses motivated<br />
by greed and grievance as Collier and<br />
Hoeffler told us many years ago. Islam, like<br />
any other ideology like Maoism (China and<br />
India), Marxism (USSR) or Catholicism<br />
(Northern Ireland) is the glue that holds the<br />
plot together.<br />
(Vasundhara Sirnate is the Chief<br />
Coordinator of Research at The Hindu Centre<br />
for Politics and Public Policy.)<br />
awareness involving various health<br />
institutions that will help reduce or<br />
eliminate the urge to use tobacco<br />
products. There must also be<br />
compulsory pictorial warnings on<br />
even single cigarettes. As a norm,<br />
there should be fewer cigarettes/<br />
bidis in each packet.<br />
Th Luwangamba,<br />
New Delhi<br />
Notes and coins<br />
This refers to media reports on the<br />
Prime Minister having noted the<br />
suggestion to issue a Rs.25 currency<br />
note in order to overcome a<br />
shortage of Rs.5 coins. Any such<br />
idea will be contrary to the metric<br />
spirit of measures introduced in the<br />
country back in 1957. Instead, the<br />
root cause of the shortage of five<br />
rupee coins should be analysed. It<br />
was only recently that there were<br />
reports of the government planning<br />
to reissue one-rupee notes (which<br />
have a short lifespan) to overcome<br />
the shortage of one-rupee coins<br />
caused by widespread melting of the<br />
coins. Unfortunately, the emphasis<br />
appears to be more on short-term<br />
measures. When it eliminated 10<br />
paise and 25 paise coins, the<br />
government should have abolished<br />
50 paise coins as well. The new onerupee<br />
coin could have been the size<br />
of the earlier 10 paise coin. But since<br />
there was abundant stock of coinblanks<br />
in the sizes of the earlier 50<br />
paise and one rupee coins, new<br />
coins, for one and two rupees, were<br />
issued in these sizes, confusing the<br />
public. The government should<br />
drop the idea of issuing one and 25<br />
rupee notes and instead issue more<br />
coins in the denominations of one<br />
and five rupees. The five-rupee coin<br />
should be made of stainless steel of<br />
a thicker grade to avoid melting. A<br />
huge amount of money can also be<br />
saved by reducing the size of notes.<br />
Subhash Chandra Agrawal,<br />
New Delhi<br />
ND-ND
NOIDA/DELHI<br />
THE HINDU WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 21, 2015<br />
COMMENT<br />
11<br />
WORLD VIEW<br />
A portrait of modern<br />
inequality<br />
The National Gallery’s colonnaded splendour radiates across Trafalgar<br />
Square a sense of the importance of art in Britain’s national life. But<br />
the reality inside is far less glorious. The 400 gallery assistants are about<br />
to be outsourced to a private company against their will, to squeeze pay<br />
and conditions. A ballot by their union, PCS, closes this week, calling for a<br />
five-day strike in protest.<br />
All day they guard the nation’s treasures: not automata, but wellinformed,<br />
if untrained, guides who like to be asked questions, know<br />
where paintings are, are glad to advise nervous visitors unsure what to<br />
look at. Some have worked there for 40 years, some are younger, many<br />
former art students.<br />
A letter to staff from the director, Nicholas<br />
Penny, says all gallery services go out to tender<br />
in April, something no other national gallery or<br />
museum has done. As Tupe — Transfer of<br />
Undertakings (Protection of Employment) —<br />
regulations require, staff will transfer to a<br />
private company on the same terms, but that’s<br />
weak protection: they can be sent to work<br />
anywhere in that company.<br />
This is the only national museum in London<br />
not paying the living wage. A tangle of pay rates<br />
means that older staff (predominantly male) are<br />
paid more than newer (predominantly female).<br />
POLLY TOYNBEE The gallery’s grant is being cut, so it needs to<br />
make more money with extra paid evening<br />
events. Staff are willing — but expect extra pay.<br />
The only national<br />
Management says negotiations went nowhere,<br />
museum in London so they have to go nuclear: let a private company<br />
is not paying the<br />
get tough with them. That’s how private<br />
companies profit from these contracts: as old<br />
living wage<br />
staff leave, new staff can be hired at any pay<br />
rate.<br />
What happens in hard times is always the same: spreadsheets show the<br />
most crushable item is staff. Numbers are cut and squeezed hard for<br />
longer hours. It’s easier to let ruthless companies to do the dirty work, so<br />
squeamish managers can wash their hands of consequences. Both sides<br />
will now go to Acas: there is still time to pull back from this privatisation<br />
too far.<br />
The public servant<br />
This shedding of long-term employees is emblematic of low-pay<br />
Britain, where a million public jobs are being lost. Public servants are<br />
more unionised than other workforces, and so irksome to managers who<br />
eye a commercial world of 19th century employment practices — lump<br />
labour on zero hours, temp agencies, free interns, the bogus selfemployed<br />
free of national insurance. The public servants’ ethos, their<br />
attachment to the civic realm, has been systematically trashed as mere<br />
unionised self-interest.<br />
What’s afoot at the gallery explains why pay is falling as a share of GDP.<br />
Galloping inequality is the result of a million such decisions employers<br />
think prudent, mainly because everyone is doing it. The derelict Low Pay<br />
Commission has let the minimum wage itself fall £1,000 in real value<br />
since 2008. The Tory call last week for higher wages was breathtaking<br />
dishonesty, echoing the TUC’s “Britain Needs a Pay Rise” campaign. The<br />
government has huge sway over pay. If it demanded the living wage not<br />
just for its employees, but also from every contractor and supplier, then<br />
national pay norms would rise instantly. If the Low Pay Commission set<br />
higher minimums appropriate to each sector, like the old wages councils,<br />
larger companies could pay decent salaries according to profitability.<br />
The Joseph Rowntree Foundation’s latest report finds 40 per cent of<br />
families with children living below a minimum threshold of decency.<br />
Most are in work — but earning too little to buy what a majority of the<br />
public in focus groups consider essentials for participation in society: no<br />
drink or cigarettes, £5 a fortnight for eating out, £40 for Christmas food,<br />
one week’s U.K. holiday.<br />
That takes an income of £20,400 a year for a couple with two children<br />
— which is almost £3,000 more than National Gallery assistants earn.<br />
GDP growth is near invisible to the eight million squeezed hardest, by<br />
this government’s deliberate choice: average income loss since 2010 is<br />
£33 a week. Now the government promises full employment — but what<br />
kind? Most new jobs are low paid, precarious and part time. For all<br />
George Osborne’s hi-vis posturing about his sham “northern<br />
powerhouse”, the latest figures from the Centre for Cities show how far<br />
the gap between the south and the rest has widened.<br />
At Davos this week, central bankers will echo the fashionable view that<br />
accelerating inequality is the real economic risk, a danger to capitalism<br />
itself. Oxfam tells them one per cent of the population will next year own<br />
99 per cent of the world’s wealth: in Britain, the top one per cent has<br />
soared away, and the bottom 10 per cent has done worst while paying the<br />
highest proportion of its income in taxes: 47 per cent. But no sign yet that<br />
the Davos set is worrying unduly: by Epiphany — January 6 — FTSE 100<br />
chief executives had already earned more than a year of the average wage.<br />
How do you wrest back wealth from them? Restoring power to unions<br />
would help, ensuring every workplace is offered union membership.<br />
Instead, Mr. Cameron’s manifesto will make strikes near-impossible,<br />
with a 40 per cent ballot threshold unknown anywhere in the democratic<br />
west. That’s a reason to hope the ever-patient attendants at the National<br />
Gallery resist being cast out to G4S, Serco and the rest — and remain as<br />
treasured employees of us all. — © Guardian Newspapers Limited,<br />
2015<br />
Mexico’s drone plan for<br />
porpoise conservation<br />
CORRECTIONS AND CLARIFICATIONS<br />
>>Errors in front page graphic: “Left out in the cold” (Jan. 20, 2015) said<br />
L.K. Advani – Deputy Prime Minister from 1999 to 2004 – (it should have been<br />
2002 to 2004) and A.B. Vajpayee – Prime Minister from 1999 to 2004 – (it<br />
should have been 1998 to 2004).<br />
>>The opening paragraph of the Comment page article, “Memories of<br />
Jawaharlal Nehru” (Jan. 20, 2015), talked about Dr. Khan Sahib (Khan Abdul<br />
Jaffar Khan). It is Khan Abdul Jabbar Khan.<br />
>>“Can Barack Obama break the nuclear logjam?” (Jan. 20, 2015) – in the<br />
second and penultimate paragraphs – erroneously referred to Mr. Obama’s<br />
visit to India in 2008. It should have been 2010.<br />
CM<br />
YK<br />
Mexico is planning to use drones<br />
to patrol the upper Sea of Cortez<br />
to combat illegal fishing and save<br />
the critically endangered vaquita marina,<br />
the world’s smallest porpoise.<br />
Assistant environmental prosecutor<br />
Alejandro del Mazo said his agency<br />
has conducted tests of unmanned<br />
aircraft flights in cooperation with<br />
the Mexican Navy. Mr. Del Mazo says<br />
he hopes to have three drones patrolling<br />
the vaquita’s habitat in coming<br />
months. Also known as the Gulf of<br />
California, it is the only place vaquitas<br />
are found.Fewer than 100 of the<br />
shy, elusive porpoises remain.<br />
The vaquita is threatened by illegal<br />
gillnet fishing for totoaba, a large fish<br />
whose swim bladder is prized by<br />
chefs in China. Authorities are proposing<br />
a $37 million plan to ban gillnets<br />
in the upper Gulf. — AP<br />
It is the policy of The Hindu to correct significant errors as soon as possible.<br />
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For prudent crisis planning on terror<br />
Barack Obama and Narendra Modi should reaffirm their commitment to better cooperation<br />
on counter-terrorism and intelligence<br />
Bruce Riedel<br />
U.S. President Barack Obama’s<br />
visit to India, an unprecedented<br />
second trip in one Presidency,<br />
comes as the terrorist<br />
threat environment in the subcontinent is<br />
in transition and turmoil. Multiple massacres<br />
in Pakistan and the transition in<br />
Afghanistan are challenging the counter<br />
terrorist infrastructures built over the last<br />
couple of decades. It is a fluid situation<br />
that Mr. Obama and Prime Minister Narendra<br />
Modi need to compare notes on<br />
and develop strategies.<br />
Sponsor and victim<br />
Pakistan has long been both a sponsor<br />
of terrorism and a victim of terrorism but<br />
the balance seems to be shifting toward<br />
victimhood. Pakistan still sponsors the<br />
most dangerous terror group in South<br />
Asia, Lashkar-e-Taiba, which last May<br />
tried to disrupt Mr. Modi’s inauguration<br />
by attacking the Indian consulate in Herat,<br />
Afghanistan, just hours before his<br />
swearing-in ceremony. The Pakistani intelligence<br />
service, the Inter Services Intelligence<br />
(ISI) Directorate, continues to<br />
provide support to LeT and its leader Hafiz<br />
Mohammad Saeed lives freely in Lahore,<br />
Pakistan, with the ISI’s protection.<br />
The ISI also remains the primary patron<br />
of the Afghan Taliban in its war with the<br />
North Atlantic Treaty Organization<br />
(NATO).<br />
But Pakistan has been shaken profoundly<br />
by a series of mass casualty terror<br />
attacks on its own citizens. On November<br />
2, 2014, a suicide bomber killed sixty Pakistanis<br />
at the Wagah border crossing<br />
with India close to the border ceremony<br />
site. The Pakistan Taliban claimed responsibility<br />
and said it was retaliation for<br />
the army’s Zarb-e-Azb counter terrorist<br />
operation.<br />
On December 16, 2014, seven members<br />
of the Pakistan Taliban attacked an armyrun<br />
school in Peshawar and killed 145<br />
people including 132 schoolchildren. The<br />
attack prompted an unprecedented public<br />
outcry for the government and army to<br />
take concerted action to defeat the Taliban<br />
and to stop all terror attacks in the<br />
country. Not since the assassination of<br />
Benazir Bhutto in December 2007 has<br />
there been so much public outcry against<br />
terrorism. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif<br />
and Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General<br />
Raheel Sharif promised collective action<br />
to destroy the Taliban and the army said it<br />
would no longer differentiate good Taliban<br />
from bad Taliban.<br />
Even al-Qaeda’s new franchise in the<br />
Indian subcontinent distanced itself from<br />
the school massacre, saying “our hearts<br />
are bursting with pain,” and urging its<br />
Shiv Visvanathan<br />
How does one talk of a man who<br />
defined a subject, determined its<br />
directions, was its dominating presence<br />
without a shade of pomposity or status.<br />
Rajni Kothari was clear about some of<br />
the subjects of his studies, irreverently<br />
and pragmatically certain that the Indian<br />
elite was knowledge-proof, that the<br />
only changes it would accept were pressures<br />
from below or by mimicking its<br />
colonial masters. Here was a man far<br />
ahead of his times, a futurist in<br />
perspective.<br />
Today the tributes will flow and embalm<br />
the man. Dissenting imaginations<br />
are best sanitised lest they destroy the<br />
hypocrisy and the current clichés of the<br />
establishment. The obituaries will recite<br />
how he started election studies,<br />
how he set up the institute of Chinese<br />
Studies, founded journals like the Alternatives<br />
and the Lokayan Bulletin.<br />
They will dub him the author of Indian<br />
Political Science’s only durable classic<br />
— Politics in India. Oddly, Kothari was<br />
embarrassed by the longevity of the<br />
book and even tried to stall further publications<br />
but the book like many of Rajni’s<br />
inventions had a wonderful life of<br />
its own.<br />
To me it was not just the inventiveness<br />
of the man that is important. It was<br />
the vision he brought to his work. Rajni’s<br />
enduring passion was his commitment<br />
to democracy, its sustainability,<br />
its creativity and its vulnerability. The<br />
sense of democracy was not an abstract<br />
one of formal definitions. He saw democracy<br />
as a way of life and wanted<br />
people to live it out and celebrate its<br />
everydayness.<br />
As founder of CSDS<br />
This is what impelled him to create<br />
that wonderful institution the Centre<br />
for the Study of Developing Societies<br />
(CSDS). CSDS was a community, a perpetual<br />
adda built around the gossip of<br />
democracy. Without this passion for democracy<br />
his many projects would have<br />
made little sense. They were mere pretexts<br />
for sustaining the texts of democracy<br />
which in a holistic sense went<br />
beyond elections, data analysis, governance<br />
and grassroots studies.<br />
Two things must be stated clearly,<br />
CSDS was a collage of friendships and<br />
Rajni invented many of his ideas along<br />
with his friends. He had an acute sense<br />
of the inventive and followed it up creatively.<br />
In that sense the idea often originally<br />
belonged to the others. Rajni’s<br />
idea of the Congress as a coalition of<br />
competing confusions was Gopal Krishna’s.<br />
The idea of Lokayan as a grass<br />
INTERNAL DYNAMICS: Pakistan has witnessed a series of mass casualty<br />
terror attacks on its own citizens, one being the November 2014<br />
suicide bomber attack near the Wagah border crossing. Picture shows<br />
the Indian side of the Wagah border crossing. — PHOTO: AFP<br />
Taliban allies to target soldiers in the future.<br />
Hafiz Saeed took the tack of blaming<br />
India for the attack, claiming it was a conspiracy<br />
orchestrated by Modi and vowing<br />
revenge on India. Former dictator Pervez<br />
Musharraf also blamed India and Afghanistan<br />
for supporting the Pakistan Taliban.<br />
It remains to be seen whether the Peshawar<br />
massacre and other atrocities will<br />
actually change the army’s behaviour toward<br />
terrorism. It is more likely than not<br />
that the ISI and COAS will remain patrons<br />
of some terror groups for the foreseeable<br />
future even as they fight others. The civilian<br />
politicians may be more determined to<br />
end Pakistan’s double policy but they have<br />
consistently failed to do so in the last<br />
decade.<br />
The ISI is particularly determined to<br />
see if its Afghan proxies, the Quetta Shura<br />
and the Haqqani network, can exploit the<br />
end of NATO’s combat presence in Afghanistan<br />
to gain control of significant<br />
parts of the country. Mullah Omar, the<br />
Taliban leader based in Karachi, has<br />
shown no interest in a political settlement<br />
and seems determined to try to resurrect<br />
his Islamic Emirate.<br />
New players<br />
Two new players in the terror game<br />
emerged in 2014. First is the al-Qaeda<br />
Another LeT attack on India is<br />
probably only a matter of<br />
time. Washington and New<br />
Delhi should have some idea of<br />
what the potential<br />
consequences of such an<br />
attack might be<br />
franchise for the Indian subcontinent. Al-<br />
Qaeda’s leader Ayman al-Zawahiri announced<br />
its formation which was immediately<br />
followed by an attempt to hijack a<br />
Pakistani frigate with the intention of using<br />
it to attack U.S. Navy ships in the<br />
Arabian Sea. The plot included an unknown<br />
number of Pakistani naval officers<br />
recruited to help al-Qaeda. Zawahiri remains<br />
hidden somewhere in Pakistan and<br />
continues to give lengthy audio messages<br />
to his followers. Al-Qaeda’s franchise in<br />
Yemen claims Zawahiri ordered the attack<br />
on the office of Charlie Hebdo this<br />
month, what it called the “blessed battle<br />
of Paris.”<br />
The other newcomer is the Islamic<br />
State, the heir to al-Qaeda in Iraq that<br />
proclaimed the creation of a caliphate this<br />
summer. Led by Abu Bakr al-Quraishi al-<br />
Hashemi al-Baghdadi, also known as Caliph<br />
Ibrahim, the Islamic State has attracted<br />
fighters from across the Islamic<br />
world to come and join it in Iraq and Syria.<br />
Several Indian Muslims have joined the IS<br />
and pro-IS propaganda has been distributed<br />
in India and Pakistan. Parts of the<br />
Pakistan Taliban have voiced support for<br />
Baghdadi. An Islamic State cell has been<br />
captured in Bangladesh. Al-Qaeda has denounced<br />
the caliphate as illegitimate and<br />
renounced any connection to Baghdadi<br />
roots experiment belonged more to Ramashray<br />
Roy and D.L. Sheth. Rajni took<br />
it and transformed it.<br />
As a commons of ideas, CSDS was<br />
extraordinary. For me, CSDS is that<br />
wonderful pack of quirky incorrigible<br />
scholars like Ashis Nandy, Basheer<br />
Ahmed, Sudhir Kakkar, Giri Deshingkar<br />
quarrelling over ideas at every lunch as<br />
if democracy was a hypothesis that had<br />
to be digested every day. No group had a<br />
greater passion for politics, its myths,<br />
its facts and its folklore.<br />
The style, the theory, was as important<br />
as the substance. Neither CSDS nor<br />
Rajni will rest in peace if I do not resort<br />
to a few anecdotes.<br />
I remember how he recruited me.<br />
Rajni was chairman of ICSSR and he<br />
had heard rumours about me as a rebellious<br />
and even problematic PhD student<br />
at the Delhi School of Economics. He<br />
dropped in one day for a casual chat and<br />
asked me to join CSDS. Some of my<br />
teachers warned him against it. And one<br />
of them even complained that I was a<br />
goonda, a gangster. Rajni smiled and<br />
said, “I need a few intellectual gangsters<br />
for my new project.” He had an easy<br />
charm that soothed opponents and part<br />
of it came from his acute ability to listen.<br />
If you insulted him, he listened intently<br />
almost as if you were wooing him.<br />
Role during the Emergency<br />
CSDS and Rajni became institutional<br />
legends during the Emergency. It was<br />
during that monstrous period that Centre<br />
became home for every dissenting<br />
imagination: George Fernandes, Romesh<br />
Thapar, Arun Shourie and Kuldip<br />
Nayar were frequent visitors. This hospitality<br />
to dissent seeded the creative<br />
style of the future where the Centre<br />
became home to critical studies, social<br />
movements and the search for alternative<br />
imaginations. The Centre, which<br />
glorified the Nehruvian era and the initial<br />
creativity of the Congress, now became<br />
Indira Gandhi’s fiercest and most<br />
obsessive critic. It became the hub of<br />
human rights movements, environmental<br />
struggles, and development battles<br />
that insisted that democracy had to reinvent<br />
itself beyond its electoral form.<br />
Civil society became the creative subject<br />
of study: a counter to the elitist<br />
preoccupation with the state and its development<br />
project.<br />
The Left was the dominant intellectual<br />
imagination of the period. Rajni<br />
had no quarrel with the left, only with<br />
leftists who romanced with the state,<br />
infiltrating government committees as<br />
if they were party cells. Oddly, both the<br />
Left and the Right were obsessed with<br />
being legitimised by the state. During<br />
the infamous controversy involving<br />
History text books when ideologists<br />
went hysterical, Rajni observed quietly:<br />
“That both sides wanted the state to<br />
approve of their version of history”.<br />
This intellectual dependency on state<br />
approval of scholarship worried Rajni.<br />
and his group. Zawahiri and Baghdadi are<br />
rivals for leadership of the global jihad and<br />
competing for the loyalty of jihadists<br />
around the world including in south Asia.<br />
Mr. Obama and Mr. Modi should reaffirm<br />
their commitment to close counterterrorism<br />
and intelligence cooperation.<br />
Much has improved since 2008 when the<br />
U.S. and the U.K. had intelligence on the<br />
Mumbai plot but failed to share it with<br />
India and failed to analyse it properly<br />
themselves. LeT is now a priority for both<br />
Washington and London. Mr. Obama<br />
should send his Central Intelligence<br />
Agency (CIA) Director to New Delhi to<br />
further improve cooperation.<br />
Mr. Obama and Mr. Modi should also<br />
upgrade efforts to stabilise Afghanistan<br />
after the withdrawal of most NATO<br />
forces. India should consider sending military<br />
field hospitals and personnel to help<br />
the Afghan Army as it did in the Korean<br />
War in the 1950s to support the United<br />
Nations forces. It should also help train<br />
and equip the Afghan Air Force, an area<br />
that NATO has been remiss in addressing<br />
robustly. Mr. Obama should rescind his<br />
decision to withdraw all U.S. forces by<br />
2017 and commit to long term advisory<br />
role.<br />
No tolerance policy<br />
Pakistan remains the heart of the issue.<br />
Late last year the U.S. hosted a visit by<br />
Gen. Raheel Sharif and Indians will be<br />
interested in hearing American impressions<br />
of him. Mr. Obama and Mr. Modi<br />
should compare notes on Pakistan’s support<br />
for terrorism. They should also address<br />
the blow back in Pakistan to the<br />
Peshawar massacre. They should encourage<br />
a no-tolerance policy by Prime Minister<br />
Sharif while recognising his<br />
limitations. They should look for opportunity<br />
to encourage Pakistan to take action<br />
against all groups, especially LeT.<br />
But they should also plan for the worst.<br />
Another LeT attack on India is probably<br />
only a matter of time. Washington and<br />
New Delhi should have some idea of what<br />
the potential consequences of such an attack<br />
might be. This is not a matter of<br />
ganging up on Pakistan or trying to pressure<br />
it in advance, rather it is prudent<br />
crisis planning and coordination. It might<br />
be wise to involve others like the United<br />
Kingdom in such discussions. If all this<br />
seems too sensitive for public officials,<br />
then it can be put in the hands of think<br />
tanks and former officials to study with a<br />
mandate to report to their governments.<br />
(Bruce Riedel is Director, The<br />
Intelligence Project, The Brookings<br />
Institution. This article is excerpted from<br />
a paper for The Brookings report on: The<br />
Second Modi-Obama Summit: Building<br />
the India-U.S. Partnership.)<br />
A prophet abandoned by his own community<br />
A tribute to political scientist extraordinaire and teacher, Rajni Kothari (1928 – 2015)<br />
FUTURIST: “Rajni Kothari had an acute sense of the inventive and<br />
followed it up creatively.” — FILE PHOTO: S. ARNEJA<br />
Rajni’s enduring passion<br />
was his commitment to<br />
democracy, its<br />
sustainability, its<br />
creativity and<br />
its vulnerability<br />
Did truth need to be approved by<br />
power?<br />
Rajni had a playful response to criticism.<br />
I remember when a Serbic Marxist<br />
wrote a critique of his work claiming<br />
that Kothari had forgotten to mention<br />
the word class. With easy equanimity<br />
Rajni replied that he had not mentioned<br />
cucumbers either. This ease was important<br />
because the period of the 1960s and<br />
the 1970s was dominated by a pompous<br />
left which treated Marxism with a form<br />
of idolatry. Rajni felt that Marxist critiques<br />
dealt more with the formal economy<br />
and had little place for marginal<br />
groups and the informal economy. Little<br />
protests did not acquire the officialdom<br />
of trade union struggles. The<br />
movements alone in the era, Chipko,<br />
Narmada, Balliapal and fishermen<br />
struggle in Kerala had to struggle with<br />
the official radicalism which refused to<br />
go beyond conventional categories.<br />
CSDS became an archive and a sounding<br />
board for many of these struggles which<br />
linked ecology, livelihood and empowerment<br />
to the still life of electoral democracy.<br />
Rajni had an easy way of<br />
pushing younger colleagues to stretch<br />
beyond themselves. I remember when<br />
the Bhopal gas disaster occurred. He<br />
looked at me and said, “Let’s see if your<br />
work on science helps. Pack up. You are<br />
leaving for Bhopal tomorrow.” When I<br />
began my work on science and violence,<br />
he sent me to Hiroshima requesting the<br />
Mayor to take me around the city. He<br />
believed that projects should begin as<br />
pilgrimages; he was always nudging us<br />
to see linkages and connectivities. He<br />
never lectured, and wanted us to discover<br />
and internalise and share our insights.<br />
For him mistakes were<br />
something precious one owned up to.<br />
He was a great teacher but always<br />
taught by anecdote and example.<br />
I must confess that in the final decade,<br />
many of us moved away from the<br />
Centre and Rajni. Quarrels are important<br />
because they mark the contours of<br />
a relationship. One felt that the Centre<br />
was now imitating itself rather than inventing<br />
ideas. In spite of having moved<br />
on and all the distance I realised how<br />
much the Centre had taught me.<br />
In his final years, Rajni Kothari was a<br />
lonely man — ill and broken by the<br />
death of his wife Hansa and son Smithu.<br />
In the meanwhile, political science had<br />
lost its flavour of dissent. It had become<br />
a game of think tanks and Rajni must<br />
have watched it with wry sadness, a<br />
prophet abandoned by his own community.<br />
But the future will no doubt celebrate<br />
the man.<br />
(Shiv Visvanathan is a social<br />
scientist.)<br />
ND-ND
NEWS<br />
NOIDA/DELHI<br />
12 THE HINDU WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 21, 2015<br />
FROM PAGE ONE<br />
Tackling of tiger poaching<br />
has paid off, says official<br />
Meena Menon<br />
NEW DELHI: The tiger population<br />
had increased in Karnataka,<br />
Uttarakhand, Madhya<br />
Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and<br />
Kerala, Additional Director<br />
and head of the National Tiger<br />
Conservation Authority<br />
Rajesh Gopal told journalists<br />
on Tuesday.<br />
Y.V. Jhala, one of the principal<br />
investigators of the report,<br />
said this was only a<br />
summary and a detailed report<br />
would be ready by<br />
March-end. Assessment was<br />
in progress in the Simlipal<br />
and Satpuda tiger reserves.<br />
The population had increased<br />
at the rate of six per<br />
cent per annum in India<br />
from 2006 while the world<br />
Pak. denies move to ban JuD<br />
Suhasini Haidar<br />
NEW DELHI: Pakistani Interior<br />
Ministry sources have denied<br />
any move to ban the<br />
Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD),<br />
headed by Hafiz Saeed, and<br />
other terror organisations,<br />
but said the groups were on<br />
the “watch list.”<br />
Media reports had said<br />
Pakistan had assured the<br />
U.S. of a crackdown on the<br />
banned organisation as<br />
President Barack Obama is<br />
visiting India.<br />
The reports, which were<br />
officially denied by Pakistan’s<br />
Ambassador to the U.S.<br />
Jalil Abbas Jilani on Tuesday,<br />
said the U.S. had<br />
warned Pakistan against<br />
any terror activity during<br />
Mr. Obama’s visit to India,<br />
and Secretary of State John<br />
Kerry had received assurances<br />
on a crackdown on all<br />
terror groups, including the<br />
JuD.<br />
lost 97 per cent tigers in the<br />
last 50 years in 13 countries,<br />
Dr. Jhala said. The main reasons<br />
for this increase were<br />
effective tackling of poaching,<br />
and the positive attitude<br />
of the wildlife services.<br />
“We were in for a huge<br />
surprise as we didn’t expect<br />
the numbers to be above<br />
1,800 or 1,900,” said Dr. Jhala.<br />
While 1,540 tigers were<br />
actually photographed, the<br />
rest were estimated based on<br />
this. However, for long term<br />
survival, the movement of tigers<br />
was essential and corridors<br />
between forests would<br />
be the next conservation<br />
goal, he added. The priority<br />
should now change to landscape<br />
scale management, he<br />
added.<br />
Indian government<br />
sources told The Hindu they<br />
had not been informed by<br />
the Pakistani government of<br />
any move to ban the JuD,<br />
and expected that the extremist<br />
group, which had gone<br />
silent after the Peshawar<br />
school massacre, would be<br />
“back in business.” “The<br />
JuD was slightly on the defensive<br />
post-Peshawar,” said<br />
an official. “The cartoons issue<br />
has provided them an opportunity<br />
[to resurface].”<br />
Saeed has called for a series<br />
of protests across Pakistan<br />
for Friday that will<br />
culminate in the “million<br />
march” in Karachi on January<br />
25. The “million march”,<br />
JuD organisers say, will<br />
bring in a crowd bigger than<br />
the JuD’s Lahore rally on<br />
December 4 of more than a<br />
lakh. India criticised the Lahore<br />
rally, calling it “mainstreaming<br />
of terror.”<br />
In an interview to The<br />
Hindu last week, U.N. Secretary-General<br />
Ban Ki-moon<br />
had called upon the Pakistan<br />
government to “take necessary<br />
and corrective measures<br />
in accordance with the<br />
UNSC’s designated terrorist<br />
counter-terrorism policies.”<br />
Mr. Ban was referring to<br />
Saeed’s public appearances<br />
as he and the JuD are on the<br />
U.N. global terrorist lists,<br />
banned as affiliates of al-<br />
Qaeda, as well as designated<br />
Foreign Terrorist Entities<br />
by the U.S.<br />
In the past week, the U.S.<br />
State Department “welcomed”<br />
reports that Pakistan<br />
planned to ban the JuD<br />
and 11 other groups, including<br />
the Haqqani network.<br />
Urbanisation reducing<br />
inequality: World Bank report<br />
Puja Mehra<br />
NEW DELHI: A World Bank report<br />
has found that between<br />
2004-05 and 2009-10, 15 per<br />
cent of India’s population, or<br />
40 per cent of the poor,<br />
moved above the poverty<br />
line. In the same period, a<br />
sizeable portion of the poor<br />
and the vulnerable — over 9<br />
per cent of the total population<br />
or about 11 per cent of<br />
the poor and vulnerable —<br />
moved into the middle class.<br />
However, over 9 per cent<br />
of the total population, or<br />
about 14 per cent of the nonpoor<br />
group, slipped back into<br />
poverty, revealing the greater<br />
risks faced by the vulnerable<br />
and even the middle<br />
class than in other countries,<br />
the report, “Addressing inequality<br />
in South Asia,” said.<br />
The third finding of the report<br />
that challenges the conventional<br />
understanding of<br />
inequality in India, said Onno<br />
Ruhl, World Bank Country<br />
Director in India, is that<br />
urbanisation is reducing inequality,<br />
not increasing it.<br />
Mr. Ruhl said the policy<br />
takeaways from the report<br />
for Prime Minister Narendra<br />
Modi included “strive for<br />
universal health and sanitation;<br />
leverage the opportunity<br />
for urbanisation; and<br />
create jobs for all and build<br />
skills not just through technical<br />
training but also with<br />
servicing the population<br />
with primary and secondary<br />
education and nutrition.”<br />
Registration of Odia migrant<br />
workers begins in Telengana<br />
Staff Reporter<br />
BERHAMPUR: The registration of<br />
migrant construction workers<br />
working outside Odisha has<br />
been initiated by Odisha Building<br />
& Other Construction<br />
Workers’ Board (OBOCWB) in<br />
Telangana.<br />
It may be noted Odisha is the<br />
only State in the country to<br />
have decided to provide welfare<br />
benefits to Odia migrant<br />
construction labourers working<br />
in other States at par with<br />
the workers in Odisha. The<br />
process of registration of Odia<br />
migrant workers through<br />
OBOCWB camps in other<br />
States started in January.<br />
A team of OBOCWB led by<br />
its chairman Subash Singh had<br />
held camps in Telangana from<br />
January 2 to 16 to register Odia<br />
migrant labourers working<br />
there. They visited Rangareddy,<br />
Karimnagar and Nalgonda<br />
districts of Telangana and registered<br />
1,531 Odia migrant construction<br />
workers.<br />
Speaking to newsmen on<br />
Tuesday, Mr. Singh said they<br />
have decided to hold similar<br />
camps in other States like Andhra<br />
Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil<br />
Nadu, Karnataka, Delhi, Kerala<br />
to register Odia migrant<br />
construction workers. “From<br />
the next financial year, we will<br />
start registering these migrant<br />
workers when they travel outside<br />
the State,” he added.<br />
WORLD ECONOMIC OUTLOOK REPORT<br />
India to beat China in growth in 2016: IMF<br />
“India will grow at 6.3% in 2015, up from 5.8% in 2014”<br />
Puja Mehra<br />
NEW DELHI: Before the launch of<br />
a key World Bank report on inequality<br />
in South Asia, Martin<br />
Rama, the World Bank’s Chief<br />
Economist for South Asia region,<br />
spoke exclusively to The<br />
Hindu.<br />
The report finds that<br />
substantial levels of social<br />
mobility exist in India. Just<br />
as there is the popular<br />
notion of the American<br />
dream, is there an Indian<br />
dream too?<br />
We were impressed by the<br />
comparison between India and<br />
Bangladesh, two countries<br />
where we could conduct this<br />
survey, and the United States<br />
and Vietnam, which we chose<br />
as two countries that are seen<br />
in some ways as lands of opportunity.<br />
In that respect, the levels<br />
of social mobility in India<br />
are very encouraging.<br />
But there are also nuances;<br />
while the rates of moving out of<br />
poverty across the four countries<br />
are strictly comparable, in<br />
Not yet decided on joining<br />
BJP, says Dinesh Trivedi<br />
Suvojit Bagchi<br />
KOLKATA: If one goes by what a<br />
politician says, then perhaps it<br />
is a matter of time before Lok<br />
Sabha MP Dinesh Trivedi leaves<br />
the Trinamool Congress<br />
(TMC) to take up “a role to<br />
serve the country” assigned by<br />
the Prime Minister.<br />
“Why me, I think every one<br />
should serve the country… it is<br />
not opportunism, but one<br />
should not lose the opportunity<br />
to serve one’s country,” Mr<br />
Trivedi said and added that the<br />
TMC is “creating roadblocks”<br />
for the developmental programmes<br />
of the BJP-led government.<br />
He also admitted that<br />
he is “in touch” with the BJP,<br />
which is now the main rival of<br />
the TMC in West Bengal.<br />
On being asked whether he<br />
would leave the TMC to join<br />
the BJP, Mr Trivedi said that<br />
NEW DELHI: The International<br />
Monetary Fund (IMF) has<br />
projected India to grow at<br />
6.5 per cent in 2016, overtaking<br />
China whose growth<br />
was forecast to slow down to<br />
6.3 per cent.<br />
In its World Economic<br />
Outlook report released on<br />
Tuesday, the IMF forecast<br />
that India would grow at 6.3<br />
per cent in 2015, up from 5.8<br />
per cent in 2014. China’s<br />
2014 growth rate was 7.4 per<br />
cent.<br />
In another forecast released<br />
on Tuesday, the United<br />
Nations World Economic<br />
Situation and Prospects<br />
(U.N. WESP) report predicted<br />
a smart recovery for India<br />
in 2015. It pegged its 2015<br />
India growth forecast lower<br />
than the IMF’s — at 5.9 per<br />
cent. At 6.3 per cent, the UN<br />
WESP’s 2016 India growth<br />
forecast is, however, closer<br />
to that of the IMF.<br />
The IMF said global<br />
growth would receive a<br />
boost from lower oil prices.<br />
But this boost was projected<br />
to be more than offset by<br />
negative factors such as investment<br />
weakness, as adjustment<br />
to diminished<br />
expectations about mediumterm<br />
growth continues in<br />
many advanced and emerging<br />
market economies.<br />
It cut its global growth<br />
projection for 2015 to 3.5 per<br />
terms of moving into the middle<br />
class, the United States and<br />
Vietnam still do better, and the<br />
risk of falling into poverty is also<br />
substantially higher in South<br />
Asia. That raises the question —<br />
what kinds of jobs will increase<br />
this resilience.<br />
Additionally, the report finds<br />
he had “not decided” yet.<br />
“Whatever I do, (I) will do<br />
with dignity,” said the TMC<br />
MP. However, he also described<br />
the usual speculation<br />
of media as “myopic”.<br />
“Let us not be myopic...nothing<br />
may happen. I only say that<br />
the time has come to unleash<br />
the potential of the country under<br />
Mr Modi,” said the key<br />
founding member of the TMC.<br />
Speculation is escalating in<br />
Bengal’s media since Mr Trivedi’s<br />
comment in north-western<br />
Gujarat’s Kutch district,<br />
while sharing the stage with<br />
Prime Minister’s older brother,<br />
Somabhai Modi. Praising<br />
Prime Minister Narendra Modi<br />
for “good work”, Mr Trivedi<br />
said that TMC is “unnecessarily<br />
engaging” itself in confrontation<br />
with the BJP as Bengal is<br />
losing opportunities to grow.<br />
Reportedly, the rift between<br />
cent and for 2016 to 3.7 per<br />
cent, to show a downward<br />
revision of 0.3 per cent relative<br />
to its October 2014 forecast.<br />
The revision reflects a<br />
reassessment of prospects in<br />
China, Russia, the Euro area<br />
and Japan as well as weaker<br />
activity in some major oil exporters<br />
because of the sharp<br />
drop in oil prices, it said in<br />
the World Economic Outlook.<br />
The U.S. is the only major<br />
economy whose growth<br />
projections have been<br />
raised.<br />
In India, the growth forecast<br />
is broadly unchanged as<br />
weaker external demand is<br />
offset by the boost from lower<br />
oil prices and a pick-up in<br />
industrial and investment<br />
that social mobility was<br />
greater for backward castes<br />
When we look at the role of<br />
caste and tribe, first is in terms<br />
of opportunity — whether being<br />
from a backward caste or tribe<br />
matters for your access to education<br />
and health. The answer<br />
is yes, but it’s not the only<br />
factor.<br />
Then when we look at the<br />
mobility part, the news is mixed<br />
but generally positive. For older<br />
generations, people from<br />
lower castes and tribes tended<br />
to have lower occupational mobility<br />
than other groups; in recent<br />
years they have slightly<br />
more mobility than other<br />
groups, and that is encouraging<br />
news. This is not to say that jobs<br />
fully trump caste, but it is one of<br />
the few things that can really<br />
offset disadvantages.<br />
You have talked of the<br />
problems with redistributive<br />
measures, especially<br />
subsidies. Given that India is<br />
re-evaluating its food,<br />
fertilizer and fuel subsidies,<br />
what is your message on<br />
Mr Trivedi and TMC’s top<br />
management is increasing by<br />
the day and the former Railway<br />
Minister pulled no punches in<br />
criticising “the negative politics”<br />
of the TMC in West Bengal.<br />
On Tuesday, he went<br />
further. “It is time for mature<br />
politics in Bengal. But what are<br />
we doing (in Bengal),” he asked<br />
and added, “We are engaged in<br />
politics of violence and even in<br />
colleges, bombs are hurled during<br />
elections.”<br />
“The State is creating roadblocks<br />
to all developmental activities.<br />
Narendra Modi is<br />
doing very good work and tremendous<br />
positive energy has<br />
been generated. It is time to<br />
engage (with the Prime Minister)<br />
and grow together through<br />
some mature politics, but we<br />
are missing the opportunity,”<br />
the TMC M.P. from Barrackpore<br />
told The Hindu.<br />
activity after policy reforms<br />
by the Narendra Modi government,<br />
the IMF said.<br />
“India could overtake China,<br />
but it must be taken note<br />
of that China has grown at<br />
high growth rates of 9 per<br />
cent to 10 per cent over decades<br />
and it is a much larger<br />
economy and India will have<br />
to work to sustain high<br />
growth rates over a period of<br />
time to be an engine of global<br />
growth,” said Nagesh Kumar,<br />
the head of UN WESP,<br />
South and South-West Asia<br />
Office. He said there was no<br />
way other than the Centre to<br />
increase its public spending<br />
on infrastructure to take India<br />
on to a sustainable high<br />
growth path.<br />
“Jobs can offset the disadvantages of caste”<br />
Rukmini S<br />
NEW DELHI: Global Positioning<br />
System<br />
(GPS) tracking devices<br />
and satellite images<br />
would be used by<br />
intelligence and security<br />
agencies to keep a<br />
constant watch on the<br />
movements of U.S.<br />
President Barack Obama’s<br />
convoy during his visit.<br />
It is learnt that a dedicated<br />
joint control room consisting<br />
of senior Indian and U.S. security<br />
officials has been set up to<br />
monitor the security arrangements<br />
for Mr. Obama. A part of<br />
ITC Maurya, where the U.S.<br />
President will stay, has been<br />
converted into a control room.<br />
As a precautionary measure,<br />
agencies may block public access<br />
to online GPS maps of<br />
about a dozen places in Delhi,<br />
Martin Rama, Chief<br />
Economist of World<br />
Bank for South Asia<br />
region, interacts with<br />
The Hindu in New Delhi<br />
on Tuesday. — PHOTO:<br />
PRASHANT NAKWE<br />
what works?<br />
On the big picture, there is an<br />
approach to inequality that one<br />
could summarise as tax and redistribution.<br />
When you look at<br />
developing countries, that approach<br />
has many difficulties to<br />
be implemented. One of the<br />
things that characterises South<br />
Asia is low tax revenue and<br />
that’s not because taxes are<br />
structured differently — it’s because<br />
there is a lot of evasion, a<br />
lot of avoidance.<br />
And then, a lot of the tax revenue<br />
goes into subsidies. South<br />
Asia has remarkable social protection<br />
programmes — one<br />
should not throw the baby out<br />
with the bath water. But the issue<br />
is that in the name of inequality<br />
or poverty alleviation,<br />
some subsidies are regressive<br />
by design. This doesn’t mean<br />
that subsidies should be abolished<br />
— they should be well-targeted,<br />
they should be<br />
structured with Aadhaar cards<br />
or other mechanisms that can<br />
minimise leakage.<br />
(For full interview ,visit<br />
http://thne.ws/1AHRZin)<br />
GPS tracking devices to monitor Obama convoy<br />
Devesh K. Pandey<br />
which Mr. Obama is scheduled<br />
to visit. GPS maps of all venues<br />
have been designed<br />
to keep track of his<br />
movement. However,<br />
no drones will be<br />
deployed for aerial<br />
surveillance.<br />
U.S. sleuths have<br />
brought along antisabotage<br />
scanners<br />
to sanitise the venues in coordination<br />
with their Indian<br />
counterparts.<br />
Cyber security experts have<br />
been engaged for surveillance<br />
of suspicious online activity.<br />
Mr. Obama will use his own<br />
vehicle ‘The Beast.’ “His will be<br />
a larger cavalcade with over<br />
two dozen vehicles,” said an official.<br />
Following several rounds of<br />
meetings, it has been decided<br />
that on Republic Day, Mr. Obama<br />
will not accompany President<br />
Pranab Mukherjee to the<br />
parade venue, but will arrive in<br />
his 18-foot long Presidential<br />
car with Mr. Mukherjee’s cavalcade.<br />
“In 2007, as the chief guest<br />
at the Republic Day parade, the<br />
then Russian President Vladimir<br />
Putin had also used his<br />
own vehicle,” said the official.<br />
The entire city will be turned<br />
into a no-fly zone, allowing only<br />
the flypast of Indian Air<br />
Force aircraft.<br />
‘The Beast’ is an explosionproof<br />
heavily armoured vehicle<br />
fitted with a night vision<br />
system. It is a virtual shield capable<br />
of withstanding biochemical<br />
attacks and has its<br />
own oxygen supply mechanism.<br />
The seven-seater vehicle<br />
functions as a control room for<br />
the U.S. President to remain in<br />
touch with the Pentagon and<br />
senior U.S. government functionaries<br />
through video-conferencing<br />
or encrypted<br />
satellite phone communications.<br />
It is fitted with emergency<br />
medical equipment and has<br />
a bank of his blood type. The<br />
vehicle’s fuel tank, with a special<br />
foam coating, is armourplated<br />
and its doors have eightinch-thick<br />
armour plating. The<br />
car’s five-inch-thick windows<br />
are bulletproof. Its driver undergoes<br />
special week-long<br />
training at a secret service<br />
academy.<br />
For security reasons, the<br />
government may close the Yamuna<br />
Expressway connecting<br />
Delhi to Agra to facilitate Mr.<br />
Obama’s visit to the Taj Mahal.<br />
“We are yet to take a final decision<br />
in this regard. However,<br />
for VVIP movements, there always<br />
has to be an arrangement<br />
for alternative routes,” the official<br />
added.<br />
Atrocities can’t stop BJP,<br />
Amit Shah tells Trinamool<br />
Soumya Das<br />
BARDHAMAN: Accusing the Trinamool<br />
Congress (TMC) of<br />
committing atrocities against<br />
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)<br />
workers, party president<br />
Amit Shah cautioned Chief<br />
Minister Mamata Banerjee<br />
on Tuesday that if Trinamool<br />
wanted confrontation, BJP<br />
workers were ready for it.<br />
This comes in the backdrop<br />
of the increasing number<br />
of clashes between<br />
workers of the two parties in<br />
West Bengal.<br />
Addressing party workers<br />
at Bara Nilpur in Bardhaman<br />
district, Mr. Shah urged BJP<br />
workers not to get intimidated<br />
by TMC’s atrocities, but to<br />
work with the masses. Pointing<br />
out the BJP’s recent electoral<br />
success in Haryana,<br />
Maharashtra and Jammu and<br />
Strategy to convert<br />
ordinances into law<br />
Smita Gupta<br />
NEW DELHI: As the countdown<br />
to Parliament’s budget<br />
session, likely to start<br />
in the third week of February,<br />
begins, senior Central<br />
Ministers met here on<br />
Tuesday to strategise on<br />
ensuring that the slew of<br />
ordinances issued by the<br />
government are converted<br />
into law.<br />
This comes a day after<br />
President Pranab Mukherjee<br />
cautioned the Modi<br />
government on its excessive<br />
use of ordinances, in<br />
the wake of strident Opposition<br />
criticism that this<br />
was an attempt to bypass<br />
Parliament and, even some<br />
voices of dissent from<br />
within the Union Cabinet.<br />
A top government<br />
source told The Hindu:<br />
“The focus of today’s meeting<br />
was: since the Opposition<br />
is pursuing the<br />
ordinance issue so aggressively,<br />
let’s not be caught<br />
out on procedural issues.”<br />
If the government is<br />
conscious of the need to<br />
deal with the negative publicity<br />
its eight ordinances<br />
have received, it is equally<br />
concerned that if some of<br />
the key ordinances do not<br />
become law within the<br />
mandatory six weeks from<br />
the start of the budget session,<br />
the situation could<br />
‘Pakistan court ignored<br />
evidence given by India’<br />
Rashmi Rajput<br />
MUMBAI: The Mumbai Police<br />
have conveyed to the Ministry<br />
of External Affairs that<br />
the Pakistani court which<br />
granted bail to Zaki-ur-Rehman<br />
Lakhvi — the alleged 26/<br />
11 mastermind and top Lashkar-e-Taiba<br />
commander — in<br />
the ongoing Mumbai attacks<br />
trial in Pakistan, has apparently<br />
not taken into consideration<br />
the evidence they<br />
BJP president Amit Shah at a rally in Bardhaman<br />
in West Bengal on Tuesday. — PHOTO: PTI<br />
Kashmir, he said, “The BJP<br />
will form the next government<br />
in Bengal.”<br />
Referring to the alleged<br />
assault on a woman, said to<br />
be a relative of a BJP worker,<br />
by officials of Birbhum district<br />
police, Mr. Shah said,<br />
pose a problem. This is because<br />
no ordinance can be<br />
re-promulgated in the<br />
middle of a session and a<br />
budget session typically<br />
runs for roughly two-anda-half<br />
months with a<br />
break.<br />
The ordinances that received<br />
the maximum attention<br />
at the meeting<br />
were the Coal Mines Ordinance<br />
and the Insurance<br />
Ordinance, in that order.<br />
But Coal Secretary Anil<br />
Swarup — present at the<br />
meeting along with his<br />
counterparts from other<br />
Ministries — is reported to<br />
have assured the government<br />
that his department<br />
would be able to complete<br />
a substantial part of the<br />
work for which the ordinance<br />
was issued.<br />
The Coal Ministry, for<br />
instance, is confident that<br />
it will be able to have some<br />
alternative in place by<br />
March 23 for the 42 functioning<br />
coal blocks where<br />
mining was cancelled by<br />
the Supreme Court, so that<br />
the flow of coal does not<br />
stop. (These were part of<br />
the 204 blocks in which<br />
mining was cancelled by<br />
the apex court — mining<br />
has not begun in the others).<br />
In addition, the Ministry<br />
will have the time to<br />
auction another 32 blocks<br />
not in the SC list.<br />
submitted, The Hindu has<br />
learnt.<br />
Responding to a letter<br />
from the MEA on the Pakistan<br />
court’s bail order, the police<br />
have said they can make<br />
only a prima facie determination<br />
on the merits of the<br />
court’s action as they are not<br />
privy to the Indian court report<br />
on the cross examination<br />
of four Indian<br />
witnesses by the Pakistani<br />
Judicial Commission which<br />
visited Mumbai twice.<br />
“The Indian court had submitted<br />
its report in a sealed<br />
envelope and we therefore<br />
are not privy to what the<br />
court had opined. However,<br />
we have studied the order by<br />
the Pakistani court at length<br />
and it nowhere makes a mention<br />
of the evidence sent by<br />
the Indian court,” a senior<br />
police officer told The Hindu.<br />
In March 2012, the eightmember<br />
Pakistani Commission<br />
visited India and examined<br />
four Indian witnesses to<br />
collect evidence in connection<br />
with Lakhvi and others<br />
facing trial in Pakistan. However,<br />
the report submitted by<br />
the panel was rejected by<br />
their court as the Commission<br />
members were not allowed<br />
to cross-examine the<br />
witnesses.<br />
Eventually, the two countries<br />
arrived on a consensus<br />
to allow the Indian witnesses<br />
to be cross-examined by the<br />
Judicial Commission. In September<br />
2013, the Indian witnesses<br />
deposed before the<br />
Pakistani Commission during<br />
its second visit. The hearing<br />
took place at the<br />
Mumbai’s Esplanade court<br />
and the evidence was recorded<br />
by Additional Chief Metropolitan<br />
Magistrate P.Y.<br />
Ladekar who later sent the<br />
same in a sealed envelope to<br />
the Pakistani court.<br />
The MEA in its letter had<br />
asked the Mumbai police to<br />
study the bail order of Lakhvi<br />
issued by an anti-terrorism<br />
court of Pakistan. Lakhvi and<br />
seven others, including Abdul<br />
Wajid, Mazhar Iqbal, Sadiq,<br />
Shahid Jameel Riaz,<br />
Jamil Ahmed and Younas<br />
Anjum, were arrested in<br />
2009 for planning, financing<br />
and executing the Mumbai<br />
attack. In December 2014,<br />
Lakhvi was released on bail.<br />
“Mamata Banerjee, you cannot<br />
stop BJP’s winning<br />
streak by committing<br />
atrocities.”<br />
He accused Ms. Banerjee<br />
of shielding her party leaders<br />
who were allegedly involved<br />
in the Saradha scam.<br />
Periyar Tiger Reserve wins NTCA award<br />
Meena Menon<br />
NEW DELHI: The Periyar Tiger<br />
Reserve, spread over 925<br />
sq.km. in Kerala, bagged the<br />
National Tiger Conservation<br />
Authority (NTCA)<br />
biennial award on Tuesday<br />
for encouraging local public<br />
participation in managing<br />
the reserve.<br />
CM<br />
YK<br />
There are 75 communities<br />
living around the reserve,<br />
including tribal<br />
people who are dependent<br />
on eco-development programmes,<br />
said field director<br />
of the reserve Amit Mallick<br />
on Tuesday.<br />
The community-based<br />
eco-tourism activities<br />
helped visitors and there<br />
were night scouting programmes<br />
with the help of<br />
expert trackers as well.<br />
Tourism was supplemented<br />
by pepper growing and marketing<br />
which was a value addition.<br />
Now, self-help<br />
groups were involved in<br />
honey processing and other<br />
income-generating activities,<br />
Dr. Mallick said.<br />
‘Hurdles to foreign investment will be cleared’<br />
Parvathi Menon<br />
LONDON: Inviting British industry<br />
to invest in “happening”<br />
India, Commerce and<br />
Industry Minister Nirmala<br />
Sitharaman pledged her government’s<br />
commitment to<br />
easing conditions for foreign<br />
companies in India.<br />
Speaking to U.K. and Indian<br />
businesspeople gathered<br />
at the 10th Joint Economic<br />
and Trade Committee meeting<br />
here on Monday, Ms.<br />
Sitharaman said that India<br />
with its 5 per cent growth<br />
rate remained a far more<br />
attractive investment destination<br />
than parts of Europe<br />
— including Germany — for<br />
British businesses, particularly<br />
given the Indian government’s<br />
recent drive to<br />
reform business rules.<br />
She pointed to the over 40<br />
changes to the rules of the<br />
Companies Act 2013 (effective<br />
since April 2014) that<br />
her Ministry had brought in.<br />
To ensure measures were<br />
speedily implemented she<br />
said the government had<br />
used — and would continue<br />
to use — the ordinance<br />
route.<br />
ND-ND
NOIDA/DELHI<br />
THE HINDU WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 21, 2015<br />
‘Modi is my action hero’<br />
Omar Rashid<br />
MUMBAI: As the political undertone<br />
of the newly constituted<br />
Censor Board of Film<br />
Certificate (CBFC) was apparent<br />
on Tuesday, there are<br />
serious concerns among artists<br />
in the film industry that<br />
the ideological ‘homogeneity’<br />
of the current crop of<br />
members could undermine<br />
freedom of expression.<br />
They pointed out that the<br />
new chairman of the regulatory<br />
body Pahlaj Nihalani,<br />
a day after assuming position,<br />
unabashedly lavished<br />
praises on Prime Minister<br />
Narendra Modi while openly<br />
flaunting his association<br />
with the BJP.<br />
Describing Mr. Modi as a<br />
visionary who believes in action,<br />
Mr. Nihalani said the<br />
PM was his “action hero.”<br />
“What's wrong in it? I’m<br />
proud to say I’m a BJP person.<br />
I believe in Mr. Modi<br />
and his leadership,” Mr. Nihalani<br />
responded to the allegations<br />
that the new board<br />
had a definitive BJP slant.<br />
A member of the BJP film<br />
cell, then headed by BJP<br />
leader Kirit Somaiya when<br />
the Vajpayee government<br />
India, Pakistan had a solution<br />
for Kashmir in 2001: Kasuri<br />
Nirupama Subramanian<br />
Pahlaj Nihalani<br />
was in power, Mr. Nihalani,<br />
however, said he would<br />
strictly enforce the guidelines<br />
of the board and would<br />
work in a fair and transparent<br />
manner. Training his<br />
guns on the outgoing chairman<br />
Leela Samson for “unnecessarily<br />
creating a<br />
controversy” over her resignation<br />
last week, Mr. Nihalani<br />
said Ms. Samson cried<br />
injustice at the end of her<br />
tenure but barely took any<br />
initiative to improve the<br />
functioning of the board.<br />
It is a well known trend<br />
that successive governments<br />
pack the regulatory board<br />
with members considered<br />
sympathetic to it.<br />
ssHowever, critics have<br />
Book by Pakistan<br />
ex-minister to reveal<br />
details of secret talks<br />
CHENNAI: “Are you a hawk or a dove<br />
on India, Kasuri saheb?” Those<br />
were General Pervez Musharraf<br />
first words to the man he was going<br />
to appoint as his foreign minister<br />
in 2002 after that year’s<br />
general election in Pakistan cemented<br />
the military ruler’s 1999<br />
coup and a controversially won<br />
presidency.<br />
Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri held<br />
the foreign affairs portfolio to the<br />
end of the Musharraf government<br />
in 2008, playing a leading role in<br />
the India-Pakistan peace process<br />
that formally began in 2003 with<br />
the ceasefire along the Line of<br />
Control (LoC).<br />
In a book to be published next<br />
month, the former minister is set<br />
to provide an insider account of<br />
those years, one of the most secretive<br />
and fascinating periods of India-Pakistan<br />
diplomacy, and also<br />
the best time in recent decades for<br />
bilateral relations.<br />
As the title of the book suggests,<br />
Neither Hawk Nor Dove was Mr.<br />
Kasuri’s response to the military<br />
ruler’s question. More exactly, the<br />
former foreign minister told The<br />
Hindu in an interview from Lahore,<br />
he has been “a great believer”<br />
in peaceful relations between<br />
the two countries “for decades,<br />
from even before the time I became<br />
a foreign minister.”<br />
Declining to divulge any specifics<br />
from the book as that would<br />
violate his contract with the publishers,<br />
Mr. Kasuri nonetheless<br />
said it would contain details that<br />
are “true” even if “it is going to<br />
make people angry.”<br />
“I have given the exact details<br />
that have never been revealed. I<br />
have given the background in<br />
which the peace process took<br />
place, and the context in which it<br />
happened,” said Mr. Kasuri. He is<br />
now a prominent member of Imran<br />
Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-<br />
Insaf party. He is in India this<br />
week to speak at the Jaipur Literature<br />
Festival which begins on<br />
Wednesday.<br />
Earlier accounts have suggested<br />
that robust backchannel diplomacy<br />
had helped the two sides<br />
arrive at a non-paper, a secret<br />
document outlining the contours<br />
of a political settlement on Kashmir.<br />
It was widely believed then that<br />
only five people in Pakistan were<br />
privy to the peace process. Mr.<br />
Kasuri, who is admittedly one of<br />
them, said his book would lay<br />
bare the details of that non-paper<br />
beyond the generally known<br />
‘four-point formula.’<br />
raised serious concerns over<br />
the political affiliations of<br />
the new CBFC members saying<br />
their ‘political homogeneity’<br />
could lead to<br />
conservatism in line with the<br />
ideology of the RSS.<br />
Most of the nominated<br />
members of the new board<br />
are either direct members of<br />
the BJP, open sympathisers<br />
or considered ideologically<br />
close to the RSS. Mr. Nihalani<br />
is himself credited with<br />
the ‘Har Ghar Modi’ song in<br />
praise of Mr. Modi during<br />
the election campaign.<br />
Noted film critic Ajay Brahmatmaj<br />
said: “Any film that<br />
is perceived to be anti-BJP<br />
or anti-Hindu Rashtra or anti-nationalist<br />
could be censored.<br />
The party that<br />
stresses a ban on women<br />
wearing jeans and pubs on<br />
moral grounds may have the<br />
ideological inclination to be<br />
conservative.” A former<br />
member of the board, speaking<br />
to The Hindu on the condition<br />
of anonymity, said:<br />
“Some of the members are<br />
not just associated with the<br />
party but are RSS ideologues.<br />
There are strong fears that it<br />
might lead to ideological<br />
conservatism.”<br />
Rs. 1-crore award for villages<br />
attaining balanced sex ratio<br />
Gaurav Vivek Bhatnagar<br />
CHANDIGARH: Union Minister<br />
for Women and Child Development<br />
Maneka Gandhi announced<br />
a Rs. 1-crore award<br />
on Tuesday for any innovative<br />
village attaining a balanced<br />
sex ratio.<br />
At the inaugural session of<br />
a national thematic workshop<br />
on woman and child development<br />
in Panipat, Ms. Gandhi<br />
urged the State<br />
governments and the district<br />
commissioners and other officials<br />
to work together for<br />
the success of the Beti Bachao<br />
Beti Padhao (Save daughter,<br />
educate daughter) programme<br />
to be launched by<br />
Prime Minister Narendra<br />
Modi in that city on<br />
Thursday.<br />
Ms. Gandhi said the Prime<br />
Minister chose Haryana to<br />
launch the campaign as it was<br />
one of the States with a low<br />
female sex ratio. One<br />
hundred districts with a low<br />
female sex ratio were selected<br />
nationwide for the campaign,<br />
and 12 of them, including Panipat,<br />
were in Haryana.<br />
She said the campaign<br />
would aim to change the<br />
mindset of the people towards<br />
the girl child, calling<br />
for innovative solutions to<br />
ending violence and crime<br />
against women and the dowry<br />
system, the root cause of female<br />
foeticide. “The notion of<br />
Paraya Dhan must be discouraged<br />
to ensure that parents<br />
do not hesitate to have a<br />
girl child,” she said.The Minister<br />
said 70 per cent of the<br />
children affected by malnutrition<br />
in the country were<br />
“It will go beyond the four<br />
points. People will be able to<br />
understand what we did on the<br />
backchannel framework on Kashmir,”<br />
Mr. Kasuri said.<br />
That framework, Mr. Kasuri<br />
said, “is still the only workable<br />
solution. It took three years, so<br />
many drafts were exchanged. You<br />
can’t reinvent the wheel.”<br />
It was “pretty much finished,<br />
only one or two little things needed<br />
ironing out,” Mr. Kasuri said,<br />
and after that “we would have<br />
presented it to the governments,<br />
to the public, to the media.”<br />
There is a full chapter in the<br />
book on the Pakistan Army based<br />
on Mr. Kasuri’s five years of dealing<br />
with the country’s most powerful<br />
institution first hand.<br />
Dismissing suggestions that the<br />
Pakistan Army was not on board<br />
regarding the Musharraf-Vajpayee-initiated<br />
peace process,<br />
Mr. Kasuri said: “I have quoted<br />
secret cables to show that all the<br />
others in the Pakistan Army were<br />
fully on board… It will help understand<br />
the role played by the<br />
Army in that process.”<br />
The only way to break the impasse<br />
in the India-Pakistan relations,<br />
Mr. Kasuri said, was “to<br />
take forward the legacies of Pervez<br />
Musharraf and Atal Bihari<br />
Vajpayee.” Both, he said, had<br />
“travelled a long distance [in their<br />
thinking] to arrive at the wisdom<br />
that the only option is peace.”<br />
girls.<br />
Haryana Chief Minister<br />
Manohar Lal Khattar said his<br />
government would set up<br />
special funds at the district<br />
level for preparing schemes<br />
and programmes for the welfare<br />
of the girl child, from<br />
childhood to education. Expressing<br />
concern at the gender<br />
imbalance, he said: “The<br />
low sex ratio in the State is a<br />
cause for concern and a challenge,<br />
but the visit of the<br />
Prime Minister will inspire us<br />
to further improve the sex<br />
ratio.”<br />
Mr. Khattar warned of<br />
stern action to curb female<br />
foeticide, and cited the example<br />
of Jhajjar district, which<br />
had the overall lowest sex ratio<br />
of 782 at birth during 2011,<br />
but raised it to 901 last December.<br />
Greenpeace hails Delhi HC ruling<br />
Mohammed Iqbal<br />
NEW DELHI: Greenpeace India<br />
on Tuesday hailed the Delhi<br />
High Court decision directing<br />
the Centre to release foreign<br />
contributions that were frozen<br />
by the Ministry of Home Affairs<br />
in June last year. The<br />
NGO said the decision was a<br />
“victory for democracy and<br />
free speech” and recognition of<br />
the vital role NGOs play in a<br />
free society.<br />
The court observed that all<br />
NGOs were entitled to their<br />
views, and it could not be surmised<br />
that they were acting<br />
against national interest merely<br />
because they were not in<br />
consonance with the government’s<br />
views. The court also<br />
noted that the Home Ministry<br />
had stated in its reply that<br />
Greenpeace India could have<br />
access to all foreign funds except<br />
those of Greenpeace International,<br />
as the latter had<br />
been put on a watch list. But no<br />
material was placed on record<br />
against<br />
Greenpeace<br />
International.<br />
While the Central government’s<br />
standing counsel Jasmeet<br />
Singh opposed the<br />
arguments of Greenpeace India<br />
and contended that the<br />
Home Ministry had a problem<br />
I-T department notice to Greenpeace<br />
Meena Menon &<br />
Suhasini Haider<br />
Govt. sets a new<br />
record, opens 11.50<br />
crore bank accounts<br />
opened under Jan<br />
Dhan Yojana<br />
Special Correspondent<br />
with the donor, petitioner<br />
Greenpeace International’s<br />
counsel Sanjay Parikh said the<br />
Ministry’s decision was never<br />
communicated to it.<br />
Counsel contended that<br />
Greenpeace India submitted a<br />
representation to the Centre<br />
in July last year asking for the<br />
relevant documents, but did<br />
not receive any reply. The<br />
NGO accused the Centre of<br />
abusing its powers under the<br />
FCRA Act. The Home Ministry<br />
had reportedly directed the<br />
Reserve Bank of India to get<br />
prior permission from its<br />
FCRA Department before<br />
clearing any foreign aid to<br />
NEW DELHI: Union Finance Minister Arun<br />
Jaitley said on Tuesday that the Guinness<br />
Book of World Records had recognised the<br />
achievements made under the Pradhan<br />
Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY), the biggest<br />
financial inclusion initiative in the<br />
world. The records book gave a certificate<br />
on Tuesday stating that the “Most bank accounts<br />
opened in one week as part of the<br />
Financial Inclusion Campaign is 1,80,96,130<br />
and was achieved by the Department of Financial<br />
Services, Government of India, from<br />
23rd to 29th August, 2014.”<br />
By January 17, 2015 banks had opened<br />
11.50 crore accounts, covering 99.74 per<br />
cent of the households that were outside the<br />
banking system against the original target of<br />
7.5 crore accounts that Prime Minister Narendra<br />
Modi had set for achieving by January<br />
26, 2015.<br />
Addressing reporters, Mr. Jaitley said<br />
that out of the accounts opened, cumulatively,<br />
the deposits across the accounts totalled<br />
to Rs. 9,188 crore. The share of<br />
women account holders was about 51 per<br />
cent and 60 per cent of the accounts were in<br />
rural areas. Mr. Jaitley said Rupay cards had<br />
been issued to more than 10 crore beneficiaries<br />
who would get a benefit of personal<br />
accidental insurance of Rs. 1 lakh under the<br />
Yojana. In addition, a life insurance cover of<br />
Rs. 30,000 was also being provided to eligible<br />
beneficiaries.<br />
Haryana to create special<br />
fund for girls: Khattar<br />
PANIPAT: Haryana Chief Minister<br />
Manohar Lal Khattar on<br />
Tuesday said that special<br />
fund would be created at the<br />
district level for schemes and<br />
programmes for girls’ welfare<br />
right from their childhood to<br />
education.<br />
The schemes would aim at<br />
ensuring their education,<br />
marriage, construction of<br />
separate toilets and to eradicate<br />
malnutrition, Mr. Khattar<br />
said here addressing the<br />
inaugural session of two-day<br />
National Thematic Workshop<br />
on “Best Practices for<br />
Women and Child Development.”<br />
It has been organised<br />
as a part of ‘Beti Bachao Beti<br />
Padhao’ programme.<br />
Expressing concern over<br />
the gender imbalance, Mr.<br />
Khattar said that this problem<br />
is a country-wide issue. -<br />
PTI<br />
Greenpeace from Greenpeace<br />
International and Climate<br />
Works. The RBI clears such<br />
transactions on a case-to-case<br />
basis. Greenpeace India Executive<br />
Director Samit Aich said<br />
in a statement that the High<br />
Court’s decision was a “vindication<br />
of our work and the role<br />
that credible NGOs play in<br />
support of India’s development.”<br />
The court had upheld<br />
the legitimacy of the issues<br />
Greenpeace takes up in India,<br />
he said.<br />
“The Court’s decision has<br />
come at a crucial time when<br />
sections in the government<br />
seem determined to harass us<br />
NEW DELHI: The Union Health<br />
Ministry has asked the States to<br />
ensure facilities for the diagnosis<br />
and treatment of H1N1 infection<br />
(swine flu).<br />
Officials said the outbreak of<br />
the infection this time had not<br />
been as virulent as it was in<br />
2009. The Centre had urged the<br />
States to create awareness of flu<br />
symptoms, preventive measures,<br />
diagnostic facilities and<br />
treatment.<br />
The health departments have<br />
been asked to ensure sanitation<br />
and hygiene in public places.<br />
High-risk groups, which include<br />
those with low immunity,<br />
non-communicable diseases<br />
such as diabetes or serious ailments,<br />
have been advised to<br />
take precautions and report to<br />
the nearest hospital or diagnostic<br />
centre in case of symptoms.<br />
Earlier this month, senior officials<br />
took stock of the prepa-<br />
NEW DELHI: Even as the Delhi High Court on<br />
Tuesday directed the government to unblock<br />
contributions to Greenpeace, the<br />
NGO seems to have another battle on its<br />
hands.<br />
On March 31, 2014, Greenpeace India<br />
Society received a notice from the Income<br />
Tax department asking it to pay Rs 2.484<br />
crore for the financial year 2010-11 and<br />
assessment year 2011-2012. Another notice<br />
for Rs. 1.49 crore was sent to Greenpeace<br />
Environmental Trust for the same<br />
period, adding up to Rs 3.794 crore in all.<br />
In response to questions from The Hindu,<br />
Greenpeace India executive director Samit<br />
Aich said the NGO was planning to contest<br />
the amount.<br />
“We have appealed to the appellate authority,<br />
but in the meantime we have<br />
agreed to pay 25 per cent of that amount…<br />
about Rs. 99.47 lakh. We believe that the<br />
Income tax demand is not rational and we<br />
are determined to contest that.”<br />
redness level to deal with H1N1.<br />
The Centre has asked the State<br />
governments to stock medicines<br />
and make arrangements<br />
for treatment.<br />
NATIONAL<br />
13<br />
Karat: ordinance<br />
route shows up<br />
government<br />
J.S. Ifthekhar<br />
HYDERABAD: The central committee<br />
of the Communist<br />
Party of India (Marxist) has<br />
faulted the Narendra Modi<br />
government for bypassing<br />
Parliament and taking the ordinance<br />
route to increase foreign<br />
direct investment in the<br />
insurance sector by 49 per<br />
cent, opening up of the coal<br />
industry to private sector<br />
mining and diluting the Land<br />
Acquisition Act by adding<br />
amendments, taking away the<br />
right of farmers and landowners.<br />
“The ordinance route reveals<br />
the character of the Modi<br />
government,” General<br />
Secretary Prakash Karat told<br />
journalists here on Tuesday,<br />
after attending the second<br />
day’s session of the<br />
committee.<br />
The committee has taken<br />
strong note of the ‘right-wing<br />
offensive’ unleashed by the<br />
Bharatiya Janata Party after<br />
assuming power at the Centre.<br />
At the same time Rashtriya<br />
Swayamsevak Sangh-led<br />
Hindutva forces are also trying<br />
to advance their communal<br />
agenda, it said.<br />
H1N1: States told to be ready<br />
Special Correspondent<br />
and other NGOs. We are glad<br />
the court ruled that the government’s<br />
actions had no basis<br />
in law. This is a strong signal<br />
from the judiciary that the government<br />
must cease its campaign<br />
of harassment of the civil<br />
society,” said Mr. Aich.<br />
The court’s decision has<br />
come shortly after Greenpeace<br />
India campaigner Priya Pillai<br />
was prevented from boarding<br />
her flight to London earlier<br />
this month. She was on her<br />
way to address British parliamentarians<br />
on the alleged legal<br />
and human rights violations in<br />
Mahan, where a coal mine is<br />
proposed to be established.<br />
1 dead in Chennai<br />
A 53-year-old man died of<br />
complications from H1N1 viral<br />
infection (swine flu) in a government<br />
hospital here on<br />
Monday.<br />
Doctors at Rajiv Gandhi Government<br />
General Hospital said<br />
P. Sreenivasan of Mannady in<br />
north Chennai had been admitted<br />
first to a private hospital in<br />
the city. On January 16, he was<br />
brought to the General Hospital.<br />
“He was in a bad shape when<br />
he came in, with pneumonia.<br />
We administered Tamiflu and<br />
gave him all necessary treatment<br />
and support,” a senior<br />
doctor said<br />
Bal Thackeray’s medical<br />
records given to court<br />
Vinaya Deshpande<br />
MUMBAI: A representative of Lilavati<br />
Hospital on Tuesday submitted the<br />
medical records of deceased Shiv Sena<br />
leader Bal Thackeray to the Bombay<br />
High Court. The records<br />
pertaining to Thackeray’s medical<br />
condition between November and<br />
December 2011 were submitted as<br />
per the court’s directions.<br />
The court was hearing the matter<br />
challenging the probate of Bal<br />
Thackeray’s will by his son and present<br />
Shiv Sena leader Uddhav<br />
Thackeray.<br />
Uddhav’s elder brother and Balasaheb’s<br />
estranged son Jaidev Thackeray<br />
has challenged the will on the<br />
CM<br />
YK<br />
ground that Balasaheb was of unsound<br />
mind while signing it. According<br />
to the will, Mr. Jaidev will not<br />
inherit anything from his father.<br />
On Tuesday, two volumes of medical<br />
records, running into 60 pages,<br />
were submitted to the court. Mr. Jaidev’s<br />
counsel Seema Sarnaik sought<br />
time to inspect the records. She said<br />
she would not be able to cross examine<br />
Dr. Jaleel Parkar, one of the attesting<br />
witnesses of the will,<br />
properly without studying the medical<br />
records.<br />
The court was to record Dr. Parkar's<br />
statement on Tuesday. But his<br />
examination was postponed till February<br />
20, when the court is slated to<br />
hear the matter again.<br />
ND-ND
INTERNATIONAL<br />
NOIDA/DELHI<br />
14 THE HINDU WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 21, 2015<br />
TWO JAPANESE JOURNALISTS UNDER THREAT<br />
IS demands $200-million ransom to free hostages<br />
Tokyo vows not to give in; since August, IS has murdered three Americans and two Britons<br />
Educated<br />
women face<br />
IS threat<br />
GENEVA: The U.N. on<br />
Tuesday decried numerous<br />
executions of civilians in<br />
Iraq by the Islamic State<br />
group, warning that<br />
educated women appeared<br />
to be especially at risk.<br />
The jihadist group is<br />
showing a “monstrous<br />
disregard for human life”<br />
in the areas it controls in<br />
Iraq, the U.N. human<br />
rights office said.<br />
The group, which<br />
controls large swathes of<br />
territory in Iraq and in<br />
neighbouring war-ravaged<br />
Syria, last week published<br />
pictures of the<br />
“crucifixions” of two men<br />
accused of being bandits,<br />
and of a woman being<br />
stoned to death, allegedly<br />
for adultery. — AFP<br />
BEIRUT: The Islamic State (IS)<br />
group threatened in a video on<br />
Tuesday to kill two Japanese<br />
hostages within 72 hours unless<br />
it receives a $200 million<br />
ransom, but Tokyo vowed it<br />
would not bow to “terrorism”.<br />
Japanese Prime Minister<br />
Shinzo Abe, in Jerusalem on<br />
the latest leg of a Middle East<br />
tour, demanded the jihadists<br />
immediately free the two hostages<br />
unharmed.<br />
He flew home several hours<br />
earlier than planned to take<br />
charge of the crisis after meeting<br />
with Palestinian President<br />
Mahmud Abbas, who condemned<br />
the threat against the<br />
abductees as “despicable”.<br />
IS has murdered five Western<br />
hostages since August last<br />
year, but it is the first time that<br />
the extremist group — which<br />
has seized swathes of Syria and<br />
neighbouring Iraq — has<br />
threatened Japanese captives.<br />
In footage posted on jihadist<br />
websites, a black-clad militant<br />
brandishing a knife addresses<br />
the camera in English, standing<br />
between hostages Kenji<br />
Goto and Haruna Yukawa who<br />
are wearing orange jumpsuits.<br />
“You now have 72 hours to<br />
pressure your government into<br />
making a wise decision by<br />
paying the $200 million to<br />
save the lives of your citizens,”<br />
he says.<br />
The militant says that the<br />
ransom demand is to compensate<br />
for non-military aid that<br />
the Japanese Prime Minister<br />
pledged to support countries<br />
affected by IS violence at the<br />
start of his Middle East tour.<br />
Would not bow: Abe<br />
But Mr. Abe said Japan<br />
would not bow to extremism<br />
and pledged to honour his<br />
promise of aid.<br />
“I strongly demand that<br />
they not be harmed and that<br />
they be immediately released,”<br />
he told a news conference in<br />
Jerusalem.<br />
“The international community<br />
will not give in to any form<br />
of terrorism and we have to<br />
make sure that we work<br />
together.”<br />
Mr. Abe said the aid he had<br />
A television screen with news reports about the two<br />
Japanese men kidnapped by the IS. — PHOTO: AFP<br />
promised in Cairo on Saturday<br />
was to help the displaced and<br />
those made homeless by the<br />
conflict in Iraq and Syria.<br />
“This position is unshakable,”<br />
he said, describing the<br />
assistance as “absolutely necessary”<br />
for the survival of people<br />
who have fled fighting.<br />
Since August, IS has murdered<br />
three Americans and<br />
two Britons, posting grisly video<br />
footage of their executions.<br />
The militant who appeared<br />
in the video threatening the<br />
Japanese hostages spoke with<br />
a very similar southern English<br />
accent to the militant<br />
who appeared in the footage<br />
posted of the executions of the<br />
Britons and Americans.<br />
Mr. Goto is a freelance journalist,<br />
born in 1967, who set up<br />
a video production company,<br />
named Independent Press in<br />
Tokyo in 1996, feeding video<br />
documentaries on the Middle<br />
East and other regions to Japanese<br />
television networks,<br />
including public broadcaster<br />
NHK.<br />
He had been out of contact<br />
since late October after telling<br />
family that he intended to return<br />
to Japan, NHK reported.<br />
Mr. Yukawa is a 42-year-old<br />
widower who reportedly has a<br />
history of attempted suicide<br />
and self-mutilation after his<br />
military goods business went<br />
bankrupt and his wife died of<br />
cancer.<br />
He came to widespread attention<br />
in Japan when he appeared<br />
in footage posted last<br />
August in which he was shown<br />
being roughly interrogated by<br />
his captors.He offered brief responses<br />
to questions posed in<br />
English about why he was in<br />
Syria and the reason he was<br />
carrying a gun.<br />
He replied in stilted English<br />
that he was a “photographer”<br />
and a “journalist, half doctor”.<br />
— AFP<br />
Yemen: President’s residence seized<br />
SANA’A: Shia militia fighters<br />
attacked Yemeni President<br />
Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi’s<br />
residence and seized the<br />
LAGOS: Nigeria was on Tuesday<br />
awarded $8.1 million in funding<br />
for a final push to eradicate<br />
polio, as it nears six months<br />
without a case of the disease.<br />
Nigeria is one of three<br />
countries worldwide where polio<br />
is considered endemic. The two<br />
others are Pakistan and<br />
presidential palace on Tuesday<br />
in what officials said was a bid<br />
to overthrow his embattled<br />
government.<br />
As the U.N. Security Council<br />
began an emergency meeting<br />
over the unrest, Secretary<br />
General Ban Ki-moon said he<br />
was “gravely concerned” and<br />
called for an immediate halt to<br />
the fighting. — AFP<br />
Nigeria: six months without polio case<br />
MOSCOW: Two Russian<br />
performance artists were jailed<br />
for 10 days on Tuesday after<br />
throwing holy water at the Lenin<br />
Mausoleum on Red Square and<br />
shouting, “Rise up and leave!”<br />
The men were sentenced to<br />
10 days in police cells for petty<br />
hooliganism after the protest<br />
they carried out on Monday, an<br />
Afghanistan.<br />
The last case of the polio<br />
virus in Nigeria was on July 24 in<br />
the northern State of Kano. Last<br />
year, the country recorded a<br />
total of six cases, according to<br />
the Global Polio Eradication<br />
Initiative. That compares with 53<br />
in 2013, the group said. — AFP<br />
2 jailed for desecrating Lenin Mausoleum<br />
Orthodox holiday, a member of<br />
their art group, Irina Dumitskaya<br />
told AFP.<br />
The two men, Oleg Basov, a<br />
dance teacher, and Yevgeny<br />
Avilov, a computer programmer,<br />
are members of an antiestablishment<br />
art group called<br />
Blue Rider, Ms. Dumitskaya said.<br />
— AFP<br />
Following Maoist-led strike, Constituent Assembly meeting adjourned<br />
Will implement 13th Amendment within a unitary state: Ranil<br />
Atul Aneja<br />
BEIJING: The change of guard<br />
in Sri Lanka has triggered a<br />
debate in China that despite<br />
its economic heft, the country<br />
may still be lacking in diplomatic<br />
power to influence<br />
smaller countries when it really<br />
counts.<br />
An editorial in the Global<br />
Times, usually a bellweather<br />
of the mood within the Communist<br />
Party of China (CPC),<br />
cautions that it would be premature<br />
to conclude that the<br />
exit of Mahinda Rajapaksa,<br />
and the arrival of Maithripala<br />
Sirisena as the President of<br />
Sri Lanka, is a blow to China’s<br />
interests in the strategically<br />
located island nation.<br />
Yet it signalled that uncertainties<br />
had crept in, and the<br />
new dispensation in Colombo<br />
was sending mixed signals.<br />
The article pointed out<br />
that last week, Sri Lanka had<br />
stated that “it would review<br />
the construction of a Chinese-backed<br />
port close to<br />
Colombo, citing issues over<br />
transparency in the contract<br />
and environmental reasons”.<br />
“But the new government<br />
also said the reassessment<br />
does not indicate a cancellation<br />
of the project, and construction<br />
can resume if the<br />
review finds no fault.”<br />
On Friday, the Sri Lankan<br />
government declared that<br />
the $1.5 billion Hambantota<br />
port deal with China Communication<br />
Construction Co.<br />
Ltd. would be reviewed over<br />
concerns that the Chinese<br />
company was getting freehold<br />
land in a high-security<br />
Damakant Jayshi<br />
Transition triggers introspection<br />
zone.<br />
The commentary pointed<br />
out that the Chinese side<br />
would suffer heavy financial<br />
losses if the project was halted<br />
— a situation similar to<br />
that in Myanmar, where projects<br />
were being stalled.<br />
On Colombo-Delhi ties<br />
The editorial recognised<br />
India’s traditional ties with<br />
Sri Lanka, but stressed that<br />
competition between Beijing<br />
and New Delhi in Sri Lanka is<br />
“not exclusive” or confrontational.<br />
It also focused on the complementarities<br />
in the relationship,<br />
stressing that<br />
China was an “irreplaceable’<br />
partner” to address Sri Lanka’s<br />
“urgent need of comprehensive<br />
economic<br />
development”.<br />
Nepalese supporters of the 30-party alliance, led by the Unified Communist<br />
Party of Nepal (Maoist), demonstrate during the general strike in Kathmandu<br />
on Tuesday. — PHOTO: AFP<br />
Meera Srinivasan<br />
COLOMBO: The Sri Lankan government<br />
will implement the<br />
13th Amendment to its Constitution<br />
within a unitary<br />
state, Prime Minister Ranil<br />
Wickramasinghe has said.<br />
Implementation of the<br />
13th Amendment — born out<br />
of the Indo-Lanka Accord of<br />
1987 — has remained a longpending<br />
demand of the Tamil<br />
National Alliance (TNA), the<br />
main party representing the<br />
island’s Northern Tamils.<br />
The Amendment envisages<br />
substantive devolution of political<br />
powers to the<br />
provinces.<br />
In his first parliamentary<br />
address after assuming<br />
charge as Prime Minister —<br />
following the Sri Lanka’s January<br />
8 presidential elections<br />
— Mr. Wickramasinghe said:<br />
“We will implement the 13th<br />
Amendment within a unitary<br />
state.”<br />
Given that the TNA backed<br />
KATHMANDU: Opposition parties<br />
continued their protests<br />
on Tuesday inside the Constituent<br />
Assembly (CA) as well<br />
outside to prevent the ruling<br />
parties from adopting the procedure<br />
to discuss the new<br />
Constitution.<br />
The nationwide bandh (general<br />
strike) called by the alliance<br />
of Opposition parties led<br />
by UCPN (Maoist) turned violent<br />
in several parts of the<br />
country while their MPs<br />
shouted slogans inside the Assembly<br />
to prevent CA Chairman<br />
Subas Nembang from<br />
entering the process of voting.<br />
Mr. Nembang adjourned the<br />
CA meeting until 11 a.m. on<br />
Wednesday after nearly two<br />
hours of slogan-shouting by<br />
Opposition lawmakers. In the<br />
wee hour of Tuesday, they attacked<br />
some UML leaders, and<br />
CA chairman, forcing another<br />
adjournment.<br />
Prime Minister Sushil Koirala<br />
termed Tuesday’s attack<br />
inside the CA as “conspiracy”<br />
to prevent the CA from writing<br />
the Constitution. “It did not<br />
turn nastier due to patience<br />
exercised by the ruling parties,”<br />
he said. “The UCPN<br />
(Maoist) leaders are expert at<br />
changing their words.”<br />
The deadline to promulgate<br />
the new statute which the parties<br />
set themselves is just two<br />
Ranil Wickramasinghe<br />
President Sirisena in the elections,<br />
the Northern Tamils —<br />
who voted against President<br />
Rajapaksa in large numbers —<br />
would expect the new government<br />
to be sensitive to their<br />
demands.<br />
Civilian Governor<br />
In a gesture that sections<br />
perceive as President Maithripala<br />
Sirisena’s willingness<br />
days away. Leaders from the<br />
Nepali Congress, the CPN-<br />
UML and the UCPN (Maoist)<br />
have been saying that the Constitution<br />
would be passed once<br />
they reached consensus. In<br />
that event, the likely step<br />
would be to suspend all regulations<br />
and processes and<br />
adopt the draft of the Constitution<br />
to be promulgated at a<br />
later date.<br />
With the parties failing to<br />
reach consensus or agreeing<br />
on a compromise despite<br />
many rounds of bilateral and<br />
multi-party discussions, the<br />
deadline of January 22 is likely<br />
to be missed, several leaders<br />
from various political parties<br />
have been saying.<br />
State restructuring has appeared<br />
to be the most difficult<br />
issue. The NC and the UML<br />
want no more than six or seven<br />
States and mostly drawn on<br />
the bases of economic viability,<br />
geography and culture.<br />
They also want the names of<br />
the new States to be decided by<br />
elected state assemblies.<br />
The UCPN (Maoist) and<br />
Madhes-based parties want<br />
between eight and 10 States,<br />
one, or at the most two, States<br />
in Tarai and are in favour of<br />
to engage with the Tamils’ demands,<br />
he recently replaced<br />
the former Northern Province<br />
Governor, a military<br />
man, with a seasoned diplomat.<br />
It is also learnt that orders<br />
have been passed to transfer<br />
the Chief Secretary of the<br />
Province who was on a collision<br />
course with Chief Minister<br />
C.V. Wigneswaran.<br />
Mr. Wickramasinghe also<br />
outlined the newly-formed<br />
government’s plan for the<br />
first 100 days. The government<br />
would set up independent<br />
commissions to run the<br />
police, the public service, the<br />
judiciary and the elections<br />
department, he said.<br />
The new government had<br />
presented its 100-day plan<br />
ahead of the elections promising<br />
a host of measures, including<br />
the abolition of<br />
executive presidency, which<br />
former President Mahinda<br />
Rajapaksa’s critics saw as being<br />
a huge impediment to democracy<br />
during his two<br />
terms. Mr. Wickramasinghe,<br />
appointed Prime Minister by<br />
President Sirisena, said the<br />
new government would also<br />
pass a Right to Information<br />
Act.<br />
Rajapaksa’s home<br />
raided<br />
Meanwhile Sri Lanka’s former<br />
President Mahinda Rajapaksa<br />
on Tuesday asked the<br />
new government to stop “revenge”,<br />
a day after police raided<br />
his country-side home in<br />
the southern district of Hambantota.<br />
“Our family has been in<br />
politics since 1931. But never<br />
our homes came to be<br />
searched. I ask them to stop<br />
this political revenge,” local<br />
media quoted Mr. Rajapaksa<br />
as saying. The police were reportedly<br />
looking for a Lamborghini<br />
sports car and<br />
launched a raid following a<br />
court warrant, but the search<br />
drew a blank.<br />
the states being carved and<br />
named mainly on single ethnic<br />
identity.<br />
With discussions yielding<br />
no result, the NC and the UML<br />
suggested that the disputes be<br />
decided by adopting the CA<br />
procedure which the parties —<br />
including the UCPN (Maoist)<br />
and Madhes-based ones — had<br />
agreed to in March last year.<br />
The ruling parties have more<br />
than the required two-thirds<br />
majority to get the Constitution<br />
passed if voting is adopted.<br />
The Opposition has<br />
insisted on “consensus only”<br />
approach.<br />
Meanwhile, responding to<br />
the situation in Nepal, Spokesperson<br />
of from Ministry of External<br />
Affairs in New Delhi<br />
said, “It is our expectation that<br />
all Nepalese leaders will work<br />
together in the final stage of<br />
the peace process, in drawing<br />
up a Constitution that honours<br />
past agreements and understandings<br />
as well as the<br />
mandate of the CA elections.”<br />
‘AirAsia jet<br />
climbed fast,<br />
then stalled’<br />
JAKARTA: An AirAsia plane<br />
that crashed into the Java Sea<br />
last month with 162 people on<br />
board climbed faster than<br />
normal and then stalled, the<br />
Indonesian Transport Minister<br />
said on Tuesday. Flight<br />
QZ8501 went down on December<br />
28 in stormy weather,<br />
during what was supposed to<br />
be a short trip from the Indonesian<br />
city of Surabaya to<br />
Singapore.<br />
Indonesia’s meteorological<br />
agency has said bad weather<br />
may have caused the crash,<br />
and investigators are analysing<br />
the data from the jet’s<br />
black boxes before releasing a<br />
preliminary report.<br />
Indonesian Transport<br />
Minister Ignasius Jonan, citing<br />
radar data, said “the plane<br />
suddenly went up at a speed<br />
above the normal limit that it<br />
was able to climb to. Then it<br />
stalled.” — AFP<br />
China steps up drive to integrate Africa into Silk Road<br />
Atul Aneja<br />
BEIJING: China has accelerated<br />
its drive to draw Africa<br />
into the Maritime Silk Road<br />
— Beijing’s ambitious transcontinental<br />
initiative — following<br />
the visit to the<br />
continent by Foreign Minister<br />
Wang Yi.<br />
Among the several themes<br />
covered during Mr. Wang’s<br />
five-nation visit, the push for<br />
speedy construction of a<br />
modern standard-gauge rail<br />
link between Nairobi and<br />
Mombasa was one of the star<br />
highlights.<br />
Nairobi to Mombasa<br />
The project to linkup the<br />
capital of Kenya and the<br />
country’s well-established<br />
port has much larger implications.<br />
Once it is through,<br />
the rail corridor will help<br />
connect the vast hinterland<br />
of East Africa with the Indian<br />
Ocean, making it a salient<br />
strategic project, which will<br />
add one more layer to the<br />
CM<br />
YK<br />
Apart from building railroads, highways and<br />
airports, Beijing is developing 12 deep water<br />
ports, seven of which are along<br />
the African coastline<br />
realisation of President Xi<br />
Jinping’s dream of establishing<br />
a 21st century Maritime<br />
Silk Road (MSR).<br />
If plans materialise,<br />
Mombasa would be eventually<br />
linked with Malaba in<br />
west Kenya and then Kampala,<br />
Kigali and Juba — capitals<br />
of Uganda, Rwanda and<br />
South Sudan respectively.<br />
The Chinese undertook<br />
the project, clearly aware of<br />
the larger regional opportunities<br />
that it presented.<br />
Symbolically, this was evident<br />
when the leaders from<br />
Uganda, Rwanda and South<br />
Sudan stood aside with visiting<br />
Chinese Prime Minister<br />
Li Keqiang in Nairobi,<br />
along with representatives<br />
from Tanzania, Burundi and<br />
the African Development<br />
Bank, to sign a deal on the<br />
project.<br />
As concrete steps are taken<br />
on ground, it has become<br />
apparent that Africa is becoming<br />
one of the pillars of<br />
the MSR project. Apart from<br />
building railroads, highways<br />
and airports, the Chinese are<br />
developing 12 deep water<br />
ports, seven of which are<br />
along the African coastline.<br />
These are: Djibouti, Dares<br />
Salaam, Maputo, Libreville<br />
(Gabon), Tema (Ghana), Dakar<br />
(Senegal), Bizerte<br />
(Tunisia).<br />
In turn, these ports connect<br />
with the MSR, as they<br />
are meant to serve large<br />
commercial ships coming<br />
from Asia, laden with food<br />
and industrial products, and<br />
return with raw materials<br />
from Africa.<br />
Africa connects well with<br />
one of the major spurs of the<br />
MSR — the Chinese province<br />
of Yunnan, which shares<br />
borders with Myanmar,<br />
Vietnam and Laos, with<br />
Thailand further to the<br />
south.<br />
Bypassing Malacca<br />
Hoping to avoid the vulnerable<br />
Malacca strait, the<br />
Chinese are building rail<br />
corridors from Kunming,<br />
Yunnan’s capital, to Myanmar<br />
and Thailand via landlocked<br />
Laos. China has<br />
signed an agreement to build<br />
a rail corridor that will connect<br />
Yunnan with Myanmar’s<br />
port city of<br />
Kyaukphyu on the Bay of<br />
Bengal, thus bypassing Malacca<br />
straits. Kyaukphyu is<br />
also the starting point of the<br />
China-Myanmar oil and gas<br />
pipeline, and enters China at<br />
the city of Ruili<br />
With Laos, the China-<br />
Vientiane railroad project is<br />
expected to be completed by<br />
2018. China has recently approved<br />
a $23 billion project,<br />
which includes a high-speed<br />
link between Chaing Khong,<br />
just south of the Laos’ capital<br />
Vientiane, and Ban Phachi<br />
in Thailand.<br />
Some analysts are of the<br />
view that China and Thailand<br />
are taking the lead in<br />
building the MSR’s connection<br />
with Africa. The website<br />
East by Southeast reported<br />
that last year, Chinese and<br />
Thai officials formed investment<br />
vehicles for the construction<br />
of the seven<br />
strategic ports on the African<br />
coastlines.<br />
Thai rice exporters are<br />
likely to be one of the main<br />
beneficiaries of the Asia-<br />
Africa link under the MSR<br />
plan. Already 60 per cent of<br />
Thai rice exports in 2013<br />
headed for Africa, and consumption<br />
trend was even<br />
higher last year.<br />
Iran: a memorial for Jewish martyrs<br />
Members of Iran’s Jewish community pray for a<br />
relative who recently passed away at a new<br />
memorial for Jewish people. — PHOTO: AFP<br />
TEHRAN: It seems incongruous<br />
in Iran, where politicians<br />
chant “Death to Israel” and<br />
the Israeli flag is often<br />
burned, but a new memorial<br />
in Tehran is bringing recognition<br />
to the country’s “Jewish<br />
martyrs”.<br />
The memorial has been<br />
raised in the three-hectare<br />
(eight-acre) Jewish cemetery<br />
in south Tehran — a striking<br />
reminder of a minority faith<br />
whose more than 1,000-year<br />
heritage in Iran dwarfs the<br />
comparably short 35 years of<br />
the Islamic republic.<br />
For leaders of Iran’s small<br />
Jewish community, the memorial<br />
is a welcome sign of<br />
openness from authorities despite<br />
continued concerns over<br />
discrimination.<br />
“When someone looks at<br />
this monument, they will<br />
think about the sacrifices that<br />
were made by these martyrs,”<br />
said the head of Tehran’s Jewish<br />
community, Homayoun<br />
Sameyah Najaf Abadi.<br />
The names of 10 people<br />
have been etched in stone in<br />
the memorial, erected in December<br />
at the cemetery where<br />
thousands of Jews are buried.<br />
Five of them died fighting<br />
in the 1980-88 war against<br />
Iraq; three were killed by Saddam<br />
Hussein’s bombing of<br />
Tehran during the war; and<br />
the other two died in the tumultuous<br />
early days of the<br />
1979 revolution that ended<br />
the rule of the Iranian Shah.<br />
Construction of the Jewish<br />
monument and the restoration<br />
of the 10 tombs of the<br />
dead was funded by a foundation<br />
that helps families of soldiers<br />
killed or wounded in the<br />
Iran-Iraq war.<br />
Iran had between 80,000<br />
and 100,000 Jews before the<br />
revolution but most have<br />
since fled, mainly to the United<br />
States, Israel and Europe.<br />
There are now only about<br />
8,500, mostly in Tehran but<br />
also in Isfahan and Shiraz,<br />
major cities south of the capital.<br />
— AFP<br />
ND-ND
NOIDA/DELHI<br />
THE HINDU WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 21, 2015<br />
15<br />
BUSINESS<br />
BRIEFLY<br />
SEBI orders broker<br />
to refund money<br />
MUMBAI: Cracking down on<br />
an illegal money pooling<br />
activity running into an<br />
estimated Rs.5,000 crore,<br />
the Securities and<br />
Exchange Board of India<br />
on Tuesday barred an<br />
individual broker from<br />
mobilising funds from the<br />
public while asking him to<br />
refund investors money<br />
within seven days.<br />
Sameer S. Joshi, a subbroker<br />
with trade<br />
name Shreesurya<br />
Investments, has also<br />
been restrained from<br />
dealing in the securities<br />
market, till further<br />
directions. Shreesurya<br />
Investments has allegedly<br />
cornered more than<br />
Rs.5,000 crore from 6,000<br />
investors. — PTI<br />
Vikram Pandit, others<br />
invest $75 m in<br />
Bitcoin firm Coinbase<br />
NEW DELHI: Noted Indiaorigin<br />
banker Vikram<br />
Pandit along with the New<br />
York Stock Exchange and<br />
other investors have<br />
pumped in $75 million into<br />
U.S.-based Coinbase in<br />
what is billed as one of the<br />
biggest publicly disclosed<br />
funding for a Bitcoin<br />
company. The investment<br />
by marquee investors in a<br />
Bitcoin company comes at<br />
a time when the popular<br />
online cryptocurrency<br />
turned out to be one of the<br />
worst investments in 2014<br />
as its value plummeted by<br />
about 50 per cent. One<br />
Bitcoin is now valued at<br />
$206, about one-sixth of its<br />
peak price of about $1,200<br />
apiece in 2013. — PTI<br />
Xiaomi to launch<br />
Mi4 on Jan. 28<br />
NEW DELHI: Chinese handset<br />
maker Xiaomi is expected<br />
to launch its latest 4G<br />
device Mi4 in India later<br />
this month as it looks to<br />
strengthen its position in<br />
the booming domestic<br />
smartphone market.<br />
The company, which<br />
entered the Indian market<br />
last year, has launched<br />
three devices here so far —<br />
Redmi 1S, Redmi Note and<br />
Mi3 — in partnership with<br />
e-commerce major<br />
Flipkart.<br />
“You are invited to a frontrow<br />
view on January<br />
28...Mi hits a 4 and a 6,”<br />
Xiaomi said in an<br />
invitation. — PTI<br />
Virgin Atlantic picks<br />
TCS for digital<br />
transformation<br />
CHENNAI: Tata Consultancy<br />
Services has been selected<br />
by Virgin Atlantic Airways<br />
(VAA) of the U.K. to help<br />
the latter’s digital<br />
transformation<br />
programme. It will set up a<br />
private cloud for VAA and<br />
provide services including<br />
infrastructure-as-a-service,<br />
end-user services and<br />
application support<br />
services, according to a<br />
release from TCS. – Special<br />
Correspondent<br />
EXCHANGE RATES<br />
Indicative direct rates in rupees a unit<br />
except yen at 4 p.m on January 20<br />
Currencies TT TT<br />
Buying Selling<br />
U.S. Dollar 61.49 61.81<br />
Euro 71.16 71.53<br />
Pound Sterling 93.13 93.62<br />
Jap Yen (100 Units) 51.82 52.09<br />
Chinese Yuan 9.89 9.95<br />
Swiss Franc 70.20 70.61<br />
Singapore Dollar 45.96 46.22<br />
Australian Dollar 50.42 50.68<br />
Canadian Dollar 51.29 51.57<br />
Swedish Kroner 7.55 7.59<br />
Danish Kroner 9.57 9.62<br />
New Zealand Dollar 47.47 47.76<br />
Hongkong Dollar 7.93 7.97<br />
Malaysian Ringitt 17.04 17.13<br />
Kuwaiti Dinar 208.61 210.55<br />
UAE Dirham 16.74 16.83<br />
Bahraini Dinar 163.08 163.95<br />
Qatari Riyal 16.95 16.95<br />
Saudi Riyal 16.43 16.43<br />
Omani Riyal 159.69 160.55<br />
Source: Indian Bank<br />
BULLION RATES<br />
January 20 rates in rupees with<br />
previous rates in brackets<br />
Chennai<br />
Bar Silver (1 kg) 39,855 (39,500)<br />
Retail (1 g) 42.60 (42.30)<br />
24 ct gold (10 g) 28,480 (28,150)<br />
22 ct gold (1 g) 2,663 (2,632)<br />
Delhi<br />
Silver 39,200 (39,100)<br />
Standard gold 28,180 (28,080)<br />
Sovereign 24,000 (23,900)<br />
CM<br />
YK<br />
Gilead licenses Strides to make,<br />
distribute AIDS drug in 112 countries<br />
Strides will be able to launch its product by mid-2016<br />
Ramnath Subbu<br />
MUMBAI: U.S. pharmaceutical<br />
major Gilead Sciences has<br />
signed a licensing agreement<br />
with Bengaluru-based Strides<br />
Arcolab, under which Gilead<br />
has extended non-exclusive<br />
rights to Strides to make and<br />
distribute Tenofovir Alafenamide<br />
(TAF), both as a single<br />
agent product and in combination<br />
with other drugs.<br />
This is seen as a goodwill<br />
creation exercise by sections<br />
of the Indian pharmaceutical<br />
industry as multinationals<br />
have been increasingly<br />
viewed with scepticism in developing<br />
markets.<br />
TAF is a novel nucleotide<br />
reverse transcriptase inhibitor<br />
used in human immunodeficiency<br />
virus (HIV)<br />
patients in the treatment of<br />
acquired immunodeficiency<br />
syndrome (AIDS). TAF is<br />
awaiting U.S. Food and Drug<br />
Administration (FDA) approval,<br />
and is expected to go<br />
to market by year-end.<br />
A statement from Strides<br />
said the licence extends to 112<br />
countries, which together account<br />
for more than 30 million<br />
people living with HIV.<br />
Strides will receive a technology<br />
transfer from Gilead, enabling<br />
it to make low-cost<br />
versions of TAF for developing<br />
countries.<br />
Strides will be able to<br />
launch its product by<br />
mid-2016. TAF has demonstrated<br />
high antiviral efficacy<br />
at a dose 10 times lower than<br />
Gilead’s Viread (tenofovir<br />
disoproxil fumarate), as well<br />
as an improved renal and<br />
bone safety profile, the statement<br />
said.<br />
Different model for<br />
developing markets<br />
Gilead pursuing different<br />
model for developing markets<br />
Today’s announcement<br />
Varroc Engineering inks<br />
pact with Scorpion of U.K.<br />
Ramnath Subbu<br />
MUMBAI: Varroc Engineering,<br />
the flagship company of leading<br />
auto component manufacturer<br />
Varroc group, on<br />
Tuesday signed a technology<br />
licence agreement with U.K.-<br />
based Scorpion Automotive<br />
to exclusively design, manufacture<br />
and sell licensed security<br />
products to two-wheeler<br />
and four-wheeler vehicle<br />
manufacturers in India. The<br />
collaboration will introduce<br />
innovative products for the<br />
two-wheeler sector in India<br />
such as alarms, heated grips,<br />
throttle locks and the like.<br />
“We have a strong relationship<br />
with original equipment<br />
manufacturers (OEMs) in India<br />
and this partnership will<br />
help us enhance our already<br />
diverse product portfolio for<br />
them,’’ Varroc Group President<br />
(Technology and Strategy)<br />
Ravi Damodaran told The<br />
Hindu. “This is part of our<br />
electrical business growth<br />
plan, and the need for these<br />
products has not been adequately<br />
addressed here.’’<br />
“We are targeting two and<br />
three-wheelers, which have a<br />
market of around three million<br />
units in India, and can<br />
reach five million units in<br />
2020 by which time we want a<br />
25 per cent share,’’ he said.<br />
Its three business divisions<br />
of polymers, electrical and<br />
metallic contribute equally to<br />
the turnover. With revenues<br />
● The move is seen<br />
as a goodwill<br />
creation exercise by<br />
pharma units as<br />
MNCs have been<br />
viewed with<br />
scepticism in<br />
developing markets.<br />
follows last week’s rejection<br />
of Gilead’s patent application<br />
for its blockbuster drug sofosbuvir<br />
by the Indian patent office.<br />
Sofosbuvir is considered<br />
a breakthrough drug in the<br />
treatment of Hepatitis C and<br />
Gilead’s application covered<br />
the metabolites of sofosbuvir.<br />
The main patent application<br />
for the product is still pending<br />
and Gilead is to appeal<br />
against the decision.<br />
In September, 2014, Gilead<br />
signed agreements with seven<br />
Indian generic drug manufacturers<br />
licensing them to<br />
make sofosbuvir to supply it<br />
to 90 countries. Sofosbuvir is<br />
priced at $84,000 per patient<br />
in the U.S., and the effective<br />
price for generic version is<br />
of Rs.6,900 crore, about 90<br />
per cent of Varroc’s business<br />
is from two-wheelers, and it<br />
plans to bring this down to 75<br />
per cent by 2020 with the rest<br />
from passenger cars and commercial<br />
vehicles. Mr. Damodaran<br />
said the company was<br />
looking at possible acquisitions<br />
in Russia and Brazil.<br />
. “There are no immediate<br />
plans for an IPO or fund-raising.<br />
We re-invest around Rs.<br />
450 crore in the business annually,’’<br />
he said. Varroc invested<br />
Rs. 20 crore in a<br />
polymer products plant in<br />
Chennai, and expects revenues<br />
of Rs.100 crore in two<br />
years from the unit. It is setting<br />
up a similar Rs.25 crore<br />
unit in Gujarat.<br />
around $900 and a 10 per cent<br />
royalty.<br />
“Gilead’s chosen voluntary<br />
licensing model is refreshing,<br />
and will certainly earn it<br />
goodwill. It ensures protection<br />
of intellectual property<br />
(IP) and simultaneously ensures<br />
access to medicines,’’ D.<br />
G. Shah, Secretary-General,<br />
Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance<br />
(IPA), told The Hindu.<br />
“Today, its TAF licensing announcement<br />
is just an extension<br />
of its existing model for<br />
developing markets. ’’<br />
Other multinational pharmaceutical<br />
giants such as<br />
GSK opt for a price differentiated<br />
model for developing<br />
markets mainly for their older<br />
products, which Merck<br />
uses the discounted model,<br />
pricing its drugs at 75 per cent<br />
of U.S. prices.<br />
“Pharmaceutical multinational<br />
prefer Indian manufacturers<br />
over other generic<br />
manufacturing destinations<br />
like South Africa and Brazil<br />
because India is already supplying<br />
generics to 200 countries<br />
and has proven<br />
capability, cost-effectiveness<br />
and quality,’’ Mr. Shah said.<br />
West Bengal zeroes in on bidders for<br />
privatising five loss-making tea gardens<br />
Indrani Dutta<br />
KOLKATA: The Mamata Banerjee<br />
Government has finalised<br />
two industry groups for privatising<br />
five tea gardens owned<br />
by the West Bengal Tea Development<br />
Corporation Ltd.<br />
While the Ambootia group<br />
is set to gain control of three<br />
gardens in Darjeeling, Malnady<br />
Tea Private Ltd. is likely to<br />
be given two estates in<br />
Dooars in North Bengal.<br />
The entire process was<br />
monitored by KPMG, and the<br />
two groups have emerged as<br />
the highest financial bidders,<br />
two sources connected with<br />
the process told The Hindu.<br />
There were at least three other<br />
companies in the fray for<br />
these operational gardens.<br />
Yuthika Bhargava<br />
NEW DELHI: Marking its first acquisition<br />
in India, microblogging<br />
site Twitter, on Tuesday,<br />
announced the acquisition of<br />
Bengaluru-based mobile<br />
marketing start-up ZipDial.<br />
“India is one of the fastest<br />
growing countries for us, and<br />
this acquisition is an important<br />
signal to how serious we<br />
are about this market. Our<br />
number one objective in the<br />
country has been to grow our<br />
user base. This acquisition<br />
will dramatically increase our<br />
ability to drive this growth,”<br />
Twitter Market Director (India<br />
and Southeast Asia) Rishi<br />
Jaitly told The Hindu.<br />
It is learnt that the ailing<br />
gardens had defaulted on<br />
Rs.30 lakh gratuity payments<br />
as also rations and firewood<br />
allowances to their employees<br />
for six months. Other payments<br />
were also in arrears.<br />
Twitter acquires ZipDial<br />
Rishi Jaitly<br />
Services on offer<br />
ZipDial offers services such<br />
as missed calls for user verification,<br />
alerts and other use<br />
cases. While the deal size was<br />
not disclosed, according to reports,<br />
it is pegged at about<br />
$30 million.<br />
It employs about 50 people<br />
in India, all of whom will be<br />
now part of Twitter. This acquisition<br />
will also bring Twitter<br />
a new engineering office<br />
in Bengaluru.<br />
“We have an office in Bengaluru,<br />
which will become the<br />
base of Twitter’s research and<br />
● According to<br />
reports, the deal size<br />
is pegged at about<br />
$30 million.<br />
development in India,” Zip-<br />
Dial Valerie Wagoner, Founder<br />
and CEO, ZipDial said.<br />
On the acquisition, she<br />
added, “Indian users behave<br />
differently from those in the<br />
U.S. For example, an Indian<br />
user uses 60 MB of mobile<br />
data on an average, which is<br />
4.5 per cent of the data which<br />
a U.S. user using monthly...<br />
Our platform will help Twitter<br />
engage users offline and<br />
help bridge the gap between<br />
online and offline world.”<br />
After India, Mr. Jaitly said<br />
the platform would be applied<br />
to other emerging economies<br />
such as Indonesia and<br />
Brazil.<br />
Total workforce at the five estates<br />
is estimated at 4,211, and<br />
the government is believed to<br />
have put in a condition on<br />
employment-protection by<br />
the new owner. The tea estates<br />
are located on 1,069 hectares,<br />
of which 679 hectares<br />
are in Darjeeling. The government<br />
had invited bids in two<br />
packages, one for Darjeeling<br />
and another for Dooars in the<br />
Himalayan foothills last year.<br />
The government had announced<br />
its intent to sell<br />
these two gardens two years<br />
ago. Sources said that absence<br />
of critical inputs, on the one<br />
hand, and lack of marketing<br />
skills (especially in overseas<br />
markets), on the other, had<br />
spelt doom for these stateowned<br />
gardens, which were<br />
languishing for nearly a decade.<br />
“Although they produce<br />
quality teas even now, their<br />
productivity has dwindled to<br />
around seven lakh tonnes<br />
now from nine lakh tonnes in<br />
2006,” a source said.<br />
Staff Reporter<br />
Sensex vaults 523 points on<br />
hopes of fresh reform measures<br />
Special Correspondent<br />
Mahindra, Peugeot<br />
complete deal<br />
Special Correspondent<br />
CHENNAI: Mahindra Two<br />
Wheelers Ltd (MTWL) and<br />
Peugeot Motocycles (PMTC),<br />
part of the France-based Euro<br />
54 billion PSA Group, on<br />
Tuesday, announced that<br />
they had completed the necessary<br />
formalities for former’s<br />
acquisition of major<br />
stake in latter.<br />
MTWL has infused euro 15<br />
million into PMTC to finance<br />
projects implemented<br />
through the strategic partnership<br />
and has also bought<br />
shares held by PSA which<br />
would allow MTWL to take a<br />
51 per cent stake in PMTC.<br />
Now, new Board has been<br />
constituted for PMTC.<br />
“This partnership would<br />
enable both MTWL and<br />
Capgemini to increase<br />
headcount in India<br />
Aruna Jayanthi<br />
BENGALURU: French IT service<br />
company Capgemini is planning<br />
to strengthen its presence<br />
in India by adding<br />
another 20,000 people in two<br />
years. The company, which<br />
employs more than 50,000<br />
people, is planning to take the<br />
total employee strength to<br />
70,000 by the end of 2016.<br />
“India is the largest centre<br />
for us, and with the way we<br />
are growing here, our ambition<br />
is to take the total team<br />
strength to around 70,000 in<br />
2016. With the kind of growth<br />
and expansion in the country,<br />
we believe we will be able to<br />
achieve it,” said Capgemini<br />
India Chief Executive Officer<br />
Aruna Jayanthi.<br />
With a presence in nine locations<br />
across India, Bengaluru<br />
is the company’s largest<br />
centre in India. The company<br />
employs around 18,000 people<br />
across its four centres in<br />
the city.<br />
“The expansion of teams<br />
doesn’t mean it will happen in<br />
MUMBAI: The benchmark stock<br />
indices surged to record highs<br />
on Tuesday as the market<br />
participants expect that<br />
many more reform measureswould<br />
be unveiled by the Narendra<br />
Modi Government in<br />
the forthcoming Union<br />
Budget.<br />
The Bombay Stock Exchange<br />
(BSE) 30-share Sensitive<br />
Index (Sensex) moved up<br />
by 522.66 points or 1.85 per<br />
cent to close at 28784.67<br />
points. It touched a high of<br />
28829.29 intra-day.<br />
Among the broader indices,<br />
BSE-100 gained 1.42 per cent,<br />
BSE-200 was up by 1.29 per<br />
cent and BSE-500 surged 1.22<br />
per cent.<br />
The mid-cap stocks were<br />
up by 0.44 per cent and<br />
small-cap ones gained 0.41<br />
per cent.<br />
On the National Stock Exchange<br />
(NSE), a broader 50-<br />
share closed at 8695.60 with a<br />
gain of 144.90 points or 1.69<br />
per cent.<br />
“While some analysts expected<br />
that the RBI’s surprise<br />
25 basis points cut in policy<br />
rate last week was factored in<br />
completely, with some even<br />
theorising that a correction<br />
might be in place — the markets<br />
clearly felt otherwise,”<br />
said Raghu Kumar, Co-Founder,<br />
RKSV, a leading broking<br />
firm. Although all sectors —<br />
including banking, metals, oil<br />
& gas, FMCG, and Realty —<br />
registered gains by more than<br />
one per cent, metal stocks led<br />
the way with a gain of 3.03 per<br />
cent.<br />
According to Mr. Kumar,<br />
the BSE Metal Index, which<br />
makes up 10 of the biggest<br />
heavyweights within the sector,<br />
went up more than three<br />
per cent.<br />
“Metal stocks rallied with<br />
the news that China’s GDP<br />
came in better than expected.<br />
China, being India's largest<br />
metals consumer, posted a 7.3<br />
per cent GDP growth, beating<br />
analyst expectations.”<br />
“The repo rate cut, combined<br />
with an infusion of consumer<br />
and investor<br />
optimism, will make ways for<br />
the government to execute<br />
many of its intended reforms<br />
EU lifts ban on Indian mangoes<br />
Parvathi Menon<br />
LONDON: The seven-month<br />
ban on Indian mangoes,<br />
imposed last year by the<br />
European Union, has been<br />
lifted well in advance of the<br />
deadline set for the ban,<br />
which was originally till<br />
December 2015.<br />
This came after an audit by<br />
the EU last September<br />
showed “significant<br />
improvements in the<br />
phytosanitary export<br />
certification system,” says an<br />
EC release. Shipments of<br />
mangoes from India,<br />
including the premium<br />
Alphonso mangoes, had been<br />
stopped last year after<br />
inspections found some<br />
consignments infested with<br />
fruit flies.<br />
The proposal by the<br />
European Commission to lift<br />
the ban on mango imports<br />
received the endorsement of<br />
experts at a Member State<br />
meeting, the EU said.<br />
However, the ban has been<br />
lifted only on mangoes. Ban<br />
on taro, bitter gourd, snake<br />
gourd and eggplant remains<br />
in force.<br />
The mango import season<br />
begins in April and lasts till<br />
June. Following the ban last<br />
year, British-Indian members<br />
of Parliament led by Keith<br />
Vaz campaigned hard to get it<br />
lifted.<br />
“The EU ban was due to<br />
remain until December 2015<br />
but today’s [Tuesday’s] vote<br />
shows that the hard work of<br />
the Indian authorities has<br />
paid off,” Britain’s<br />
Environment Minister Lord<br />
de Mauley said in a<br />
statement.<br />
Small traders and<br />
importers of the fruit in the<br />
United Kingdom were hit last<br />
year. Welcoming the<br />
decision, Seema Malhotra,<br />
Labour MP, said, “We are<br />
delighted that the<br />
government and the EU have<br />
listened to us at last. Now<br />
everyone in Britain can enjoy<br />
delicious Indian mangoes<br />
once again.”<br />
Yuthika Bhargava<br />
reports from New Delhi:<br />
The EU accounts for more<br />
than 50 per cent of total<br />
exports of fruits and<br />
vegetables from India.<br />
PMTC to speed up their international<br />
expansion by<br />
driving synergies and leveraging<br />
respective strengths.<br />
It is our intention to work<br />
closely to enable a win-win<br />
for both partners,” said Dr<br />
Pawan Goenka, Executive Director,<br />
Mahindra & Mahindra<br />
Ltd in a statement.<br />
Peugeot Scooters, one of<br />
the oldest two wheeler<br />
brands in the world, offers a<br />
comprehensive range of<br />
scooters and mopeds, from<br />
50cc to 400cc.<br />
The acquisition is expected<br />
to establish Mahindras as a<br />
serious player in two wheelers.<br />
It intends to sell Mahindra<br />
brand of two wheelers to<br />
mass segment buyers, while<br />
Peugeot brand would cater to<br />
premium segment.<br />
Bengaluru alone. It will be<br />
across all our nine locations,’’<br />
she added.<br />
When asked about the attrition<br />
rate of the company,<br />
she said, “In the last eight<br />
months, the attrition number<br />
has spiked across the board.<br />
We want to bring our attrition<br />
numbers down. Our<br />
numbers is less than 20 per<br />
cent.”<br />
As part of the expansion<br />
plans, the company opened a<br />
new centre, spread across<br />
4.60 lakh sq. ft., in Whitefield<br />
near here. The new centre<br />
will offer services such as application<br />
development and<br />
management, BPO and consulting<br />
services to customers<br />
based in the U.S. and Europe.<br />
Capgemini said it would<br />
add 5,000 more people in its<br />
new facility.<br />
in the upcoming budget,” said<br />
Mr. Kumar.<br />
PTI reports<br />
Asian markets ended higher<br />
after China reported its<br />
economy had not slowed as<br />
far as many had feared. Key<br />
indices in China, Hong Kong,<br />
Japan, Singapore, South Korea<br />
and Taiwan finished higher<br />
by 0.80-2.07 per cent.<br />
“The IMF’s optimistic<br />
forecast on India’s expected<br />
growth rate till 2016 was another<br />
shot in the arm, as was<br />
the prediction that India’s<br />
growth rate may exceed China’s<br />
after a long time,” said<br />
Jayant Manglik, President,<br />
Retail Distribution, Religare<br />
Securities.<br />
Rupee gains further<br />
MUMBAI: The rupee on Tuesday<br />
gained further by two<br />
paise against the dollar at<br />
61.69 with banks and exporters<br />
selling the U.S. currency<br />
amid sustained capital inflows<br />
The rupee resumed<br />
lower at 61.82 a dollar as<br />
against Monday’s closing level<br />
of 61.71 at the inter-bank<br />
foreign exchange (Forex)<br />
market on initial dollar demand.<br />
The Indian currency<br />
however staged a comebackand<br />
finally ended the day’s<br />
trade at 61.69, showing a marginal<br />
gain of two paise from<br />
its previous close.<br />
The U.K. is the main<br />
destination, followed by the<br />
Netherlands, Germany and<br />
Belgium.<br />
Reacting to the decision,<br />
M. Rafeeque Ahmed,<br />
president of exporters body<br />
FIEO, complimented the<br />
Commerce Ministry for<br />
resolving the issue in record<br />
time. “The imposition of ban<br />
on mangoes did affect India’s<br />
exports of fresh fruits which<br />
declined from $ 307.38<br />
million in April-November<br />
2013 to $ 291.43 million in<br />
April-November 2014. Mango<br />
exports to EU suffered a<br />
major dent and went down<br />
from $ 8.9 million in 2013-14<br />
to $ 1.07 million in 2014-15<br />
[April-September period],”<br />
he said.<br />
SIB Q3 profit<br />
at Rs. 88 crore<br />
Special Correspondent<br />
South Indian Bank<br />
40<br />
35<br />
30<br />
25<br />
20<br />
15<br />
Rs.29.30<br />
Jan 20, 14 Jan 20, 15<br />
KOCHI: South Indian Bank declared<br />
a net profit of Rs. 87.93<br />
crore for the three months<br />
ended on December 31, 2014,<br />
against Rs. 141.31 crore in the<br />
same period in the previous<br />
year.<br />
The profit for the nine<br />
months ended December 31,<br />
2014, was Rs. 290.88 crore<br />
against Rs. 382.90 crore in<br />
the year-ago period.<br />
Total income grew in the<br />
quarter by 9.92 per cent to<br />
touch Rs. 1,467.13 crore<br />
against Rs.1,334.74 crore for<br />
the same period in 2013-14.<br />
Total income grew by 8.90<br />
per cent for the nine months<br />
ended December 31, 2014 at<br />
Rs. 4,338.92 crore against Rs.<br />
3,984.35 crore in the same period<br />
last year. Gross NPA<br />
stood at 1.80 per cent of gross<br />
advances and net NPA stood<br />
at 1.04 per cent of net advances.<br />
The capital adequacy ratio<br />
under Basel 3 guidelines stays<br />
at 11.38 per cent.<br />
Total business<br />
Total business of the bank<br />
rose to Rs. 85,457 crore as on<br />
December 31, 2014, registering<br />
growth of 9.04 per cent<br />
over the business last year.<br />
Deposits grew by 8.54 per<br />
cent year-on-year basis to<br />
touch Rs.48,459 crore, while<br />
current and savings account<br />
grew by 10.33 per cent to<br />
touch Rs. 10,424 crore.<br />
Total advances registered<br />
increase of 9.71 per cent to<br />
touch Rs. 36,998 crore<br />
against Rs.33,724 crore last<br />
year, the release said.<br />
ND-ND
BUSINESS<br />
NOIDA/DELHI<br />
16 THE HINDU WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 21, 2015<br />
SNIPPETS<br />
Renault recalls 646 units of Pulse, Scala<br />
NEW DELHI: French auto major Renault is recalling 646<br />
units of hatchback Pulse and mid-sized sedan Scala in<br />
India, manufactured between September, 2011, and July,<br />
2012, to fix faulty driver side air bags. “Renault is<br />
conducting a voluntary check on certain potentially<br />
affected Renault vehicles, 620 Pulse and 26 Scala,<br />
produced between September, 2011, and July, 2012,<br />
which may have a possibility of driver air bag problem<br />
that was reported to Renault by airbag supplier, Takata,”<br />
a company spokesperson said. No incidents associated<br />
with this issue have been reported in Renault vehicles so<br />
far, the spokesperson added. — PTI<br />
VECV launches Pro 6000 series heavy trucks<br />
CHENNAI: VE Commercial Vehicles Ltd (VECV) has<br />
launched its Eicher Pro 6000 series of heavy-duty (HD)<br />
trucks, developed and manufactured jointly by Volvo<br />
Group and Eicher. The new range includes 31-tonne and<br />
25-tonne haulage trucks and 25-tonne tipper. “Pro 6000<br />
Series is the next-generation HD trucks that offer bestin-<br />
class fuel efficiency, superior productivity, and a host<br />
of modern and intelligent features. The new series<br />
promises to deliver maximum profitability to the<br />
customers,” Vinod Aggarwal, Chief Executive Officer,<br />
VECV, said in a statement. –– Special Correspondent<br />
Aurobindo, Actavis recall Gabapentin<br />
NEW DELHI: Aurobindo Pharma is recalling 24,816<br />
bottles of Gabapentin capsules used as anticonvulsant<br />
and analgesic following complaints of empty capsules<br />
in the U.S. market. According to notification by the<br />
U.S. Food and Drug Administration (USFDA), the<br />
Indian firm’s arm Aurobindo Pharma USA Inc has<br />
initiated a Class II nation wide recall. Each bottle<br />
contains 100 capsules of 300 mg. The drug is<br />
manufactured by Aurobindo Pharma at its Mahabub<br />
Nagar facility in Andhra Pradesh. In another<br />
development, a total of 64,719 bottles of different<br />
strengths of the same capsule manufactured by<br />
Actavis Pharma Manufacturing Pvt. Ltd. at the<br />
Kanchipuram facility in Tamil Nadu were being<br />
recalled in Puerto Rico. The capsules were distributed<br />
by Actavis Elizabeth LLC. — PTI<br />
RCOM gets Rs.650 cr from promoter group co<br />
MUMBAI: Reliance Communications (RCOM) has received<br />
Rs.650 crore from promoter group company Telecom<br />
Infrastructure Finance Private Ltd (TIFPL), which<br />
exercised its right to subscribe to equity shares against<br />
8.67 crore warrants issued at Rs.150 per warrant in<br />
August last as part of RCOM’s qualified institutional<br />
placement (QIP) of Rs.6,100 crore in July last. The funds<br />
will be utilised for repayment of debt, the company said.<br />
— Special Correspondent<br />
NTT Com plans to buy<br />
unified licence<br />
To set up a wholly-owned subsidiary<br />
Lalatendu Mishra<br />
MUMBAI: NTT Communications<br />
Corporation (NTT<br />
Com) of Japan has announced<br />
plans to acquire a<br />
unified licence for national<br />
long-distance services (NLD)<br />
through its Indian subsidiary<br />
to provide domestic network<br />
services by the end of this<br />
year.<br />
For this purpose, the company<br />
has decided to set up a<br />
new company — NTT Communications<br />
India Network<br />
Services Private Ltd. — which<br />
will be established in May.<br />
Last year, group company<br />
NTT DOCOMO had decided<br />
to pull out of India by ending<br />
its joint venture with the Tata<br />
group. NTT Com is the ICT<br />
(Information, communication<br />
and technology) solutions<br />
and international<br />
communication business<br />
within the NTT group. After<br />
obtaining a unified licence,<br />
● Will steadily<br />
expand its ICT<br />
business<br />
infrastructure in<br />
India to help<br />
customers further<br />
grow their business.<br />
NTT Com plans to provide a<br />
range of network services<br />
sought by enterprises that are<br />
expanding in India. “Specific<br />
offerings will include secure,<br />
high-quality private network<br />
services such as IP-VPN connecting<br />
data centres or the<br />
cloud to the domestic sales or<br />
production bases of customers,”<br />
the company said.<br />
“By obtaining a unified licence,<br />
the NTT Com group<br />
will be permitted to offer total<br />
ICT solutions to enterprises<br />
in India,” it added.<br />
On Tuesday, NTT Com said<br />
its wholly-owned subsidiary<br />
NTT Communications India<br />
Private Ltd. (NTT Com India)<br />
will establish a branch office<br />
in Ahmedabad to offer ICT<br />
solutions starting June. The<br />
Gujarat branch office will be<br />
NTT Com India’s sixth office,<br />
followed by Gurgaon, Neemrana<br />
(Rajasthan), Mumbai,<br />
Chennai and Bengaluru.<br />
At present, NTT Com India<br />
is providing system integration<br />
services. Another NTT<br />
Com group company Netmagic<br />
Solutions Private Ltd.<br />
is offering data centre and<br />
cloud services with its eight<br />
data centres in India.<br />
NTT Com believes that renewed<br />
economic activity in<br />
India would create demand<br />
for high-quality ICT solutions<br />
from domestic and multinational<br />
companies. Going<br />
forward, NTT Com said it<br />
would steadily expand its ICT<br />
business infrastructure in India<br />
to help customers further<br />
grow their business.<br />
Installed solar capacity crosses 3 GW<br />
G. Balachandar<br />
CHENNAI: New capacity addition<br />
in the clean energy sector<br />
was up nine per cent<br />
during the first 9-month of<br />
this fiscal. The total installed<br />
capacity of solar power in the<br />
country crossed 3,000 MW<br />
during the 3rd quarter.<br />
Renewable energy sector<br />
added 2,104 MW of new capacity<br />
during first three quarters<br />
of this fiscal when<br />
compared with 1,922 MW a<br />
year-ago.<br />
This year’s new capacity<br />
target has been fixed at 3,770<br />
MW when compared with the<br />
previous year’s target of 4,325<br />
MW. So, the clean energy sector<br />
has achieved only 56 per<br />
cent of the capacity addition<br />
target during the 9-month period.<br />
Wind and solar segments<br />
contributed about<br />
1,333 MW (1,096 MW in a<br />
year-ago period) and 431<br />
MW, while small hydro power<br />
and bagasse cogeneration<br />
contributed 187 MW and 152<br />
MW respectively, according<br />
to Union Ministry of New and<br />
Renewable Energy (MNRE).<br />
As of December 31, 2014,<br />
India’s cumulative grid-interactive<br />
renewable energy installed<br />
capacity rose to 33,792<br />
MW, up from 29,989 MW on<br />
December 31, 2013.<br />
Wind sector accounted for<br />
66 per cent (22,465 MW).<br />
Small hydro power accounted<br />
for 3,991 MW, while solar was<br />
in third position with a capacity<br />
of 3,063 MW. Bagasse cogeneration<br />
and biomass<br />
contributed 2,800 MW and<br />
1,365 MW respectively.<br />
‘Leverage the young talent’<br />
Sanjay Vijayakumar<br />
Vijay Govindarajan<br />
CHENNAI: India will have only a<br />
couple of decades left to spur<br />
economic growth and pursue<br />
breakthrough innovation, according<br />
to Professor Vijay<br />
Govindarajan, who is regarded<br />
as one of the world’s leading<br />
experts on strategy and<br />
innovation.<br />
He feels time is just right<br />
for India and the U.S. to<br />
strengthen ties, with the former<br />
being the only country<br />
among BRIC (Brazil, Russia,<br />
India and China) nations to<br />
see improving economic prospects<br />
and the latter’s economy<br />
getting stronger.<br />
“I really believe India has<br />
only next couple of decades of<br />
time left. And, if we don’t do<br />
breakthrough innovation, we<br />
will be left far behind,” Mr.<br />
Govindarajan, The Earl C.<br />
Daum 1924 Professor of International<br />
Business at the<br />
Tuck School of Business,<br />
Dartmouth, U.S., said.<br />
“Why I say this is because<br />
the average age in India is<br />
about 25 years. In the next 30<br />
years, these 25 years will become<br />
55 years. So, you have<br />
got 30 years to leverage this<br />
young highly qualified, English-speaking<br />
youth with<br />
high aspirations. If you do not<br />
do that, the demographic dividend<br />
will become a demographic<br />
disaster. So that<br />
means we have got to find a<br />
way to kick-start this economy<br />
and make it really grow in<br />
the next 30 years,” he said.<br />
Breakthrough innovations<br />
could happen in areas such as<br />
healthcare delivery, energy,<br />
education and transportation,<br />
according to Mr.<br />
Govindarajan.<br />
Mr. Govindarajan, who has<br />
● Breakthrough<br />
innovations could<br />
happen in areas such<br />
as healthcare<br />
delivery, energy,<br />
education and<br />
transportation.<br />
worked for several years as<br />
the chief innovation consultant<br />
in GE and counts Boeing,<br />
Coca Cola as his marquee clients,<br />
also feels time is right<br />
for the U.S. and India to<br />
strengthen ties.<br />
“I was talking to a few CE-<br />
Os who have met Narendra<br />
Modi, when he visited the<br />
U.S. He was the first Prime<br />
Minister to spend more time<br />
talking to CEOs then talking<br />
to politicians. Something really<br />
struck me, they were all<br />
saying we feel lot more confident<br />
on India,” said Mr. Govindarajan.<br />
“That does not mean it is<br />
going to be easy. We still have<br />
lot of issues in terms of tax<br />
systems, regulatory policies<br />
and red tape. This needs to be<br />
cleaned up. But if you get<br />
someones trust and confidence,<br />
half the battle is won.”<br />
Sundaram MF launches value fund<br />
Special Correspondent<br />
CHENNAI: Sundaram Mutual<br />
Fund has come out with Sundaram<br />
Value Fund-Series II,<br />
a five year close-ended equity<br />
scheme.<br />
The scheme seeks capital<br />
appreciation by investing<br />
predominantly in equity and<br />
equity-related instruments of<br />
companies that are undervalued<br />
across the market capitalisation.<br />
The scheme aims to invest<br />
80-100 per cent of its corpus<br />
in equity and equity related<br />
securities.<br />
The new fund offer (NFO)<br />
is open till January 29.<br />
● The corpus will be<br />
invested in a<br />
well diversified<br />
portfolio of stocks<br />
Harsha Viji, Managing Director,<br />
Sundaram Mutual,<br />
said: “We believe there are<br />
opportunities to invest in all<br />
market conditions and Sundaram<br />
Mutual is known for<br />
unearthing these opportunities.<br />
“With our research based<br />
approach, we are ideally positioned<br />
to unearth stocks for<br />
our investors that are undervalued<br />
relative to either sectoral<br />
or intrinsic business<br />
value and can strongly benefit<br />
from the positive momentum<br />
in the equity markets.”<br />
According to Sunil Subramaniam,<br />
Deputy CEO, the<br />
fund would invest in a well<br />
diversified portfolio of stocks<br />
through fundamental analysis,<br />
where stock selection was<br />
characterised by an emphasis<br />
on value opportunity and less<br />
on earnings growth.<br />
Sundaram Mutual Fund, a<br />
major player in fund management<br />
with retail focus, had<br />
average assets under management<br />
and advice of about<br />
Rs.19,564 crore as on December<br />
31, 2014.<br />
CM<br />
YK<br />
ND-ND
NOIDA/DELHI<br />
THE HINDU WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 21, 2015<br />
SPORT<br />
17<br />
My hard work<br />
paid off,<br />
says Finn<br />
BRISBANE: He scripted a memorable<br />
comeback on Tuesday<br />
snapping five wickets to set up<br />
England’s nine-wicket win over<br />
India in the cricket tri-series<br />
and pacer Steven Finn said he<br />
was happy to see that his hard<br />
work finally paid off.<br />
“It’s just nice to help England<br />
win a game of cricket. A<br />
lot has happened in the last 12<br />
months.<br />
“It was pretty much to a day<br />
where I went home from that<br />
tour of Australia. But that corner<br />
has been turned and I turned<br />
it a while ago,” said Finn in<br />
the post-match press<br />
conference.<br />
“All that stuff is in the past<br />
now and I am just looking forward.<br />
To take five wickets today<br />
was very pleasing after the<br />
work I have put in.<br />
“I always thought in my mind<br />
that it was possible to return to<br />
Australia and perform. To<br />
come here and be in the same<br />
hotels and get over those hurdles<br />
has been good fun and I am<br />
enjoying it,” added the lanky<br />
pacer.<br />
The 25-year-old Englishman<br />
said he was happy with the<br />
Gabba pitch that assisted him<br />
in taking five for 33 as India was<br />
bowled out for just 153 runs<br />
with James Anderson also taking<br />
four for 18.<br />
“The pitch bounced a lot especially<br />
from my end. And I<br />
could bowl a fullish (sic) length<br />
and it was coming at waist<br />
height which can be uncomfortable<br />
for anyone,” he said.<br />
“It was partly the way we<br />
bowled and partly the wicket.<br />
But we used that to our advantage<br />
and as a bowling unit<br />
we stuck to our guns really well<br />
and made the Indian batsmen<br />
come to us.<br />
“It is always tough to go out<br />
and defend a 150-run target.<br />
We have a couple guys who are<br />
in good touch and you know it’s<br />
always tough in that situation.<br />
Our seam bowlers bowled very<br />
well today and Moeen Ali also<br />
supported us well,” he added. —<br />
PTI<br />
Slow progress<br />
by Bengal<br />
KOLKATA: Bengal made slow<br />
progress, after opting to bat, on<br />
the opening day of the four-day<br />
quarterfinal of the Cooch Behar<br />
Trophy against Tamil Nadu at<br />
Kalyani on Tuesday.<br />
Bengal ended on 169 for two<br />
in 90 overs, with Kazi Junaid<br />
Saifi and Shubham Chatterjee<br />
unbeaten on 79 and 59 respectively.<br />
Delhi scores 194<br />
At New Delhi, half-centuries<br />
by Vishwas Malik (58 n.o.) and<br />
Sarthak Ranjan (54) helped<br />
Delhi score 194 in its first innings<br />
against Rajasthan.<br />
The scores: At Kolkata: Bengal<br />
169 for two in 90 overs (Kazi Junaid<br />
Saifi 79 batting, Shubham Chatterjee<br />
59 batting) vs Tamil Nadu.<br />
At Delhi: Delhi 194 in 57.3 overs<br />
(Vishwas Malik 58 n.o., Sarthak Ranjan<br />
54, S.K. Sharma four for 43, S.K.K.<br />
Ahamad three for 33) vs Rajasthan 23<br />
for no loss in eight overs (V.B. Kothari<br />
10 batting, A.V. Gautam 13 batting).<br />
At Meerut: Mumbai 19 for no loss in<br />
seven overs vs Uttar Pradesh.<br />
Finn, Anderson crush spineless India<br />
CRICKET/ Another loss puts India’s tri-series campaign in jeopardy<br />
BRISBANE: A spineless India suffered<br />
its second consecutive<br />
defeat as England crushed it by<br />
nine wickets with a bonus<br />
point, throwing its cricket triseries<br />
campaign in jeopardy<br />
here on Tuesday.<br />
Electing to bat, India was<br />
bundled out for 153 in 39.3<br />
overs with the top-five batsmen<br />
returning to the dressing room<br />
with just 67 runs on board by<br />
the 19th over on a lively Gabba<br />
track.<br />
Steven Finn (five for 33) and<br />
pace colleague James Anderson<br />
(four for 18) exploited the<br />
pacer-friendly deck to the hilt<br />
by extracting extra bounce as<br />
the Indians, barring Stuart Binny<br />
(44), struggled to come to<br />
terms.<br />
Binny was the lone Indian<br />
batsman to show some resilience<br />
on a day when the others<br />
got out due to poor shot selection.<br />
Opener Ajinkya Rahane (33),<br />
Virat Kohli (4), Ambati Rayudu<br />
(23) and Suresh Raina (1) were<br />
out playing poor shots, while<br />
Shikhar Dhawan (1) fell to a<br />
beauty from Anderson in the<br />
third over of the ndian innings.<br />
England chased down the<br />
target with more than 22 overs<br />
to spare and collected five<br />
points, including a bonus point,<br />
from the comprehensive win.<br />
Opener Ian Bell led the England<br />
run chase with a 91-ball<br />
unbeaten 88 while James Taylor<br />
also scored an unbeaten 56<br />
from 63 balls. The duo added<br />
131 in an unconquered second<br />
NELSON: Kane Williamson made<br />
a welcome return to the New<br />
Zealand side with an elegant<br />
century to set up a four-wicket<br />
victory over Sri Lanka in the<br />
fourth One-Day International<br />
on Tuesday.<br />
Backed by lusty hitting from<br />
Corey Anderson and Luke Ronchi,<br />
New Zealand overtook Sri<br />
Lanka's 276 with 11 balls to<br />
spare and move 2-1 ahead in the<br />
seven-match series.<br />
In a tense finish New Zealand<br />
needed 47 off 36 balls when the<br />
24-year-old Williamson was removed<br />
for 103, his fifth ODI<br />
century.<br />
Anderson was run out for 47<br />
with New Zealand needing 32<br />
runs with 26 balls left.<br />
Up stepped Luke Ronchi to<br />
blast a rapid 32 including three<br />
sixes and Daniel Vettori hit a<br />
four as New Zealand finished<br />
with a flourish.<br />
After losing the early wickets<br />
of Brendon McCullum, Martin<br />
Guptill and Ross Taylor cheaply,<br />
an unflustered Williamson<br />
led the rescue mission, first in<br />
partnership with Grant Elliott<br />
and then with Anderson.<br />
He brought up his century<br />
with a steady accumulation of<br />
singles, only reaching the<br />
boundary seven times with six<br />
fours and a six.<br />
But having attained the milestone<br />
he was bowled by Thisara<br />
Perera and Anderson vacated<br />
the field soon after.<br />
McCullum, on whom New<br />
SUPERB SPELL: Steven Finn, who took five for 33, exploited the pacer-friendly deck to bowl India out<br />
cheaply. — PHOTO: REUTERS<br />
wicket stand as they negotiated<br />
the Indian bowlers without<br />
much difficulty on a pitch that<br />
seemed to have demons while<br />
the Indians were batting. Taylor<br />
hit the winning runs, a four,<br />
Williamson century guides NZ home<br />
ELEGANT KNOCK: Kane<br />
Williamson scored 103.<br />
— PHOTO: AFP<br />
TENNIS<br />
Unseeded Vanshika Sawhney stuns Pei Chen<br />
KOLKATA: Unseeded Vanshika<br />
Sawhney downed second seed<br />
Hsuan Pei Chen of Chinese Taipei<br />
6-2, 6-1 in the opening<br />
round of the girls’ singles in the<br />
ONGC-ITF Juniors (under-18)<br />
tennis tournament here at the<br />
DKS Complex on Tuesday.<br />
Important results (first round, all<br />
Sri Lanka: D. Karunaratne lbw b<br />
Southee 5, T. Dilshan c Guptill b Williamson<br />
44, K. Sangakkara c Guptill b<br />
Milne 76, M. Jayawardene c Ronchi b<br />
Anderson 94, A. Mathews c Ronchi b<br />
Milne 0, L. Thirimanne b McClenaghan<br />
19, T. Perera c McCullum b Southee<br />
5, J. Mendis c Vettori b Southee 12,<br />
N. Kulasekara (run out) 4, S. Senanayake<br />
(not out) 1, R. Herath c Williamson<br />
b McClenaghan 0; Extras<br />
(lb-2, w-14) 16; Total (in 49.3 overs):<br />
276.<br />
Fall of wickets: 1-11, 2-113, 3-180,<br />
4-180, 5-245, 6-253, 7-268, 8-270,<br />
9-273.<br />
New Zealand bowling: Southee<br />
10-1-59-3, Milne 7-0-28-2, McClenaghan<br />
9.3-0-58-2, Anderson 3-0-<br />
19-1, Elliott 3-0-19-0, Vettori 10-0-<br />
SCOREBOARD<br />
Zealand relys heavily to get off<br />
to a good start, failed to oblige<br />
this time with a gentle poke at a<br />
Nuwan Kulasekera delivery<br />
and was caught at mid on for<br />
just 11.<br />
Guptill failed to back up from<br />
his unbeaten 66 in the washed<br />
out third match in Auckland on<br />
Saturday as he was caught behind<br />
for 20 while Taylor went<br />
cheaply for eight as New Zealand<br />
slumped to 63-3 after 15<br />
overs.<br />
Elliott, who scored 44, was<br />
happy to accumulate singles in<br />
a patient 88-run stand with<br />
Williamson which ensured<br />
there were wickets in hand for<br />
the final run chase.<br />
Sangakkara,<br />
Jayawardene shine<br />
Sri Lanka’s innings was the<br />
product of finely constructed<br />
performances by their two elder<br />
statesmen Kumar Sangakkara<br />
and Mahela Jayawardene.<br />
Between them the 37-yearolds<br />
contributed all but 106 of<br />
Sri Lanka's 276 with Jayawardene<br />
scoring 94 off 82 deliveries<br />
and Sangakkara, who moved<br />
up to third on the list of top ODI<br />
run scorers, making 76 off 83.<br />
Sangakkara now has 13,490<br />
runs, 214 behind Australian<br />
Ricky Ponting on a list headed<br />
by Indian great Sachin Tendulkar<br />
who amassed 18,426 runs.<br />
Tillakaratne Dilshan, who<br />
made 44 in a 102-run stand<br />
with Sangakkara for the second<br />
wicket, was the only other Sri<br />
Lankan batsman to top 20 as<br />
the New Zealand bowlers<br />
carved up the lower order.<br />
In the space of 30 deliveries,<br />
six wickets fell for just 31 runs<br />
with the Sri Lankan innings<br />
folding three balls from the<br />
scheduled end.— AFP<br />
41-0, Williamson 7-0-50-1.<br />
New Zealand: M. Guptill c Sangakkara<br />
b Mathews 20, B. McCullum c<br />
Perera b Kulasekara 11, K. Williamson<br />
b Perera 103, R. Taylor c Sangakkara<br />
b Herath 8, G. Elliott c Thirimanne b<br />
Mendis 44, C. Anderson (run out) 47,<br />
L. Ronchi (not out) 32, D. Vettori (not<br />
out) 7; Extras (lb-1, w-7) 8; Total (for<br />
six wkts. in 48.1 overs): 280.<br />
Fall of wickets: 1-24, 2-41, 3-63,<br />
4-151, 5-230, 6-245.<br />
Sri Lanka bowling: Kulasekara 9-<br />
0-51-1, Mathews 4-1-16-1, Herath 9-<br />
1-39-1, Perera 8-0-58-1, Senanayake<br />
9.1-0-57-0, Mendis 7-0-40-1, Dilshan<br />
2-0-18-0.<br />
Toss: Sri Lanka<br />
Man-of-the-Match: Kane<br />
Williamson<br />
BADMINTON<br />
Sindhu optimistic; Kashyap hopes to come good at home<br />
Uthra Ganesan<br />
LUCKNOW: When Saina Nehwal<br />
and P.V. Sindhu faced off in the<br />
Syed Modi International India<br />
Masters tournament here last<br />
year, they were only three<br />
ranks apart. The senior pro was<br />
under pressure to protect her<br />
No. 1 status in Indian badminton,<br />
staving off a fighting Sindhu<br />
in the final.<br />
A year on, Saina has consolidated<br />
her position at the top<br />
with three titles through 2014<br />
while Sindhu is out of the top 10<br />
despite a string of decent performances.<br />
A series of second and third<br />
place finishes mean Sindhu, despite<br />
a historic second World<br />
Championship bronze, has<br />
slipped to 11th in the world.<br />
Coming off a semifinal defeat<br />
at the Malaysia Masters, Sindhu<br />
is hopeful of going one step<br />
better in 2015 as the main draw<br />
begins on Tuesday.<br />
Sindhu begins her campaign<br />
against qualifier Ekta Kalia in<br />
the first round but her real<br />
challenge will begin in the third<br />
Indians unless specified): Boys:<br />
Aryan Goveas bt Cagatay Sami Soke<br />
(Tur) 6-7(4), 6-4, 6-3; Yun Ruei Wen<br />
(Tpe) bt Anirudh Chandrasekhar 6-4,<br />
7-5; Siddhant Banthia bt Adil Kalyanpur<br />
6-1, 6-0; B.R. Nikshep bt Eric Junior<br />
Olivarez (Phi) 3-6, 7-6(6), 6-3;<br />
Ishaque Eqbal bt Tejas Shevde 6-3,<br />
2-6, 6-2; Yugal Bansal bt Christian<br />
round, when she is likely to face<br />
Thai sixth seed Porntip<br />
Buranaprasertuk.<br />
Saina will be up against Yin<br />
Fun Lim of Singapore and is<br />
likely to face Spanish fifth seed<br />
Beatriz Corrales in the third<br />
round.<br />
If everything falls in place,<br />
the two may well run into each<br />
other in the title clash once<br />
again.<br />
On the men’s side, K. Srikanth<br />
had an exceptional run in<br />
the second half of last year but<br />
that won’t make it any easier<br />
FIGHTING BACK: Jayan James and K. Vikranth came<br />
back after losing the first game to defeat Love<br />
Kumar and Varun Sharma in the qualifying event<br />
on Tuesday. — PHOTO RAJEEV BHATT<br />
Cummings 6-1, 6-0; Dhruv Sunish bt<br />
Breno Souza Plentz (Bra) 7-5, 6-2;<br />
P.V. Gnana Bhasker bt Paras Dahiya<br />
4-6, 6-4, 6-3. Cing Yang Meng (Tpe) bt<br />
Nitin Kumar Sinha 6-2, 1-6, 6-4; Kaya<br />
Gore (Tur) bt Parth Aggarwal 6-3, 6-2;<br />
Cheng Cheih Wang (Tpe) bt Mridul<br />
Kharkwal 7-6(5),6-4; Udayan Bhakar<br />
bt Sumit Pal Singh 6-4, 6-3; Alex Solanki<br />
bt Shrey Gupta 7-6(4), 6-4.<br />
Girls: Karman Kaur Thandi bt Huai<br />
Shu Chen (Tpe) 6-2, 6-1; Qianhui<br />
Tang (Chn) bt Shivani Manjanna 6-1,<br />
6-0; Mahak Jain bt Jaipet Anontaweesil<br />
(Tha) 6-4, 6-0; R. Janse van Rensburg<br />
(RSA) bt Snehal Mane 6-3, 6-4.<br />
Yubrani Banerjee bt Nina van Oost<br />
(Bel) 6-1, 6-2; Yu Pei Lee (Tpe) bt<br />
for him here with compatriots<br />
H.S. Prannoy, R.M.V. Gurusaidutt<br />
and fifth seed Singaporean<br />
Wei Feng Chong in his half of<br />
the draw.<br />
Commonwealth Games gold<br />
medallist P. Kashyap, who had<br />
an early exit at the Malaysia<br />
Masters, is also looking forward<br />
to come good at home.<br />
“I always do well at home and<br />
I like playing here. Malaysia<br />
was because of bad form and I<br />
committed errors but other<br />
than that, I have had a very consistent<br />
season. I have won this<br />
tournament before and I am<br />
looking forward to winning it<br />
again,” Kashyap said.<br />
With late pullouts in the<br />
main draws of both the men’s<br />
and women’s section, the qualifying<br />
rounds on Tuesday were<br />
a largely Indian affair restricted<br />
to a handful of games.<br />
UP Academy trainee and<br />
sub-junior Asian silver medalist<br />
Riya Muherjee didn't break<br />
sweat for her 21-9, 21-6 win<br />
over Seema Panchal.<br />
Talar Laa and Himanshu Saroha<br />
were taken the distance<br />
Kwan Yau NG (HKG) 1-6, 6-3, 6-4; Ye<br />
Xin Ma (Chn) bt Jennifer Luikham 3-6,<br />
6-0, 6-4; Fang Hsien Wu (Tpe) bt Adrija<br />
Biswas 6-2, 6-1.<br />
Zeel Desai bt Inci Ogut (Tur) 6-0,<br />
6-3; Nidhi Suparapaneni bt Maia Bernadetta<br />
Balce (Phi) 3-6, 6-3, 6-4; Vanshika<br />
Sawhney bt Hsuan Pei Chen<br />
(Tpe) 6-2, 6-1.<br />
on their respective matches by<br />
Ansal Yadav and Ameya Oak<br />
but other than that, there was<br />
hardly any excitement on<br />
court.<br />
The results: Qualifiers (Indians<br />
unless stated):<br />
Men: Singles: Love Kumar bt Jaswinder<br />
Singh 21-11, 21-15; K. Vikranth<br />
bt Mohd. Rahad Kabir Khaled<br />
(Ban) 21-15, 21-18.<br />
Sidharth Jakhar bt Kirill Romanuk<br />
(Rus) 21-10, 21-5; Himanshu Saroha<br />
bt Ameya Oak 16-21, 22-20, 21-16;<br />
Talar Laa bt Ansal Yadav 21-17, 14-<br />
21, 21-19.<br />
Ankit Chhikara bt Mostafizar Rahman<br />
(Ban) 21-13, 21-9.<br />
Doubles: Jayan James & Vikranth<br />
Karukonda bt Love Kumar & Varun<br />
Sharma 18-21, 21-13, 21-18; Utkarsh<br />
Arora & Tanvir Gill bt Rajat Joon &<br />
Ravi Kumar 18-21, 21-10, 21-12; Saurav<br />
Kapoor & Deepak Khatri bt Pavan<br />
Malik & Aditya Nair 21-18, 21-17; Kapil<br />
Chaudhary & Chandrabhushan Tripathi<br />
bt Kabir Kanzarkar & Akshay<br />
Raut 21-14, 22-20.<br />
Women: Singles: Riya Mukherjee<br />
bt Seema Panchal 21-9, 21-6; Lalita<br />
Dahiya bt Vaddepally Pramada 21-14,<br />
21-19.<br />
as England reached 156 for one<br />
in 27.3 overs to wrap up the<br />
match. The other English opener,<br />
Moeen Ali (8), was dismissed<br />
cheaply off Binny, who<br />
opened the bowling for India<br />
NEW DELHI: “Winning the World<br />
Cup will not be easy for India.<br />
Reaching the quarterfinals<br />
shouldn’t be difficult, but<br />
thereafter, any team with three<br />
good games, and a bit of luck,<br />
should be able to win,” said Rahul<br />
Dravid at the inaugural<br />
Sports Lecture Beyond Boundaries<br />
at the India International<br />
Centre here on Tuesday.<br />
Before a large gathering, that<br />
included several cricketers and<br />
sports personalities, Dravid<br />
maintained that it was possible<br />
for India to retain the cup<br />
should game-changers like Virat<br />
Kohli and M.S. Dhoni get<br />
going in the knockout games.<br />
He mentioned Australia,<br />
South Africa, India and New<br />
Zealand as teams that “should<br />
be expected to do well this<br />
time”. Dravid sympathised<br />
with the bowlers, saying, “With<br />
the change in rules, it has become<br />
very difficult for the bowlers<br />
(to be consistently<br />
effective). I never had any sympathy<br />
for the bowlers (as a batsman),<br />
but now I feel for them.”<br />
Enthralling speech<br />
Earlier, Dravid enthralled<br />
‘Asian pro Tour<br />
top priority’<br />
KOLKATA: Capt. P.V.K. Mohan,<br />
the newly-elected president of<br />
the International Billiards and<br />
Snooker Federation, said one of<br />
his priorities was to start an<br />
Asian professional snooker Tour.<br />
The tour, he said, will help talented<br />
cueists in Asia as they finding<br />
it difficult to travel to UK to<br />
compete in the European and<br />
qualifying events.<br />
He said the Billiards and<br />
Snooker Federation of India was<br />
in the process of finalising a new<br />
event — Cue Masters League —<br />
which will test the skill and overall<br />
prowess of players in billiards,<br />
snooker and pool. IMG has been<br />
asked to work out a spectatorfriendly<br />
format.<br />
The league will be franchiseebased<br />
in the lines of IPL. Six city<br />
teams will be identified comprising<br />
marquee players from India<br />
as well as from overseas.<br />
Capt. Mohan said he was working<br />
hard to increase the membership<br />
of IBSF to 100 countries<br />
from the present 85. Countries in<br />
Africa, Eastern Europe and the<br />
Americas were being approached.<br />
He said he was committed<br />
to include the cue sport in<br />
Commonwealth, Asian and<br />
South Asian Games. — Special<br />
Correspondent<br />
during the first session as England<br />
batted before the break<br />
after India folded up early.<br />
Australia is on top of table<br />
with nine points from two<br />
matches while England has five<br />
from two games.<br />
India will now have to win<br />
both its remaining matches if it<br />
is to qualify for the final. — PTI<br />
SCOREBOARD<br />
India: A. Rahane c Taylor b Finn 33<br />
(40 b, 1x4, 1x6), S. Dhawan c Buttler b<br />
Anderson 1 (5b), A. Rayudu c Buttler b<br />
Finn 23 (53b, 2x4), V. Kohli c Buttler b<br />
Finn 4 (8b), S. Raina st Buttler b Ali 1<br />
(3b), M.S. Dhoni c Buttler b Finn 34<br />
(61b, 1x4), S. Binny c Morgan b Anderson<br />
44 (55b, 3x4, 2x6), A. Patel b<br />
Finn 0 (1b), B. Kumar b Anderson 5<br />
(5b), M. Shami c Ali b Anderson 1 (7b),<br />
U. Yadav (not out) 0 (0b); Extras (lb-3,<br />
w-3, nb-1) 7; Total (in 39.3 overs): 153.<br />
Fall of wickets: 1-1 (Dhawan), 2-<br />
57 (Rahane), 3-64 (Kohli), 4-65 (Raina),<br />
5-67 (Rayudu), 6-137 (Dhoni), 7-<br />
137 (Axar), 8-143 (Bhuvneshwar), 9-<br />
153 (Binny).<br />
England bowling: Anderson 8.3-2-<br />
18-4, Woakes 7-0-35-0, Broad 7-0-<br />
33-0, Finn 8-0-33-5, Ali 9-0-31-1.<br />
England: I. Bell (not out) 88 (91b,<br />
8x4), M. Ali c Kohli b Binny 8 (12b,<br />
1x4), J. Taylor (not out) 56 (63b, 4x4);<br />
Extras (w-3, nb-1) 4; Total (for one wkt.<br />
in 27.3 overs): 156.<br />
Fall of wicket: 1-25 (Ali).<br />
India bowling: Binny 7-0-34-1,<br />
Bhuvneshwar 2-0-18-0, Umesh 6-0-<br />
42-0, Shami 4-0-23-0, Axar 7.3-0-<br />
32-0, Raina 1-0-7-0.<br />
Toss: India.<br />
Man-of-the-Match: Finn.<br />
Dravid on India’s<br />
World Cup chances<br />
Special Correspondent<br />
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The new<br />
State of Telangana will compete<br />
as a separate entity in the 35th<br />
National Games to be held in<br />
Kerala from Jan. 31 to Feb. 14.<br />
This was communicated<br />
through a letter to the National<br />
Games organising committee by<br />
IOA secretary general Rajeev<br />
Mehta on Friday. In his letter to<br />
the audience as he read out<br />
from a prepared text and struck<br />
a note of optimism, looking at<br />
the future of sports in the country.<br />
Drawing from the deeds of<br />
the country’s celebrated and<br />
lesser-known sportspersons in<br />
the face of challenges, he mentioned<br />
how the autobiography<br />
of Olympic gold medallist Abhinav<br />
Bindra encouraged him<br />
to give it his all after a slump in<br />
form late in his career.<br />
He mentioned the ‘Dhoni Effect’<br />
that had inspired sportspersons<br />
from small towns to<br />
make it big by chasing their aspirations.<br />
Answering a question on<br />
boxer Sarita Devi, Dravid said<br />
her disappointment after losing<br />
the bout (in the Asian<br />
Games semifinals at Incheon)<br />
was “understandable”, but her<br />
reaction on the podium was<br />
“not right”.<br />
Sharing the dais with Dravid<br />
was former secretary general of<br />
the Indian Olympic Association<br />
Randhir Singh, who seconded<br />
the cricketer’s views on<br />
steps needed to uplift Indian<br />
sports. He hailed the efforts of<br />
the Government and the Sports<br />
Authority of India, despite the<br />
various constraints they faced.<br />
NATIONAL GAMES<br />
Telangana to compete<br />
the NGOC CEO Jacob Punnoose,<br />
Mehta said the decision<br />
was based on the numerous representations<br />
received by the<br />
IOA ever since the bifurcation<br />
of Andhra Pradesh.<br />
“The interests and concerns<br />
of sportspersons from both<br />
States are paramount to the<br />
IOA, and as such it has been<br />
su ldo lku<br />
A mind game and a puzzle<br />
that you solve with<br />
reasoning and logic. Fill in<br />
the grid with digits in such<br />
a manner that every row,<br />
every column and every<br />
3x3 box accommodates<br />
the digits 1 to 9, without<br />
repeating any. The<br />
solution to yesterday’s<br />
puzzle is at right.<br />
I don’t think we<br />
batted well,<br />
says Dhoni<br />
BRISBANE: His decision to bat<br />
first backfired on Tuesday as<br />
India was dismissed for a paltry<br />
153 against England and skipper<br />
M.S. Dhoni put the blame<br />
on his batsmen for their ninewicket<br />
loss in their second ODI<br />
of the cricket tri-series here.<br />
“I don’t think we batted well,<br />
especially after choosing to<br />
bat,” said Dhoni after James<br />
Anderson and Steve Finn produced<br />
sensational seam bowling<br />
to set up the win for<br />
England at The Gabba.<br />
“The wicket was a bit twopaced<br />
to start off and our batsmen<br />
did not really play well.<br />
We needed to build partnerships,<br />
but that did not happen.<br />
“If a ball is there to hit, you<br />
should, but if it needs to be defended,<br />
you should watch out.<br />
By the time you need to accelerate,<br />
there aren’t any wickets<br />
left,” he said.<br />
Demanding tour<br />
India will be in Australia for a<br />
long time since the World Cup<br />
is also starting next month and<br />
Dhoni said the four and a half<br />
months away from home was<br />
very demanding.<br />
“We have to use whatever<br />
time is left before the World<br />
Cup in a useful manner. Staying<br />
four and a half months away<br />
from home is difficult, but we<br />
have to switch on and switch<br />
off.<br />
“We need to switch on and<br />
assess what needs to be done in<br />
the nets, or wait in the hotel if<br />
the need be,” he said.<br />
It was England’s first win after<br />
its loss to Australia in the<br />
tournament-opener and skipper<br />
Eoin Morgan said he was<br />
delighted at the outstanding<br />
performance of his team.<br />
“Outstanding. We really put<br />
a team performance, which I<br />
was delighted with,” said<br />
Morgan.<br />
“And there were individual<br />
performance. Steve Finn got<br />
that bounce and made most of<br />
it. Jimmy set the tone with an<br />
early breakthrough. If it<br />
swings, he tends to take<br />
advantage.<br />
“It adds a hell of a lot of<br />
weight to the side. Australia very<br />
strong side at the moment,<br />
we will continue to concentrate<br />
on what we do well,” he added.<br />
— PTI<br />
Romuald Boco is<br />
Bharat FC’s<br />
marquee player<br />
NEW DELHI: Bharat FC bolstered<br />
its squad for the 2014-15 I-<br />
League football season by signing<br />
Romuald Boco as the marquee<br />
player.<br />
The 29-year-old Boco joins<br />
Bharat FC from English League<br />
One side Chesterfield FC. Boco<br />
is a versatile midfielder but prefers<br />
to play in advanced positions,<br />
having been mostly<br />
deployed as an attacking midfielder<br />
through large parts of<br />
his career.<br />
Bharat FC will play its first<br />
ever I-League fixture against<br />
Dempo SC on January 24. —<br />
PTI<br />
decided that all qualifying<br />
teams of Andhra Pradesh and<br />
Telangana should take part separately<br />
in National Games.<br />
“In this regard, the IOA will<br />
constitute committees to handle<br />
the participation and entries<br />
of teams from both States,” the<br />
letter said. — Special<br />
Correspondent<br />
CM<br />
YK<br />
ND-ND
SPORT<br />
NOIDA/DELHI<br />
18 THE HINDU WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 21, 2015<br />
TV LISTINGS<br />
Australian Open, Sony Six<br />
& Sony Six HD, 5.30 a.m.<br />
& 1.30 p.m. ; Ranji Trophy,<br />
Tamil Nadu vs Mumbai,<br />
STAR Sports2 & HD2, 9.20<br />
a.m.; South Africa vs West<br />
Indies, third ODI, TEN<br />
Cricket & TEN HD, 5 p.m.<br />
Bengal downs<br />
Karnataka<br />
by 13 runs<br />
KOLKATA: Host Bengal continued<br />
its winning run downing a<br />
strong Karnataka side by 13<br />
runs in a senior women’s T20<br />
plate group knock-out match<br />
here at the Eden Gardens on<br />
Tuesday.<br />
Bengal posted 101 after opting<br />
to bat and Karnataka could<br />
manage 88 runs losing nine<br />
wickets in reply.<br />
The scores:<br />
Bengal 101 in 20 overs (Dipali<br />
Shaw 29, K. Rakshita three for 14,<br />
Rajeshwari three for 20) bt Karnataka<br />
88 for nine in 20 overs (V. Karuna Jain<br />
36, Gayatri Mal three for 13).<br />
Assam 62 in 19.4 overs (Shikha<br />
Pandey three for 14) lost to Goa 63 for<br />
six in 19.1 overs (Shikha Pandey 26).<br />
Lalu wins title<br />
YAMUNA NAGAR: Lalu Taku<br />
staved off a strong challenge<br />
from Deepak Lather to claim<br />
the boys' 62kg title in the National<br />
junior weightlifting<br />
championship here on Tuesday.<br />
Lather set a new snatch record<br />
by lifting 117kg and taking<br />
a lead of seven kg.<br />
However, Lalu fought back to<br />
a hoist 142kg in clean and jerk<br />
and beat Lather by an overall<br />
margin of one kg.<br />
The results:<br />
Boys: 56kg: 1. Jamjang Deru<br />
snatch 100kg, clean and jerk 137kg,<br />
total 237kg; 2. M. Manoj Kumar 97kg,<br />
128kg, 225kg; 3. Aruna Santa 96kg,<br />
127kg, 223kg.<br />
62kg: 1. Lalu Taku 110kg, 142kg,<br />
252kg; 2. Deepak Lather 117kg,<br />
134kg, 251kg; 3. T. Sudheer 109kg,<br />
136kg, 245kg.<br />
Girls: 48kg: 1. Poonam Dalal 71kg,<br />
84kg, 155kg; 2. Dipali Gursale 68kg,<br />
80kg, 148kg; 3. Reema Devi 63kg,<br />
84kg, 147kg.<br />
Shrivastava<br />
slams 124<br />
KOLKATA: Sanket Shrivastava<br />
slammed an unbeaten 124 to<br />
help Madhya Pradesh take a<br />
massive first innings lead<br />
against Maharashtra on the<br />
second day of the semifinals of<br />
the Vijay Merchant Trophy at<br />
Cuttack.<br />
75-run lead for Punjab<br />
Punjab took a 75-run first innings<br />
lead against Bengal in the<br />
other semifinal.<br />
The scores:<br />
Maharashtra 155 & one for no loss<br />
vs Madhya Pradesh 303 in 107.2<br />
overs (Sanket Shrivastava 124 n.o.;<br />
Soumitra Joshi four for 42, Shubham<br />
Harpale three for 121).<br />
Bengal 102 & 149 for two in 58<br />
overs (Sudip Gharami 71 batting, A.<br />
Chauhan 33 batting) vs Punjab 177 in<br />
71.1 overs (Shubman Gill 109; Roshan<br />
Singh three for 39, Souvik Paul four<br />
for 42).<br />
RANJI<br />
SCHEDULE<br />
Group A<br />
Railways vs Jammu and<br />
Kashmir: New Delhi<br />
Karnataka vs Baroda:<br />
Mysuru<br />
Tamil Nadu vs Mumbai:<br />
Chennai<br />
Uttar Pradesh vs Bengal:<br />
Ghaziabad<br />
Group B<br />
Gujarat vs Vidarbha: Surat<br />
Maharashtra vs Delhi: Pune<br />
Odisha vs Rajasthan:<br />
Balangir<br />
Saurashtra vs Haryana:<br />
Rajkot<br />
Group C<br />
Goa vs Assam: Porvorim<br />
Himachal Pradesh vs<br />
Andhra: Dharamsala<br />
Jharkhand vs Hyderabad:<br />
Ranchi<br />
Tripura vs Kerala: Agartala<br />
ENGAGEMENTS<br />
At New Delhi<br />
Cricket: Ranji Trophy, Railways vs<br />
Jammu & Kashmir, Karnail Singh<br />
Stadium, 9.30 a.m.<br />
At Ghaziabad<br />
Ranji Trophy, Uttar Pradesh vs<br />
Bengal, Mohan Meakin ground, 9.30<br />
a.m.<br />
DEATH<br />
D. BALASUBRAMANIAN (76), Retired<br />
Deputy Personnel Officer, The Hindu,<br />
Chennai, passed away on 20.01.<br />
2015. Address: Plot No.46, Mohanapuri,<br />
4th Street, Adambakkam,<br />
Chennai − 600 088 Phone: 044−<br />
22532090.<br />
CM<br />
YK<br />
MELBOURNE: Novak Djokovic led<br />
a trail of the top men’s seeds<br />
into the second round at the<br />
Australian Open on a Tuesday<br />
that saw Stan Wawrinka make a<br />
successful return to the venue<br />
that witnessed his life-changing<br />
moment.<br />
World No.1 Djokovic beat<br />
World No.116 Aljaz Bedene 6-3,<br />
6-2, 6-4 as he begun his quest<br />
for a fifth title at Melbourne<br />
Park.<br />
Djokovic has been dogged by<br />
illness in the lead-up to the<br />
year’s first major tournament.<br />
But after encountering early<br />
problems from Bedene he went<br />
on to secure passage into the<br />
next round. “It’s fading away. It<br />
hasn’t been an ideal couple of<br />
weeks in terms of health and<br />
preparation,” Djokovic said.<br />
“But I fought my way through.<br />
Now it’s behind me. I’m only<br />
looking forward.”<br />
Djokovic broke Bedene four<br />
times and only had three breakpoints<br />
against his serve in the<br />
match.<br />
“For a first<br />
round performance<br />
it was pretty good, obviously<br />
I still need to work on a<br />
few things, I’m still developing<br />
my game,” Djokovic said.<br />
Wawrinka returned to Rod<br />
Laver Arena to begin his title<br />
defence. The Swiss fourth seed,<br />
who upset Rafael Nadal in the<br />
2014 final, waltzed past Turkey’s<br />
Marsel Ilhan 6-1, 6-4, 6-2<br />
to safely negotiate the first<br />
hurdle.<br />
“It was great to be back on<br />
Rod Laver Arena again, it<br />
brings back so many memories<br />
from last year,” Wawrinka said.<br />
“It was such an amazing two<br />
weeks so it was great to come<br />
back here and I am pleased with<br />
my game in general and I'm excited<br />
to start again.”<br />
Nishikori began with a hardfought<br />
opener against Spaniard<br />
Nicolas Almagro, winning a<br />
two-hour dogfight 6-4, 7-6(1),<br />
6-2 on Margaret Court Arena.<br />
“I'm getting close to the next<br />
level. Obviously, it was a really<br />
tough first match,” he said. “Nicolas<br />
could be seeded player,<br />
Djokovic and Wawrinka begin smoothly<br />
Serena sails; former No.1s Wozniacki and Azarenka set up an intriguing second-round clash<br />
AUSTRALIAN OPEN<br />
and I know he was injured, but I<br />
was getting more balls, especially<br />
third set, and I played a<br />
much better third set.”<br />
Other seeded winners included<br />
Milos Raonic, David<br />
Ferrer, Feliciano Lopez, Gilles<br />
Simon and John Isner.<br />
Lleyton Hewitt, playing in<br />
his 19th straight national open,<br />
also advanced beating China's<br />
Zhang Ze in four sets.<br />
On the women’s side, Serena<br />
Williams showed she was back<br />
to her Grand Slam best, and former<br />
World No.1s Caroline<br />
Wozniacki and Victoria Azarenka<br />
set up an enticing second-round<br />
clash.<br />
Serena swept into the second<br />
round demolishing Alison van<br />
Uytvanck of Belgium 6-0, 6-4.<br />
Petra Kvitova, seeded four,<br />
Agnieszka Radwanska (6),<br />
Wozniacki (8), last year’s finalist<br />
Dominika Cibulkova (11),<br />
and Venus Williams (18) were<br />
among the other seeds to<br />
advance.<br />
The upsets of<br />
the day involved<br />
Jelena<br />
Jankovic (15), Andrea Petkovic<br />
(13) and Flavia Pennetta (12).<br />
Wozniacki, who downed US<br />
teenager Taylor Townsend 7-6<br />
(1), 6-2, said she and Azarenka<br />
were good friends on tour although<br />
the Belarussian was<br />
more focused on beating her<br />
rival.<br />
“I know she’s very dangerous<br />
and we always had some tough<br />
matches. I’d like to just focus<br />
on myself and what I can do to<br />
build my game and prepare,”<br />
said Azarenka, who defeated<br />
America’s Sloane Stephens 6-3,<br />
6-2.<br />
Radwanska cruised past Kurumi<br />
Nara 6-3, 6-0 and Venus<br />
Williams dispatched Spain’s<br />
Maria-Teresa Torro-Flor 6-2,<br />
6-2.<br />
“I love the game, I love the<br />
thrill, I love the ‘Go Venus’,”<br />
said Venus Williams.<br />
“It takes a lot of work to get<br />
to this level, so while I can play<br />
I’m going to play, when I can’t,<br />
I’m going to watch it on TV.” —<br />
AFP<br />
LONDON: International Cricket<br />
Council chief executive David<br />
Richardson said on Tuesday<br />
the global governing body<br />
would come down hard on<br />
players who ‘sledged’ or verbally<br />
abused their opponents<br />
at the upcoming World Cup.<br />
During the course of an extensive<br />
interview on the ICC<br />
website, former South Africa<br />
wicketkeeper Richardson also<br />
said officials were determined<br />
to continue their campaign<br />
against illegal bowling actions<br />
and added he was confident<br />
the World Cup would not be<br />
blighted by match or<br />
spot-fixing.<br />
Several high-profile incidents<br />
in recent months have<br />
led former Australia captain<br />
Ian Chappell to say he fears it<br />
can only be a matter of time<br />
before things get so heated<br />
that a physical clash ensues.<br />
Meanwhile, New Zealand<br />
great Martin Crowe has called<br />
for the introduction of a yellow<br />
and red card system common<br />
to many other sports in a<br />
bid to punish poor on-field behaviour<br />
in cricket, which has<br />
traditionally prided itself on<br />
being a “gentlemen’s game”.<br />
Unusual step<br />
India’s ongoing tour of Australia<br />
has been marred by numerous<br />
verbal spats, with<br />
Cricket Australia chief executive<br />
James Sutherland taking<br />
the unusual step of publicly<br />
telling David Warner to “stop<br />
looking for trouble” after the<br />
opener’s latest flare-up saw<br />
FLASH AND SUBSTANCE: The ever-colourful Gael Monfils clawed his way back from two sets down to survive his opener against Lucas<br />
Pouille. — PHOTO: AFP<br />
First round: Men: 1-Novak Djokovic<br />
(Srb) bt Aljaz Bedene (Slo) 6-3, 6-2,<br />
6-4; 4-Stan Wawrinka (Sui) bt Marsel<br />
Ilhan (Tur) 6-1, 6-4, 6-2; 5-Kei Nishikori<br />
(Jpn) bt Nicolas Almagro (Esp) 6-4,<br />
7-6(1), 6-2; 8-Milos Raonic (Can) bt<br />
Illya Marchenko (Ukr) 7-6(3), 7-6(3),<br />
6-3; 9-David Ferrer (Esp) bt Thomaz<br />
Bellucci (Bra) 6-7(2), 6-2, 6-0, 6-3;<br />
12-Feliciano Lopez (Esp) bt Denis Kudla<br />
(USA) 3-6, 6-2, 4-6, 6-2, 10-8;<br />
13-Roberto Bautista Agut (Esp) bt Dominic<br />
Thiem (Aut) 4-6, 6-2, 6-3, 7-6(5);<br />
Alejandro Gonzalez (Col) bt 16-Fabio<br />
Fognini (Ita) 4-6, 6-2, 6-3, 6-4; 17-Gael<br />
Monfils (Fra) bt Lucas Pouille (Fra)<br />
him demand India’s Rohit<br />
Sharma “speak English” during<br />
a One-Day International<br />
in Melbourne on Sunday.<br />
Richardson said he was confident<br />
the existing system,<br />
whereby match referees oversee<br />
disciplinary punishments<br />
at major international fixtures,<br />
could cope with “disrespectful<br />
behaviour”.<br />
However, he insisted the<br />
ICC had been stressing to onfield<br />
umpires the need to stop<br />
such conduct at its source,<br />
with the World Cup in Australia<br />
and New Zealand now less<br />
6-7(3), 3-6, 6-4, 6-1, 6-4; 18-Gilles<br />
Simon (Fra) bt Robin Haase (Ned) 6-1,<br />
6-3, 6-4; 19-John Isner (USA) bt Jimmy<br />
Wang (Tpe) 7-6(5), 6-4, 6-4; Paolo<br />
Lorenzi (Ita) bt 21-Alexandr Dolgopolov<br />
(Ukr) 6-4, 6-3, 6-2; Benjamin Becker<br />
(Ger) bt 25-Julien Benneteau (Fra)<br />
7-5, 5-7, 6-2, 6-4; Matthias Bachinger<br />
(Ger) bt 27-Pablo Cuevas (Uru) 7-6<br />
(1), 6-3, 6-1; 30-Santiago Giraldo (Col)<br />
bt Jan Hernych (Cze) 6-3, 6-2, 6-2;<br />
31-Fernando Verdasco (Esp) bt<br />
James Ward (Gbr) 2-6, 6-0, 7-6(6),<br />
6-3; Lleyton Hewitt (Aus) bt Ze Zhang<br />
(Chn) 6-3, 1-6, 6-0, 6-4; Jerzy Janowicz<br />
(Pol) bt Hiroki Moriya (Jpn) 7-6(5),<br />
CRICKET<br />
ICC to crackdown on ‘sledgers’ at WC<br />
Over the last six months, or even going back<br />
further to the last Ashes series, there have<br />
been too many examples of player<br />
behaviour going too far and overstepping the<br />
boundaries of acceptability<br />
— DAVID RICHARDSON,<br />
ICC chief executive<br />
Weather might play<br />
spoilsport<br />
Principal Correspondent<br />
GHAZIABAD: With its undulating<br />
outfield and patchy grass, the<br />
Mohan Meakin cricket stadium<br />
seems markedly different from<br />
a regular First Class cricket<br />
venue. No stands for spectators<br />
and battered sightscreens only<br />
further the venue’s distance<br />
from cricket’s elite.<br />
Yet, the Ranji Trophy group<br />
A encounter between Uttar<br />
Pradesh and Bengal that begins<br />
here on Wednesday is by no<br />
means a landmark event. This<br />
was where the final of the 1977-<br />
78 season, when Karnataka<br />
reigned over UP, was played.<br />
For UP, and indeed Bengal, a<br />
group round elimination is a<br />
veritable threat now.<br />
After five group games, the<br />
host has won one match while<br />
the visiting side is still looking<br />
for its opening win. Compare<br />
this to last season when Bengal<br />
reached the semis while Uttar<br />
Pradesh lost to eventual champion<br />
Karnataka in the last<br />
eight. Since a draw helps neither<br />
side, the sight of a resultoriented<br />
trace must have come<br />
as a relief.<br />
However, Bengal skipper<br />
Laxmi Shukla has ruled out the<br />
possibility of playing an extra<br />
seamer. Despite a stiff calf,<br />
Shukla is expected to function<br />
as third medium pacer for the<br />
visitor. For UP, R.P. Singh has<br />
missed out on the squad after<br />
picking up an injury against Tamil<br />
Nadu in the previous round.<br />
However, it’s the host’s batting<br />
that has been the problem area<br />
for the team management.<br />
UP’s highest score this season<br />
is just 307, although it did<br />
declare at 299 for five against<br />
Jammu and Kashmir in another<br />
match. Only Tanmay Srivastava<br />
has scored a hundred in his<br />
side’s ongoing campaign, and<br />
even his tournament average is<br />
an uninspiring 36.44.<br />
Lying bottom of the table on<br />
seven points, UP trails Bengal<br />
by three.<br />
Considering there’s a distinct<br />
possibility of inclement weather<br />
in the coming days, it’s unlikely<br />
that enough play will be<br />
possible for either side to post a<br />
win.<br />
The squads (from):<br />
Uttar Pradesh: Piyush Chawla<br />
(captain), Praveen Kumar, Tanmay<br />
Srivastava, Parvinder Singh, Arish<br />
Alam, Mukul Dagar, Eklavya Dwivedi,<br />
Amit Mishra, Imtiyaz Ahmed, Ankit<br />
Rajpoot, Kuldeep Yadav, Akashdeep<br />
Nath, Umang Sharma, Himanshu Asnora<br />
and Israr Khan.<br />
Bengal: Laxmi Shukla (captain),<br />
Manoj Tiwary, Wriddhiman Saha, Arindam<br />
Das, Sudip Chatterjee, Abhimanyu<br />
Easwaran, Shreevats Goswami,<br />
Saurasish Lahiri, Writtick Chatterjee,<br />
Veer Pratap Singh, Ashoke Dinda,<br />
Amitava Banerjee, Pritam Chakraborty,<br />
Iresh Saxena and Sourav Sarkar.<br />
PUNE: Pradeep Sangwan last<br />
played for Delhi, against Vidarbha<br />
at Nagpur, in the last<br />
week of December 2012.<br />
Banned for 18 months for a<br />
dope-offence in the IPL 2013,<br />
the BCCI informed him last<br />
November that he was eligible<br />
to play again.<br />
However, coach Vijay Dahiya<br />
put an end to all speculations of<br />
Sangwan being in the scheme of<br />
things against Maharashtra,<br />
which is placed third in the<br />
group and will look for a “big<br />
breakthrough match” in order<br />
to advance to the knock-out<br />
stage.<br />
Sangwan, who replaced the<br />
injured medium pace Navdeep<br />
Saini in the team for the Ranji<br />
trophy group ‘B’ league match<br />
against Maharashtra to start<br />
here on Wednesday, took part<br />
in group warm up sessions at<br />
the Gahunje village stadium,<br />
did upper-body drills with a<br />
medicine ball, bowled and batted,<br />
but Dahiya was categorical.<br />
“We have played five bowlers<br />
so far, and we will continue<br />
with this policy; but Pradeep<br />
(Sangwan) will not be in the<br />
eleven,” he said.<br />
Topping the table with 30<br />
points, Delhi’s good run so far<br />
has been due to the terrific<br />
work of its bowling unit comprising<br />
seamers Saini (16 wkts),<br />
than a month away.<br />
Players going too far<br />
“Over the last six months,<br />
or even going back further to<br />
the last Ashes series, there<br />
have been too many examples<br />
of player behaviour going too<br />
far and overstepping the<br />
boundaries of acceptability,”<br />
Richardson<br />
told<br />
icc-cricket.com.<br />
“The amount of sledging<br />
and disrespect shown by players<br />
to each other was bad.<br />
“Since then, we have done a<br />
lot of work with our umpires<br />
and match referees to ensure<br />
they are much more pro-active<br />
in terms of policing behaviour<br />
on the field and — when<br />
players do overstep the mark<br />
— taking appropriate action.”<br />
The past year has also seen<br />
a significant increase in the<br />
number of bowlers banned for<br />
suspect actions, with Pakistan<br />
off-spinner Saeed Ajmal the<br />
most high-profile case. — AFP<br />
Sumit Narwal (12), Parvinder<br />
Awana (10), Rajat Bhatia (8),<br />
off-spinner spinner Shivam<br />
Sharma (13) and left-arm spinner<br />
Varun Sood (19); the second<br />
left arm spinner Manan Sharma<br />
played one match and took<br />
eight wickets.<br />
“There is not a single Delhi<br />
bowler in the top 19 in the<br />
league’s bowling honours; we<br />
have taken 89 wickets and<br />
many bowlers have shared it.<br />
We have not been dependent<br />
on one or two,” said Dahiya.<br />
Maharashtra’s bowlers have<br />
as many as Delhi’s (89), but<br />
IMPORTANT RESULTS<br />
2-6, 6-3, 7-5; Guillermo Garcia-Lopez<br />
(Esp) bt Peter Gojowczyk (Ger) 6-7(1),<br />
7-5, 6-4, 1-0 retired; Marcel Granollers<br />
(Esp) bt Stephane Robert (Fra) 6-3,<br />
6-4, 6-4; Gilles Muller (Lux) bt Pablo<br />
Carreno Busta (Esp) 6-4, 7-6(5), 7-6<br />
(3); Jarkko Nieminen (Fin) bt Andrey<br />
Golubev (Kaz) 6-1, 6-2, 7-6(6); Sergiy<br />
Stakhovsky (Ukr) bt Dusan Lajovic<br />
(Srb) 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, 6-7(3), 6-4.<br />
Women: 1-Serena Williams (USA)<br />
bt Alison van Uytvanck (Bel) 6-0, 6-4;<br />
4-Petra Kvitova (Cze) bt Richel Hogenkamp<br />
(Ned) 6-1, 6-4; 6-Agnieszka<br />
Radwanska (Pol) bt Kurumi Nara<br />
(Jpn) 6-3, 6-0; 8-Caroline Wozniacki<br />
Delhi will look to build<br />
on its success<br />
Special Correspondent<br />
Sumit Narwal.<br />
— FILE PHOTO<br />
Rajput beats Zaveri<br />
CHANDIGARH: Local lad<br />
Shashikant Rajput bounced<br />
back strongly to beat the<br />
seventh-seeded Aaryan Mehul<br />
Zaveri of Gujarat 6-7(4), 6-4,<br />
6-3 in the boys’ second round<br />
of the HSBC Road to<br />
Wimbledon AITA National<br />
series under-14 tennis<br />
tournament on the grass<br />
courts of the Chandigarh Club<br />
here on Tuesday.<br />
The results (second round): Boys:<br />
Himanshu Mor bt Akash Reddy 6-0,<br />
6-0; Dev Javia bt Sammar Raina 6-3,<br />
3-6, 6-2; Bhupender Dahiya bt<br />
Kanishk Pal 4-6, 6-3, 7-5; Rithwik<br />
Choudary bt Sanskar Jeswani 6-2,<br />
6-1; Divesh Gahlot bt S. Boopathy<br />
2-6, 6-3, 6-4; Shashikant Rajput bt<br />
Aaryan Mehul Zaveri 6-7(4), 6-4, 6-3;<br />
Kevin Patel bt Shubham Saini 6-0,<br />
6-1; Sandesh Kantimahanti bt<br />
Sundari Arvind 6-1, 6-3; Dhrumil<br />
Thakkar bt Tribhuvan Reddy 6-1, 7-5;<br />
Mann Shah bt Nishant Dabas 6-1,<br />
4-6, 6-4; Rhythm Malhotra bt Ajay<br />
Malik 6-2, 6-0; Sacchitt Sharrma bt<br />
Lanka Suhit Reddy 6-0, 6-1.<br />
Girls: Mubashira Anjum Shaik bt<br />
they have come at the cost of<br />
2,244 runs as against Delhi’s<br />
1,537.<br />
“The wicket here does not<br />
support the spinners, and it’s<br />
not flat; it offers bounce. We<br />
will not try and play safe,” said<br />
Maharashtra captain Rohit<br />
Motwani, knowing that the<br />
odds are stacked against his<br />
team.<br />
However, Sangwan will have<br />
to wait a while to add to his tally<br />
of 123 First Class wickets. His<br />
inclusion will now hinge on a<br />
range of circumstances the Delhi<br />
think-tank and captain Gautam<br />
Gambhir may act upon,<br />
from favourable pitch conditions<br />
to injury to other performing<br />
bowlers.<br />
Clearly Delhi does not want<br />
anything to get in the way of<br />
Saini’s return to the XI once he<br />
is declared fit.<br />
The teams (from): Maharashtra:<br />
Rohit Motwani (captain), Harshad<br />
Khadiwale, Shrikant Mundhe, Swapnil<br />
Gugale, Chirag Khurana, Kedar Jadhav,<br />
Rahul Tripathi, Ankit Bawne,<br />
Sangram Attitkar, Akshay Darekar,<br />
Dominic Muthuswamy, Anupam Sanklecha,<br />
Samad Fallah,Nikit Dhumal,<br />
Naushad Shaikh.<br />
Delhi: Gautam Gambhir (captain),<br />
Virender Sehwag, Unmukt Chand,<br />
Mithun Manhas, Varun Sood, Rajat<br />
Bhatia, Vaibhav Rawal, Puneet Bisht,<br />
Pradeep Sangwan, Parvinder Awana,<br />
Sumit Narwal, Shivam Sharma, Milind<br />
Kumar, Vikas Tokas, Manan Sharma.<br />
(Den) bt Taylor Townsend (USA) 7-6<br />
(1), 6-2; 11-Dominika Cibulkova (Svk)<br />
bt Kirsten Flipkens (Bel) 3-6, 6-3, 6-1;<br />
Camila Giorgi (Ita) bt 12-Flavia Pennetta<br />
(Ita) 4-6, 6-2, 6-3; Madison Brengle<br />
(USA) bt 13-Andrea Petkovic (Ger)<br />
5-7, 7-6(4), 6-3; Timea Bacsinszky<br />
(Sui) bt 15-Jelena Jankovic (Srb) 6-1,<br />
6-4; 18-Venus Williams (USA) bt Maria-Teresa<br />
Torro-Flor (Esp) 6-2, 6-2;<br />
19-Alize Cornet (Fra) bt Zhang Shuai<br />
(Chn) 6-3, 6-2; 20-Samantha Stosur<br />
(Aus) bt Monica Niculescu (Rou) 6-4,<br />
6-1; 24-Garbine Muguruza (Esp) bt<br />
Marina Erakovic (Nzl) 7-5, 6-0; 25-<br />
Barbora Zahlavova Strycova (Cze) bt<br />
REGIONAL ROUND-UP<br />
Kaavya Sawhney 6-2, 1-6, 6-3; Aesha<br />
Hiten Patel bt Alisha Menon 4-6, 6-3,<br />
7-5; Tanisha Kashyap bt Dharana<br />
Anand 6-2, 6-3; Kiran Kalkal w/o<br />
Shaikh Humera; Chetna Kumari bt<br />
Ashpreet Kaur Bajwa 6-1, 6-2; Richa<br />
Chougule bt Anu Verma 6-0, 6-4;<br />
Rashmikaa Shrivalli bt Diya Chauhan<br />
6-2, 6-0; Shreya Gulia bt Vanshika<br />
Choudhary 6-1, 6-0; Rachana Reddy<br />
bt Smriti Singh 6-4, 6-1; Sai Dedeepya<br />
bt Princy Panchal 6-3, 6-2; Muskan<br />
Gupta bt Shambhavi Tiwari 6-3, 6-1;<br />
Reetika Grewal bt Sanya Singh 6-2,<br />
7-6(3); Shivani Amineni bt Sandeepti<br />
Singh Rao 6-2, 6-3.<br />
St. Stephen’s<br />
retains title<br />
NEW DELHI: Defending<br />
champion St. Stephen’s College<br />
beat Hansraj College 3-0 to<br />
retain the crown in the Delhi<br />
University inter-collegiate<br />
squash tournament. This was<br />
St. Stephen's sixth successive<br />
title.<br />
The result (final): St. Stephen’s<br />
College 3 (Kunj Bansal bt Arjun<br />
Minocha 3-1, Anshul Jain bt Harshit<br />
Muchhal 3-1, Utkarsh Kumar bt<br />
Abhishek Kumar 3-1) bt Hansraj<br />
NEW DELHI: Railways and Jammu<br />
& Kashmir are praying to<br />
beat the rain forecast in the<br />
next two days and have a fulllength<br />
Ranji Trophy Group A<br />
match, starting at the Karnail<br />
Singh Stadium here from<br />
Wednesday.<br />
Seven teams are placed within<br />
seven points between second<br />
and eighth spots. With the<br />
league stage entering the decisive<br />
phase, Railways and Jammu<br />
& Kashmir, which managed<br />
a point each from their last engagements,<br />
are desperate to<br />
break the mid-table logjam.<br />
Jammu & Kashmir, which<br />
impressed in its win over multiple<br />
champion Mumbai and<br />
first-innings lead against Baroda,<br />
is fifth with 11 points from<br />
six matches. Railways, which<br />
drew four of its five matches to<br />
be slotted at seventh with 10<br />
points, is not far behind.<br />
According to Jammu &<br />
Kashmir skipper and prominent<br />
all-rounder Pervez Rasool<br />
his team was not a pushover<br />
anymore with the season’s<br />
fourth best run-getter Ian Dev<br />
Singh, Adil Reshi, Rasool and<br />
Bandeep Singh providing depth<br />
to the batting line-up.<br />
Seamer Ram Dayal, with 20<br />
wickets from five matches, is a<br />
potent weapon in the Jammu &<br />
Kashmir attack. Besides, a battery<br />
of faster bowlers — such as<br />
Samiullah Beigh, Umar Nazir<br />
and Mohammed Mudhasir —<br />
and some effective spinners —<br />
Timea Babos (Hun) 6-4, 6-4; 26-Elina<br />
Svitolina (Ukr) bt Yulia Putintseva<br />
(Kaz) 6-3, 7-5; 29-Casey Dellacqua<br />
(Aus) bt Yvonne Meusburger (Aut)<br />
6-4, 6-0; 30-Varvara Lepchenko<br />
(USA) bt Vitalia Diatchenko (Rus) 6-3,<br />
6-3; Vera Zvonareva (Rus) bt Ons<br />
Jabeur (Tun) 6-2, 6-3; Anna Tatishvili<br />
(USA) bt Kimiko Date-Krumm (Jpn)<br />
7-5, 6-4; Kai-Chen Chang (Tpe) bt<br />
Zheng Jie (Chn) 6-1, 6-2; Daniela<br />
Hantuchova (Svk) bt Zheng Saisai<br />
(Chn) 6-4, 6-4; Victoria Azarenka (Brs)<br />
bt Sloane Stephens (USA) 6-3, 6-2;<br />
Coco Vandeweghe (USA) bt Francesca<br />
Schiavone (Ita) 6-2, 6-2.<br />
Desperate for points<br />
Special Correspondent<br />
College 0.<br />
Punjab varsity<br />
triumphs<br />
MANGALURU: Punjab University,<br />
Patiala emerged overall<br />
champion of the 75th all-India<br />
inter-university athletics<br />
championship at Moodbidri<br />
near here on Tuesday.<br />
Mangalore University was<br />
runner-up.<br />
Fourteen records were rewritten<br />
during the meet.<br />
List of new record-holders: Men:<br />
Sreenith Mohan (Mangalore<br />
University, high jump); Vijay Singh<br />
Malik (Calicut University, 400m<br />
hurdles); Jadhav Sanjivini (Punjab<br />
University, 5000m & 10,000m); Lalith<br />
Mathur (University of Delhi, 400m);<br />
Wagh Suresh (Savithribai Phule<br />
University, 1500m); K.M. Rachana<br />
(Punjab University, hammer); M.<br />
Naresh (Hyderabad University,<br />
steeplechase); University of Kerala<br />
(4x100m relay, men).<br />
Women: Anilda Thomas (M.G.<br />
University, 400m); Navjeet Kaur<br />
(GNDU Amritsar, shot put); Khushbir<br />
Kaur (Punjab University, 5000m walk);<br />
M.G. University team (4x400m relay).<br />
including off-break bowler Rasool<br />
and left-arm spinner Waseem<br />
Raza — offer a lot of<br />
variety.<br />
Floods in Kashmir might<br />
have denied the team any home<br />
match, but coach Sunil Joshi<br />
felt that it was a blessing in disguise<br />
for the players as they now<br />
played away from their comfort<br />
zone and had gathered valuable<br />
experience.<br />
The team looked ready for<br />
the challenge of playing on a wet<br />
pitch with a thick cover of green<br />
grass.<br />
Railways has regained some<br />
strength after the return of allrounder<br />
Karn Sharma from the<br />
tour of Australia. On a track that<br />
holds some promise for the pacers,<br />
Karn’s inclusion will give<br />
the host the flexibility to add an<br />
additional seamer and press<br />
hard for an outright win.<br />
“We just hope to have a full<br />
match and go for the kill,” said<br />
Railways coach Harvinder<br />
Singh.<br />
The teams (from): Railways: Mahesh<br />
Rawat (capt., wk.), Arindam<br />
Ghosh, Anustup Majumdar, Nitin<br />
Bhille, Anureet Singh, Amit Paunikar,<br />
Arnab Nandi, Amit Mishra, Abhishek<br />
Kaushik, Ranjit Mali, Ashish Yadav,<br />
Karn Sharma, Krishna Kant Upadhyay,<br />
Rohan Bhosale, Prashant Awasthi.<br />
Jammu & Kashmir: Pervez Rasool<br />
(capt.), Ram Dayal (vice-capt.), Ian<br />
Dev Singh, Bandeep Singh, Shumbham<br />
Punir, Imran Haroon, Ubaid Haroon<br />
(wk.), Umar Nazir, Mohammaed<br />
Mudhasir, Mahzoor Ali, Aditya Pratap<br />
Singh, Paras Sharma, Waseem Raza,<br />
Vimansh Kaw, Rouf Bisati.<br />
ND-ND
NOIDA/DELHI<br />
THE HINDU WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 21, 2015<br />
19<br />
CM<br />
YK<br />
ND-ND
VARIETY<br />
NOIDA/DELHI<br />
20 THE HINDU WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 21, 2015<br />
FAITH<br />
Message of the story<br />
Andal sang of the glory of Lord Narayana’s feet in His<br />
incarnations as Trivikrama, Rama and Krishna.<br />
Periazhvar who imagined himself to be Yasoda,<br />
nurturing baby Krishna, sang that as Krishna walked,<br />
His feet left impressions of the conch and discus,<br />
showing that He was the Supreme One. It is these<br />
celebrated feet that He put on the heads of everyone in<br />
all worlds when He took the Trivikrama avatara.<br />
Mahabali was the only one who bent his head before<br />
the Lord, and asked Him to place His foot on his head.<br />
But Mahabali’s request resulted in a blessing for<br />
everyone, said P.T. Seshadri, in a discourse.<br />
The Trivikrama avatara has some important<br />
messages for us. A disciple of Nanjeeyar, however, got<br />
it all wrong. After hearing the narration of the<br />
Trivikrama avatara, he said that the message of the<br />
story that he had picked up was that the good will<br />
perish! Mahabali was not a bad king. And yet he was<br />
banished to the netherworld. Sukracharya did the<br />
right thing by advising his king and warning him to<br />
beware of Vamana. But Sukracharya lost an eye! So<br />
those who do the right things suffer, concluded the<br />
disciple.<br />
Nanjeeyar then corrected him and pointed out the<br />
real message of the story. Mahabali had always paid<br />
heed to his guru — Sukracharya. But he did not obey<br />
him when Sukracharya warned him not to grant<br />
Vamana His wishes. So Mahabali had to pay for<br />
ignoring his guru’s advice. As for Sukracharya, there is<br />
a rule that one should not stop anyone from donating<br />
or giving to others. By trying to stop Mahabali from<br />
agreeing to Vamana’s request, Sukracharya was trying<br />
to stop Bali’s act of giving. So he had to pay for this,<br />
and lost an eye.<br />
FROM THE ARCHIVES<br />
(dated January 21, 1965)<br />
Rail track to<br />
Dhanushkodi<br />
Experts would go into<br />
the question of a new<br />
road communication or<br />
re-laying of the railway<br />
track to reach<br />
Dhanushkodi, which is<br />
now isolated, said the<br />
Union Railway Minister,<br />
Mr. S.K. Patil who was<br />
talking to newsmen at<br />
Mandapam after<br />
travelling up to<br />
Rameswaram Road on the<br />
Pamban-Dhanushkodi<br />
section on the repaired<br />
track.<br />
The Minister<br />
emphasised that some<br />
kind of communication<br />
with Dhanushkodi had to<br />
be re-established. Part of<br />
the shore at Dhanushkodi<br />
has been washed away<br />
and quite a large area of<br />
land had also<br />
permanently gone under<br />
water. Mr. Patil said the<br />
main task of<br />
reconstruction of the<br />
Pamban rail-bridge was<br />
going on and he expressed<br />
the hope that it would be<br />
completed before the end<br />
of June.<br />
THE HINDU CROSSWORD 11297<br />
Across<br />
1 Asian got mugged in this city<br />
(8)<br />
5 Fine home in silent<br />
neighbourhood (6)<br />
9 Happy about top protection<br />
given to first lady! (8)<br />
10 Web designer picked<br />
primarily into a team<br />
leading in research (6)<br />
12 I don't fume at others (9)<br />
13 Mountain place sounding like<br />
8 (5)<br />
14 Remains a girl that doesn't<br />
keep time (5)<br />
17 Magazine seller's recentlyacquired<br />
small place (9)<br />
19 Adding together and<br />
recapping (7,2)<br />
22 Scheme to avoid (5)<br />
23 Clearly admitted, orally (5)<br />
24 Understanding of war in a<br />
sense that is different (9)<br />
27 Team consumed by anger,<br />
upset with a drink (6)<br />
28 Dull edge of player's old hat<br />
(8)<br />
29 Spoil lawyer's dirty game (6)<br />
30 Freezing point begins here<br />
(4,4)<br />
Down<br />
1 Creases removed<br />
completely, basically after<br />
applying special powders<br />
(9)<br />
2 Cloth many Londoners wear<br />
(5)<br />
3 Supporter, one with a broad<br />
smile (1-4)<br />
CM<br />
YK<br />
Chinese active in<br />
Ceylon<br />
About 100 students<br />
staged a demonstration<br />
before the Chinese<br />
Embassy in Colombo on<br />
January 20. They carried<br />
placards which read<br />
“Hands off Ceylon” and<br />
“We do not want Red<br />
Chinese jugglery.” There<br />
were reports in the local<br />
Press during the last few<br />
days that the Chinese had<br />
bought large stocks of<br />
five-cent stamps causing<br />
their shortage in the<br />
country. The two local<br />
dailies reported that Mr.<br />
Dudley Senanayake,<br />
United National Party<br />
leader, was being<br />
followed in his electorate<br />
by the Chinese.<br />
Capitation fees<br />
The Education<br />
Minister, Mr. S.R. Kanthi,<br />
stated in the Mysore<br />
Legislative Assembly on<br />
January 20 that the Govt.<br />
was against the collection<br />
of capitation fees by<br />
private engineering<br />
colleges in the State.<br />
Answering questions<br />
from Mr. G.V. Gowd<br />
(Ind.) the Education<br />
Minister said that two<br />
Universities were not in<br />
favour of capitation fees.<br />
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8<br />
9 10<br />
12 13<br />
14 15 16 17 18<br />
19 20 21 22<br />
23 24 25 26<br />
-<br />
27 28<br />
29 30<br />
11<br />
Vulcan<br />
4 After the end of wedding,<br />
girl's family in a pickle (7)<br />
6 “Awed by setter”, reports<br />
editor (9)<br />
7 Uncover Nehru and<br />
daughter's top secret (9)<br />
8 Mysterious English lake (5)<br />
11 Design department coming up<br />
(4)<br />
15 Movement of my limbs so<br />
badly affected (9)<br />
16 Swim and in the end, fish, for<br />
long (9)<br />
18 In this German town, mostly<br />
doctors go around in black<br />
tie! (5,4)<br />
20 Indian godman without a bit<br />
of dignity or a hint of<br />
morality (4)<br />
21 Team's project extremely<br />
boring (7)<br />
23 Change seen in guys after a<br />
date (5)<br />
25 Bowler has no right to bend<br />
this (5)<br />
26 Oily thing resulting from fuel<br />
emission (5)<br />
Solution to puzzle 11296<br />
C H E S T N U T P S Y C H E<br />
O A E M A H L<br />
W A R D R O B E O F F I C E<br />
A L S R O E N P<br />
R H Y M E A U T O G R A P H<br />
D B G T U A<br />
N I B B L E O V A T I O N<br />
S R E R N T<br />
E N D E M I C E L D E S T<br />
T Y A X I L<br />
P E D A G O G U E R O D E O<br />
O O U Y C A E A<br />
I N U R E D T U R B O J E T<br />
N S S T B O H<br />
T R E A T Y R E L I A B L E<br />
Jaipur Literature Festival begins today<br />
Aarti Dhar<br />
JAIPUR: The eighth edition of<br />
the ZEE Jaipur Literature<br />
Festival, all set to open on<br />
Wednesday, will see a galaxy of<br />
literary and musical stars<br />
come together. The organisers<br />
expect over two lakh visitors<br />
during the event.<br />
To be inaugurated by Chief<br />
Minister Vasundhara Raje, the<br />
event is seen as an agenda-setter<br />
on key issues from the<br />
global economic crisis to the<br />
rise of e-books, the current<br />
state of politics in the Middle<br />
East to the increasing importance<br />
of Indian language publishing.<br />
This year the festival<br />
will look at gender equity in<br />
India in a series titled ‘Women<br />
Uninterrupted’, supported by<br />
U.N. Women to mark the 20th<br />
anniversary of the Beijing<br />
Conference on Gender, leading<br />
up to the world summit at<br />
the U.N. this September, as<br />
well as ‘The Seven Deadly Sins’<br />
that polarise society.<br />
There will also be sessions<br />
on the exile and identity of the<br />
indigenous people of Australia,<br />
the road ahead for the subcontinent<br />
as well as<br />
conversations on the contemporary<br />
status of Sanskrit and<br />
the dualistic rise of China and<br />
India.<br />
The festival will go beyond<br />
the four walls of Diggi Palace<br />
and hold over 300 events at 10<br />
venues, including the Music<br />
Stage at Clarks Amer, the Jaipur<br />
BookMark at Narain Niwas<br />
and two special sessions at<br />
Amer Fort and Hawa Mahal to<br />
Jaipur’s Diggi Palace is all set for the Jaipur Literature Festival.<br />
- PHOTO: ROHIT JAIN PARAS<br />
focus on heritage and culture,<br />
supported by Rajasthan<br />
Tourism.<br />
‘The Poetic Imagination’<br />
will be the theme of a keynote<br />
speech to be delivered by acclaimed<br />
writer and translator<br />
Arvind Krishna Mehrotra,<br />
Sahitya Akademi Award winner<br />
Ashok Vajpeyi and Pulitzer<br />
Prize winner Vijay Seshadri.<br />
Other highlights over the five<br />
days include the participation<br />
of Nobel Laureate V.S Naipaul,<br />
Man Booker Prize winner<br />
Eleanor Catton, renowned<br />
travel writer Paul Theroux,<br />
legends of the silver screen<br />
Waheeda Rehman, Naseeruddin<br />
Shah and Shabana Azmi as<br />
well as leading novelists Sarah<br />
Waters, Kamila Shamsie, Amit<br />
Chauduri and Eimer McBride.<br />
Three prizes<br />
This year the festival will see<br />
the announcement of three<br />
prizes, including the DSC<br />
Prize for South Asian Literature,<br />
the Ojas Art Award and<br />
Khushwant Singh Memorial<br />
Prize for Poetry. The festival is<br />
working with 42 corporate<br />
partners, educational institutions,<br />
government departments,<br />
trusts and foundations.<br />
It has booked 4,000 hotel<br />
nights to host over 300 speakers<br />
and over 140 musicians.<br />
According to Namita Gokhale,<br />
author and festival co-director,<br />
the event has<br />
Amazon to take JLF closer to book lovers<br />
Aarti Dhar<br />
JAIPUR: Amazon.in, India’s<br />
largest online store, has partnered<br />
with Jaipur Literature<br />
Festival (JLF) to bring the festival<br />
closer to book lovers<br />
across India.<br />
As official book partner of<br />
the JLF this year, it will create<br />
a special JLF Store on its marketplace.<br />
The store that goes<br />
live with the inauguration of<br />
the festival will be a one-stop<br />
destination for customers<br />
across India to access books of<br />
their favourite authors from<br />
the festival as well as purchase<br />
new releases such as Arise,<br />
Awake by Rashmi Bansal, Restart<br />
by Mihir Sharma, India<br />
Shastra by Shashi Tharoor and<br />
In Other Words by Javed<br />
Akhtar.<br />
“The festival has emerged<br />
as one of the biggest events in<br />
India which sees the confluence<br />
of readers and writers<br />
and the publishing industry,”<br />
according to Samir Kumar, Director<br />
Catefory Management,<br />
Amazon India. “Through the<br />
special JLF Store we are delighted<br />
to provide an opportunity<br />
to those who are not able<br />
to attend this event in person,<br />
to be part of it,” he said.<br />
At the event, Amazon.in will<br />
Indian novelist reaches finals of<br />
top American literary award<br />
NEW YORK: An India-born<br />
novelist has been named<br />
among the finalists for one<br />
of the most prestigious<br />
American literary awards for<br />
his work about the culture of<br />
computer programming and<br />
classical Indian aesthetics.<br />
Delhi-born Vikram<br />
Chandra, 53, is the finalist in<br />
the criticism category for his<br />
non-fiction work ‘Geek<br />
Sublime: The Beauty of<br />
Code, the Code of Beauty’<br />
for the National Book Critics<br />
Circle (NBCC) Awards.<br />
The non-fiction work<br />
about the culture of<br />
computer programming and<br />
classical Indian aesthetics<br />
was published in 2013 as<br />
‘Mirrored Mind: My Life in<br />
Letters and Code’ and in<br />
2014 as ‘Geek Sublime:<br />
Writing Fiction, Coding<br />
Software’. The book has<br />
been published in the U.S. as<br />
‘Geek Sublime: The Code of<br />
Beauty, the Beauty of Code.<br />
Mr. Chandra currently<br />
teaches creative writing at<br />
the University of California,<br />
according to the biography<br />
on his website.<br />
His other acclaimed works<br />
include ‘Red Earth and<br />
Pouring Rain’, published in<br />
1995, which won the<br />
Commonwealth Writers<br />
Prize for Best First Book<br />
and the David Higham Prize<br />
for Fiction. His novel<br />
‘Sacred Games’ published in<br />
2006 won the Hutch<br />
Crossword Award for<br />
English Fiction for 2006<br />
and a Salon Book Award for<br />
2007.<br />
It was a finalist for the<br />
National Book Critics Circle<br />
Award for Fiction and was<br />
included on numerous “Best<br />
of the Year lists, according<br />
to his website. Mr. Chandra<br />
also co-wrote the Bollywood<br />
film ‘Mission Kashmir’<br />
starring Sanjay Dutt,<br />
Hrithik Roshan, Preity<br />
Zinta, and Jackie Shroff.<br />
The awards will be<br />
presented on March 12.<br />
Legendary American<br />
novelist Toni Morrison, 83<br />
will receive the ‘Ivan<br />
Sandrof’ Lifetime<br />
Achievement Award for<br />
being a powerful catalyst in<br />
reshaping literary culture<br />
over the past half century. –<br />
PTI<br />
Indian-origin boy builds Braille<br />
printer, starts company<br />
SANTA CLARA (US): In Silicon<br />
Valley, it’s never too early to<br />
become an entrepreneur. Just<br />
ask Indian-origin 13-year-old<br />
Shubham Banerjee.<br />
The California eighth-grader<br />
has launched a company to develop<br />
low-cost machines to<br />
print Braille, the tactile writing<br />
system for the visually impaired.<br />
Tech giant Intel Corp<br />
recently invested in his startup,<br />
Braigo Labs.<br />
Shubham built a Braille<br />
printer with a Lego robotics kit<br />
as a school science fair project<br />
last year after he asked his parents<br />
a simple question: How do<br />
blind people read? “Google it,”<br />
they told him.<br />
Shubham then did some online<br />
research and was shocked<br />
to learn that Braille printers,<br />
also called embossers, cost at<br />
least $2,000, too expensive for<br />
most blind readers, especially<br />
in developing countries.<br />
“I just thought that price<br />
should not be there. I know that<br />
there is a simpler way to do<br />
this,” said Shubham, who demonstrated<br />
how his printer<br />
works at the kitchen table,<br />
where he spent many late<br />
nights building it with a Lego<br />
Mindstorms EV3 kit.<br />
Shubham wants to develop a<br />
desktop Braille printer that<br />
costs around $350 and weighs<br />
just a few pounds, compared<br />
with current models that can<br />
weigh more than nine kg. The<br />
machine could be used to print<br />
Braille reading materials on paper,<br />
using raised dots instead of<br />
ink, from a personal computer<br />
or electronic device.<br />
“My end goal would probably<br />
be having most of the blind people<br />
... using my Braille printer,”<br />
said Shubham, who lives in the<br />
Silicon Valley suburb of Santa<br />
Clara, just minutes away from<br />
Intel headquarters. – AP<br />
set up a kiosk so that visitors<br />
can not only browse through<br />
some of the best sellers of<br />
2014 and new launches of<br />
2015 but also experience Kindle<br />
devices and the world of<br />
e-reading.<br />
Customers will get to engage<br />
with prominent authors<br />
including Girish Karnad,<br />
Javed Akhtar, Ashwin Sanghi,<br />
Rajdeep Sardesai, Mihir Sharma,<br />
Naseeruddin Shah, Bibek<br />
Debroy, Sudha Murthy, Shobhaa<br />
De, Salima Hashmi, Amit<br />
Chaudhuri, Basharat Peer,<br />
Rashmi Bansal and many<br />
more at the kiosk and also<br />
through the Amazon India<br />
transformed the way South<br />
Asian writing views itself and<br />
its place in the world.<br />
William Dalrymple, author<br />
and another co-director, said<br />
this year’s programme was the<br />
biggest.<br />
“Each year we showcase literary<br />
India to the world, and<br />
world literature to India,” he<br />
added. “The ZEE Jaipur Literature<br />
Festival has become synonymous<br />
with the best<br />
creative minds on the planet.<br />
Each of them brings his or her<br />
own unique voice to the festival,<br />
adding up to a multitude of<br />
views and opinions,”' said Sanjoy<br />
Roy, Managing Director of<br />
Teamwork Arts, and producer<br />
of the festival.<br />
Facebook and Twitter handles.<br />
Books in Hindi and other<br />
Indian languages will be available<br />
at the Amazon.in kiosk at<br />
JLF and also on the JLF Store<br />
on Amazon.in.<br />
Amazon.in will also provide<br />
gift coupons to those who<br />
make a purchase at the Amazon.in<br />
kiosk so that they can<br />
avail discounts for their next<br />
online purchases. On offer is<br />
also a special discount of Rs.<br />
1,000 on all Kindle models<br />
purchased at the kiosk.<br />
Customers across India get<br />
a chance to win original autographed<br />
copies of various<br />
bestsellers.<br />
Coronation Street’s<br />
Anne Kirkbride dies<br />
LONDON: ‘Coronation Street’<br />
star Anne Kirkbride, who<br />
played the character Deirdre<br />
Barlow in the long—running<br />
television soap, has died aged<br />
60 after a short illness. She<br />
passed away peacefully in a<br />
Manchester hospital. - PTI<br />
I’m No 1 snubbed:<br />
Aniston<br />
LOS ANGELES:<br />
Jennifer Aniston<br />
is surprised to<br />
see the support<br />
that she<br />
received after<br />
she was snubbed for an Oscar<br />
nomination for her role in<br />
‘Cake.’<br />
“Yeah, I’m the No. 1 snubbed.<br />
That’s the silver lining, right?,”<br />
Aniston joked to Ellen<br />
DeGeneres. - PTI<br />
Shakira, Pique throw baby shower with UNICEF<br />
LOS ANGELES: Pop star Shakira and her boyfriend Gerard Pique are<br />
hosting a ‘World Baby Shower’ campaign for UNICEF to welcome<br />
their second baby.<br />
The couple are expanding their original ‘World Baby Shower’<br />
initiative they came up with when celebrating a baby shower for<br />
their first child Milan, reported Ace Showbiz.<br />
“Now that we are soon welcoming our second child, we want to help<br />
other children around the world and also<br />
contribute to a long—lasting solution for<br />
getting children living in extreme poverty the<br />
supplies they need to survive," Shakira said.<br />
The ‘Waka Waka’ hitmaker shared on Facebook<br />
two photos of her and her family posing<br />
together for the campaign. - PTI<br />
India is world’s second most<br />
trusted nation: survey<br />
DAVOS: Moving up the ranks,<br />
India has emerged as the second<br />
most trusted country in<br />
the world in terms of faith<br />
reposed on its institutions<br />
even as globally trust levels<br />
have fallen, says a survey.<br />
As the world’s rich and<br />
powerful gather in the Swiss<br />
resort of Davos, a study by<br />
public relations firm Edelman<br />
has found that general<br />
level of trust in institutions<br />
among college-educated people<br />
around the globe are at<br />
levels not seen since 2009 in<br />
many of the markets it<br />
surveyed.<br />
Trust in institutions in India<br />
has improved sharply in<br />
2015 with the country moving<br />
up three notches to the second<br />
place among 27 nations.<br />
While the number of<br />
“truster” countries are at an<br />
all-time low of six in 2015 including<br />
UAE, India, China<br />
and Netherlands, the number<br />
of “distruster” countries has<br />
grown significantly to 13 including<br />
Japan, Russia, Hong<br />
Kong, South Africa and Italy.<br />
Brazil, Malaysia, France<br />
and the US are among the 8<br />
“neutral” nations as per the<br />
trust index, the survey said.<br />
India, which last year saw<br />
the BJP-led NDA government<br />
storming to power at<br />
the Centre, stands tall.<br />
According to the report, an<br />
“alarming evaporation of<br />
trust” has happened across all<br />
institutions, reaching the<br />
lows of the Great Recession in<br />
2009.<br />
Trust in government, business,<br />
media and NGOs in the<br />
general population is below<br />
50 per cent in two-thirds of<br />
countries, including the U.S.,<br />
U.K. and Germany, it said.<br />
From fifth most trusted in<br />
2014, India has now become<br />
the second-most trusted in<br />
2015 with a score of 79 per<br />
cent in the barometer. The<br />
study has put India Prime<br />
Minister Narendra Modi’s<br />
image on the first page.<br />
The list is topped by UAE<br />
with 84 per cent trust.<br />
Indonesia (78 per cent),<br />
China (75 per cent), Singapore<br />
(65 per cent) and Netherlands<br />
(64 per cent) are the<br />
others that have recorded<br />
highest levels of trust. — PTI<br />
ND-ND