) ˆ * * 5)˘ ’$89:; + + , -+./01 # $ /75, %0 80 5$,’214+(+1 ... the Cheraman Juma Masjid in Kerala,” the Prime Minister’s Office tweeted. Detailed reporton P7 Riyadh: Prime

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In a daring incident in Bijnor,two unidentified motorcycle

-borne assailants gunned downan NIA officer and criticallywounded his wife in the weehours of Sunday. The officer, inthe rank of the deputy super-intendent of Police, along withhis wife and children, wasreturning home from a wed-ding from Bijnor.

The officer, MohammedTanzil Ahmad, who was amember of team probing ter-ror cases related to IndianMujahideen, sustained as many

as 24 bullet wounds while hiswife Farzana was shot at fourtimes. Scared by the showeringof bullets, their 14-year olddaughter and 12-year old sonhid themselves under the backseat of their Wagon-R car.

Home Minister RajnathSingh, who is visiting his par-liamentary constituency ofLucknow was apprised of theincident. “Whatever is necessarywas being done. We are talkingto NIA officials,” Singh said.

In a statement issued by thehospital where Farzana wasadmitted, “the officer’s wifehas been brought in a critical

condition. Our doctors areproviding the best medicaltreatment to her. As a matter ofpatient confidentiality, we can-not comment any further.”

According to reports,around 8.00 pm on Saturday,Tanzil along with his family lefttheir home for attending hisniece’s marriage function inSohra village. When they werereturning home, the assailantsgot his car stopped when hewas around 300 metres awayfrom his house.

Terming the incident as a‘planned attack’, police offi-cials did not rule out the pos-sibility of terror angle in theshootout. He was attacked froma close range.

The police officials said itseemed that Tanzil Ahmad’smovement was being tracked byassailants who used sophisticat-ed weapons (one 9mm pistol) inthe shootout. “Tanzil Ahmadwas shot dead by two motorcy-cle borne persons on his way tohome,” IG (Law and Order) ofUP Police Bhagwan Swaroopsaid. In Delhi, NIA IG SanjeevKumar mourned the murder ofone of the brave officer of theorganisation and also termed theattack as a “planned attack”.

“A planned attack was madeon Ahmad and he was firedupon several times at the time ofincident. In the firing, Ahmadwas killed while his wife wasinjured. She has been admittedto Fortis Hospital, Noida.

Continued on Page 4

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Wooing investors withpromise of an easier busi-

ness environment and stabletax regime, Prime MinisterNarendra Modi on Sundaysaid retrospective taxation has

been made a thing of the pastbut he is “not able to do any-thing” on two cases inheritedfrom the previous Governmentas they are “sub-judice”.

Modi also held wide-rang-ing talks with Saudi KingSalman bin Abdulaziz on ways

to expand strategic cooperationin a range of areas includingtrade, investment and counter-terrorism. Besides, the twonations on Sunday decided toramp up their counter-terror-ism cooperation as they askedall countries to dismantle ter-ror infrastructures “where theyhappen to exist” and reject theuse of terrorism against othercountries, seen as an obliquereference to Pakistan.

A joint statement issued

after the talks between Modiand King Salman, said, “Theycalled on all states to reject theuse of terrorism against othercountries; dismantle terrorisminfrastructures where they hap-pen to exist and to cut off anykind of support and financingto the terrorists operating andperpetrating terrorism fromtheir territories against otherstates; and bring perpetrators ofacts of terrorism to justice.”

Inviting Saudi businesses tocome and invest in India’sdefence, energy, railway, healthand agriculture sectors, Modialso said that a common indi-rect taxation regime in form ofGST (Goods and Services Tax)was “about to happen”. He,however, refrained from givingany specific timeframe.

Addressing a select group ofSaudi and Indian business lead-ers on the last day of his two-dayvisit to Saudi Arabia, Modi saidhis Government has opened up

many sectors to foreign invest-ment and India stands out as a“beacon of hope” amidst globaleconomic slowdown. He furthersaid his Government was tryingto strengthen the banking net-work in India by freeing themfrom non-performing assets(NPAs) of state-run electricitycompanies whose liabilities hadgone up significantly.

Modi said India has takenmajor policy initiatives to cre-ate favourable environment forinvestors besides removingadministrative bottlenecks. Inthis regard he said the WorldBank has placed India on 12thposition in the list of countriesthat had ensured ease of doingbusiness. “Today, the world isfacing a very deep economic cri-sis and in this situation, India isa beacon of hope. Whether it isWorld Bank, IMF or credit rat-ing agencies, all of them con-sider India one of the fastestgrowing economies,” he said.

Continued on Page 4Related reports on P7

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The polling for the firstphase of the Assembly elec-

tions in Assam and WestBengal will kick off on Mondayamid tight security. Eighteenout of the 294 constituencies inBengal and 65 out of 126 con-stituencies in Assam would goto polls on Monday.

In Assam, BJP’s star can-didate and Chief Ministerialcandidate Sarbananda Sonowalfrom Majuli, and ChiefMinister Tarun Gogoi fromTitabor are the candidates inthe first phase of polls.

In Bengal, 18 seats in

Maoist-affected areas will go toassembly polls in the first of thesix-phase elections. Overall133 candidates will try theirluck from the constituenciesfalling under the districts ofWest Midnapore, Purulia andBankura. Out of these, 13 havebeen roughly classified as LeftWing Extremism-affected areasby the Election Commissionwhere voting will end early by4 pm due to security reasons.

While the TrinamoolCongress Party (TMC) andthe Left-Congress alliance arethe main rival in the State withthe BJP looking at bettering itsmajor gains in vote percentage

in 2014 Lok Sabha polls, theNorth-Eastern state of Assamis where the BJP is seeking totopple the long and well-entrenched reign of theCongress.

The TMC is looking for arepeat victory in Bengal afterending the Left Front’s 34-year-old stranglehold on theState in 2011, as the CPI(M)-Congress alliance hopes toreverse the trend by raising theissues of corruption, Saradhascam and bad-governanceunder the TMC dispensation.The collapse of an under-con-struction flyover in Kolkata hasalso become a hot issue in the

poll war in Bengal.In Assam, the ruling

Congress, the BJP-AGP-BPFalliance and the AIUDF arelocked in a keen battle todecide the fate of 539 candi-dates in 65 of the 126 con-stituencies in the border Statewhere issue of illegal migrantsis one of the main poll issues.

The BJP’s campaign calledfor a ‘parivartan’ (change) tobring development while theCongress highlighted its vari-ous achievements, includingimprovement of the law andorder situation during last 15years of its rule in Assam.

Continued on Page 4

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After the total prohibition oncountry and spiced liquor

in the countryside, theGovernment may considerbanning the sale of toddy in vil-lages amid reports that peopleare turning towards toddy inbig number after ban on liquor.

Excise Department princi-pal secretary KK Pathak whileinteracting with DistrictMagistrates (DMS) on Saturdayevening gave this hint when

some DMs told him that toddytappers were doing brisk busi-ness after ban on country liquor.He also advised the DMs forsome check on the sale of toddyand put some conditions.

However, neither in thenew excise policy nor in theBihar Excise (Amendment) Bill,2016, which was passed lastweek, there is no indication ofany restriction or ban on toddy,the popular drink of poor peo-ple mainly OBCs and dalits.

Continued on Page 4

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Riyadh: Prime MinisterNarendra Modi on Sundaygifted Saudi King Salman binAbdulaziz a gold-plated repli-ca of Kerala’s Cheraman JumaMasjid, believed to be the firstmosque built in India by Arabtraders around 629 AD.

“PM @narendramodigifted His Majesty KingSalman bin Abdulaziz AlSaud a gold-plated replica ofthe Cheraman Juma Masjid inKerala,” the Prime Minister’sOffice tweeted.

Detailed report on P7

Riyadh: Prime MinisterNarendra Modi on Sundaydescribed an all-women ITcentre set up by India’s TataConsultancy Services (TCS)as the “glory of Saudi Arabia”.

“I am meeting those pro-fessionals who are now theglory of Saudi Arabia,” saidModi. “This atmosphere I amwitnessing here today hasthe potential to give a strongmessage to the world.”

Detailed report on P7

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To increase the wildlife in anynatural habitat, the basic

thing is the availability of vastland stretches and the connec-tivity of the forest ranges. TheState of Uttarakhand has a nat-ural gift as far as the forest coveris concerned. Over 60 percentland is covered by forests andthe Rajaji Tiger Reserve hasbeen earmarked 1075.17 sqkm land area. There are threemain connectivities in the east-ern and western parts of theRajaji National Park and TigerReserve but on account of lackof seriousness of variousdepartments of theGovernment and highwayauthorities, the works of retain-ing the natural corridors ishampered.

In the Chilla-Motichur cor-

ridor which connects Chillarange with Motichur range ofRajaji National Park and TigerReserve, a lot of problems existlike highway passing throughthe animals' corridor, railwayline, Khandgaon village whichcame into existence after build-ing of Tehri dam, Indian armyammunition dump, Raiwala

township and expandingHaridwar line.

With a lot of hue and crymade by the wildlife enthusi-asts, the building of 800 m fly-over between Motichur andRaiwala was approved but theconstruction work which start-ed a few years ago is still farfrom complete. Despite the

commitment of the NationalHighway Authority of India tocomplete the work before ArdhKumbh Mela, the broadeningwork is still on.

Khandgaon 3 which occursin middle of corridor is beingshifted to Rishikesh. Only twoor three houses are remainingto be shifted which is not amajor hassle, feel the wildlifeexperts. Regarding shifting ofIndian army ammunitiondump, talks are on with Indianarmy underway though notmuch success has been met.Speaking to The Pioneer, pro-fessor at Wildlife institute ofIndia Bivash Pandav said, “Thearmy should be given alterna-tive land area for its function-ing. Eventually it is going tocreate a problem in wildlifeconservation.”

The second corridorknown as Teen Pani corridor

connecting Kansrao of nation-al park to Badkot range ofDehradun faces the same prob-lem of highway expansion. Aflyover is being built but atsnail 's speed. In theChidderwala corridor whichconnects Kansrao with Barhkotrange again flyover construc-tion is underway.

“Losing corridors wouldmean loss of wildlife. The StateGovernment must take it seri-ously and give clearances forhastening the work of highwayconstruction so that the ele-phants and tigers resume theirmovement in various ranges ofthe forest through their longtime used corridors. Thiswould ultimately reduce theman animal conflicts and prob-lem of crop raiding by ele-phants in neighbouring villagesof the forest division as well,”added Bivash Pandav.

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Question paper ofMathematics puzzled the

aspirants of JEE main (Offline)examination as they found thequestions hard to crack. Theexamination was held in 13centres of State capital onSunday in which 7393 stu-dents appeared. The studentsfound questions asked inPhysics and Chemistry portionof the paper relatively easy butmost of them complained thatMathematics portion wastough.

Naina Bansal, a resident ofMDDA Kedarpuram and aclass XII student of Guru RamRai School, said while comingout of her DAV DefenceColony examination centrethat the questions ofMathematics took most of thetime and still many of themremained unsolved. She wassupported by many like Ayushi

Dhyani of Salawala and RajeshButola who had come fromSrinagar Garhwal to appear inthe examination. ShashwatPandey a resident of Rishikesh

and student of OnkaranandSchool however found thequestions of Chemistry tricky.Vivek Kumar of Ranipokhrisaid that overall the question

paper of this year was a bittougher than last year.

Apart from dealing withtough questions ofMathematics the students were

also stumped by errors in thequestion paper. They were con-fused when they found thatQuestion number 63 of set E ofMathematics did not have thecorrect answer in the options.Similarly the question number30 of set E of Physics had twooptions out of four which werecorrect.

Immediately after theexamination the subject expertsin different coaching centreshuddled themselves and pre-pared the key of the questionpaper. The head of the engi-neering division of BaluniClasses here, Rajesh Tiwaritold The Pioneer that it isexpected that the student scor-ing 104-115 out of total 360marks would get selected inGeneral category. He said thatthe students of OBC categorycould get selected by getting 75marks while the cutoff of SCand ST candidates could be 47and 55 respectively.

It is worth mentioning herethat the important examinationwas being held in Dehradun forthe first time after the year2010. The authorities hadtaken all measures for free andfair conduction of the exami-nation. The students wereasked to enter the examinationhall half an hour before thestart of the examination.

The examination started at9.30 am and ended at 12.30 pm.The agents of the differentcoaching centres virtuallyflocked all the examinationcentres of the city. They haderected canopies outside theschools where the examinationwas held and distributed pam-phlets to the parents waitingoutside. They even encircledthe students when theyemerged out of the examina-tion centres and tried to handover the pamphlets and theirset of probable questions for theexamination.

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Today, April 3, is the 102ndbirth anniversary of one of

the bravest and finest soldiersIndia has ever had. A man whowas a fighter till the very endand it is reported that even hislast words were “I am okay” .

He was “Sam Bahadur”who would never give up. Noteven in the face of death. It wasjust not in him to accept defeat.This man, with the “Never SayDie” attitude , trained to be anarmy officer at the IndianMilitary Academy, the “cradleof the Indian army”. He had adeep connection withUttarakhand as he was astudentat Nainital’s famous SherwoodCollege. Later, he was in theIMA’s very first course (ThePioneers).He spent a decade ofhis life, growing up into a fineyoung man ,in Nainital andDehra Dun.

When one goes throughthe “Down Memory Lane”photo exhibition in the impos-ing corridors of the IMA’sChetwode building, one comesacross many pictures of

Manekshaw as a young cadet.Tales of Sam Bahadur’s

bravery, flamboyance and readywit always do the rounds at theIMA. The Academy has namedone of its battalions afterManekshaw and theGentlemen Cadets who arepart of this battalion take spe-cial pride in the fact. Memoriesof Sam Manekshaw can neverfade as they are passed on fromone generation to the next andhis persona has acquired a leg-endary quality which ensuresthat stories related to his valourand his unique style of humourand conduct will always remainpopular and well-loved, like hehimself was. An inspiration tomillions of soldiers. Even whenhe was alive, he was a legend.

Manekshaw admitted thatSherwood College had a greatrole in making him what hewas.

In a speech he delivered athis school once as the chiefguest , he said, “Sherwood hastaken me to my present posi-tion. First and foremost, Ilearned to live alone and inde-pendently. I learned to fight -from the time I got up in the

morning till the time I went tobed..I learnt in school to hatemy enemies. How? Thanks toSt. Joseph 's next door andwhen we played them on theFlats,” he said in his typicallyhumourous manner.

Sam joined the IMA onOctober 1, 1932. The firstcourse had on its rolls SamManekshaw, Smith Dun andMohd Musa among the fortyGentlemen Cadets(GCs). Allthree of them later became thechiefs of the armies of theirrespective countries; namelyIndia, Burma and Pakistan.The course was christened'PIONEERS'.

He passed out of the IMAin 1934 and was commissionedas a Second Lieutenant in theIndian Army. He held severalregimental assignments andwas first attached to the Royal

Scots and later to the 4/12Frontier Force Regiment whichwas later known as 8th GorkhaRifles. He earned the name"Sam Bahadur" from soldiers ofthe 8th Gorkha Rifles.Manekshaw, who was also thechief guest at the diamondjubilee celebration in 1992 ,pre-sented to IMA a replica of hisgold baton on this historicoccasion. This has now becomeone of the most significantitems in the famous ChetwodeMuseum, symbolic of the greatcontribution of the Academy tothe glory of the Indian Army.

Sam Bahadur served thecountry gloriously through fivewars and over forty yearsincluding the second worldwar. His long military career isstudded with achievementsincluding the successful cam-paign of the Indo-Pakistan

War of 1971 that led to the cre-ation of Bangladesh. For hisselfless service to the nation, hewas awarded the PadmaVibhushan in 1972. He becamethe 8th chief of staff of theIndian Army in 1969 and thepresident conferred upon himthe rank of Field Marshal, aprestigious honorary rank(forlife), on January 1, 1973.Manekshaw retired on January15, 1973 and settled down inCoonoor in the Nilgiris inTamil Nadu.

He died of complicationsfrom pneumonia at theMilitary Hospital inWellington,Tamil Nadu onJune 27 2008 at the age of94.He was laid to rest intheParsi Zoroastrian Cemeteryin Udhagamandalam in TamilNadu, with military honours,adjacent to his wife's grave.

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Even as the UnionGovernment is undertak-

ing various tasks under theambitious ‘Namami Gange’programme for a clean and freeflowing Ganga river, some ofthe companies involved inhydro-electric projects inUttarakhand have continued toflout the law blatantly in starkcontradiction to the NamamiGange programme.

The 520 megawattsTapovan-Vishnugad hydroelectric project in Chamolidistrict is one such projectmarked by blatant violation ofthe law and varied regula-tions. Despite repeated com-plaints by local villagers andactivists, one of the companies

involved in this project hascontinued to dump muck inthe Dhauliganga river withthe river’s bank being con-verted into a dumping zone.

The water source for theTapovan-Vishnugad project-the Dhauliganga river inChamoli district is one of thesource streams of the Ganga.One of the companies involvedin the project—RithwikProjects Private Limited—hascontinued to dump muck inthe river and has turned theriver’s bank into a dumpingzone in blatant violation of reg-ulations.

The company is openlydumping debris of the projectwork on the banks ofDhauliganga and using JCBs todump debris and muck intothe river. The continued

dumping in the river has evenspoiled the colour of water inthe Dhauliganga.

Local resident Atul Satistates that dumping of muckand debris into the river and

on its bank has a negativeimpact on the river and willalso create a major threat todownstream areas on theplains during the rains.

While the company con-

tinues to blatantly violate thelaw by improper dumping, theForest Department appears tohave remained apathetictowards this violation. Whenthis correspondent asked the

sub divisional magistrate ofJoshimath, Shailendra Negiabout this, he said that actionwill be taken against the com-pany if it is found dumpingdebris in the river.

It is pertinent to mentionhere that since work started onthis project in 2005-06 localsand activists have been com-plaining about various viola-tions in the implementation ofthis project.

Earlier in December 2014,villagers had complained aboutseveral tonnes of debris beingdumped blatantly by the com-pany along the banks of theDhauliganga at Dhak. Theyhad also alleged that severalgreen trees growing on thebank of the river had beendamaged by the debrisdumped by the company.

It should be noted herethat though muck and debrisduring implementation ofhydro electricity projects aresupposed to be dumped at adesignated site, locals andactivists have been complain-ing about these being dumpedinto the rivers for some yearsnow.

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The activists of AamAadmi Party (AAP)

were arrested when theytried to force their way afterthe police prevented theirRaj Bhawan march onSunday. The party workerswere infuriated as the admin-istration had taken back thepermission to hold a publicmeeting at Nanakmatta inUdham Singh Nagar district.The meeting was scheduled tobe held on Sunday.

The agitated AAP workersdecided to organize a march tothe governor’s house on Sundayand assembled at the partyoffice. The police prevented themarch as soon as it started fromthe party office located onRajpur road. The AAP workersled by President of State work-ing committee Anoop Nautiyalargued with the police that themarch should be allowed to gofurther; they also demandedthat a delegation of leadersshould be allowed to meet theGovernor.

The administration how-

ever stoically refused theirdemand and a minor scufflebroke out between the agitat-ed workers and the police per-sonnel. The AAP workers werearrested and taken to the Policeline located at Race Course.The workers were later taken toSuddhowala jail and at thetime of writing this reportthey were not released.

Talking to The Pioneer, theState Treasurer of AAP, RanbirChaudhary said that the BJP istrying to forcibly rule the statein garb of President’s rule. Heclaimed that the intelligenceagencies had given informationto the BJP leaders that largenumber of AAP workers wouldparticipate in Nanakmatta rallydue to which the administra-tion cancelled the permissionfor the rally.

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While former ChiefMinister Harish Rawat

visits various parts ofUttarakhand to seek publicsupport, some Congress lead-ers have opined that the party’sposition in the State will notimprove substantially unlessvaried issues within the partyare resolved first.

Factors like continued fac-tionalism—which led to impo-sition of President’s rule inUttarakhand—and the culture ofmollifying party leaders byappointing them to various posi-tions has disturbed the organi-

sational hierarchy and disci-pline within the party. Theseissues need to be addressed bythe party leadership to preventfurther deterioration of Congressstanding in Uttarakhand, stressthe party leaders.

A former PCC functionaryhere said, “Some discontent hasbeen simmering within theparty since the appointment ofKishore Upadhyay to the postof PCC president in 2014 by theparty’s central leadership. TheCongress central leadership atthe time was apprehensiveabout the probability of a divi-sion in the party and was look-ing for a candidate trusted

personally by the party presi-dent’s family for the post ofPCC chief. Other capablesenior party leaders who weresuperseded then have stillremained dismissive of thecurrent PCC chief which hasaffected the discipline andorganisational strength of theparty. Another factor detri-mental to the party was the dol-ing out of hundreds of posi-tions within the party and inthe Congress-led State gov-ernment either to mollify partyleaders or to retain their loyal-ty without consideration oftheir capabilities or position inthe party hierarchy. During

the term of the previous PCC,leaders with considerable expe-rience and political capabilitywere appointed members of thePCC executive which is not thecase anymore with the currentPCC,” said the former PCCfunctionary.

Another party leaderexpressed similar sentiments,stressing that one of the impor-tant priorities of the Congressin Uttarakhand should be torevive its organisational activ-ity and discipline. “While theinternal politics in the Congressor any other political party willcontinue to affect the organi-sation in the present and future,

the party leadership needs tofocus on consolidating its cadrewhich has remained scatteredin support of different leaders.I think the Congress could haveachieved a major boost if thethen chief minister HarishRawat had maintained themoral high ground by resign-ing before imposition of pres-ident’s rule. Such a move couldhave altered the scenario morestrongly in favour of the partyin time for the assembly elec-tion. Even now, it is not too lateif the party leadership startsworking on its organisationalweaknesses like factionalism,”opined the party leader.

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The Mahanagar Congressstaged a protest demon-

stration outside the GandhiPark on Sunday alleging thatthe Bharatiya Janata Party wasaiming to disturb the situationin Uttarakhand.

Heading the protest,Congress Mahanagar chiefPrithviraj Chauhan said thatthe BJP had become insecure

on seeing the then chief min-ister Harish Rawat’s populari-ty. He said, “When the formerCM was interacting with thepublic in Kanwali block on theweekend, the BJP leadersbecame insecure on seeingthe crowd accompanyingRawat.

The anti-social elements inthe BJP resorted toa peltingstones on the former CM’s car,which is disgraceful,” he said.

In the memorandumaddressed to the GovernorKrishan Kant Paul, theMahanagar Congress leadershave requested that adequatesecurity arrangements shouldbe made during such activitiesin the public sphere to preventaltercation and deterioration oflaw and order. The protestingCongress members submittedthe memorandum to city mag-istrate Lalit Narayan Mishra.

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The different associations ofthe jewellers and their sup-

porting organisation chalkedout the strategy for making thebandh call of April 4 a successin Uttarakhand on Sunday.

The president of theJewellers Association ofUttarakhand, Vipin Bericlaimed that the bandh wouldbe historic. He said that thebandh supporters have decid-ed to exempt essential serviceslike medicine and health inpublic interest.

Interestingly, the UdhyogVyapar Mandal (UVM) thebiggest association of traders ofUttarakhand has alsoannounced its support for Statewide Bandh call on Monday.

The State President of theMandal, Anil Goyal said thatthe jewelers in the entrie nationare on path of agitation fromlast 32 days as the Governmenthas levied an excise duty of 1percent on jewelry. He said thatthe issue is not about tax butabout chances of return ofinspector rule by it. Incidentallythe UVM is viewed as thesupporter of BJP.

Goyal said that the traderswould not allow the return ofinspector raj. He said that onone hand the UnionGovernment is launchingschemes like ‘Skill India’ and'Make in India’ to promoteentrepreneurship and on otherhand it is promoting inspectorraj, which is not justified.

The President of SaraffaMandal, Praveen Jain said that

the every possible effort wouldbe made to make the Bandhsuccessful. Hethat the agitationof the jewelers would continuetill the Union Governmenttakes back its draconian deci-sion of imposing tax on pur-chase of gold. The VicePresident, Sunil Mason saidthat Shiv Sena, AAP, CITU,Democratic Youth Federationof India (DYFI), StudentFederation of India (SFI), KisanSabha and scores of other orga-nizations have pledged theirsupport for the Bandh. He saidthat the vehicles of Publictransport would also not beallowed to ply on the roads.

Meanwhile alleging policehighhandedness a delegation ofJewelers met the SeniorSuperintendent of Police (SSP),Sadanand Date on Sunday andexpressed their resentment.The jewelers told the SSP thatthe posters and banners of thejewelers were removed in someplaces by the policemen. It islearnt that the SSP asked theassociation to take back theircall of Chakka Jam so that thepublic transport is not affect-ed. Interestingly party politicshas also cropped up among thejewelers. One of an associationled by Pankaj Mason has sep-arated itself from the Bandhcall of Monday. Talking to ThePioneer he said that it is strangethe UVM which is an organi-sation of BJP has come out insupport of Bandh call which islaughable as the union gov-ernment led by BJP hasimposed the 1 percent exciseduty.

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The condition of the Siamesetwins with conjoined heads

has deteriorated and they areon life support system atMahant Indiresh (MI) hospital.A team of pediatricians of thehospital are keeping a closewatch on the condition of thetwins but their parameters arenot encouraging. The twinsdeveloped problem in breath-ing on Saturday and wererushed to MI hospital wherethey were put on ventilator.

The PRO of the hospitalBhupendra Raturi confirmedthat the condition of the twinsis not very encouraging. Hesaid that team headed by seniorPediatrician Dr Girish Gupta ismonitoring the twins.

The conjoined twins wereborn on last Saturday after acaesarian operation of a poorlady belonging to Dhanlotiarea of Tehri. The extremelyrare twins have separate spinalcords and separate pair of vitalorgans like lungs and kidneys.

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While an executive mem-bers’ meeting was being

held by the former ChiefMinister and veteranCongress leader ND Tiwari inthe Jawaharlal Nehru youthhostel, a tiff arose betweenTiwari’s son Rohit Shekharand a Youth Congress leaderto the extent of their man-handling each other. Policehad to intervene in the mat-ter and the Congress leaderwas taken into custody.

The long held disputebetween the Congress leadersand office-bearers on the issueof executive committee andland grabbing of an NGOonce again got aired onSunday noon.

Notably Tiwari is the headof the national unit ofJawaharlal Nehru NationalYouth Centre and Congressleaders BrahmswarupBrahmchari of Jairam ashramand Ambrish Kumar arepatrons of this centre situatedin the heart of the city nearBHEL barrier.

The centre has been run-ning since 2008 and Deepa

Joshi was made president ofthe executive committee butsome Congress leaders hadallegedly tried to grab theland of the centre showingsome letters signed by NDTiwari following which FIRwas lodged against the allegedoffenders—Harsh VardhanSharma and his supporters inthe year 2014.

On Sunday noon, whenthe meeting of executivemembers was going on,Haridwar youth Congress LokSabha President Ram VishalDev of Harsh Vardhan factioncame to the youth hostel andpicked up a fight with the sonof N D Tiwari, Rohit Shekhar.

It is being said that RamVishal Yadav asked Rohit toget out of the centre and withthe fight taking a violent turn,police was called. The policeforcefully separated the quar-relling parties and took Yadavinto custody. Till the filing ofthe report Rohit was talkingabout registering a caseagainst the Congress leader.

When asked the seniorCongress leader AmbrishKumar said, “Some anti-socialelements tried to create a

scene, wanted to be executiveboard and raised their author-ity on the land of the centre.

But it was outside the meetinghall. The meeting was con-ducted peacefully and during

the meeting ND Tiwarirecounted the days of Britishraj and freedom struggle. He

said the centre would contin-ue working for honing theskills of the youths.”

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The Hindi examination ofmore than 13,000 students

belonging to Uttarakhand boardof Pauri district was re-con-ducted on Sunday. The exam hadto be re-conducted due to themistake of the centre superin-tendent. The CentreSuperintendent and Custodian ofPublic Inter College, Nainidanda(an aided school) in Pauri districthad opened the sealed envelopecontaining question paper ofClass X on March 4 instead ofClass XII Hindi Paper which wasscheduled on that day. The classX paper was scheduled on March5 and the exam was taken withthe question paper which wasopened a day earlier.

In view of maintaining sanc-tity of the examination theUttarakhand Vidhyalyi ShikshaParishad (UVSP) decided tocancel the earlier examination ofHindi in Pauri distirct and re-scheduled the examination on

Sunday. UVSP’s secretary, RDSharma stationed himself inPauri to oversee the examination.Talking to The Pioneer, he saidthat the examination was held in160 exam centres of the district.He claimed that the examinationwas organised peacefully andwithout any hitch this time.

Meanwhile the educationdepartment has acted on theissue and suspended four teach-ers. The UVSP had conducteda probe on the matter and fixedresponsibility on the Principaland four other teachers in thematter. Acting on the recom-mendation of the board,Additional Director Pauri, R KUniyal suspended four teachers,Arvind Kumar, Arvind SinghChauhan, Satendra KumarSharma and Sudha Binjhola.The dept has also recommend-ed suspension of Principal andCentre Superintendent JaipalSingh Rawat to the managementof the school for gross neglect inthe whole issue.

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One of the nine dissidentMLAs, Subodh Uniyal has

categorically stated that theywould support Congress-ledGovernment in Uttarakhand ifthe party’s central leadershipagrees to move Harish Rawatout of the picture.

Talking about his disqual-ification from Vidhan Sabha,Uniyal said that this would bethe first instance wherein theMLAs have themselves statedthat they had violated the partywhip on appropriation bill butbiased Assembly speakerGovind Singh Kunjwal haddisqualified the MLAs onabsurd grounds.

Stressing that the dissi-

dents would accept nothing lessthan removal of Harish Rawat,Uniyal claimed that severalMLAs including former min-isters are in touch with them

and have expressed their desireto join their bandwagon.However, he refused to com-ment on who would be the newChief Minister if Congressremoves Harish Rawat.

It would be pertinent tomention here that on March 18,opposition had demanded divi-sion of vote on Appropriationbill from the Speaker but

Speaker denied. While theSpeaker was announcing thatbudget has been passed byvoice vote, nine dissidentCongress MLAs—Harak SinghRawat, Vijay Bahuguna,Subodh Uniyal, ShailendraMohan Singhal, Pranav Singh‘Champion’, Amrita Rawat,Shaila Rani Rawat, PradeepBatra and Umesh Sharma ‘Kau’

came into the well of the house. The then Cabinet Minister

Harak Singh Rawat came tomedia gallery and announcedthe names of the nine dissi-dents and claimed that HarishRawat Government had beenreduced to a minority becausethe dissident MLAs wereagainst appropriation bill. Onthat fateful day 35 (BJP 26 andCongress 9) out of 67 MLAsexcluding Ganesh Joshi,Bhimlal Arya and Haridas weredemanding division of voteon appropriation bill.

He further said that everyminister in the then HarishRawat government was feelingsuffocated so Harak SinghRawat, who refused to budgeunder pressure, walked out

from treasury bench. “We had complained to the

governor on same night aboutthe speaker’s prejudice,” saidUniyal. He also reiterated thatsenior Congress leaders are intouch with the dissidents whohave conveyed their messageclearly to the effect that theywill not withdraw their dissentunless and until high commandremoves Harish Rawat.

He reiterated that exceptseven, who are being consid-ered as close confidants ofHarish Rawat, out of 27 afterdisqualification of nineCongress MLAs as per thespeaker’s decision are eagerlywaiting for high command’smove. They may join the dis-sidents at any given point of

time but currently they haveadopted wait and watch policy.

As far as formation of anew party is concerned, Uniyalsaid that “if they do not acceptour demand then we mayrevive the party, which wasfounded after separation fromCongress by Late HemwatiNandan Bahuguna, father ofMLA and ex CM VijayBahuguna and Ex CM of UttarPradesh. Later HN Bahugunahad formed new party knownas Congress for Democracy(CFD) due to then PrimeMinister Indira Gandhi’s auto-cratic attitude.

He further said, “We are infavour of formation ofGovernment but not in favourof Harish Rawat led

Uttarakhand government. Asyou know that violation ofwhip is termination of mem-bership from Vidhan Sabha butwe did it because former CMwas trying to crush everyoneincluding Cabinet ministers.He was running a one-manshow and even then ministerswere feeling suffocated.”

He stressed that most of theex-Cabinet ministers hadextended their moral supportbut could not muster thecourage to take risk in theirpolitical life. Now they are intouch with them and will optto revolt if Congress high com-mand again tries to imposeHarish Rawat as Chief Ministerof Congress led UttarakhandGovernment.

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Acting on a tip-off, theExcise Department offi-

cials raided two houses inAzadnagar locality, appre-hending two persons and seiz-ing 13 crates of illegal countryliquor on Sunday.

The department hadreceived a tip off about somepersons with illegal cache ofliquor. Acting on this infor-mation, assistant excise com-missioner Tapan Kumar Pandeand excise inspector Sarojpalalong with other departmentstaff raided the homes ofMohammed Ashfaq andMohammed Mushtaq inAzadnagar locality.

Seizing 13 crates of coun-

try liquor, the department offi-cials booked the duo under theExcise Act. The two men werelater allowed to go on person-al bond of Rs 5,000 each.

The assistant excise com-

missioner informed that theliquor hoarded by the two menhad been bought at cheap ratesin the recent past when theliquor outlet contracts were tobe renewed on March end.

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The IBS Business School isconducting its admission

selection process at IBS,ICFAI University Dehradunfor its campuses atAhmedabad, Bengaluru,Gurgaon, Mumbai, Kolkata,Pune, Dehradun and Jaipur.The admission selectionprocess would continue tillApril 4.

The final selection isbased on the candidate’s pastacademic record and perfor-mance in Group Discussionand Personal Interview. IBS isalso offering fee concessionfor Uttarakhand Domicileholders. Tanuj Jaitley andRitesh Raj of IBS played a cru-

cial role in organising thisselection process at IBS,ICFAIUniversity, Dehradun alongwith all IBS faculty members.The Vice president of ICFAISociety, Hydrabad VivekPhadke also presided at theoccasion.

The innovative programdesign, case method teaching,applied learning, summerinternship, industry-basedelectives, experiential learningprepares an IBS Student forcontemporary challenges inthe real world. The rigorousIBS curriculum, industry-ledconclaves,industry-academiaconnect, internships createindustry-ready students.

The case-based teaching-learning methodology simu-

lates real-world problems toengage students in real-lifedecision making and trans-form into corporate executives.

Extending learningbeyond classroom enablesstudents to learn by doing andtake responsibility of theirown learning. Student’s learn-ing is enriched with peerlearning, group assignments,individual andgroup presen-tations, live projects in com-panies, regular interactionswith industry leaders andalumni and faculty mentors.

Soft Skills courses shapestudent’s personality andenhance their interpersonal,communication, presentation,group discussion and inter-view skills.

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Participants from many col-leges and universities partic-

ipated in a two-day FacultyDevelopment Programme(FDP) on ResearchMethodology at the School ofMass Communication, IMSUnison University. The pro-gramme ended on Sunday.

On the first day of the fac-ulty development program thedelegates from various universi-ties exchanged their thoughts inthe interactive sessions. TheMedia Monitor (ENCommunication) and Director,Buddha Institute of AdvancedStudies, Noida, Baldev Raj Guptashared his experiences andexplained the core of mediaresearch on the occasion as

resource person on the day. He discussed the contem-

porary research areas and prob-lems in media communication.

Speaking on the occasion,Chancellor of IMS UnsionUniversity, MP Jain said programis being organised to create anenvironment of research in thecampus. He focused on the needof such program and said thatseminars, conferences and FDPshelp the faculties in their carri-er advancement.

The Vice Chancellor of IMSUnison University DKBhandopadyaya said that IMSUnison University is committedto creating a campus environ-ment that supports and pro-motes superior research, premiercreative activities, and innovativescholarly pursuits.

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While the Tehri dam istouted as a major

achievement in power gener-ation, hundreds of people liv-ing in three villages near thedam have continued to livewithout electricity supply.The villagers have repeatedlysought the facilitation ofpower supply to the hamletsbut the officials concernedhave remained apathetic totheir demand.

Situated near the Tehridam in Chamba developmentblock, the Motanadhar,Chulusain and Gangaldyu vil-lages have not yet had thebasic facility of electricitysupply. In total, about 250persons are living in theMotanadhar, Chulusain andGangaldyu villages. Thoughliving in villages situated nearthe Tehri dam, proper elec-tricity supply appears more ofa dream for the residents ofthese three villages. Due tothe absence of electricity sup-ply, most of the villagers areforced by condit ions toremain indoors after sunset.

Without any electricity,the villagers are not able touse varied implements includ-ing mobile phones and tele-visions. The residents of thesevillages complain that theabsence of electricity exerts a

detrimental effect especiallyon the studies of school chil-dren.

Whereas different Statesare powered with electricitygenerated at the Tehri damnot far from Chamba, leavingthese three villages in thearea without electrificationalso raises questions regard-ing the functioning of depart-ments concerned.

Former Gram PradhanRamesh Lekhvar said thatabsence of electricity supply isone of the major factors forc-ing villagers to migrate whilethe financially weaker peoplewho cannot even afford thecost of migration continue tolive in the villages.

In addition to repeatedvisits and communicationswith departmental officialsso far, an agitation was alsoheld by the villagers in sup-port of their demand for elec-trification. However, the offi-cials concerned have so farremained apathetic to the sit-uation and problems beingfaced by the villagers.

When asked about theissue, the power corporationSDO SK Gautam said thatproposal for electrificationof the villages has been sentto the State administrationand necessary action will betaken as soon as the propos-al is approved.

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The Comptroller and AuditorGeneral of India has slammed

Haryana Government for “non-implementation” of an outdoor sur-veillance system, approved by theCentre for maintenance of law andorder and crime control in the State.

Besides, it found, �5 crore meantfor procuring mobile jammers andCCTV cameras for four highly-sen-sitive jails in the State was lyingunutilised for more than six years.

In its latest report on non-pub-lic sector undertakings for 2014-15,the Comptroller and Auditor Generalof India said, “Non-implementationof outdoor surveillance system, a cru-cial and vital project for maintenanceof law and order and crime control,resulted in blockade of fundsamounting to �8.24 crore for morethan four years.”

“The Centre approved the out-door surveillance system under ascheme for modernisation of StatePolice Forces in 2008-09 forPanchkula district of Haryana. Theproject was later extended to threeother districts — Rohtak, Karnal andPanipat — during financial years2009-10 and 2010-11. A sum of �8.26crore was sanctioned for this projectthrough Haryana State ElectronicsDevelopment Corporation Limited(HARTRON) and money wasdeposited with it on the basis of arequest for proposal. A purchaseorder was placed with VMC SystemLtd. Secunderabad for �7.75 crore byHARTRON in February 2011,” stat-ed report.

As per agreement, the companywas required to complete the instal-lation, commissioning and integra-tion of the system at all the sites with-in three months from the date ofaward of contract in February 2011,said the report.

Final acceptance test was to beconducted within four months fromthe date of award of contract. Assuch, the project was to be opera-

tionalised by June 2011. Scrutiny ofrecords of Director General of Police(DGP), Haryana showed that thefirm delivered the equipment at thefour sites after a delay of six months,CAG said.

The company requested foranother opportunity to supply thesoftware after being updated/recon-figured but failed to supply theequipment as per requirement andbecame non-responsive sinceSeptember 2013, pointed out thereport.

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Taking an aim at Delhi CM and AAPconvenor Arvind Kejriwal, Punjab

Revenue Minister Bikram Singh Majithiaon Sunday said that backstabbingPunjabis has now become a habit ofKejriwal & Company.

He said that when in Punjab,Kejriwal speaks in favour of Punjab onSYL issue and when he crosses thePunjab border, he backstabs the State byopposing Punjab on the same issue.

Majithia said this while distribut-ing grants worth Rs 1 crore and layingfoundation stones of dozens of devel-

opment projects at villages Mattewal andRoopowali Brahmna.

While speaking to mediapersons,Bikram Majithia said that ArvindKejriwal has nothing to do with therights and interests of Punjab, Punjabisand Sikh religion, neither has he con-tributed anything for the state or its res-idents.

Terming it as a mere drama, Majithiaalleged that Kejriwal and Company isplaying with the emotions of Punjabis fortheir petty gains and vested interests.

He said that Kejriwal has opposedPunjab on SYL issue and till date, has notgiven any representation to any Punjabi

or Sikh in his ministry.He said that Kejriwal’s so called “soft

corner” towards Sikh religion is nothingmore than a con, whereas the truth isthat Kejriwal is promoting and shield-ing anti Sikh forces.

While questioning the Delhi CM,Majithia said whether the misplacing offile related to SIT on Sikh genocide of1984 was part of some secret deal?

He said that Kejriwal tried to pat hisown back by issuing advertisementsregarding awarding compensation to vic-tims of Sikh genocide of 1984 frommoney received from CentreGovernment. He questioned whether

even a single penny waspaid by the Delhi govern-ment through their ownmeans?

He said that the doublestandards of Kejriwalwould not be tolerated bythe smart Punjabis.

He also advisedKejriwal to leave this“dramebaazi” and showhonesty towards the stateand warned that conmenlike him have always beenshown the door byPunjabis and day is not farwhen Kejriwal & Co would

also be shown the door in similar man-ner.

Majithia said that Kejriwal & Co hasno solid issue to present before thePunjabis and that is why they are show-ing “Mungeri Lal Ke Haseen Sapne” toPunjabis and also trying to fool them.

He said that Kejriwal has not fulfilledeven a single promise which he madewith the people of Delhi and on the otherhand, he increased the salaries of hisMLAs and Ministers manifold.

He said that Kejriwal has sur-rounded himself with a rich coterie whohave not managed to get adjusted in anyother party.

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Painting a grim picture ofsports infrastructure in

Haryana, the CAG has said thatseveral mini stadia and RajivGandhi Gramin Khel Parisars(RGGKP) lack equipment andbasic amenities such as power andwater and are unfit for sportsactivities.

Comptroller and AuditorGeneral of India (CAG) in hisreport for the FY 2014-15,observed the deficiencies in main-tenance of the infrastructure isbound to have an adverse impacton promotion of sports activitiesand nurturing talent.

CAG found playgrounds in71 per cent of the stadiums and70 per cent of the RGGKP bumpyand unfit for sports. Playgroundsof 12 stadiums (35 per cent) inRohtak, Jhajjar, Fatehabad andBhiwani were in low lying areas.

Nomadic animals were graz-ing in five stadiums (15 per cent)due to broken boundarywall,

while agricultural waste werealso scattered in the playgroundsin eight stadiums (24 per cent)making them unfit for sportsactivities,” the report said.

The CAG says in the reportthat a joint inspection with offi-cials of Sports and Youth Affairs(SYA) department was conduct-ed in six districts - Jhajjar, Rohtak,Bhiwani, Yamunanagar, Ambalaand Fatehabad - to examine theinfrastructure of 27 RGGKPs and34 mini stadiums.

Basketball net, volleyball net,football goalposts, badmintoncourt, weightlifting equipment,etc were available only in 16 sta-diums (47 per cent) and 23RGGKPs (85 per cent), the CAGnoted.

Out of the 34 stadiums, elec-tricity was not available in 32,water in 27, and bathromms in 28of them, the report says.

Out of the 27 RGGKPs, elec-tricity, water, and bathrooms werenot available in 19, 17, and 2 ofthem respectively.

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From Page 1An electorate of 95,11,732

including 45,95,712 women,will exercise their franchise in12,190 polling stations with thenumber of hyper-sensitive andsensitive booths yet to bereleased by the election officein Assam.

The Congress is contestingin all the 65 constituencies inthe first phase in Assam whileBJP is contesting in 54 and itsalliance partners -- the AGP in11 and the BPF in three--, theAIUDF in 27, the CPI and theCPI(M) in ten each withCPI(ML)(L) in six along with60 others of unrecognised par-ties and 13 Independents.

Security has been tightenedacross the State with the Indo-Bangla border along BarakValley’s Karimganj districtsealed and more than 40,000security personnel deployedin the 65 constituencies spreadacross Upper Assam, hill dis-tricts, northern banks andBarak Valley.

More than 48,000 polling

personnel have been deployedin the first phase with those inremote areas leaving for theirrespective polling booths sinceFriday evening.

The first phase will witnessmostly direct contest betweenthe ruling Congress and theBJP-AGP-BPF alliance thoughthe AIUDF has put up candi-dates in 27 constituencieswhere the fight is expected tobe triangular.

Among the 539 candidatesin the fray, 496 are males and43 women in 45 constituenciesof the Brahmaputra Valley, fivein the two hill districts ofKarbi Anglong and DimaHasao and 15 in the BarakValley.

The prominent Congresscandidates in the fray are ChiefMinister Tarun Gogoi fromTitabor, Speaker of the outgo-ing Assembly Pranab Gogoifrom Sibsagar, former UnionMinister and prominent teatribe leader Paban SinghGhatowar and Assam MinistersGautam Roy, Sarat Barkotoky,Ajanta Neog, Khorsingh Engti,Siddeque Ahmed, Bismita

Gogoi, Sumitra Patir andGirindra Malik among others

The BJP’s star candidates inthe first phase are UnionMinister and party’s ChiefMinisterial candidateSarbananda Sonowal fromMajuli, Jorhat LS MPKamakhya Prasad Tasa againstthe Chief Minister fromTitabor, sitting MLA PrashantaPhukan Dilip Paul, along withformer AGP minister HitenGoswami and those who joinedthe party last year, including sit-ting AGP MLAs PadmaHazarika and Naba Doley,Congress dissident and dis-qualified MLAs KripanathMallah, Bolin Chetia and PallabLochan Das and former ULFAmilitant Kushal Duwari.

The run-up to the poll inboth the State was marked bya high-pitched campaign withhigh-profile national and Stateleaders -- including PrimeMinister Narendra Modi,Congress president SoniaGandhi and party vice-presi-dent Rahul Gandhi -- leadingthe campaign trail for theirrespective parties.

From Page 1He was an assistant com-

mandant with BSF and was ondeputation with NIA,” he said.

Police sealed borders ofdistrict and launched a massivemanhunt in search ofassailants. Additional DirectorGeneral of Police DaljitChowdhry said “nothing canbe ruled out,” when askedabout the possibility of terrorangle behind the attack.

“The body has been sentfor post-mortem and details ofwhat actually happened willsoon come out. Borders of theState have been sealed andpolice teams are conductingchecking. We are trying to findout the motive behind grue-some killing,” he said.

He added that investiga-tions were on and UP Police,UP ATS, NIA, the DIG of NIAfrom Lucknow and his teamwere on the spot.

Chowdhry said the UttarPradesh Police was also tryingto ascertain whether the 9mm pistol used for the crimewas country-made or factory-made.

UP Director General ofPolice Javed Ahmad said IGSpecial Task Force (STF) andIG Anti Terrorist Squad (ATS)have been dispatched to Bijnorto probe the incident. “We arealso in touch with NIA officersand coordinating with them.We will go deep into it andensure those involved arearrested”, Ahmad said.

Superintendent of Police,Bijnor, Subhash Singh Baghelsaid, Tanzil Ahmad visitedBijnor on Friday to attend hisniece’s marriage at a guesthouse in Sohara village, aroundnine killometres from their res-idence.

From Page 1Pathak has, however, not

directed the district officialsfor any ban on toddy but report-edly suggested that some restric-tions could be imposed on itssale and consumption. A restric-tion has already been imposedon its consumption at publicplaces. There is also an appre-hension that the toddy tappersmight be mixing country liquoror other chemicals in the toddy.

The senior officials in theCM Secretariat feigned igno-rance about the possibility ofban on toddy. One official evenindicated of a social unrest inthe countryside if such a banwas considered. Senior offi-cials of the Excise Departmentwere not available for comment

because of Sunday.It is to be recalled that

toddy had been exempted fromtax during the regime of LaluPrasad in early nineties on theplea that since this drink wasused by very poor people, theycould not pay tax. According toa survey of NSSO, Bihar isamong four States where toddyis in high use but AndhraPradesh tops the list and Biharcomes fourth after Kerala,Assam and Jharkhand.

There are reports that saleof toddy in villages has gone upand also the toddy tappers haveincreased its price in view ofhigh demand. A 500 ML bottleof toddy which earlier cost Rs 10is now being sold at Rs 15,reports suggested.

From Page 1On roll out of the much-

delayed GST, Modi said, “GSTwill happen. I cannot give atimeframe, but it will happen.It was our commitment, and itis about to happen.”

To a question on retro-spective tax, Modi said it willnever be brought back again.He said two cases were “sub-judice” and it would not beproper for him to commentfurther. “As far as retrospectivetax is concerned, it is a thing ofthe past. We have repeatedlysaid this in Parliament and I amrepeating here again today.There were two incidents thattook place under the lastGovernment. These are sub-judice. So, I am not being ableto do anything on them. In oneof the cases, positive outcomehas come. Retrospective taxdoes not exist in India any-more. It has become a thing ofthe past. It won’t come,” he said.

Although the PM did notspecifically name the pendingcases, the major retrospectivetax disputes include thoseinvolving Vodafone and Cairn.“I think in international rela-tions, the taxation systemshould be predictable. If some-body wants to come (to India)after 10 years, he should knowIndia’s tax structure is like this.That’s why we are working ona long-term tax system and weare implementing and I do notthink there will be any problemin that,” Modi said.

A Saudi businessman hadasked Modi about retrospectivetax regime, GST, banking sys-tem and some other issuesand wondered whether Modiwill be able to address theirconcerns. Incidentally, Cairn

Energy CEO Simon Thomsontold PTI in an interview inLondon today that interna-tional investors want the Modigovernment to walk the talk onresolving retrospective taxissues and send a clear signalthat things are changing underthe new dispensation.

Cairn, which gave India itsbiggest onland oil discoverythat now accounts for a fifth ofthe country’s oil production,will press ahead with the arbi-tration challenging use of a leg-islation to tax internal businessreorganisation with retrospec-tive effect and will seek $1 bil-lion in damages, he furthersaid.

Eyeing billions of dollars ofinvestment from Saudi Arabia,which is setting up a USD 2trillion public investment fund,Modi invited top CEOs toinvest in defence, energy, rail-way, health and agriculturesectors in India. Holding thatthere was huge opportunity toramp up trade ties, he said timehas come to move from ‘buyer-seller relationship’ to chart anew path of growth and devel-opment which will benefit peo-ple of both the countries.

“We have to look beyondthe buyer-seller relationship,because that will be an obsta-cle in the path of progress,” hesaid at the interaction organ-ised by the Council of SaudiChambers. The two countriesalso called on states to cut offany kind of support and financ-ing to terrorists operating andperpetrating terrorism fromtheir territories against otherstates and bring perpetrators ofacts of terrorism to justice. Thepacts signed included one oncooperation in the exchange ofintelligence related to moneylaundering, terror financingand related crimes and anoth-er relating to recruitment ofIndian workers in Saudi Arabia,home to around three millionIndian workers.

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After two successive raindeficient years, weather

experts have predicted a“good” monsoon this year-about 89 cms, which is 100 percent to 102 per cent of normal.This is due to drop in El Ninopattern, which may go below0.5 by May-end and graduallybecome neutral.

The weakening El Ninophenomenon is expected tomake way for its reverse coun-

terpart La Nina, when the tem-peratures of the Pacific couldcool abnormally and bringplentiful rains in various Asiancountries, including India. TheIndia MeteorologicalDepartment (IMD) is expect-ed to come out with its firstofficial prediction on monsoon during the last weekof April.

During the last two suc-cessive years, monsoon wasdeficient by 14 per cent and 12per cent respectively. When

rainfall deficit in a year is 10per cent or more in a monsoonseason, it is considered as ameteorological drought year.Over the last two years, rainswere particularly insufficient inthe regions of northernKarnataka, Maharashtra,Punjab, Haryana, Bihar,Jharkhand and parts of UttarPradesh.

According to weatherexperts, this was due to severecondition of El Nino, whichwas above two notches sincethe last monsoon. The currentEl Nino spell has been one ofthe longest and the strongestever. This is characterised by

unusual warming of the seasurface in equatorial PacificOcean, which is known tosuppress rainfall over theIndian region besides othercountries. The last year wit-nessed one of the strongest ElNino spells in 50 years that ledto such a rain deficient year.

However, as per experts,the severity of the phenome-non dropped to 1.0 last week,which is said to be in the cat-egory of a moderate El Nino.This is expected to decline fur-ther at the end of May, pavingthe way for a normal monsoon.In the rainy season, extendingfor four months from June-

September, rains in June areexpected to be the maximum.

The weather experts havegiven more reasons for thefarmers to cheer up. DecliningEl Nino, according to them, islikely to pave the way for LaNina that occurs due to exten-sive cooling of the central andeastern tropical regions ofPacific Ocean.

The last La Nina episodewas seen in 2011-12, which fol-lowed the 2009-10 El Nino.The probability of the emer-gence of La Nina conditionsbetween August andSeptember augurs well for rainin India, said the experts.

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0��9)�&��Samajwadi Party’s popular face on television

debates and Uttar Pradesh Government’syoungest Additional Advocate General (AAG)Gaurav Bhatia recent-ly circulated a mes-sage to all his mediafriends that he hadquit protesting oversome malfunction-ing in the State’sLegal Department.Upon enquiry, it surfacedthat Bhatia was sacked a dayearlier from the AAG post by a UPGovernment circular dated March 22. ForBhatia, this came as a shock, and for lawyersa surprise. He was recently in the news afterthe president of Supreme Court Bar Association(SCBA) Dushyant Dave offered to quit over dif-fernces with Bhatia, the SCBA Secretary. Davelater withdrew his offer after speaking to ChiefJustice of India.

��

The five-member Pakistani JointInvestigation Team that visited India to

carry forward its probeinto the Pathankot

airbase attackcase, wanted toudnertake asightseeing tripto Taj Mahal inAgra and theDargah of

Maulana MoinuddinChisti at Ajmer. But the

Indian authorities denied permission as thesame could have diluted the seriousness of pur-pose of the team’s visit here. The NDAGovernment was already facing flak from theOpposition parties over the visit of the JIT, andthe sightseeing tours by the visiting team couldhave further strengthened the perception thatthe visit was conducted as mere optics andnothing substantive could be achieved.

��

Commodore Joginder Chandna, a servingNaval officer and a fitness freak, has

turned his passioninto a social cause —to feed poor chil-dren. Along with achartered accoun-tant MeenalKotak, Chandna ranmarathons in variousparts of the NationalCapital Region for the lastnine days, culminating in thefinale last weekend. Naming their run“Ours Miles Their Smiles”, the runners urgedspectators and fellow participants to feed at leastone hungry child each day during the event.Chandna hosted a langar for hundreds of chil-dren on the final day.

��

Panchjayana and Organiser, both consideredmouthpieces of the RSS, invited leaders of

as diverse political parties as Congress and

CPI(M) to write for them on Freedom ofSpeech and Sedition. While Abhishek ManuSinghvi penned a column for the two weeklies,CPM leader Sitaram Yechury refused to takethe offer.

��

The process for filling up the two-year-oldvacant post of Chairperson for CBSE, lay-

ing vacant sinceDecember 2014, hasrun into fresh hurdle.The HRD Ministry’sAdditional SecretaryYSK Seshu Kumar,who has just got another six months extensionafter the search committee could not find a suit-able person to head the CBSE, has so far man-aged the organisation without any controver-sy. Grapevine has it that the search-commit-tee zeroed in on a JNU academician for thepost, but for obvious reasons his name had tobe dropped.

��

Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy lostcool on Saturday evening when he boy-

cotted the candidate selection process for theforthcoming Assembly elections. Chandy wasupset with the high command for directing himto deny tickets to some Ministers. Grapevinehas learnt that Chandy bluntly told the centralleaders that he would not be a part of the selec-tion process and left in huff for Kerala onSunday morning.

��

With great pomp and show, the ChineseEmbassy in New Delhi last week cele-

brated the first anniversary of opening of newpilgrimage route to Mansarovar via Nathu-Lain Sikkim. Chinese Ambassador Le Yucheng,who was the first Chinese passport holder tocross over from the Nathu-La border to TibetAutonoous Region, said he felt purified afterthe visit to Mansarovar. Happy with theresponse by Indian pilgrims, the Chinese arenow planning to launch souvenirs related toMansarovar. To begin with, the water ofMansarovar Lake will now be available inpacked bottles.

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At a Press meet organised by the WorldHealth Organisation (WHO)

on diabetes recently, health-conscious scribes were pleas-antly surprised when theyfound their Press kit contain-ing fitness goodies like skip-ping rope and inch tapemeasurement besidesawareness materialabout diabetes.The messagewas loud andclear : Tacklediabetes byadopting healthy habits. “BeatDiabetes” is the theme of theWorld Health Day this year beingobserved on April 7.

�� 1+6�4+�70

The Environment Ministryreleased new rules for man-

agement of hazardous wastes,which for the first time includea separate category of items liketyre, metal scrap, paper and cer-tain electronic goods, that canbe recycled and reused. Thesehave been included under thecategory of “other waste”.

While releasing the newrules, Environment MinisterPrakash Javadekar on Sundaysaid they are “environmentand industry friendly, in linewith this Government’s prior-ity for ease of doing businessand Make in India, but withresponsible concerns for sus-tainable development.” He alsosaid the rules will ensureresource recovery and dispos-al of hazardous waste in envi-ronmentally sound manner.

Further, import of metalscrap, paper waste and variouscategories of electrical and elec-tronic equipments for re-usepurpose has been exemptedfrom the need of obtaining theMinistry’s permission under theHazardous and Other Wastes(Management & TransboundaryMovement) Rules, 2016.

They have also revised allforms for permission, trans-portation, those related to importand export amongst others. Thenew rules have adopted a morestringent approach for manage-ment of such wastes.

“Procedure has been sim-plified to merge all the approvalsas a single window clearance forsetting up of hazardous wastedisposal facility and import ofother wastes,” said the rules.

The rules further state thatwaste management hierarchyin the sequence of priority ofprevention, minimisation,reuse, recycling, recovery, co-processing and safe disposalhas been incorporated.

The rules provide for co-processing as preferential mech-anism over disposal for use ofwaste as supplementary resource,or for recovery of energy hasbeen provided. The approvalprocess for co-processing ofhazardous waste to recover ener-gy has been streamlined and puton emission norms basis.

It said that the basic neces-sity of infrastructure to safeguardhealth and environment fromwaste processing industry hasbeen prescribed as SOP, specif-ic to waste type, which has to becomplied by stakeholders andensured by Pollution ControlBoard/ State Pollution ControlBoard while granting suchauthorisation.

�� 1+6�4+�70

RSS outfit Bharat VikasParishad (BVP) is walking

extra mile in “incentivising” vil-lages which have tuned into“inter-caste harmony”progammes and seeking an“integrated social and eco-nomic growth” by organisingfunding of projects in theserural areas.

RSS has been campaigningfor encouraging participationof all communities in festivals“where caste does not becomea barrier” and insisting that atleast one festival be celebratedin villages by all together.

Pointing out the “connect ofRSS in rural areas”, sourcespointed out that the RSS pub-lished “Jagaran Patrikas” in locallanguages are going “directly” toover 2,30,000 villages in thecountry. This is besides the reg-ular RSS-inspired publications.These “Jagaran Patrikas” are

running into eight to 24 pagescarrying dialogues, stories, andarticles on rural issues thoseappeal to rural masses.

In Rajasthan villages, itgoes by the name of Pather kan,in Marathi it is titled SanskriticVarta Patra, Telugu Vijay Vaniand Tamil Vijay Bharatas.

“These magazines are com-municated by collective read-ings by prominent people of vil-lages either at ‘chaupal’ or anyother community centre whereideas on positive social changesare also exchanged,” they said.

According to sources, theRSS has analysed “prant-wise”scrutiny of caste discriminationagainst Dalits and other com-munities and sought to give apro-active encouragement to‘integrated villages’ which areadopting ‘ek mandir, ek talab,ek shamshan’ programme ini-tiated by the Sangh.

In return, the BVP is “help-ing in promotion” of water

management, agriculture andcommunity development pro-gramme, they said. “The pre-condition is establishing har-mony by way of implementingtogetherness”, sources said.

By now the main work of theBVP was on the promotion of“the Jaipur foot” for the disabled.Under its fresh social harmonyprojects, leaders of all commu-nities are called and ways aregradually worked out to establishcaste harmony in villages.“Workers of BVP have stayed inthe houses of dalit communitiesand attempted to bring abouttogetherness,” they said.

RSS reach in rural areas, par-ticularly in the mandal levels,have increased with a manifoldincrease, during last one year, inthe number of their ‘Vistaraks’(working people spending 15days outside their regions to ini-tiate new Sakhas) who laterassume the role of ‘Pracharaks’in the Sangh Parivar.

�� 1+6�4+�70

Can yoga help prevent orrelieve diabetes? With dia-

betes emerging as a major diseaseburden for India over the pasttwo decades, the Union AYUSHMinistry has asked the IndianCouncil of Medical Research(ICMR), a research wing of theHealth Ministry, to conduct astudy to assess the impact of yogaon diabetes.

A senior official from theICMR said, “we have been askedto look at impact of yoga on dia-betes. We will soon finalise a pro-tocol in this direction. Afterwhich we will rope in experts toconduct the study.”

So far the effect of yogicpractices on the managementof diabetes has not been inves-tigated well, though therehave been sporadic studieshere and there carried out inour country to evaluate theeffect of yoga on diabetes. Butmostly they were done onsmall number of patients.

This is for the first timethat the premier healthresearch agency such as ICMRhas been involved to look intothe impact of Yoga, which is oneof the many Indian AlternateTraditional medicine system ofIndia, on the diabetes which israpidly spreading its wings acrossthe country.

Yoga got a major boost at theworld level due to concentratedefforts from Prime MinisterNarendra Modi under whoseendevaour last year UN agreed tohold June 21 as World Yoga Day.

Since then, various schemesand activities have been under-taken to push the Yoga which isseen as useful system for thetreatment of certain diseases andpreservation of health in normal

individuals. BK Sahay, former

Professor of Medicine,Osmania MedicalCollege, Hyderabadand Chief Investigator,Diabetes and YogaProject, Vemana YogaResearch Institute,Hyderabad in a reviewarticle in a journaltalked about the usefulrole of yoga in the con-trol of diabetes melli-

tus. He said their study hasshown that due to yoga fastingand postprandial blood glucoselevels came down significantly.

“Good glycaemic status canbe maintained for long periods of

time. There was a lowering ofdrug requirement and the inci-dence of acute complicationslike infection and ketosis was sig-nificantly reduced. There weresignificant changes in the insulinkinetics and those of counter-reg-ulatory hormones like cortisol.”

“There was a fall in free fattyacids suggesting a better insulinsensitivity and decrease in insulinresistant, with a probable protec-tive effect on beta cell function.There is a beneficial effect on theco-morbid conditions like hyper-tension and dyslipidemia. Yogicpractices are useful in all agegroups and can be performed in allseasons and are useful for peoplewho travel frequently,” he added.

�� 1+6�4+�70

India is all ready with itsaction plan to replace the

present polio vaccine by astronger version in its routineimmunisation programme.The move is as per globalpolio end-game strategy adopt-ed by the World HealthOrganisation (WHO).

At present, Trivalent OralPolio Vaccine (tOPV), which isbeing used in routine immu-nisations and polio campaigns,contains all three types ofPolioviruses — type 1, 2 and 3.Since the polio type 2 has beeneradicated from the world,bivalent oral polio vaccine(bOPV) will totally replacetOPV throughout the world.

Switch to bivalent is neces-sary keeping in view low immu-nisation coverage (just 71 percent kids are covered under theprogramme due to various rea-sons), live vaccine virus used inOral polio vaccines (OPV) canmultiply for long and undergomutations to gain neuro-viru-lence. This can cause paralysis

and circulate in the communi-ty to cause outbreaks.

As per the WHO strategy,polio type 3 virus would beremoved from the vaccine tooas next step because not a sin-gle case of this virus had beenreported from anywhere in theworld during the past two years.

At the third dose of bOPV,the kids will also be adminis-tered an injection with inacti-vated polio vaccine (IPV), adead virus, which has already

been introduced in the coun-try’s national immunisationprogramme.

By 2020 all OPVs will becompletely stopped and onlyInactivated Polio Vaccine,which is a dead virus, will beused all over the world.

As per the Government’saction plan, by April 25, all vac-cines having tOPV will bedestroyed. Type 2 virus will alsobe destroyed in all laboratories( except Pune Virology Institute

) to eliminate the chances of itsspread again, said a senior offi-cial from the Drug ControllerGeneral of India (DCGI).

The DCGI is already intalks with the vaccine manu-facturers and drug controllersat Zonal and District level toensure availability of bOPV twoweeks prior to switch.

“It must be ensured thatsecondary packaging of bOPVis not opened before switchdate,” the drug controller hasmade it clear.

The DCGI will also cancelall licenses for manufacturing aswell as import of tOPV for usefrom 25 April 2016 onwards.

It was in 2011, the lastpolio case was reported inIndia. India attained polio-free status on 27 March 2014,but threat looms large due tovaccine-derived polio and alsofrom two of its neighbors (Pakistan and Afghanistan)which remain polio-endemic.

“Post Wild Polio Virus(WPV) eradication, Vaccineassociated paralytic polio(VAPP) and Vaccine-derived

polio virus (VDPV) are the lastformidable opponents in India’swar against Polio.

“The Global strategy mustbe customised in line with ourlocal considerations.Administration of additionalearly dose of IPV at 6 weeks ofage (other than the mandato-ry dose at or after 14 weeks ofage) will ensure an early,stronger and more widespreadprotection against the risks ofVAPP and VDPV,” said pedia-tricians Manoj Grover fromNiti Aayog and NidhiBhatnagar from Army Collegeof Medical Sciences, New Delhiin a journal Indian Pediatrics.

Moreover, launch of massIPV campaigns in states withpoor routine immunizationcoverage before the tOPV-bOPV switch will help pre-empt any emergence of VDPVin susceptible populations. Theadditional costs of an extra IPVdose in the UIP and masscampaigns may be justified asit is an ethical obligation on usto eliminate the iatrogenic riskof VDPV, they noted.

�� 1+6�4+�70

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Sundayassured full security to NIT students in Srinagar,

saying they should not worry about their safety inthe wake of clashes between two groups after theIndia-West Indies cricket match on Thursday.

Singh called up Jammu & Kashmir GovernorNN Vohra and Director General of Police (DGP)K Rajendra Kumar and asked them to ensure prop-er security to the students.

“I assure the students that they should not worryabout their security. I have spoken to the Governorand the DGP regarding the situation. I haveinstructed the DGP to send a team of officers to NIT,Srinagar to assure the students of their safety andsecurity,” he tweeted. Later Home Minister spoke tomedia in Lucknow about the directions given by himto the J&K administration.

The Home Minister’s statement came after clash-es occurred at NIT, Srinagar following team India’sdefeat against West Indies in the World Cup T20semi-final. Two group of students, one fromKashmir and another from other states, fought aftersome students burst crackers after India’s defeat, lead-ing the shut down of the institute. Students from out-side Kashmir alleged about the partisan attitude fromthe J&K Police.

�� 1+6�4+�70

Contrary to the news in for-eign media that the Indian

priest abducted by gunmen inYemen last month was killed,External Affairs MinisterSushma Swaraj, reportedly, tolda Catholic group that FatherTom Uzhunnalil is safe and theIndian Government is trying toensure his release soon.

Father Uzhunnalil was cap-tured from Aden in Yemen bygunmen, believed to be fromISIS, when they attacked a oldage home run by Missionariesof Charity. They had killed 15people, including one Indiannun and taken away FatherUzhunnalil in a car.

However, some newsreports by foreign mediaclaimed that Father Uzhunnalilwas possibly killed by ISIS onGood Friday, though the IndianGovernment doubted suchclaims. While the foreign mediahad quoted Archbishop ofVienna, who during the EasterVigil Mass made the announce-ment, Indian officials said therewas no proof that the Indianpriest was dead or was in ISIScustody. Officials said Indiawas trying to locate him and

secure his release at the earliest.On Sunday, the Catholic

Bishops’ Conference of India(CBCI) said their delegationthat met Swaraj was assured byher that the Government wasworking to secure the priest’ssafe return. “She has assured usFather Tom is safe and negoti-ations are on for his releasewhich could happen very soon,”said Father Joseph Chinnaiyan,deputy secretary of the CBCI.

Meanwhile, four Indiansdetained by Syria have beenreleased. These four men werearrested in Damascus inJanuary when they were

allegedly on their way to joinISIS. The Syrian Deputy PrimeMinister during his recent visitto New Delhi had informedabout the detention to Swaraj.

“We have secured the releaseof four Indian nationals fromSyria,” Swaraj said in a tweet. “Ihad requested (the) Deputy PMof Syria for their release duringhis visit to India in January thisyear. Thank you Syria…Welcome home Arun KumarSaini, Sarvjit Singh, KuldeepSingh and Joga Singh. I appre-ciate the officers who facilitatedtheir journey from Syria toIndia,” said in another tweet.

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The infamous solar scam onSunday returned to haunt

Kerala’s beleaguered ChiefMinister Oommen Chandyahead of the crucial May 16Assembly election with a letterwritten by con woman SarithaS Nair, main accused in thescam, accusing him of abusingher sexually at his official res-idence, the Cliff House inThiruvananthapuram, appear-ing in a TV channel.

The letter, said to havebeen written by Saritha onJuly 19, 2013 when she was inpolice custody in Perumbavoorafter her arrest in the solarscam, also said that a formerUnion Minister had raped herat the house of a State Ministerand the personal assistant of akey Minister in the ChandyCabinet had tried to “gift” herto several former CentralMinisters.

“Baseless allegation,” washow Chandy reacted to thecharge as television channelscontinued airing reports quot-ing the letter allegedly writtenby Saritha, on Sunday. “Clearly,there is a conspiracy connect-ed to the election behind this.This will be probed and thetruth found out. I view this aspart of a bid to topple myGovernment,” the ChiefMinister said in Kottayam.

“I myself had written theletter,” Saritha told the TVchannel which had broughther letter to the publicdomain. “The handwriting init is mine and I own up what-ever is said in that. Every wordmentioned in it is true. I don’tdeny anything. However, I

don’t want to offer furtherexplanations on matters men-tioned in it,” she said.

Ironically, the explosive‘disclosures’ came out on anevening when Chandy was rel-ishing the joy of scoring ahuge political victory over hisfoes within the Congress afterthe party high commandreportedly bowed to the pres-sures he exerted on it to let thetainted members in his Cabinetand his loyalists fight the elec-tion as party candidates.

Describing how close shewas to Chandy, his family andthe Cliff House, Saritha says inher letter that she did notexpect such kind of an immoralapproach from a man - theChief Minister - whom she hadconsidered as a father figure.She also said that she had beenan associate in several landdeals carried out by Chandyand relatives through Benamis.

Interestingly, the chargeleveled in the letter againstChandy is in agreement withthe allegation leveled earlier bySaritha’s former live-in partnerand solar scam co-accused BijuRadhakrishnan before the judi-cial commission probing thescam that the Chief Ministerhad sexual relationship with thecon woman.

Saritha herself had reject-ed Biju’s allegation then. Bijuhad then claimed that he hadevidences to substantiate hischarge but the dramatic effortsto seize these from Coimbatorehad ended in a fiasco. However,Saritha had later accusedChandy of taking Rs 1.90 croreas bribe from her promising tohelp her in her solar powerbusiness.

�� 9$6"7"�0

The ruling Congress, theBJP led three-party alliance

and the All India UnitedDemocratic Front (AIUDF)are all set to engage in the bat-tle of ballots for the first phaseof polls for 65 of the total 126legislative Assembly con-stituencies tomorrow.

There are a total of 539candidates including 43 womenare in the electoral fray thistime and a total of 95,11,732voters are expected to casttheir votes in 12,190 pollingstations set up across the 65constituencies.

Security has been intensi-fied across the 65 constituen-cies which are going to pollstomorrow even as the electionmachinery is using 535 com-panies of security forces includ-ing Central Armed PoliceForces to ensure security andsmooth conduction of thepolls.

The State’s internationalborders have been put understrict vigil so that anti-socialsfrom other side of the bordercould not sneak over to disruptthe poll process across theState.

The election to the firstphase of polls will assumes sig-nificance, particularly for theBJP as the saffron party hasbeen eyeing to capture moreconstituencies located in Upper

Assam, north bank of theBrahmaputra river and inBarak Valley. The 65 con-stituencies going to pollstomorrow are located mostly inUpper Assam, Barak Valleyand in north bank ofBrahmaputra river.

Most of the remaining 61constituencies, which are goingto polls in the second phase onApril 11, are currently beingheld mainly by the rulingCongress, the AIUDF andsome smaller parties likeBodoland Peoples Front (BPF)and some others.

While the Congress isfighting the polls with UnitedPeoples Party (UPP), the BJP,the Asom Gana Parishad(AGP) and the BodolandPeoples’ Front (BPF) is going tothe polls together.

Assam’s Chief ElectoralOfficer Vijayendra said that allthe necessary steps have beentaken by the election machin-ery to ensure smooth pollingacross the 65 constituencies.

“We are hopeful thatAssam the 65 constituenciesgoing to polls tomorrow willregister peaceful and goodpolling percentage. The pollingparties including presiding offi-cers, polling staffs and securi-ty personnel have alreadymoved to their respectivepolling stations,” he said.

“Polling will start at 7 amtomorrow and will continue till

5 pm. However, those per-sons, who stands in the queuein front of the polling stationstill 5 pm must be allowed tovote,” Vijayendra said.

He said that a total of 535companies of security forcesincluding 433 companies ofCentral Armed Police Force(CAPF) and 102 companies ofState Armed Police Force(SAPF) has been deployed asper the necessity across thepolling stations.

The election machinery isusing 2370 heavy vehicles, 3913medium vehicles, 7343 lightvehicles, 144 boats and 35 bull-cok carts for convenience of thepolling personnel and carryingof EVMs to respective pollingstations.

It may be mentioned herethat the election machinerywhich has been strictly imple-menting the model code ofconduct (MCC) across theState has so far seized over Rs.9 crore illegal money, close to8 lakh liters of illicit liquors andover 5 lakh kgs of drugs meantto be distributed among thevoters. Apart from this theIncome Tax department hadalso seized over Rs. 2 crores ofillegal money since imposi-tion of the MCC.

“Similarly, the 166 illegalarms and 538 round of illegalammunition have also beenseized from different areas ofthe State so far,” the CEO said.

�� 9"14701"9"5

Suspended Gujarat cadre IASofficer Pradeep Sharma had

one more setback in muchtalked land related case as theGujarat High Court issuednotice to his wife ShyamalSharma to appear before it on15 June 2016.

Shyamal has been namedco-accused in a case wherein herhusband and former bureaucratPradeep Sharma was alleged tohave sold Government land toWelspun Group in an arbitrarymanner at a cheaper rate whenhe was the collector of Kutch dis-trict in 2003-04. This, as per thecase, caused a loss of �1.2 croreto the State exchequer at thatpoint of time.

According to the details ofthe case, Welspun on getting therequisite land made Shyamal,

who lives in US, a 30 per centpartner in one of its subsidiariesand extended benefits of �29.5lakh to her. The EnforcementDirectorate (ED) had invokedPrevention of MoneyLaundering Act (PMLA) in thematter in 2012. The ED allegedthat the money was initiallydeposited in Shyamal’s overseasbank account and later trans-ferred to her husband’s accountin India, violating PMLA.

Gujarat ACB had arrestedPradeep Sharma in 2009 this casebut he later received bail. ACBhad filed a petition in the Bhujcourt seeking issuance of a sum-mons to Shyamal in connectionwith the investigation of the case.But as the district court rejectedits plea, ACB moved to HighCourt. The notice is now expect-ed to be served to her in US viaUnion Home ministry.

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The sweetly garnished mudhutments and spotless inte-

riors of an adivasi householdmay often mislead you aboutthe State of its kitchen. This lit-tle Sabar village of Banspahariis one example.

Mamata Banerjee had start-ed her Jangalmahal campaignabout two decades ago fromthis village telling the wholeworld about the horrific con-ditions of the Sabars who sur-vive on the eggs of red ants. Itwas scorching Left regime then.

Many years later she cameto power in 2011. But the livesof Suku Sabar, his relatives,Madhu, Bangshi or for thatmatter a slightly ‘richer’

Fulmoni Sabar (a part timelabourer) has not changed onebit. The reason you ask and patcomes the reply.

“Kings come and go butthere is no respite for us. Thereis no one for the garib manush,”says Fulmoni who apart frombeing a little ‘rich’ is courageousalso. “Their mouths have beenmuted in the past several years.You do not have work, water,food, nothing. But when TVbabus (reporters) come you arerequired to paint a rosy pictureor else you are gone.”

Incidentally the ChiefMinister had repeatedly told inher Jangalmahal meetings thatshe was through with 90 per-cent work that she made.

And who intimidates? Theone answer is common. It is the

TMC. “They were in People’sCommittee when the Maoistscame. Then they joined theTrinamool and now they rulethe roost minting moneythrough labour contracts inhighway construction,” says aretired teacher near Belpahari.

“There is either no avail-ability of the 100-days’ workand even if we get some thereis no payment for them formonths. All the money is takenby the TMC,” says a young manfrom Belpahari refusing todeliver his name. So why don’tthey vote against the rulers?

“We do not get a chance tovote,” is the simple answer. Wecould not vote after 2004. Theonly time we voted after thatwas in 2011. But that was the lasttime. We could not vote in 2013

(panchayat polls) or 2014 elec-tions,” says Bura Soren a local.

At Lalgarh which was thehot bed of “revolution” and“counter-revolution” by theMaoists and then CPI(M)things are better though. Rulednow by the Trinamool workersaround no local would com-plain of any hardship.

“The situation is better asthere is no violence. A bridgehas been constructed across theKangsabati shortening the dis-tance between Lalgarh andJhargram. Then the roadbetween Lalgarh and Netai hasbeen constructed” says RabiMahato adding “the mostimportant thing is that we aregetting Rs 2-a-kg rice and cycleto travel distance.”

Another person at Amliya

village, “the most importantthing is that violence is gone andpeace has returned” only to bestopped by Shantanu Soren aschool teacher: “But this peacehas returned after most so-called Maoists returned to theiroriginal party TrinamoolCongress. We lived throughthose tumultuous years seeinghow TMC men tied up with theMaoists through various com-mittees, identified the Left lead-ers’ houses and got them killedin the dead of night. Now thosemen are panchayat membersand are earning in millions.”

A little bit of proddingbrings some more peoplearound. “True we have seensome development as schoolsand colleges have come up. Butthere is no staff, no jobs.

There is water line but not adrop in it. How can we live onalms of Rs 2-a-kg rice and afree cycle?” he asks a pertinentquestion.

At Netai - where CPI(M)’sharmads gunned down 9 vil-lagers mistaking them forMaoists - the locals are morevocal. “You do not have water.Though there is no water. Thepower lines are there but volt-age is very low so that you can-not see anything” saysNasimuddin a local.

Will they go to vote thistime round or sit back like theydid in 2014? “Let us see howthe Central forces act. Till nowwe have not seen them in theinterior areas. They are only sit-ting in police stations ormarching on main roads.”

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With a lot of heat and dustgenerated after the

Saradha, Narada and fly-overcollapse, the month-longBengal Assembly polls finallykick-start on Monday whenelections will be held for 18seats across three districts ofJangalmahal on the first day ofthe first phase.

About 40 lakh voters willexercise their franchise to electfrom a total 113 candidatesmostly from the TMC, LeftFront, Congress and the BJP.There are 4203 polling stationsand 4945 booths. With 13 seatsfalling under Left WingExtremism area, 1962 boothshave been marked as highlysensitive. Polling will end in theLWE areas at 4 pm, two hoursbefore the normal timing.

The second part of thefirst phase will be held onApril 11. Subsequent days ofpolling are, April 17, 21, 25, 30and May 5.

Each polling station will bemanned by one section or 8central forces jawans. A Statepolice constable will stand out-side the booth overseeing thevoters’ queue, ECI officials said.

Out of 294 Assembly seatsthe Trinamool which was fight-ing as an alliance partner of theCongress won 184 in 2011. TheCongress won 42 while the Leftwon 62 seats. Subsequentlythe BJP won the lone seat ofBasirhat in a by-election.

This time round with cor-ruption and violence becomingthe major issue the Left and theCongress have formed analliance against the TrinamoolCongress.

The nearly three-month-longGovernor’s rule would

come to an end in Jammu &Kashmir on Monday whenPeoples Democratic Party(PDP) president MehboobaMufti would be sworn in as firstwoman Chief Minister of theembattled State. The 56-year-old Mufti was invited by theGovernor NN Vohra to formthe Government on Saturday,a week after PDP and BJP lead-ers met him in Jammu to offerconsent to form the coalitionGovernment.

Mehbooba left for Jammuon Sunday afternoon to takeoath along with her Council ofMinisters. The coalition part-ners have not revealed thenames of Ministers but it isbelieved that a few new faces

would be introduced in thenew Council of Ministers.

Mehbooba and her topparty leaders held a meetingwith BJP’s top brass led byNirmal Singh late on Sundaynight at Circuit House to finalisethe list of Ministers, sources said.

The Governor’s rule wasimposed in J&K on January 8,a day after then Chief MinisterMufti Muhammad Sayeed’sdemise. Mehbooba refused tostep into her father’s shoes, ini-tially due to mourning, andlater citing reservations in con-tinuing alliance with BJP. Shedemanded J&K-specificConfidence Building Measures(CBMs) from New Delhibefore renewing alliance withthe right wing party. At onepoint, it seemed that thealliance was at the verge of col-lapse but on March 22, a meet-ing between Prime MinisterNarendra Modi and MehboobaMufti in New Delhi changedthe scenario.

Mufti apparently dropped

her demand of CBMs andvowed to remained committedthe Agenda of Alliance formu-lated by her late father with theBJP leadership as a roadmapfor governance in J&K.

Politicians fromOpposition leader OmarAbdullah to people on thestreet in Kashmir say thatMehbooba Mufti would have toexplain as to why she wastedthree months for forming agovernment when none of herdemands was accepted by theCenter.

Mehbooba on Saturdaycalled up Omar Abdullah toinvite him on the oath cere-

mony. Omar appreciated thegesture. “Very gracious ofMehbooba Mufti Sahiba tophone & invite me to her oathtaking ceremony. I look for-ward to being there on the 4th,”Abdullah tweeted shortly afterMehbooba’s call.

Sources said that Ms Muftihas invited 20 top womenincluding four women ChiefMinisters Mamta Banerjee,Jayalalita, Anandi Ben Pateland Vasundra Raja Scindiabesides ace tennis player SaniaMirza.

Even as Congress presidentSonia Gandhi, JKPCC ChiefGulam Ahmad Mir and statelegislators of the party wereinvited for the ceremony, theparty announced in theevening that it would boycottthe oath ceremony in protestagainst “undemocratic” ways ofdestabilising Congress govern-ments in some states.

“BJP and its CentralGovernment led by PrimeMinister Narendra Modi has

used undemocratic ways todestabilize democraticallyelected Congress Governmentsin Arunachal Pradesh andUttarakhand,” a BJP spokesmansaid.

“PDP and BJP formed anunholy alliance in the Stateeven though the two partiescontested Assembly electionsagainst each other by project-ing different ideologies andmanifestos, but later enteredinto an alliance,” thespokesman said.

Meanwhile, sources saidthat while PDP is likely to dropAltaf Bukhari this time, the axefrom the BJP side has fallen onthe only Muslim face of the BJPAbdul Gani Kohli. FormerState BJP president AshokKhajuria is likely to be taken in.

Meanwhile, the televisionchannels will not be allowed totelecast the oath ceremony liveeven as BJP general secretaryRam Madhav had told them tocall Out Broadcasting Vans toJammu.

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Late television actressPratyusha Banerjee’s

boyfriend Rahul Raj Singh wason Sunday hospitalised after hecomplained of chest pain andlow blood pressure while hewas being questioned for thesecond consecutive day in con-nection with the actress’ allegedsuicide.

Rahul, whose role in thecircumstances that led toPratyusha’s alleged suicide isbeing investigated, complainedof uneasiness, chest pain andlow pressure while he wasbeing questioned in connectionwith his ex-girl friend’s death.He was immediately taken tothe Shree Sai Hospital, wherehe was admitted in theIntensive Care Unit (ICU).

Two days after the “BalikaVadhu” television serial fameallegedly committed suicideby hanging herself to a ceilingfan, the investigators searchedthe actress’ flat in Harmony res-idency building at Goregaon innorth Mumbai for clues lead-ing to Pratyusha taking theextreme step of ending her life.

Informed police sourcessaid that the investigators hadfound two mobile phones fromPratyusha’s flat. The policehave ruled out any financialangle to the circumstancesleading to the actress’ suicide.

Rahul, whom the investi-gators see as a logical suspectin the case, has come under the

intense scanner of the police forhis failed love relationship withPratyusha. Going by theaccounts provided by herfriends and those who hadknown her, Pratyusha wasreportedly upset with Rahul fornot honouring her intense lovefor him.

The investigators, whohave been mobile data of bothPratyusha and her boyfriend,have been questioning Rahulabout the nature of his relationswith the actress and the kind ofinteractions they were havingfor the past one week before heralleged suicide.

The investigators are tryingto ascertain if there was any dis-cord between the couple. Theyhave so far not found any evi-dence to suggest that Rahulabetted Pratyusha’s alleged sui-cide.

The post-mortem, con-ducted on Pratyusha’s body, hasnot revealed any foul play,Denying that there were anyinjury marks on any part ofPratyusha’s body, the policehad on Saturday attributedPratyusha’s death to asphyxia,caused because of hanging orstrangulation.

“Provisional cause of deathis ligature marks over neck andasphyxia. Final cause of deathis pending and would beknown after chemical analyser’sreport. Statements of parentsand relatives are being record-ed,” Zonal deputy commis-sioner of police Vikram

Deshmane had said onSaturday.

Meanwhile, most of televi-sion industry friends ofPratyusha have blamed Rahulfor her death. Interacting withelectronic media on Saturday,actor Ajaz Khan had gone tothe extent of claiming thatPratyusha’s death was a pre-meditated murder, while TVproducer Vikas Gupta had saidthat her relationship with Rahulhad soured.

However, Rahul’s fatherHarshavardhan Singh told thepolice that the relationsbetween his son andPratyusha were good and thathis son had sought his per-mission two months ago to getmarried.

Pratyusha’s last status mes-sage on her Whatsapp thatread: “Marke bhi muh na tuzsemodana” (even after deathwon’t be turning my face awayfrom you) with a smiley, gavean inkling to her depressedstate of mind at the time of theincident.

Meanwhile, Bollywoodactor Arbaaz Khan said thatPratyusha Banerjee and Rahullooked very much in love dur-ing the show “Power Couple”.

After he complained of chest pain,hypotension while being grilled bycops about relations with actress

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JJayalalithaa, the AIADMKleader, on Sunday blasted

the BJP for its allegations thatshe remained inaccessible tothe Union Ministers for dis-cussing the development issuesof Tamil Nadu. An article inSunday’s Namathu MGR, theAIADMK mouthpiece, whichcould not have been publishedwithout the approval ofJayalalithaa, said the BJP wasupset and frustrated because ofits failure to cobble up analliance in poll-bound TamilNadu. Though all major polit-ical parties have forgedalliances and fronts, BJP is theonly party in Tamil Naduwhich remains without anyfriends or allies.

But the article in NamathuMGR has ridiculed the new-found aggressiveness of the BJP

which it says was in stark con-trast to the stance of PrimeMinister Narendra Modi. “ThePrime Minister while launchingthe BJP’s election campaign atCoimbatore on February 2 didnot make any critical commentseither about Jayalalithaa or theAIADMK”, said the article.

The war of words betweenthe BJP and Jayalalithaa beganrecently with Union Ministerfor power Piyush Goyal’s state-ment in New Delhi that hecould not meet Chief MinisterJayalalithaa even once for dis-cussing about the Ujjwal

Disscom Assurance Yojana, aflagship programme of theCentre to help the power dis-tribution companies in thecountry which were in the red.

While Jayalalithaa deputedtwo of her Cabinet colleaguesto rebut the charges of Goyal,other BJP leaders and UnionMinisters took off from whereGoyal left. Prakash Javadekar,Union Minister for environ-ment and forests who is also incharge of BJP’s Tamil Naduunit, alleged that the AIADMKGovernment was not interest-ed in helping the poor and the

common man. He also chargedthat the Tamil NaduGovernment was foisting sedi-tion charges on those demand-ing total prohibition in theState. Pon Radhakrishnan, thelone BJP Minister from TamilNadu in the Union Cabinet toochipped in with his criticismagainst Jayalalithaa, a leaderwhom he fear most.Radhakrishnan’s charge wasabout the deployment ofmoney and muscle power bythe AIADMK.

“Radhakrishnan andVenkiah Naidu had lauded theAIADMK Government till yes-terday for redeeming TamilNadu from power crisis creat-ed by the previous DMKGovernment. Their change instance is nothing but a sign offrustration. Nobody in TamilNadu has bothered to respondto BJP’s invitation,” ridiculedthe article.

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Prime Minister NarendraModi on Sunday gifted

Saudi King Salman binAbdulaziz a gold-plated repli-ca of Kerala’s Cheraman JumaMasjid, believed to be the firstmosque built in India by Arabtraders around 629 AD.

“PM @narendramodi giftedHis Majesty King Salman binAbdulaziz Al Saud a gold-plat-ed replica of the CheramanJuma Masjid in Kerala,” thePrime Minister’s Office tweeted.

The mosque in Karala’sThrissur district is believed tobe the first mosque built inIndia by Arab traders around629 AD. “Cheraman JumaMasjid is symbolic of activetrade relations between Indiaand Saudi Arabia since ancienttimes,” it said.

According to oral tradition,Cheraman Perumal was theChera King and a contemporaryof the Holy Prophet who wentto Arabia and embraced Islamafter meeting the Holy Prophetat Mecca, the PMO said.

Before he died in Omandue to some illness on the wayback to India, he wrote lettersasking the local rulers, towhom he had handed over hisempire, to extend all help they

could to Arab merchants whowere planning to visit India.

The mosque has an ancientoil lamp that is always keptburning and believed to be overa thousand years old. Peoplefrom all religions bring oil forthe lamp as an offering.

Many believe that themosque is a testimony toIslam’s arrival to India long

before the Mughals came infrom the northwest. Modi,who is on a two-day visit toSaudi Arabia, was todayreceived at the Royal Court byKing Salman. He is the fourthIndian Prime Minister to visitSaudi Arabia after ManmohanSingh in 2010, Indira Gandhiin 1982 and Jawaharlal Nehruin 1956.

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Prime Minister NarendraModi on Sunday described

an all-women IT centre set upby India’s Tata ConsultancyServices (TCS) here as the“glory of Saudi Arabia”.

“I am meeting those pro-fessionals who are now theglory of Saudi Arabia,” saidModi in the first engagement ofthe second and last day of hisbilateral visit to Saudi Arabia.“This atmosphere I am wit-nessing here today has thepotential to give a strong mes-

sage to the world.” Modi said that in today’s

competitive world “we have tounite our strengths, both nat-ural and human, for optimumprogress”. He said that whenwomen power becomes part ofthe development journey, itgathers fresh momentum.

The Prime Minister saidthat the atmosphere he wit-nessed at the all-women’s centreon Sunday appeared to be a har-binger of a positive force for theworld. He invited the women ITprofessionals to visit India, andsaid their visit would make a

huge impact even in India.Modi emphasised the role

of technology in governance,and said e-governance, forhim, meant easy governance,effective governance, and eco-nomic governance. He invitedthem to see the “NarendraModi App” and even sharetheir views on women empow-erment in India.

“Vande Mataram. MatriDevo Bhavah (Salutations toMother. Mother be the god)”wrote the prime minister on the message board at thecentre.

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Terming terrorism as theenemy of humanity, Prime

Minister Narendra Modi todaysaid there was a need to “delink”religion from it and assertedthat “segmented and partial”approaches to counter the men-ace will not be effective.

Pressing for united globalefforts to deal with the scourge,Modi said there can be no dis-tinction between “good” or “bad”terrorism and that it has “nocaste, colour, creed or religion”.

Appreciating SaudiArabia’s leadership role in fight-ing terrorism in the MiddleEast, Modi said India was com-mitted to working with Riyadhas well as with its partners inthe region to ensure that theworld is a better and saferplace to live in.

The Prime Minister saidIndia has sought to challengeand repudiate the terror nar-rative that global counter-ter-rorism efforts are directedagainst any particular religionor ethnic group.

“In this context, we deeplyappreciate the leadership rolebeing played by Saudi Arabia inthe region to fight this menace,”he told leading daily ArabNews in an interview duringhis two-day visit to the

Kingdom.Saudi Arabia, a country

known as the spiritual home ofIslam, recently formed a majorcoalition of 34 Muslim nationsto fight terror, particularly theISIS. Saudi Arabia and Indiahave a counter-terror mecha-nism as well.

“To defeat terrorism, allthose who believe in humani-ty have to be united. We needto delink religion from terror-ism. Terrorism should be dealtin a comprehensive manner.Segmented and partialapproaches have historicallyproven to be at best subopti-mal,” Modi said.

“There can be no distinc-tion between ‘good’ or ‘bad’ ter-rorism,” he said in a veiled ref-erence to Pakistan, a close allyof Saudi Arabia. Modi said bothIndia and Saudi Arabia recog-nise that no cause can justify anact of terror.

He noted that India andSaudi Arabia have cometogether to cooperate in erad-icating the scourge of terrorism.Hailing the role of King Salmanbin Abdulaziz in nurturing theIndo-Saudi partnership, Modisaid building further on thestrategic partnership with thepowerful nation was one of theforeign policy priorities of hisGovernment.

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Indian Prime MinisterNarendra Modi has said

strengthening the strategicpartnership with Saudi Arabiawas a priority of India.“Building further on this strate-gic partnership with SaudiArabia is one of the foreign pol-icy priorities of our govern-ment,” Arab News quotedModi as saying in an interviewon Saturday.

Modi’s visit to Saudi Arabiais a part of his three nationstour which also includeBrussels and Washington.Modi, who is on a two-day visitto Saudi Arabia, has describedCustodian of the Two HolyMosques King Salman binAbdulaziz Al Saud as a vision-ary leader.

“King Salman has led SaudiArabia with great maturity andforesightedness during one ofthe most challenging times,”Modi said.

King Salman has takenpersonal interest in building theIndo-Saudi relationship andfurther strengthening bilateralcooperation and engagementsin diverse fields, he said.Replying to a question, Modi

termed terrorism as the enemyof the entire humanity. “BothIndia and Saudi Arabia havebeen victims of the acts of ter-ror resulting in the loss ofinnocent lives. The recent cow-ardly acts of terror in Lahore,Brussels, Paris, Iraq and thecontinuing violence inAfghanistan have shown thatterrorists recognise no bound-aries.”

“They have no caste,colour, creed or religion. Weneed to delink religion fromterrorism.” Modi acknowledgedand appreciated Saudi Arabia’srole in eradicating the scourgeof terrorism. “We deeply appre-ciate the leadership role beingplayed by Saudi Arabia in theregion to fight this menace,” hesaid.

Modi thanked the Saudileadership for hosting a largeIndian community and forensuring their continued wel-fare and wellbeing.

“I have heard immensepraise of our community fortheir educational and technicalachievement; for their integri-ty and sense of discipline; andfor their honesty and devotionto work. Such praise fills mewith great pride,” he said.

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Saudi King Salman binAbdulaziz on Sunday

briefed Prime MinisterNarendra Modi on his initiativein bringing together 34 coun-tries to form a powerful Islamicmilitary coalition to combatterrorism, as the two leadersagreed to strengthen coopera-tion in fighting the menace.

Modi, who is here on atwo-day official visit to theKingdom, and Salman heldwide-ranging talks and agreedto strengthen cooperation incombating terrorism, both at

the bilateral level and within themultilateral system of the UN.

King Salman briefed Modion the Kingdom’s “initiative inbringing together IslamicAlliance against terrorism,”said a joint statement issuedafter their talks.

“The Prime Minister laud-ed Kingdom’s efforts at fightingterrorism in all its aspects andits active participation in inter-national efforts towards thisend,” the statement said.

It said the two leaderscalled upon the internationalcommunity to strengthen mul-tilateral regimes to effectively

address the challenges posed byterrorism.

The two sides also agreedto work together towards theadoption of India’s proposedComprehensive Conventionon International Terrorism inthe United Nations, it added.

In December, Saudi hadannounced the formation of the34-state Islamic military coali-tion to combat terrorism. Thecoalition includes nations withlarge and established armiessuch as Pakistan, Turkey andEgypt as well as war-torn coun-tries with embattled militariessuch as Libya and Yemen.

Other members are SaudiArabia’s five partners in the GulfCooperation Council, as well asJordan, Nigeria, Egypt, Chad,Mali, Malaysia, Morocco,Senegal, Somalia and Tunisia.

Saudi Arabia’s regionalrival, Iran, is not part of thecoalition. Iraq and Syria whoseforces are battling the IslamicState terror group are also notin the coalition.

According to Saudi offi-cials, the members of the new“anti-terrorism” coalitionwould share intelligence, com-bat violent ideology and deploytroops if necessary.

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Prime Minister NarendraModi on Sunday invited oil-

rich Saudi Arabia’s top businesstycoons to invest in India’s keysectors like Defence, insur-ance, Railway and oil as he pro-jected his country as an attrac-tive investment destinationeven in the face of a global eco-nomic slowdown.

Saudi Arabia is planning toset up world’s largest sovereignwealth fund of over $2 trillionand India was eyeing a majorinvestment from the countrywhich is India’s fourth largesttrading partner.

Listing policy initiativestaken by his Government toboost economic growth, Modisaid his Government was look-ing for major investment inDefence production, Railwaysand deep sea off-shore oilexploration in coal gasificationto produce clean energy.

The Prime Minister madethe pitch while interacting witha group of 30 top Saudi CEOsand Indian business leaders atthe Council of Saudi Chambersof Commerce here.

The Saudi business hon-chos, who attended the inter-action, collectively account fora major share of the SaudiGDP. Talking about hisGovernment’s initiative in “hightemperature deep sea off shoreexploration”, Modi invited Saudiinvestment in the sector whichhas been opened up for FDIfrom this month.

He said “most transparent”policy framework has been putin place and that market drivenrevenue sharing model will beadopted for such project. ThePrime Minister said India plansto build a staggering 50 millionlow cost housing, a mega pro-ject requiring huge investment

which will create massive eco-nomic opportunities besidescreating jobs.

“I want to give house toevery poor Indian. I think everyyear a new Saudi Arabia has tobe built in my country. That isa huge requirement,” he said.

Modi said railways andfood processing sectors havebeen opened up for 100 percent Foreign Direct Investmentand that there is huge invest-ment opportunity in buildingcold storage network as well asin manufacture of equipmentfor generation of solar power.

Pitching for Saudi invest-ment in the defence sector,Modi said India’s biggestimport bill after petroleumproducts is defence equipment

and asserted that the govern-ment now is focusing onindigenous production. “Weare importing everything. Whynot we develop defence equip-ment in India. Your investmentcan play a major role in this,”he said.

Talking about cyberthreats, the Prime Ministersaid major investments will berequired to ensure cyber secu-rity and Saudi Arabia can investsignificantly in the sector. ThePrime Minister also faced rangeof questions at the interactionrelating to retrospective tax,proposed Goods and ServicesTax, non-performing assets ofIndian banks and whetherIndia will allow Islamic bank-ing.

Referring to specific sec-tors, Modi said India plans togo for coal gasification in orderto be able to produce cleanenergy and invited Saudi com-panies to invest in the sector. “Ithink your companies can doa great deal in this regard.”

Seeking investment in rail-ways, he said, “Today, India’srailway is world’s secondlongest network and I wish todouble that. I wish to upgradeit. We have 50 cities in thecountry where we wish tobuild metro network.” He saidthe insurance sector has beenopened up and that there ishuge scope in it. The PrimeMinister also invited Saudiinvestment in agriculture andmedical tourism sectors.

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Kathmandu: Nepal’s pro-Hindu party, part of the rulingcoalition, on Sunday said it willtable an amendment motion inthe Parliament to reinstateNepal as a Hindu nation, warn-ing of massive street protests ifthe demand is not met.

Rastriya Prajatantra Party-Nepal (RPP-N), the fourthlargest party in the Parliament,took the decision during thecentral committee meeting ofthe party chaired by RPP-N

chairman and Deputy PrimeMinister Kamal Thapa thatconcluded in Birgunj in south-ern Nepal today.

Party sources said RPP-Ndecided to move a motionagainst the provision of secu-lar State in the Constitutionand seek returning to a Hindunation.

The party has been cam-paigning for reinstatement of aHindu State since the countrywas converted into a secular

nation through Parliament dec-laration in 2008, when monar-chy was abolished from thecountry following the successof the People’s Movement.

“The party has also decid-ed to launch street agitation forthe same purpose, if the con-stitution amendment processcould not reconvert the coun-

try into a Hindu State,” the pro-posal endorsed by the party’sCWC meeting said.

Last year, the ConstituentAssembly had overwhelming-ly rejected a proposal by pro-Hindu RPP-N to revert Nepalas a Hindu State, declaring thatthe Hindu-majority nation willremain secular.

Thapa had registered theamendment proposal demand-ing to reinstate Nepal as aHindu State in Article 4 of the

revised bill of the newConstitution.

The rejection had trig-gered violent protests amid analready volatile situation overfederal structure.

Today, the RPP-N alsoasked the Government toresolve the issues relating to theagitation launched by theMadhesis through politicalmeans of holding dialoguewith the agitating parties.

PTI

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Much of the presentgeneration ofactive politicianswas born afterIndia became

independent, following the sacri-fices of many freedom-fighters. Inthose early years, corruption wasa stray creature. When JawaharlalNehru was Prime Minister, evena whiff of corruption was enoughfor anybody, be it a bureaucrat ora politician, to lose his position.After the death of Nehru and hissuccessor Lal Bahadur Shastri, thegovernance of India passed intothe hands of lesser leaders. Suchpeople could not look beyondtheir coterie of sycophants.

This continues to be the situ-ation even today, especially whenit comes to cushy post-retirementjobs, either for politicians orbureaucrats. All that suchappointees have to do is pleasetheir political masters or masters-to-be. They say goodbye gover-nance and focus on pleasing theboss. Since this writer does notcare much for any politician, theonly question he has is this: Do ourpoliticians stand by their convic-tions, or do they prefer to run withthe hare and hunt with thehounds, or do they just toe the lineof their party bosses irrespectivenational interest?

As Antonio says in WilliamShakespeare’s Merchant of Venice,“The devil can cite Scripture for his

purpose. An evil soul producingholy witness Is like a villain witha smiling cheek, A goodly applerotten at the heart. Oh, what agoodly outside falsehood hath!”

A former Union Minister forHome Affairs has said that it ispossible to hold an “honest opin-ion” that the Afzal Guru case was“perhaps not correctly decided”and there were “grave doubtsabout the extent of his involve-ment” in the Parliament attack.Afzal Guru was hanged onFebruary 9, 2013. The formerHome Minister is a lawyer, and ifwhat he says now he also felt at thetime of the trial, then he shouldhave issued written orders to dropthe case.

Justice PV Reddi, who head-ed the two-judge Bench whichupheld Afzal Guru’s conviction,has said, “The judgement speaksfor itself. Those who celebrateAfzal martyrdom day must pickup the judgement and read it thor-oughly before making commentsor criticism. Fair criticism ofSupreme Court judgements is thehallmark of our democratic systemthat zealously guards the right tofree speech. But to term it a judi-cial hanging is crossing the limit.The criticism must be decent andin public interest. If not, then itcould hit at the root of democra-cy, of which Supreme Court is animportant pillar.”

In view of the above observa-

tion of the former judge, it appearsthat India has a great numbers ofenemies, within. Indeed, the rot setin right after Nehru — and nowa former Home Secretary hasspilled the beans on his politicalmaster. The latter has, of course,denied any wrongdoing.

The affidavit in the IshratJahan case was changed by theCentre. The UPA Governmentrevised its position that IshratJahan was a member of a Lashkar-e-Tayyeba squad that was movingaround the country, and said thatthere was no evidence to supportsuch a conclusion.

Many petty functionaries,have criticised the retired UnionHome Secretary and wonderedwhy he did not say the samethings when he was in service.Perhaps, they are not aware thatcriticism of the Government bya serving bureaucrat is against thelaw. Besides, what the retiredHome Secretary has said is notsomething new. I myself defiedthe then Prime Minister in oneto one conversation about theprincipal accused in the fodderscam. I found myself transferred,on my return to India from anInterpol conference.

Many of the so-called VIPshave feet of clay. Loyalty to thecountry is far from their mind.Once I asked a Minister, why hevisits his home State almost everyweekend? He frankly confessed

that it was because he was elect-ed from that State. He said that hisvisits to other parts of the coun-try are few.

What I have said above is large-ly the position of the vast majori-ty of leaders, irrespective of theirparty. While going through someof my old files, I was shocked to dis-cover the number of committeesand panels that have been set up toassist with governance.

The easiest way to pass on thebuck of poor governance is to setup committee or a commission. Iwonder how long my countrymenwill have to suffer corruption? Itis said that that, in England,“Everything which is not forbid-den is allowed”, while, in Germany,“Everything which is not allowedis forbidden”. This may be extend-ed to France where, “Everythingis allowed even if it is forbidden”and Russia where “Everything isforbidden, even that which isexpressly allowed”. In North Korea,it is said that “Everything that isnot forbidden is compulsory”.

In India, even if something isallowed, it is forbidden by therules of multiple Governmentdepartments, which undo thework of each other. The heavenswould not fall, if all the commit-tees, except the ParliamentaryCommittees, and at least half ofthe bureaucratic posts are abol-ished. Let the Government try outthis prescription."

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Sir — This refers to the editorial,“Criminal callousness” (April 2).In view of the upcoming poll inWest Bengal, Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee was quick toannounce compensation to thevictims of the flyover tragedy.Moreover, she also shifted theblame to the previous Left FrontGovernment. This is not some-thing unusual. Politicians (nomatter which party is in power),to gain public sympathy, announcelarge sums of aid to the affected.No amount of compensation canmitigate the grief of the affectedfamilies. The least the MamataGovernment can do is to ensuresevere punishment for the culprits.

Gulab Shanker SinghLucknow

��

Sir — This refers to the editorial“Criminal callousness” (April 2).The editorial has rightly called foraccountability. Collapse of flyovers,bridges, buildings, roads and canalsare common across the country,and precious lives are lost.

Both the Trinamool Congressand IVRCL are responsible for thisincident. They could have been vig-

ilant, especially when the projectwas located in a densely-populat-ed area like Burrabazar.

The fact is that the TMC wasin a rush to complete the project.Moreover, the project failed tomeet several deadlines. Why didWest Bengal Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee not take note ofthe dangerous situation that wasvisible even to a layman? A por-tion of the bridge was seen hang-ing perilously. This was a warningof the impending danger in a high-ly vulnerable spot.

PN SaxenaVia email

��

Sir — This refers to the editorial,“Criminal callousness” (April 2).The crashing of an under-construc-tion flyover in Kolkata is unfortu-nate. What is all the more tragic isthat the narrow stretch of the fly-over has made rescue operations allthe more difficult. On top of it, theHyderabad-based company,IVRCL, has categorised this tragedyas an ‘act of god’ to shy away fromtaking ownership of the accident.

On the other hand, this tragedyhas once again highlighted the factthat disaster management is stillvery poor in our country. After eachtragedy, we talk about improving

disaster management, but we sub-sequently forget about it and brushit under the carpet. The UnionGovernment must now ensurestrict monitoring of constructionsites and safety norms for construc-tion workers on the site.

Bal GovindNoida

��

Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “Purging truth of Netaji”(April 1). The fact is that no seri-ous attempt has been made tounearth the mystery behind thedisappearance of Netaji SubhasChandra Bose. The files declas-sified by the Modi Governmentare hardly relevant as far as hisdisappearance is concerned.

There are some who say thatthe declassification of Netaji fileswill affect India’s relations withother countries. This shows that,indeed something is fishy. TheGovernment must choosebetween the two — internationalrelations or to get enlightened onthe fate of Netaji, who sacrificedhis life for this country.

Kajal ChatterjeeKolkata

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The Union Governmentneeds to pursue policiesthat can ease inflation

and reduce prices to lubricatethe economy. The trap laid byprevious Governments isseemingly tightening.

It is not just the fuel pricethat firm up prices. Though itremains the base, there areother factors like continuousincrease in insurance premia,toll taxes, banking, parking, air-port charges, tuition fee,dynamic railway fare, high taxiand bus fare apart from highcommodity prices, that lead thecountry to a phenomenon ofprice rise.

The flak for this is borne bythe Government as it is blamedfor not controlling the situation.It also has to bear the cost by pay-ing its staff more to sustainunhindered profiteering of theunscrupulous. The Governmenthas taken a view that it will notintervene to facilitate business.

Business in this countrythrives on the poor man’smoney, and loans are easilyavailable through certain ques-tionable bank practices. Morethe inflation, higher thecharges, more the banks gob-ble up public funds; their cof-fers grow and so do theirexploitative practices. All thesame, the private reserveseither remain intact or increase.Who suffers? The commonman and the Government ofthe day.

The Government itself hassealed itself out through a sys-tem of regulators. The latter,whether in insurance, elec-tricity or telecom sectors, attimes act in favour of the per-petrators and are casual inprotecting consumers. Thelogic seems to be that the ‘theconsumer has to pay moreand more to keep businessesprofitable’ — or stated differ-ently, the consumer can be

exploited at all times and if heseeks a relief, it is to be denied,as being ‘unsustainable’.

Should we really have suchregulators or go back to the ear-lier system of people’s(Government) control? It needsto be pondered seriously.Regulators are primarilyresponsible for higher powerbills, higher insurance premiaand most other hikes.

Just go to any city, and par-ents are to be found fightingwith schools who arbitrarilyraise fees, force students to buybooks and stationery, uniformsetc. A failure to do so can costthe students dearly, includingthe school’s refusal to handover their results, cancellationof admission and many otherretributive practices.

Is there a remedy? StateGovernments have expressedtheir inability on many countsto help the parents or the stu-dents. Officials may say this is

not part of the economy. Thisis a grave fallacy.

The high cost of educa-tion is causing severe stressamong the middle-class citi-zens. They have stopped goingto the market for buying any-thing except which is utterlynecessary. Even there, theyhave been reducing neces-sary consumption of essentialitems. This affects the PrimeMinister’s concept of Make inIndia. Such reduction indemand affects production.The nation needs to serious-ly reconsider whether the costof education should be low ornot. The institutions at all lev-els have devised methods topay less to the teachers — theyare even asked to refund apart of their salary credited totheir bank accounts — andincrease management profits.

The insurance companiesand the insurance regulatorhave been raising premia every

year from third party motor-vehicle claims to health, fire,property etc, on unjustifiablepretexts. The claims in thiscountry are at their lowest butthe regulator allows insurancecompanies enormous increas-es, forgetting that this finallyimpacts industry and individ-uals alike. It increases cost ofoperations and leaves themwith less spare money to sus-tain the market. The regulatorhas itself stated that “incurredclaims ratio of the motor seg-ment came down by two per-cent in 2015 against 2014”.Then why has it hiked the thirdparty premium? It hits thetransport sector heavily, whichthen hikes its tariff.

No less illogical is the deci-sion to disallow registration ofhigh-powered diesel vehicles inDelhi. The courts are sup-posed to go by the provisionsof the Motor Vehicles Act, thatallows all vehicles to ply all the

24 days — a provision thathelps production of new vehi-cles and the creation of jobs.The National Green Tribunal isplaying havoc with the production process.

If everything is to bebanned, then let us start withbanning the NGT. In no coun-try are vehicles junked in themanner that the NGT sug-gests. It hurts the economyand wealth creation.

The Niti Ayog and theUnion Government have toconsider various aspects that arehindering economic growthand creating an inflationaryprocess. They also need to lookat how they can keep businessexpenses low — an essentialcondition for ease of doingbusiness. A new holistic look atthe economy and those addingto inflation, is needed. A stableand judicious pricing system isrequired to keep the economyon rails and cut fiscal deficit.

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There are a number of ways tounderstand a peace processwhich finally leads to agree-ments that are formal con-tracts, meant to end violent

conflicts. Peace agreements during apeace process may include pre-negotia-tion agreements, interim agreements,framework agreements, and implemen-tation agreements. Each has a specific pur-pose. However, sometimes, one agreementmay overlap the other. Pre-negotiationagreements are ‘talks about talks’ as theytend to deal with issues such as who isgoing to negotiate with what status andwhat is the agenda of negotiations. At thisstage, negotiations discuss the pre-condi-tions of talks such as the release of polit-ical prisoners, or cessation of hostilities orceasefire during peace negotiations. Butthe Afghan peace process is still stuck inthe primary stage and is yet to reach thelevel of pre-negotiation deal.

The Quadrilateral CoordinationGroup which includes Afghanistan,China, Pakistan and the US, has taken amuch-needed initiative to pacify theconflict-ridden Afghanistan. The QCGmechanism became operational inJanuary when it met for the first time. Andjust before the fourth round of QCG dis-cussions in February, Pakistan Army chiefRaheel Sharif travelled to Doha to per-suade the Taliban factions and groups toreturn to the negotiating table. But it is nothard to believe that any substantial break-through in peace negotiations is asremote as ever.

The QCG is not a balanced and effi-cient mechanism to bring about lastingpeace in Afghanistan as it effectivelyblocks Russia and Iran, the two mostimportant neighbours of Afghanistan,from the discussion table. Most impor-tantly, multiple rounds of talks among thequartet have failed to convince theAfghan Taliban to talk peace with theGovernment in Kabul. Although formerAfghan Prime Minister GulbuddinHekmatyar’s Hezb-e Islami, formallyallied with the Afghan Taliban, hasdecided to join the peace talks, it will nothave a greater impact on the peaceprocess because Hezb-e Islami’s capabil-ity of anti-Government insurgency hasbeen increasingly declining over theyears and it has virtually no or little influ-ence over the Taliban. Why does the lat-est refusal by the Taliban, to join the peacenegotiations, seem so much frighteningtoday than it did a few years back?

There are serious concerns about thedeteriorating security situation inAfghanistan. Terrorists are posing sever-al challenges to the prospects of peace andsecurity in that volatile region. This isborne out by the recent observations ofNicholas Haysom, the special represen-tative of the UN Secretary General forAfghanistan. Haysom has painted a verygrim picture of the situation inAfghanistan where conflict has grown inintensity and scope, resulting in allAfghan governmental institutions, includ-ing security forces, being critically chal-lenged on all fronts.

The two most disturbing features ofthe report are the rise in security-relatedincidents in 2015 as compared to 2014,and the deterioration of security in areasthat have not been previously the Taliban’s

stronghold. The Taliban have undoubt-edly expanded their territorial reach lastyear, as reflected in the temporary captureof about two dozen districts in almost allparts of the country, with the temporaryseize of the Provincial capital of Kunduzbeing the most notorious and audacious.

While the Taliban are fighting theirway to the negotiating table, the AfghanNational Unity Government seems tohave neither any viable peaceful conflictsettlement plan nor any overarching warstrategy. To make matters worse, the polit-ical, economic and social angst and dis-content of a large section of the Afghanpeople as not been properly addressed,and has been exploited by the Taliban.

Faced with a rapidly intensifyinginsurgency, the country may witness thedangerous prospect of being carved upinto rival fiefdoms. The emergence of theIslamic State, which is trying to recruitfrom among the disgruntled Talibanranks and other terrorist groups, has fur-ther diminished hopes of the countryreturning to a state of normalcy.

As the Taliban have again rejected thelatest peace offers from the QCG, firm-ly insisting on their own terms and con-ditions, the already fragile peace processhas entered the most crucial phase.Under such circumstances, it will be futileto expect the inadequately-trained Afghansecurity forces with support from insuf-ficient number of US-led North AtlanticTreaty Organisation forces, to attain a mil-itary edge over their opponent. If theTaliban escalates the fight in the comingmonths, the country faces the prospect ofsliding down a perilous path towards tur-moil and mayhem. In fact, Western mil-itary support for the Ashraf Ghani regimeis more of a background psychological fac-

tor than a physical one since the US hasalmost quit Afghanistan.

The focus of attention has now againshifted back to Pakistan’s role in contribut-ing to the peace process. The convention-al wisdom is that Pakistan has a greatinfluence over the Taliban. Pakistan’sTaliban policy has shifted along withbroader geopolitical trends, with the bal-ance sometimes swinging towards clos-er alignment and at other times, at per-mitting greater autonomy.

Foreign Affairs Advisor Sartaj Azizhas admitted to Pakistan’s influence overthe Taliban when he recently said, “Wehave some influence on them becausetheir leadership is in Pakistan, and theyget some medical facilities, their familiesare here. So we can use those levers topressurise them to say, ‘come to the table’”.

But attitudes within Pakistan’s secu-rity elite are complex; dividing betweenthose who support the resolution of con-flict at the earliest on the ground that con-tinuation of conflict will further worsenthe security situation in Pakistan, andthose who insist on first protectingPakistan’s strategic interests, defined instraight forwardly realist terms. Thusthere is a strong section within Pakistan’smilitary establishment that defends thenotion of a tightly integrated geopoliti-cal region on both sides of the KhyberPass with Pakistan’s informal control overpolicies of Afghanistan. In constantdenial about the costs and tragedies per-petrated by the India-centric ‘strategicdepth’ policy, this powerful lobby arguesthat Pakistan’s strategic needs stretch wellbeyond the Durand Line, and it is onlypragmatic to act on those needs. Afghanpolitical elite’s excellent relations withIndia has been a chronic irritant in

Afghan-Pakistan relations, makingRawalpindi profoundly paranoid aboutcollaborating in an effort that enablesIndia to have any meaningful say inAfghan political affairs. This explains thePakistan Army’s highly selective approachtowards eliminating terrorist groups itonce created and had patronised.

The Taliban can seem very power-ful now but it will wrong to think of theoutfit as invincible. There are many splitsand fissures within it. The AfghanTaliban have been going through a tur-bulent leadership transition since last yearwith the new leader Mullah Mansoor stillfacing difficulties in consolidating hisleadership position. Those who are chal-lenging Mansoor’s succession to MullahOmar are of the view that they haveacquired a decisive edge against theAfghan security forces. In order to avoidinternal rebellion and further dissension,Mansoor does not want to show any hastein joining the peace talks.

If a dominant section of the Talibanleadership is not prepared to strike a dealwith the Ghani Government on Pakistaniterms, then the very credibility of Pakistanwill be at stake. Islamabad will facetremendous pressure from Washingtonand Beijing to take action against the recal-citrant Taliban elements that are based inPakistan. Therefore, Pakistan seems to bedoubling its efforts, short of arm-twisting,to bring the Taliban leadership to thenegotiation table. But the current adversedynamic may likely continue between theTaliban and the Afghan Government.

(The writer is Assistant Professor,Department of International Affairsand Security Studies, Sardar PatelUniversity of Police Security andCriminal Justice, Jodhpur)

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Is the Idea of Mobile VirtualNetwork Operators (MVNO)too late? This question hasbecome relevant as the TelecomCommission approvedMVNOs guidelines last week,nearly sevenyears after tele-com regulatorrecommendedthat theyshould beallowed tooffer services.

MVNOs are basicallymobile telephony service oper-ators who do not own eithertelecom networks or spectrum.They lease capacities of theexisting telecom serviceproviders and sell them undertheir own brand.

When the TelecomRegulatory Authority of India(TRAI) first recommended it,in 2008, there were only fivepan-India mobile operators.Mobile penetration was com-paratively low. However, mobiletelephony had become a neces-sity so operators did not both-er about consumer satisfac-tion. Quality of services was badbut the customers had nochoice as all the operators wereequally bad. The situation issimilar even today. It has onlyworsened as call drop hasspread like epidemic, especial-ly in metros and big cities.

In developed economiessuch as Europe and the USAwhere the mobile penetrationis very high compared to Indiaand quality of services is bet-ter, MVNOs are doing well.There are more than 80MVNOs in Germany and 60in the UK. Similarly, the num-

ber of MVNOs in the USA isover 80.

So there is no reason tobelieve the argument that theIndian market has maturedand there would not be manytakers for MVNO business.

MVNOs basically buybulk access to network servicesfrom the existing operators atwholesale rates. They do valueaddition and then sell servicesat their own retail prices undertheir own brands.

For example, in the USAone successful MVNO offersservices to Hispanic popula-tion by providing low callingrates between the USA andSouth America. In Europe,

s o m eMVNOs tar-get studentcommunity.

Both theE u r o p e a nand the USAtelecom mar-

kets are saturated. In Europe,MVNO are still thriving. Inthe USA, there are few successstories. Even in the Europeonly 20 per cnt of the MVNOstart ups are successful.

So what is the message forIndian market? Should weagree with the cellular opera-tors association of India(COAI) when it says that theoperators do not have spec-trum to spare and hence theyare not excited. This may beonly partially true. There willbe operators who will be will-ing to sell their capacities atwhole sale markets.

Relinace Jio, a new oper-ator, will have excess capacity.It may not be a bad idea for itgo for aggressive MVNO strat-egy.

There would be entrepre-neurs who would come outwith innovative ideas andbecome successful. It will be awin-win situation for both asentrepreneurs have limitedfinancial capacities and oper-ators are too large to serviceniche markets.

(The writer is a SeniorJournalist)

,"128�9"052�"

�� With inflationunder check and Governmentsticking to its fiscal consoli-dation path, market expecta-tions are that RBI may cutinterest rate by up to 0.50 percent in its first bi-monthlymonetary policy review for2016-17 on Tuesday in orderto propel growth.

The Government has alsopared the small savings inter-est rate by up to 1.3 per centproviding cushion to theReserve Bank for cutting thepolicy rate.

Finance Minister ArunJaitley, too, had last weekexpressed desire that the RBIshould cut rate, stating "Iwant what everybody wants.

At this stage if rate cuts dotake place it's certainly goingto be helpful because youneed a more efficient econo-my and you need a morecompetitive cost of capital".

Bankers said high interestrate could make Indian econ-omy sluggish given that infla-tion is around 5 per cent.

"There is possibility ofRBI reducing rate by 0.25per cent as inflation haseased," Bank of MaharashtraChairman and ManagingDirector Sushil Muhnot toldthe news agency.

According to a seniorofficial from a state-run bank,although a 25 basis points hasbeen factored in by the mar-ket there is also a high possi-bility of RBI going for a 50basis points rate cut.

Citing various factors foreasing of monetary stance,industry chambers are pitch-ing for 0.5 per cent cut in thekey interest rate.

A 0.25 per cent cut in thepolicy rate by the RBI isalmost given, but the realimpact of falling lending cost

can be felt only if the centralbank goes in for a bold reduc-tion of at least 0.50 per cent,industry body Assocham said.

Retail inflation as mea-sured by the Consumer PriceIndex (CPI) eased to 5.18 percent in February as foodprices rose at a slower pace,

while Wholesale Price Indexstayed in the negative terri-tory for the 16th month in arow.

Industrial output for thethird month in a rowremained in the negative ter-ritory contracting 1.5 percent in January due to poor

showing of manufacturingsector raising industry clam-our for rate cut by the RBI.

RBI Governor RaghuramRajan on March 12 saidGovernment's sticking to fis-cal consolidation roadmap ofreducing deficit to 3.5 percent of the GDP in 2016-17was comforting, a statementwhich raised hope for rate cutin April 5 monetary policy.Rajan, on February 2, had leftthe key interest rateun-changed citing inflation risksand growth concerns.

As for the forthcomingpolicy review, Union BankChairman and ManagingDirector Arun Tiwari said: "Isee a 25 basis points rate cutas inflation has come underthe Reserve Bank's target."

SBI Chairman ArundhatiBhattacharya has said, mean-while, that RBI should outlinesteps to curb the volatility in

systemic liquidity."We expect RBI to address

the issues of systemic liquid-ity," Bhattacharya has said.

Currently, high volatilityin currency holdings of pub-lic (both in the form of cashand jewellery) as well as gov-ernment’s cash balances withRBI is leading to volatility insystemic liquidity, she hadsaid.

According to Citigroupreport, the RBI is expected tocut repo rate by 0.25 per-centage point given that thebudget stayed on the path off iscal consolidation andprogress has been made onthe reforms front.

The case for a rate cutbecomes even stronger con-sidering the benign CPI out-look and a strengthenedtransmission mechanism(quarterly reset in small sav-ings rate, MCLR). ��

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UK-based Indian steel tycoonSanjeev Gupta has come to

the rescue of the troubled TataSteel by opening discussions withowners of the steel giant to acquireits plants at Port Talbot, Britain'slargest employing some 4,000people.

The 44-year-old founder ofsteel, commodities and propertygroup Liberty House, who hasalready saved a number of UKplants from closure, has said he isready to discuss with the BritishGovernment to rescue the plantswhere thousands of jobs are atstake.

He will return here fromDubai tomorrow to meetGovernment officials and Tata togauge their support for a propos-al to keep Britain's largest steel

plant open.On the question of acquiring

the State Steel plants at PortTalbot, Gupta was quoted in theSunday Telegraph saying: "Wewould need a proper partnershipwith the Government. I don'tknow what that would entail atthis stage, We've started the dis-cussions... We are in the processof starting a discussion with Tata."

He has submitted preliminaryproposals to the Government toreplace Port Talbot's traditionalblast furnaces with modern elec-

tric arc furnaces, used to produceraw steel by melting scrap.

According to Gupta, theproblem with Port Talbot is its sizeand the fact that it is built aroundblast furnace making liquid steelfrom ores. The model that Libertyis building at Newport and else-where is built around meltingdown scrap metal - two milliontonnes a year at Newport - usingmodern electric arc furnaces.

Gupta, who is best known inWales for buying the formerAlphasteel works in Newport in2013 and re-opening productionthere last autumn, has recentlybought Tata's two rolling mills atClydebridge and Dalzell inScotland, facilitated by a tempo-rary 'nationalisation' by theScottish Government.

Tata Steel stated yesterday thatalthough there was "no fixedtimeline" for the sale process, "it

needs to be implemented urgent-ly as there are severe fundingrequirements affecting the UKoperations.

Gupta said: "I haven't madea proposition that I want to buyall of (Tata Steel UK) because that'stoo big an undertaking to even puton the table at the stage. If thecompany, its people, its workersand the Government would bewilling to consider my suggestionsthen I'm willing to engage in a dis-cussion about what role we willplay in that."

Gupta, who currently livesin the UK, was born in Punjabwhere his father owned anumber of businesses includ-ing Victor cycles. Since 1992,he has grown Liberty Houseinto a business with a 4.2 mil-lion dollars turnover, employ-ing more than 2,000 aroundthe world.

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Tens of thousands of steel-workers in the UK could

have their pensions slashedby up to 20 per cent underplans by Tata to wash itshands of the 15 bi l l ionpounds British Steel retire-ment scheme, media report-ed on Sunday.

According to a report inthe Sunday Times, the Indianconglomerate is understoodto be in negotiations with thegovernment and the PensionsRegulator over putting thescheme, which has about130,000 active and retiredmembers, into the PensionProtect ion Fund (PPF),which would mean workerssuffer cuts to their retirementsavings of as much as 20 percent.

Last week Tata said UK'slargest steelworks, at PortTalbot in South Wales, was nolonger viable and put its

entire British steel operationup for sale, leaving 15,000jobs hanging in the balance.

Sources close to thecompany said it does notplan to continue supportingthe pension fund once it hasquit UK steel, according tothe report.

"There is no possibilitywhatsoever [it will retain thepension scheme]," said onesource. "Legally it can do it."

The scheme is one ofBritain's biggest — a throw-back to when the industryemployed hundreds of thou-sands of workers.

It has a deficit of 485 mil-lion pounds, but with assetsof almost 14 billion pounds,it is in fairly healthy shape.

Amid the pension talks,Sanjeev Gupta, the Indianorigin steel tycoon, has madean alternative proposal toreplace Port Talbot's blastfurnaces with more efficientelectric arc furnaces.

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Away from the furore overhuge loan default in India

by Vijay Mallya-led UB Group,its US-based brewery arm hassecured a complex funding thatit intends to repay later with a'bridge loan' from its parent.

C a l i f o r n i a - b a s e dMendocino Brewing Company,which sells a number of beerbrands including Kingfisher inthe US, has got Mallya as itsChairman and is owned by UBGroup through a complexshareholding structure.

In a regulatory filing withthe US markets regulator SEC(Securities and ExchangeCommission), Mendocino hasdisclosed having issued a'promissory note' to Delaware-based Catamaran Services, Inc,in the principal amount of$325,000 (over �2 crore).

It further said Mendocinohad earlier also issued fourpromissory notes to Catamaranbetween January 2014 and June2015, for principal amounts of$500,000 each.

Catamaran's sole share-holder is an entity namedCatamaran Holdings, Ltd,which interestingly "has direc-tors in common withInversiones Mirabel SA", one ofthe major shareholders ofMendocino.

The indirect beneficialowner of Inversiones is UnitedBreweries Holdings Limited(UBHL), making UBHL theindirect majority shareholder ofMendocino. Mallya chairs theboards of UBHL as well asMendocino.

Mendocino further said ithas also received a letter from

Illinois-based MB FinancialBank permitting the companyto obtain loans up to $400,000.

As per the terms of thepromissory note, Mendocinohas promised to pay the prin-cipal sum of $325,000 withaccrued interest to Catamaranwithin 6 months, subject to thereceipt by the company of abridge loan from its majorityshareholder.

This repayment is subject tothe shareholder loan amountbeing sufficient either to pay thenote through 'PermittedPayments', or to pay both thenote and certain existing oblig-ations of the company to MBFinancial Bank.

The 'Permitted Payments'on the note are payments madefrom the portion of aShareholder Loan that is inexcess of $600,000, the filing fur-ther said.

If the company is not ableto satisfy its obligations on thenote within six months, the notewill get automatically extendedfor additional six months terms"until a Shareholder Loan suf-ficient to satisfy the note isreceived or the note is otherwisepaid."

A major controversy hasbroken out back in India ever

since Mallya left the countryamid growing clamour forrecovery of dues totalling over�9,000 crore of the long-grounded Kingfisher Airlines inoutstanding loans and interestamount.

Mallya and his group firmsare also being probed by mul-tiple regulators and agenciesincluding Sebi, EnforcementDirectorate and SFIO (SeriousFraud Investigations Office).Under terms of the promissorynote, interest will accruefromthe date of the note on theunpaid principal at a rate equalto the lesser of 1.5 per cent perannum above the prime rateoffered from time to time by theBank of America Corporation,or 10 per cent per annum, untilthe principal is fully paid.

The note can be prepaidwithout penalty at the option ofthe company, but can not beamended without the priorwritten consent of MBFinancial.

In another filing with SEC,Mendocino said it was unable totimely file its Annual Report onForm 10-K for the period endedDecember 31, 2015 "due todelays experienced in the col-lection of certain financial infor-mation about the Registrant's

UK subsidiaries required to beincluded in the Annual Report".

"The Registrant intends tofile the Annual Report with theSecurities and ExchangeCommission within the 15-dayextension period..." it added.

In its last annual report for2014, Mendocino had disclosedhaving paid Mallya a totalamount of $267,700 (about �1.8crore). This included $120,000per year for services rendered asMendocino Chairman and$147,700 by a subsidiary UnitedBreweries International (UK)Ltd for promoting its "productsin the Foreign Territory outsidethe United Kingdom".

The payment to him during2015 would be known after thelatest annual report is filed laterthis month.

Mallya becameMendocino's Chairman inOctober 1997 and also served asits CEO until January 2005.

Mendocino BrewingCompany was founded wayback in 1983 and it caughtMallya's interest in 1997.

Today it claims to produceover '20 nationally recognisablelabels', including Red Tail Ale,and the company says it has"trekked from a 1983 produc-tion of about 400 barrels (5500case equivalent) to the currentproduction of about 75,000barrels (over one million cases)".

Its North American oper-ations primarily consist ofbrewing and marketing pro-prietary craft beers. Its foreignoperations are conductedthrough wholly-owned sub-sidiary United BreweriesInternational (UK) Ltd and astep-down unit Kingfisher BeerEurope Ltd. ��

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Nearly five-years afteracquiring the strategic

Stanlow refinery from Shell,Essar Oil UK has turnedaround the loss making unitwith a record net profit of $187million in 2015-16 as it opti-mised processes, diversifiedcrude basket and invested inmargin improvement pro-grammes.

Essar Oil UK, controlled byMumbai-based Ruia family,reported highest ever EBITDAof $340 million in the financialyear ended March 31, 2016 ascompared to an EBITDA of$177 million in the previous fis-cal.

"EBITDA was negative $17million in FY12 ," said NareshNayyar, Executive Chairman,Essar Oil UK. "Net profit inFY16 is about $187 million ascompared to $70 million in theprevious fiscal."

Stanlow on Sunday pro-duces over 16 per cent of UK'stransport fuels, serving north-west part of UK.

Essar, the only Indian firmto own and operate a refineryin Europe, has also entered intoauto fuel retailing in UK, open-ing seven petrol stations andplans to raise the number to 400in three years to capture 10 percent of market, he said.

Stanlow, which operatedat a third of its stated capacityof 210,000 barrels per day inJuly 2011 when Essar boughtthe unit from Shell for $350million, clocked near 200,000bpd crude run in FY16.

"We have basically opti-mised refinery configuration todeliver better yields," he said,adding that higher marginyielding petrol and diesel pro-duction has been increased.

Also, the refinery is pro-

cessing 25 new crude oils thatgive price and yield advantageinstead of Shell's policy of rely-ing only on North Sea gradesthat did not offer better eco-nomics all the time.

"There has been a marginimprovement of $3 per barrelsince acquisition," Nayyar said,adding that natural gas is beingused as fuel to run the refinery,low margin lubes unit has beenshut, crude slate diversifiedand margin improvement pro-jects have been taken up.

Stanlow earned $8.7 onturning every barrel of crude oilinto fuel in 2015-16, $3 morethan the North West Europebenchmark Current Price (CP)Gross Refining Margin (GRM).Nayyar said a smaller crude dis-tillation unit has been moth-balled to operate Stanlow as anoptimised single train site,adding $0.4 per barrel to mar-gin and saving $0.10 a barrel inoperating expenses.

"The crude basket wasstretched by reducing the pro-portion of light crudes andintroducing medium densitycrudes, while sources werediversified by including Africanand grades," he said."Condensates were introducedinto the diet in 2015, with all ofthese moves resulting in a low-ering of the crude basket cost byabout $1.4 per barrel."

Essar has invested signifi-cantly in Stanlow, with the totalequity invested at $694 million(including acquisition) and anadditional $545 millionincurred through capital

expenditure.Stanlow is one of the

largest refineries in the UK,with the current optimisedconfiguration giving a 196,000bpd operating capacity andNelson Complexity of 10.7. Itproduces 33 per cent petrol, 57per cent kerosene and dieseland 3 per cent fuel oil

In a pioneering first crudeinventory monetisation, Essarin July 2012 entered into a dealwith Barclays Bank, whichpurchased the stocks of crudeoil and petroleum products atStanlow site and supplied therefinery with crude on a dailybasis as required.

"This transaction, the firstof its kind in Europe, helpedthe drive for more efficiency byreducing costs, reducing cap-ital employed and reducingrisk from crude price volatili-ty," he said.

When Barclays exited thecommodity business, new longterm arrangements were signedin July 2015 with J Aron &Company for inventory mon-etisation and Lloyds Bank Plc.

Nayyar said Essar willinvest about $137 million inproject 'Tiger Cub' which willsee major improvements to keyunits at Stanlow to deliverfurther reduction in crudecosts and improved yieldsacross the product slate.

"Project Tiger Cub, and theadditional works undertakenduring the major block turn-around in 2018 will drive a fur-ther $2 per barrel in marginimprovements," he said. ��

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�� Lenders toJindal Steel and Power Ltd(JSPL) have approved refi-nancing of loans worth�2,500 crore, sources said.

"JSPL was talking to itslenders (banks) for thelast two months and theyhave agreed to refinanceloans worth �2,500 croreof the company," theyadded.

Talks are on to refi-nance more loans underthe Reserve Bank (RBI)scheme, they said.

For 2014-15, theNaveen Jindal-led JSPL,with interests rangingfrom power and steel tocement, had a consolidat-ed net debt of �42,929crore against a net debt of�35,419 crore in 2013-14.

When contacted, aJSPL spokesperson said:"JSPL has an excellenttrack record of meetingfinancial commitmentsand has met its financialcommitments tillNovember-December2015.

"We are in discussionwith banks, in respect ofthe 5/25 scheme and alsoexploring various optionswith all lenders to resched-ule payments consideringlikely short/medium termcash flow mis-matches.When these are complet-ed, there will not be anyoverdue situation."

As part of monetisa-tion and debt reductionplans already advised, weare looking at variousoptions diligently to meetour debt obligations andstrengthen our balancesheets, the spokespersonadded.

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Weeks after being slappedwith a �29,000 crore

'retrospective tax demand',British oil explorer CairnEnergy on Sunday said inter-national investors want theModi Government to walkthe talk on resolving retro-spective tax issues and send aclear signal that things arechanging.

Cairn, which gave India itsbiggest onland oil discoverythat now accounts for a fifthof the country's oil production,said it will continue to pressahead with the arbitrationchallenging use of a new leg-islation to tax internal businessreorganisation with retro-spective effect and will seek $1billion in damages to its value.

“The international invest-ment community wishes to seeIndia doing as it has stated inlooking to resolve the retro-spective tax issue with actionswhich would send a positivesignal to global investors thatthings are changing underthis current government,”Cairn Energy CEO SimonThomson told the newsagency in an interview here.

The Income TaxDepartment in Februaryslapped on Cairn Energy a tax

demand notice of over �29,000crore, including �18,800 crorein back dated interest.

The Department had onJanuary 22, 2014, issued adraft assessment order of�10,247 crore on alleged cap-ital gains the company madein a 2006 reorganisation of itsIndia business. Two years later,it issued a final assessmentorder.

The actions of the IncomeTax Department have beenhugely detrimental to Cairn'sbusiness and its UK and inter-national shareholders,Thomson said.

“The issuing of a retro-spective tax assessment is verydisappointing and follows along period of engagementwith the Government of Indiawhich has repeatedly givenpublic assurances that it wouldnot resort to retrospective taxmeasures, introduced by theprevious Government, giventhe negative message it sendsto the international invest-ment community,” he said.

Thomson said PrimeMinister Narendra Modi hadearlier this year stated that ret-rospective tax is a matter of thepast and he was ensuring thatthis Government and futureGovernments cannot openthis chapter.

Modi, he said, had statedthat “We have clearly articu-lated that we will not resort toretrospective taxation anddemonstrated this position ina number of ways.”

“However, Cairn Energy'soutstanding retrospective taxcase is yet to be resolved andthe matter has been ongoingfor more than two years and ishaving a major detrimentalimpact on our business and toour UK and internationalshareholders,” Thomson said.

He said the tax issue wasa very unfortunate conclu-sion to a 20 year investment inIndia where “Cairn Energy hasbeen a model corporate citizenand created a legacy assetwhich is seen as an example ofwhat can be achieved throughIndia and UK cooperation”.The Rajasthan discoveriesgenerates huge value for India,with revenues of multi-billionsfor the government, he said.

Asked about theGovernment offer to waiveinterest and penalty if com-panies facing retrospective taxdemand paid the principaltax due, he said Cairn strong-ly contests the basis of the taxassessment order supported bydetailed legal advice on thestrength of the protectionsavailable to it under interna-

tional law.“As such, Cairn has a high

level of confidence in its caseunder the UK-IndiaInvestment Treaty and is seek-ing to use the internationalarbitration process in a non-confrontational manner.

“We wish to resolve theissue as swiftly and amicablyas possible following a longperiod of engagement with thegovernment which has repeat-edly given public assurancesthat it would not resort to theretrospective tax measures ofthe previous Government,” hesaid.

Stating that the interna-tional arbitration process hasbegun with the arbitrationpanel being appointed, he saidCairn welcomes the IndianGovernment's positive engage-ment in the process.

“We would hope that, likeus, the Government of Indiawants to achieve an outcomeas soon as possible in orderthat this issue is cleared uponce and for all.

“The preliminary hear-ings will take place shortly andthe formal process will con-tinue from there. There is nopre-set fixed timetable for thearbitration process but it isunlikely to be less than 12months,” he said.

He said the company hashad robust legal advice thatthe action of the Governmentin seeking to apply tax retro-spectively to its internal groupreorganisation in 2006 and infreezing Cairn’s assets in thecountry are a breach of thefundamental position of theTreaty which protects againstexpropriation and ensures afair and equitable investmentenvironment for Brit ishinvestors in India.

“Cairn is claiming fullcompensation for the about $1billion value of which itsshareholders have beendeprived,” he said.

He said one major USinvestor in Cairn stated that“It is now time for India tosend a message to all interna-tional investors that retro-spective tax is dead and buriedonce and for all. Many invest-ments needed to financeIndia's growth will not happenif retrospective laws are pos-sible.

“Repudiating retrospec-tive laws and adopting inter-national norms would allowthe international investmentcommunity to see that theModi Government is deliver-ing on its pre-election promiseto eradicate so called tax ter-rorism.”

8��5��$ ��Australia seems

to be the most preferreddestination for the globalrich, with Sydney leadingthe pack with the biggestnet inflow of millionaires,as some 4,000 of them shift-ed base to the city in 2015,says a report.

Overall, the figure forthe entire continent stoodat 8,000 as Melbourne andPerth attracted 3,000 and1,000 high net worth indi-viduals (HNIs) and securedsecond and eighth posi-tions, respectively, accord-ing to a report by NewWorld Wealth.

“Sydney, Melbourne andPerth all benefited frommillionaire inflows fromChina, Europe, the UK, theUS and South Africa. OtherAustralian areas such asthe Gold Coast, Brisbane,Noosa and the SunshineC oast a l so exper iencedinflows,” the report said.

Tel Aviv drew a largechunk of millionaires fromEurope, especially France.The city was ranked third,with as many as 2,000 HNIsm a k i n g t h i s c i t y t h e i rdomicile.

Other Israeli cities suchas Herzliya, Jerusalem andNetanya too saw inflows.

There were large mil-l ionaire inf lows to SanFr a n c i s c o, S e at t l e a n dVancouver from China andS out h E a s t As i a w h i l eDubai pulled in many fromNor t h A f r i c a ( E g y p t ,

Algeria and Morocco) andTurkey.

Interestingly, in 2015,London saw an inflow of3 ,000 mi l l ionai res , but2,500 super-rich left thecity and moved to otherparts of England.

A large number alsomoved overseas, mainly toEnglish-speaking countriessuch as Australia, Canada,New Zealand and the US.

“Most of the million-aires who left London wereUK-born whereas almostall of the millionaires com-ing into the city were fromother countries,” the reportsaid, adding “this may be atrend that continues infuture as several wealthyUK-born people remain“concerned” about the wayLondon and the UK in gen-eral had changed over the

past decade or so.Paris saw the biggest

outflow, with as many as7,000 of millionaires head-ing the exit door. The othercities with large outflows ofmillionaires include Rome(5,000), Chicago (3,000)and Athens (2,000).

The factors responsiblefor millionaire migrationvaried widely. For Paris, itwas rising religious ten-sion and lack of opportu-nities; for Rome, economicslump; for Chicago, risingracial tension and risingc r i m e l e v e l s , a n d f orAthens, economic slumpand migration crisis withSyria/Turkey.

Mil l ionaires refer toindividuals with net assetsof $ 1 m i l l i on or m oreexcluding their primaryresidences. ��

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India's growing and robuststart-up culture, strong

base of development part-ners and its large economymake i t an “ incrediblyunique and valuable” marketfor Microsoft, senior execu-tives at the technology gianthave said.

“India is unique in anumber of different ways. InIndia, (there is) such anembrace of technology indevelopment as a whole. It isunbelievable the quality anddiversity of development thatis coming out of the coun-tr y,” Senior Director ofWindows Product Marketingat Microsof t AaronWoodman told the newsagency on the sidelines of thejust-concluded annual devel-opers' conference 'Build2016' here.

Underlining the impor-tance of the Indian marketfrom the perspective ofCloud comput ing ,

Microsoft's Cloud PlatformGeneral Manager Julia Whitesaid that India is an “amaz-ing and robust market”, par-ticularly against the back-drop of the innovations com-ing from there and the grow-ing start-up culture.

“That was one of thereasons we put data centersin India. We know that thereis so much opportunity andso many start-ups and inno-vation going on in Indiathat there is need and com-fort around having data sov-ereignty and having infor-mation remain local inIndia,” she said.

Noting that there is sig-nificant development beingdone in India on Windows,Woodman said the coun-try's embrace of the Englishlanguage in addition to thenative languages and dialectshas helped Microsoft a lot interms of its acceleration andability to speak to develop-ers and have a conversation.

“It does not feel like it

go es through a f i l ter,”Woodman said adding thatthe widespread use ofEnglish is also one of the rea-sons that enabled Microsoftto bring its digital personalass i s tant programmeCortana to the Indian mar-ket.

“It is also one of the rea-sons why we have been ableto do things l ike bringCortana to India because wecan do it in English. Wecould struggle with addi-tional languages there but itis certainly our aspiration,”he said.

Making India even moreunique is its large economy,which while presenting chal-lenges around distribution,price and accessibility, isvaluable because of the man-ner in which educationalinstitutions across the coun-try have embraced technol-ogy.

“ These three th ingsmake India incrediblyunique and valuable for us.

The incredible developmentpartners, the strong base ofpartnerships there, the lan-guage helps enormouslyfrom a business perspectiveand the economic opportu-nity.

“It is not just people butpeople that understand thevalue that technology canactually bring to education,to empowerment,” he said.Woodman stressed thatgiven the way the broadpopulationin countries likeIndia, Israel and Brazil haveembraced technology, it willnot be a surprise that someof the advanced technologieslike Artificial Intelligenceand Virtual Reality “willlikely have a footprint inthose places before otherplaces because of the cultur-al acceptance of the tech-nology”.

White said Microsoft'sinvestment in India is “reallybased on the premise thatthere is opportunity not onlyfrom the start-ups and inno-

vators perspective” but alsobecause a lot of mainstreamorganisations in the countryare trying to be competitiveand stay ahead of the market.

“The only way to do thatand innovate quickly is tomove to a cloud model. We gothrough a lot of evaluations ofwhere we would put datacenters and where we investlocally and India is one ofthose countries because of itsculture, the innovation com-ing from the country,” shesaid.

Terming India as an“incredible market” forMicrosoft, Woodman howev-er said that distribution inIndia is challenging.

He said the Indian marketis not like the US and UKwhere there is a concentrationof the distribution partners.

Instead India's distribu-tion network is massive anddiverse and while that pre-sents a huge benefit for thecustomers, it is “challenging”for the company.

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�� Country's largestcarmaker Maruti Suzuki India(MSI) aims to double its salesnetwork to 4,000 outlets by2020 as part of plans to sell 20lakh units per annum by then.

The company, which ended2014-15 fiscal at a total of1,820 traditional dealershipsspread across 1,470 cities, plansto add 200 outlets in the cur-rent fiscal, thereby taking thecount to over 2,000 shops bythe end of current fiscal.

“We are looking at dou-bling the sale outlets to 4,000 by2020. This is in line with theambition to sell two millionunits by 2020,” MSI ExecutiveDirector Marketing and salesRS Kalsi told the news agency.

The company is also plan-ning to enhance the number ofNexa showrooms to 250 in thecurrent fiscal from the current127 outlets, he added.

In 2015-16 fiscal, ended

March 31, the company added200 traditional dealerships,while Nexa outlets expansionwas the fastest retail networkexpansion anywhere in theworld, Kalsi said.

“Nexa outlets have beenwell accepted and we aim toclose the current fiscal at 250outlets,” he added.

As part of its plans toachieve 20 lakh sales mark by2020, the company also plansto introduce a slew of modelsin the country.

In the current fiscal, thecompany plans to launch two

new models, Ignis and BalenoRS, towards the festive periodthis year.

The company, which post-ed its highest-ever total sales at14,29,248 units in 2015-16 at agrowth rate of 10.6 per cent,had launched three models SCross, Baleno and VitaraBrezza in 2015-16 fiscal.

Suzuki Motor Corporation(SMC) has already announcedplans to launch around 15 newmodels in India in the next fiveyears to aid MSI achieve targetof selling two million unitsannually by 2020.

MSI's market share soaredto 7-year high at 46.8 per centin the domestic passenger vehi-cle segment during the last fis-cal.

The top four best-sellingmodels in India -- Alto, Dzire,Swift and WagonR, came outfrom the Maruti Suzuki stablefor fourth year in a row. ��

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Indian mining giant Adanion Sunday moved one step

closer to realising its 21.7 billiondollars coal mine in Australiaafter the local Governmentgranted three mining leases forthe controversy-hit project.

Queensland minister forNatural Resources and MinesAnthony Lynham approved theindividual lease grant for 70441Carmichael, 70505 CarmichaelEast and 70506 CarmichaelNorth, which are estimated tocontain 11 billion tonnes ofthermal coal, media reportssaid.

According to state PremierAnnastacia Palaszczuk, the

approval had undergone “exten-sive Government and commu-nity scrutiny” and were a steptowards securing jobs forregion, with more than 5,000jobs expected to be generatedduring construction and morethan 4,000 during operation.

“I know the people of northand central Queensland willwelcome this latest progressfor the potential jobs and eco-nomic development it bringscloser for their communities,”she said.

She said “stringent condi-tions would continue to protectthe environment, landholders'and traditional owners' interestsand Great Barrier Reef”.

Lynham confirmed no

dredging at Abbot Point wouldtake place until Adani haddemonstrated financial closure.

Over 200 conditions applyto the project which, if it goesahead, would be the largestcoal mine in Australia.

“The mine's environmentalauthority had about 140 condi-tions to protect local flora andfauna, groundwater and surfacewater resources, as well as con-trols on dust and noise,”Lynham said adding, “A further99 stringent and wide-rangingconditions apply to the rail andport elements of the project.”

The project now has 19 per-mits and approvals at all threelevels of Government, includingnine primary approvals from

the State and FederalGovernment.

“A number of other stepshave to be completed beforemine construction can start,”Lynham said.

“They include secondaryapprovals for rail, port facilities,power, water, roadworks and theairport and a financial assurancewith the Department ofEnvironment and HeritageProtection.

“The independentCoordinator-General will con-tinue to work with Adani toprogress the project,” he said.

The latest approvals havecome after Adani secured finalenvironmental approval andhad reached an agreement on

compensation with a landhold-er last month.

Adani's plan to build one ofthe world's biggest coal mines inAustralia has been hamperedtime and again. A federal courtin August last year had revokedthe original approval due toenvironmental concerns.

In October last year, theproject got a new lease of lifeafter the AustralianGovernment gave its re-approval.

Welcoming the latestapprovals, Adani said, “Thegranting of a mining lease helpsdeliver the company certaintywith respect to timelines, whilemoving to the next phase of theproject, subject to the resolution

of legal challenges by political-ly-motivated activists.” (“Adanihas consistently said that whatis required forits projects to pro-ceed is certainty on approvals.This is key approval helps pro-vide that with respect toCarmichael,” the company saidin a statement.

“Absent additional legalchallenges designed to delayprogress on this export-creatingmine, the next phase of the pro-ject, following this key approval,will see a return to the pre-engi-neering work that had to be sus-pended in 2015 with the loss ofcertainty on approvals timelinesthat had occurred at that time,”Adani said.

“Concurrent with that, the

company will continue tofinalise second tier approvals,with the clear aim of com-mencing construction in cal-endar year 2017.”

“In the coming months,Adani and its partners will pro-vide additional detail regardingthe next steps for the logisticsand labour requirements ofthe project,” it said.

“It is important to note thatsuccessive legal challenges toscience-based approvals, whichare the strictest of their kind fora major resources project inthis country, are designed todeny the job creating benefitsof the company’s mine, rail andport projects to our state.

“It is for this reason that

conclusion of second tierapprovals and resolution ofpolitically-motivated legal chal-lenges is the company's prin-cipal focus, prior to a finalinvestment decision beingmade, it said.

Having previously soughtto progress to the constructionphase in 2015, Adani is keen-ly aware of the risks of pro-ceeding on major works inadvance of the conclusion ofthese matters. Delivering lowash, low sulphur, lower emit-ting coal to thermal generatorsin India, while delivering jobsin regions crying out for them,and taxes and royalties toQueensland, is paramount,”Adani said.

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��Outcome of RBIpolicy review on Tuesday,foreign fund inflow trendand qu ar ter ly e ar n ingsexpectation will set the tonefor the stock market thisweek, say experts.

“Rate cut and earningsexpectations to dominatetrading sent iments thisweek. The next big event forinvestors is the RBI mone-tary policy review. RBI willan n ou n c e t h e f i r s t b i -monthly monetary policyfor 2016-17 on Tuesday.

“Hopefully, the upcom-ing monetary policy willprovide the needed triggerfor next directional move,”s a i d Vi j ay S i ng h an i a ,

Founder-Director, TradeSmart Online.

Apar t f rom rate-c utexpectations, investors willnow also start building upexpectation for the March2016 earnings, he said.

BHEL is scheduled toan n ou n c e i t s t e nt at ivefinancial result for the yeare n d e d Marc h 3 1 , onThursday.

“The key event for themarket is monetary policyreview from Reserve Bankof India. Outcome of RBI'smonetary policy, trend inglobal markets, investmentby foreign investors, move-ment of crude oil priceswill dictate trend of the

market in near term,” saidRohit Gadia, Founder &CEO, CapitalVia GlobalResearch.

A l s o, P u rc h a s i ngManagers' Index (PMI) datafor services and manufac-turing sectors are due thisweek, which would have abearing on trading.

Meanwhile, snappingthe four-week gains, themarket ended with minorlosses as the BSE bench-mark S ensex fe l l 67 .92points to close at 25,269.64,while the NSE Nifty endedon a flat note slipping by amarginal 3.45 points andmanaged to hold the crucial7,700-level. ��

��/��/��/��'�-�$��!�� With the new Income

Tax Return (ITR) forms notifiedrecently for assessment year2016-17, filers can do an easycheck and obtain their annual taxliability on a computer-based cal-culator hosted by the IT depart-ment.

The 'tax calculator' is anonline computer-based pro-grammme hosted on the officialwebsite of the department and ismeant to help taxpayers or filersassess their tax liability.

The calculator works once afiler correctly feeds his basicdetails and information, as noti-fied for the current assessmentyear by the Government.

Also, the e-filing facility forITR-1 (for individuals havingincome from salaries, singlehouse property and othersources) and ITR-4 (for individ-

uals and Hindu UndividedFamilies (HUFs) having incomefrom a proprietary business orprofession) is expected to goonline and get enabled this week,the other ITRs will be hostedsoon after, a senior IT depart-ment officer said.

The Central Board of DirectTaxes had notified the new formson March 30 and ITRs can befiled till the stipulated deadline ofJuly 31.

Officials said the calculatorhas been updated and calibratedby the department as per the newannouncements made in respectof tax rates in the latest Budget.

The facility can be used byany taxpayer whether individual,corporate or any other entity, tocompute their tax liability.

However, there is a word ofcaution from the tax department

that filers should not solely relyon it as complicated cases of ITRhave different requirementswhich may not be addressed bythe 'calculator'.

“The calculator is only toenable public to have a quick andan easy access to basic tax cal-culation and does not purport togive correct tax calculation in allcircumstances.

“It is advised that for filing ofreturns the exact calculationmay be made as per the provi-sions contained in the relevantActs, Rules etc,” a disclaimer bythe department says.The officialsaid the calculator has beenhosted on the website of thed e p a r t m e n t - -www.Incometaxindia.Gov.In--,for the ease of all who either doan e-filing or manual filing ofITR. ��

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��With the onset of thefestive season, the gems and jew-ellery industry fears losing out onsizeable sales, with some indus-try leaders saying continuationof the strike will be a “disaster”for the business.

All India Gems andJewellery Trade Federation (GJF)Director Ashok Minawala said ifthe jewellers continue to strike,it's going to be “a disaster” dur-ing Gudi Padwa in Maharashtra.

“We must understand theconsumer demand, retain andmaintain it.

There is a need to come outof the mindset and start a prop-er and meaningful dialogue withthe government and reach somedecision.

If the strike ends, thedemand during Gudi Padwa aswell as the entire festival seasonis going to be phenomenal,” he

added.Waman Hari Pethe Director

Aditya Pethe rued that there is alot of confusion in the con-sumer's mind with regard to thejewellers' strike as 80 per cent ofthe shops are shut since last onemonth.

“However, if the agitation isover soon, then the offtake willzoom as there is lot of backlogconsumer demand. We expectminimum 30-35 per cent rise indemand on the Gudi Padwa day.It will be very high during thefestive season,” he added.

“The demand will be at leastthree-fold during Gudi Padwa,where people consider it auspi-cious to buy gold, due to a lot ofpent-up demand that was help upfollowing the all India strike byjewellers across the country,”PNG Jewellers CMD SaurabhGadgil told PTI here. ��

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Following one of the worstweeks of his campaign,

Republican presidential can-didate Donald Trump was ondefence as he kicked off athree-day sprint toWisconsin's primary.

Contenders in both partiescrisscrossed the Midwesternstate seeking an edge ahead ofTuesday's primaries, none moreactively than Trump, who'shad a rough week and faces alikely struggle against TexasSenator Ted Cruz in the state,who has passed Trump inrecent Wisconsin polls.

The Republican race isovershadowed by a persistenteffort by Trump's rivals in thecampaign and the party toforce the nomination fight intothe July convention -- and byhis equivocations on whetherhe will be loyal to theRepublican Party or bolt for anindependent candidacy if hefeels mistreated.

Trump began the after-noon with a rally in theMilwaukee suburb of Racineyesterday, where he defended aseries of controversial com-

ments in recent days on NATO,abortion and his remark thatJapan and South Korea shouldperhaps be allowed to acquirenuclear weapons.

"This politics is a toughbusiness," said Trump."Because you can say thingsone way and the press will crit-icise you horribly. You say itanother way and the press willcriticise you horribly."

Off the stage, in a morereflective moment, Trumpexpressed regret that he hadretweeted an unflattering photoof rival Ted Cruz's wife, Heidi,paired with a glamorous photoof his own wife, Melania, aformer model, as part of a bit-ter feud between the two men.

"Yeah, it was a mistake," hetold New York Times columnistMaureen Dowd. "If I had to doit again, I wouldn't have sent it."

Cruz sought favour inNorth Dakota, which is notholding a primary or caucus-es in the 2016 Republicanrace. He addressedRepublicans at a state conven-tion that is selecting delegateswho will go to the nationalconvention unbound to any ofthe presidential candidates.

Trump and Ohio Gov JohnKasich sent supporters on theirbehalf to make the case thatthey should be backed by NorthDakota's delegates at theCleveland convention in July.

The Democratic race

between Hillary Clinton andBernie Sanders has grownincreasingly bitter, too, thoughit has not matched theRepublican contest for rawhostility. Their attention willquickly turn to an even moreconsequential contest, in NewYork on April 19, where theDemocratic front-runner dear-ly hopes to avoid an upset inthe state she served as senator.Sanders, who was born inBrooklyn, can claim New Yorkas his home state.

Sanders urged rally-goersto come out in droves onTuesday.

"Here is the political real-ity," he told a young and

pumped-up crowd of thou-sands on the University ofWisconsin's Eau Claire campus."If there is a large voter turnout,if working people, many ofwhom have given up on thepolitical process, if young peo-ple come, perhaps for the firsttime we will win on Tuesday."

Clinton sought to draw acontrast with Sanders by

emphasising her Democraticbona fides. Before hundredsgathered in a hotel ballroom inEau Claire later yesterday, theformer secretary of state stressedthat she has been "a proudDemocrat all my adult life andI think that's kind of importantif we're selecting somebody tobe a Democratic nominee of theDemocratic Party."

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Sydney: Australia opposes Donald Trump's suggestionthat Japan and South Korea should develop nuclear weaponssince this would "add considerably" to the risk of regional con-flict, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said today.

The Republican presidential front-runner had declaredhe would withdraw US troops from both countries and allowthem to develop their own nuclear arsenals.

But Turnbull said regional power Australia, a US ally, was"opposed to the further proliferation of nuclear weapons".

"That is absolutely not the view of Australia," the primeminister told Sky News of Trump's nuclear policy comments.

"We would not support, in fact we would strenuouslyoppose, I think, as a global community, the further prolif-eration of nuclear weapons.

"Clearly... It would add considerably to tensions and therisk of conflict in the region."

South Korea and Japan last week offered muted reactionsto Trump's comments. There are nearly 30,000 US troops per-manently stationed in South Korea and 47,000 in Japan, withlittle appetite for nuclear weapons in either nations.

The White House on Friday said Trump's policy wouldshatter doctrine held for decades with "catastrophic" conse-quences. Turnbull in February unveiled a major new invest-ment in Australia's defence capabilities. AFP

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Azerbaijan on Sundayannounced a unilateral

ceasefire after the worst vio-lence over disputed NagornoKarabakh in more than twodecades, but Armenian forcessaid clashes were continuingdespite international appeals tostop fighting.

"Azerbaijan, showing goodwill, has decided to unilateral-ly cease hostilities", Azerbaijan'sdefense ministry said in a state-ment, warning it would "liber-ate all (Armenian-) occupiedterritories" if Armenian forces"do not stop provocations."

Baku also pledged to "rein-force" several strategic positionsit said it had "liberated" insidethe region, which is controlledby Armenia but international-ly recognised as part ofAzerbaijan.

But spokesman for theArmenian-backed rebeldefense ministry in Karabakh,David Babayan, told that fight-ing has never been halted alongthe frontline.

"Fierce fighting is underway on southestern and north-eastern sectors of the Karabakhfrontline," he said.

Earlier on Sunday,Karabakh forces claimed they

took back the strategic Lala-Tepe height in Karabakh whichwas captured by Azeri troopson Saturday.

Baku denied the report,saying that the height remainedunder its control and that rebeltroops sustained "serious man-powewr losses."

On Saturday, fierce clash-es left at least 18 Armenian and12 Azerbaijani soldiers deadand reportedly claimed thelives of two civilians after bothsides accused each other ofattacking with heavy weapon-ry across the volatile frontline.

Both Russia and the Westappealed to all sides to showrestraint.

Ethnic Armenian sepa-ratists backed by Yerevan seizedcontrol of the mountainous

region in a war in the early1990s that claimed some 30,000lives.

The foes have never signeda peace deal despite a ceasefirein 1994. The region is still inter-nationally recognised as part ofAzerbaijan and the two sidesfrequently exchange fire, butthe latest episode marked asurge in violence and sparkedfrantic appeals for peace frominternational powers.

Energy-rich Azerbaijan,whose military spending has inthe past exceeded Armenia'sentire state budget, has repeat-edly threatened to take back thebreakaway region by force ifnegotiations fail to yield results.

Moscow-backed Armeniasays it could crush any offen-sive.

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The Syrian army on Sundayfully captured a key city in

the central province of Homsnear the ancient city ofPalmyra, following intense bat-tles against the Islamic State(IS) militant group.

The Syrian forces backed byRussian warplanes stormed thecity of Qaryatain from a num-ber of directions, a day afterSyria's boots on the groundstormed areas in the westernparts of that key city, Xinhuanewds agency reported.

A military source said thatthe army's entry into Qaryataincame after the bomb squadsdismantled explosive devicesand other booby-traps the ISterrorists had planted to thwartthe advance of the Syrian army.

On Saturday, the Syrianforces unleashed a wide-scaleoffensive on the city, which hassucceeded in breaking throughthe IS defences in the westernpart of that predominantly-Christian city.

The Russian warplanes areplaying a significant role inhelping retake Qaryatain, thesource added.

The military campaign toreclaim Qaryatain came lessthan a week after the Syrian

army captured Palmyra, whichhad been held by the IS for 10months.

Meanwhile, the state newsagency SANA said the Syrianair force struck the IS positionsin the eastern and southernparts of the city.

Qaryatain is the last ISstronghold near the moun-tainous region of Qalamoun,north of Damascus and close tothe Lebanese borders.

The IS militants who with-drew from Palmyra have holedup in Qaryatain, 85 km south-east of Homs.

The city is strategicallyimportant due to its proximi-ty to the Syrian city of Qara, astronghold of the HezbollahShia group, which is fightingalongside the Syrian army inkey battlefields in the country.

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Pakistani Interior MinisterChaudhry Nisar Ali Khan

reiterated that Iran was notworking hand in glove withIndian intelligence agencyRAW to stoke instability inIslamabad.

"Iran has nothing to dowith the activities of Indianintelligence network. Kite fly-ing regarding arrest of Indianspy and his links with Iran muststop now," he told reporters ata press conference here onSaturday.

The minister said that animpression was being given ina section of media that Iran wasinvolved in certain negativeactivities against Pakistan, theDaily Times reported.

Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khansaid some elements wanted todamage positive and historicbrotherly relations and createmisunderstandings betweenthe two countries.

Nisar Ali Khan said thematter of relations betweenthe two countries must not belinked with arrest of theIndian spy.

"I appeal to media not tocreate an impression as if Iranis facilitating RAW’s activities

in Pakistan. Pakistan and Iranare tied in decades-long reli-gious, social, cultural and polit-ical bonds and nothing cancome in way of our relations,”he said.

The issue of arrest of RAWagent was taken up by PakistanArmy chief General RaheelSharif with Iranian PresidentHassan Rouhani.

“There is one concern thatRAW is involved in Pakistan,especially in Balochistan, andsometimes also uses the soil ofour brother country, Iran,”the army chief told the visitingdignitary.

“I request, they should betold to stop these activitiesand allow Pakistan to achievestability,” the army chief said,according to a release issued bythe Inter-Services PublicRelations (ISPR) after theirmeeting.

However, PresidentHassan Rouhani at a pressconference held later in the daydenied that the issue of Indianspy agency’s involvement inPakistan was discussed duringhis meeting with the PakistaniArmy chief.

“Whenever Iran comescloser to Pakistan, suchrumours are spread,” he said.

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Over 250 militants havebeen killed in Pakistan in

army operations in the last twomonths along the porous Pak-Afghan border, the militarysaid.

"The battle to clear thelast pocket close to the Pak-Afghan border continues," theInter-Services Public Relationssaid, adding that all heightsover 9,000 feet have beencleared.

"Major terrorist hubs" inMana, Gurbaz, Lataka, Inzarkasand Magrotai areas have beencleared of militants, it added.

"Terrorists' hideouts weredestroyed, a cache of arms andammunition recovered andthere was virtually no com-munications infrastructureremaining in the Shawal areaonce the operation waslaunched in Feb this year,"Dawn quoted the statement assaying.

Hundreds of troops,backed by fighter jets, havebeen chasing the remainingmilitants in Shawal Valleywhere they are hiding, thestatement said.

The militants have been

killed under the Zarb-i-Azbmilitary operation which waslaunched in North Waziristannearly two years ago after abrazen militant attack onKarachi's international airportand the failure of peace talksbetween the government andTehreek-e-Taliban Pakistannegotiators.

The operation entered itslast phase in February thisyear.

"During the last phase ofoperation in Shawal, 252 ter-rorists have been killed, andreportedly 160 were severelyinjured. In the last two months,valiantly fighting in Shawal,

eight soldiers of the PakistanArmy embraced shahadat(martyrdom) while 39 injured,"the statement said.

"Since the launch of the lastphase in February 2016, armytroops have been fightingvaliantly and have cleared 640square km of Shawal area," itsaid.

During the last phase ofZarb-e-Azb, return ofTemporarily Displaced Personswas progressing according toplan, as 37,012 families inNorth Waziristan Agency -- 36percent of such persons --have returned to their homes,the statement added.

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ABrussels Airlines flight tothe Portuguese city of Faro

became the first plane today totake off from Brussels Airportsince it was hit by Islamic Stateattacks on March 22.

Staff and government offi-cials at the airport marked thedeparture with a minute'ssilence and a round of applause.The passengers on board werethe first to undergo the airport'sstrict new security regime afterthe suicide bombings.

The key travel hub hasbeen closed since two menblew themselves up in the

departure hall on March 22 incoordinated blasts that alsostruck a metro station in theBelgian capital, killing a total of32 people.

The attacks at the heart ofEurope shocked the countryand many hope the airport'sreopening, albeit in a limitedcapacity and using a tent-liketemporary check-in facility,will help turn the page on thismonth's traumatic events.

Brussels Airport chief exec-utive Arnaud Feist yesterdaysaid the partial resumption ofservices would start with three"symbolic passenger flights" toFaro, Athens and Turin.

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Arustic, three story-Arabicbookstore in old Istanbul has

become an anchor for manySyrians who have stayed put inTurkey but crave a taste of home.

The founder and owner ofPages, Samer al-Kadri, a refugeehimself, says the store strives tobe a bridge between Syrians,Turks and the myriad of for-eigners who visit the city.

Its weekly programmeincludes music concerts and,start ing soon, languageexchanges in Arabic, English

and Turkish. Books are avail-able in all three languages. Al-Kadri is acutely aware that thelanguage barrier "has made itdifficult for Syrians to reallyintegrate into society."

Turkey is hosting 2.7 mil-lion Syrian refugees and isdue to receive many moreunder a plan with theEuropean Union that aims tohalt the smuggling ofmigrants into Europe. Thedeal stipulates that for everySyrian returned, anotherSyrian in Turkey will be relo-cated to a European country.

The plan has drawn con-siderable criticism from humanrights groups, who worry thatTurkey is not a suitable havenfor asylum-seekers and fear itcould pave the way for massdeportations.

Amnesty Internationalsays Turkey has already scaleddown its registration of Syrianrefugees and is illegally send-ing back refugees to its war-torn neighbour. Turkey hascommitted to giving workpermits to its Syrian "guests"but there are signs this perkmay be riddled with caveats.

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The Moon may play a majorrole in maintaining Earth's

magnetic field that perma-nently protects us from thecharged particles and radiationthat originate in the Sun,according to a new study.

The magnetic field is pro-duced by the geodynamo, therapid motion of huge quantitiesof liquid iron alloy in theEarth's outer core.

To maintain this magneticfield until the present day, theclassical model required theEarth's core to have cooled byaround 3,000 degrees Celsiusover the past 4.3 billion years.

Now, a team ofresearchers from the NationalCentre for Scientific Research(CNRS) and Universite BlaisePascal in France suggests that,on the contrary, its tempera-ture has fallen by only 300

degrees Celsius.The action of the Moon,

overlooked until now, isthought to have compensatedfor this difference and keptthe geodynamo active,researchers said.

The classical model of theformation of Earth's magnet-ic field raised a major paradox.For the geodynamo to work,Earth would have had to betotally molten four billionyears ago, and its core wouldhave had to slowly cool fromaround 6,800 degrees Celsiusat that time to 3,800 degreesCelsius today.

However, recent model-ling of the early evolution of theinternal temperature of theplanet, together with geo-chemical studies of the com-position of the oldest carbon-atites and basalts, do not sup-port such cooling.

With such high tempera-

tures being ruled out, theresearchers propose anothersource of energy in their study.

Earth has a slightly flat-tened shape and rotates aboutan inclined axis that wobblesaround the poles. Its mantledeforms elastically due to tidaleffects caused by the Moon.

The researchers show thatthis effect could continuouslystimulate the motion of the liq-uid iron alloy making up theouter core, and in return gen-erate Earth's magnetic field.

The Earth continuouslyreceives 3,700 billion watts ofpower through the transfer ofthe gravitational and rotation-al energy of the Earth-Moon-Sun system, and over 1,000 bil-lion watts is thought to be avail-able to bring about this type ofmotion in the outer core.

This energy is enough togenerate the Earth's magneticfield, which together with the

Moon, resolves the major para-dox in the classical theory,researchers said.

Since neither the Earth'srotation around its axis, nor thedirection of its axis, nor theMoon's orbit are perfectly reg-ular, their combined effect onmotion in the core is unstableand can cause fluctuations inthe geodynamo.

This process could accountfor certain heat pulses in theouter core and at its boundarywith the Earth's mantle.

Over the course of time,this may have led to peaks indeep mantle melting and pos-sibly to major volcanic eventsat the Earth's surface.

This new model showsthat the Moon's effect on theEarth goes well beyond mere-ly causing tides.

The research was pub-lished in the journal Earthand Planetary Science Letters.

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Remember the scene from the movieNotting Hill where Julia Roberts’s char-acter Anna Scott gives a description of

what it is like to be a star, with the constantintrusion of the paparazzi. There was, in par-ticular, one dialogue that sums best the livesof celebrities, “And every time I get my heartbroken, the newspapers splash it about asthough it’s entertainment.”

With every passing minute, the death of24-year-old Pratyusha Banerjee is becomingmurkier — with the father of Rahul Raj Singhclaiming that the actress was about to severties with her family and his mother statingthat one who loves cannot kill. Over thepast two days, every form of socialmedia — Twitter, Facebook andInstagram — has been flooded withcondolences, pouring in from everypossible member of the televisionfraternity and also some fromBollywood.

Amidst all the “RIPs”, “sadto hear about her death” and“strength for her family”, a fewactors have actually had thesense to speak up about howdeath is not the only solutionone could resort to when alloptions in hand are exhausted.

Some celebs have the nerve tofight through whatever is bother-ing them, while some succumb toit. Case in point would be DeepikaPadukone, who sought counsellingand overcame her phase of depression.And that is exactly one of the points thatfew TV actors are trying to make.

“I worry there is something broken inour generation; there are so many sad eyeson happy faces. —Atticus. (sic),” said actorMouni Roy’s photo on photo sharing siteInstagram. Her reaction, at the news ofher friend’s death, did not look fake asshe apparently fainted at the hospital.

The actor’s opposition to the act thatBanerjee sought a solution in, found a voice

in her post which wished for the actor to shoesome strength to “overcome her woes.”

Even her neighbour Anuj Sachdeva, inhis statement, lamented the fact that heshould have at least knocked once and askedher about it. He mentioned that instead oftaking such drastic measures one should atleast attempt to talk to someone, “becausethat helps.”

Pratyusha’s fellow contestant at Bigg Bossand friend Kushal Tandon echoed Roy’s andSachdeva’s thoughts on Twitter which said,“Suicide doesnt take away the pain, it givesit to someone else.” And we agree. It mightbe the end for the victim but it triggers adecade of woes for family and friends.

We know what’s it like to feel depressedand alone with no place to go but that cer-tainly does not entitle anybody to take theirown life.

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Summer is here and what better than the pool side of theSt. Regis Mumbai to showcase a beautiful Spring

Summer’16 collection by designer Payal Khandwala at theLakme Fashion Week.

The geometric inspired range showcased the simplicityand complexity of shapes with an evocative play of negativeand positive spaces. The use of minimal flat shapes trans-

formed into a three dimensional forms. Repeats, lines,symmetry, asymmetry and angles echoed

across the outfits, creating interesting sil-houettes with hand-woven artisanal

details and tailoring focused on circles,triangles and the often forgotten par-allelogram.

The models looked fierce wearingensembles in a palette of whites

accentuated by shades of coral, fuschia,citrine, chartreuse, blush, and metal-lic vintage gold and silver adding a

dash of playfulness and brillianceto the ramp. Textures rangingfrom cottons, l inens,permpleating, lightweighthandwoven silks and neo-prene to silk organzas andhandcrafted brocades wereseen in full grandeur.

An array of handcraft-ed leather accessories bythe designer’s line Tachiwas showcased. A boldnew line of minimalbrass and leatherjewelry includingrings, necklaces,earrings, nosepins,

bangles and ankletswere designed to

complement this collection.

The motifs hand-woven in metallic goldand silver thread ingeometric patterns byartisans from Varanasi

and Bengal gave the col-lection a traditional yetcontemporary appeal,creating versati le outfits.

Celebrity guestswho supported thedesigner wereKonkana SenSharma, AdhunaAkhtar, ManasiScott , PerniaQ u r e s h i ,Priyanka Bose,Mini Mathurand SayaniGupta.

This femi-nine and relaxed

version of resort wearby Payal Khandwala

can take you from a summervacation to a summer

wedding.

Bengal is known for a lot of things —theatre, food, history and yes,

handicrafts. And it doesn’t end there.Just like the Banarasi silk is embeddedin the craftsmanship of that place, tex-tiles like jamdani, dhakai and tangail areinherent to the state, amongst others.

It was designer Chikky Goenka’slong dream to put Bengal in the fash-ion map of India. And along with PoojaRoy Yadav, founder and CEO, Nimai,she did exactly that by hosting the firstedition of the Travelling Trunk show inDelhi. The two day show displayedworks of designers from Kolkata.

“Both Chikky and I have been asso-ciated for the past two years where shehas hosted the store in Kolkata for var-ious shows. She was always keen tobring together the goodness of ‘Madein Bengal’ label in the form of aTravelling Trunk that went from onecity to the other to promote the richcraftsmen of Bengal,” said Yadav.

Goenka added, “I wanted to use myexpertise and sensibilities to supportand promote designers on a larger plat-form. Interact with the customers andlet them experience the diversity ofBengal fashion.”

Here’s what the designers had tosay:

� �� &��It was a great experience because

the idea was about cohesively showcas-ing brand Bengal to an audience out-side the state. As designers working

from Kolkata we retail at multi design-er stores across, but it is a different iden-tity when we do this together as a com-plete story.

We work with weaver clustersfrom all across India. This collection hastwo stories. One on textured light silksfor evening wear but has very classic sil-houettes like the kallidar kurta, capesand bandhgala. We have used upcycledpatchwork details as part of another.

��&��We used the expert crafts-

manship of the state in the collec-tion that was displayed. The mono-chrome collection Iron Fairies wasinspired from oriental paintings.Enlarged birds and floral appliquéswas a twist to the miniature orien-tal flowers and birds.

This was our first print line forwhich the first process of devel-oping screens of out artworksneeded us to work with the localartisans.

�� We have taken inspiration

from the traditional jamdani ofBengal and made a next-gen ver-sion of it in tussar and khadi.The signature motifs are allhandwoven and studio engi-neered. We worked with ourown team of weavers in the vil-lages of Bengal.

The collection is all aboutrevisiting and re-interpreting our tra-ditions. We revive the age-old Bengalisensibility with an urbane edge byusing studio-handwoven, new-agejamdani motifs. The main motif usedare the houses, full meenakari treeswith their roots intact, and peacocks.Our collection rightly complimentsthis philosophy as we go back tonature and back to basics but withthe right kind of edge and luxuri-ous global appeal.

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All actors in the limelight arefaced with a constant need

for perfection in all fields —work quality , looks and beau-ty, social life, career growth.Along with that comes hecticworking hours, lack of sleep,physical and mental stress fordelivering on time. Such stressedactors go through a lot of con-flicts due to their multi-focaltasking and are more prone forinstant gratification like alcoholand drugs and living for themoment behaviour.

At some point, they do gothrough an ‘occupationalburnout’ (or a milder versiontermed brownout). It all startswith the zest for proving oneselfthrough compulsive working.

All other needs take a backseat.Perception and values startchanging leading to isolationand some behaviour changes likeaggression, becoming emotion-ally blunt and preferring socialwithdrawal. Their life starts get-ting more machine-like andpredictable. Along with pressureon the body, the constant over-drive on the mind can lead todepression and in severe casessuicidal ideation as the onlymeans of rescue from the situ-ation. Learning how to dealwith day to day stressors doeshelp. Meditation, yoga and relax-ation exercises all play an impor-tant role along with time man-agement and coping skills.Sometimes an anti-depressantpill may be prescribed by a men-tal health professional so thatdepression is kept at bay andwork focus is not lost.

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Shocked angry hurt & very dis-turbed with the fact that

Pratyusha took her own life onaccount of a bad relationship or theother hardships she was fighting inher life. We all have several battlesto fight & darkest nights after nightswe struggle through fear and painand lost causes but there s always amaster there who can take ustowards light again. We need to seekhelp, take that one step, ask for ahand to hold need be, but this, thisis not right. Lets not be so unfair toour parents, siblings, friends or

anyone who saw even a tiniest bitof hope in us. This is really real-ly sad and heartbreaking; I wishshe had an ounce of strength to

overcome her woes & had exercisedher ghosts and lived still. A day toolate now, I pray that her soul s peace-ful and transcends to her wishfulheaven. Shall always remember youas the emotional, lost beautiful girl.This is really sad (sic)”

�'�� Actor Kushal Tandon, who

knew Banerjee since theirtime together in the Bigg Bosshouse, took to micro blogging siteTwitter, calling suicide a “selfish actwhich needs to be addressed.”The statement read,“SAD...If Life is diffi-cult...But why dothis...This is not the wayto end your life, rippratyusha my sweetfriend, strength to herfamily sad sad sad, sui-cide doesnt take awaythe pain, it gives it tosomeone else... Andthat is to family mem-bers.... Suicide is a selfish act...Depression needs address b4suicide remains d only desti-nation, A girl died... let herloved ones mourn in peace...social media may not haveconscience... but it can havea heart... (sic).”

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Count your blessings, not your calories; weighyour options, not your self-worth. Starve your

self hatred, not your body; hate the disorder, notyourself

We all eat to live in order to survive, becauseif we stop eating, we would die. Hence to avoidthis fate, we all eat good food and drink enoughwater. However, nowadays there has been a newprevalent fashion of ‘live to eat’ that’s getting ram-pant in society. This new concept has nothing todo with our biological survival. Those whoindulge in this do it because of some other rea-son outside of simply staying alive. In short, eat-ing to live is a biological understanding whereas,living to eat is a psychological, social, and emo-tional disorder that needs an urgent attentionbecause emotional and disordered eating canwreak havoc on our mental, emotional, and phys-ical health if left unaddressed. And, not to men-tion, the massive amount of time and energy ittakes up, leaving one much less able to focus onwhat really matters in a person’s life.

For most of us, emotional eating has becomea habit of comfort — in other words, it’s a behav-ior induced by certain cues like situations, feel-ings, people, commercials, et al. Scientific stud-ies done over the years reveal that animals andpeople that were more stressed ended up eatingmore and getting fatter. In general, most of us con-sider emotional eating as a food addiction, justlike we consider shopping, gambling, and otherbehaviors as addictions.

There is no doubt that these behaviors cansometimes seem to take on a life of their own andmake you feel like you’re just going along for ascary ride. But are they all same? Well, they doseem like addictions on the surface, and it maybe handy to use the term as a metaphor. But there’s

an important difference, and hence using the termaddiction to describe behavioral disorders that arenot physical addictions tends to blur that distinc-tion.

We need to understand the difference thatemotional eating and other behaviors are com-pulsions, not addictions. A compulsion issomething you feel you have to do; an addic-tion is something you can’t live without.Emotional eating, therefore, is a psycholog-ical compulsion to do something that wouldotherwise cause emotional distress, notphysical withdrawal. The force that drives thebehavior, is the need to counteract feelingcontrolled by certain external forces by act-ing out against those or other external forces.The goal is to even one’s per-ception of the playing fieldin the ongoing tensionbetween externaldemands and internalautonomy.

Learning torecognise youremotional eatingtriggers is the firststep to breakingfree from foodcravings and com-pulsive overeating,and changing thehabits that have sabo-

taged our diets in the past. Using food from timeto time as a reward, or to celebrate isn’t necessar-ily a bad thing. But, when eating becomes our pri-mary emotional coping mechanism and when ourfirst impulse is to open the refrigerator whenev-er we get upset, angry, lonely, stressed, exhaust-ed, or bored,we get stuck up in an unhealthy cyclewhere the real feeling or problem is neveraddressed. Remember, emotional hunger cannever be filled with food.

Eating may feel good in weak moments, butthe feelings that triggered the eating would be stillhiding within. So, its better to target those hid-den feelings rather than turning onto un-neces-sary and extra eating. If you don’t know how tomanage your emotions in a way that doesn’tinvolve food, you won’t be able to control your eat-ing habits for very long.

Don’t tell yourself you can’t give in to the crav-ing; remember, the forbidden is

extremely tempting. So just try toput off eating for five minutes, ormaybe one minute. Whileyou’re waiting, check in withyourself. How are you feeling?What’s going on emotionally?After this process, even if youend up eating, you’ll have abetter understanding of why

you did it. This can help you setyourself up for a different response

next time. Psychologist’s who have examined

patients with eating disorders foundthat those who were taught how to med-itate had lower levels of relapse and morepositive outcomes after release thanthose who received only conventionaldiet or nutrition treatments.

Hence it would not be difficult torecognise value of meditation for elim-ination of habit of stress eating andintroduce this theory and practice as asubject in education so that the youth

and children can be saved from this fataldisorder which is more prevalent among

them. Remember, calming the mind for a fewminutes may provide the distance needed to makea reasonable and healthy decision about whetherto eat a chocolate cake or go in for a meditationsession. So let us all make the right choice of ahealthy future by saying no to emotional eatingand yes to meditation.

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In an era when technology dominates life,health is often neglected. Here is a book that

offers healthy recipes straight from the IshaYoga Centre; another that revolves around thecauliflour, said to be the best way to lose weight.

Then, suggestions on how to act, react andcope when one is bored; and finally, a tale ofa boy whose life gets entangled in a protest heldin Seattle. There's much on offer on the IANSbookshelf this weekend. Read on!

Book: A Taste of Well-Being; Author: IshaYoga Centre; Publisher: Harper; Pages: 200;Price: �299

At a time when a variety of cuisines are eas-ily available, how do we choose what to eat?Food products labelled healthy one day areabruptly dismissed as lethal, while crash dietsand celebrity regimens are trashed by nutrition-ists.

This book brings together a wealth ofrecipes ranging from refreshing juices and sal-ads to complete meals of grains, cereals andcurries to tasty desserts – all perfected in thekitchen of the Isha Yoga Centre.

Book: The Cauliflower Diet; Author:Radha Thomas; Publisher: Random House;Pages: 205; Price: �299

The cauliflower is an extremely versatilevegetable that can blend into any kind of cui-sine in the world. It is one of the best keptsecrets in the dieting community. It is an almostperfect substitute for several types of starch likeflour, pasta, rice and even potato.

The book is a guide on how the cauliflowercan be used in the preparation of all the thingsone loves – rice, upma, cookies and even pizza.Read how this vegetable even helps to shedkilos in a short time.

Book: The Upside of Downtime; Author:Sandi Mann; Publisher: Robinson; Pages: 319;Price: �399

Despite being constantly connected totechnology, we hardly know what boredomfeels like. Yet, boredom appears to be on therise. One is loosing the ability to tolerate theroutine and repetition of everyday life.

Sandi Mann’s book is based on ground-breaking research to tell you how to act, reactand cope when you are bored. It explores theidea that there is a positive side to boredomthat can be a catalyst for humour, fun, creativ-ity and inspiration.

Book: Your Heart is a Muscle The Size ofa Fist; Author: Sunil Yapa; Publisher: Hachette;Pages: 308; Price: �599

Victor, the main character of the book,finds himself pounding the streets of Seattlewith little meaning or purpose after he turnshomeless following a family tragedy. Hisestranged father is the police chief of Seattleand is in charge of one of the largest protests.

In amongst the fray, Victor and his fatherare heading for a collision course. Set amid thebackdrop of protests against the World TradeOrganisation, the book is a deeply charged one,showcasing a distinct and exciting new liter-ary voice.

When MC Mary Komreturned to India afterwinning the bronze

medal at the 2012 LondonOlympics, there were three thingsshe brought home with her —pride for her country, the medaland a little known AnnaSarkissian, who followed Kom forone simple reason — to acquaintherself with the life and dailystruggles of a woman boxer inIndia. She went with Kom to hervillage in Manipur and spent dayswith her trying to understand herlife and how she balanced herhome and her sport.

And she did not stop there.Sarita Devi and Chhoto Lourawere on her list, too. Along withToronto-based Ameesha Joshi,Sarkissian recently released a 87-minute documentary on thewomen boxers in India titledWith This Ring. It can be consid-ered as a clutter breaker in theseries of biopics Bollywood ischurning out on cricketers andsprinters. It neither boasts of astar, who spent a chunk of his or

her time in the gym trying to getinto shape, nor of a huge crew andfancy editing. It is a simple storyof the daily struggles that thesewomen of steel go through to geta decent training ground, prop-er guidance and the restrictionsthey face from society.

It all started with a photo-graph exhibition that Joshiattended in Montreal in 2015 —displaying the works of Danishphotographer Miriam KSDalsgaard, capturing womenboxers at a beach in Chennai.

Growing up in Canada, Joshidid not know that India hadfemale boxers to begin with.“Not uptil that exhibition, and ittook be by surprise,” she said.That aspect intrigued her somuch that she started digging upinformation on the same butcould not find much material.“There was very less informationon the Internet and I had no ideawhere to get them from,” sheadded. It was then that she got toknow about Mary Kom, alreadya two time world champion by

then. “I decided to make a filmon female boxers in India becauseI wanted more information onthese women,” she shared.

Her decision brought her toIndia later the same year.Although it was a family trip buther main motive was to find outmore female boxers in the coun-try. “When I met a few more andsaw them practicing, despitethe hardships, I knew I had todo it. Their practice sessionswere incredible,” Joshi said.

Together with Sarkissian,Joshi met a few women boxerswho were in the initial stages oftheir training, apart from Kom,Sarita Devi and Chhoto Loura.“They are really big star but stilldown to earth. They are themost hard working women Ihave ever met. They are interna-tional players but when I metthem, I found them ordinaryand simple girls like us,” Joshirecounted.

Five summers and 197hours of footage later, Joshi andSarkissian were finally satisfied

with the information they got.The only task that loomed overthem was condensing all thecontent into an hour of docu-mentary. That was when JackieDzuba came in as the editor.

“We chopped a video of 197hours into one hour — thanksto Dzuba. We met on Skype toexchange ideas and we reviewedcuts via Vimeo. It took a longtime and we faced many hurdles,but we made it through,” Joshielaborated.

The process was long andtedious and they began by tak-ing detailed noted of the footagecollected. Joshi worked with ahuge team of volunteer transla-tors to make subtitles for theinterviews taken in Hindi,Manipuri and nine other region-al languages. “I have never livedin India. So while I may under-stand a bit of the language, I can-not speak it,” Joshi pointed outand mentioned that she wasgrateful to Tamara Taddeo, afilmmaker friend, for helping ingiving shape to the film.

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Having clinched their maidenWomen's WT20 title, West Indies

skipper Stafanie Taylor today said thatthe historic triumph should act as thestepping stone for the development ofthe women's game in the Caribbeans.

"We have to move on from here notjust enjoy look at it stepping stone. Wedon't want to stuck here. We definitelyneed some infrastructure like inAustralia and England. We need youngguys coming up," Taylor said.

"When these core players go, it willdeteriorate. We need to start building.We need consistency to compete teamslike England and Australia," she added.

Taylor, who hit a 57-ball 59 today,said the mindset of targetting to batthrough instead of thinking theEngland total helped to her side winthe final match.

"It's funny, we never discussed thetotal. We just we wanted to bat through,it was good to keep wickets in hand. Wecould do that stay there and batthrough," Taylor said as the West Indieschased down the target of 149 to halt aquadruple of titles by the Australians.

Taylor said she and her team-mateswere still feeling "unreal" about winningthe title. "I don't think it has sunk in yet.When we wake up in the morning it'sgoing to be like is it real trophy. I willask myself is this real. When we touchdown at the Caribbean that's when it'sgoing to hit you. A lot of people withcameras you will realise that you havewon the World Cup," Taylor said.

Lanning heaped praise on Windiesbatter Hayley Matthews who struck a 45-ball 66 to set up her side's win.

"She's very talented, she had a goodseries against us. It was not a surprise.She played exceptionally well," Lanningsaid.

Facing criticism for Pakistan'sdismal show in the WT20,

Shahid Afridi on Sunday steppeddown as captain of the team but willcontinue to play in the shortest for-mat of the game.

The Afridi-led Pakistan failedmake it to the semifinals of the WT20in India, where his comments alsodrew the ire of former players.

The 36-year-old all-rounder andthe Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) hadhinted that World T20 could well bebe his last as skipper.

"Today, I wish to inform my fansin Pakistan and all over the world thatI am relinquishing the captaincy of theT20 Pakistani team of my own voli-tion," Afridi said in a statement,released on his twitter account.

"On this day, I thank Allah(SWT) for His Kindness and Mercywhich enabled me to discharge myleadership duties, to the best of myabilities for the sake of honour andprestige of my motherland. For me itwas a great honour to lead my coun-try in all three formats of the game,"Afridi wrote in his statement.

Afridi, however, asserted that hewill be available for selection as a play-er in the team even though PCBChairman Shaharyar Khan has madeit clear that the all-rounder is nolonger a surety in the side.

"My profound thanks to the PCBand its Chairman Shaharyar Khanwho gave me the honour to lead thenational team. I would also like toinform that InshaAllah I intend tocontinue to play the game for mycountry and league cricket etc. And

request my fans for kindly keeppraying and supporting for my bestfuture performances for Pakistan (as

a player); and in all other arenas of thegame, world over."

The mercurial cricketer played 27Tests for Pakistan before retiringfrom the format in 2010 with 1716runs and 48 wickets.

Afridi found himself mired incontroversies during Pakistan's WorldT20 campaign. First, he drew flak inPakistan for stating that he and hisplayers were loved more in India thanback home.

Pakistan cricket coach WaqarYounis on Sunday refused to step

down from his position despitebeing in the line of fire for the team'sdisastrous World Twenty20 cam-paign, saying that he will not go outas a "villain".

"I am being portrayed as the vil-lain. If the Board wants to remove methey first have to inform me in writ-ing. I have no issues but I will not golike this," Waqar said.

Pakistan cricket has been throwninto disarray after the team's poorperformances in the Asia Cup andWorld T20 but Waqar said he did all

he could to arrest the slide."I didn't request for the coach-

ing job. I applied for it with the PCB.I was interviewed by Mr Najam Sethiand I submitted a comprehensiveplan to him with which he concurredand the board appointed me ascoach," Waqar said in an interview.

"Unfortunately after the WorldCup 2015 Sethi never met me anddespite me pointing out severalissues I was facing in unfolding myplan no one in the board listened tome," he said.

"Now they are trying to blameme for everything. They want to sackme. I can go tomorrow. But if thingscontinue this way in Pakistan crick-et two years down the line someother coach would also find himselfin a similar position," he added.

West Indies bowlers effected amiddle-order collapse to restrictEngland to a decent 155 for 9

despite Joe Root's attractive half-centuryin the final of the ICC World T20, here onSunday night.

It was leg-spinner Samuel Badree(2/16 in 4 overs), who inflicted the initialdamage in a splendid opening act whileDwayne Bravo (3/37 in 4 overs) and CarlosBrathwaite (3/23 in 4 overs) displayed theirvariations

While triggering a collapse during theback-10. The last five overs produced ameagre 40 runs. Just when Root (54 in 36balls) along with Jos Buttler (36), lookedset for an imposing total, Bravo andBrathwaite wreaked havoc.

England were cruising 84 for 3 in 11.1overs with Root and Buttler having added61 runs already but were soon reduced to111 for 7, losing four wickets for 27 runswithin next three overs.

Before the collapse occured, theboundaries were flowing at that time whenBrathwaite dismissed Buttler. The batsmantried to pull the bowler over deep mid-wicket only to be holed out by Bravo.

Ben Stokes (13) and Root, who had hitseven crisp boundaries had added 26 runstogether when Bravo bowled a sharpboouncer to get rid of the former.

Moeen Ali (0), who has perennialproblem with short ball tried to tuck onefired in his rib cage to Denesh Ramdin.Root, who was getting edgy then playedan uncharacteristic lap shot to be caughtat short fine-leg as England never recov-ered from the blows.

England though benifitted from DavidWilley's cameo of 14-ball 21 (1x4, 2x6)

which helped tjem get past 150-run mark.West Indies had their gameplan

straight against the spin -wary Englishmenby sticking to Badree up front and thelegspinner bowled a rare wicket maiden inhis third over by dismissing Eoin Morgan.

Continuing his lean patch with the bat,the English skipper was deceived by a goo-gly and England were staring at doom at23/3 after 4.4 overs.

Thankfully for England, Rootremained a bystander and looked at easewith three fours in the previous over byBenn. Desperately needing a partnership,England found Butler to repair the dam-age with Root.

On a track that looked batting friend-ly with little in it for the spinners, the duocleverly rotated the strikes with the oddfour or six in between to step up their run-rate. Buttler was not there to be boggeddown by the Windies and exploded againstBenn in the 11th over with two clean hitssoaring into the crowd. But just as Englandlooked to roll on there was another break-through for the Windies in the form of thebig-hitting Buttler who smacked at mid-wicket only to be caught by Bravo.

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In a historic first, the West Indies women'scricket team ended three-time defending

champions Australia's domination by winningthe ICC World T20 title with an emphaticeight-wicket victory in the final here on Sunday.

The foundation of the successful chasewas laid by a 120-run partnership by open-ers Hayley Matthews (66 off 45) and skipperStafanie Taylor (59 off 57), who helped theteam chase a stiff target of 149.

The moment the West Indies reached thetarget courtesy an overthrow, the entiredugout jumped in joy as the team joined thetwo not out batswomen, Britney Cooper andDeandra Dottin, in the middle.

What made the celebrations more spe-cial was the men's team, led by captain DarrenSammy, bowling coach Curtley Ambrose andall-rounder Andre Russell joined everyone incongratulating the girls.

The girls, as promised to Dwayne Bravo,danced to the beats of the all-rounder's lat-est rap compilation 'Champion'.

It was also the West Indies' first win overAustralia in nine T20 Internationals.

Hayley was the star of their chase with acareer-best innings, while Stafanie continued

her sublime form with a solid knock.After Hayley holed out at the midwick-

et in the 16th over, the West Indies need-ed 29 from 26 balls and the equation wentdown to 14 from the last 2 overs but theexperienced Dottin made sure the team gothome comfortably.

With three needed from the last over,Dottin took a single to give the strike toCooper who ran a quick single and Aussiesnarrowly missed the stump as they complete

the winning run from the overthrow.Captain Meg Lanning (52) and opener

Elyse Villani (52) scored brisk half-centuriesbefore the West Indies fought back at the endto restrict three-time defending championsAustralia to 148 for five.

Villani set up the tempo with her 37-ballinnings and shared a 77-run partnership off60 balls with Lanning, who continued hergood run with second successive fifty.

Ellyse was looking dangerous with two

huge sixes but Dottin ensured that theAustralia did not do much damage in the lastover as they could muster only 36 runs fromthe last five overs, which proved to be the dif-ference. From being nine for no loss in thefirst three overs, the West Indies were quietat the start with Hayley looking dormant withtwo runs from eight balls.

In the next over, Hayley stepped on thegas taking charge on Rene Farrell with twoboundaries and in the next over she smackedSchutt over midwicket for a huge six.

But the massive turnaround came in thelast over of Powerplay when Stafanie toojoined in the act with two boundaries afterHayely's step-out six as they raced to 45/0.

Stafanie was happy to rotate the strikewhile Hayely went on the rampage as theSouthern Stars bowled too wide and full.

Hayley completed her maiden half-cen-tury in 35 balls with a six and boundaryagainst Jess Jonassen.

Earlier, opting to bat after winning a cru-cial toss in hot and sultry conditions,Australia were off to a flying start with Villanitaking charge after her opening partner AlyssaHealy (4) got out in a soft dismissal.

Villani raced to her second fifty andeighth overall in T20Is in 34 balls whileLanning was sensible at the start.

Lanning was a joy to watch as she com-pleted her second successive half-century.

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Cristiano Ronaldo scored late for 10-manReal Madrid to snatch a 2-1 comebackwin at Barcelona and revive its slim

hopes for the Spanish league title on Saturday.Madrid ended Barcelona's Spanish

record unbeaten streak at 39 games acrossall competitions with its first come-from-

behind win at Camp Nou since 1965,according to STATS.

In Zinedine Zidane's first clasi-co as a manager, Madrid avengeda 4-0 home loss to Barcelona itendured under Rafa Benitez in

November by dealing theCatalan club its first defeat

since Oct. 3.On a night that

Barcelona honored JohanCruyff with a movingtribute, it was Ronaldoand Madrid's star for-wards that outper-formed Lionel Messi,Neymar, and LuisSuarez.

"There are somethings above winning and losing,"Barcelona midfielder Andres Iniesasaid about Cruyff. "We were all think-ing about him and we weren't able toget the victory that we wanted."

After a lackluster first half,Barcelona's Gerard Pique opened thescoring with a header in the 56th.But after Karim Benzema equalizedsix minutes later, instead of stayingtrue to the trademark ball-possession

style that Cruyff instilled at the club,Barcelona lost its hold of the match andwent on fruitless charges forward.

The up-and-down flow played toMadrid's favor, and Ronaldo slotted inthe winner off a counterattack in the85th, moments after Madrid's SergioRamos received a second booking.

"Even before Ramos' sending off,there were five minutes when we did-

n't have control of the match," Piquesaid. "I don't know if we got tired, but we

couldn't find a way to attack."The big win kept Madrid in third place,

one point behind Atletico Madrid after its5-1 win over Real Betis, reducing thedeficit with Barcelona to seven points with

seven rounds left.

Given the considerable gap and dwin-dling chances to overtake both frontrunners,Madrid's best shot at silverware still rests inthe Champions League, where it will playGerman side Wolfsburg on Wednesday.

"First, we have to overtake AtleticoMadrid because we are still third, and thenwe will see what happens," Zidane said."What I can say is that winning here is a hugereward for our players. It's very important forour morale, and just before we play a gamein the Champions League in Germany."

Despite the loss, Barcelona's quest torepeat its rare treble of Liga, Copa del Rey,and European Cup from last season remainsintact. Barcelona hosts Atletico in theChampions League on Tuesday.

"Their first goal unnerved us and unfor-tunately we lost our first game at home" thisseason, Barcelona coach Luis Enrique said."We have to shake it off and recover for theChampions League, which will be a demand-ing match. We have to think that we are still

the leaders with seven rounds left."Before kickoff, Barcelona played a video

of many former players giving thanks to for-mer player and manager Cruyff, who diedof lung cancer last week. The 90,000-pluscrowd responded with a long ovation, andformed a huge mosaic with the message"Thanks Johan" in Catalan while they sangthe club anthem before a minute of silence.

The same message was also painted on theside of the pitch and worn on the players'shirts.

The intensity revved up after halftime,and Keylor Navas had to dive and stretch toturn Messi's crafty lobbed shot past his post.From the resulting corner, there was noth-ing Navas could do to keep out Pique's point-blank header.

Madrid quickly leveled against the flowof the match when Marcelo led a disorga-nized attack that undid Barcelona when ToniKroos' deflected pass fell to Benzema tosweep in.

While Barcelona battled to regain com-mand, Madrid mounted counterattacks.Gareth Bale appeared to have scored but hisgoal was waived off for a foul on Jordi Alba.Moments later, Ronaldo sent a ball off thetop of the bar. Elsewhere, Valencia lost at LasPalmas 2-1 in the debut of coach PakoAyestaran, while Deportivo La Corunadrew at Celta Vigo 1-1.

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Leicester surged seven pointsclear at the Premier League

summit by reeling off a fourthsuccessive 1-0 victory Sunday,with Wes Morgan's first-halfbullet header seeing offSouthampton.

By netting his first goal ofthe season, Morgan is a step clos-er to becoming the first Leicestercaptain in the club's 132-yearhistory to lift the Englishtopflight trophy next month.

With another dogged defen-sive display and win, ClaudioRanieri's team took full advan-tage of second-place Tottenham.

A year ago, Leicester wasseven points from safety strand-ed at the bottom of the standingsbefore embarking on an aston-ishing recovery.

Now backed by a seven-point lead, Leicester can affordto lose two of its remaining sixgames if it wins the other four.

There's already a celebratoryatmosphere at the modest centralEngland club. The late-seasonrecovery that saved the centralEngland team from relegationimprobably carried into this cam-

paign with fans already singing,"We're gonna win the league."

It's the fans who will be lav-ishing their owner with gifts ifthe pre-season 5,000-1 title out-siders become one of the unlike-liest champions in English foot-ball history.

Southampton was thePremier League team trying tobreak up the established order acouple years ago. The southcoast club couldn't hold onto itsplace in the top four though andcashed in on its stars.

But Leicester is lasting the

course with a strong work ethicand togetherness encapsulatedby the word "fearless" that fea-tures pitch-side.

Leicester was camped insideSouthampton's half for the open-ing half-hour but couldn't man-age a shot on target.

Leicester had a lucky escapein the 32nd minute too whenreferee Michael Oliver didn'taward a penalty to Southampton.

Sadio Mane broke throughand rounded goalkeeper KasperSchmeichel. His resulting shotwas blocked by Danny Simpson'sraised right arm but play wasallowed to continue. Like sooften this season, Schmeichelrescued his team by tippingaway Jose Fonte's powerful strikefrom 25 yards (meters).

Leicester's breakthroughcame in the 38th when Morganrose above Jordy Clasie to meetChristian Fuchs' cross from theleft flank, sending a headerbeyond goalkeeper Fraser Forster.

Forster was required tomake a fine save from his ownplayer to prevent Southamptongifting Leicester another. Fonte,attempting to clear DannyDrinkwater's deep ball, inadver-tently diverted it toward the topof the net before Forster scoopedit away. Cementing his creden-tials to be Joe Hart's Englandunderstudy, Forster thwartedLeicester again with five minutesto go, denying Jamie Vardy froma tight angle.

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Napoli's title hopes are all but over afterlosing 3-1 at Udinese to leave it six

points behind Serie A leader Juventus withonly seven rounds remaining.

To add to Napoli's misery, top goalscor-er Gonzalo Higuain was sent off followingtwo bookings. The Argentina internation-al was visibly agitated and had to be draggedoff the pitch by fellow players.

Second spot is also in jeopardy asthird-place Roma moved to within fourpoints of Napoli after winning the derbymatch against Lazio 4-1.

Bruno Fernandes gave Udinese thelead from the penalty spot in the 14thminute and although Higuain leveled withhis 30th goal in 31 matches, Fernandesscored again on the stroke of halftime,then Cyril Thereau sealed the result.

It could have been worse for Napolias goalkeeper Gabriel saved anotherFernandes penalty in the 26th minute.Napoli coach Maurizio Sarri was sent tothe stands for his resulting protests.

Fiorentina's chances of third spot andthe final Champions League spot alsodiminished as it was held to a 1-1 drawby 10-man Sampdoria. It is seven pointsbehind Roma and just one above InterMilan, which hosts Torino later.

Milan, whose players were wearingblack armbands following the death offormer player and coach Cesare Maldini,got off to the perfect start at Atalanta butwent on to lose 2-1, with home playerMauricio Pinilla scoring a stunning over-head kick

Elsewhere, relegation-threatened sidesFrosinone and Palermo are further introuble after losing 4-0 and 3-1 at Genoaand Chievo Verona, respectively.

It was a curious atmosphere in thederby as fans from Roma and Lazio againboycotted the match in protest at the secu-rity measures that split the StadioOlimpico "curve" — the ends of the sta-dium where the hardcore supporters sit.

Lazio had a number of regular play-ers out through injury, especially at theback and that had a part to play in Roma'sfirst goal as Stephan El Shaarawy was leftunmarked to head Lucas Digne's crossinto the bottom right corner.

Miralem Pjanic should have extend-ed Roma's lead but his shot from distancehit the right post.

Roma did double its lead shortly afterthe hour when Diego Perotti's long-range strike crashed off the left uprightand substitute Edin Dzeko rushed in tofire the rebound into the bottom right cor-ner with his first touch, four minutes aftercoming off the bench.

Lazio did get back into the match inthe 75th when Miroslav Klose headedover the onrushing Szczesny and Parolotapped into the empty net. But goals fromhomegrown Roma fan AlessandroFlorenzi and Perotti secured the points.

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Top Thai shuttler Ratchanok Intanonpocketed her second Yonex-Sunrise

India Open Super Series title with astraight-game victory over Olympic cham-pion Li Xuerui in the the women's singlesfinal at the Siri Fort Sports Complex hereon Sunday.

In a clash between two former cham-pions, it was Ratchanok who emerged vic-torious with a 21-17, 21-18 scoreline in amatching lasting 42 minutes. It was herfourth win over the former World No 1Chinese in 11 meetings. Li had won theIndia Open in 2012.

Japan's Kento Momota also won hisinaugural India Open title after seeing offDenmark's Viktor Axelsen 21-15, 21-18and sprawled on the court after hitting apowerful smash which earned him the title.It was Momota's fourth Super Series title.

Ratchanok, who lost to Saina Nehwalin the final here last year, said: "Li has goodskills, she is a very attacking player. I hadto prepare well for this match. Idea was notto make mistakes. The shuttle was very fasttoday, so I played it like a doubles match.My concentration was good. I was more

focused. I kept telling myself that it is onemore point and I should not commit errors.”

Ratchanok, who had beaten Li at theAsia Championship to break her titledrought last year, played with soft hands andher deceptive strokes earned her points.

Cheered by a packed vocal crowd, theThai girl opened up a big lead early on,reaching 5-1 and kept her nose ahead at 11-9 during the first interval. Li caught up withher rival at 15-15 but Ratchanok once again

managed to distance herself and pocket-ed the opening game when Li hit long.

Things didn't change much in the sec-ond game with Ratchanok once againzooming to a 7-1 lead. But the Thai girlerred at the nets a few times before pro-ducing a smash from the back court tomove into the break at 11-6.

After the break, the fight continued butRatchanok managed to stay ahead at 17-14. Li committed a lot of errors and hitwide to allow the Thai to make it 19-15.Another net error gave Ratchanok ahealthy four match points. The Chinesesaved two before Ratchanok closed a longengrossing rally with a smash.

In a all-Japanese women's doublessummit clash, Misaki Matsutomo andAyaka Takahashi beat Naoko Fukumanand Kurumi Yonao 21-18, 21-18, whileChinese pair of Lu Kai and Huang Yaqiongdefeated Indonesian combo of RikyWidianto and Puspita Richi Dili 21-13, 21-16 to win the mixed doubles title.

In the men's doubles, Indonesia'sGideon Markus Fernaldi and KevinSanjaya Sukamuljo defeated compatriotsAngga Pratama and Ricky KarandaSuwardi 21-17, 21-13 for the title.

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Aback-nine meltdown saw SChikkarangappa miss out on a chance

to win his third Asian Development Tourtitle, as he finished third here.

Chikk at one stage ran up a five-shotlead after a stirring start of four straightbirdies on first four holes and was bogey-free for 65 holes but dropped five shots,including two double bogeys on 12th and15th, to end with a round of 70 and a totalof 19-under for the week.

In contrast, Thai PavitTangkamolprasert birdied his last threeholes and caught up with local hero LinWen-tang to get into a play-off. Pavit beatLiun on the fourth play-off hole to claimhis fifth Asian Development Tour (ADT)title at the $150,000 Charming YeangderADT on Sunday.

Chikka settled for third place withrounds of 68, 65, 66 and 70.

Another young Indian, ShubhankarSharma finished T-35th with a finalround of 74. He had rounds of 70, 68, 71and 74.

Chikka's first error of the week, a dou-ble on 12th was followed by two birdiesright away but another double-bogey on

15 and a bogey on 16 saw victory slip awayfrom his grasp as he signed for a 70 to fin-ish one-shot back of Lin and Pavit at theCharming Yeangder ADT, one of the rich-est events on the ADT this season.

Pavit, 26, signed for a five-under-par67 after closing with three straightbirdies to force extra time with Lin, whoreturned with a 69, as the duo were tiedon 20-under-par 268 total in regulationplay at the scenic National Golf andCountry Club.

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