12 VIVACITY JeM strikes CRPF on yatra routeUP Bar Council ...€¦ · Darvesh was pro-nounced dead on being brought to hospital, ... leaders like State BJP president Dilip Ghosh,

1.6L EVACUATED AS GUJREADIES FOR VAYU ATTACKAhmedabad: Parts of Gujarat arebracing for impact fromstrengthening Cyclone Vayu,which is expected to slam intothe State early on Thursday, evenas authorities shifted around1.60 lakh people on the coast tosafer places.

UK COURT REJECTS NIRAV’SBAIL FOR FOURTH TIME London: The UK High Court onWednesday rejected Nirav Modi’sbail application, his fourthattempt as the diamondmerchant fights his extraditionfrom Britain to India in the nearlyUSD 2 billion Punjab NationalBank (PNB) fraud and moneylaundering case.

UP CONG WORKERS WANTPRIYANKA AS CM IN 2022Rae Bareli: Congress leadersduring the Lok Sabha electionresults review meeting onWednesday demanded that partygeneral secretary PriyankaGandhi Vadra be made theparty’s chief ministerial candidatefor the 2022 Assembly electionsin the State. Sonia Gandhi,arrived here earlier in the dayalong with Priyanka GandhiVadra to thank the voters of RaeBareli.

CAPSULE

MOHIT KANDHARI n JAMMU

In a deadly terror strike on apatrol party, two motorcycle-

borne terrorists shot five CRPFmen, including two officers, onthe busy Khannabal-Pahalgam(KP) road — Amarnath pil-grims travel via this road to thecave shrine — in SouthKashmir’s Anantnag districton Wednesday. Three otherCRPF jawans and two Jammu& Kashmir policemen receivedgrievous injuries.

Though Al-UmarMujahideen, a a Pakistan-based defunct terror group,has claimed responsibility forthe strike, officials, however,said that it was a handiwork ofJaish-e-Mohammed (JeM).

The terror strike took placedespite heightened level ofsecurity ahead of the beginningof annual Amarnath yatra fromJuly 1. This is the first majorterror attack on the CRPF afterthe “dastardly” Pulwama terrorattack in which 40 CRPF per-sonnel were martyred inFebruary this year.

As the terrorists attackedthe CRPF patrol party whichfought the ultras and lost its fivepersonnel, immediately addi-tional forces, led by StationHouse Officer of Saddar policestation in Anantnag ArshadAhmed, reached the encounterspot but had to face indis-criminate firing from the ter-rorists who also hurledgrenades at them. In the ensur-ing gunfight, one terrorist wasneutralised near Oxford school

in the heart of busy Anantnagtown, while the other managedto escape, officials said.

Jammu & Kashmir Policespokesman in Srinagar said, “Inthis terror incident, five CRPFpersonnel attained martyrdomwhile repulsing the terrorattack. Three security forcepersonnel, including AnantnagSHO Inspector Arshid Khan,sustained gunshot injuries. Inthe retaliatory action, a terror-ist was gunned down on the

spot. From the materials recov-ered, it is found that the deadterrorist was a foreigner.”

Despite suffering loss oflives, security forces tookutmost care to avoid any col-lateral damage in the busymarket area. All the shops inthe area immediately downedtheir shutters and people mov-ing in the area ran for safety asterrorists targeted the patrolparty by lobbing grenades andopening indiscriminate firing.

Due to the presence oftourists in Pahalgam, securityforces cordoned off all the linkroads connecting the famoustourist destination. Two ASIrank CRPF officers and threeconstables attained martyrdomin the terror attack, officialsources told The Pioneer.

Inspector Arshid Khanreceived bullet injuries on hischest and was rushed to mili-tary hospital for advance med-ical treatment. A young girl wasalso injured in the terror attack.

The martyred CRPF per-

sonnel have been identified asASI Ramesh Kumar of Jhajjar,Haryana; ASI Nirod Sarma ofNalbari, Assam; constableSatendra Kumar ofMuzaffarnagar, UP; constableMahesh Kushwaha of Gazipur,UP; constable Sandeep Yadavof Dewas, MP.

J&K Director General ofPolice Dilbagh Singh alongwith senior officers visitedcommand hospital andenquired about health of thepersonnel injured in theAnantnag terror attack.

PNS n LUCKNOW

The newly-elected firstwoman Bar Council chair-

person of Uttar Pradesh,Darvesh Singh Yadav, wasgunned down in Agra onWednesday by a long-timeacquaintance who tried tocommit suicide and is battlingfor life with bullet injuries.

On Wednesday, Darveshattended a felicitation pro-gramme on the Civil Courtpremises in Agra and laterwent into the chamber oflawyer Arvind Kumar Mishra.

While Darvesh and Arvindwere chatting, another lawyerManish Sharma, long-timeacquaintance of Darvesh,entered the room and firedthree shots at Darvesh from hislicensed revolver. Manish thentried to end his life by shoot-ing himself. Darvesh was pro-nounced dead on beingbrought to hospital, whileMansih is in critical condition.

Additional DG Ajay Anandrushed to the spot. Initialenquiry revealed that the victimand the assailant had a heatedargument over some issue beforethe felicitation programme.

Last Sunday, Darvesh andHarishanker Singh of Varanasiwere jointly elected as chair-persons of UP Bar Council inPrayagraj as both poled 12votes each. As per an agree-ment, Darvesh was given thepost for the first six monthswhile Harishanker was to takeover for the next six months.

PNS n NEW DELHI

The Union Cabinet onWednesday decided to re-

introduce the Triple Talaq Billin the forthcoming ParliamentSession and extend PresidentRule in Jammu & Kashmir by six months.

Addressing mediapersonsafter the Cabinet meeting,Information & BroadcastingMinister Prakash Javadekarsaid a fresh Bill to ban the prac-tice of instant triple talaq willbe introduced to replace theOrdinance issued in February.

The fresh Bill will be intro-duced in the Budget Session ofParliament, beginningMonday, he said. The new Bill

is having the same provisionsof the second amendment Billhaving provisions of reachingcompromise between the hus-band and wife to avoid furtherprosecution. Due to theprotests by Opposition parties,the previous Governmentcould not pass the Bill in theRajya Sabha.

Javadekar informed thatPresident Rule in Jammu &Kashmir will be extended by sixmore months beginning July 3.

Continued on Page 7

PNS n NEW DELHI

Prime Minister NarendraModi’s aircraft will not fly

over Pakistan airspace on itsway to Bishkek in Kyrgyzstanfor the SCO summit startingThursday. The decision cameafter India first requestedPakistan to open its airspace forthe Indian PM and Islamabadagreed to do so.

“The Government of Indiahad explored two options forthe route to be taken by theVVIP aircraft to Bishkek. Adecision has now been takenthat the VVIP aircraft will flyvia Oman, Iran and CentralAsian countries on the way toBishkek,” a External AffairsMinistry spokesperson said.

Pakistan PM Imran Khantoo is attending the SCO meet.

Pakistan had closed its air-space on February 26 afterIAF planes bombed a Jaish-e-Mohammed terror camp inPakistan’s Balakot.

JeM strikes CRPF on yatra route

5 security officials martyred in Anantnag on road taken by Amarnath pilgrims

UP Bar Council 1stwoman chief shot

Modi not to fly

via Pak airspace

for SCO Summit

Long-time lawyer acquaintance

tries to kill himself also, critical

Cabinet clears fresh Bill to ban instant triple talaq

Most complex ISRO mission

Chandrayaan-2 on July 15

Prez Rule in J&K

will be extended

by 6 more months

beginning July 3

SAUGAR SENGUPTA n KOLKATA

In an apparent bid to bringpeace in a State burning

since the conclusion of gener-al elections, Bengal GovernorKN Tripathi on Wednesdaycalled an all-party meet at 4 pmon Thursday.

The Governor’s invite cameclose on the heels of a violentclash between BJP workersmarching towards the policeheadquarters at Lalbazar andthe Kolkata Police, which usedwater cannons, burst teargasshells, and lathi-charged thesaffron crowd led by seniorleaders like State BJP presidentDilip Ghosh, Mukul Roy, RahulSinha, Kailash Vijayvargiya,Locket Chatterjee and others.

In the melee, about 50people, including State party

general secretary RajuBanerjee, was injured and hadto be hospitalised with headinjuries, Ghosh said, adding“Mamata Banerjee and herTrinamool Congress are stok-ing violence by using a partic-ular community.”

The Governor is known tohave written to BJP, Trinamool,CPI(M) and Congress to attendthe meeting, sources said.

The BJP said it would sendits team headed by seniorleader JP Majumdar whileTMC MP Abhishek Banerjeesaid his party “has no problemin joining the meeting if it isabout restoration of peace,”adding senior Minister ParthoChatterjee could represent theparty in the meeting. CongressState president Somen Mitrasaid he would attend the meet-ing. CPI(M) said State partysecretary Suryakanto Mishrawould join the talks.

Continued on Page 7

Guv calls all-party

meet for peace

Prakash Javadekar

Bengaluru: India’s secondsojourn to the moon,Chandrayaan-2, would belaunched on July 15, IndianSpace Research Organisation(ISRO) announced onWednesday, as it is all set for themost complex mission everundertaken by it.

Under the nearly `1,000crore mission, the landing onthe moon near the South Polewould be on September 6 or 7on an uncharted territory,ISRO chairman K Sivan said.

The Lander, named afterthe father of the Indian spaceprogramme, Vikram Sarabhai,will touch down on a ruggedlunar surface in the finaldescent, which, would be the“most terrifying moment” ofthe mission. “This 15 minutesis going to be terrifying to allof us not only people fromISRO, but for entire India,because the space agency hasnever undertaken such type ofcomplex flight,” he said.

Detailed report on P6

First picture of Chandrayan 2 Lander (Vikram) and the Rover (Pragyan), at ISROSatellite Integration, Testing Establishment facility in Bengaluru, on Wednesday PTI

After scorching heat for days, Delhi on Wednesday was hit by a dust storm and light rain brought mercury down by 10 degreesCelsius. It was a much-needed relief to Delhiites. However, air quality continued to remain in the poor category. Flightoperations at the Delhi International Airport were suspended for around 35 minutes in on Wednesday evening due to poorvisibility. In the photo above, Rakab Ganj Gurdwara is seen covered in dusty winds PTI

BJP workers, Bengalcops clash at march

Security personnel near the terror attack in Anantnag on Wednesday PTI

Police officials investigate the murderof Darvesh Yadav (Left), in Agra, onWednesday PTI

@TheDailyPioneer facebook.com/dailypioneerFollow us on:

www.dailypioneer.com

}

MONEY 10

INDUSTRIAL GROWTH 6-MTHHIGH OF 3.4% IN APRIL

instagram.com/dailypioneer/

Late City Vol. 155 Issue 160*Air Surcharge Extra if Applicable

Published From DELHI LUCKNOW BHOPAL BHUBANESWAR

RANCHI RAIPUR CHANDIGARH DEHRADUN HYDERABAD VIJAYWADA

Established 1864

RNI No.2016/1957, REGD NO. SSP/LW/NP-34/2019-21

LUCKNOW, THURSDAY JUNE 13, 2019; PAGES 16+4 `3

UNICEF

HONOURS

PRIYANKA

12 VIVACITY

}

OPINION 8

SUN SETS ONGREATEST ALLIANCE

WORLD 11

PROTESTORS TRY TO STORMHK PARLIAMENT

GAYATHRI MANI n NEW DELHI

The Delhi Government’s freeride scheme for women

appears to have hit its firstroadblock as the Delhi MetroRail Corporation (DMRC) hastold the Government that thescheme will have to be firstplaced before the Fare FixationCommittee of Delhi Metro asper the Metro Act before itsimplementation.

However, Delhi ChiefMinister Arvind Kejriwal onWednesday said, “DMRCbelieves the approval of theFare Fixation Committee willbe needed for the rollout of thescheme. The Fare FixationCommittee should ordinarilynot be required in this casebecause this is not a matter offare fixation. However, if theDMRC thinks it is necessary,

we will go ahead with it,” saidKejriwal.

The Delhi Metro has sub-mitted its proposal on the freetravel for women in the Metro,a week after the DelhiGovernment gave the DelhiMetro and the Delhi TransportCorporation a plan to submitwithin a week to implement thescheme in next three months.

Kejriwal said concrete planhas come out and majorprogress has been made by theDMRC. The CM said theDMRC has come with twooptions to implement thescheme in the city for woman and girls. However,both the options will take timeto implement.

Continued on Page 7

Delhi Govt’s free Metroride hits first roadblock

New Delhi: The DelhiGovernment has finally notifiedthe much awaited new fare slabfixed for the auto-rickshaws onWednesday after almost a gap ofsix years. The new fare hike hasbeen approved and notified bythe Transport Minister KailashGahlot.

The new fares will be issuedto the public in two-three days.As per the new scheme, theauto-rickshaw fare has beenhiked by 18.75 per cent.

19% hiked autofare to come inforce in 3 days

Proposal needs nod

of Fare Fixation

Committee, DMRC

informs AAP Govt

Mining scam: CBIsearches houses offormer UP ministerPNS n LUCKNOW

Central Bureau of Investigation(CBI) sleuths raided 22

places in Uttar Pradesh andDelhi, including three residencesof former UP minister GayatriPrasad Prajapati in Amethi, onWednesday in connection witha mining scam during theSamajwadi Party regime.

The case pertains to violationof norms in awarding miningleases in various UP districtsbetween 2012 and 2016.

Along with Prajapati, who islodged in Lucknow jail in con-nection with a rape case, the CBIalso raided the residences andother establishments of MLCRamesh Chandra Mishra inHamirpur.

A report from Amethi saidthat CBI sleuths from Lucknowreached the Awas Vikas residenceof Prajapati on Wednesdaymorning and also recorded thestatement of people inside thehouse. Prajapati has been under

the scanner as he held the Miningportfolio in the SP governmentwhen the scam was unearthed.The central agency is also exam-ining the role of former ChiefMinister Akhilesh Yadav in thecase.

Yadav, who was the Miningminister before Prajapati, hadcleared a total of 14 licenses, thelast one in June 2013.

The EnforcementDirectorate (ED) had registereda money laundering case againstUP ministers for their role in theillegal allotment of sand mininglicences in Hamirpur.

On January 2, the CBI hadregistered a case against 11 peo-ple under various sections of theIndian Penal Code andPrevention of Corruption Act, inthe scam. Those accused includeformer Hamirpur DistrictMagistrate B Chandrakala,Samajwadi Party MLC RameshKumar Mishra and his brotherDinesh Kumar Mishra and oth-ers.

city 02LUCKNOW | THURSDAY | JUNE 13, 2019

PNS n LUCKNOW

United Progressive Alliancechairperson Sonia Gandhi,

along with daughter andCongress general secretaryPriyanka Gandhi Vadra, visit-ed Rae Bareli on Wednesday tothank the voters for their sup-port in winning the parliamen-tary seat for the fifth time.

While Sonia Gandhi held asmall meeting to thank hervoters for giving her a resound-ing victory by over 1.65 lakhsvotes for the fifth time from RaeBareli, Priyanka commencedher meeting with the losing LokSabha candidates and the dis-trict presidents of 41 Lok Sabhaconstituencies of UP east underher charge.

Attacking Prime MinisterNarendra Modi without takinghis name, Sonia Gandhi saidthat power had gone in the“wrong hands”.

She asked the party work-ers and leaders to raise the issuesof the people with full strength.

Priyanka, in her briefaddress, asked the party work-ers to introspect what theyhad done and where they wentwrong as only self-assessmentwould bring a change in theparty.

Referring to the people ofher constituency, Sonia Gandhisaid she had always tried to lookafter this extended family. “Likeevery Lok Sabha election, thistime also you have reposedyour faith in me. I am thankfulto each and every Congressworker and friends from theSamajwadi Party, Bahujan SamajParty and Swabhiman Dal for

the hard work they put in for myvictory,” the UPA chief said.

“My life is an open book infront of you all. You are my fam-ily. I derive strength from youand this is my real asset,” sheadded.

She later had a dinner withover 3000 workers and leadersbefore flying back to New Delhi.

Meanwhile, sources saidthat soon after receiving hermother at Fursatganj airport,Priyanka returned to BhuemauGuest House and held a closeddoor meeting with thedistrict/city presidents of 41districts, party candidates anddistrict coordinators.

She first held separate meet-ing with the district/city presi-dents, then with party candi-dates and lastly with the coor-dinators. She asked them thereason for the party’s debacle inthe Lok Sabha election andtheir suggestions for improvingthe prospects of the party.

Another Congress generalsecretary ( UP west) JyotridityaScindia will reach Lucknow onJune 14 and hold meeting withthe Lok Sabha candidates wholost the elections 2019. He willalso meet the district/city pres-idents, former MPs, legislatorsand office-bearers at the UPCCheadquarters on Friday.

Lucknow (PNS): Taking aholy dip on the occasion ofGanga Dussehra on Wednesdayproved costly for six youngstersas three teenagers were feareddrowned in Hardoi while threeminor girls drowned in Banda.Chief Minister Yogi Adityanathexpressed grief over the loss oflives and directed officials tointensify rescue operations andtrace the victims.

In Hardoi, a 14-year-oldboy drowned and two otherteenagers were missing afterthey were swept away by theriver current while taking a dipon Ganga Dussehra onWednesday. The body ofDivyansh (14) was recoveredwhile a search was on forShivam (15) and Mithun (15).

In Banda, three girlsdrowned in Yamuna river inKherha village on Wednesday,police said. “Around 12 noon,Priti, Kiran and Shikha, agedbetween 9 and 11 years, ven-tured deep into the river whilebathing and fatally drowned try-ing to save one another,” ASP LalBharat Kumar Pal said.

Lucknow (PNS): Two minor sisters were raped by four menat gunpoint in Kaserwa village of Muzaffarnagar on Tuesdayevening. The sisters, aged 13 and 15 years, had gone looking fortheir mother near a cane field, when the four persons draggedthem into the thickets and after threatening to shoot them if theyraised an alarm, they raped the two girls. The four were bookedin a case and efforts were underway to nab them.

PNS n LUCKNOW

Stressing on effective imple-mentation of governmentschemes, Chief Minister

Yogi Adityanath said that lax-ity of officers led to bleeding ofgovernment funds anddeprived the beneficiaries ofthe benefits.

Yogi said a team of 45officers would carry out inspec-tions across the state betweenJune 15 and 20.

Addressing officials at areview meeting in Lucknow onWednesday, Yogi said that itwas the responsibility of offi-cers to implement projects andschemes in letter and in spirit,and for this they need to be ontheir toes.

“Officials should carry outsurprise physical inspections ofprojects and if some officer saysthat he/she cannot do it, thenit should be reported so that theofficer concerned is not givenfield posting in future,” he said.

“Resolution of people’sproblems is the top priority ofthis government. District mag-istrates should regularly meetpeople between 9 am and 10 amevery day and resolve theirproblems ,” Yogi said, and askedthe officials to ensure trans-parency in work so that peoplecould know who was the ben-eficiary of government schemesand who was next in line.

The Chief Ministerdeclared that a team compris-ing 45 senior IAS officers hadbeen set up and it wouldinspect development schemesbetween June 15 and 20. FromJune 21, the Chief Minister willhimself start surprise inspec-tions at divisional level.

Yogi said that all officers, beit district magistrate, districtpolice chief, block develop-ment officer or tehsildar,should stay at night in theirarea of operation so that theywere available to the masses.

“If there is no governmentaccommodation, these offi-cials should stay on rented

houses,” he said.During his address, the

Chief Minister touched uponall important governmentschemes and set deadlines for

their completion. He said thatall municipalities of the state bedeclared Open Defection Free(ODF) by June 30 and benefi-ciaries under Swachh Bharat

Mission should get toilets byJuly 15.

Yogi instructed that the‘School Chalo Abhiyan’ be car-ried out between July 1 and 15to increase attendance inschools and all drain pipes inmunicipal areas be desilted byJune 30. Directives were alsoissued for completion of con-struction of houses underPradhan Mantri Awas Yojanaand cow sheds.

“Aayushman Bharat is anambitious project of PrimeMinister Narendra Modi andits implementation should becompleted within the stipulat-ed time during which benefi-ciaries should get golden card,”the Chief Minister said.

Yogi also directed officialsto clear the arrears of canegrowers and asked them to linkmandis to e-nam (nationalAgriculture Market) portal.

To stop operation of mid-dlemen, Yogi said that CCTVsbe installed at Mandi Parishads.He also asked officials to iden-tify vendor zones.

Lucknow (PNS): Exposing the brutalface of the men in khaki, GovernmentRailway Police (GRP) personnel thrasheda news channel reporter and urinated onhim for doing a story on illegal vendors atShamli railway station on Tuesday evening.DGP OP Singh ordered suspension of theerrant GRP cops, the state police tweetedWednesday morning.

The journalist had gone to cover thederailment of a goods train near

Dheemanpur railway crossing and he laterwent to Shamli railway station for updateswhen he was nabbed by the GRP person-nel, brutally thrashed and put behindbars.

A video of GRP SHO Rakesh Kumarand constable Sunil Kumar thrashing jour-nalist Amit Sharma went viral and a largenumber of journalists thronged the GRPstation to protest the incident. In thevideo, a constable in civvies is seen slapping

and pulling the hair of the reporter andabusing him. The journalist was later putin the lock-up where the SHO and consta-ble subjected him to inhuman torture.

Preliminary investigation revealed thatthe GRP personnel were inebriated and theystarted beating Amit Sharma, who worksfor a prominent Hindi news channel, at thespot of derailment. Sharma later alleged thatthe GRP men in plain clothes first damagedhis camera and then thrashed him.

PNS n LUCKNOW

Samajwadi Party leaderMohammad Azam Khan

has stirred a new controversyby saying that madarsas do notproduce people like NathuramGodse or Pragya Singh Thakur,referring to Mahatma Gandhi’sassassin and the BharatiyaJanata Party lawmaker in thesame breath.

Khan, known for makingcontentious comments, wasasked to respond to PrimeMinister Narendra Modi’s newplan of connecting madarsaswith mainstream educationand providing scholarship toone crore Muslim studentsevery year.

“Madarsas don’t breedthose of Nathuram Godse’snature or with a personality likePragya Thakur. First announcethat those propagatingthoughts of Godse will bedeclared enemies of democra-cy, those convicted for terroractivities won’t be rewarded,”Khan said in Rampur on

Wednesday.Pragya Thakur, an accused

in the 2008 Malegaon blastscase and out on bail, won therecent Lok Sabha election fromBhopal as a BJP candidate.She remained in news through-out her election campaign forher provocative statements,including one on Godse, thatthe assassin of MahatmaGandhi was a patriot.

Khan said that if the Uniongovernment wanted to helpmadarsas, then it should bringabout improvements.

“Religious teaching isimparted at madarsas andEnglish, Hindi and Maths arealso taught. This has alwaysbeen the case. If you want tohelp, improve standards, pro-vide them funds for construct-ing/renovating their buildingsand also furniture and mid-daymeals,” the SP Member ofParliament from Rampur said.

Though Khan appearedcritical of Centre’s schemeannounced on Tuesday byUnion minister Mukhtar Abbas

Naqvi, many Muslim clericshave welcomed it.

As per the Centre’s plan,madarsas in large numberacross the country would beconnected with formal andmainstream education so thatchildren studying there couldalso contribute in the develop-ment of society.

Madarsa teachers acrossthe country would be giventraining in various institutionsin subjects such as Hindi,English, Maths, Science andcomputers and the programmewould be launched next month.

As part of its outreach tominorities, the Centre wouldgive out five crore scholarshipsfor education of minoritiesover the next five years and halfof the beneficiaries would begirl students.

Modernisation of madarsasis in line with a plan that thePrime Minister had outlinedduring his election campaign inthe 2014 when he said, “Holda Quran in one hand and com-puter in the other.”

PNS n LUCKNOW

Chief Minister YogiAdityanath issued a second

warning to officials within 72hours, asking them to harnesslaw and order and controlcrime or be ready for marchingorders.

“In districts, the districtmagistrates and district policechiefs are directly responsiblefor law and order situationand they have to be strict, boldand impartial. A close tabshould be kept on anti-socialelements and effective remedi-al action should be initiated atevery level. I do not want anycompromise on law and order,”Yogi said at a meeting held hereto review law and order onWednesday. Top officialsincluding Chief Secretary, DGP,Principal Secretary (Home),additional chief secretaries andall district magistrates and dis-trict police chiefs were presentin the meeting.

The meeting assumes sig-nificance as in the last few days,the state has witnessed a spateof heinous crimes — rangingfrom rapes of toddlers, crimeagainst women and even anattack on a journalist.

Orders were also issued toreview the functioning of anti-Romeo squads and to checkcrimes against women.“People should be made awareof various welfare and empow-erment measures initiated bythe government for women.Issues of land disputes be

identified and jointly disposedof by police and revenue offi-cials,. All government land befreed from encroachments,”the CM told the officials.

Instructions were issuedto raid all possible places fromwhere illegal and spuriousliquor was being sold. Theofficials were also asked tomake people aware of spuriousliquor sold from illegal outlets

The district magistrates anddistrict police chiefs were askedto make surprise checks at jailsso that criminal activities werenot carried out from there. “Aconcrete strategy should also bemade to evolve a solution to seri-ous traffic problems in variouscities, the CM said.

Instructions were alsoissued to adopt zero-toleranceto corruption.

“The Chief Ministerstressed that there should be nolack of communication andsigns of insensitivity whileredressing public grievances,”Chief Secretary Anup ChandraPandey told media personsafter meeting.

DGP OP Singh said thatthe CM had also emphasisedon speedy and qualitative dis-posal of cases relating to cybercrime. “Instructions were givento curb cow smuggling andactivate State Disaster ResponseForce ahead of the monsoons,”he said. Singh later individu-ally interacted with all policeofficials at the SignatureBuilding housing various UPPolice departments.

PNS n LUCKNOW

After the delivery of basicamenities like housing,

electricity and LPG connec-tion and PM Kisan SammanYojna and other welfareschemes to all sections of soci-ety in his first term, PrimeMinister Narendra Modi’s out-reach to Muslims has bewil-dered ‘secular’ political partiesand the ‘elite leadership’ ofMuslims.

“Scholarship to one croreMuslim students in a year isnot sufficient. The programmeshould be timed-bound andprofessionally managed so thatits benefits are visible to thecommon people. Else the com-munity will be disappointedlike it was during the UnitedProgressive Alliance regime,’’said All-India Muslim PersonalLaw Board member KamalFarooqui on Wednesday.

“There is nothing new inthe announcement by theNDA government. In fact, it isonly an extension of the pro-grammes initiated by UPAgovernment that includededucation of science, mathe-matics, examination by theboard and preparations forcompetitive examinations.”said Congress leader PramodTewari.

He added, “The BharatiyaJanata Party should first ensurerepresentation of Muslims inLok Sabha as per their demo-graphic share then only thePM’s slogan of ‘Sabka Saath,Sabka Vishwas’ will havesome meaning.’’

However, a Muslim reli-gious leader not willing to beidentif ied, “The PrimeMinister’s Muslim outreachprogramme has been unveiled.Modi’s journey from his defacto position as ‘Hindu

Hriday Samrat’ to a possible‘Bharat Hriday Samrat’ hasjust begun. Announcementfor scholarships to one croreMuslim students each yearhas a huge traction among thecommunity.’’

On May 30, addressing thenewly-elected members of theNational Democratic Alliancefor the first time, Modi hadsaid that minorities had beencheated by the opposition andthis must stop immediately by“punching a hole in thatdeception”. “We have workedfor sabka saath, sabka vikas,now sabka vishwas is also ourmantra,” the Prime Ministerhad said.

Political commentatorshave so far chosen to ignorethe impact and efficacy of the‘Sabka Saath...’ plank thatbrought fundamental changeand paradigm shift in poll pol-itics of India. In the caste

centered politics in UttarPradesh and elsewhere,Muslims were never seen to beunanimous about their expec-tations from secular parties.

“The successful imple-mentation of welfare schemeshas strongly demonstratedthat concerns of secular par-ties for Muslims were fake andit was Modi, the perceivedadversary of Muslims, whoactually delivered to all, irre-spective of caste and religion,”opined political analyst AKVerma.

Verma added, “The keytakeaway of 2019 poll verdictis that there is no urban-ruraldivide and caste–communalsupport for incumbent gov-ernment. This is largelybecause a major area of focusfor the government has beenon inclusive developmentwhich can be seen and felt bythe people of India.”

Printed and Published by Vijay Prakash Singh for and on behalf of CMYK Printech Ltd., 4th Floor, Sahara Shopping Centre, Faizabad Road, Lucknow-226016 and Printed at Tin Tin Printech Pvt Ltd., C-33 Amausi Industrial Area, Nadarganj, Lucknow. Editor: Chandan Mitra. Resident

Editor: Vijay Prakash Singh. RNI No. 2016/57. Lucknow Telephones: EPABX: 4036600 Fax: 2345582. Allahabad Office: (0532) 2420818, 2421018, 3290460. Kanpur Office: (0512) 2304006, 2304416. Varanasi Office: (0542) 2414294, 2414295. Delhi Office: No. 6, Behind Gulab Bhawan,

Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg, New Delhi-110 002, Phone: 011-40110455. Communication Office: F-31, Sector 6, NOIDA, Gautam Budh Nagar-201301, U.P. Phone: 0120-4879800 & 4879900

Although every possible care and caution has been taken to avoid errors or omissions, this publication is being sold on the condition and understanding that information given in this publication is merely for reference and must not be taken as having authority of or binding in any way on the writers, editors, publishers, and printers and sellers who do not owe any responsibility for any

damage or loss to any person, a purchaser of this publication or not for the result of any action taken on the basis of this work. All disputes are subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of competent court and forums in Lucknow only. Readers are advised and requested to verify and seek appropriate advice to satisfy themselves about the veracity of any kind of advertisement before respond-

ing to any contents published in this newspaper. The printer, publisher, editor and any employee of the Pioneer Group’s will not be held responsible for any kind of claim made by the advertisers of the products & services and shall not be made responsible for any kind of loss, consequences and further product-related damages on such advertisements.

WANTED

Implement all govt schemes

effectively: CM to officers

Yogi exhorts people to save every drop of rain water PNS n LUCKNOW

On the occasion of GangaDussehra on Wednesday,

Chief Minister YogiAdityanath asked people ofUttar Pradesh to save everydrop of rain water so thatdrinking water could be pro-vided to the people of the statewhich was undergoing a crisison this front.

In his blog, released onWednesday, Yogi said that theneed of the hour was to pro-tect every drop of rain water.

“The monsoon is aroundthe corner. Every panchayat,

nagar parishad and individualsociety should make efforts toensure that every water bodygets filled to the brim. Rainwater should not go waste,” hesaid.

Yogi talked about theimportance of ground waterand how people were cravingto get drinking water. He saidthat village ponds should bedesilted and it was the respon-sibility of gram panchayats todo so.

Highlighting the problem,the Chief Minister said that outof 823 blocks, the condition ofgroundwater level in 113

blocks was grave, in 59 blocksit was critical and in 45 blocksit was semi-critical.

“On the day of GangaDussehra, we should all take apledge to save water so thatpeople could get drinkingwater as per their require-ment,” he said.

Yogi also talked about theimportance of the Ganga riveras per Hindu religion and theefforts being put in by PrimeMinister Narendra Modi tomake it pollution-free. “TheNamami Gange project is asuccess and the result is evi-dent to all,” he said.

Sonia thanks Rae Bareli voters for support

Former president of Congress and UPA chairperson and Rae Bareli MP SoniaGandhi arrives in her constituency to thank voters for re-electing her PTI

Two GRP men thrash journalist, suspended

No compromise on

law and order: CM

Azam stirs another controversy

Modi’s Muslim outreach efforts lauded

Four drown

Two minor sisters

raped at gunpoint


PNS n LUCKNOW

Acase extortion, threat andcriminal breach of trust was

registered against a realtor and hisassociates at Gossainganj policestation on the complaint of aprominent businessman onWednesday.

Dhan Prakash Buddhiraja ofMadan Mohan Malviya Marg inHazratganj in his complaint saidhe owned 13 bigha land (worth Rs21 crore) in Arjunganj locality ofGossainganj.

“Lavi Agarwal aka Lavi Kabirof Hazratganj contacted me andasked me to sell the land but Iturned down the proposal inFebruary 2013. Lavi met me againin April. This time he was accom-panying some musclemen.

They forcibly made me sit inan SUV and took me to the houseof an influential politician who wasin the government then. Theyforced me to sign on a blank saledeed threatening to kill me and myfamily. My wife and my son werealso in their custody. Lavi gave mea cheque of Rs 50 lakh and afterthis we were released,” Buddhirajaalleged. He added that he was later

paid Rs 50 lakh and Rs 25 lakhon two different occasions in2014.

He alleged that Lavi Kabir andhis friend Syed Mohammad KadirAli of New Janpath (also owner ofMI Builders) forced their entryinto his house in April 2015.

“Both were being accompa-nied by 4-5 ruffians. They forcedme to sign on a builder’s agree-ment for the said land. In theagreement, Kadir had 70 per centshare while I and Lavi had 15 percent share each. They gave me Rs35 lakh and promised to give moremoney in the time to come whichthey later refused and issued melife threat,’ he alleged.

Buddhiraja alleged that Kadirthreatened to kill him and his fam-ily.

“Kadir used to boast that hewas acquainted with several IASand IPS officers and even toppoliticians and law could notcatch him. I went to the samepolice station on a number oftimes but my case was not takenby the police,” he alleged.Gossainganj SHO Vijay Singh saida case has been registered andinvestigation was underway.

Woman director takes

charge at BSIP

PIONEER NEWS SERVICE n LUCKNOW

Dr Vandana Prasad took thecharge of the director of

Birbal Sahni Institute ofPalaeosciences (BSIP) onWednesday. She is the secondfemale director for the insti-tute.

Dr Prasad belongs toLucknow since her childhoodas she carried out her prima-ry and higher education fromLucknow itself. She obtainedPh.D. from CSIR-NationalBotanical Research Institute (NBRI). She joined BSIP asa scientist in 1994 and continued her palaeobotanical workfrom BSIP till today.

Some of her excellent scientific contributions are evo-lution of grasses published in reputed “Science” journaland evolution of wild rice from India published again in“Nature Communications”. She has exemplary experiencesof both scientific and administrative fields.

She has been a member of Project AssessmentCommittees of both Department of Science andTechnology (DST) and Ministry of Earth Sciences. Shewas part of Indian delegation in California, US, for rep-resenting Palaeo-biology from India. She has won manyprestigious fellowships such as Smithsonian Fellowship,Panama, INSA Exchange of Scientists Programme to workat Bonn University, Germany. She has published sever-al research papers of national and international reputeand co-edited one book on Palaeogene of India. Her majorresearch areas are evolutionary biology, palaeo-climatepalaeo-environment biogeographic studies.


Backtracking from its stand,the Lucknow police on

Wednesday registered a case ofmurder after the mysteriousdeath of final year student ofDental Science Priya Singh.The police identified the killeras Prakash Chandra Arya ofNeelmatha area. The policehad claimed on Tuesday thatthe girl had committed suicide.

The girl was staying allalone at her house inCantonment police station areathese days.

She was found lying deadon a bed while a noose tiedwith a hook in the ceilinghanging above her at her houseon Tuesday morning. Fivemobile sets were recoveredfrom the scene and one themwas found crushed. The policehad recovered empty mineralwater bottles from the scenetoo.

Giving details, policespokesman AK Dwivedi saidaccused Prakash Chandra Aryaof Durgapuri locality wasacquainted with the girl. “He isemployed at the Secretariat asanusewak (class IV employee).

ASP, Vidhan Sabha,

Sarvesh Mishra, who is holdingthe charge of ASP, North, saidPrakash fled the scene afterkilling the girl but left hismobile phone on the spot in ahurry.

“On Tuesday night, whenPrakash did not return, his

family called him on hiscell phone and later lodged acase of missing at theCantonment police station andalso mentioned his cell phonenumber in the FIR,” the ASPsaid. He added that Prakash’smistake worked in policefavour and the case was workedout.

The investigators revertedcall on one of the missed callsin the call log of Prakash’smobile and so they succeededin contacting Prakash’s family.

The cops summoned Prakash’sfamily at the police stationand they were told about therecovery of his phone fromPriya’s house. It surfaced thatPrakash was acquainted withPriya.

The police said Prakash

had left his house on a bikewhile wearing a half pants anda T-shirt. “We are yet to tracehim and but his involvement inthe murder is confirmed,” thepolice spokesman said.

The autopsy reportrevealed that Priya had contu-sion on the back side of herhead and also had injuryaround her neck.

The investigators suspectPrakash banged the girl’s headagainst wall and due to that shesuffered internal injuries. “The

doctors found that the girl hadblood clotting inside her head,”sources said.

The investigators suspect-ed that Prakash formed a nooseby tying a dupatta and a gam-cha to make it look like a caseof suicide but dropped theidea due to fear.

Priya Singh (25) ofNeelmatha locality was stayingalone for a couple of days as herparents had gone to their nativevillage in Gopalganj (in Bihar)as they had to attend a marriagethere.

The incident came to lightwhen she did not respond toher parents’ call and her rela-tive Sanjay Kumar, who is aretired subedar from Armyand lives at a house in the samelocality, reached her house toask about her well-being. Hefound the doors bolted fromoutside and found Priya lyingdead when he entered thehouse.

The police spokesman saida case of murder and fordestroying the evidence wasregistered against Prakash andthe police are hunting for theaccused. He said no tell-talesign of sexual assault wasdetected during the autopsy.


The work on the East WestCorridor of the Lucknow Metro

is likely to begin soon. Highly-placed sources stated that a requestwas made to Chief Minister YogiAdityanath for the need to expeditethe work since the project wouldtake five years to complete.

Talking to “The Pioneer”, asenior official said that the DetailedProject Report of the East-WestCorridor was with the state govern-ment and after approval would passon to the Central government. Theprogress on the report was pendingbecause of the imposition of themodel code of conduct.

The official said that the projectcould only begin once the approvalwas taken from the Central govern-ment. He said that for any groundwork to be initiated it was necessaryto get the approval of the state gov-ernment.

The alignment of the East-WestCorridor is from Charbagh toVasant Kunj and it is over 12.5 km-long. It consists of 12 stations whichinclude seven underground sta-tions and five elevated stations. It

will have three car trains and the sta-tions will be smaller in comparisonto the North-South Corridor so thatthe cost of the project came less.

Meanwhile, regarding the rider-ship of the Lucknow Metro on theNorth-South Corridor, he said thatthe numbers of the passengers hadincreased to 67000. “This is becauseof the weather conditions. Also thefigures pick up during the peak peri-od when most of the passengersboard the Metro,” he added.

When asked about the monkeymenace on the stations, he said thatthey had informed the Forestdepartment and got the problemremedied. “We are now trying tocontact the agency directly whichcatches monkeys because other-wise departmental process take a lotof time,” he said.

Meanwhile LMRC officials saidthat Lucknow Metro is winninghearts of the people of Lucknowwith its commendable passengerservice while becoming a trustedpublic transport for the city folks.

LMRC staff returned five lap-tops, 12 mobile phones and over Rs.51,000 in cash to its rightful own-ers in the last one month.

“During their travel by Metro,many times passengers forget theirbelongings either inside the trainsor inside the station premises andthat’s where they are assured thateach of their belonging is safe insidethe Metro premises thanks to the

dedicated staff,” said the official.Recently, security guard

Deepak Kumar found a mobilephone and Rs 620 in cash duringchecking of the train at the CCSAirport Metro station. Sometimelater, owner Ram Bhawan Yadav of

Indira Nagar reached the Metro sta-tion to pick up his belongings andpraised the Metro staff for theirintegrity.

In another such incident, secu-rity guard Anurag Singh got awoman’s purse at Singar NagarMetro station, which had Rs 400 andan ATM card. Soon after, UdayaBose reached the Metro station tofind her belongings completely safewith the station controller.

Similarly, Firozabad residentAjay Kumar Rahi forgot his walletcontaining Rs 20,000 in cash and amobile phone at the X-BIS machineat Munshipulia Metro station. Hisbelongings were handed over to himafter thorough verification. Thepassenger was so overwhelmed bythe service of the station staff thathe applauded and thanked them fortheir inspiring dedication.

SMART CARD TO AVAILMETRO, CITY BUS SERVICES

The Lucknow City TransportServices Limited will be issuing inte-grated smart cards instead of theordinary MSTs (Monthly SeasonTicket). City Transport Services

Limited managing director ArifSaqlain said that the process wouldbegin in two months’ time.

“The city bus service cards willbe integrated with the LucknowMetro services and hence the pas-senger can ride both the Metro andthe city buses” he said. He said thatthey held a meeting with the LMRCin that regard and would be soonholding meeting with the director,Finance.

Also he said that from the cur-rent year onwards they had begunwith a 20 per cent discount for everyone irrespective of which categorythey belonged to while issuing theMSTs.

“Earlier we used to have a 40 percent discount and there were differ-ent slabs for various categories butnow under the direction of the stategovernment, we have started a uni-form 20 per cent discount” headded.

A daily traveller by the city busservices admitted that the amountof the MST had increased drastical-ly. “In December, I paid approxi-mately Rs 600 and three monthslater, I paid approximately Rs 700and just yesterday when I got my

MST prepared I had to shell out Rs960. This is turning out to be tooexpensive,” he added.

LMRC, KGMU TO ORGANISEBLOOD DONATION CAMP

Lucknow Metro is going toorganise a blood donation camp onthe occasion of World BloodDonation Day tomorrow.

To motivate people to donateblood in large number on WorldBlood Donation Day, LucknowMetro in association with KingGeorge’s Medical University is goingto set up a blood donation camp onFriday at Vishwavidyalaya Metrostation from 11:30 am to 12:30 pm.

Speaking on the initiative,Lucknow Metro Rail Corporationmanaging director Kumar Keshavsaid: “Your blood donation cansave the priceless life’s, by doing thisadmirable work, we can show ourresponsibility and contributiontowards nation and society.”

Keshav also inaugurated theblood transfusion vehicle atTransport Nagar Metro depot lastyear where he was the first todonate the blood among all otherofficials of Lucknow Metro.


Journalist Prashant Kanojia,who was arrested last week

for an alleged objectionableonline post against UttarPradesh CM Yogi Adityanath,was released on bail onWednesday evening as per theSupreme Court orders.

Kanojia was released fromLucknow jail on a personalbond of Rs 20,000 and twosureties bonds of Rs 20,000each.

On Tuesday, the SupremeCourt had observed that rightto liberty was sacrosanct and“non-negotiable” and orderedKanojia’s release on bail.

Making it clear that grant-ing bail to Kanojia could not beconstrued as approval of theposts or tweets, the courtalso slammed the UP govern-ment for the “excessive” actionand questioned his nearly two-week judicial custody, asking,“Is this a case of murder?”

Asserting fundamentalright guaranteed under the

Constitution could not beinfringed upon by the state and

that it was not inclined to sitback on technical grounds todeny justice, the court, howev-er, said proceedings againstthe journalist would go on asper law.

Kanojia had allegedlyshared a video on Twitter andFacebook wherein a womanwas seen speaking to reportersof various media organisationsoutside the Chief Minister’soffice in Lucknow, claiming shehad sent a marriage proposal toAdityanath.

An FIR was registeredagainst Kanojia at theHazratganj police station inLucknow on June 7 night,alleging that the accusedmade “objectionablecomments against the ChiefMinister and tried to malign hisimage”.

The journalist was arrest-ed the next day from his EastDelhi home and a Lucknowcourt remanded him to judicialcustody till June 22.


The city reeling under heat wave con-ditions finally found some relief due to

the pleasant weather conditions which pre-vailed on Wednesday morning. The skiesremained cloudy till forenoon and the coolbreeze blowing was refreshing.

The grey skies brought a drop in themaximum temperature. The city record-ed a maximum temperature of 36.7 degreeCelsius which was 2 degrees below normaland a minimum temperature of 30.6degree Celsius which was 4 degrees abovenormal.

Director, Met Office, JP Gupta saidthat such weather conditions prevailedonly on Wednesday and it would be a

return to plain hot skies on Thursday. “The cloudy skies were because a

trough-line was passing throughMadhya Pradesh,” he said. With themaximum temperatures reaching ashigh as 44 degrees in the state capital, itwas after a long sweltering interlude thatthe people were able to enjoy in the morn-ing.

For morning walkers, a sweatywalkathon which they had to daily faceturned into an enjoyable experience as theyextended their hours in parks. For office-goers too, the daily grind to the office,which had been a scorching experience,turned into a cool ride.

In the state, Orai and Etawah were thehottest at 46 degree Celsius and the max-

imum temperature was five degrees abovenormal for both these districts. Amongother districts, Churk recorded 43.8 degreeCelsius, Fategarh 44.3 degree Celsius andVaranasi 41.4 degree Celsius.

The forecast for Lucknow is mainlyclear sky. The maximum and minimumtemperature will be around 41 degreeCelsius and 30 degree Celsius respective-ly. The state forecast is that rain and thun-derstorm is very likely at isolated placesover the state.

There is a warning for heat wave con-ditions to prevail at isolated places in east-ern Uttar Pradesh. Dust storm, thunderstorm accompanied with gusty wind (30-40 kmph) and lightning is very likely at iso-lated places in the state.


A43-year-old woman yoga teacher wasfound hanging at her house in

Gudamba on Tuesday night. Police claimedthe woman committed suicide adding thewoman’s brother spotted her hanging andtook her to a hospital where she wasdeclared “brought dead”.

As per reports, Ruchi Srivastava wasunmarried and was living with her broth-er Rachit Srivastava and other members inthe family. She ran yoga classes for boysand girls at the house.

“Rachit told us that he had gone to atemple to offer puja and returned homearound 10 pm on Tuesday. Rachit foundRuchi hanging from the ceiling with adupatta tied around her neck. He broughther down from the noose and took her toa hospital where the doctors declared her“brought dead”,” the Gudamba policesaid.

Police said the body was sent forautopsy and an investigation was under-way. The police ruled out possibility of any

foul play.Meanwhile, Ashok Kumar of

Uttargaon locality in Mohanlalganj diedafter he fell down from a mango tree andsuffered injuries on Wednesday morning.Reports said Ashok climbed a tree in amango grove to pluck mangoes.

“Due to his weight, the branch of thetree gave in and he came down fallingdown. He was rushed to a hospitalwhere he was declared “brought dead. Heprobably suffered head injuries,’ the policesaid.

In another case of suicide, an areamanager of an insurance company endedhis life by jumping into Gomti river inMahanagar on Wednesday.

The man, identified as Vaibhav Nigam(29) of Saadatganj, reached the KhatooShyamji temple on the banks of the riveraround 2.30 pm and later jumped intothe river. The commuters called the policeand a team started searching for divers. By6 pm, the body was fished out from theriver.

“The body bore no marks of injuries

and was recovered from Gomti river(near Chand Masjid) in Mahanagar. Thepolice recovered a purse in which victim’sAdhaar card and other details were put. Onthe basis, the police succeeded in tracinghis family who later identified the body.Vaibhav had borrowed the car of his seniorand had parked the car on the road,” thepolice said.

Dental student’s killer identified

“ON TUESDAY NIGHT, WHEN PRAKASHDID NOT RETURN, HIS FAMILY CALLEDHIM ON HIS CELL PHONE AND LATERLODGED A CASE OF MISSING AT THECANTONMENT POLICE STATION ANDALSO MENTIONED HIS CELL PHONENUMBER IN THE FIR”

Weather turns pleasant with overcast skies

Overcast skies brought relief to residents from the searing heat of the last few days Pioneer

Yoga teacher commits suicide

Extortion case lodgedagainst realtor, aides

Journalist Kanojia released on bail

“RACHIT TOLD US THATHE HAD GONE TO ATEMPLE TO OFFER PUJAAND RETURNED HOMEAROUND 10 PM ONTUESDAY. RACHIT FOUNDRUCHI HANGING FROMTHE CEILING WITH ADUPATTA TIED AROUNDHER NECK”

Work on Metro East-West Corridor likely to begin soon


Tigress Ipshita, who is themate of the tiger Shishir, is

not keeping well because of oldage problems. Director,Lucknow Zoological Gardens,RK Singh said that she hadbeen brought to the zoo hospi-tal and a 24 hours vigil wasbeing kept.

He said that earlier she hadbeen unwell in December 2018and was released in March2019 in her cage when she wasin a stable health condition.

It may be noted that Ipshitahad been keeping unwell sinceDecember 5 when she wasadmitted to the zoo hospitaland brought under the care ofvet and keepers.

“Ipshita was brought tothe Lucknow zoo in 2007 whenshe was six years old along withher mate tiger Shishir from theNandan Kanan zoo. She is 17years old. Her mate Shishirpassed away in July this year.The duo have no child,” he said.The director added that she waskept in the treatment cagewhere the keepers could keepan eye on her.

Currently, there are sevennormal and three white tigers

in the zoo. These includeKishan, who is 12 years old,

Mailani, who is 6 years old,Cheddilal, who is 12 years old,

Julia, three years old, Mustafa,four years old, Renu, four years

old, white tigress Vishaka,seven years old, white tiger Jai,2.5 years old and white tigerVijay, 2.5 years old.

The tigress gave birth to acub in 2014 . The new-borntiger cub died and had beenabandoned by the tigressIpshita who had not fed him. Itwas in an extremely criticalcondition as a team of doctorstried to save his life but werenot successful in their attempt.

Ipshita had also abandonedcubs in the past which led totheir death. Earlier, directors ofthe zoo had also tried toanalyse the situation. Expertshad wondered because goingby the past experience, theyhad taken all possible precau-tions which included puttingIpshita in isolation to removeany chances of infection for thebaby.

They had concluded thatthere was some problem withIpshita genetically and that shecould not produce enoughmilk for the baby to feed it withthe result that she abandonedthe cub. It was later decided tokeep Ipshita out of the breed-ing programme and includesome other tigress because ofthe problem that she had.



Child Welfare Committeemember Sangeeta Sharma

said on Wednesday that themain problem in checkingchild labour in the city was thelack of a proper policy associ-ated with the rehabilitation ofthose children who wereinvolved in labour and begging.

She said that until this wasensured the exercise of carry-ing out the raids on placeswhere this practice was goingon would not help in curbingit and yielding effective results.The CWC would be a part ofthis campaign which the dis-trict administration was carry-ing out from June 13 onwards,she said.

Talking to The Pioneer,she said that rescue opera-tions were organised regular-ly at least twice a year. “Themain issue is that the childrenand their families are not awareof the fact that they should begiven compensation. Thesechildren are rescued and weprovide them shelter till thetime their ages are ascertainedwhich is necessary in the lightof the fact that there is a blan-ket ban on children workingunder the age of 14 and con-pensation is also high in thiscase. I have never ever in myknowledge seen any child get-ting compensation because theprocedures take a lot of time,”she said. She said that unfortu-nately this money was lyingunused in the corpus of theLabour Department.

“This money is very muchthere in the corpus of theLabour Department whichthey also cannot use until andunless there is a major changein the policy. There is a lot ofmoney in the corpus which isnot being used in the interest

of child labour. This is themajor thing which is lacking inthe system which has to bechanged,” she said.

Talking about the otherproblems, she said that nodepartment was having a con-crete policy of rehabilitation ofsuch children. “The LabourDepartment rescues the childand produces it before theCWC, the age verification isdone and we get the bondsigned by the parents that theywould not ask him or her toindulge in child labour. This isnot going to solve the problembecause we have to ensurewhether the parents can sup-port the child or not and if theycannot then there has to besome sort of sponsorship andthe parents can be linked to thevarious welfare schemes whichthe government is running.These are the grey areas whichneed to be worked upon,” shesaid.

She said that until andunless there was a concretepolicy they would never beable to rescue the childrencompletely. “Those rescuedfrom Lucknow will be found in

Kanpur and those rescuedfrom Alambagh will be foundin Chinhat. For the past somany years I have seen thatthere is no significant change,”she said. She said that forthose areas which had beencovered they again saw thechild working back there. “Theemployers have also got smartand know the way the lawworks and tell the workers thatthey should tell the authoritiesthat they are above 14 years ofage and they are not workingat the dhaba,” she said. Theyalso say that they have come todeliver lunch or dinner totheir relative who is working atthe dhaba.

She said that with beggingthe problem was that they didnot consider it as child labour.“For them this is not childlabour. Moreover the last timewhen we carried out the raidwe found that the parents wereready to spend high amountson lawyers to rescue their chil-dren. We found that strangethat they could spend so muchof amount on these childrenand yet were sending them forbegging,” she added.


Lucknow University proctorVinod Singh has written to the

heads of its various departments tomake the necessary arrangements inkeeping with the fact that theprocesses of admission were on forthe academic session 2019-2020.

He said that the use of tobacco,gutka and other such products hadbeen completely banned on thecampus.

He said that the use of tobac-

co was banned in the hostel premis-es and no advertisements should beallowed there which encouragedthese products.

The sale of tobacco products hadalso been banned in the hostelpremises, he added.

In the letter, Singh stated thatanti-ragging committees should beformed at the departmental level toprevent such cases and the mem-bers of the committee should sup-port the administration in thisregard.

He added that at the canteen andin the construction areas and park-ing slots there should not be anylabourer working below the age of18 as it was against law.

He said that those who wereresiding within the campus had beendirected to keep the premises cleanand not to keep any cows, buffaloes,goats etc. He told the departmen-tal heads that they should followthese rules on a priority basis andalso issue similar instructions totheir employees.


Indira Gandhi National OpenUniversity, Regional Centre,

Lucknow, organised a publicawareness camp in the OmNamah Shivaay slum ofGomtinagar whose objectivewas to create awareness aboutchecking child labour. On theoccasion of No Child LabourDay i.e. June 12, 2019, the chil-dren living in slum areas andtheir parents were motivatedand encouraged to get educat-ed.

Assistant director, IGNOURegional Centre, Kirti VikramSingh told the gathering howskill and higher education wereimportant for a better living. “Itis possible only when the per-son has some basic education.The issue of child labour hasgained international impor-tance as it becomes a great hin-drance in the progress of anation. If a child is deprived ofeducation during his child-hood, he will never get theopportunity to live a better life.Under such circumstances nei-ther the nation nor the societywill progress. Hence it is notonly the responsibility of thegovernment but also of all thesocial organisations as well asthe parents to get rid of childlabour,” he said.

Director, IGNOU RegionalCentre, Manorama Singh,

while addressing the residentsof the slum area, said that nota single child should beengaged in child labour as itprevented him or her to gethigher education which in turnaffected his or her social andeconomic status.

“They are deprived of theopportunity of living a betterlife. That is why every personshould be advised to get edu-cation if he or she is deprivedof it,” she said.

She added that theIGNOU Regional Centre,Lucknow, was offering feeexemption for Schedule Castesand Tribe candidates toencourage their participationin higher education.

Pravesh Dwivedi, secre-tary of the organisation,Samarth, said that healthy chil-dren were the bright future andstrength of any nation. “Hencechild labour is destroying notonly the future of the children

but of the nation well. TheSAMARTH team will identifythe children who are not goingto school and connect themwith the mainstream of educa-tion. To achieve this goal ourteam will meet the parents ofthe children who are involvedin child labour and make themaware about its detrimentaleffects. In this programmearound 200 slum dwellers par-ticipated and shared theirviews.


Founder of City MontessoriSchool and renowned edu-

cationist Jagdish Gandhi raisedhis voice strongly for ensuringa safe and secure future for over2.5 billion children of the worldwhile addressing the justices ofvarious African nations at theinaugural session of the '5thInternational Conference ofConstitutional Jurisdictions ofAfrica' held in Angola andsaid that children of the worldcould only be given a safe andprotected future if it was unit-ed and peaceful and for it thejudicial fraternity should playa very significant role. On theoccasion the President of theAngolan Republic, JoaoLourenco, Chief Justice ofSouth Africa, Justice MogoengMogoeng; and a representativeof the African Union andCommissioner for PoliticalAffairs, Minata Samate, werealso present.

Gandhi especially men-tioned 'Article 51 of theConstitution of India' and'Vasudhaiv Kutumbakam,' agreat Indian culture sayingthat unless and until an atmos-phere of unity, equality andpeace is established in theworld our coming generationis not safe. It may be pointedout here that Dr JagdishGandhi is taking part in thisInternational JudicialConference as a special guestof honour. Justice Dr Manuel

da Costa Arago, Chief Justiceof Constitutional Courts ofAngola, specially invited DrGandhi to attend this interna-tional conference.

Gandhi met the Presidentof the Angolan Republic, JoaoLourenco, Chief Justice ofSouth Africa, Justice MogoengMogoeng; Deputy Chief Justiceof Egypt, Justice Adel OmarSherif; Chief Justice ofSupreme Court of Somalia,Justice Bashe Yusuf Ahmed,President of ConstitutionalCourt of Burundi, JusticeCharles Ndagijimana; ChiefJustice of Guine-Bissau, JusticePaulo Sanha, and many moreand informed them in detailabout the 'InternationalConference of Chief Justices ofthe World' organised everyyear for the past 19 years by theCity Montessori School.

DENIED UP Housing and Development Board

denied the involvement of board authorities inthe allotment of properties in a fake manner inthe Jankipuram Extension. Additional HousingCommissioner Nidhi Gupta Vats said that theboard owned no land or any other kind of prop-erty in the area whereas lakhs of rupees werebeing taken from the public on fudged letterhead and signatures that the land would be allot-ted to them in days to come. She condemnedsuch unscrupulous act and said an FIR had beenlodged at the police station. A department probewas initiated. She advised the public to be cau-tious about such racket.


For tackling water crisisprevailing in some parts

of the city, Nagar Nigam hasrequested the Jal Nigam toprovide extra tubewells to it.Mayor Sanyukta Bhatia saidthat the necessary paper workfor the agreement was in theprocess and those tubewellswould be made fit by the JalKal and Jal Sansthan.

The mayor said that theywere making a provision forinstalling submersible pumpsfrom wherever they were get-ting complaints of water cri-sis. She said that she had alsomade the provision forinstalling two submersiblepumps in every ward in areaswhich had been identified bycorporators as the most crit-ical ones as far as water cri-sis was concerned.

She said that they weregetting complaints fromAzadnagar, Geetapalli andother places. “We try to fix

the problem from whereverwe are getting complaints. InAzadnagar, we got a tubewell

fixed, in Ram Prasad Kherawe are getting a tubewellbored,” she added.

The mayor said thatbefore the advent of summersthey had made arrangementsfor five tubewells and 220submersible pumps. Onbeing asked as to why thewater crisis was taking placein these areas, she said thatthere were several factorswhich could be responsiblefor it. “Wherever there isboring done, the water levelfalls and also because peoplemisuse the submersiblepumps. These pumps aregiven to the local people tooperate who sometimes leavethem open and cause unnec-essary wastage of water. Andthese machines also get spoiltand when this happens thewater supply gets disruptedsuddenly,” she said.

The mayor said that thisproblem was primarilyoccurring in slum areaswhere there was compara-tively more usage of waterand also more wastage ofwater.

Efforts on to tackle water crisis in some parts of city

Tigress Ipshita not in fine fettle

“The main issue is that the childrenand their families are not aware of thefact that they should be givencompensation. These children arerescued and we provide them sheltertill the time their ages are ascertainedwhich is necessary in the light of thefact that there is a blanket ban onchildren working under the age of 14and conpensation is also high in thiscase. I have never ever in myknowledge seen any child gettingcompensation because the procedurestake a lot of time”

No proper policy for checking child labour, bemoans CWC member

LU proctor urges for necessary arrangements CITYBRIEFS

IGNOU organises awarenesscamp against child labour

Gandhi raises voice for

world children

LUCKNOW | THURSDAY | JUNE 13, 2019 nation 05

GOVT FOCUS ON ZERO DIARRHOEA DEATHS New Delhi: Union HealthMinister Harsh Vardhan onWednesday stressed on re-strategising and devisinginnovative interventions toachieve the target of zerodiarrhoea deaths amongchildren by 2022. Reviewing the status ofreproductive, maternal,newborn, children, adolescentand nutrition (RMNCAH+N)interventions in the country,Vardhan said, “No child shouldever die from diarrhoea. Thegovernment will makeimmediate and sustained effortsto prevent this by 2022.”

FULL SUPPORT TO N-EPEOPLE, SAYS PMNew Delhi: Prime MinisterNarendra Modi on Wednesdayassured wholehearted supportto the people of Assam and theNortheastern region to achieveall-round development andgrowth, Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal said. Thiswas conveyed to Sonowal bythe Prime Minister when thechief minister called on Modihere to extend his greetings forthe BJP-led NDA’s secondconsecutive victory in the LokSabha polls.

JAPAN TO INVEST `13K-CR IN N-E REGIONNew Delhi: Japan will invest Rs13,000 crore in several ongoingas well as new infrastructureprojects in the Northeast region,including a water supplyscheme in Assam and a networkconnectivity improvementinitiative in Meghalaya, theDoNER Ministry saidWednesday. Some of theimportant projects in whichJapan will collaborate includethe Guwahati water supplyproject, Guwahati sewageproject among others.

PIONEER NEWS SERVICE nNEW DELHI

The first team for search andrescue operation reached

the AN-32 transport aircraftcrash site in Arunachal Pradeshon Wednesday with the man-date to look for possible sur-vivors, remains and secure them besides locate theblack box which will enable theIAF to establish the cause ofmishap.

There were 13 passengerson board the ill-fated planewhich took off from Jorhat,Assam for Mechuka advancedlanding ground in ArunachalPradesh and went missing onJune 3. The wreckage was spot-ted on Tuesday.

Having reached the wreck-age site, the team will camp forthe night and begin the salvageoperation on Thursday as it could not get close to the site on Wednesday dueto inclement weather and terrain.

This unit is part of the 15-member group comprising IAF,Army and civilian moun-taineers. They were airdroppednear the crash site onWednesday morning at twodifferent locations. The debrisis lying on a steep ridge at aheight of 12,000 feet and is pos-

ing a challenge for the searchteams to even reach due todense forests and ruggedmountainous terrain.

While the first team ofexpert mountaineers have nowfashioned a makeshift dirttrack in the thick jungles byhacking foliage, the groundtroops including Army, Indo-Tibetan Border Police(ITBP)and the local police alreadypatrolling the area will comethrough the track laid down bythe mountaineers, sources saidhere on Wednesday.

They also said the unit atthe crash site is finding it dif-ficult to relay information to

the operations room due toerratic signal. However, thepersonnel manage to conveythey will camp there for thenight and resume their task onThursday.

The crash site is 16 kmsnorth of Lipo and north-east ofTato near Mechuka and thewreckage was located by MI-17helicopters on Tuesday aftereight days of relentless andmassive search and rescueoperation.

“A team comprising per-sonnel from IAF, Army andcivil mountaineers have beenairlifted to a location close tothe crash site,” a spokesperson

of the IAF said. It has ninemountaineers of IAF, four ofArmy and two civilian moun-taineers.

The base for the search-and-rescue operation is atKayiang in West Siang districtwith a doctor and other emer-gency services deployed there.The IAF base hospital at Jorhatis also ready to cater to medicalemergencies.

The air dropping of themountaineering team in a M1-17 and two advanced lighthelicopters began at 6.30 am,sources said adding localmountaineers who sighted thecrash site were also called tohelp by the Siang districtadministration. Mechukaadvanced landing ground is inSiang district and the airstrip is30 kms from Line of ActualControl(LAC) facing China asthe crow flies.

The IAF spokesperson saidEastern Command chief AirMarshal R D Mathur compli-mented the search team fortheir relentless effort spanningeight days.

Mathur also thankedArunachal Chief MinisterPema Khandu and ChiefSecretary Satya Gopa forextending unflinching supportto the IAF towards locating themissing An-32.

PNS n NEW DELHI

As cyclonic storm ‘Vayu’turned ‘severe’ and is

expected to make a landfall inGujarat on Thursday morning,over 1.60 lakh people wereshifted from low-lying areas ofSaurashtra and Kutch regionsto safer places or cyclone shel-ter centres.

While an alert has beensounded in 10 districts ofKutch, Devbhoomi Dwarka,Porbandar, Rajkot, Junagarh,Diu, Gir Somnath, Amreli andBhavnagar of Gujarat, the StateGovernment suspended operations at all ports and air-ports in the coastline areas asa precautionary measure forThursday. For its part, theWestern Railway cancelled 15 trains and short terminated16 others.

The Army, Navy and AirForce the Army, the Air Force,and the NDRF teams aredeployed and put on standbyfor rescue and relief operationsalong the coastal districts.

Prime Minister NarendraModi also urged people to fol-low real-time informationbeing provided by the govern-ment and local agencies tostay safe. “Praying for the safe-ty and wellbeing of all thoseaffected by Cyclone Vayu. Thegovernment and local agenciesare providing real-time infor-mation, which I urge those inaffected areas to closely follow,”

Modi said in a tweet. Also, ear-lier on day, Congress PresidentRahul Gandhi appealed toparty workers to be prepared tohelp out people who are beingaffected by “Vayu”.

The India MeteorologicalDepartment (IMD) on Tuesdaysaid Vayu has intensified intoa severe cyclonic storm and itwould cause gusty winds toblow at a speed of 145 kmph to170 kmph by Thursday morn-ing. “Vayu, has changed itscourse slightly and would nowhit Gujarat coast anywherebetween Veraval in the southand Dwarka in the west in theafternoon Thursday”, officialssaid.

“The cyclone is now situ-ated around 280 km south ofand is very likely to movenearly northwards and cross

Gujarat coast between Dwarkaand Veraval as a “very severecyclonic storm” with windspeeds of 155-165 kmph gusting to 180 kmph aroundafternoon of Thursday, theIMD said. After making thelandfall, the cyclone is likely tomove along and parallel toSaurashtra and Kutch coast, itsaid.

The Gujarat and Diuadministration are shiftingabout 3 lakh people from theidentified vulnerable areas andthey are being shifted to around700 cyclone and relief shelters.

According to officials,f light operations fromAhmedabad’s SardarVallabhbhai Patel InternationalAirport to Porbandar, Diu,Kandla, Mundra andBhavnagar in Saurashtra have

been cancelled for Thursday,while all educational institu-tions have been shut andtourists on the Gujarat coastasked to steer out at the earli-est.

Two special evacuationtrains have been pressed intoservice with one starting fromOkha in Saurashtra for Rajkotat 5.45 p.m. on Wednesday, andanother at 8.05 p.m. forAhmedabad with 21 coaches.The Western Railway has alsoannounced that all trains pass-ing through the coastal areashave either been short- termi-nated or cancelled for twodays, from 6 pm onWednesday.

Union Home SecretaryRajiv Gauba Wednesdaychaired a meeting of theNational Crisis ManagementCommittee (NCMC) wherepreparation for relief and res-cue operations were discussedthreadbare.

The NCMC meeting tookstock of the precautionary mea-sures taken by the Gujaratgovernment and Diu UTadministration with a view toensure that no human life islost, damage to vital infra-structure is minimised and toensure early recovery of allessential services post-cyclonelandfall. Odisha, which facedcyclone Fani and earned UN’spraise for its success in mini-mizing loss of lives, has offeredall help to Gujarat.

DEEPAK KUMAR JHA nNEW DELHI

Congress President RahulGandhi, who has resigned

as party chief post the LokSabha poll debacle, was con-spicuous by his absence fromthe crucial Congress core com-mittee meeting to discuss theprobable names to lead thegrand old party as an “interimpresident”. So were UPAChairperson Sonia Gandhi andCongress general secretaryPriyanka Gandhi, who chose toproceed for their “scheduled”visit to Rae Bareilly which hasbeen the Lok Sabha constituency of the Congress’first family for decades.

While Congress chiefspokesman Randeep Surjewalainsisted after the meeting that“Rahul Gandhi was, is andwill remain the Congress president”, the name of formerUnion Minister A K Antonywas discussed as the probableinterim president until a finalcall for the organisationalrestructuring is done.

“Rahulji was, is and willremain the Congress presi-dent. We have no doubt aboutit,” Surjewala told reporters,when asked about the situationarising out of Rahul’s offer toresign. Senior Congress leadersAhmed Patel, MallikarjunKharge, Ghulam Nabi Azad, PChidambaram, KC Venugopal,Jairam Ramesh, Anand Sharmaand Surjewala were present inthe meeting chaired by Antony.All the leaders present at the

meeting were members of theparty’s core group, which wasformed for the Lok Sabha polls.

The leaders also discussedthe party’s strategy and prepa-rations for the Assembly elec-tions in Haryana, Jammu andKashmir, Jharkhand andMaharashtra later this year.

Party sources said formerthe likely move of HaryanaChief Minister BhupinderSingh Hooda, who could floathis own new political outfit,was also pondered over givenmuch importance. Like otherstate units, Haryana Congresstoo has been a victim of inter-nal squabbles between theHooda, Haryana Congresschief Ashok Tanwar andSurjewala factions. The JindAssembly bye election was thelitmus test for the party inwhich Surjewala lost withoutdirect support from Hoodaand Tanwar.

Rahul had offered to quit asthe party chief during a May 25meeting of the CongressWorking Committee (CWC),which was called to analyse theparty’s poor performance in theLok Sabha polls in which itmanaged to win just 52 seats.The CWC had unanimouslyrejected his offer to quit butRahul was apparently firm onhis stand.

When questioned aboutRahul’s absence, Surjewala clar-ified that contrary to the spec-ulation in the media, there wasno core group in the party nowas all election-related commit-tees had ceased to exist.Surjewala said Venugopal, theAll India Congress Committee(AICC) general secretary,organisation, had said a meet-ing of the party’s general sec-retaries would be called to takestock of the situation arising outof the Lok Sabha polls and onthe upcoming state elections.

New Delhi: The NationalInvestigation Agency (NIA) onWednesday arrested accusedMohammad ArifGhulambashir Dharampuriafrom Gujarat from the IGI Airport here in connectionwith the Falah-i-InsaniyatFoundation (FIF) terror fund-ing case.

The NIA arrestedDharampuria (44), resident ofMota Parasiwad, Valsad,Gujarat who was evading hisexamination and arrest by hid-ing himself in Dubai, UAE forlong. Accordingly, a Look OutCircular (LOC) was issued byNIA and he was detained atIndira Gandhi InternationalAirport, New Delhi on hisarrival from Dubai onWednesday, the NIA said.

This is the fifth arrest in thiscase which is related to receiv-ing of terror funds being sent byFIF operators to their associatesthrough Hawala operators tofurther their nefarious activitiesto create unrest in India. PNS

PTI n NEW DELHI

The Supreme Court onWednesday refused to

entertain a plea of sackedGujarat-cadre IPS officer SanjivBhatt seeking to examine 11additional witnesses in a 30-year-old custodial death case.

A vacation bench of jus-tices Indira Banerjee and AjayRastogi said that a three-judge bench had already passedan order on May 24 on a sim-ilar plea and therefore it cannotentertain the petition.

Senior advocate ManinderSingh, appearing for theGujarat Government, said thatfinal argument is over in the1989 custodial death case andthe trial court has reserved itsverdict for June 20.

Bhatt is an accused in thecase. He was posted as the addi-tional superintendent of police in Gujarat’s Jamnagar atthat time.

According to the prosecu-tion, Bhatt had detained morethan hundred persons duringa communal riot there and oneof the detainees had died inhospital after he was released.

He was suspended in 2011on charges of remaining absent from duty without per-mission and misuse of officialvehicles, and later sacked inAugust 2015.

Bhatt on Tuesday movedthe apex court, challenging aGujarat High Court orderwhich had denied his requestto summon additional wit-nesses for examination duringthe trial. The GujaratGovernment termed the moveby Bhatt as a tactic to delay the trial.

PTI n NEW DELHI

The National InvestigatingAgency (NIA) on

Wednesday carried out searches at various places inCoimbatore in connection withthe April 21 serial suicidebombings in Colombo that ledto the killing of over 250 people.

One of the accused,Mohammed Azarudeen,booked recently in the Kerala-Tamil Nadu ISIS module case,was a Facebook friend of SriLankan suicide bomber ZahranHashim and other members ofthe module have also beensharing radical contents attrib-uted to Zahran Hashim, overthe social media.

Sources said the raids wereconducted following suspicionthat explosives were procuredby the Sri Lankan terrorists from Tamil Naduand Kerala. The searches wereconducted in connection withISIS Kerala-Tamil NaduModule Case registered by the NIA on May30 this year.

The named accused in thecase include MohammedAzarudeen (32), AkramSindhaa (26), Y ShiekHidayathullah (38), AbubackerM (29), Sadham Hussain A(26) and Ibrahim alias ShahinShah (28) and others based oninformation received that theaccused persons and their associates were propagatingthe ideology of proscribed ter-rorist organisation ISIS/ Daishon social media with the intention of recruiting vulner-able youth into the ISIS/ Daish

for carrying out terrorist attacks in South Indiaespecially in Kerala and TamilNadu.

The prime accusedMohammed Azarudeen hasbeen the leader of the moduleand has been maintaining theFacebook page named“KhilafahGFX”, through whichhe had been propagating theideology of ISIS/ Daish.

“ Accused MohammedAzarudeen has been a facebookfriend of Sri Lankan suicidebomber Zahran Hashim andother members of the modulehave also been sharing radicalcontents attributed to ZahranHashim, over the social media.Accused Ibrahim alias ShahinShah has been a close associateof arrested accused Riyas Abubacker ISISKasaragod Case registered in2016, who had planned to con-duct terrorist attacks in Kerala,on behalf of the ISIS/ Daish, theNIA said in a statement.

During the searches digitaldevices including 14 mobilephones, 29 SIM cards, 10 pendrives, three laptops, six mem-ory cards, four hard disc drives,one internet dongle and 13CDs/ DVDs besides one dag-ger, one electric baton, 300 air-gun pellets and a large numberof incriminating documentsand few PFI/SDMIpamphlets have been seizedfrom the houses and workplaces of accused persons, theNIA said.

The NIA spokespersonsaid accused persons are beingquestioned regarding theincriminating materials seizedduring the searches.

PNS n NEW DELHI

The BJP Parliamentary PartyExecutive Committee was

constituted on Wednesday withPrime Minister NarendraModi as the leader of the party,Rajnath Singh as Deputy leaderof the party (Lok Sabha),Thawar Chand Gehlot as leaderof party in Rajya Sabha andPiyush Goyal as Deputy leaderof party in the upper house.

Ghelot, a Dalit leader, hasreplaced former FinanceMinister Arun Jaitley whilethe two-time Rajya Sabha MPGoyal will be succeeding UnionMinister Ravi Shankar Prasad,who has been elected to theLok Sabha. Jaitley had request-ed the leadership to relieve himfrom key positions in view ofhis health. Goyal had served asfinance minister for a briefperiod when Jaitley was notwell in the last dispensation ofModi-government.

Union Minister SmritiIrani’s induction in the BJP’sparliamentary party executivecommittee shows elevation inher stature within the partyafter she trounced Congresspresident Rahul Gandhi fromthe Amethi parliamentary con-stituency.

The newly constituted BJPparliamentary party executivecommittee marks generationalshift in the party as perhaps forthe first time L K Advani andMurli Manohar Joshi are notpart of it, as both are not MPs.Besides them, Jaitley andSushma Swaraj are also not itsmembers.

The BJP has also decided tomake Sanjay Jaiswal, the party’sLok Sabha MP from Bihar, itschief whip in the house. He willsucceed Anurag Thakur, who

has become a Minister in thenew Modi Government. It alsothe first time appointed threewomen MPs as its whips,specifically for women parlia-mentarians.

Besides these, three womenwhips and 15 other whips forLok Sabha have also beenappointed for parliamentariansfrom different states, where itsstrength has increased to 303.

Special invitees from LokSabha to the BJP’s parliamen-tary party executive are NitinGadkari, Ravi Shankar Prasad,Arjun Munda, Narendra SinghTomar and Jual Oram.

In Rajya Sabha, specialinvitees are J P Nadda, OmPrakash Mathur, NirmalaSitharaman, DharmendraPradhan and PrakashJavadekar. BJP general secre-tary Kailash Vijayvargiya hasbeen reappointed as in-chargeof the party’s parliamentaryoffice and BalasubrahmanyamKumarsu as secretary.

The first meeting of theexecutive will be held on June16 at 3:30 pm, a day before thecommencement of the session.

PNS n NEW DELHI

A day after announcingscholarship for 5 crore

minority students, UnionMinister for Minority affairsMukhtar Abbas Naqvi onWednesday announced that allwaqf properties across Indiawould be geo-tagged and digi-tised and that the Governmentwill provide 100 per cent fund-ing to develop educationalinstitutions and hospitals onsuch properties for the welfareof society.

Naqvi, while chairing the80th meeting of the CentralWaqf Council here, said thereare around 5.77 lakh registeredwaqf properties across thecountry and their geo-taggingand digitalisation will ensure transparency and safe-ty of records.

The Centre has decided tostart a programme on a warfooting to utilise waqf proper-ties across the country for edu-cational empowerment andemployment-oriented skilldevelopment of the needy,especially economically back-ward girls in those areas which

were deprived of these facilitiessince Independence, theminority affairs minister said.

Prime Minister NarendraModi-led Government hasdecided to provide 100 per centfunding to develop schools, col-leges, ITIs, polytechnics, hos-pitals, multi-purpose commu-nity halls “Sadbhav Mandap”on waqf land underPradhanmantri Jan VikasKarykram (PMJVK), he said.

A programme has beenlaunched for 100 per cent geo-tagging and digitalisation ofwaqf properties across thecountry to ensure these prop-

erties can be utilised for thewelfare of society, Naqvi said.

Naqvi said that while only90 districts of the country hadbeen identified for minoritycommunities’ developmentduring the earlier Government,the Modi Government hasexpanded development pro-grammes for minorities in 308districts of the country.

A report of a five-membercommittee, constituted toreview waqf properties leaserule, headed by Justice (Retd)Zakiullah Khan, has been sub-mitted, Naqvi told reporters.

The recommendations of

the committee will ensure thatwaqf rules are made easy andeffective for better utilisation ofwaqf properties and to freethese properties, several ofwhich are entangled in disputesfor several decades, from dis-putes, he said.

The Central Governmentis taking necessary action onthe recommendations of thecommittee.

The Central Waqf Councilis providing financial help tostate waqf boards for digitali-sation of waqf records so thatstate waqf boards can completedigitalisation work within thedecided time frame.

“GIS/GPS mapping of thewaqf properties has been initi-ated with the help of IIT Roorkiand Aligarh Muslim University.The Central Waqf Council hasprovided video conferencingfacilities to 20 State waqf boardsand it would be provided in theremaining State waqf boards bythe end of this year,” he said.

Naqvi’s announcement ofgeo-tagging of waqf propertiescomes a day after he spelt outthe Government’s plan toempower the minorities.

INSHORT

RAKESH K SINGH n NEW DELHI

Pakistan-based terror groupJaish-e-Mohammad’s affil-

iate Al Umar Mujahideen onWednesday carried out a majorattack killing five CRPF per-sonnel and injuring four othersecurity men about a fortnightbefore the Amarnath Yatra inAnantnag district, also thebase area for the pilgrimage tothe cave shrine.

Five CRPF personnel werekilled and four other securitypersonnel suffered injuries onWednesday when terroristscarried out an attack on a busyroad in Anantnag district ofsouth Kashmir.

The security forces alsokilled a terrorist in retaliatoryfire and recovered an AKseries assault rifle from theslain jehadi.

According to preliminaryaccounts, at least two terroristson a motorcycle attacked apatrol party of the CRPF onthe busy K P Road inAnantnag with automaticrif les. They also hurledgrenades at the patrol team.

Three injured personshave been evacuated to

the 92 base hospital in theAnantnag district.

The Station House Officerof Anantnag Police Station,Arshad Ahmed, was alsoinjured in the attack and hasbeen shifted to Srinagar fortreatment.

A joint team of the bravocompany of CRPF’s 116th bat-talion and State police weredeployed for a picket duty inthe area when the terrorists hit the force’s per-sonnel with assault rifles andgrenades.

Counter-terrorism expertDr Rituraj Mate said,“Through the attack, the ter-rorists have sought to deliver

a strong message that theAmarnath Yatra would be tar-get in the coming days.

The attack could also be asignal to Union HomeMinister Amit Shah that hisstrong leadership would not gounchallenged in so far as ter-ror attacks in the Valley areconcerned.”

The security forces shoulddeploy more pickets in the areato check terror hits frommotor-cycle-borne terroristsas the terrain is suitable for theterrorists to use two-wheelersfor targeting the forces and fleefrom the crime scene, Matesaid, adding either the localmilitants should be weanedaway from the terror fold oreliminated in strong securityaction.

The attack could also beaimed at testing the reactionfrom the security forces under Shah’s leader-ship, he added. The location ofthe attack is the base area forAmarnath Yatra and the majorhit comes days after UnionHome Minister Amit Shahreviewed preparations for theAmarnath Yatra that is begin-ning on July 1.

Foul weather hinders rescue op

TEAM CLOSE TO AN-32 CRASH SITE

Fishermen watch as waves crash along the shore ahead of the landfall of CycloneVayu, in Veraval, on Wednesday PTI

Members of a rescue team prepare to camp overnight, due to difficult terrain andweather, and move to the AN-32 crash site, near North Lipo, on Wednesday PTI

Cong core groupmeets sans GandhisWhile party presidentRahul Gandhi wasconspicuous by hisabsence; Sonia, Priyankachoose Rae Bareli visit

1989 CUSTODIALDEATH CASE

SC rejectsSanjivBhatt’s plea

NIA conducts raidsover suspected linkswith Lanka blasts

TERROR STRIKE AT ANANTNAG

A joint team of the

bravo company of

CRPF’s 116th

battalion and State

police were deployed

for a picket duty in

the area when the

terrorists hit the

force’s personnel with

assault rifles and

grenades

BJP reconstitutes parliamentaryparty executive committee

BJP President Amit Shah who isalso Union Home Minister willpreside a meeting of party officebearers and State leaders onThursday to discuss road aheadand deliberate on appointing newparty head in his place, if that isso needed. Shah’s tenure wouldbe end in January, next year, andone view is that the current set upmay, for some more time,continue to overview the comingassembly polls in Maharashta,Haryana and Jharkhand

Amit Shah to hold

party meet today

NIA arrests man atIGI Airport in FIFterror funding case

‘100% Govt funding for schools on Waqf properties’

Union Minister for Minority Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi at the 80th meeting of theCentral Waqf Council, in New Delhi on Wednesday PTI

Vayu: Over 1.60L people evacuated in Guj

Site is Amarnath Yatra base area

nation 06LUCKNOW | THURSDAY | JUNE 13, 2019

TN RAGHUNATHA n MUMBAI

In a freak but a shockingmishap, a senior citizen was

killed and two others sustainedminor injuries when an alu-minium cladding panel of ahuge mural of MahatmaGandhi installed at theChurchgate railway terminus insouth Mumbai collapsed onhim.

On a day when theimpending cyclone Vayu beganinfluence the weather condi-tions in the country’s com-mercial capital, an acrylichoarding blew off a skywalkand crashed on three pedestri-ans in Bandra (west) in north-west Mumbai. Three women –Tejal Kadam (27) MalisaNazareth (30) and SulakshanaVaze (41) -- were injured in themishap.

In the far-off western sub-urb of Bordi Road, four work-ers were injured when fivegirders of a railway bridge gaveway, when some work wasgoing on there. The authoritiesattributed the incident to strongwinds blowing in the area.Following the incident, thetraffic on this stretch ofWestern Railway was affected.

A pedestrian identified as

one Madhukar Appa Narvekar(62) was severely injured, whenthe cladding from a 81 ft x 54ft mural of Mahatma Gandhi,installed in November 2017 fellon him at 12.45 pm.

Narvekar was rushed to thenearby G.T. Hospital, where hesuccumbed to injuries after anhour while undergoing treat-ment.

Two more pedestrians wereinjured in the mishap that sawan aluminium cladding panelon the second and third floorof the eastern side facade ofChurchgate terminus buildinggave way and crashed on them.However, the injured personsleft the spot before they wereeven provided first aid.

All through Wednesday,the metropolis reeled underpre-monsoon showers, result-ing in disruption of flight oper-ations, rail and road traffic.

While an Air India flightAI-678 from Delhi to Mumbaiwas diverted to Ahmedabad onWednesday afternoon becauseof inclement weather condi-tions, the arrival and departuresof some flights were delayed by15 to 20 minutes because of tostrong winds at the ChhatrapatiShivaji Maharaj InternationalAirport.

PTI n CHENNAI

The CPI(M) Wednesdaylauded the DMK for form-

ing a successful alliance for theLok Sabha polls in Tamil Nadubut lamented such an under-standing did not developamong the secular democraticforces in many other states.

The party would spearheadthe fight against the challengesposed by the BJP rule in thecoming days, CPI-M generalsecretary Sitaram Yechury said.

"I would like to congratulate

the DMK and M K Stalin (DMKpresident), not only for the vic-tory, but also for the efforts madeto bring together all seculardemocratic forces into a com-mon understanding and contestthe elections," he said.

Such an understanding,unfortunately, did not developin many other states, Yechuryadded.

While the BJP alone won awhopping 303 seats across thecountry in the recently con-cluded Lok Sabha election, theparty was decimated in Tamil

Nadu.The DMK-led alliance,

which included the Congress,CPI, CPI(M), won 37 of the 38seats that went to the polls.

Sharing his assessment onthe poll outcome, Yechury saidsuccessful shifting of electoralnarrative from livelihood issuesto Hindutva nationalism, com-munal polarisation, larger-than-life persona of Prime

Minister Narendra Modibacked by staggering amountof money contributed to theBJP's success.

TN RAGHUNATHA n MUMBAI

With the potential threat ofcyclone Vayu looming

large over Gujarat, the WesternRailway has either cancelled,short-terminated or partiallycancelled as many as 37 trainsbound for various destinationsin the neighbouring State as aprecautionary measure.

In addition to the 15 trainscancelled earlier, the authoritieson Wednesday evening can-celled 25 more mainline trains,while in addition to the earli-er 16 trains, 12 other mainlinetrains will be short terminatedwith partial cancellation as aprecautionary measure in thecyclone prone areas in theWestern Railways.

“Accordingly, total 68 trainsof Western Railways have beenaffected in view of the precau-tionary measures taken by us tosafeguard the interests of the

passengers,” a Western Railwayspokesperson added.

The Mumbai-headquar-tered Western Railway gearedup to tackle the impending sit-uation, amid reports that partsof Gujarat would be hit by theimpact from strengtheningCyclone Vayu, which is expect-ed to hit the Gujarat coast any-where between Veraval in thesouth and Dwarka in the weston Thursday afternoon.

All the passenger andMail/Express trains to thesestations are being short termi-nated or cancelled after 1800hrs Wednesday to morning ofJune 14.

"The coaching stock cur-rently available at depots andstation yards at coastal areas arebeing shifted to safe places.Special trains with six to tencoaches each will be formed, tobe kept in ready condition atnearest safe location to bemoved in emergency condi-tions," a WR spokesperson said.

The Western Railway hasmade arrangements for round-the-clock monitoring of the sit-uation at the emergency con-trol room at its headquarters

HQ and also at its Divisionaloffices by Officers of con-cerned departments for imme-diate relief arrangement.

“Considering the alertnessfor Vayu cyclone over Gujarat,Western Railway has decided torun relief special trains. Twosuch evacuation special trainsare scheduled to be run inRajkot Division and one inBhavnagar division to clearpassengers of coastal areaaffected by the Cyclone,” a WRspokesperson said.

The first special train isscheduled to run from Okha at18.00 hrs on Thursday forRajkot with 11 coaches, whilethe 2nd special train is sched-uled to run from Okha at20.05 on Thursday forAhmedabad with 20 coaches.The 3rd special train will runfrom Veraval at 20.00 hours onThursday for Ahmedabad with11 coaches.

In addition to this, theauthorities are taking varioussafety and security precautionsfor train passengers of theseprone areas under the juris-diction of the W4esternRailways.

Cancels, short-teminates37 trains

PTI n MUMBAI

The Bombay High Court onWednesday said it will have

to hear environmental expertsbefore deciding on a plea seek-ing hacking of mangroves topave way for the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train project.

A division bench of ChiefJustice Pradeep Nandrajog andJustice NM Jamdar was hear-ing an application filed by theNational High Speed RailCorporation Ltd (NHSRCL),seeking permission to cutmangroves spread over 13hectares of area.

In March this year, theMaharashtra Coastal ZoneManagement Authority hadtold the court that it had givenits nod for cutting over 53,000mangrove trees for the project.

In April this year, theNHSRCL informed the courtthat it had received theapproval of the expert appraisalcommittee of the UnionMinistry of Environment andForests for removal of man-groves in Thane, Navi Mumbaiand Palghar districts.

PTI n SRINAGAR

Jammu & Kashmir GovernorSatya Pal Malik on

Wednesday asked militants togive up arms and invited themto hold talks, saying dialogue isthe only way through whichthey can get what they wantwithin the ambit of theConstitution.

He said India cannot bemade to bow through vio-lence.

"Take everything from us,we will give our life, butthrough love and dialogue. Forthat (PM) Narendra Modi isready, we are ready. Come to thedialogue table and take it for-ward," Malik said at a marathonpress briefing on the achieve-ments of his administration.

"Whatever you want can beachieved through talks anddialogue. You have your ownconstitution, you have a sepa-rate flag. Whatever more youwant, you will get it through thedemocratic process and with-in the ambit of the IndianConstitution," he said.

The governor said the mil-itants may not realise it now,but 10 years down the line theywill repent that they chose thewrong path.

"You cannot make India tobow through violence," he said.

Malik said the problem ofmilitancy exists in Kashmirnot only due to unemploymentamong youth, but also becausepoliticians have been mislead-ing the people for the past sev-eral decades.

"There is unemploymentacross the country but unem-ployed people (elsewhere) inthe country do not pick up

weapons against the govern-ment. There is something morehere. The basic thing here isthat the leaders have not toldpeople the truth. People havebeen misled and shown falsedreams, which will never befulfilled," he said.

Malik said the people havebeen shown the dream of'azadi' (independence) andsometimes that of autonomy.

"When these things didnot work, they were shown thedreams of paradise throughradicalisation. I want to tell theyouth that they have two par-adises -- one is Kashmir and if

they become good Muslims,they will get the other one also,"he said.

Speaking about the pres-ence of the Islamic State inKashmir, the governor said,"These are ways of destructionof Kashmir."

Malik exhorted the youthto give up arms.

"I want to tell the youth ofKashmir, drop your guns andcome to Raj Bhawan to havelunch with me. Then explain tome what good Kashmir will getfrom the path you have cho-sen," he said.

Malik called on the politi-cal leaders to help bring backthe youth to the mainstreamsociety.

"They have to muster thecourage and tell them. I requestthe mainstream leaders,preachers and intelligentsia tobring back these youth (to themainstream) and whatever isneeded for their rehabilitation,we will do it," he said.

"In every insurgency, therecomes a time when fatigue setsin. That time has come inKashmir," he added.

Asked about Pakistan's rolein the situation in Kashmir,Malik said the neighbouringcountry is in trouble.

Shun arms, violence: Malik

J&K GOVERNOR URGES TERRORISTS

He invites armed

groups for talks

Bullet train: HCwants to hearexperts fordecision oncutting mangroves

Senior citizen killed asGandhi mural claddingcrashes in Mumbai

Yechury lauds DMK-led secularalliance's LS performance

DMK president MK Stalin during his visit to thank voters for supporting the DMK-led Secular Progressive Alliance in the pollsand commemorate the birthday of former CM M Karunanidhi at Vadakkipalayam near Pollachi on Wednesday PTI

Jammu & Kashmir Governor Satya Pal Malik addresses a press conference inSrinagar on Wednesday PTI

Western Railways gearsup for cyclone ‘Vayu’

Army jawans carry the coffin of a martyred soldier, LanceNaik Mohammad Jawed in Patna on Wednesday PTI

Over ` 2.05 lakh cr fraudsin 11 yrs: ICICI Bank, SBI,HDFC among top victims

PTI n UTTARAKHAND

As the oppressive heatwave grip-ping the country’s plains push-

es a huge number of tourist to the rel-atively cooler hilly regions, severalpopular holiday destinations inUttarakhand are witnessing massivetraffic jams, forcing some visitors toreturn midway.

Choked by traffic jams and theheavy influx of tourists, the com-muting time from Haridwar to thefour Himalayan shrines (CharDham) in Garhwal has more thandoubled. It is now taking almost 18hours to reach Badrinath fromHaridwar, an official in Chamoli said.

Large swathes of the countryhave been searing under markedlyhigh temperatures for the past sev-eral days, with the mercury hover-ing around the 50-degree Celsiusmark in many areas in north India.

Over 80,000 vehicles passthrough Haridwar on a daily basisthese days, Haridwar SSP JanmejayKhanduri said. Additional forceshad been deployed to control thetraffic but tourists continue roremain stuck for four to five hours,he added.

The situation is not unique toHaridwar. Rishikesh, Mussoorie,Dehradun, Rudraprayag, Gangotri,Yamunotri and Nainital are facing asimilar problem.

According to Joshimath BlockPramukh Prakash Rawat, the debrisleft during the construction of all-weather roads had added to com-muters’ woes beyond Rishikesh.

Though the widening of the roadswas suspended due to the pilgrimseason, the debris deposited onChamoli-Joshimath stretch was con-tributing to traffic jams, Rawat said.

He said timely removal of thedebris would have saved the situa-tion.

However, Chamoli DistrictMagistrate Swati S Bhadoria said thedebris had been removed from mostplaces and it was being removedfrom the remaining places on a warfooting. The biggest factor con-tributing to traffic jams was the risein the number of small vehiclesentering the state on a daily basis anda shortage of parking lots, she said.

The stretch from Janki Chatti toSyana Chatti on the way to theYamunotri shrine and the 13-kmroad from Ganganani to Sukki Topon the way to Gangotri are witness-ing traffic bottlenecks, allowing onlytwo vehicles to pass at a time.

Uttarkashi District MagistrateAshish Chauhan blamed the increas-ing rush of vehicles on the roads toYamunotri and Gangotri.

Since the opening of the portalsat the Yamunotri and Gangotri tem-ples on May 7, 51,480 small vehicleshave reached the shrines till now.

The figure for the entire seasonstood at 56,291 last year.

Nainital-bound vehicles werebeing parked at temporary parkinglots near the Rusi bypass and atCharkhet on the Kaladhungi road todecongest city roads, Nainital ADMHarbir Singh said.

“Those who leave their vehiclesat the parking lots are being sent toNainital by a shuttle service,” he said.

There was a long traffic snarl onthe Mussoorie-Haridwar road onMonday, which was cleared withdeployment of additional police per-sonnel, SP (City) Shweta Chaubeysaid.

PTI n NEW DELHI

Of over 50,000 frauds that hit banks inIndia in the last 11 fiscal years, the

ICICI Bank, State Bank of India (SBI) andHDFC Bank reported highest number ofcases, according to an RBI data. Of thetotal 53,334 cases of frauds reported dur-ing 2008-09 and 2018-19 fiscal years,involving a whopping Rs 2.05 lakh crore,a highest of 6,811 were reported by theICICI Bank involving Rs 5,033.81 crore.

The state-run State Bank of India(SBI) reported 6,793 fraud cases involv-ing Rs 23,734.74 crore followed by HDFCBanks which recorded 2,497 such casesinvolving Rs 1,200.79 crore, according tothe data given by the central bank inresponse to an RTI query filed by this cor-respondent. The Bank of Baroda report-ed 2,160 fraud cases (involving Rs12,962.96 crore), Punjab National Bank2,047 frauds (Rs 28,700.74 crore) and AxisBank had 1,944 fraud cases involving RS5,301.69 crore public money.

As many as 1,872 frauds involving Rs12,358.2 crore was reported by Bank ofIndia, 1,783 by Syndicate Bank (Rs5830.85 crore) and Central Bank ofIndia’s 1, 613 cases involving Rs 9041.98crore, the data shows.

IDBI Bank Ltd reported 1,264 fraudcases involving Rs 5978.96 crore, StandardChartered Bank 1,263 cases involving Rs1221.41 crore, Canara Bank 1,254 casesof Rs 5553.38 crore, Union Bank of India1,244 frauds of Rs 11,830.74 crore andKotak Mahindra 1,213 cases involving Rs430.46 crore.

In that period, Indian Overseas Bankreported 1,115 frauds involving Rs12,644.7 crore, while Oriental Bank ofCommerce 1040 cases of Rs 5,598.23

crore. The United Bank of India reported

944 cases of frauds involving Rs 3052.34crore, State Bank of Mysore 395 cases ofRs 742.31 crore, State Bank of Patiala 386cases (Rs 1178.77 crore), Punjab and SindBank 276 cases (Rs 1154.89 crore), UCOBank 1081 frauds (Rs 7104.77 crore),Tamilnad Mercantile Bank Ltd 261 cases(Rs 493.92 crore) and Lakshmi Vilas BankLtd reported 259 frauds (Rs 862.64crore).

Some of the foreign banks operatingin India also reported fraud cases worthcrores during the last 11 fiscal years.American Express Banking Corporationreported 1,862 fraud cases of Rs 86.21crore, Citi Bank 1,764 cases of Rs 578.09crore, Hongkong and Shanghai BankingCorporation (HSBC) Ltd 1,173 fraudsof Rs 312.1 crore and The Royal Bank ofScotland Plc reported 216 frauds involv-ing Rs 12.69 crore, the RBI data said.

A total of 274 cases of frauds werereported by the State Bank of Travancoreinvolving Rs 694.61 crore, Jammu andKashmir Bank Ltd reported 142 suchcases of Rs 1639.9 crore, The IndustrialFinance Corp of India had nine cases ofRs 671.66 crore, The Dhanlakshmi BankLtd 89 cases of Rs 410.93 crore and VijayaBank reported 639 cases involving`1,748.9 crore, it said.

Yes Bank Ltd reported 102 fraud casesinvolving Rs 311.96 crore and PaytmPayments Bank Limited reported twocases of Rs 0.02 crore (or Rs 2 lakh), it said.

PTI had on June 3 reported that asmany as 6,801 cases of fraud were report-ed by scheduled commercial banks andselect financial institutions involving anamount of Rs 71,542.93 crore in the lastfiscal, quoting data from the RBI.

Influx of tourists chokes U’khand

LUCKNOW | THURSDAY | JUNE 13, 2019 news 07

PTI n LONDON

The UK High Court onWednesday rejected Nirav

Modi’s bail application, hisfourth attempt as the diamondmerchant fights his extraditionfrom Britain to India in thenearly USD 2 billion PunjabNational Bank (PNB) fraudand money laundering case.

In her judgment handeddown at the Royal Courts ofJustice in London, JusticeIngrid Simler concluded thereare “substantial grounds” tobelieve that the 48-year-oldfugitive diamantaire would failto surrender as he does possessthe means to “abscond”.

Reiterating similar con-cerns as those raised by thelower court in the UK duringprevious bail hearings, JudgeSimler ruled that after consid-ering all the material “careful-ly”, she had found strong evi-dence to suggest there hadbeen interference with wit-nesses and destruction of evi-dence in the case and con-cluded it can still occur.

“The applicant has accessto considerable financialresources, supported by anincreased (bail bond security)offer of 2 million pounds,” the

Judge noted.“It is difficult, in my judge-

ment, to see how the UK is asafe haven as there is no case ofhim being tried here… Thereare still places in the world onecan escape to, which are aneven safer haven from the

Indian investigating authori-ties,” she said, counteringModi’s lawyers’ assertion thathe did not have any incentiveto flee the UK as he sees it as asafe haven of justice.

The judge stressed thatwhile it was not for her to take

a “definitive view” on the evi-dence, she had proceeded onthe basis that the governmentof India has acted in good faithin what is “undoubtedly” aserious case and a “sophisti-cated international conspiracy”to defraud together withmoney laundering.

Simler concluded that it is“difficult to predict” how Modiwould react to developments inthe extradition process, whichraises a “strong incentive” offailure to surrender before theUK courts to avoid returning toIndia. “All 12 witnesses makesimilar allegations – they werethreatened and kept in fear…in all these circumstances, thereis compelling evidence thatthe applicant (Modi) and thoseacting on his behalf havesought to interfere and destroyevidence,” the judge noted.

Nirav’s bail rejected for 4th time

London: A UK High Courtjudge on Wednesday accepteda broad consistency of evidenceput forward by the CrownProsecution Service (CPS),arguing on behalf of the IndianGovernment, in the extraditioncase against fugitive diamondmerchant Nirav Modi.

Justice Ingrid Simler readout a detailed judgment at theRoyal Courts of Justice, inwhich she upheld a lower courtruling to withhold bail andalso summed up the case againstModi — wanted in India as the“principal beneficiary” of thefraudulent issuance of letters ofundertaking (LoUs) in the near-

ly USD 2 billion PunjabNational Bank (PNB) fraudand money laundering case.

“Taken overall, there is abroad consistency of evidence,”Judge Simler noted, as sheaccepted all the concerns raisedby the CPS. Modi’s legal teamhad rejected any of destructionof evidence by him and claimedthat any mobile phones dis-posed of were only to avoidtracking rather than to destroythe material held on them. Butthe judge dismissed this asser-tion, accepting the CPS asser-tion that they were destroyed toobstruct the CBI and ED inves-tigation. PTI

UK High Court notes broad

consistency in India’s

evidence against Nirav Modi

Cabinet clears fresh Bill...From Page 1

After the Union Cabinet’s nod, President Ram Nath Kovind will sign theproclamation for imposition of President’s Rule in the State and it will come intoeffect on July 3, a Home Ministry official said. The State is under Central rulesince June 20, 2018, after BJP withdrawn its support to Mehbooba MuftiGovernment. The Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modialso decided to re-introduce Aadhaar Bill, and amendment Bills to MedicalCouncil, Dentist Council and Homeopathy Council. The Cabinet also passedthe introduction of New Delhi International Arbitration Centre Bill, 2019 to cre-ate an international arbitration in New Delhi. The meeting also approved theCentral Educational Institutions (Reservation in Teachers’ Cadre) Bill, 2019” whichcreates 7,000 existing vacancies to be filled up by direct recruitment in teach-ers’ cadre. The other Bills were to be introduced are amendment to Jammu &Kashmir Reservation Rules to implement economic reservation in the State andthe Bill to speed up the eviction of illegal occupation in public property.

BJP workers, Bengal...

From Page 1“We welcome the decision. We

have received Tripathi’s letter. Wewould be attending tomorrow’s meet-ing. May be JP Majumdar will lead thedelegation and if need be more leaderscould be sent there,” he said.

Earlier, even as thousands of BJPworkers marched towards Lalbazarprotesting against rising violence andpolitical deaths in the State particular-ly in and around Basirhat, the policeintercepted them and fired teargasshells and water cannons.

“There was no need to lathi-chargeand fire teargas shells on the crowdbecause we were marching peacefully,”Ghosh later said adding the BJP pro-cession was stopped long before theycould reach the vicinity of Lalbazar.

Claiming that the “Chief Ministerand TMC are so afraid of a surging BJPthat they have started unleashing thepolice on us.” Curiously, even as thenews of violence spread around Kolkata

the administration locked the maingates of Nabanna some 15 km away inHowrah. “The police resorted to lath-charge only when stones and bottleswere pelted on them,” a senior officialsaid adding they had arrested 25 peo-ple for instigating violence. AbhishekBanerjee said the BJP had brought inpeople from districts and even neigh-bouring Bihar and Jharkhand to createtrouble in Kolkata.

Meanwhile, Union Minister BabulSuypriyo slammed TMC and Mamatafor bringing disrepute to Bengal byinstigating violence and attacking theBJP supporters. He said if this situationcontinued then the TMC Governmentwould not even last its full term till2021. Incidentally Mukul Roy alsowrote a letter to Union Home MinisterAmit Shah drawing his attention to thegrim situation in Bengal alleging therewas a “complete breakdown” of law andorder situation in the State. He said thatthe situation should be controlledimmediately failing which it could goout of control.

Delhi Govt’s...From Page 1

The short-term plan willtake at least eight months andthe long-term plan will takemore than a year.

“I want to share some goodnews with the women of Delhi.The DMRC has submitted aconcrete proposal on ourscheme to make public trans-port free for women. Twooptions have been proposed bythem for implementation ofthis scheme. One is a longerterm plan that will take oneyear to implement and willinvolve changing of theDMRC’s software, tokens andcards. However, the secondoption is a short-term, stop gaparrangement,” said Kejriwal.

Under the short-term plan,the women shall be able to pur-chase tokens at ticket windowsand automatic ticket vending

machines (ATVMs) by simplysharing their destination.Separate gate will be there forwoman to enter with the tokenbut the exit gates will remaincommon. The DMRC will notneed to change their software.

“Although the DMRC saysthey need 8 months to roll outthis model, we believe we canwork with their officers andimplement the scheme in thenext 2-3 months. Only twosteps need to be taken by theDMRC - special tokens need tobe printed and in 170 stationswhere ticket windows have beenshut, they need to be reopened.We do not think these steps willtake more than 2-3 months,”said the Chief Minister.

He added that, “TheDMRC has said it expects a 50per cent increase in women rid-ership after the rollout of thisscheme, which means 45-50per cent of the ridership will be

women. This will mean a totalfinancial commitment of Rs1,566.64 crores. The DelhiGovernment has no objectionswith this. Operationally, theDelhi Government will paythe DMRC whatever is theactual cost it incurs. Whetherit is our projection or theDMRC’s, the payments will befinally based on the actualusage of the subsidy.”

Explaining on availability offunds, Kejriwal added that,“The people of Delhi have elect-ed an honest Government,which has increased revenuesand runs in surplus withoutincreasing a single tax in itsterm. We have saved that hardearned money of the people andwill use it to provide the maxi-mum benefit back to the peo-ple. The Government has madefinancial arrangement for theempowerment and security ofwomen. The Delhi Government

will give a commitment to theDMRC that the subsidy will beprovided by the Governmentsimilar to the subsidy paid bythe Government for electricityand water.

When asked about whetherthe policy was discriminatory,CM Kejriwal said, “To those whosay this policy is against genderequality, I ask - Do we have gen-der equality in this country tobegin with? We do not live in acountry that treats women at parwith men. Only 30 per cent ofthe Metro ridership is women.Women form only 11 per cent ofDelhi’s workforce, whereas thenational average is 24 per cent.This needs to change. The kindsof opportunities that will open up for women if their travel becomes free areenormous. It will boost their status as members of theworkforce and boost the economy.”

Washington: Secretary of StateMike Pompeo will discuss theTrump administration’s “ambi-tious agenda” for the US-Indiastrategic partnership when hemeets with Prime MinisterNarendra Modi and ExternalAffairs Minister S Jaishankar thismonth in New Delhi, the statedepartment said. Pompeo willtravel to four countries — India,Sri Lanka, Japan and SouthKorea — from June 24 to 30.“Prime Minister Modi’s recentelection victory provides anexcellent opportunity for him toimplement his vision for a strongand prosperous India that playsa leading role on global stage,”state department spokespersonMorgan Ortagus said. PTI

Pompeo to discuss‘ambitious agenda’ forIndo-US strategic tieswith Modi, Jaishankar

KUMAR CHELLAPPAN n

CHENNAI/KOCHI

An innocuous but hilariouscartoon drawn by KK

Subhash, a young artist in Kerala,has earned the wrath of the pow-erful Kerala Catholic BishopCouncil (KCBC) which has lit-erally shown the “red card” to theLeft Democratic FrontGovernment asking the latter toreconsider its decision to selectthe cartoon for the State Award.

It was on Monday, theKerala Lalithkala Akademi , anorganisation under the KeralaGovernment for conservingand promoting visual artsannounced the names of artistswho have been selected for the2018-2019 awards. Subhash’s

cartoon featuring FrankoMulakkal, the tainted bishop ofPunjab who was accused ofmolesting nuns working withhim, was selected as the bestpolitical cartoon. The work,titled Viswasam Rakshathi(Malayalam for ‘Let the BeliefSave Us’) had the image ofMulakkal with the holy stickcarrying undergarments on it.

By Wednesday, the KCBCin a statement asked the KeralaGovernment to cancel theaward as th art work had ‘insult-ed priesthood’ in an obscenemanner. Varghese Vallikkattu,spokesman of KCBC said un astatement that the cartoon hashurt the religious sentiments ofthe Christians. “This action ofthe Kerala Government is a

deliberate move to insult theChurch as an act of vengeanceas the former suspects that theminorities did not vote for theLDF in the recently held LokSabha election,” said Vallikkattu.

But Ramachandran, artcritic and author s of the viewthat the Church was threaten-ing the CPM-led governmentby accusing it of offending thesentiments of the minorities.‘The Church, of late has beenpressurising the government totake action against its ownpeople who are not in thesame page with the former onvarious issues. The actionagainst Paul Thelekkatt, a wide-ly respected priest is a proof ofthis attitude of the Church,”said Ramachandran.

Church sees red in cartoon

featuring tainted bishop

Gariaband (PTI): Naxals set on fire tenduleaves stock worth around Rs 9 crore kept in agodown of the forest department inChhattisgarh’s Gariaband district, an official saidWednesday.

The incident took place late Tuesday nightin Nawamuda village, located around 150 kmfrom the state capital Raipur, divisional forestofficer J R Bhagat said.

Tendu leaves are used for making ‘bidis’(leaf-wrapped cigarettes). As per preliminaryinformation, over a dozen armed Naxals,including women, reached the village where theforest department has three godowns for stock-ing the tendu leaves, he said.

After holding hostage three guards at thepremises, the rebels stormed into one of thegodowns after breaking its locks, where 1,700sacks of tendu leaves worth Rs nine crore werekept, he said.

The ultras set on fire the entire stock,belonging to a contractor, and escaped from thespot after locking the guards in a room there,Bhagat said, adding that the godown was com-pletely gutted.

On getting information about the incident,forest and police personnel rushed to the spotand informed the fire brigade officials.

Efforts were still on to douse the flames,he added. Naxals left behind a pamphletalleging that the villagers were not getting fullpayment for tendu leaves collection andtherefore, the stock was burnt, a local policeofficial said.

A search operation was underway to tracethoseinvolved in the incident, he added.

PTI n NEW DELHI

Rahul Gandhi was, is, andwill remain the Congress

president, party’s chiefspokesperson RandeepSurjewala said Wednesday,after days of uncertainty overGandhi’s offer to quit the post.

Surjewala made theremarks after senior Congressleaders met here informallyunder the guidance of A KAntony and discussed theparty’s strategy and preparationfor the upcoming assemblyelections in Haryana, Jammuand Kashmir, Jharkhand andMaharashtra.

Gandhi had offered to quitas party chief during a meetingof the Congress WorkingCommittee on May 25 whichwas called to analyse the party’s

poor performance in the LokSabha polls, in which it man-aged to win just 52 seats.

The CWC had unani-mously rejected his offer to quitbut Gandhi was apparentlyfirm on his stand.

“Rahul ji was, is and willremain the Congress presi-dent. We have no doubt aboutit,” Surjewala told reporterswhen asked about the situationarising out of Gandhi’s offer toresign.

Senior leaders AhmedPatel, Mallikarjuna Kharge,Ghulam Nabi Azad, PChidambaram, KC Venugopal,Surjewala, Jairam Ramesh andAnand Sharma were present inthe meeting.

All the leaders present inWednesday’s meeting weremembers of the core groupformed for the Lok Sabha polls.

However, Surjewala clari-fied that contrary to specula-tion in the media there was nocore group now as all election-related committees ceased toexist.

Surjewala: Rahul Gandhi was, is and will remain Cong president

Certain humane considerations mustinfluence grant of visa, HC tells CentrePTI nNEW DELHI

Although the State has “unfet-tered discretion” while grant-

ing visas to foreign nationals, cer-tain humane considerations mustinfluence its decisions, the DelhiHigh Court has said.

The high court’s observationcame while directing the Centreto issue a visa to a woman fromUzbekistan who was beingdenied entry into India eventhough one of her minor childrenwas granted a medical visa fortreatment here.

Justice Vibhu Bakhru saidthat issuing a medical visa to thechild while blacklisting the par-ent was “futile and serves no pur-pose”. “The courts, in severaldecisions, have emphasised uponthe importance of having ahumanitarian approach.

“Although the state has anunfettered discretion in the mat-ter of granting visas to foreign cit-izens, certain humane consider-ations must influence its deci-

sions,” the court said in its order.The relief has been granted

to the woman subject to her giv-ing an undertaking that shewould leave the country onexpiry of her visa along with herchildren.

She was blacklisted for stay-ing back in India after expiry ofher tourist visa as she had mar-ried someone here. The court’sorder came on her husband’s pleaseeking removal of her namefrom the blacklist. She had ear-lier arrived in India in November

2017 on a tourist visa which wasvalid till January 2018. Duringher stay here, she got married inDecember 2017.

Thereafter, she continued tostay here and left after obtainingan exit visa, her husband’s peti-tion said, adding that she had twokids from her first marriagewhich ended in a divorce.

Her 11-year-old daughterwas issued a medical visa for twomonths for availing treatment atFortis Hospital here and her 9-year-old son was granted a touristvisa, but she was denied the trav-el document, the petition said.During the proceedings beforethe court, the Foreigner RegionalRegistration Office (FRRO) haddeclined to review her status tillSeptember 9, 2019 when hername would be removed fromthe blacklist in the normal course.

However, the court was ofthe view that the instant case“presents certain mitigating cir-cumstances” and a humanitari-an approach was required.

India successfullyconducts maidenflight test ofscramjet demoaircraftBalasore (Odisha): India suc-cessfully conducted the maid-en flight test of the indige-nously-developed HypersonicTechnology DemonstratorVehicle (HSTDV) from a baseoff the Odisha coast onWednesday.

The HSTDV was test-firedby the Defence Research andDevelopment Organisation(DRDO) from LaunchComplex-4 of the IntegratedTest Range (ITR) on Dr AbdulKalam Island in the Bay ofBengal at about 11.25 am,DRDO sources said.

The HSTDV is anunmanned scramjet demon-stration aircraft for hyperson-ic speed flight, it can cruise atmach 6 speed and move up toan altitude of 32.5 km (20miles) in 20 seconds, theyadded.

Besides its utility for long-range cruise missiles of thefuture, the dual-use technolo-gy will have multiple civilianapplications also. It can beused for launching satellites atlow cost too, the sources said.

Describing the maiden trialof the HSTDV as successful,the sources said, “The newtechnology was tested and thedata generated by the radarsshowed it was a success.”

The trial was carried out inthe presence of senior DRDOscientists and defence officials.

The HSTDV can move upto an altitude of 32.5 km (20miles) in 20 seconds and onceit is achieved successfully, Indiawill enter a select club of coun-tries that have such technolo-gy.

“The HSTDV project,through which we want todemonstrate the performanceof a scramjet engine at a lowaltitude of 15 to 20 km, was onfor a couple of years. “Underthis project, we are developinga hypersonic vehicle to bepowered by a scramjet engine,”a DRDO scientist associatedwith the programme said .

Naxals set ablazetendu leaves stockworth crores

Romance and nostalgia surround-ing the grandeur of the Britishempire in the 19th and 20th cen-tury is predicated on “the empireon which the sun never sets.”

This pomposity was extended to includeemerging America in the mid-19th centu-ry to posit the Anglophone domain, asnoted by Alexander Campbell in 1852, “ToBritain and America, god has granted thepossession of the new world; and becausethe sun never sets upon our religion, ourlanguage and our arts…” Subsequently, thetwo world wars of the 20th centurychanged the global narrative and thechurn of history left the British empire tohold on and cast its equation with the USin a Churchellian expression, “specialrelationship.” Befittingly, British PrimeMinister Theresa May sought “a new spe-cial relationship”, while not one to be leftout, US President Donald Trump added hisown to the lexicon by claiming the bilat-eral relationship to be, “the highest level ofspecial!” However, the stark reality of thetwo nations clutching the straws of histo-ry was inevitable as Trump made his statevisit to the UK as May was in the last weekof her notice period.

The usual blusters, clichés and gaffesnotwithstanding, the visit nailed the opticsof an empire that was wilting under theweight of an “unequal” relationship thatbesets any relationship with the USPresident Donald Trump. The quintessen-tial English “correctness” of May helped hermumble over the contentious issuesbetween the two nations, namely, on howto handle Iran, China or even Brexit. Eventhe ostensibly “nasty” past of the once-American and now the Duchess of Sussex,Meghan Markle, was providentially avoid-ed as she was on maternity leave. Yet, thecracks in the sovereign outlook and intru-sions into the domestic affairs of the UKby Trump, had all the hallmarks of a very“Un-English” inelegance and mannerism.From opining on members of the royalfamily, the mayor of London, Oppositionleaders, Brexit negotiations, to even his ownpreferences for the next incumbent of the10 Downing Street — Great Britain wasmade to look rather pedestrian and behold-en to its “special” ally.

Undercurrents of suspicion across theAtlantic have simmered for long and eventhe victory in World War II was marredwith private concerns in the UK, over theruthless negotiations done by the US, toextend crucial support during the war toits “special” ally. Beyond the exactingcommercial terms enforced on the post-war UK, the US denied support to its “spe-cial” ally on Suez Canal, leading to itshumiliating retreat. In 1983, the US invad-ed Grenada in the Caribbean, then suppos-edly a member of the BritishCommonwealth. Even the reciprocal dis-interest in both the Vietnam war and later,

the Falklands, owing to theirindividual compulsions militat-ed against the publically pos-tured alliance. The USSecretary of State during theVietnam War, Dean Rusk, hadfamously told a British journal-ist on the cold feet developedby the British Government incontributing military where-withal: “When the Russiansinvade Sussex, don’t expect usto come and help you.” Deep inthe psyche of the Trans-Atlantic world, only the fear ofthe “others” in the Cold Warera kept the portents of “specialrelationship” going — but thewriting was always on the wall,and with the advent of the busi-nessman-turned-President,the worms came out of thewoodwork.

Serendipitously, a 2003British comedy film, LoveActually, has a role played byHugh Grant as the PrimeMinister of Great Britain, whostands up to the roughshodantics of the visiting USPresident. In it, the BritishPrime Minister calls the bluffon the “special relationship”by saying on the podium withthe US President by his side,“I love that word relationship.Covers all manners of sins,doesn’t it? I fear that this hasbecome a bad relationship.

One that is based on thePresident taking exactly whathe wants and casually ignor-ing all those things that real-ly matter to Britain. We maybe a small country, but we’rea great one too” and then addsfor good measure, “A friendwho bullies us is no longer afriend. And since bullies onlyrespond to strength, fromnow onward, I will be pre-pared to be much stronger.And the President should beprepared for that.”

Unfortunately, in 2019,none of that happened andMay stood meekly by the sideof the US President as he railedagainst the Mayor of London,Sadiq Khan, by calling him a“not good mayor who haddone a poor job.” He thenadded, condescendingly andlordly, that the mayor had crit-icised the “representative of theUS that can do so much goodfor the UK.” Further, with theBritish Prime Minister acqui-escing, Trump went on to callthe head of the Oppositionparty, Jeremy Corbyn, a “neg-ative force.” Completing thepicture of servility was thefinal comments by May,addressed to both the Mayor ofLondon and Corbyn, aboutthe “greatest alliance” that“ensures our safety and securi-

ty and the safety and securityof others around the world,too.” That May was no WinstonChurchill or even MargaretThatcher was all too clear andvisible.

Trump merrily waded intothe bitterly divided waters ofBrexit with his own opinionson its (mis)handling, whilemaking the protocol exceptionto meet the divisive figure ofNigel Farage at the USAmbassador’s residence. Hereiterated Brexit “will happenand it probably should happen”.A hapless empire was left witha visiting US President tellingthem about his personal pref-erences for the next PrimeMinister in Boris Johnson orJeremy Hunt.

Clearly, the days when ablunt Margaret Thatcher couldstand up to the YankeeRepublican President, likeRonald Reagan, who whileurging her to go slow onFalklands, was told off chilling-ly by the ‘Iron Lady’: “I didn’tlose some of my best ships andsome of my finest lives to leavequietly.” Since then, the sun hasindeed firmly set on theempire’s “greatest alliance.”

(The writer, a military vet-eran, is a former Lt Governor ofAndaman & Nicobar Islandsand Puducherry)

Mumbai jeweller Birju Salla was smit-

ten with his girlfriend and wanted to

spend more time with her in Delhi. The

problem was that his girlfriend did not want

to quit her job in Delhi. Keep in mind that Salla

was married already. His lady friend worked

with Jet Airways and Salla, a very frequent trav-

eller with the airline, wanted it to shut its Delhi

office so that she would come to him for a

job. And he was already a bit upset with the

airline due to deteriorating service. He would,

in his eyes, kill two birds with one stone. That stone was a hijack attempt, but

Salla was a slightly incompetent hijacker and to cut a long story short, he got

caught fairly quickly. Even though the evidence was incontrovertible, his pros-

ecution still took close to two years. But after this trial under the new Anti-Hijacking

Act, Salla finds himself `5 crore poorer and behind the bars for 14 years.

This is a strong message to send. While Salla was actually onboard the air-

craft, there are far too many hoax calls made every year that affect airlines and

thousands of passengers. These hoaxers have a variety of purposes but most

get away with little more than a slap on the wrist. The fine and sentence must

be applied, albeit at a lesser level, to these hoax callers as well. Airlines are a

core part of the nation’s transportation system. Salla, of course, finds himself

in more trouble as the National Investigation Agency (NIA) found that he had also

committed bigamy by marrying the lady he fancied. Some might question why

someone, who acted out of love but mainly stupidity, should face such a harsh

sentence but the law has to be applied. The fine that he is paying will be shared

among the pilots, cabin crew and passengers, though it may not be enough to

compensate them for their anguish and trauma. The irony of the situation, of

course, must not be lost. Barely more than a year after his failed hijacking, the

target of ire, Jet Airways, did shut shop. And while it will be impossible to dis-

count whether the hijacking had some role, however minor, in its demise, Salla

could have just been a bit more patient. And this punishment may be nothing

compared to the problems he will face from his ‘wives’, who won’t be happy

now with all the details that have emerged.

By now it is a given that China, despite

its perceived forked-tongue approach to

India, has at least begun to acknowledge

our primacy in developing its own strategic

depth in the region and create a duality in the

so far unipolar world presided over by the US.

While Russia has revived its weightage post

the Cold War slump under Vladimir Putin, the

fact of the matter is China, by virtue of its eco-

nomic heft and intricacy of trade ties with the

US, can be the only counter magnet, partic-

ularly in the rabid triumphalism and impositions of the Trump era. And in that

attempt, China is seeking support from both India and Russia by developing one-

on-one closeness devoid of the competitive contexts of global geopolitics.

Undoubtedly, China has never engaged with India the way it has with the Narendra

Modi government since 2014. Part of it has to do with India’s growing assertive-

ness and its refusal to yield to Chinese territorial pressure, such as the standoff

at Doklam, its denial of economic overlordship couched as the Belt and Road

Initiative, which implies colonising infrastructure corridors of the neighbourhood,

or its intransigence on China’s monolithic role in BRICS’ New Development Bank.

This is why Chinese President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Narendra Modi met

at Wuhan to forge a separate dialogue module between themselves. And given

the US’ aggressive stance on “trade protectionism,” China is already looking at

the second Wuhan style meeting between Xi and Modi as a way of working out

a global counter-strategy. While announcing the meeting on the sidelines of the

Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit at the Kyrgyz capital of Bishkek,

the Chinese Vice Foreign Minister said they would discuss their respective trade

frictions with the US and the two “good friends” could reach a consensus on

opposing the US. By emphasising that the Wuhan summit had provided strate-

gic guidance for the development of India-China ties, China is playing down its

adversarial and heaving image to make India its wilful ally in its economic war

with the US. After Wuhan, both countries have indeed stepped up efforts to improve

bilateral relations in different spheres and this operational matrix suits Xi most

at this point of time. While the Trump administration has more than doubled tar-

iffs on Chinese imports worth $200 billion, threatened additional duties and demand-

ed China reduce its trade deficit and allow US goods in, the question is whether

India shares these anxieties in equal measure. Besides, China’s motive is to off-

set the US losses by penetrating the Indian market even deeper.

In his internationalist role, a second-term emboldened Modi needs to tread

cautiously. Yes, the US has terminated India’s designation as a “beneficiary devel-

oping country” under the Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) but the rap

is much milder than that of China. Besides, diplomatically the US has stood by

India’s side, beginning with swaying international opinion in our favour after the

Balakot airstrikes and taking the lead in forcing China’s hand on declaring Jaish-

e-Mohammad chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist. Even while bringing India

under the purview of sanctions on Iran, the US has spared our interests in the

Chabahar port. India cannot afford to rile up the US, not merely out of a sense

of a quid pro quo but simply because it has demonstrably been more trustwor-

thy. For all of China’s invocation of the Wuhan spirit, the endorsement of the China

Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) in PoK is definitely not accommodative of

India’s sensitivities. Still, the two nations have mapped out areas of cooperation

and Modi’s challenge at Bishkek will be to expand their scope without upsetting

the US, undercutting India’s gains and more importantly not letting Beijing assume

a comfort zone. The only reason China is keen on wooing India is because it

knows we are part of every strategic group in the region surrounding it, be it the

Quad (with the US, Japan and Australia) and BIMSTEC with littoral States along

the Bay of Bengal, including Thailand and Myanmar, the two nations where the

BRI has taken off successfully. Besides, China finds India’s closeness to Japan

deeply unsettling in the Indian Ocean region. The navies of both countries con-

duct joint missions and share intelligence on Chinese vessels. So China’s so-

called multi-polarity to counter the unipolar US is as much self-serving as sig-

nalling mutual cooperation. Modi must remember that China would want to engage

with India only till it is relevant to its design. And that relevance comes from its

strategic value in the region. That is why Modi must further reinvigorate fora like

the BIMSTEC; the potential trade opportunity of its constituent nations is pro-

jected to be as high as $250 billion. India needs to diversify its own export mar-

kets in the protectionist era and work on its trade deficit with China.

Where to from Wuhan?

As Modi meets China’s Xi Jinping at SCO, he will have tocalibrate his moves to avoid upsetting the US

Right to free speech

Sir — This refers to the editor-ial, “Hong Kong wrong” (June12). It is strange that muchapprehension has been raised inIndia about the proposed extra-dition Bill in Hong Kong thatwill allow fugitives to be extra-dited to China. Ironically, India,the world’s largest democracy,has a written Constitution. YetState Governments brazenlyarrest citizens who exercise theirguaranteed right to freedom ofspeech. Despite the SupremeCourt having given clear verdictson this issue, the inalienableright of the citizens is alwaysunder the scanner.

In the latest case, the UttarPradesh government had arrest-ed a freelance journalist forallegedly sharing an objection-able post against Chief MinisterYogi Adityanath on social media.Ultimately, the court had tointervene and pull up the func-tionaries. This was completelyan avoidable situation. Unless afew heads roll at each suchinstance, Governments will con-tinue to transgress .

R Narayanan Navi Mumbai

Fearless voice

Sir — A perennial rebel, a liber-al to the core and Jnanpithaward-winning playwright, actorand film-maker Girish Karnad’sdeath brings down the curtainson a life that was dedicated to artand literature in every possiblesense of the word. The successof his play Yayati initiated a jour-

ney that saw him pen criticallyacclaimed plays, includingHayvadan, that is often count-ed among the most importantplays of independent India. Healso wrote screenplays forKannada films like Samskaraand Vamsha Vriksha, co-direct-ed by BV Karanth, that usheredin the new wave of Kannada cin-ema. But then, the later gener-ation of film audiences, especial-

ly Hindi cinema, might remem-ber Karnad more for his actingroles than his expansive body ofwork. His persona went beyondthe world of showbiz — a ver-satile career spanning variousmediums and genres.

In a way, he was a rebel bothin cinema and life. By the earlypart of the new millennium,Karnad became one of the mostprominent social voices and there

was rarely a social cause or aburning issue of the day that hehad not commented on. At times,he even incurred the wrath of fel-low artists. Once, Karnadfamously disparaged VS Naipauland Rabindranath Tagore, whichprompted MS Sathyu, the film-maker who made the seminalclassic Garam Hawa, to callKarnad’s comments “stupid.”

JS Acharya Hyderabad

Ethical inspiration

Sir — In the passing away ofGirish Karnad, the country haslost an extraordinary playwrightwho never shied away fromembracing progressive ideasbesides speaking boldly againstthe pernicious trend of stiflingdissent and the climate of intol-erance. He always took care toensure that Indian theatreorganically linked itself to itsperformative traditions. An eraof ethical and intellectual inspi-ration has ended.

Ravi KanthuriaVia email

P A P E R W I T H P A S S I O N


facebook.com/dailypioneer | @TheDailyPioneer | instagram.com/dailypioneer/

op nionLUCKNOW | THURSDAY | JUNE 13, 2019

08

Sun sets on greatest alliance

BHOPINDER SINGH

The ‘special relationship’ between the UK and the US is elusive. Trump’s visit to Britain nailed

the optics of an empire that was wilting under the weight of an ‘unequal’ relation

Whatever you (militants)want, you will get it throughthe democratic process andwithin the ambit of theIndian Constitution.

J& K Governor—Satya Pal Malik

When I was growing up, theonly example I had of how agirl should be were princessmovies. And I was not at alllike that. I couldn't relate to it.

Director—Jill Culton

Another high-level meetingbetween India and Pakistan will bemeaningless unless it is accompa-nied with dismantling of terroristinfrastructure in Pakistan.

Former Pakistan diplomat—Husain Haqqani

S O U N D B I T E

L E T T E R S T O T H E E D I T O R

Rescue efforts need to be strengthened

This refers to the report, “Missing AN-32 found inruins” (June 12). Even as wreckage of the AN-32transport aircraft of the Indian Air Force (IAF) has

been found, the mystery remains as to how the air-craft met this tragic end. It is significant to note thatthe place where the plane had been flying was moun-tainous and heavily forested. Landings and take-offsin this area are extremely difficult. It is also signifi-cant to note that the AN-32 is a Soviet-designed twinengine turboprop, medium tactical transport aircraftthat has been extensively used by the IAF for over fourdecades. It has undergone several rounds of upgrades.Yet crashes by this sizeable fleet of ageing Russianmilitary aircraft are relatively common. Of course thisregion, coupled with erratic weather, is among the mostinhospitable for air transport.

Since there is no information about the fate of the13 people on board, the Government must officiallydeclare the status of the occupants. That it took so long

for us to spot the wreckage of the aircraft points tothe fact that there is something horribly wrong withour search and rescue effort. With a new Governmentat helm and a formidable team at hand, surely we cando better.

TK NandananChennai

TRUMP MERRILYWADED INTO THE

BITTERLY DIVIDEDWATERS OF BREXIT

WITH HIS OWNOPINIONS ON ITS(MIS)HANDLING,

WHILE MAKINGTHE PROTOCOLEXCEPTION TO

MEET THE DIVISIVEFIGURE OF NIGEL

FARAGE AT THE USAMBASSADOR’SRESIDENCE AND

REITERATINGBREXIT ‘WILL

HAPPEN AND ITPROBABLY SHOULD

HAPPEN’

Send your feedback to:[email protected]

Tough love Self-reliance has been ourobsession, not just an objec-tive and capacity building inacademia has been a priorityto foster front-line research.

Former ISRO chairman—K Radhakrishnan

Jeweller Birju Salla, who threatened to hijack a plane,finds himself devoid of his liberty and rightly so

Work to reduce crashes

MADRASAS ARE IN LARGE NUMBERS ACROSS THE

COUNTRY. THEY WILL BE CONNECTED WITH THE

FORMAL AND MAINSTREAM EDUCATION.

—UNION MINISTER

MUKHTAR ABBAS NAQVI

IF THE CENTRAL GOVERNMENT WANTS TO HELP

MADRASAS, THEN IT SHOULD BRING

IMPROVEMENTS IN THEM.

—SAMAJWADI PARTY LEADER

AZAM KHAN

POINTCOUNTERPOINT

As India phases out old aircraft to accommodate state-of-the-art jets, it is alsoessential for it to maintain an accident-free record and ensure fleet safety

analysis 09F I R S T C O L U M N

The world

of fantasy

HIRANMAY KARLEKAR

Sanjay Sircar’s Fantasy Fictions from the Bengal Renaissance:

Abanindranath Tagore: The Make-Believe Prince (Kheerer Putul) :

Gaganendranath Tagore: Toddy-Cat the Bold (Bhondar Bahadur) (Oxford

University Press) has to be viewed at three levels — his location of both works,

widely known in the Bengali-speaking world, in a new Little Tradition emerg-

ing from the massive creative churning of the Bengal Renaissance; the glob-

al discourse around children’s literature and fantasy and folk tales; and the

quality and authenticity of his English translations of the two works.

Evaluation of translations can be dicey. Views differ. Beginning with

the titles, Toddy-Cat the Bold is appropriate but Make-Believe Prince for

Kheerer Putul (literally doll made of solidified sweetened milk) would raise

eyebrows. He stumbles here and there such as when he translates “Raat

ekta ki dedtar par (Toddy-Cat the Bold) as “About one or half past at night.”

One or one-and-a-half am is really early morning. A more appropriate trans-

lation would have been, “About an hour or an-hour-and-a-half past mid-

night.” Generally, however, the English renditions are authentic, readable

and retain the distinctive flavours of the originals.

Sircar displays impressive knowledge of the history of children’s and fan-

tasy literature, the commonalities in the diverse works in the genre world-

wide, and their contribution to identity-assumption/determination. The ques-

tion, however, remains: Is he right in his contextualisation of the two works

in the narrative of the Bengal Renaissance? He traces the latter’s origins to

“a multi-faceted socio-cultural transformation” that “metropolitan Calcutta seems

to have undergone” as a result of the “various, and sometimes quite disparate,

strands of British-Indian interactions throughout the 19th century.” He is right.

Further, though the introduction of Western education through instruction in

English, primarily the work of the Law member in Governor-General William

Bentinck’s council, Thomas Babington Macaulay, was at the root of the trans-

formative interactions, initiating a renaissance was far from his thoughts. His

intention was “to form a class who may be interpreters between us and the

millions whom we govern; a class of persons, Indian in blood and colour,

but English in taste, in opinions, in morals, and in intellect.”

Of course, British influence alone did not trigger the Renaissance; its

advent, as Sircar states, was facilitated by the unorthodox and heteroge-

nous socio-cultural ethos prevailing in Bengal, located at the periphery of

the Mughal empire and relatively immune from the orthodoxies prevailing

in it. He has rightly stated that the Renaissance marked Bengal’s transi-

tion from medievalism to modernity and was characterised by eclecticism

and irreverence in discourse and literary explorations. These explorations

branched off from the avenues of “high literature” into the alleys harbour-

ing hitherto marginalised sectors including Little Traditions.

The authors of the two translated works belonged to a category known

as Bhadralok or gentle folk, a term given its salience in contemporary

historical discourse by JH Broomfield in Elite Conflict in a Plural Society:

Twentieth-century Bengal where he describes them as constituting a sta-

tus group in Talcott Parson’s sense of the word rather than a class in the

Marxian or Weberian sense. They were “a socially privileged and con-

sciously superior group, economically dependent on landed rents and pro-

fessional and colonial employment.” He carefully differentiates the Bhadralok

from the middle class. They did “not include many middle-class elements

like merchants and prosperous peasants, while encompassing some per-

sons from both higher and lower classes.”

Sircar recognises the Bhadralok’s role in the Bengal Renaissance. His

statement that the latter is “usually divided into a series of sub-periods,” is,

however, problematic. The term “usually” raises questions as there is no con-

sensus on the matter. Also, history is a process of continuous unfolding and

an element of arbitrariness invariably attends chronological division of peri-

ods — even in the case of macro ones like ancient, medieval and modern.

The hazards of such exercises become clear from his earmarking of the first

sub-period as being “‘from the beginning’ till 1833.” From which date did the

Bengal Renaissance begin? Even the bravest would hesitate to answer.

There have been avoidable sweeping statements. Thus Sircar writes, “It

does seem to be the case that after 1765, when the East India Company took

over control of large portions of Eastern India from the Mughal emperor Shah

Alam, commerce flourished in urban Bengal, and systems of transport and

communication were set up, as were a civil administration, a modern bureau-

cracy, a police service, a new legal system — and institutions of learning.”

While all this is true, Sircar overlooks the devastating consequences

of British rule such as the famine of 1770 in which one-third of Bengal’s

population perished. Madhusree Mukherjee writes in her preface to

Churchill’s Secret War: The British Empire and the Ravaging of India During

World War II, “The famine of 1770 set the stage not only for the British

Raj (as the imperial era in India would eventually be called) and the chain

of famines that occurred throughout the reign but also, ultimately, for the

emergence of impoverished and strife-torn South Asia.” And, of course,

British plunder of India has been laid bare by RC Dutt in his seminal

Economic History of Bengal in two volumes.

All this notwithstanding, Sircar’s is a work of highly impressive scholar-

ship in its own sphere and deserves to be widely read. And, of course, it also

deserved an index!

(The author is Consulting Editor, The Pioneer)

As early as December 2018, it waspredicted that the summer of2019 would deliver punishing

heat wave conditions and going by thespiralling temperatures currently beingexperienced across the country, theprophecy seems to be coming true. Thenational capital Delhi was left scaldedas it experienced temperatures touch-ing 48 degree centigrade as recently asJune 10 — the hottest June day for thecapital ever. Dholpur in nearbyRajasthan was worse at 51°C. It was thefourth time that the temperaturecrossed 50°C in June in the State,according to Indian MeteorologicalDepartment (IMD).

A combined effect of climatechange and an evolving El-Nino is

transforming this year to be the hottestever and the trend is not gladdening.Four of the warmest years ever record-ed were the last four years. The year2018 started off with a moderate La-Nina phenomenon, which generally hasa cooling effect on global climate, butis going to end up being the fourthwarmest year after 2015, 2016 and 2017.

This clearly shows a warmingtrend. In fact, the 20 warmest years onrecord have occurred in the last 22years. This trend also sits in perfectlywith the emission rates of GreenHouse Gases (GHGs) which were at arecord high by end of 2018, accordingto the World MeteorologicalOrganisation. Scientists at PennsylvaniaState University in the US have alsoconfirmed that a combination ofhuman-caused warming and a natur-al upswing in temperatures increase theodds that any new El-Nino year wouldturn out to be the warmest ever.

Additionally, many weather fore-casters around the world, includingthe IMD, had predicted that thedevelopment of an El-Nino phe-nomenon by the end of 2018 wouldmake things unbearably hot in 2019.

This pattern has already taken over.It is evident in the form of abnormal-ly hot winter seasons for the past threeto four years in a row. Continuing atthis rate, the next year will be evenworse and the threat to health andwell-being, especially of the young andthe elderly, will be devastating.

The development of these eventshas been evident since the later half ofthe last year. On November 22, 2018,the IMD observed that moderate El-Nino Southern Oscillation conditionswere prevalent in the equatorial PacificOcean region and the El-Nino is like-ly to develop in the next two months.

El Nino, which is the unusual

warming of the equatorial PacificOcean, further adds to the alreadywarming temperatures. Following onthis, on December 3, 2018, the IMDagain stated that equatorial Sea SurfaceTemperatures (SSTs) were above aver-age across most of the Pacific Ocean.

The climate prediction centre at theNational Oceanic and AtmosphericAdministration (NOAA) says thatthere is an 80 per cent chance that a full-fledged El-Nino has already begun andwill last till the end of February 2019.The impact of El-Nino on globalweather has also got more intense onthe past few occasions as a result of cli-mate change, according to a research

paper published in the journalGeophysical Research Letters. Anothermajor indicator of the warming trenddue to climate change is Ocean HeatContent (OHC). The year 2018 record-ed a new high in terms of OHC sinceobservations began in 1940.

There is more heat stored in theEarth’s oceans today than at any timein the last 78 years. When GHGs trapheat in the atmosphere, some of it getsconverted into surface temperature but90 per cent of it gets assimilated intothe oceans. Therefore, OHC is a muchbetter indicator of climate change thansurface temperatures. The last El-Ninoevent that ended in 2016 had lasted fortwo years and caused heat waves allaround the world, including India. Theheat waves in 2015 and 2016 killedmore than 2,500 people in India andhave been attributed to climate change,which suggests that El-Nino was inten-sified by global warming.

Heat waves are not uncommonbut increasingly, these extremeweather conditions are being attrib-uted to global warming and climatechange. The heat waves of 2015 and2016 especially have been attributed

to global warming, particularly con-sidering a combination of tempera-ture and humidity. The severe El-Nino conditions are also causingmassive coral bleaching in the GreatBarrier Reef and droughts in parts ofAfrica, South East Asia and SouthAmerica. Australia, too, is witness-ing its worst drought in living mem-ory. In regions like the New SouthWales, the drought is the worst in 400years. One of the impacts of warmersurface temperatures and more oceanheat will be greater occurrence ofextreme weather events such astropical cyclones, heat waves, floodsand droughts. In 2018, there were 70tropical cyclones all over the world,while the long-term average was 53.

The world lost more than five lakhpeople to such events in the last 20 yearsalong with an economic loss of $3.47trillion, according to the latest Globalclimate risk index 2019 report. The year2019 seems to be having more than itsshare of extreme weather events in thefirst three months. One can only hopefor the best for the rest of the year.

(The writer is an environmentaljournalist)

Searing hot conditions the new normalHeat waves are not uncommon but increasingly, they are being attributed to global warming and climate change. The world

lost more than five lakh people to such events in the last 20 years along with an economic loss of $3.47 trillion

KOTA SRIRAJ

LUCKNOW | THURSDAY | JUNE 13, 2019


F O R E I G N E Y E

Hundreds of thousandshave rallied against legalchanges that imperil HongKong’s freedoms.Demonstrators have madetheir stand regardless of theoutcome and they deservesupport. Beijing’s attitude isall the more reason forleaders overseas, andespecially in Britain, to urgeit to respect Hong Kong’sautonomy in clear andforceful terms. Theydeserve support, even ifChina’s leaders are unlikelyto shift course.(The Guardian editorial)

ESSENTIAL STAND

Just about a month ago, an Indian AirForce (IAF) AN-32 military transport air-craft had overshot the runway at the

Mumbai international airport and come toa halt perilously close to the boundary wallalong the Western Express highway.Reportedly, over 50 flights were affected dueto this incident. More recently, another AN-32 aircraft carrying 13 people on board wentmissing in Arunachal Pradesh’s West Siangdistrict. The wreckage of the aircraft wasfound eight days later after intense searchoperations.

It is understood that the EmergencyLocator Transmitter (ELT), which sends adistress signal in case of a 20G (20-timesgravitational force) impact, was non-func-tional. Well, what else did not work? Withover 16 IAF aircraft lost during the last oneyear, one needs to ask some tough questions.

It is quite a paradoxical situation that ourscientists are now world leaders in satellitetechnology and have established many arecord but are unable to rectify some of theglitches which tend to recur in our IAF air-craft. One important aspect appears to beoverlooked, that of safety of ageing fleet. Lastyear, in a written reply to a question (March2018), former Minister of State for Defence,Subhash Bhamre, had informed the LokSabha that 31 aircraft of the IAF had beeninvolved in accidents during the last fouryears. It was said that 10 accidents had takenplace in 2014-15, six in 2015-16 and 10 in2016-17, while five were reported in 2017-18. These accounted for almost twosquadrons of aircraft.

Since this reply in the Parliament,another 18 aircraft have been lost. Theseaccount for almost two squadrons. In orderto get the full impact of these figures, oneshould read this together with the statementmade by Air Chief Marshal Birender SinghDhanoa a few months ago, where he said thatthe depleted Air Force had only 31squadrons as against a sanction of 42squadrons (16-18 planes each) and that Indiafaced a grave threat. Even if the Air Forcegets the sanctioned 42 squadrons, India’sstrength would be “less than the combinedstrength of our two adversaries — China andPakistan”, he said.

In case one takes into account the IAFlosses during the last 10 years, almost foursquadrons or even more may have been lostwhich is not a small number. In a way, hadwe cut down such losses, the country wouldhave been in a much better position to face any threats. As the IAF had the highest num-ber of peace-time crashes in the world quitesome time ago, a committee chaired by for-mer IAF Chief Air Chief Marshal DenisAnthony Lafontaine, a fighter pilot whoplayed a key role in 1965 and 1971 Indo-Pakwars, had gone into various aspects and hadcome to the conclusion that among the mainfactors for crashes were pilot error (42 percent), bird hits (seven per cent) and main-tenance and technical issues (44 per cent).

A very high rate of pilot error was

blamed on the absence of an Advanced JetTrainer (AJT). It was said that pilots, for wantof an AJT, were trained on slower aircraftand got suddenly exposed to a Mach-2 sit-uation, leading to accidents. In any case, AN-32 is a much slower transport aircraft.

Losses have continued even after theinduction of the AJT. During the last fouryears, that is after the induction of AJT,almost two squadrons may have been lost.As the number of crashes has not comedown significantly, there must be some othercontributing factors that need to beaddressed.

Earlier, in the late 1990s, the situationwas even more serious as the frequency ofcrashes had assumed alarming propor-tions. Eighty one aircraft, all MIGs and itsvariants, had crashed during a five-year peri-od, killing 34 pilots. Admittedly, there wasa spare parts crunch at that time as some ofthese had been procured from the CentralAsian and East European countries, whichwere not in a position to maintain that levelof forces and were reducing their invento-ry. These spare parts were not of the samequality as originals.

So also was the case with lubricants andgreases, whose shelf-life had expired. On theother hand, one of the former Air Chiefs wason record, having stated that there was a seri-ous design flaw. While this debate was heat-ing up, the Russian manufacturers blamedus for poor maintenance of the aircraft andmaking changes in the original designs.

Be that as it may, the fact remains that

we have lost a few hundred aircraft and val-ued pilots due to peace-time crashes, seri-ously depleting our resources and imping-ing on our fighting capability. Unfortunately,the same trend continues. Losing seven ofour best possessions, including Su-30MKI,which is a fourth generation aircraft beingmanufactured at Nasik, does not augur well.Most of these crashes of the `400 croreplanes were attributed to technical snagsconnected with the wire-guided system.

It has been often observed that in ourcountry, items in which foreign manufactur-ers of defence equipment are interested hap-pen to be the slowest to develop. None per-haps would be interested to sell us satellitesor their launchers, and look at the phenom-enal progress made by us in the expertise inrocket and missile technology.

On the other hand, the development ofbattle tanks and aircraft has taken a very longtime. Considering that even in the indigenous-ly manufactured aircraft, a significant propor-tion in critical areas still gets imported, theirvulnerability to cyber attacks would also needto be taken into account with appropriatecounter measures in place. Now that we arein the process of acquiring state-of-the-art andlatest aircraft, it is up to our technicians, main-tenance crews and pilot trainers to ensure thatwe have an accident-free record. After all,every accident prevented only adds to thesquadron strength of our Air Force.

(The writer is a retired Delhi PoliceCommissioner and former UttarakhandGovernor)

LOSING SEVEN OFOUR BEST

POSSESSIONS,INCLUDING THE

SU-30MKI, WHICHIS A FOURTHGENERATION

AIRCRAFT BEINGMANUFACTUREDAT NASIK, DOES

NOT AUGUR WELL.MOST OF THESECRASHES OF THE`400 CRORE

PLANES WEREATTRIBUTED TO

TECHNICAL SNAGSCONNECTED WITHTHE WIRE-GUIDED

SYSTEM

KK PAUL

Sircar’s book on Bengal Renaissance is a work of highlyimpressive scholarship in its own sphere and deserves tobe widely read. It is a tribute to Bengal’s literary heritage

money 10LUCKNOW | THURSDAY | JUNE 13, 2019

Sensex slumps194 pts; YesBank tumblesPTI n MUMBAI

Snapping its three-day ris-ing streak, domestic equi-

ty benchmark BSE Sensexended 194 points lowerWednesday, dragged by loss-es in banking and auto stocksamid weak global cues.

Investors were also cau-tious ahead of the release ofinflation and factory outputnumbers, traders said.

After slumping over 300points during the day, theBSE gauge pared some loss-es to settle 193.65 points, or0.48 per cent , lower at39,756.81. The index hit an intra-day low of39,623.53 and a high of39,982.10.

Similarly, the broaderNSE Nifty fell 59.40 points, or0.50 per cent, to close at11,906.20. During the day, theindex touched a low of11,866.35 and a high of11,962.45.

Yes Bank was the worstperformer in the Sensex pack,declining 3.34 per cent, afterMoody’s placed the privatesector lender’s ratings underreview for a possible down-grade.

Other losers included

Maruti, Kotak Bank, HeroMotoCorp, Bajaj Auto,IndusInd Bank and BajajFinance, that shed up to 1.79per cent.

On the other hand, TataSteel, ONGC, Vedanta, SunPharma, TCS, RIL, HUL andITC bucked the weak markettrend and gained up to 2.60per cent.

According to experts, themarket mood turned negativetracking weak cues fromoverseas markets after USPresident Donald TrumpTuesday said he was notinterested in a trade dealwith China unless it agreed tofour-five major points.

Elsewhere in Asia ,Shanghai Composite Indexfell 0.56 per cent, Hang Sengended 1.73 per cent lower,Nikkei slipped 0.35 per centand Kospi shed 0.14 per cent.

Bourses in Europe werealso trading in the red in theirearly deals.

On the currency front,the Indian rupee appreciated10 paise to 69.34 against theUS dollar intra-day.

Brent crude futures, theglobal oil benchmark, dived2.57 per cent to USD 60.69per barrel.

Jalan panel to submit report by June end

PTI n NEW DELHI

The Bimal Jalan committee,which is looking into the

size of capital reserves that theRBI should hold, will have onemore meeting before finalisingits report to be submitted to theapex bank by month-end.

The six-member panelunder former RBI governorJalan was appointed onDecember 26, 2018, to reviewthe Economic CapitalFramework (ECF) for theReserve Bank after the FinanceMinistry wanted the RBI to fol-low global best practices andtransfer more surplus to the

government. The RBI has overRs 9.6 lakh crore surplus cap-ital with it.

“The ECF panel will meetone more time and will submitthe report by month-end,” anofficial told reporters here afterthe meeting. The ECF panelwas mandated to submit itsreport to the RBI within 90days of its first meeting whichtook place on January 8.Following this, the panel wasgiven a three-month exten-sion. Asked about the reasonfor delay in finalisation of thereport, the official said, “Theremay be differences of opinion,but that is being discussed”.

The other key members ofthe panel include RakeshMohan, former deputy gover-nor of RBI as the vice-chair-man, finance secretary SubhashChandra Garg, RBI deputygovernor N S Vishwanathan,and two RBI central boardmembers — Bharat Doshi andSudhir Mankad.

The panel has beenentrusted with the task ofreviewing the best practices fol-lowed by central banks world-wide in making assessmentand provisions for risks.

The government and theRBI under its previous gover-nor Urjit Patel had been at log-

gerheads over the Rs 9.6 lakhcrore surplus capital with thecentral bank.

The finance ministry wasof the view that the buffer of 28per cent of gross assets main-tained by the central bank iswell above the global norm ofaround 14 per cent. Followingthis, the RBI board in its meet-ing on November 19, 2018,decided to constitute a panel toexamine Economic CapitalFramework.

In the past, the issue of theideal size of the RBI reserveswas examined by three com-mittees — V Subrahmanyam in1997, Usha Thorat in 2004

and YH Malegam in 2013.While the Subrahmanyam

panel recommended for build-ing a 12 per cent contingencyreserve, the Thorat panel sug-gested it should be maintainedat a higher 18 per cent of thetotal assets of the central bank.

The RBI board did notaccept the recommendation ofthe Thorat committee anddecided to continue with therecommendation of theSubrahmanyam committee.

The Malegam panel saidthe RBI should transfer anadequate amount of its profit tothe contingency reserves annu-ally but did not ascribe any par-

ticular number.According to a report of by

Bank of America MerrillLynch, the Jalan committee islikely to identify an excessbuffer of up to Rs 3 lakh crore.This includes the excess capi-tal in contingency reserves andalso revaluation of reserves.

Halving of the contingencyreserves to a level of 3.25 percent from the present 6.5 percent will release Rs 1.282 lakhcrore, the report said, pointingout that the level is still 50 percent higher than what centralbanks in the BRICS (Brazil,Russia, India, China and SouthAfrica) grouping have.

Retail inflation at 7-month highPTI n NEW DELHI

Retail inflation spiked to aseven-month high of 3.05

per cent in May, thoughremaining within RBI’s com-fort level, as kitchen itemslike vegetables, meat and fishturned dearer, governmentdata showed Wednesday.

The consumer pr iceindex (CPI) based retail infla-tion for April was revisedmarginally upwards to 2.99per cent from the earlier esti-mate of 2.92 per cent, as perthe data released by theCentral Statistics Office(CSO) of the Ministry ofStatistics and Programme

Implementation.Retail inflation stood at

4.87 per cent in May 2018.The previous high was in

October 2018, when the retailinflation print came in at3.38 per cent.

Vegetables prices wit-nessed a sharp rise duringMay this year at 5.46 per centas against 2.87 per cent inApril 2019.

Prices of meat and fishwent up by 8.12 per cent(from 7.55 per cent), whilethe inflation print for cerealand products rose to 1.24 percent (from 1.17 per cent) inMay this year.

However, prices of fruits

continued to show a defla-tionary trend with an infla-tion rate of (-)5.17 per centagainst (-)4.89 per cent in thepreceding month.

For fuel and light catego-ry, inflation stood at 2.48 percent as against 2.56 per centin April. Inflation for theoverall food basket, basedon consumer food priceindex, increased to 1.83 percent in May as against 1.10per cent a month earlier, thedata showed.

Retail inflation is a cru-cia l data point , keenlywatched by the Reserve Bankwhile deciding its monetarypolicy.

Industrial growth at 3.4 pc

PTI n NEW DELHI

India’s industrial output grew toa six-month high of 3.4 per

cent in April mainly on accountof improvement in mining andpower generation, according togovernment data releasedWednesday. The Index ofIndustrial Production (IIP) hadexpanded by 4.5 per cent in April2018. The previous high in IIPgrowth was recorded at 8.4 percent in October 2018. Theexpansion in the mining sectorwas 5.1 per cent compared to 3.8per cent in the year-ago month.

Similarly, the growth in thepower sector was 6 per cent inApril as against 2.1 per cent in

the corresponding month of thelast fiscal. However, there was aslowdown in the manufacturingsector.

As per Central StatisticsOffice (CSO) data, manufactur-ing growth slipped to 2.8 per centin April from 4.9 per cent in thecorresponding period last year.

Giving further details, theCSO data revealed that thegrowth in capital goods segment,barometer of investment activi-ties, slowed sharply to 2.5 percent from a high of 9.8 per centin April 2018.

Similarly, slower growth wasrecorded in infrastructure/con-struction goods, consumerdurables and consumer non-

durables, segments in April 2019on annual basis.

However, the production ofprimary goods increased by 5.2per cent in April this year asagainst 2.7 per cent year-on-year. In terms of industries, 14out of 23 industry groups in themanufacturing sector showedpositive growth during April2019 as compared to the cor-responding month of the pre-vious year. The industry group‘manufacture of wearing appar-el’ has shown the highest pos-itive growth of 33.6 per cent fol-lowed by 22.6 per cent in‘Manufacture of wood andproducts of wood and cork,except furniture

Script Open High Low LTPRCOM 1.72 1.75 1.60 1.62IBULHSGFIN 671.00 671.00 610.10 621.15YESBANK 136.40 137.55 133.80 134.65RELCAPITAL 88.90 93.40 85.60 87.50SUZLON 4.85 4.85 4.43 4.48RPOWER 6.06 6.30 5.80 6.02PCJEWELLER 61.65 64.70 59.55 62.15DHFL 94.90 95.90 92.00 93.35RELINFRA 63.25 66.60 62.05 64.15INFY* 754.15 756.00 745.00 753.95TATASTEEL 493.00 508.00 491.00 505.60ICICIGI 1146.55 1154.90 1106.15 1124.55SPICEJET 141.80 144.00 139.10 141.80STRTECH 192.80 197.80 192.30 196.15JUSTDIAL 739.00 766.90 735.20 759.85IBREALEST 118.10 128.00 112.00 113.70RELIANCE 1335.20 1338.60 1325.65 1331.10JETAIRWAYS 109.40 112.85 107.00 110.40VEDL 169.10 173.25 168.30 170.10SUNPHARMA 392.00 397.00 386.00 391.65TCS 2249.00 2267.00 2219.50 2258.45SBIN 347.35 347.35 342.50 344.20MOTHERSUMI 119.00 122.80 118.90 122.35DELTACORP 196.10 198.00 190.70 193.35HINDALCO 198.70 202.90 196.90 199.90JPASSOCIAT 4.05 4.10 4.01 4.05TATAMOTORS 171.00 172.00 168.15 169.00IBVENTURES 280.25 280.60 256.35 261.00WIPRO 298.30 298.80 296.85 298.00INDIACEM 100.20 100.50 95.75 97.55JINDALSTEL 163.45 170.75 162.00 165.70GRUH 300.00 302.25 297.75 301.30L&TFH 125.10 126.20 121.20 121.95BIOCON 271.85 271.85 256.80 258.15INDUSINDBK 1594.00 1601.75 1560.65 1567.75PNB 78.50 79.90 78.15 79.20GRAPHITE 421.00 426.75 416.20 418.70PERSISTENT* 636.00 637.45 626.60 630.60ICICIBANK 422.50 422.50 414.90 418.00J&KBANK 48.50 48.50 42.30 43.95MARUTI 6973.00 6973.00 6830.00 6848.50AXISBANK 816.00 816.00 809.50 812.35DISHTV 29.55 31.55 29.55 30.20JISLJALEQS 40.85 40.95 37.15 37.85BANKBARODA 121.00 122.50 119.95 121.25JSWSTEEL 275.00 277.30 270.45 271.25SRTRANSFIN 1085.00 1110.00 1058.25 1067.75DLF 191.80 191.80 183.75 184.65KOTAKBANK 1495.00 1502.00 1476.40 1482.70ITC 281.90 281.90 278.25 280.00BAJFINANCE 3550.00 3550.00 3485.00 3510.10ADANIPOWER 48.40 50.45 48.10 49.15INDHOTEL 149.90 154.40 148.70 150.00LT 1526.00 1526.00 1504.00 1509.20ZEEL 345.10 349.25 339.45 342.45GAIL 307.50 312.30 306.00 310.25SAIL 49.80 51.50 49.50 50.30HINDPETRO 308.35 310.95 301.00 302.85UJJIVAN 328.00 336.80 324.25 334.50TITAN 1282.00 1291.95 1278.00 1285.45BHEL 69.90 70.60 68.00 68.30ASHOKLEY 90.90 91.25 89.00 89.25TECHM 763.00 764.85 743.40 747.40NCC 94.30 97.80 94.25 97.35HEG 1629.90 1642.00 1580.00 1584.35HDFC 2188.40 2190.00 2164.00 2183.30HDFCBANK 2448.75 2448.85 2425.00 2427.40BEML 956.00 961.80 911.60 920.25BATAINDIA 1422.20 1444.10 1417.00 1429.45DRREDDY 2644.00 2644.00 2572.60 2590.35PFC 133.40 134.20 129.85 132.00IOC 163.50 163.65 161.10 162.50POWERGRID 192.85 193.60 190.40 191.00BANKINDIA 88.05 89.90 87.35 87.90ASIANPAINT 1434.80 1439.80 1420.25 1425.55RECLTD 156.00 157.20 152.90 154.00NMDC 108.30 108.90 106.45 107.30AUROPHARMA 652.50 653.90 636.60 641.65SPARC 137.45 142.20 135.35 137.45M&M 635.00 638.50 629.65 632.50JAICORPLTD 114.95 117.20 113.85 114.90HINDUNILVR 1840.00 1854.40 1821.35 1844.70CANBK 268.20 270.00 265.30 268.50BPCL 389.00 390.50 380.00 381.25HDFCLIFE 447.50 449.35 440.15 441.65BEL 109.95 110.90 106.85 107.30SUNTECK 475.00 478.35 466.25 472.05UNIONBANK 74.00 75.05 73.40 74.45ADANIPORTS 426.05 429.00 422.85 424.50ABB 1551.00 1572.00 1504.00 1509.85ESCORTS 587.25 593.95 571.85 575.20INDIGO 1674.00 1679.50 1631.30 1654.50ONGC 168.90 171.25 166.20 170.45DBL 445.00 452.05 437.50 443.10BALKRISIND 788.75 806.00 786.20 797.30BOMDYEING 120.45 122.25 117.90 118.50UPL 1045.00 1045.00 1013.55 1020.65COALINDIA 258.75 259.00 255.60 256.90DMART 1290.05 1316.50 1286.00 1309.65PETRONET 242.25 243.00 238.40 239.30HEROMOTOCO 2766.00 2766.55 2724.75 2732.90GNFC 265.25 277.95 264.95 273.70PEL 2167.65 2167.65 2111.55 2130.45RADICO 293.80 293.80 282.00 285.00KEI 474.00 483.35 466.10 469.15DEEPAKNI 285.65 295.30 280.00 281.75BERGEPAINT 329.90 336.95 328.35 330.85IGL 341.70 344.70 335.00 336.35

BAJAJ-AUTO 2999.95 2999.95 2936.15 2949.25APOLLOHOSP 1379.60 1395.90 1367.35 1380.45WOCKPHARMA 396.65 399.55 385.50 387.50FSL 52.60 52.75 51.00 51.40BHARTIARTL 363.50 363.50 357.20 359.80RAIN 106.20 106.85 103.75 104.95TORNTPHARM 1540.20 1568.00 1538.30 1548.90DCMSHRIRAM 508.10 566.00 508.10 561.95IDEA 13.15 13.18 12.80 12.84RBLBANK 666.20 666.95 658.40 660.05IBULISL 208.50 221.85 205.85 205.85CGPOWER 33.00 33.05 31.30 31.60NTPC 135.20 135.55 133.35 134.30BLISSGVS 154.00 165.55 154.00 162.35RNAM 218.35 220.40 217.25 217.70LAKSHVILAS 67.00 67.75 61.40 61.75MPHASIS 945.00 972.90 932.10 968.50IDBI 36.50 36.75 36.00 36.40TATAGLOBAL 254.95 257.35 253.35 254.65WHIRLPOOL 1531.00 1571.55 1511.30 1521.55TATAPOWER 66.80 67.75 66.00 66.35NATIONALUM 50.00 50.60 49.40 49.55ALBK 41.55 42.30 41.35 41.85M&MFIN 411.00 425.40 411.00 420.45SOBHA 573.60 584.10 566.20 580.30BDL 293.00 316.50 291.05 313.15IDFCFIRSTB 42.50 42.85 42.00 42.75BRITANNIA 2985.75 3004.20 2950.00 2993.30JUBILANT 475.00 482.90 468.65 475.30ABCAPITAL 97.20 98.05 96.00 96.50MANAPPURAM 140.55 141.20 138.55 139.50GRASIM 900.00 900.00 877.80 888.40HFCL 20.90 21.15 20.80 21.10AUBANK 708.00 715.10 698.25 705.50LUPIN 734.00 734.00 722.35 726.25PARAGMILK 243.50 245.50 240.00 244.60ULTRACEMCO 4598.90 4598.90 4536.10 4571.00SYNGENE 343.00 343.00 325.25 334.25AMBUJACEM 222.00 225.00 219.80 220.70RAYMOND 809.55 811.75 790.00 799.80ORIENTBANK 91.40 93.50 91.35 92.80INOXLEISUR 335.00 335.00 311.20 316.15DIVISLAB 1560.00 1560.00 1528.95 1535.60NBCC 59.50 60.75 58.60 59.00PIDILITIND 1288.00 1292.05 1276.25 1279.80INFIBEAM 47.80 47.80 45.50 46.00SUNTV 534.90 534.90 519.55 524.35KTKBANK 108.00 110.25 107.25 109.10NOCIL 124.50 126.70 123.00 123.25OMAXE 203.40 203.40 201.30 201.65HAVELLS 790.10 790.95 775.90 781.30CROMPTON 249.00 249.00 239.35 241.25NESTLEIND 11641.00 11760.00 11530.55 11713.75FEDERALBNK 106.60 107.25 104.95 105.15CHOLAFIN 1511.20 1511.20 1471.00 1479.40CIPLA 560.70 566.00 556.20 561.05

TVSMOTOR 475.15 475.50 467.55 472.70TRENT 400.40 414.05 381.85 405.35TATAELXSI 862.00 870.65 853.60 856.10JUBLFOOD 1325.00 1339.55 1314.00 1333.60FORCEMOT 1498.00 1510.00 1471.25 1484.10GSFC 101.50 104.60 101.45 101.80EDELWEISS 184.10 184.50 180.10 181.00AVANTI 364.90 366.00 356.80 359.65CONCOR 536.10 542.00 534.00 541.00INFRATEL 283.70 283.70 272.75 273.95VOLTAS 621.00 621.00 605.00 608.15ADANIGREEN 42.95 43.75 42.80 43.05CADILAHC 252.70 254.10 245.00 246.05TATACOMM 501.60 512.50 487.30 490.15CENTURYTEX 951.00 996.15 951.00 981.70CEATLTD 974.10 982.20 955.15 958.00APOLLOTYRE 194.90 198.00 191.05 192.05THERMAX 1150.00 1150.00 1097.30 1116.10WESTLIFE 325.15 326.95 318.00 321.45BHARATFORG 475.75 477.00 465.50 468.50VENKYS 1934.00 1942.35 1891.40 1911.50GSPL 188.95 196.80 188.95 195.65SCHNEIDER 105.50 106.55 99.00 99.45TATAMTRDVR 84.95 85.40 82.80 83.15ACC 1580.05 1593.45 1574.00 1579.40VIPIND 460.10 463.55 453.10 459.65ICICIPRULI 371.20 376.20 366.85 371.10STAR 429.00 434.00 424.90 431.85SOUTHBANK 13.66 13.74 13.48 13.60HCLTECH 1109.00 1110.00 1091.60 1106.55WELSPUNIND 55.00 57.05 54.75 56.15HSCL 114.05 116.45 112.65 114.05EICHERMOT 20050.00 20149.00 19989.90 20067.00INDIANB 269.40 270.25 262.55 267.50IRB 117.50 118.70 115.55 116.20

DABUR 409.65 410.00 406.00 408.65BAJAJFINSV 8251.00 8289.20 8188.00 8226.25KEC 315.15 325.00 314.25 323.25NESCO 574.00 587.85 563.65 567.15TATACHEM 636.75 636.95 625.00 626.55NAUKRI 2255.00 2255.00 2205.20 2214.20MAHABANK 16.60 16.65 15.95 16.40ENGINERSIN 119.00 120.00 117.00 117.60PHILIPCARB 136.05 137.00 134.00 134.45COLPAL 1174.30 1180.85 1164.30 1172.80SIEMENS 1257.70 1276.70 1251.80 1260.25LTTS 1705.00 1714.25 1701.50 1713.30TRIDENT 65.65 66.90 65.60 66.20MGL 876.05 887.30 872.05 878.25KANSAINER 448.60 463.90 447.20 461.10GMRINFRA 14.75 15.20 14.75 14.95BAJAJELEC 508.15 511.25 499.00 509.25MAHSCOOTER 4565.00 4665.00 4455.00 4561.85SRF 2886.00 2917.00 2876.45 2889.30GODFRYPHLP 904.00 922.65 892.10 904.80SUNDRMFAST 544.40 560.05 526.10 531.90RCF 63.90 64.30 63.40 63.65PIIND 1087.80 1105.00 1067.75 1100.35BASF 1347.05 1469.50 1347.05 1408.15OBEROIRLTY 534.45 546.25 529.00 530.80CASTROLIND 146.80 146.80 143.10 145.35WELCORP 139.00 143.35 138.00 139.10SBILIFE 694.00 700.45 691.75 697.80LICHSGFIN 538.50 547.50 538.50 543.60EXIDEIND 213.65 213.65 209.55 209.90SYNDIBANK 34.45 35.20 34.10 34.70HINDZINC 241.35 243.90 241.25 241.70AMARAJABAT 640.00 640.20 623.20 625.45GLENMARK 534.90 548.00 522.00 523.70TORNTPOWER 247.65 249.35 246.75 247.30SHK 145.20 146.95 139.35 141.25GODREJCP 683.50 683.50 677.95 681.40LTI 1794.00 1812.75 1790.00 1793.45BHARATFIN 1005.00 1008.00 983.80 989.10UBL 1357.25 1364.00 1342.70 1353.95PAGEIND 20000.05 20448.00 19963.55 20348.00PVR 1729.00 1740.00 1708.05 1724.50FCONSUMER 42.15 42.20 40.75 41.05FORTIS 131.75 131.85 129.45 130.75IDFC 36.20 37.00 36.00 36.75GODREJPROP 886.45 904.90 885.65 889.85INTELLECT 264.25 266.95 263.45 265.75MUTHOOTFIN 644.55 650.35 635.60 637.50CHAMBLFERT 187.00 187.00 180.55 181.45ALLCARGO 109.80 111.00 108.00 109.50GODREJIND 482.00 482.00 471.50 474.70CANFINHOME 338.00 352.00 338.00 345.30FINOLEXIND 511.25 525.00 503.00 506.05BANDHANBNK 560.05 564.00 551.60 556.25BAJAJHLDNG 3765.00 3780.00 3714.30 3749.05EQUITAS 135.95 137.65 134.50 137.00ADANITRANS 229.00 229.00 221.65 222.55JSL 35.85 38.50 35.85 38.35PTC 68.90 69.40 68.30 68.45MCX 820.00 820.00 793.90 798.00JKCEMENT 1034.00 1043.00 1020.00 1031.55RAJESHEXPO 658.50 660.40 657.00 657.30FRETAIL 475.70 484.00 468.35 471.70TV18BRDCST 27.45 28.40 27.40 27.80PNCINFRA 196.80 205.00 196.80 203.25CUMMINSIND 761.00 763.00 747.00 752.00MARICO 376.25 379.25 374.75 376.10TAKE 139.75 141.00 134.10 134.70DCBBANK 238.00 239.65 237.20 238.20MOTILALOFS 719.50 728.00 706.90 715.20ITI 93.35 93.50 91.85 92.25MEGH 66.70 67.55 66.20 66.45PNBHOUSING 812.80 812.80 805.00 809.45VBL 942.85 947.35 937.10 943.90CHENNPETRO 211.70 217.40 210.50 216.20SYMPHONY 1304.00 1337.00 1282.60 1301.65FINCABLES 465.20 465.20 448.10 455.95BIRLACORPN 640.05 640.10 628.00 633.25COROMANDEL 426.00 426.80 421.05 423.55NIITTECH 1337.20 1351.05 1336.05 1342.95EIHOTEL 173.55 173.55 168.00 168.75OIL 182.55 183.25 180.10 181.35KNRCON 283.45 291.20 283.15 287.00THOMASCOOK 231.75 231.90 226.00 227.10KSCL 527.00 539.70 519.10 533.15SWANENERGY 105.45 106.00 104.45 105.65NHPC 24.50 24.95 24.50 24.80NATCOPHARM 538.00 546.45 535.00 544.75JYOTHYLAB 173.30 174.50 170.35 172.20DEEPAKFERT 135.20 137.00 133.40 134.55JINDALSAW 85.00 85.80 83.30 83.75NAVKARCORP 33.15 36.95 31.20 32.00VGUARD 240.80 242.45 238.90 239.90TEAMLEASE 2859.15 2950.00 2814.45 2947.95HEIDELBERG 206.00 208.20 203.50 205.40GUJGAS 188.00 188.00 184.30 184.95MAXINDIA 66.60 67.90 66.10 67.05GUJFLUORO 1092.00 1093.80 1053.25 1057.10AEGISLOG 219.15 221.50 215.50 219.55THYROCARE 484.05 489.00 475.05 479.85IFCI 9.11 9.25 9.05 9.09CENTRALBK 23.90 23.90 23.35 23.40ORIENTCEM 115.80 116.45 114.75 115.15HEXAWARE 348.80 349.00 345.00 346.15NAVINFLUOR 747.70 749.95 720.60 737.90ADVENZYMES 198.95 200.00 192.05 193.50ISEC 225.10 227.20 220.20 220.85ABFRL 219.05 219.75 215.50 217.40KAJARIACER 619.00 619.90 608.10 610.00

MRPL 60.10 61.15 60.10 60.55GODREJAGRO 502.50 507.00 500.15 501.75GET&D 255.30 255.30 246.00 247.60JMFINANCIL 89.05 89.80 88.15 89.40ASTRAL 1351.30 1359.40 1333.30 1341.20MFSL 436.50 439.45 435.45 437.85JKTYRE 80.00 80.05 79.30 79.80LALPATHLAB 1047.00 1078.95 1045.50 1070.80CUB 217.70 218.10 215.65 217.45JSWENERGY 70.65 71.15 69.50 70.05HINDCOPPER 41.95 42.80 41.65 41.80WABAG 320.05 321.85 317.65 319.65KRBL 326.70 336.95 325.75 326.85SADBHAV 258.60 261.90 256.70 258.95SHREECEM 20690.00 20690.00 20364.00 20546.85AJANTPHARM 990.40 1003.00 985.00 992.95RAMCOCEM 795.75 795.75 784.05 790.75EIDPARRY 180.80 180.80 174.05 174.75GHCL 244.85 247.70 242.30 244.20GREENPLY 167.90 167.90 162.55 165.40TEJASNET 168.65 172.00 168.30 170.05GRANULES 104.45 105.25 103.65 104.10HSIL 266.50 266.50 259.40 264.65HUDCO 40.90 40.90 40.20 40.30ATUL 4120.00 4148.00 4102.50 4124.25EMAMILTD 342.00 342.00 337.00 339.90JAMNAAUTO 56.70 56.70 54.50 55.05MMTC 25.00 25.40 24.75 24.90SUVEN 271.10 273.20 269.00 271.00VINATIORGA 2040.00 2050.05 2009.95 2035.10MHRIL 227.75 231.05 222.00 229.00BBTC 1141.95 1147.95 1132.75 1136.40QUESS 606.00 616.00 599.00 613.20COCHINSHIP 394.00 396.40 387.25 395.40PRESTIGE 262.45 264.25 260.20 262.65GREAVESCOT 147.95 151.00 147.80 149.65NBVENTURES* 97.00 98.40 96.10 96.50MRF 56050.50 56050.50 55408.25 55595.80SANOFI 5600.00 5626.25 5400.10 5419.90FORBESCO 1990.00 1990.00 1890.00 1902.75MINDACORP 118.30 121.45 117.50 118.65REDINGTON 100.80 102.00 98.55 100.95SONATSOFTW 359.80 359.80 349.70 353.60ASHOKA 142.00 143.25 139.00 139.30UCOBANK 17.90 18.30 17.75 18.15PRSMJOHNSN 93.90 94.25 93.20 93.85AARTIIND 1721.75 1749.60 1716.20 1739.50JKLAKSHMI 366.40 367.00 355.80 361.25PFIZER 3220.00 3240.00 3198.70 3205.80PGHH 10984.85 11150.00 10896.25 11046.50MINDTREE 978.00 978.90 973.00 975.50HIMATSEIDE 171.40 171.40 166.00 166.60ZENSARTECH 258.90 259.45 253.60 255.85BOSCHLTD 17103.40 17146.85 16854.40 16902.00APLLTD 500.30 506.35 499.00 501.75TATACOFFEE 86.00 86.75 85.70 86.30ECLERX 925.00 925.00 905.00 912.35ISGEC 450.05 473.00 450.00 464.75LAXMIMACH 5347.95 5352.05 5276.00 5282.00NILKAMAL 1197.40 1251.30 1197.40 1216.90KALPATPOWR 496.75 518.00 495.40 508.55MOIL 150.00 150.70 149.00 149.65CENTURYPLY 161.65 164.00 161.65 162.65REPCOHOME 376.25 382.50 374.45 377.45GICRE 219.00 220.00 215.85 219.20IPCALAB 921.20 922.00 914.00 916.85ABBOTINDIA 8572.80 8639.60 8530.00 8597.00GESHIP 277.80 277.80 266.85 268.80NETWORK18 29.15 30.25 29.15 29.65ALKEM 1808.95 1821.95 1785.40 1792.70BLUESTARCO 804.25 804.25 780.10 791.35GPPL 83.90 84.45 82.30 83.60JSLHISAR 82.30 82.80 81.05 81.35TATAMETALI 603.95 610.35 598.05 598.35NLCINDIA 65.15 65.25 64.00 64.55PHOENIXLTD 647.00 651.00 644.00 645.00MINDAIND 330.70 337.45 330.70 333.70LAOPALA 196.00 197.20 194.00 194.80GMDCLTD 75.40 77.25 75.05 75.45GICHSGFIN 244.30 249.60 244.25 247.50DCAL 253.65 253.65 245.00 248.20SCI 31.00 31.60 30.90 30.95SOMANYCERA 431.00 440.00 426.40 436.30SHANKARA 497.10 497.25 488.15 489.05GRINDWELL 597.00 597.00 577.35 588.20LAURUSLABS 343.00 344.80 340.10 340.50TVTODAY 273.40 275.00 264.10 265.25GUJALKALI 529.65 538.60 529.20 535.30ANDHRABANK 24.00 24.40 24.00 24.15OFSS 3296.80 3313.35 3285.90 3308.15VMART 2239.05 2257.50 2144.55 2171.70CRISIL 1475.50 1510.00 1441.30 1458.05SJVN 25.10 25.25 25.00 25.05GALAXYSURF 1142.95 1151.65 1130.00 1138.15IFBIND 810.00 824.00 804.00 811.70COFFEEDAY 229.00 235.00 225.80 226.50UFLEX 249.50 249.50 246.05 247.40PGHL 4000.05 4000.05 3891.00 3950.20TIINDIA 392.20 397.35 385.00 394.75RALLIS 150.35 150.45 147.75 148.50IOB 11.81 11.93 11.75 11.82HAL 691.00 708.00 691.00 696.60LINDEINDIA 548.00 548.00 542.00 544.10MAHLOG 492.00 499.00 491.75 495.95ZYDUSWELL 1379.95 1386.00 1356.20 1357.25SREINFRA 21.70 21.85 21.50 21.60ENDURANCE 1199.95 1200.00 1179.10 1184.70RELAXO 841.90 841.90 833.75 838.45APLAPOLLO 1592.25 1599.75 1584.10 1589.50

ASTERDM 144.00 144.00 137.20 138.20LEMONTREE 68.60 69.80 68.60 69.60GDL 137.20 137.20 132.00 134.00SKFINDIA 1929.05 1929.05 1893.00 1902.15GILLETTE 7361.85 7466.65 7361.85 7440.15ITDC 275.60 277.50 272.00 272.75MAHINDCIE 241.25 242.40 240.00 240.60DBCORP 196.50 198.95 195.30 197.20ASAHIINDIA 225.05 225.10 219.60 220.20EVEREADY 89.15 91.40 87.30 89.55FDC 181.40 181.40 176.05 177.30TIMKEN 685.05 686.90 672.20 673.95TNPL 184.50 187.00 183.00 183.75NIACL 158.85 159.85 158.00 158.45GSKCONS 7746.00 7775.55 7676.75 7733.60JBCHEPHARM 377.00 377.00 370.20 371.95VTL 1110.50 1113.15 1089.10 1095.15CAPPL 420.00 420.00 406.25 416.40LUXIND 1295.40 1300.00 1275.00 1291.20CARERATING 959.55 962.00 952.85 955.70CYIENT 562.00 565.95 560.50 562.60IEX 149.15 149.90 148.50 149.10GLAXO 1267.00 1268.50 1264.00 1265.75BAYERCROP 3665.80 3665.80 3610.00 3610.90CARBORUNIV 360.00 361.15 354.50 355.15DHANUKA 383.40 390.00 382.05 382.20SUPREMEIND 1074.05 1087.00 1073.90 1084.90TTKPRESTIG 7090.00 7112.15 7045.10 7058.85SHARDACROP 360.00 374.40 360.00 360.25NAVNETEDUL 109.25 109.50 108.50 109.05BAJAJCON 342.00 342.00 331.20 333.65INDOSTAR 360.30 367.05 357.10 363.50BALMLAWRIE 190.50 190.50 188.00 189.25CENTRUM 28.25 29.00 28.00 28.40SUDARSCHEM 327.00 328.00 322.10 324.55MANPASAND 36.10 36.10 36.10 36.10WABCOINDIA 6165.45 6165.45 6124.00 6146.60UNITEDBNK 10.44 10.50 10.28 10.28FLFL 446.65 451.60 444.45 450.00RATNAMANI 980.00 980.25 962.00 975.15SCHAEFFLER 5144.90 5144.90 4946.55 5002.70CORPBANK 23.80 24.35 23.80 24.10TATAINVEST 886.00 886.00 876.30 878.05HERITGFOOD 413.90 418.00 411.00 412.90STARCEMENT 125.05 125.05 122.00 122.50CHOLAHLDNG 495.50 495.50 490.00 493.50BLUEDART 2704.40 2704.40 2680.00 2696.55INOXWIND 68.00 69.90 67.35 68.55SHILPAMED 350.00 350.00 336.95 340.00AIAENG 1836.00 1850.00 1820.00 1843.00JAGRAN 111.25 111.25 110.15 110.60CERA 3017.50 3045.00 2962.00 2981.45MAGMA 129.80 132.00 129.20 130.10TIMETECHNO 96.40 96.60 95.20 95.60SUPPETRO 203.00 205.50 203.00 203.40SUPRAJIT 211.20 213.10 207.95 210.35KPRMILL 629.35 630.65 626.00 628.75GEPIL 864.00 868.90 861.10 861.70NH 229.90 229.90 221.10 221.103MINDIA 22506.15 22598.00 22405.00 22441.75ITDCEM 113.00 113.00 111.10 111.95MONSANTO 2350.00 2371.05 2322.50 2365.65CCL 259.85 259.85 255.35 256.80ASTRAZEN 1868.95 1893.00 1868.95 1874.30ELGIEQUIP 260.35 264.45 257.05 264.40APARINDS 631.00 631.70 620.00 620.60ESSELPRO 130.20 131.00 129.50 130.85TRITURBINE 108.55 110.50 108.35 109.50SIS 941.70 959.00 941.70 947.90ERIS 496.55 499.80 494.00 496.10GAYAPROJ 172.00 175.00 170.00 170.40TVSSRICHAK 1985.00 2000.00 1985.00 1995.20SFL 1290.00 1305.00 1279.80 1305.00AKZOINDIA 1782.55 1784.50 1774.35 1779.05HONAUT 25756.05 25834.65 25620.00 25767.35SOLARINDS 1165.25 1180.00 1156.40 1162.75JCHAC 1825.00 1825.00 1790.00 1795.60GULFOILLUB 895.40 900.25 893.95 900.25HATSUN 704.35 717.45 704.35 716.00SHOPERSTOP 481.30 488.95 480.15 483.65MAHLIFE 420.95 425.60 420.05 420.55SUNCLAYLTD 2530.00 2530.00 2499.95 2499.95KIOCL 139.95 139.95 130.00 130.00

NIFTY 50

SCRIP OPEN HIgh LOW LTP CHANGENIFTY 50 11962.45 11962.45 11866.35 11906.20 -59.40TATASTEEL 492.75 508.00 490.05 505.80 13.30GAIL 307.50 312.50 306.05 310.30 4.25ONGC 168.05 171.45 166.00 170.85 1.60VEDL 168.95 173.30 168.35 170.55 1.20TCS 2245.00 2266.90 2219.00 2264.00 11.20BRITANNIA 2979.95 3005.00 2960.95 2995.00 14.70SUNPHARMA 391.00 397.00 385.25 391.50 1.55HINDUNILVR 1838.00 1853.25 1822.05 1847.15 7.35CIPLA 558.90 567.00 556.25 562.00 2.15RELIANCE 1334.70 1338.40 1325.00 1333.20 4.05TITAN 1284.95 1292.70 1277.55 1288.00 3.05AXISBANK 814.05 815.75 809.10 815.75 0.95ITC 281.40 281.40 278.25 280.00 0.15WIPRO 297.50 298.80 296.85 297.75 0.05IOC 163.00 163.40 161.10 162.50 0.00EICHERMOT 20152.00 20200.00 19972.95 20130.00 -2.00HCLTECH 1107.00 1110.00 1091.30 1107.50 -0.40GRASIM 886.00 895.95 877.30 889.65 -0.45ASIANPAINT 1429.95 1439.90 1421.00 1424.05 -1.45ADANIPORTS 425.25 429.40 423.00 425.80 -0.50HDFC 2187.50 2188.10 2162.00 2185.00 -4.85INFY 756.95 756.95 745.00 753.00 -1.90HINDALCO 198.60 202.90 197.15 199.10 -0.50ULTRACEMCO 4575.00 4596.00 4536.00 4570.55 -14.20COALINDIA 258.70 258.90 255.40 257.80 -0.95BAJAJFINSV 8275.00 8288.60 8185.90 8232.00 -38.65SBIN 346.95 346.95 342.30 345.40 -1.70NTPC 135.00 135.70 133.30 134.60 -0.70DRREDDY 2612.00 2628.80 2572.50 2591.00 -14.85M&M 633.00 638.90 629.45 633.00 -3.85BHARTIARTL 362.40 362.40 357.10 361.00 -2.25ICICIBANK 422.00 422.00 414.80 418.60 -2.75HDFCBANK 2445.00 2448.40 2423.65 2430.80 -17.60JSWSTEEL 274.45 277.30 270.25 271.20 -2.15TATAMOTORS 170.90 172.20 168.10 169.30 -1.45LT 1524.10 1525.90 1503.70 1510.95 -13.35ZEEL 344.00 349.55 339.30 342.55 -3.65POWERGRID 193.00 193.60 190.30 191.35 -2.30BAJFINANCE 3539.95 3539.95 3482.00 3507.20 -44.65UPL 1030.25 1040.00 1013.20 1020.00 -14.50KOTAKBANK 1500.00 1502.50 1476.15 1486.50 -21.20BPCL 388.00 390.50 379.45 381.50 -5.50BAJAJ-AUTO 2991.00 2997.05 2931.30 2944.00 -43.15INDUSINDBK 1597.00 1602.60 1561.20 1566.00 -24.60MARUTI 6963.80 6967.95 6825.05 6866.00 -112.30HEROMOTOCO2767.00 2769.90 2720.05 2730.00 -46.15TECHM 762.00 764.30 743.30 748.50 -13.60INFRATEL 282.00 282.40 272.05 274.15 -9.00YESBANK 136.00 137.80 133.60 135.10 -4.45IBULHSGFIN 668.00 669.00 608.75 621.40 -53.15

SE 500B

NIFTY NEXT 50

SCRIP OPEN HIgh LOW LTP CHANGENIFTY NEXT 50 27599.05 27606.50 27352.70 27395.25 -217.95MOTHERSUMI 119.05 122.90 118.80 122.15 3.85MCDOWELL-N 559.55 579.00 556.30 578.50 15.85PGHH 10912.85 11198.00 10910.00 11150.00 188.35SAIL 49.65 51.50 49.40 50.35 0.75UBL 1349.00 1365.00 1344.70 1362.00 14.50DMART 1296.95 1318.40 1285.00 1310.00 13.10CONCOR 537.75 542.90 533.40 542.50 4.75NHPC 24.70 24.95 24.60 24.85 0.20PAGEIND 20105.00 20393.55 19954.00 20250.00 149.45HDFCAMC 1846.00 1870.00 1837.10 1856.00 9.80BANKBARODA 121.30 122.45 119.95 121.80 0.50GICRE 219.90 220.35 217.30 218.80 0.50DABUR 409.70 410.45 406.15 410.45 0.70HINDZINC 241.50 243.80 241.20 242.25 0.40OFSS 3328.00 3328.00 3285.00 3310.00 2.80COLPAL 1175.75 1181.60 1163.90 1177.50 0.75ICICIPRULI 368.20 376.10 367.70 371.00 -0.05MARICO 376.40 378.95 374.55 376.50 -0.40SBILIFE 699.90 702.00 695.25 700.00 -1.00NMDC 107.95 109.00 106.25 107.15 -0.25LUPIN 728.00 730.00 722.15 725.10 -3.50GODREJCP 688.00 688.00 677.10 681.00 -4.15BAJAJHLDNG 3779.80 3793.95 3712.10 3737.75 -24.05PIDILITIND 1295.00 1295.05 1275.30 1280.00 -8.65MRF 56270.00 56270.00 55417.30 55800.00 -397.05SIEMENS 1265.00 1277.90 1250.30 1260.95 -9.15NIACL 159.90 160.70 158.15 158.70 -1.20ACC 1589.65 1593.00 1572.50 1577.00 -12.65HDFCLIFE 446.00 449.40 440.10 441.30 -4.00SHREECEM 20779.00 20779.00 20324.05 20594.00 -188.25DIVISLAB 1555.80 1560.00 1530.75 1540.00 -15.80AMBUJACEM 219.55 222.80 219.55 220.95 -2.30INDIGO 1675.90 1680.00 1629.00 1657.50 -18.40BOSCHLTD 17138.00 17290.00 16864.00 16923.00 -215.35HAVELLS 789.00 789.00 775.55 781.50 -11.25BANDHANBNK 564.95 564.95 549.00 551.00 -8.60HINDPETRO 307.00 311.00 300.65 303.50 -5.15AUROPHARMA 651.50 654.30 636.20 641.00 -11.20PEL 2155.05 2164.95 2112.20 2130.10 -39.25PETRONET 243.70 243.70 238.75 239.40 -4.50IDEA 13.15 13.20 12.80 12.90 -0.25ASHOKLEY 90.60 91.30 88.85 89.40 -1.80CADILAHC 251.00 253.85 245.00 245.75 -5.05BHEL 69.95 70.65 67.95 68.20 -1.50ABB 1547.75 1574.65 1500.05 1509.00 -37.55ICICIGI 1144.00 1149.00 1103.00 1120.00 -29.20L&TFH 125.00 126.30 121.15 121.65 -3.25DLF 191.00 191.00 183.70 184.75 -6.80SRTRANSFIN 1113.00 1113.00 1058.20 1069.30 -40.50BIOCON 269.90 271.35 256.05 257.00 -11.55

LUCKNOW | THURSDAY | JUNE 13, 2019world 11

Protestors try to storm HK Parliament

AFP n HONG KONG

Violent clashes broke out inHong Kong on Wednesday

as police tried to stop protest-ers storming the city’s parlia-ment, while tens of thousandsof people blocked key arteriesin a show of strength againstgovernment plans to allowextraditions to China.

Police used tear gas, pepperspray and batons to dispersecrowds of black-clad demon-strators — most of them youngpeople and students — callingfor authorities to scrap theBeijing-backed law.

Clashes broke out shortlyafter 3:00 pm (0700 GMT) —the deadline protesters hadgiven for the government toabandon the controversial bill.

Rows of riot police werequickly outnumbered by pro-testers — many wearing facemasks, helmets or goggles —who gathered in the centre ofthe city ahead of a scheduleddebate in the city’s legislature.

By late morning, withcrowds swelling and majorroads blocked by throngs ofprotesters, officials in theLegislative Council (Legco)said they would delay the sec-ond reading of the bill “to alater date”. In tense scenesechoing the Occupy move-ment in 2014 that shut downswathes of the city for months,people flooded major roadsand junctions, dragging barri-cades onto highways and tyingthem together. Others plucked

loose bricks from pavements.After the deadline expired,

protesters broke into the fore-court of the Legco offices in abid to breach the building,and demonstrators were seenthrowing missiles includingmetal bars at riot police.

Police beat back umbrella-wielding demonstrators firstwith batons and pepper spray,then with tear gas.

Organisers of a giganticmarch in the city on Sundaysaid more than a million peo-

ple turned out to voice theirobjections to the proposed law,which would allow Hong Kongto send suspects to other juris-dictions around the world —including China.

But the record numbersfailed to sway Hong Kong’s pro-Beijing leader Carrie Lam, whohas rejected calls to withdrawthe bill. Matthew Cheung, thecity’s chief secretary, onWednesday called on demon-strators to withdraw, in the firstofficial reaction to the latest

protests.“I also urge citizens who

have gathered to show restraintas much as possible, dispersepeacefully and do not defy thelaw,” he said in a video message.

Many opponents are fear-ful the law would entanglepeople in the mainland’sopaque courts, leaving themvulnerable to a justice systemseen as acting at the behest ofthe Chinese Communist Party.

More than 100 Hong Kongbusinesses said they would

close on Wednesday in a ges-ture of solidarity with the pro-testers, and the city’s major stu-dent unions announced theywould boycott classes to attendthe rally.

A string of other promi-nent unions in the transport,social work and teaching sec-tors either followed suit orencouraged members to attend,while a bus driver union said itwould encourage members todrive slowly to support protests.

“It’s the government who

has forced people to escalatetheir actions, so I think it’sinevitable for the fight thistime to get heated,” said 21-year-old protester Lau Ka-chun. News of the postponeddebate did not deter crowdsswelling throughoutWednesday.

“It’s not enough to delaythe meeting,” said studentCharles Lee, 23. “Stalling is notour ultimate goal. We needthem to consider scrappingit... Clashes are unavoidable ifthey adopt this attitude towardstheir citizens.” Lawmakers hadbeen due to debate the bill onWednesday morning in thecity’s legislature, which is dom-inated by Beijing loyalists, witha final vote expected on June20. It was not announced whenthe next meeting on the billwould be held.

“The only responsiblething to do now is for CarrieLam to withdraw the evil bill,or at least to shelve it in orderto solve the crisis,” said pro-democracy lawmakerFernando Cheung.

“Because the situation isvery tense, if she forces itthrough and asks the police touse violence, I’m afraid HongKong’s children will be hurt,will bleed.” Hong Kong’s lead-ers say the proposed law isneeded to plug loopholes andto stop the city being a sanc-tuary for fugitives, and thatsafeguards are in place toensure that political critics ofBeijing will not be targeted.

Clashes erupt over govt’s controversial extradition bill

PTI n ISLAMABADKONG

Pakistan Prime MinisterImran Khan has vowed to

go after the “thieves” who leftthe country badly in debt andset up a high-powered com-mission to probe huge debtsincurred during the last 10years, as he defended arrests ofseveral key political figures incorruption cases.

In an unusual midnightspeech after the first budget ofhis cash-strapped governmentwas presented, Khan said thatall economic problem weredue to debt which increased toRs 30 lakh crore from Rs 6 lakhcrore in 10 years.

His speech came on theday when Leader of theOpposition in the PunjabAssembly, Hamza Shehbaz wasarrested by the NationalAccountability Bureau (NAB)in cases related to money laun-dering.

On Monday, former pres-ident Asif Ali Zardari was alsoarrested by the NAB in con-nection with a multi-milliondollar money laundering case.

Former Prime MinisterNawaz Sharif (from the PML-N party) is already in jail hav-ing been sentenced in anothercorruption case in 2018.

Khan announced that afterputting to rest the initial focusof the government to stabilisethe economy, his attentionwould be more targetedtowards bringing the ones totask who had caused the coun-try to fall into such dire straits.

“Pakistan is stable now.That pressure [to stabilise theeconomy] has been relieved.Now I will go after them [thecorrupt politicians],” declaredthe prime minister.

“I’m making a high-pow-ered enquiry commission witha one-point agenda: how didthey raise the debt to Rs24,000billion (24 lakh crore) in 10years?”

He said that the commis-sion shall comprise the FIA(Federal Investigation Agency),IB (Intelligence Bureau), ISI(the Inter-services IntelligenceDirectorate), FBR (FederalBoard of Revenue) and SECP(Securities and ExchangeCommission of Pakistan).

The Pakistan Peoples Partyand Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz served in two successiveterms since 2008 when Khan

claimed debt increased.Khan said that the com-

mission will include represen-tatives of the FederalInvestigation Agency (FIA),Intelligence Bureau (IB), Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI),Federal Bureau of Revenue(FBR) and Security andExchange Commission ofPakistan (SECP).

He said that those whowere in helms of affairs duringlast 10 years will not be spared.

“All those in power will befully investigated by this com-mission which will prepare areport so that no one dare leavethe country in tatters everagain,” he said. “Even if my lifegoes, I will not leave thesethieves alone. I had prayed toGod to give me one chance —I will not leave them.”

He blamed the two previ-ous governments for all illsincluding low growth, jobless-ness and devaluations.

Khan’s government hasbeen heavily criticised for thepolitically-motivated arrests incorruption cases, but hedefended them.

Khan said he would not be“blackmailed” with protests.

Talking about the recentarrests of the bigwigs, Khansaid: “I am grateful to Allah, thebig figures who are now jailed,no one could have imagined [itcould be done].”

“People are crying thatSharif and Zardari have beenjailed [...] both of them used tocall each other corrupt. MianNawaz Sharif jailed Zardaritwice during his two tenures.

The prime minister saidthat they [Nawaz and Zardari]came to an agreement thateach would rule for five yearsand “not say anything to eachother”.

Imran Khan vows togo after ‘thieves’ responsible for Pak’seconomic woes

Japan’s Abe in Tehran mission

to ease Iran-US tensions

AFP n TEHERAN

Japan’s Prime Minister ShinzoAbe is expected in Tehran for

a rare diplomatic mission, hop-ing to ease tensions betweenthe Islamic republic and Tokyo’skey ally Washington.

The first Japanese primeminister to visit Iran in 41years, Abe is expected to arrivein Tehran at around 1120 GMTand go straight into talks withPresident Hassan Rouhani.

Tehran is locked in a bitterstandoff with Washington afterPresident Donald Trump with-drew from a landmark 2015nuclear deal in May last year.

Washington has sincereimposed crippling unilateralsanctions that have forcedJapan to halt its once substan-

tial purchases of Iranian oil andlaunched a military buildup inthe Gulf.

“Amid concerns over grow-ing tension in the Middle Eastand with the attention of theinternational community onthe issue, Japan wishes to do itsbest towards peace and stabil-ity in the region,” Abe toldreporters in Tokyo before leav-ing for Tehran.

“Based on traditionalfriendly ties between Japanand Iran, I would like to havecandid exchanges of opinionswith President Rouhani andsupreme leader Khameneitowards easing tensions,” hesaid.

Japanese government offi-cials say Abe will not presentTehran with a list of demands,

or deliver a message fromWashington, and instead wantto play the role of neutralintermediary.

On Tuesday, Abe discussed“the situation in Iran” in a tele-phone call with Trump, aJapanese governmentspokesman said.

A government official saidAbe will not be in Tehran to“mediate between Iran and theUS” and that “easing tensions”was the prime purpose.

“He might touch upon thesubject (of mediation) but thatdoes not necessarily mean he isdelivering a message” fromWashington, he added.

After holding talks withRouhani on Wednesday, Abe isto meet Iran’s supreme leaderon Thursday morning.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif (right) and his Japanese counterpart Taro Kono shake hands for media priorto their meeting in Tehran on Wednesday AP

Boris launches leadershipbid as MPs warn on BrexitAFP n LONDON

Boris Johnson launches hiscampaign Wednesday to

replace Theresa May as Britain’snext leader, as lawmakersmoved to stop him and otherhardliners from delivering a“no deal” Brexit.

The former foreign secre-tary is the favourite among 10candidates to succeed May,who quit after failing to takeBritain out of the EuropeanUnion on schedule.

May has delayed Brexittwice — most recently toOctober 31 — as she tried andfailed to get her divorce dealthrough parliament.

Johnson, a leading figure inthe 2016 referendum vote toleave, has said he will deliver onthe result with or without a dealwith Brussels.

“After three years and twomissed deadlines, we mustleave the EU on October 31,” he

said ahead of his official cam-paign launch.

He warned that failurewould see the rulingConservatives lose at the nextelection to leftist leader JeremyCorbyn’s Labour party.

“Delay means defeat. Delaymeans Corbyn. Kick the canand we kick the bucket,” hesaid.

However, opposition par-ties backed by someConservatives are putting for-ward a motion in parliament’slower House of Commons toseek to block any attempt toleave the EU with no deal.

They fear that severing tiesovernight with Britain’s biggesttrading partner would bringhuge economic disruption.

In a repeat of moves earli-er this year, the MPs will try totake control of the Commonstimetable on June 25, whichwould allow them to introducea law that might stop “no deal”.

“The Tory debate on Brexithas descended into the dis-turbing, ludicrous and reckless,”said Labour Brexit spokesmanKeir Starmer.

“We can’t be bystanderswhile the next prime ministerforces through a no-deal with-out the consent of the Britishpeople.” Johnson has a che-quered history, arguably knownmore for his gaffes and jokesthan his achievements both asmayor of London and foreignminister.

But he has a national pres-ence, known across Britainjust as Boris, and is seen asmore charismatic than hisrivals.

He warned that Corbynmust not be allowed to win anelection.

“The last time I faced anemanation of that Marxist cabalI defeated him when theConservatives were 17 pointsbehind in London,” he said.

Britain’s Conservative Party lawmaker Boris Johnson gestures as he speaks during the official launch of his leadershipcampaign in London on Wednesday AP

‘India’s general election most inclusive poll’PTI n UNITED NATIONS

India’s recently-concludedgeneral election was the most

historic and “inclusive” poll asit ensured that every personexercise their right to vote,including those with disabili-ties, an annual UN conferencewas told. Addressing the con-ference here on Tuesday,Secretary in the Department ofEmpowerment of Persons withDisabilities Ministry of SocialJustice and EmpowermentShakuntala Doley Gamlin saidIndia underlined its commit-ment to providing an enablingenvironment for differently-abled citizens.

“India remains firmly com-

mitted to providing a universalenabling environment for per-sons with disabilities to fulfiltheir rights equally with othersand realise their full potentialand in creating a fully inclusivecountry where all enjoy equalrights,” she said.

“India just recently con-cluded the most historic, inclu-sive general election wherein awide a range of facilities wereprovided to make the pollingstations more inclusive andaccessible to ensure that all canexercise their right to vote,”Gamlin said.

The 2019 Indian generalelection was held in sevenphases from April 11 to May19. The poll results were

declared on May 23.Gamlin said the facilities

included obstacle-free access tovoting compartment, accessibletoilets, separate entry and exit,braille ballot guide, brailleembossed electronic votingmachines and voter slips,wheelchairs as well as freelocal public transport facilityand priority entry to pollingstations.

Improving mobility of per-sons with disabilities has beena continuous endeavour of theIndian government, she said.

Prime Minister NarendraModi launched the ‘AccessibleIndia Campaign’ for achievinguniversal accessibility throughcreation of barrier-free envi-

ronment, she said.A comprehensive rehabil-

itation service through an earlyintervention programme forchildren with disabilities inthe age group of 0-6 years isunderway, Gamlin said.

National Institute ofMental Health Rehabilitationand a Centre for DisabilitySports are also being estab-lished to address the issues per-taining to psychosocial dis-abilities and for promotion ofsports amongst disabledsportspersons, she said.

In another significant mea-sure to benefit persons withdisabilities, the Indian gov-ernment has undertakenimplementation of Unique

Disability ID project that entailscreation of a national databaseand ensures issuance of theunique ID card to every personwith disability, she said.

The Indian government isalso implementing schemesfor providing contemporarymodern aids and assistingdevices to persons with dis-abilities.

UN Secretary-GeneralAntonio Guterres told theannual conference on the‘Convention of Rights ofPersons with Disabilities’ thatdisability inclusion was notonly a fundamental humanright, but also “central to thepromise” of the 2030 Agendaon Sustainable Development.

Syria says air defence

downs Israeli missiles

AFP n DAMACUS

Syrian air defence shot downIsraeli missiles targeting the

south of the countryWednesday, state media said, asa monitor reported positions ofthe regime’s Lebanese allyHezbollah had been hit.

The attack was launched inthe early hours of the morningagainst the Tall al-Hara sectornear the Golan Heights,according to official newsagency SANA, which said therehad been no casualties.

It did not specify what hadbeen targeted.

SANA also accused Israelof conducting an “electronicwar” and “jamming” Syrianradar.

The Syrian Observatoryfor Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor, said thestrikes had targeted positions ofthe Hezbollah Shiite move-

ment in two locations, butwithout causing any casualties.

“All the positions hit hadthe Lebanese Hezbollah there,”Observatory head Rami AbdelRahman said.

The missiles targeted Tallal-Hara, a hill in the southernprovince of Daraa whereHezbollah has radars and theregime has air defence batter-ies, said the Observatory, whichrelies on sources inside Syriafor its information.

It also targeted barracks forthe Lebanese fighters in theabandoned town of Quneitraon the Syrian-controlled side ofa demilitarised zone betweenboth countries in the Golan.

The town has been largelyin ruins for over four decadessince it was razed by Israeliforces before they withdrewunder a 1974 United Nationsagreement.

Israel has carried out hun-

dreds of air strikes in Syriasince the beginning of the con-flict in 2011, targeting forcesloyal to President Bashar al-Assad and the regime’s alliesIran and Hezbollah.

Earlier this month, Israelstruck multiple positions heldby regime forces over a periodof 24 hours, killing 15 com-batants according to theObservatory.

In January, it targetedIranian positions in Syria inwhat it said was a response toan Iranian missile strike frominside the country.

That attack killed 21, most-ly Iranians.

Israel says it is determinedto prevent its arch foe Iran fromentrenching itself militarily inSyria, where Tehran backsAssad in the country’s eight-year war, which has left morethan 370,000 people dead anddisplaced millions.

China names Weidong as India envoyPTI n BEIJING

China has appointed veter-an diplomat Sun Weidong,

an expert in South Asian affairsand worked closely withExternal Affairs Minister SJaishankar during his tenure asAmbassador in Beijing, as itsnew envoy to India.

Sun, who also served as theambassador to Pakistan, is cur-rently the Director General ofthe Policy and PlanningDepartment of the ForeignMinistry.

He will succeed LuoZhaohui, who has beenappointed as Vice Minister ofForeign Affairs.

An agreement has beenconveyed by India to China onSun’s appointment, IndianEmbassy officials here toldPTI.

Indian Ambassador toChina, Vikram Misri congrat-ulated Sun on his appoint-ment through a tweet.

Hamza Shehbaz remanded toNAB custodyPTI n LAHORE

An accountability courtWednesday remanded

Opposition leader in Pakistan’sPunjab Assembly HamzaShehbaz to a 14-day physicalcustody, a day after the coun-try’s anti-graft body arrestedhim in cases related to moneylaundering and corruption.

The NationalAccountability Bureau (NAB)was granted Hamza’s custodytill June 26. Judge JawadulHassan pronounced thereserved verdict after hearingthe arguments from both sidesin the case.

A NAB team earlierbrought Hamza, 44, to thecourt amid tight security.Hamza is the son of PML-Npresident and NationalAssembly opposition leaderShahbaz Sharif. The NAB hadrequested for a 15-day physicalremand of the PML-N leader.

LUCKNOW | THURSDAY | JUNE 13, 2019

Actor SHAHID KAPOOR believesthe sheer intensity of KabirSingh and the lead charactermakes it unique and spe-cial.

“It's what attracted meto do this film. I believethere is a Kabir Singhinside everyone. That'swhy people can relate tohim so easily,” Shahid said.

Kabir Singh is beingtouted as an intense lovestory. The film stars KiaraAdvani opposite Shahid.

It is a remake of the Telugu filmArjun Reddy, starring VijayDeverakonda and Shalini Pandey.

‘I am elatedto be partof a MiraNair (ASuitableBoy)project. I'vebeen one of thebiggest admirers ofher work and cannotwait to make thisillustrious storycome alive. Duringthe process ofscreen tests, I reada few parts but itwas the characterof Rasheed thatreally attracted meas an actor. I'm gladthat this projectcame my way.’—Vijay Varma

UNICEF will hon-our actressPRIYANKA

CHOPRA with theDanny KayeHumanitarianAward at theUnicef Snowflake Ball inDecember.

Priyanka, a global UnicefGoodwill Ambassador for ChildRights, took to social media andwrote, “So humbled. Thank youUnicef for honouring me with theaward.”

The event will be held onDecember 3 in New York.

Shahid tells whyhis film is unique

vivacity 12

While the role of a mother iscelebrated and feted inpopular culture, that of the

father often does not often inspirepoetry or prose. However, researchdoes not concur with the idea. Astudy published in the Journal ofFamily Psychology, New York,reveals that both types of involve-ment — caregiving versus play andthe timing, workday versus non-workday can have an impact on thequality of the early father-childrelationship.

Father’s day is the right time totry and get a deeper insight into therelationship between a parent and achild and how it is likely to impactthe duo. “There is no other impor-tant influence than a parent for agrowing child. It’s the comfort,security, affection, attention that youget from your parents that shapesyour personality,” says Dr SamirParikh, director, department ofMental Health and BehaviouralSciences, Fortis Healthcare. He fur-ther adds that the paternal relation-ship governs how you feel aboutyourself, your confidence and self-image. The relationship a child’s par-ents share between them is alsoexceptionally important. The core toa child’s personality is reciprocal rela-tionship with his/her parents. Onlong-term relationship with a child,he says, “It brings positivity and sta-bility in your life. The healthier it is,the better you live.”

Dr Anuneet Sabharwal, a psy-chiatrist, who runs The Happy Tree,says, “The most important thing ina father-child relationship is theestablishment of boundaries and asense of security in the mindset ofthe child to differentiate betweenwhat is family and what is not.” Helays emphasis on distinctionbetween acceptable and unaccept-able behaviour. With respect to

physical growth and personality ofthe child, he says, a lot of times whenparents are not around, childrenoften indulge in substance abuse,which leads to personality disordersincluding violence against peersand others. “Males often emulatetheir fathers as role models. Withwomen, I think it’s different, theyend up looking for their father fig-ure in the partners they choose. Ittranslates into what you desire in arelationship. It does affect your per-ception of what do you want as apartner in a relationship.”

According to Dr DeepakRaheja, psychiatrist, Hope Care,says, “Father is representative of theauthority parental figure as he playsa huge role in shaping up the per-sonality of the children. The timespent with the children results inmore resilient bond, which lays thefoundation of a person who can dealwith conflicts later in life with ade-quate preparedness.” At a time whenmental health issues are at theirpeak, he feels, when children arefaced with interpersonal conflict asadults, depending on the foundationthat is encrypted in their mind, theyfind a more resilient, conflict bust-ing mechanism which enables themto lead a more meaningful life.

Laying emphasis on the cycle oflife he says, “There is a stage wherethe child wants to reach out to youand you are not available. And as the

Fathers are amazing, for all their badjokes, sports training and life advice.

They have given us a lot of love and sup-port because of which, we’re who we aretoday. Just like that, television also hassome amazing fathers who we love towatch onscreen and can pretty much relateto all their goofiness and sometimes theircomic timing that can be pretty off, butadorable.

pPhil Dunphy in Modern FamilyThe self-proclaimed cool dad, he is

one of the funniest characters on ModernFamily. The father of three children is asoptimistic as a kid himself and lovesadventure. Believer of Peer-renting, he isa devoted father putting efforts to makebetter bonds with the kids by his fun tricksand talks. Always ready to go miles for hisfriends and family, happy-go-lucky and anavid follower of sci-fi and fantasy, he isclearly one of the most loving dads on tele-vision. The show airs on Star World.

pJack Geller in F.R.I.E.N.D.SFrom praising his kids for their

achievement to being upright with hiscomments, he tries his best to be a gooddad and does a brilliant job indeed.Talking to them after their break-ups andfailures, consoling them, preserving theirchildhood memories to giving them a

Porsche, he comes with a lot of surpris-es. A progressive and open-minded fatherwho lets his children fight their own bat-tles while constantly being a strong pil-lar of support. The show is available onNetflix.

pWalter White in Breaking BadWho would have thought a chemistry

teacher going through a mid-life crisis andfighting deadly cancer would turn into acomplete badass? Finding it difficult tomake ends meet, he decides to sell drugsonly to provide for his family. From buy-ing a brand new sports car to destroyingand burning it, he has always been full ofsurprises and who doesn't like surprises,right? The show is currently streaming onNetflix.

pBrad Wolgast in The PassageThe federal agent, Brad Wolgast is not

the biological father of Amy but when hefinds out that the girl’s life is in danger, he

decides to protect her. His fights againstall the odds to save the orphan girl froma deadly experiment conducted by thesecret medical facility of the US govern-ment. Even though, Amy is not his realdaughter, he never treats her any differ-ent. Now who wouldn't want a man likethat to be their father. The show airs on

Star World.

pLogan Roy in SuccessionWhat makes Logan a really interest-

ing character is his mysterious persona.He gives his kids a hard time but that isbecause he believes they need to gothrough it. He makes sure his kids never

take for granted what they’ve inheritedand not earned. He walks with a certainpride and thinks that he’s the last of theleaders until he realises the potential of hisdaughter. It will premiere on Star Worldon June 17.

pDavid Budd in BodyguardA war veteran suffering from PTSD

and working in the police protection forceas a bodyguard, has his own affairs andis not the most likeable person around.But he can go beyond imagination to pro-tect his children. The heroic personalityand the spirit to fight against anyone forthe protection of his kids is what makeshim a great dad. The show is currentlystreaming on Netflix.

pJohn Winchester in SupernaturalJohn was blinded by revenge and

spent most of his time drinking. He hasdone some terrible things that will makeone think he hasn’t been the best fatherbut he has always protected his kids. Theupbringing seems hard on the kids butthat made Sam and Dean one of the finesthunters in the world. He seems a toughand less expressive father because of whathe has been through. But after reunitingwith them, he expresses the happiness thathis sons saved the world. The series canbe streamed on Amazon Prime.

Ode to onscreen fathers

In this age of binge-watching, we spend more time with virtual fathers than ourreal ones. Here’s a look at the ones we love on television. By TEAM VIVA

The dad phenomenonAs Father’s day nears, SAKSHI SHARMA examines how time spent with the paternal unit canimpact the lives of children

cycle of life goes on, there is astage where you want to reachout to the child and s/he isunavailable. The cycle continuesto be dysfunctional.” The timespent with children nurtures andcements the relationship in amanner that the child has trustand ability to rely on the father.

Dr Raheja feels that at a sen-sitive stage, where the smallnuances of life like watchingfilms and taking for meals bol-ster the confidence and self-esteem of children in a mannerthat they are able to becomemore responsible and confi-dent humans later in life. “If theold adage of life is being able tohave a positive self image thennothing does it better than thequality and quantity of timespent by the parents with thechildren, primarily, the father

figure.”Dr. Jitender Nagpal, consul-

tant and head of Pediatrics,Sitaram Bhartia Institute ofScience & Research, says, “Inmodern times, the relationshipof the father with the child iscontinuously evolving and hasemerged as a mutually fulfillingrelationship.” He stresses onhow the father too grows as aperson while interacting andlearning with the child.Regarding the long-term bene-fits, the child looks up to thefather in terms of defining theideal behaviour. When the childis passing through various stagesof life, s/he looks up to his fatherfor guidance and setting bench-marks.

So, don’t confine the hugs tothis Sunday. Extend the love andtime beyond it.

Actor Rani Mukerji recent-ly wrapped up the sched-

ule of Mardaani 2, her nextfilm. On the last day of theRajasthan shoot, she receiveda gift that overwhelmed her.

“An art director of thefilm who is also a painterbased in Jaipur, Babu Saini, isan old acquaintance and a col-league of Rani. The duo hadworked together in Kuch KuchHota Hain, which is one ofRani’s initial films. They goback a long way as colleaguesand have fond memories ofworking together. He is also ahuge fan of her work and heshowed his huge appreciationfor Rani by gifting a specialportrait of her,” says a source.

Saini’s portrait depictsRani in her Mardaani 2 look,a film that she is very proud of.“She was overwhelmed andinformed him that she will dis-play this in her house. It alsoshows the kind of affectionand appreciation and respectthat technicians and crewmembers have for Rani as aperson and her body of work.”

A final schedule inMumbai will complete theshooting for the YRF crimedrama. Rani reprises the roleof the fearless and committedsuperintendent of police,

Shivani Shivaji Roy inMardaani 2. In the film, shetook on the kingpin of a childtrafficking racket. Produced byAditya Chopra, this will beRani’s next release after theHichki. Mardaani 2 marks thedirectorial debut of GopiPuthran, the writer of the firstMardaani film.

Rani gets a

special gift

How much water shouldwe drink in summers?Or rather what is the

desired requirement in a day?During the hot months

our body tries to cool down bythe natural process of sweating,which in turn dehydrates us.Our body requires more waterto replenish what is lost dur-ing sweating. With tempera-tures soaring to 48 degrees, itbecomes all the more impor-tant to to replace it by bydrinking fluids throughout theday. It is also important for theproper functioning of the bodyand its organs.

There are several factorsthat come into play when wetry to determine how muchwater each person needs. Thisdepends on the environment,the level of activity, overallhealth as well as factors like ifa woman is pregnant or breast-feeding.

It is but obvious that whenthe the weather is hot andhumid, you will sweat more.This will mean that you needto consume an increased quan-tity of water.

For someone who spendsa lot of time outdoors engagedin extreme level of physicalactivity which makes him/hersweat will require additionalwater to replace the fluids thatare lost as opposed to a personwho spends more time indoorsand is desk-bound.

The health of a person alsodetermines the amount of fluidrequirement. This implies thata person suffering from anykind of illness can result indehydration.

A pregnant or breastfeed-ing woman also needs to takeextra fluids to keep the bodywell-hydrated.

Drinking more water canalso help in losing weight.Some of the ways in whichmore water could be con-sumed are to drink before youeat, to replace calorie-filleddrinks with water and to drinkit ice cold.

Water is essential for theremoval of toxins from the kid-ney and the body. It eliminateswaste through urine and sweat.Sufficient quantity of the liq-uid can make your skin glow.It not only helps to regulateinternal body temperature, butit also fights bad breath.

There are other reasonswhy water is essential. Oftenpeople do not focus on the factthat it helps muscles performat their best. It can help boostyour brain functions, lightenup the mood, help to preventand treat headaches and alsohelps prevent constipation.

Some age-wise tips tomake your child drink morewater are:

SIX MONTHS AND ABOVEBreast-fed infants are usu-

ally not given water before theage of six months. This is theideal age to give your baby afew spoonful of water dailywhen s/he turns six months.When they are drinking, letthem hold their sipper or cupsand enjoy their drink.

ONE TO THREE YEARSOLD

Children can certainlydrink plain water throughoutthe day to meet their dailyfluid needs. They also intakewater by consuming otherhealthy beverages includingmilk and 100 per cent fruitjuice.

FIVE TO EIGHT YEARSOLD

Children in this age groupshould ideally drink aroundone litre of water every day.Make sure water is available

within easy reach all the time.Make sure to keep the waterbottles and sipper close athand even when you step outwith them.

NINE TO 12 YEARS OLDAt this stage, the impor-

tance of water is for the humanbody should be taught to thechildren. The amount of waterthat the children need variesbetween one and 1.5 litres.

THIRTEEN YEARS ANDABOVE

When they hit teenage,they should ideally consumeeight to 10 glasses of water perday. If they like juices, you canmix water with fresh juices.

(The writer is the director,department of InternalMedicine, Fortis Hospital,Noida.)

Bhumi Pednekar has bagged KaranJohar’s next Takht, her biggest film till

date. She has been a fan of Karan’s movies,with the cult blockbuster Kuch Kuch HotaHai being her favourite.

Bhumi says, “I loved and enjoyed KuchKuch Hota Hai. The film released when Iwas in school. I was 10 and it had such abig impact on me growing up because ithonestly defined pop culture at that time.So, I went through that entire phasewhere I would dress up like Kajol withhead bands, sweat bands and some days Iwould dress up as Rani (Mukherjee)ma’am too, like in short skirts and try toact like her.”

Much before she joined the industry,Bhumi was a film buff. She says, “I had thatneckpiece that said ‘cool.’ I remember danc-ing to Koi Mil Gaya at every birthday partyor family get-togethers. I was borderline

obsessed with the movie and made ourbuilding kids to be divided into teamTina and team Anjali at get-togeth-ers. That was the level of impact themovie had. After watching the film,I also went for a summer camp whichwas very close to the one shown init. I tried to do everything thatKaran showed in Kuch KuchHota Hai as wanted to live it.”

But it is not just hisdebut film that Bhumiloves. She is also a fanof the last Karandirectorial. “Anotherfilm that has stayedwith me is Ae DilHai Mushkil. Ireally liked it.

It speaks of ar e l a t i o n s h i p

where two friends are con-fused about their feelings. It

was such a beautiful, maturelove story that really movedme. I think Karan’s filmsare larger than life andaspirational yet at thesame time, where theemotions are concerned,they are very real. You feel

Karan’s films and theemotions linger on.I’m honoured andprivileged that I have the opportunityto be directed by himand I will give it myall for him,” she says.

‘KJo’s films have real emotions’

Cool downWith mercury shooting throughthe roof, it is important to upyour water intake, says DR AJAY AGARWAL

O T H E R S P O R T S

AFP n LONDON

Andy Murray hopes to beback on the singles court

later this year, but the British for-mer world number one is settingno time limits on his return.

Murray will step up hiscomeback bid from the hipsurgery he underwent in Januarywhen he competes in the doubleswith Feliciano Lopez at Queen'sClub next week.

The 32-year-old then plansto play doubles at Wimbledon,where he has won two of histhree singles Grand Slam titles.

However, Murray stillexpects to take his time beforereturning to singles action,which probably rules out com-peting at the US Open at the endof August.

"It's baby steps just now," saidthe Scot. "I'm feeling good, pret-ty much pain-free and enjoyingkind of just training, practising,improving all the time just now.

"I don't think whenWimbledon finishes that I willjust step onto the singles courtthe following week and every-thing's good. I still have quite alot of work to do before I'm at alevel where I feel like I'll be ableto be competitive."

Murray, who last played sin-gles at the Australian Open inJanuary, said he had been mak-ing consistent progress but hewould probably plateau at somestage.

"I hope at some stage thisyear I would be able to get backto playing singles again," saidMurray.

"When that is, I'm not real-ly interested in putting a timelimit on because I'm quite happyjust now so I don't need to playsingles after Wimbledon or at the

US Open."If I can, that would be bril-

liant, but I don't think that'sgoing to be the case. I think it'sgoing to take a bit longer."

Murray has been trainingwith American Frances Tiafoebut has still not fully tested hisrecovery with any singles prac-tice matches.

LUCKNOWTHURSDAY | JUNE 13, 2019● South Africa have never played an ODI against Afghanistan before need win against them on Saturday to keep semifinal hopes alive13

WE ARE PRACTICING HARD AND

TRYING TO GIVE THE BATTERS

SOME CONFIDENCE BY MAKING

THEM REMEMBER THAT THEY

PLAYED WELL AND CAN'T JUST

BECOME BAD PLAYERS IN A WEEK

— DALE BENKENSTEIN

AFP n PARIS

Italy needed a late winner fromMarco Verratti to defeat a deter-

mined Bosnia-Herzegovina 2-1 inEuro 2020 qualifying on Tuesday,while Germany and France piledup the goals in lopsided victories.

Edin Dzeko fired Bosnia infront in Turin, but Lorenzo Insigneequalised shortly after half-timeand Verratti curled home on 86minutes to earn a fourth win in asmany attempts for RobertoMancini's side in Group J.

"I expected the difficulties, butwe showed the strength and theconviction to overturn it," saidMancini.

"The important thing is that weare first in the group." Worldchampions France rebounded fromlast weekend's defeat in Turkeywith a trouble-free 4-0 win away tominnows Andorra.

"We reacted well after notplaying to our usual level onSaturday against a good Turkeyteam. It looked easy today and theintensity wasn't the same but weplayed really well," said Francecoach Didier Deschamps.

He retained just four of thosewho began Saturday's 2-0 loss in

Konya, handing first inter-national starts to KurtZouma, Clement Lengletand Leo Dubois.

Kylian Mbappe openedthe scoring with a chippedfinish on 11 minutes, withWissam Ben Yedder andFlorian Thauvin adding totheir lead in the first half.

Zouma bundled home a fourthon the hour as France reclaimedtop spot in Group H after Iceland

beat Turkey 2-1 in Reykjavikto further sour the mood inthe visiting camp.

RAMPANT GERMANYGermany made light

work of Estonia as SergeGnabry and Marco Reus

fired them to a thundering8-0 victory in Mainz.

Gnabry and Reus scored twogoals each, with Leon Goretzka,Ilkay Gundogan, Timo Werner

and Leroy Sane also on target, asGermany ran riot to seal a thirdwin from three games in Group C.

Underdogs Estonia were help-less against a bright youngGermany side who now appear tohave left last year's World Cup woesfar behind them.

"Opponents like this are notthe benchmark for us," warnedReus. "It was important for us to getinto a rhythm and get to know eachother better on the pitch, but wehave to stay realistic."

Joachim Loew's team are stillplaying catch-up to NorthernIreland after Paddy McNair struckfour minutes from the end in a 1-0 victory in Belarus.

Belgium extended their perfectstart to Group I with a 3-0 defeatof Scotland in Brussels.

Romelu Lukaku headed in anEden Hazard cross on the stroke ofhalf-time and bagged a secondearly in the second half, withKevin De Bruyne thumping homeanother at the death.

"This is a good victory and itis nice to be able to score," saidLukaku. "The team is getting bet-ter every time."

Russia followed up their 9-0trouncing of San Marino with amuch nervier win over Cyprus thatcame courtesy of a single goal byAleksei Ionov.

Ryan Giggs's Wales sufferedback-to-back losses as Mate Patkaistruck 10 minutes from time toearn Hungary a 1-0 victory inBudapest.

The Hungarians, the only sideto have played four games inGroup E, are top on nine points,three clear of Slovakia, who were5-1 winners in Azerbaijan whereMarek Hamsik scored twice.

AFP n PARIS

The United States began their tro-phy defence in scintillating

style with 13-0 Women’s World Cupthrashing of Thailand in a ruthlessdemonstration of strength to poten-tial quarter-final opponents andhosts France, who return to actionon Wednesday against Norway.

Three-time champions USAscored 10 goals in the second halfin Reims on Tuesday as theyeclipsed Germany's 11-0 win overArgentina in 2007 and shatteredtheir own previous tournamentbest of 7-0.

Alex Morgan starred with fivegoals, Rose Lavelle and SamanthaMewis netted twice each andLindsey Horan, Megan Rapinoe,Mallory Pugh and Carli Lloyd alsogot on the scoresheet in an embar-rassingly one-sided Group Fencounter watched by more than18,000.

The Americans hit back after atsuggestions they could have easedup and saved 34th-ranked Thailandfrom complete humiliation.

“This is a world championshipso every team that is here has beenfantastic to get to this point. To berespectful to opponents is to playhard against opponents,” said USAcoach Jill Ellis.

‘WE'LL TAKE IT'Morgan, who now has 106

goals for her country, matched arecord set by her compatriotMichelle Akers by scoring fivetimes in a World Cup game.

“We always want to have anyworld record and anything we canget over the Germans, we'll take it,”joked Rapinoe.

If USA top the group, theycould be on a collision course to

play Corinne Diacre's France in thequarter-finals in Paris.

The hosts cruised to a 4-0 winover South Korea in their first out-ing last Friday and are hoping tobuild on that when they take onNorway in Nice in Group A onWednesday evening.

Norway’s Scandinavian neigh-bours Sweden kicked off theirWorld Cup campaign with a 2-0

win over Chile in Rennes onTuesday, but only after a hold-upbecause of a violent storm.

Sweden face Thailand next inGroup F, while Chile tackle theUSA in Paris on Sunday.

European champions theNetherlands beat New Zealand 1-0 in Le Havre in Group E thanksto a Jill Roord goal in stoppagetime.

n SOUTHAMPON

With five matches leftto play at the CricketWorld Cup, South

Africa aim to be more flexiblein their approach as theysearch for their first win.

Given the format of thetournament, in which eachteam plays the other nine once,batting coach DaleBenkenstein believes the abil-ity to strategise more sponta-neously could be the key tosuccess.

And with a clash withAfghanistan in Cardiff up next,the Proteas coach know it isnow or never for his side.

"The difference in tourna-ments to international cricketis that in regular series you playthe same opposition four orfive times so you have anopportunity to start slow, tosum them up and then you can

take them down," he said. "Here, you are playing one-

off games. You are playing ondifferent wickets and againstdifferent teams in everymatch."

South Africa have neverplayed an ODI againstAfghanistan before, and mustclaim victory in the Welshcapital on Saturday to keeptheir hopes of qualifying forthe semi-finals alive.

And Benkenstein wants tosee the batting line-up scoremore runs and spend moretime at the crease in thatmatch especially as no SouthAfrican batsmen has scored a

century in the tournament sofar and they have not had anycentury stands.

He added: "The message isthat the batters have got to stepup and we haven't.

"I feel like we are battingwell but we just haven't doneit long enough. Everyone hasgot in. We've had opportunitiesto have hundred partnershipsand win matches but wehaven't done it.

"We try and play quite anaggressive form of cricket.Scores are much higher thanthey used to be. Teams arescoring big totals so when youare in and you are dominating,

you've got to try and make themost of it.

"Sometimes we don't getthat balance right. We try andaccelerate maybe a bit too fastrather than getting our headsdown and ticking it over andthe batters getting us more tothe end of the game."

Benkenstein also assuredsupporters that South Africahave left no stone unturned asthey bid to turn their formaround, both in the nets andwith their mental conditioning.

"We are practicing as hardas we can and trying to give thebatters as much confidence aswe can. "We're making them

remember when they playedwell and that you can't justbecome bad players in a week.

And, like so many in theSouth African camp,Benkenstein believes a changein fortunes is not far away.

"I really feel we are onegame away from getting allthose things right. If we getthat right, the confidence lev-els will be up there and then wemay peak at the right time," headded.

"At previous World Cups,we have done very well andthen when it came to the endof the tournaments, we've beenfeeling the pressure therewhereas now, we've been feel-ing it from the start, fromeverybody. Maybe the storyhas just got a bit of a differentscript."

Courtesy— © ICC BusinessCorporation

FZ LLC 2018Faf du Plessis chats with South African teammate Jean Paul Duminyduring team’s practice session CSA/Twitter

❝

❝

Megan Rapinoe, right, congratulates teammate Alex Morgan after scoring her fifth goal AP

US scores 13 past Thai

Marco Verratti celebrates with Federico Bernardeschi after scoring winner against Bosnia AP

Florian Thauvin attempts bicycle kick AP

AFP n MADRID

Luka Jovic has pledgedto fight for his place atReal Madrid after the

Serbia striker was unveiledto his new fans at theSantiago Bernabeu onWednesday.

Jovic kissed the badgeand applauded around4,500 supporters thatturned out to welcome himafter Madrid had confirmedthe signing of the playerfrom Eintracht Frankfurt onTuesday for around 65 mil-lion euros ($73.5 million).

"I am the happiest kidin the world," Jovic said ina press conference. "I amvery happy to belong to thebiggest club in the worldand I hope to fulfil every-thing that is expected ofme."

Jovic's arrival on a six-year contract means Madridhave added three playersthis summer, with EderMilitao and Eden Hazardalso joining from Benficaand Chelsea respectively.

Hazard will be present-ed at the Bernabeu onThursday night, when theclub hopes the attendancecould even exceed the70,000 that greetedCristiano Ronaldo in 2009.

The Belgian is likely tobe a guaranteed starter nextseason but Jovic's placelooks less secure given thatKarim Benzema andVinicius Junior werearguably Madrid's two bestplayers last season.

As it stands, GarethBale, Marco Asensio,Brahim Diaz, Isco, MarianoDiaz and Lucas Vazquezalso remain at the club,completing a lengthy list ofattacking options.

"The competition isfierce but if I work hard, Iwill get my chance. Then ifI don't take it, it's my fault,"said Jovic. "I have not talkedto Zidane yet but I've playedas a second striker atEintracht and I can also playon my own."

He added: "I think I canbe do well with Benzemabut it is up to the coach todecide."

Jovic joined Eintrachton loan from Benfica in2017 and after making themove permanent, enjoyed asuperb second season withthe German club, scoring 17goals in 32 league appear-ances.

He will be expected toprovide more incision upfront for Madrid, wholacked goals last season,struggling to fill the void leftby Ronaldo's departure toJuventus.

Club presidentFlorentino Perez claimedJovic chose Madrid ahead ofother interested clubs. "Weknow very well that otherswanted to have you but youhave fought to be here,"Perez said.

"We have to start win-ning again and today is aday to welcome a playerwho has to help us completethis mission."

AFP n MANCHESTER

Manchester United have tied up the sign-ing of Daniel James from Swansea, both

clubs announced on Wednesday, with the 21-year-old Wales winger becoming managerOle Gunnar Solskjaer's first signing at OldTrafford. James has signed a five-year con-tract, with the option to extend for a furtheryear. Reports said the initial fee was about£15 million ($19 million).

James, a graduate of the Swansea acad-emy, scored five goals in 38 appearances dur-ing an impressive 2018-19 campaign with the

Championship side. Solskjaer told United'swebsite: "Daniel is an exciting young winger

with lots of skills, vision, exceptional pace anda good work ethic. He had a great seasonwith Swansea City and has all the attribut-es needed to become a Manchester Unitedplayer.

"We are delighted he has signed with ourclub and we are all looking forward to work-ing with him. This is the perfect environmentfor Daniel to continue his development."

The transfer comes less than a monthafter the death of James's father.

James said: "This is one of the best daysof my life and a challenge I am really look-ing forward to. The Premier League is thebest league in the world and ManchesterUnited is the perfect place for me to contin-ue to develop as a player.

"This is an incredibly proud moment forme and my family. However, it is tinged withsadness that my father isn't able to share thisexperience with us. I am looking forward toworking with Ole, meeting the team and get-ting started."

Adapt or dieI FEEL LIKE WE ARE

BATTING WELL BUT WEJUST HAVEN'T DONE IT

LONG ENOUGH.EVERYONE HAS GOT IN.

WE'VE HADOPPORTUNITIES TO

HAVE HUNDREDPARTNERSHIPS AND

WIN MATCHES BUT WEHAVEN'T DONE IT

Jovic ready for fierce competition

Luka Jovic poses during his official presentation after signing for Real AP

Comeback on cards

Andy Murray returns a shot shot to James Duckworth during the first round match AP

Daniel James

joins Utd

Italy edge Bosnia as Germany, France stroll

Daniel James poses with the Man Utd logo PL/Twitter

PTI n KARACHI

Mohammed Amir had confessedto spot-fixing only after then

ODI skipper Shahid Afridi slappedthe fast bowler while Salman Buttwas involved in corruption muchbefore Pakistan's ill-fated tour ofEngland in 2010, claimed former all-rounder Abdul Razzaq.

Spilling the beans on the scan-dal which tarnished the image ofPakistan cricket, Razzaq narrated theAamir incident while speaking to theGNN news channel.

"He (Afridi) told me to leave theroom but after a while I heard thesound of a slap and then Aamir toldthe whole truth," Razzaq said.

The all-rounder also blamed thethen PCB set-up for bringing badname to Pakistan cricket.

"I thought instead of going to theICC to prove its efficiency, the PCBshould have instead directly takenthe three players to task despite theirdenials and sent them back home onsome pretext. They should havebanned them for a year or so. In theend by not doing this, the PCB spoiltthe image of Pakistan cricket world-wide."

Razzaq, 39, also claimed thatButt was deliberately getting out andplaying dot balls much before thescandal broke out in England.

"I shared my concerns withAfridi but he said it is just myWaham (misconception) and noth-ing is wrong. But when I was battingwith Salman Butt during a match ofthe World T20 in West Indies, I was

convinced he was letting down theteam."

Razzaq recalled he told Butt totake a single and give him thestrike but he did not pay heed to hisadvise.

"I was surprised when herefused this strategy. When Irealised what he was up to (some-

thing) I told him strictly to give methe strike. Yet every over he delib-erately played two or three balls andthen gave me strike. I got upset andfelt the pressure and got out."

Butt, Aamir and MohammadAsif were the three players eventu-ally banned for a minimum of fiveyears in early 2011 by the ICC's anti-

corruption tribunal after they werefirst suspended in September 2010.

All three have now returned toplaying cricket after completingtheir five-year bans. But only Aamirhas been considered and picked forthe Pakistan national team and ispresently competing in the WorldCup.

PTI n TAUNTON

David Warner was not hisusual destructive self buteffective nevertheless, his

first international century sincecompleting the ball-tampering bansetting up Australia’s 41-run winover Pakistan in the World Cuphere Wednesday.

Australia looked set for a totalin excess of 350 while Warner andcaptain Aaron Finch (82) were at thecrease, but Mohammad Amir (5/30)staged a grand comeback with hisbest ODI bowling figures to bowltheir opponents out for 307.

Pakistan’s innings ended at 266in 45.4 overs overs but not before theduo of Sarfaraz Ahmed and WahabRiaz gave the Australians a scarewith a rearguard action that revivedtheir hopes for a while.

Pakistan were at one stage tot-tering at 160 for six in the 30th over.

Riaz smashed 45 off 39 ballswith two fours and three sixes, whileSarfaraz made 40 off 48. The side’stop-scorer though was openerImam-ul-Haq (53), MohammadHafeez contributed 46 while HasanAli blazed away to 32 off only 15balls before Mitchell Starc closed outthe game at the death.

“When I got out we had 70 ballsto go, as the ‘in’ batter you want tobat 50 overs. We should have beenaround 340-50, credit to Pakistan,their second spells were fantasticand made it hard for us to hit downthe ground,” Warner said at the post-match presentation ceremony.

The dashing left-handed open-er struck 107 off 111 balls, with 11fours and a six.

Earlier, sent into bat after thecoin landed in Pakistan skipperSarfaraz Ahmed’s favour, Australiawere off to a steady start withWarner and Finch helping them to50 in 10 overs.

Amir started with a maiden andgoing with only four mainlinebowlers, Australia knew they need-ed to score big to put Pakistan underpressure.

The Aussies broke free againstShaheen Afridi, with Finch hittinghim over the deep square leg fencefor a six and Warner employing thepull shot to get a four. As Australialooked for quick runs, Amir showedhis class by bowling another maid-en over.

Apart from the singles andtwos, both managed to find theropes occasionally, before Finchcarted Mohammad Hafeez for 16runs with the help of a six and twoboundaries.

After a stand that yielded 146runs in 22.1 overs, Amir provided

Pakistan the much-needed break-through when he had Finch hittingone high up in the air towards extracover.

Warner hit Hasan Ali for twoconsecutive fours, and then, therewas a classy cover drive by SteveSmith. A couple of quiet overs wasfollowed by a productive one fromAustralia’s point of view, withWarner smashing Shoaib Malik fora six over long-on and a four to pick15 runs.

Sitting pretty at 189 for two inthe 29th over, Smith tried to up theante but in doing so, ended up giv-ing a catch to Asif Ali, who haddropped a sitter in the slips earlierat The Cooper Associates CountyGround.

Glenn Maxwell struck 20 in 10balls even as Warner reached thethree-figure mark when an edgeflew between the keeper and thewide slip for a four. He got out short-ly after celebrating his century withgusto.

The show, then, belonged toAmir.

However, Amir’s effort was notnot enough as Pakistan sufferedtheir second defeat of the showpiece.

Opener Imam-ul-Haq made 53off 75 balls and steadied the inningswith a 54-run second-wicket withBabar Azam (28) after the early dis-missal of Fakhar Zaman.

For Australia, Pat Cumminswas the most successful bowlerwith figures of 3/33 while there twowickets apiece for Mitchell Starc andKane Richardson.

LUCKNOWTHURSDAY | JUNE 13, 2019● Amir’s bowling is third best for Pakistan in World Cup and second best by a pacer after Wasim Akram’s five for 28 against Namibia14

I KNOW I CAN DO A GREAT JOB

WHEN I'M PHYSICALLY FRESH

AND THAT'S HOW I'M GOING

TO ENTER THIS ASHES, SO I'M

LOOKING FORWARD TO IT

— JOSH HAZLEWOOD

AFP n BRISBANE

Australian pace spearheadJosh Hazlewood admits

he is barely watching the WorldCup as his disappointment atnot being selected continues tocause him pain.

The 27-year-old was over-looked after being out of actionsince January with a backinjury, as selectors preferredhim to focus on getting readyfor the Ashes Test series inEngland, which begins inAugust.

Hazlewood is currently incamp at Brisbane with theAustralia A squads — alongwith the likes of PeterHandscomb, Travis Head andMarcus Harris — ahead oftheir departure for England onFriday for a seven-week tour.

Now fully fit, he said hehad was trying to avoid theWorld Cup and directhis energies elsewhere.

"I'm trying to focuson what I'm doing uphere," he toldcricket.Com.Au onWednesday.

"I'll sit down atnight and watch acouple of overs butI'm trying to steerclear of it a little bit.

"The more you watchsomething, the more youprobably miss it. So I'mjust trying to pre-tend it's not on,to a

degree." Instead his focus is onthe Ashes, and he warned thathe would be fresh and raringto go against the English bats-men.

"I know I can do a great jobwhen I'm physically prettyfresh and that's how I'm goingto enter this Ashes, so I'mlooking forward to it," he said.

Hazlewood is set to makehis return in the one-day for-mat for Australia A from June20, before three red-ball fix-tures starting on July 7.

Those matches culminatein an 'Australia v Australia A'four-day fixture in Hampshire,which will serve as a finalselection trial for the Ashessquad.

"I've done as much as I canin the nets," he said. "It takesthat time out in the middle now

to get that extracouple of per-

cent up toone hun-

dred."

Warner ton powers Australia to win

Josh too painful

David Warner celebrates after completing his century AP

Mohd Amir’s career-best performance goes in vain

Mohammad Amir bowls to Aaron Finch during Australian innings in the group stage match at Taunton on Tuesday PCB/Twitter

IN ASPOT

FORMER ALL-ROUNDERRAZZAQ REVEALS THATAMIR CONFESSED TOSPOT-FIXING AFTER

AFRIDI SLAPPED HIM

BEST BOWLING FOR PAK IN WC

Figures Bowler Opponent Venue Year Result

5-16 Shahid Afridi KEN Hambantota 2011 Won

5-23 Shahid Afridi CAN Colombo 2011 Won

5-28 Wasim Akram NAM Kimberley 2003 Won

5-30 Mohd Amir AUS Taunton 2019 Awaited

5-35 Mushtaq B’DESH Northampton 1999 Lost

Faisel Features

Mohammad Amir celebrates after completing his five wicket haul against Australia PCB/Twitter

WHEN I GOT OUT WEHAD 70 BALLS TO GO,AS THE ‘IN’ BATTERYOU WANT TO BAT 50OVERS. WE SHOULDHAVE BEEN AROUND340-50, CREDIT TOPAKISTAN, THEIRSECOND SPELLSWERE FANTASTIC ANDMADE IT HARD FORUS TO HIT DOWN THEGROUND

“

”

LUCKNOWTHURSDAY | JUNE 13, 2019● Martin Guptill needs 93 runs to become the second NZ and 19th batsman overall to complete 1000 runs in WC15

LETS NOT COMPARE PANDYA

WITH ME, LET HIM PLAY. WE

HAVE ALREADY SEEN HIS

RICH TALENT AND I WANT

HIM TO BE BETTER THAN ME

— KAPIL DEV

PNS n NEW DELHI

Former Indian skipper Kapil Devbelieves team India should not

think much about fitness issuesrelated to star opener ShikharDhawan, who suffered thumb injuryduring India's clash against Australiaon 9th June at London and shouldfocus entirely on the next gameagainst New Zealand at Nottinghamtoday.

The star opener during his 117-run innings was hit by Pat Cummins'delivery which injured his thumbbecause of which he wasn't able tocome and field during Australia'sinnings. On Tuesday, he wasdeclared unfit to participate in theteam's next three games at least.

Speaking at the launch of fanta-sy sports platform – Apne11, 1983World Cup winning skipper said:"We should remain positive. Thereis a possibility that the replacementmay turn out to be better than him(Dhawan)."

"It's unfortunate to miss such anexperienced campaigner at the startbut I just hope whosoever is the nextone in line is better equipped thanhim," he said.

It is believed that in absence ofShikhar, KL Rahul will be asked toopen the innings with Rohit Sharmaand there is a fair share of opinionabout who will bat at No 4 position.

The former captain said that hedidn't want to comment on the sameand create confusion. "The decisionto replace is something that the teammanagement has to take and thesame goes with the batting order. Iwould not like to comment and cre-ate confusion talking about thereplacement because this decisionwill be made by the selectors and theskipper. Batting order would also bedecided by the captain. We can justexpect whosoever comes in, is onebetter than the previous."

India has so far dominated thetournament with two dominatingwins in as many games againststrong opponents like South Africaand Australia and Kapil is happy bythe show so far and expects team tocontinue perform the same way.

"I am very happy with the waythe side has performed and expectthem to play like this only through-out the tournament. Both were big

matches and I hope they would carrythe same spirit throughout the tour-nament," Kapil said.

He also applauded HardikPandya's performance againstAustralia where the Baroda all-rounder was promoted up the orderto bat at No 4 after Dhawan's depar-ture and he smashed 27-ball 48which consists of three sixes andfour boundaries.

However he still considers himas a batting all-rounder and expectshim to make bit more contributionswith the bowl. "For me he is a bat-ting all-rounder but I would suggesthim to keep improving his bowlingas well. And if he can do that, he willturn into a great team man which ismore important," he said.

"As for Yuvraj's (Singh), he wasone of best player team India everhad and deserves a farewell.Retirement of such player like thiswas not expected. He was elegantand I wish our youngsters play likehim."

PTI n NOTTINGHAM

New Zealand batsman RossTaylor's considerableknowledge about the Trent

Bridge ground tells him that theshorter boundaries here may playon the mind of India's wrist spinduo during their World Cupencounter Thursday.

Taylor, who has been a success-ful pro for the Nottinghamshirecounty side, is confident that NewZealand can effectively tackle thewrist spin duo of YuzvendraChahal and Kuldeep Yadav.

"We've faced India a lot inrecent times and had some successagainst them. Obviously, they aretwo world class spinners but I thinkwe've had success at differentstages. The shorter boundariessometimes can play on the mindsof the spinner," Taylor said at thepre-match press conference.

Asked about Dhawan'sabsence, Taylor said: "ObviouslyShikhar is a big loss to India. Thepresence, he plays very well at ICCtournaments and has a very goodrecord over here.

"He and Rohit Sharma have avery good partnership, and I thinkthey complement each other wellbecause they're right and left-handed."

With Dhawan missing inaction, India will have a lot of right-handers in the batting line-up andTaylor feels it will make it difficultfor their opponent to exploit theshorter boundaries here.

"A lot of these grounds in theUK have a short boundary to oneside, and if you've got two righthanders or two left handers, youcan't exploit it as much," Taylorsaid.

"As we see, it's traditionally ashort boundary here. If that is thecase, then hopefully we can exploitit with the right, left-handers, as Iam sure India and other teams thatare playing here will try and do."

Taylor had a good season withthe Notts and he loves everythingabout the Trent Bridge ground.

"No, it's a great place to play

cricket. Traditionally, it can favorthe batters at times, but I am surethat bowlers will be — going tohave a little bit there.

"It's been out in the kettles fortwo or three days and hasn't seenthe sun. I'm sure — we'll have to

wait and see what happens," hesaid.

Just like Aaron Finch, Taylorhas accepted the fact that Indiansupporters will outnumber theirfans.

"First and foremost, it's a great

place to play cricket, and I'm sureany time we play India in a neutralvenue is always going to be moreIndian supporters than NewZealand. I'm sure that's some-thing we're looking forward to aswell."

Mind games

n SOUTHAMPTON

Trevor Bayliss insists Englandhave the capacity to thrive –

not just survive – against WestIndies’ rapid fast bowlers when thetwo lock horns on Friday.

Pace is the talk of the townahead of the meeting at theHampshire Bowl, with theCaribbean side boasting four play-ers who can top 90mph.

Oshane Thomas and SheldonCottrell are in particularly goodform, the former terrorisingPakistan in their opening ICCMen’s Cricket World Cup game,with the latter bamboozling SouthAfrica in the washed-out conteston Monday.

England have a pair of in-form quicks of their own in JofraArcher and Mark Wood and thetwo sides could not be split in theirrecent ODI series — drawing 2-2in the Caribbean.

“We can handle anything thatis thrown at us,” he said.

“I have not seen too manywith express pace here just yet butwe have a couple of good ones tooso I expect it to be tit for tat,” headcoach Bayliss said.

“We will have to play at ourbest to come away with a win. Inthe Caribbean, we were a little bitup and down. They bowled fast

but then Mark Wood made a fewof their guys jump up and down.

“The wicket here is reasonablyflat and it has been in the past.There have been a few morewickets in the World Cup thenthere has been in the last few yearsso I expect the fast bowlers arerubbing their hands together.”

Bayliss has a few selectionheadaches, despite being opti-mistic about Jos Buttler’s fitness.

The vice-captain hurt his hipwhile batting against Bangladeshbut appears to have overcome thecomplaint — even if Bayliss isunsure if he will keep wicket.

“I haven’t really thought aboutit. We'll make that decision in thenext day or so," he said.

“It was a little bit precaution-ary the other day. He said he couldhave kept, but he wasn't really sureif he would be able to run after ahigh catch.”

All-rounder Moeen Ali is alsopushing for a recall and Bayliss hasoften deployed two spinners at the

Hampshire Bowl in the past,increasing the prospect that theoff-spinner will come in and joinAdil Rashid.

Spin has accounted for just sixof the 28 wickets England havetaken so far, with Moeen left outagainst Bangladesh and Rashidsuffering a shoulder injury in thebuild-up to the tournament, butBayliss is not yet concerned.

“Early in the tournament, orprior to it, he [Rashid] had a nig-gle in the shoulder but he has gotover that and in the last couple ofweeks he has not had a problem,”he added.

“What he needs is more bowl-ing, whether that is in the nets orin the games. I don’t think thewickets have necessarily been anadvantage for the spinners yet.

“As we go through the tourna-ment, when it might be drier anddrier wickets I expect he will comeinto his own.”

Courtesy © ICC Business CorporationFZ LLC 2018

AFP n SOUTHAMPTON

England fast bowler Mark Wood says his sidewill "fight fire with fire" when they face the

formidable West Indies pace attack.Friday's World Cup clash in Southampton

is likely to be a bouncer barrage, with bothteams boasting aggressive bowling line-ups.

The West Indies dismissed Pakistan for 105at Trent Bridge, the lowest total of the tourna-ment, by unleashing an array of bouncers fromOshane Thomas, Andre Russell and SheldonCottrell.

With Wood partnered by Barbados-bornpaceman Jofra Archer, and both having hit95mph in the victory over Bangladesh, Englandare not likely to shrink from the battle.

" T h eWindies in thisWorld Cup havecome with aclear game planand that is a lotof short stuff,"Wood said.

"We got ataste of that inthe Windies onthe recent tour.But I canremember get-ting DarrenBravo andHetmyer out toshort balls so itis a good thingwe can fight fire with fire.

"It could be like that, just landing blow afterblow, back and forth, back and forth. The oppo-sition batsmen don't get a break if there is pacefrom both ends and it'd be nice if we can con-tinue that trend.

"When real pace bowling is on show it def-initely ruffles a few feathers and changes themomentum of the game."

Speaking at the weekend Archer nominat-ed himself as the quickest bowler in theEngland ranks and expressed surprise whentold Wood had crept ahead of him with a deliv-ery of 95.6mph — the fastest ball of the tour-nament.That head-to-head will continuethroughout the competition, with the Durhamman not minded to back down.

"It is a good competition between us, afriendly one," he said.

"To have us both bowling at 94 and 95mphand have two guys from the England team atthe top of that list is pretty good.

"It pushes us for sure. You're pushing eachother to be the best you can be and to be asquick as you can be. You have banter about itfor sure, but you're helping each other.

"I'm trying to bowl 0.1 mph quicker thanJofra and he's trying to bowl 0.1 faster than me."

n SOUTHAMPON

Few things in sport are as exciting aswatching a 90mph bowler and CoreyCollymore insists his four West

Indian speedsters can overwhelmEngland’s two on Friday.

The Caribbean side have long beenrenowned for producing destructivequicks — think Michael Holding, CurtlyAmbrose and Courtney Walsh — but thewell began to noticeably dry following theturn of the century.

However, in Oshane Thomas,Shannon Gabriel, Sheldon Cottrell andthe recalled Andre Russell, they have fourpaceman all capable of topping the mag-ical 90mph barrier.

England boast two of their own inJofra Archer and Mark Wood, makingFriday's contest in Southampton one ofthe most eagerly-anticipated games of thetournament.

“We have quick bowlers too so itshould be a lively game," said bowlingcoach Collymore — who also used tobowl around the 90mph mark in his earlycareer.

“We have shown what we can do withour fast bowlers, we are good enough totake wickets with the new ball and thengo from there.

“I don't think many people like theshort stuff, whether it is England or theWest Indies. If you find a batsman thathas a weakness to it, then you go after

that.“The West Indies have always pro-

duced fast bowlers. The two nations thathas always had talented fast bowlers for

me are the West Indies and Pakistan.“From years gone by, that was some-

thing we prided ourselves on and now yousee we have some more coming through.”

All eyes will be on Archer as he pre-

pares to face the West Indies for the firsttime. The 24-year-old bowled the fastestspell ever seen by an Englishman in ODIcricket against Bangladesh last week andhe has six wickets in the tournament sofar.

However, when he opens at theHampshire Bowl he will be confronted bythe unique challenge of taking on ChrisGayle.

While Archer has intimidated bats-man in his young international career, 39-year-old Gayle has a strong recent recordagainst England — belting 39 sixesagainst them in the five-match ODI seriesearlier this year — and Collymore doesnot expect him to be so nervy.

“Chris thrives on that. I have knownhim since he was 16 and he has alwaysloved a challenge. He has always enjoyedthe challenge of fast bowling so I expecthim to relish that,” he added.

“I have known Archer for a while andI saw Wood in the Caribbean last year.They are both very impressive, as we haveseen throughout this tournament.

“I did work with him [Archer] whenhe was a lot younger in Barbados. He wasvery impressive, the skills he shows noware ones we always had so are expectingmore of the same from him.”

Courtesy © ICC Business CorporationFZ LLC 2018

Leave a Mark

Mark Wood trains during England’straining session ECB

Andre Russell celebrates with teammates after dismissing Australian batsman Windies/Twitter

Speedsters to overwhelm

Dhawan's injury isn'ta big concern: Kapil

Kapil Dev poses for photo during the launch offantasy sports platform Apne11

IT'S BEEN OUTIN THE

KETTLES FORTWO OR THREE

DAYS ANDHASN'T SEENTHE SUN. I'M

SURE — WE'LLHAVE TO WAITAND SEE WHAT

HAPPENS

❝

❝

WE CAN HANDLEANYTHING THAT ISTHROWN AT US. IHAVE NOT SEENTOO MANY WITH

EXPRESS PACE BUTWE HAVE A COUPLEOF GOOD ONES TOOSO I EXPECT IT TO

BE TIT FOR TAT

WE HAVE SHOWNWHAT WE CAN DOWITH OUR FASTBOWLERS, WE

ARE GOODENOUGH TO TAKE

WICKETS WITHTHE NEW BALLAND THEN GOFROM THERE

❝

❝

Thrive not just survive

Ben Stokes watches the ball during England’s practice session AP

New Zealand middle order batsman Ross Taylor poses for photo before team’s practice session Blackcaps/Twitter

Taylor feels shorter boundaries will help Kiwi batsmen tackle Indian spinners

LUCKNOWTHURSDAY | JUNE 13, 2019● Virat Kohli needs 57 runs to become the third Indian and ninth batsman overall to score 11000 runs in one day internationls16

THE ADVANTAGES OF

PLAYING IN VARIOUS

SITUATIONS, IS THAT YOU

UNDERSTAND THE GAME A

LOT BETTER

— SANJAY BANGAR

CRICKETCRADLE

VIRAT FEAT

India skipper Virat Kohli is the only cricketer inthe Forbes 2019 list of 100 world's highest-paid athletes. According to the Forbes listwhich was announced on Tuesday, Kohli esti-mated earnings is $21 million from endorse-ments and $4 million from salary and win-nings, taking his total tally to $25 million forthe last 12 months. He holds the last spot inthe list of top-100 athletes, headed byBarcelona and Argentina football superstarLionel Messi. Last year, the Indian skipperwas ranked 83rd in the list. Messi has led theForbes list of world's highest-paid athletes forthe first time, having unseated boxing greatFloyd Mayweather.

MS DHONI HOTEL

If you love MS Dhoni and happen to be atShambhu Bose's restaurant, chances are youmight not even have to foot a bill. A die-hardMSD fan, Shambhu not only runs a hotel inAlipurduar district of West Bengal named MSDhoni hotel, but the 32-year old also feedsevery MSD fan for free, who visits his eatery.“This Durga Puja (festival), we will completetwo years. Everyone here knows this placewell and come to eat here. Ask anybodyaround for the Dhoni hotel — there's no wayyou can miss it,” Shambhu told IANS. Quizzedabout his affection for the former India skipper,Shambhu said: “He is like no other. I haveloved him since I was a child. The way he is,and the way he plays cricket is stuff that leg-ends are made of. He is an inspiration to me.”

CLOUD COVER

Just like every other cricket fan, Congressleader Shashi Tharoor is also disappointed byrain playing a spoilsport in the ongoing WorldCup in England and Wales. So far, threematches have been washed out in the ongo-ing tournament and the weather predictions forthe upcoming matches — including that of thehigh-voltage clash between India and Pakistan— is not good. Taking to Twitter, Tharoor saideither England should be banned from hostingcricket tournaments until the climate changeproblem across the world is solved or theMarylebone Cricket Club (MCC) invests incovered stadiums. “With three washoutsalready (and more due this week), World Cup2019 is becoming a damp squib. ShouldEngland be banned from hosting cricket tour-naments until the world solves climate changeor the MCC invests in covered stadia? Theirsummers are increasingly turning into mon-soons!” said the Congress leader.

FUNTASTIC!

With Rishabh Pant set to join the Indian teamin the UK for the World Cup as cover for aninjured Shikhar Dhawan, funny posts filledsocial media, with fans posting tongue-in-cheek pictorial messages as to how theyoungster was waiting for his chance withbated breath. Pant was initially ignored asDinesh Karthik was picked in the 15-memberWC squad, triggering mixed reactions fromexperts as well as fans. Moments after Pant'sname surfaced, Twitter was awash withmemes such as "Why do you think I came allthis way?" which is a famous dialogue frompopular HBO TV series Game of Throneswhich ended recently. IANS

India vs New Zealand3:00 pm IST

VENUE: Trent Bridge, Nottingham

TODAY LIVE

PRELIMINARY STAGE

Pos Team P W L N/R Net RR Pts

1 NZ 3 3 0 0 +2.163 6

2 AUS 4 3 1 0 +0.057 6

3 ENG 3 2 1 0 +1.307 4

4 IND 2 2 0 0 +0.539 4

5 SL 4 1 1 2 -1.517 4

6 WI 3 1 1 1 +2.054 3

7 B’DESH 4 1 2 1 -0.714 3

8 PAK 4 1 2 1 -1.796 3

9 RSA 4 0 3 1 -0.952 1

10 AFG 3 0 3 0 -1.493 0

Virat Kohli reacts during India Australia game AP

PNS n TRENT BRIDGE(NOTTINGHAM)

The supreme factor inthis Match No 3 forIndia is not Boult'smagnum opus or the

fiery Shikhar Dhawan’s injurylay over. It is weather and fore-cast is that there will be rain atleast till the noon after whichconditions will start dryingup.

The met office here beingaccurate 99 times out of 100,most probably it will be a trun-cated match, possibly beingreduced to 30 or so overs aninnings which, in turn, needsdifferent strategies, changedmindsets and a game plan thatcan stand the fast and furiousformat this 50-over match mayturn into.

The rain has been sointense and unreasonable inthese past couple of days thatthe Notts feel Moses is on hisway which means a biblical per-formance in the middle too if,at all, there is a rain halt and theoutfield responds to the super-soppers as never before. Thatsaid, the Trent Bridge cricketground is known for its excel-lent drainage system and hassoaked in more than othergrounds have the bargain for.

But all this changes noth-ing for Team India which prac-tised at the cricket ground onmatch eve, Dhawan being partof the spectators. Fieldingqueries around Dhawan’sabsence and the weather con-ditions, team coach SanjayBangar said, “every match ischallenging. All teams are wellprepared and know each other'sstrengths and weaknesses, sonothing changes for us. Ourpreparation and approach takeeach team in view.”

India infamously lost theirpractice match to New Zealandthe other day at The Oval withBoult and Jimmy Neeshamtearing into the Indian defencewith alacrity, ease and sevenwickets. But practice is differ-ent from real time where Indiawill be in the middle after twobig wins, one against the SouthAfricans on a difficult pitch andthe other against none short ofthe defending championsAustralia. Both were well

fought and strategized victorieswhere the bowlers did as wellas the batsmen.

Though Australia wastaken largely on the blade ofShikhar Dhawan, not to men-tion the seasoned arm depart-ment, the opener who will besorely missed for the next threeor four matches as he sits outto mend his left-hand fracture,is second only to a good back-up plan. “KL (Rahul) moves upto the top of the order withVijay Shankar and otheroptions in place for the No 4slot,” Bangar told journalists onmatch eve.

The rejig at the top has talkof an unsettled Rohit Sharmabut KL Rahul has been in thegood books of fearless perfor-mances as an opener and himdebuting in this World Cupwould give some serious think-ing power to his bat. Add tothat the fact that “from our bat-ting point of view all the sixbatsmen have gone out in themiddle, except Kedar. Hardikand Mahi have also got gametime,” and you have a relief insight.

Bangar’s optimism is wellfounded. It should be takeninto account that India per-formed equally well againstSouth Africa when Dhawan didnot fire into the scoreboard atall.

Also, as Bangar says, shift-ing up and down the order hasits positives. “The advantage ofplaying in various spots is thatyou understand the gamemuch better. If a player is ableto do that, like Rahul Draviddid, it always helps the team bigtime as also the player himself.It is a mental adjustment forwhich the player requires a lotof skill,” he said, leaving itunsaid that KL is the man withthat asset.

New Zealand though is atricky opponent, trickier thanthe rest India has faced so far.The Black Caps have won alltheir three matches so far, lim-iting Sri Lanka, Bangladeshand Afghanistan to a less than250 total.

Add to that paceman TimSouthee and batter HenryNicholls returning to opti-mum fitness and skipper Kohli,otherwise sorted himself in all

departments, will have a toughopening to close. India have thewherewithal, the intent and theexpertise to tide over multifar-ious opponents. But do theyhave the weather on their side?

Hope Moses comes andgoes on match eve and leavesThursday for sunshine andsome good winning strokes byIndia — before it is over toManchester, Pakistan and ablockbuster everyone is wait-ing for.

SQUADSIndia: Virat Kohli (c), JaspritBumrah, Yuzvendra Chahal,MS Dhoni (wk), RavindraJadeja, Kedar Jadhav, DineshKarthik, Bhuvneshwar Kumar,Hardik Pandya, KL Rahul,Mohammed Shami, VijayShankar, Rohit Sharma,Kuldeep YadavNew Zealand: KaneWilliamson (c), Ross Taylor,Tom Latham (wk), TomBlundell (wk), MitchellSantner, Colin deGrandhomme, LockieFerguson, Tim Southee, TrentBoult, Colin Munro, Ish Sodhi,Henry Nicholls, MartinGuptill, Matt Henry, JimmyNeesham

HEAD TO HEAD

Played Ind NZ Tied N/R

Matches 106 55 45 1 5

Day matches 59 31 26 - 2

In World Cup 7 3 4 - -

Last 5 matches 5 4 1 - -

HIGHEST TOTALS

India: 392-4 in 50 overs at Christchurch 08-03-2009

New Zealand: 349-9 in 50 overs at Rajkot 05-11-1999

PERFORMANCE IN WC

Team P W L T N/R Success%

India 77 48 27 1 1 63.63

New Zealand 82 51 30 - 1 62.80

FAISEL FEATURES

PNSn NOTTINGHAM

The nation may need to knowright away but Team Indiaassistant coach Sanjay Bangarsays a final call on openingbatsman Shikhar Dhawan,who fractured his left hand inthe game against Australia,will be taken only after 10 to12 days. “He is too preciousto be ruled out just yet,” headded at the pre-match Pressconference.Clearing the confusion overthe replacement, heannounced that Rishabh Pantwould be flying in as stand-by and joining the team prac-tice sessions from Manchesteronwards.An injured Dhawan, whobatted for 20 long overs andmade a century after being hiton his hand, will miss at

least three or four games tillwhen, Bangar suggested, thereplacement will come fromwithin the team 15.“It will, however, be good forPant to practice with theteam and be match ready if atall Dhawan is ruled out of thetournament,” he said.“Since Dhawan's assessment

will take 10-12 days, till thatpoint of time, we wanted tomake sure if and when thereplacement is required andI am saying if and when, thenit is always good to have areplacement player coming inand practising with the teamas a stand-by,” Bangar added.“As far as Shikhar is con-cerned, we are observing himand it will take some time,around 10 or 12 days to fig-ure out where he stands. Wewill be in a better position totake a call then because wedon't want to rule out a pre-cious player like Shikhar,straight at the time of theinjury," Bangar said.Dhawan is slated to be out ofthe games at least againstNew Zealand, Pakistan andAfghanistan, and maybe WestIndies on June 27.

Hardik Pandya signs autographs at the back of Chirag’s life-likesketches

Weather

or not?

India to open with Rohit-KL,Shankar in for spot 4 as rainlooms large

Ravi Shastri, left, watches Virat Kohli, center, bat in the nets during a training session ahead of India’s match against New Zealand at Trent Bridge AP

Final call on ShikharDhawan in 12 days: BangarPant flown in to practise & be match-ready

THE REJIG AT THE TOP HASTALK OF AN UNSETTLEDROHIT SHARMA BUT KL

RAHUL HAS BEEN IN THEGOOD BOOKS OF FEARLESS

PERFORMANCES AS ANOPENER AND HIM

DEBUTING IN THIS WORLDCUP WOULD GIVE SOME

SERIOUS THINKING POWERTO HIS BAT

PNS n TRENT BRIDGE

SKETCHERS FROM US

Chirag and gang are hereall the way from the US.

The motely group of young-sters, otherwise data analystsand what not of the cyberworld, are here on a one-match holiday mostly fromNew Jersey. What makesthem stand out is the artistamong them – Chirag fromNew York – who has made

picture perfect, more realthan original, sketches ofTeam India biggies. Theseinclude one each of ViratKohli, Rohit Sharma, HardikPandya, Shikhar Dhawan,Ravindra Jadeja and two ofMS Dhoni. “I am a totalDhoni fan,” he saysunabashedly, holding thephoto frame close to hisheart. Braving theNottingham weather, thegroup stood at the TrentBridge stadium gates for

over three hours to get anacknowledgment of their artfrom the players. Chirag saideach portrait took 13 to 14hours to sketch as accuracywas his main stress point.Coming out to hop into theteam bus after a practice ses-sion, Hardik Pandya obligedthe group, which has twogirls in Ragini and Hiralamong them, with auto-graphs even though the oth-ers went straight past theminto the bus.

C r i c k e t c r a d l e

ROBIN HOOD, LACE & BOOTS

Nottingham is much more thanthe lovely long and green

woods it spreads over from itsmost northernly perch of EastMidlands territory. It is pure bread,from the heart, heroically RobinHood country and its most sought-after trail is the Robin Hood trail byone very interesting walker-guide-humourist-historian Ezekial Bonewho lives the character to the hilt.His trails happen only on weekends

and are booked well in advance.Beyond Robin Hood there more.

Nottingham is also the place wherethe famous Boots pharmacy start-ed off in 1849, as a herbal story if youplease! Then there is no less awriter than DH Lawrence, theauthor of Lady Chatterley’s Loverwho was born in 10 km north-westof Nottingham. A coal mining cityin the yore of English industry, thecity is also known for its 19th cen-tury lace industry and the LaceMarket is beeping light on theNottingham tourist map. The LaceMarket is close to Old Market

Square where you will find a statueof another man who some mightdescribe as a heroic outlaw. BrianClough, the outspoken footballmanager, led unheraldedNottingham Forest from the secondtier of the English game to succes-sive European Cup triumphs in thelate 1970s. Forest’s ground on thebanks of the River Trent is locatedclose to Trent Bridge cricket groundand forms, along with the home ofNotts County, the oldest profession-al football league club in the world.

Ezekial Bone, modern-day Robin Hood look-alike

Group from the US with self-made sketches to give to team India

Trent Bridge Inn that overlooks the cricket ground

INN NOT OUT

The Trent Bridge Inn overlooking the cricketground from one corner in the behind, looks

much lived in, heavy with history and a landmarkthe Notts are proud off. It is one of the oldest liv-ing buildings of the city and was there muchbefore the cricket ground was made. The long-standing local landmark was not always knownas the Trent Bridge Inn. An 1838 map shows itup as the “Three Horses Shoes and Crown” whichgot demolished in 1890 after which the presentstructure was built, to be last refurbished for 3 mil-lion pounds in 2011 by the Weatherspoon fam-ily. Back in the 19th century, this inn was usedas a resting place for travellers before they couldenter the city next morning. The inn was instru-mental in creating the cricket ground which wasset up in competition to the one owned by thetown council. The first cricket match here was cre-ated by William Clarke in 1838 who was the cap-tain of the Nottinghamshire cricket team. He hadmarried Mary Chapman, the landlady of the TrentBridge Inn and they had arranged for the landbehind the inn to be made into a cricket ground.

Documents

12 VIVACITY JeM strikes CRPF on yatra routeUP Bar Council ...€¦ · Darvesh was pro-nounced dead on being brought to hospital, ... leaders like State BJP president Dilip Ghosh,