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From the United NationsGeneral Assembly (UNGA)

hall to the Indian Parliamentpremises and from Beijing toRanchi, thousands of peoplestretched and twisted, breathedin and breathed out, reachedfor the skies and bent to touchtheir toes as India and theworld marked the fifthInternational Day of Yoga onFriday.

Prime Minister NarendraModi led the observance of theyoga day at Ranchi.

The ancient wellnessregime was the theme and itsenthusiasts on the mat — lit-erally — performing “asanas”simple and complex amidchants of “Om” and “Shanti” inseveral global capitals andacross towns and villages inIndia.

Reminding that the ancientpractice went beyond age,colour, caste and creed, andbelonged to everyone, Modisaid, “Yoga is discipline, dedi-cation, and it has to be followedthroughout your life. Yoga isbeyond the distinction of age,colour, caste, creed, creed, cult,rich-poor, province, frontier.Yoga belongs to everyone andeveryone belongs to yoga.”

President Ram NathKovind, who took part in anindoor event in Parliament,said in a tweet, “On#InternationalDayofYoga bestwishes to all practitioners ofyoga across the world. Yoga is

India’s gift to humanity; itholds the key to healthy livingand to that fine balancebetween mind and body. Dobecome a part of the celebra-tion of yoga.”

In an event organised bythe South Delhi Municipal

Corporation (SDMC), UnionMinister Piyush Goyal and MPManoj Tiwari, along with sev-eral other hundred partici-pants, performed yoga at theTalkatora Stadium.

The main programme inthe national Capital was held at

Rajpath. Defence MinisterRajnath Singh was the seniormost leader on Rajpath. DelhiLieutenant Governor AnilBaijal performed yoga along-side Rajnath Singh. BJP MPfrom New Delhi MeenakshiLekhi and several other party

leaders too performed yoga atthe venue.

The UNGA hall, whereworld leaders come togetherevery year for the high-levelUN session, was packed withUN diplomats, officials, yogagurus and practitioners, chil-

dren and people from variousbackgrounds as India’sPermanent Mission to the UNorganised the commemora-tion of the 5th InternationalDay of Yoga on Friday.

Addressing the large gath-ering, Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammedsaid the essence of yoga is bal-ance, “not only within us butalso in our relationship withhumanity.” She said by prac-ticing yoga, people can pro-mote values that inspire apeaceful, environmental stew-ardship for the betterment ofsociety and the earth.

In his remarks to thepacked UNGA hall, IndiaAmbassador to UN SyedAkbaruddin tweeted that itwas in this very GeneralAssembly Hall that an ancientpractice of yoga was trans-formed into an annual globalobservance.

“I hope this indoor yogasession in the GeneralAssembly Hall, the first of itskind, will reinforce the valuesof a cleaner, greener and moresustainable future that all youyogis are committed to.”

Akbaruddin said with cli-mate change increasingly beingviewed as an “existential crisis”,yoga provides the world aframework for managing “ourneeds and desires. Whenapplied to communities andsocieties, yoga offers a toolkitfor embracing lifestyles that aresustainable.”

Continued on Page 4

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The fierce dogfight betweenthe BJP and the Trinamool

Congress went on unabated inthe Bhatpara-Jagaddal-Kakinara region of the State.After Thursday’s alleged policefiring that claimed two lives,violent crowds on Friday defiedprohibitive orders and clashedwith the police hurling brick-bats and bombs promptingBengal Governor KN Tripathito ask the State Government toensure peace at the earliest.

Local BJP MP Arjun Singhheld the State Government

responsible for the fiery situa-tion in the area and warnedthat if the TMC did not stop itsdirty game to forcibly takecontrol of the area thenBhatpara will become anotherNandigram.”

The locals hurled bombsand chased away policemen ledby a Deputy Commissioner ofPolice who escorted the funer-al procession of the Thursday’svictims of alleged police firing.

In Delhi, BJP presidentAmit Shah expressed deep sor-row over the deaths of two per-sons in Bhatpara in “police fir-ing” and deputed a delegationof three MPs to visit the placeand submit a report on thematter. BJP MPs SS Ahluwalia,Satpal Singh and BD Ram willbe submitting a report to Shahafter visiting the place, a partystatement said.

Continued on Page 4

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China on Friday said India’smembership issue was not

on the agenda of the NuclearSuppliers Group’s meeting inAstana as it declined to give atimeline to reach a “consensus”among member states on theparticipation of non-NPTmembers in the elite grouping.

China has repeatedlyblocked India’s entry into the48-member grouping whichregulates the global nuclearcommerce.

Ever since India applied forthe membership of the NSG inMay 2016, China has been

insisting that only those coun-tries which have signed theNon-Proliferation Treaty(NPT) should be allowed toenter the organisation.

India and Pakistan are notsignatories of the NPT. AfterIndia’s application, Pakistantoo has applied for the NSG

membership in 2016.Answering a spate of ques-

tions whether any change ofChina’s stand on India’s entryinto the NSG which is holdingits plenary meeting in Astana,Kazakhstan on June 20-21,China’s Foreign Ministryspokesman Lu Kang told amedia briefing here that thegroup will not discuss the entryof countries who have notsigned the NPT “before reach-ing a specific plan”.

“So there is no discussionon India’s participation,” hesaid.

China, while blockingIndia’s entry into the NSG pre-

viously, has called for a two-step plan that stipulates theneed for the NSG members toarrive at a set of principles forthe entry non-NPT states andthen move forward discus-sions of specific cases.

Lu said that Beijing was notblocking New Delhi’s entryand reiterated Beijing’s standthat rules and procedures of theNSG should be followed.

He said, “There is noblocking by certain members.Because there are procedures inthe NSG and members makedecisions according to the pro-cedures and proceedings.”

Continued on Page 4

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Asserting that the ending thepractice of instant talaq in

Muslim community is about“justice” to women and herright to “equality”, theGovernment on Friday intro-duced afresh triple talaq Bill in

the Lok Sabha amid loudprotests by Opposition mem-bers who claimed it “crimi-nalises” divorce and also vio-lates the provisions of theConstitution.

The Congress said it isopposed to triple talaq (talaq-e-biddat) per se, but it will not

approve the Bill as it crimi-nalises divorce and “pointed atone community.”

Triple talaq, which hasbeen abolished in more than 20Muslim countries, includingPakistan and Bangladesh, is stillpracticed in India.

Continued on Page 4

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With Chief MinisterEdappadi Palaniswami

making it known officially onFriday that the water scarcity inTamil Nadu is grave, travellersto Chennai are advised to keepaway from the city which isreeling under severe drought.

Speaking to the media atFort Saint George after aCabinet meeting on Friday,the Chief Minister said allreservoirs supplying drinkingwater to the metropolis havegone dry.

“There is not a single dropof water in these reservoirswhich are the main sources ofdrinking water to Chennai.Efforts are on to source waterfrom quarries around Chennaito meet the drinking waterrequirements of the capital

city,” said Palaniswami.The Chief Minister also

said his Government has madearrangements for transporting10 million litres water per dayfrom Jolarpettai to Chennai forsix weeks and an amount of �65crore has been set apart for theoperation. Jolarpettai in Velloredistrict is 213 km south ofChennai.

Palaniswami disclosed thatthe Kerala Government wasobstructing the State’s efforts toincrease the height ofMullaperiyar Dam. He saidthat though the KeralaGovernment has offered tosupply 2 million litres of waterto Tamil Nadu, it was negligi-ble compared to the require-ment of the State, which standsat 525 million litres per day.

Even as the Tamil NaduGovernment is struggling to

find a solution to the waterscarcity, the Opposition DMKhas launched a Statewide agi-tation condemning theAIADMK’s failure to resolvethe issue. “The responsibilityfor the present state of affairs

rests only with the AIADMKGovernment. The DMK alonecould find a permanent solu-tion to the water scarcity haunt-ing Tamil Nadu,” said MKStalin, president, DMK.

But the BJP said it was the

right time for Stalin to prove hisresponsibility towards TamilNadu by making Karnataka torelease the 9.19 TMC ftCauvery water as ordered bythe Cauvery WaterManagement Authority onMay 28. “It was Stalin, whoproposed the name of RahulGandhi as the PrimeMinisterial candidate. TheCongress also considers Stalinas the true successor of formerDMK chief Karunanidhi. Aword from Stalin is sufficient tomake Karnataka Chief MinisterHD Kumaraswamy to releasethe Cauvery water due to TamilNadu,” said NarayananThiruppathy, BJP’s seniorspokesman.

Many residents have start-ed leaving the city to theirnative towns.

Continued on Page 4

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Congress president RahulGandhi on Friday courted

controversy by tweeting pic-tures of the dog squad ofIndian Army doing yoga andcaptioning it “New India”,drawing a sharp retort fromBJP chief Amit Shah, whoaccused him of mocking YogaDay and insulting the forces.

Shah said while theCongress supports themedieval practice of tripletalaq, it insults the armed forcesyet again.

Detailed report on P5

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Afour-year-old boy, who wasadmitted in Jagdalpur

Medical College, along withtwo other children after beingdetected positive for Japaneseencephalitis died, officials con-firmed on Friday.

The two other childrensuspected of being encephali-tis positive were later diagnosedencephalitis negative.

“Bhuvneshwar aliasBhawani (4) son of Manglu aresident of Cholnar village inBakawand block of Bastar diedon Thursday night. Conditionof two other children is stableand one has been dischargedfrom the hospital while theother will be also dischargedsoon,” Chhattisgarh’s HealthMinister TS Singhdeo said in apress release.

Soon after the case came tolight a medical team wasrushed to Cholnar and carriedout scanning of locals for sus-pected case of encephalitis. Inall 88 people were scanned and

no one complained of fever orother symptoms of encephali-tis, he said. According to thehealth department official pes-ticides were sprayed in Cholnarand Chhotemundrapara vil-lage for killing aedes mosqui-to. The family members of thedeceased boy informed that theBhawani used to live in hismaternal home at Udiyapalvillage situated close to Odishain Bakawand block.

The team visited Udiyapalbut no case of encephalitis was found, the departmentclaimed.

Meanwhile, the depart-ment has asked villagers to usemosquito net and try to usemosquito repellents.

“Japanese encephalitis isdifferent from AcuteEncephalitis Syndrome or com-monly known as ChamkiBukhar that has claimed 140lives in Bihar,” the health min-ister said while adding Japaneseencephalitis is not new toBastar and had occurred earli-er also.

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Much awaited monsoonfinally hit southern bor-

der of the State, Bastar onFriday, at least nine days late ofthe normal onset date.

Heavy monsoon showerswere observed in the Bijapurand Jagdalpur districts of thestate, which not only bringrespite from scorching heat toBastarians but also had a state-wide effect.

Though it was late from theexpected schedule, the IndianMeteorological Centre herehas predicted a good rainfallthis season.

Weather Scientist S.P.Chandra informed The Pioneer“In what promises to be agood start to the rainy seasonthis year, the monsoon will setover Raipur and other plainareas within the next four-fivedays”.

“The long-range forecastof rains for the State can still bepredicted to be good”, said theweather scientist.

“The monsoon will reachthe capital and plain areaswithin 4-5 days and with+ 6% model error a goodrainfall is expected this year”, headded.

“Northern Limit ofMonsoon (NLM) passesthrough Lat. 17°N/Long. 60°E,Lat. 17°N/Long. 70°E,Ratnagiri, Sangli, Bijapur,,Ramagundam, Jagdalpur,Phulbani, Jamshedpur, Asansol,Purnea and Lat. 28°N/Long.87°E”, he informed.

The regional centre of IMDhas proposed the name of thestorm, that has been generatedin oceans of Indian territories, to be ‘Garra’ (strongwind accompanied by roaring sound) or ‘Sukva’(Brahma Muhurt), informedChandra.

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Rajya Sabha Chairman andVice President M Venkaiah

Naidu on Friday suggested thatany Bill pending for more thanfive years in the Upper Houseshould be considered lapsed.He also called for a debate onthe rule that provides for auto-matic lapsing of any Bill passedby the Lok Sabha but pendingin the Rajya Sabha with the dis-solution of the Lower House ofParliament.

Expressing concern overloss of time due to disruptions,he said the present “dysfunc-tional, disruptive environmentmust change” and furtherweakening of democratic struc-tures cannot be allowed. Naidusaid as many as 22 Bills, pend-ing in the Rajya Sabha, hadlapsed with the dissolution ofthe 16th Lok Sabha last month

and another 33 Bills have beenpending consideration in theUpper House for years, includ-ing three, that have been pend-ing for more than 20 years.

Under the provision of theConstitution, Bills passed by theLok Sabha during the course ofits five year term and pendingin the Rajya Sabha get lapsedwith the dissolution of theHouse of the People. Separately,any Bill introduced in the RajyaSabha remained a property ofthe House irrespective of the fateof the Lok Sabha.

“In effect, the Lok Sabha hasto take up these 22 Bills againfor consideration and passing.I am afraid it would take a min-imum of two sessions for doingso. And this means that effortsof the Lok Sabha for passingthese 22 Bills have been ren-dered waste,” he said, addingBills that lapsed include Land

Acquisition Bill, Triple TalaqBill, Aadhaar Amendment Billand Motor Vehicles Bill.

Given the implications,“There is a need to rethink theprovision regarding lapsing ofbills in the Upper House ofParliament,” he said. “I suggesta wider debate on the matter ofautomatic lapsing of Bills inRajya Sabha,” he said.

Naidu said of the 33 Billspending for years, the oldestpending Bill, the IndianMedical Council(Amendment) Bill, 1987, hasbeen pending for more than 32years. Two other bills are pend-ing for more than 20 years, sixare pending between 10 and 20years and 14 bills are pendingbetween 5 and 10 years.

“Such long pendency doesnot reflect well on the func-tioning of the Parliament,” hesaid. “In order to streamline the

process, I suggest that if a Bill isnot taken up for considerationand passing in Rajya Sabhawithin five years of introductionof such bills, such pending billsshould be treated as deemed tohave lapsed,” he said.

He also sought a debate onthe reasons why there was awide gap between the numberof bills passed by the 16th LokSabha and the Rajya Sabha,especially when compared tothe 15th Lok Sabha. “I fervent-ly appeal to all Parliamentariansto make an inspiring fresh startbeginning with this season,” hesaid adding “We cannot allowany further weakening of ourdemocratic structures. Together,we must restore the stature anddignity of the House.”

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With former PrimeMinister Manmohan

Singh’s term as Rajya Sabha MPending after nearly threedecades, the Upper House ofParliament on Friday put onrecord its appreciation of thecontribution made by therenowned economist.

On the first day of themaiden Session of Parliamentunder Modi 2.0 Government,Rajya Sabha Chairman andVice-President M VenkaiahNaidu mentioned that Singhwas a member of Rajya Sabhafor five consecutive terms from1991 to 2019 and has the dis-tinction of holding the covet-ed post of Prime Minister fortwo consecutive terms.

“The House will certainlymiss the presence of these twomembers, who have throughtheir significant contributions,enhanced the dignity and prestige of this augustHouse,” he said.

Naidu said Singh, alongwith another member SantisueKujur, retired on June 15 aftercompletion of their terms ofoffice. Both Singh and Kujurwere MP from Assam from theCongress party.

“A very gentle, calm and

composed personality, DrManmohan Singh through hisparticipation in the debates ofthe House has contributedimmensely in enriching thecollective wisdom of the Houseon various issues, particularly,economic matters pertaining tothe welfare and development ofthe nation. This House will missan able parliamentarian and anexperienced and renownedeconomist,” Naidu said.

“I place on record myheartfelt appreciation for thesignificant contribution andservice rendered by both theseMembers to parliamentarydemocracy and to society atlarge,” Naidu said. “I wish themgood health, happiness andlong fruitful years of service to

the nation. The House shallever cherish their association.”

Earlier, the Housemourned the death of formerGoa Chief Minister and formerRajya Sabha member ManoharParrikar and nine other formermembers — KA RA Subbian,Virendra Kataria, DrupadBorgohain, Devi Prasad Singh,Chaudhary Munvvar Saleem,Vasanthi Stanley, VishwanathaMenon, Rajnath Singh ‘Surya’and S Sivasubramanian.

The House also mournedthe death of 50 people, includ-ing five Indians, in a terroristattack on mosques in NewZealand and killing of 250persons, including 10 Indians,in suicide bombings in church-es and hotels in Colombo.

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Even as the medical opinionremains divided over the

cause of the outbreak of AcuteEncephalitis Syndrome (AES) inBihar’s Muzaffarpur where over118 kids have died so far, BJPmember from the State, RajivPratap Rudy on Friday urgedthe Government to probewhether linking deaths of chil-dren due to the deadly diseaseto consumption of litchis waspart of a conspiracy to damagethe brand name of the fruit.

Participating in a debateduring the Zero Hour inParliament, Rudy said the sit-uation in Bihar’s Muzaffarpurwas worrisome. “We are toldthat eating litchi by children inBihar’s Muzaffarpur may because of Acute Encephalitis

Syndrome (AES). This is aconspiracy to damage thebrand name of litchi... We areeating litchis since our child-hood but we did not sufferfrom AES,” Rudy said.

The MP from Bihar’s Sarandistrict further said that due tosome misinformation manypeople have stopped eatinglitchi and drinking litchi juice.“The Government must probeif there is conspiracy to harminterest of Indian litchi farmersby linking death of childrendue to AES in Muzaffarpur toconsumption of litchi,” he said.

Participating in the debatein Parliament, Congress leaderAdhir Ranjan Chowdhury saiddue to careless attitude of theState and the UnionGovernment, situation in Biharis not improving and poor

kids are dying due to AES.Chowdhury also pointed

out that the ratio of patientsand doctors is lowest in Bihar.

After 118 children dieddue to Acute EncephalitisSyndrome (AES) inMuzaffarpur districts of Bihar,more than two dozen cases ofAES deaths have been report-ed from other districts of Biharin the last 24 hours.

According to health officialshere, the deaths have beenreported from Patna, Bhagalpur,Banka, Sitamarhi, Samastipur,East Champaran and WestChamparan. AES is a seriousneurological illness that causesinflammation of the brain.

Independent child special-ist Arun Shah, who headed theBihar chapter of IndianAssociation of Pediatrics, on

Wednesday, had said that con-sumption of unripe litchi con-taining a high concentration oftoxin could be behind the AESoutbreak in Muzaffarpur.

Dr Gopal Shankar Sahni ofSKMCH said apart from mal-nutrition and consumption oflitchi in empty stomach, heat-wave condition triggers AESoutbreak year after year.

Meanwhile, Union Ministerof State for Home NityanandRai announced that all 17 BJPMPs of Bihar will donate Rs 25Lakh for their respective con-stituencies to build PICUs inSadar Hospitals there.

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Congress president RahulGandhi on Friday came in

the line of fire of the ModiGovernment and the BJPbesides social media users as hetweeted pictures of the dogsquad of Indian Army doingyoga and captioned it “NewIndia”. Union Ministers AmitShah and Rajnath Singhaccused the Gandhi scion ofinsulting the Defence forcesand mocking the InternationalYoga Day while the BJP said lifeis one continuing joke for theCongress president.

The pictures in the tweet byRahul Gandhi showed theArmy dog unit and their train-ers prostrating as part of cele-brations of International YogaDay and soon after he invitedtrouble for himself on socialmedia.

Home Minister Amit Shahwas the first to take on Rahulsaying while the Congress sup-ports the medieval practice oftriple talaq, it insults the armedforces yet again. He also accusedthe Congress of spreading neg-ativity. “Congress stands fornegativity. Today, their negativ-ity was seen in their clear sup-port to the medieval practice ofTriple Talaq. Now, they mock

Yoga Day and insult our forces(yet again!) Hoping the spirit ofpositivity will prevail. It can helpovercome toughest challenges,”Shah tweeted. The Congressopposed the Triple Talaq Bill inthe Lok Sabha on Thursday.

Taking potshots on Rahul’scomments, Defence MinisterRajnath Singh said that hewished good sense prevailsupon the Congress leader and

he realises that even the caninesare proud members of theIndian Army and they con-tribute to the safety of ournation. Rajnath also took a digat Rahul saying he prayed forhis “sadbuddhi” (good sense).

The BJP said for Rahul, lifeis only about a joke, as he keepsposting pictures about his petdog. “It’s painful to see how asenior politician is ridiculing

IYD2019. But this is hardly sur-prising as they have alwaysbeen apologetic about andhence pooh-poohed every-thing rooted in Indian Cultureand traditions. Is it vote bankpolitics that is driving them todo this,” BJP national vice pres-ident Vinay Sahasrabuddheasked on Twitter.

BJP spokesperson NalinKohli said under Prime

Minister Narendra Modi, thereis a new India and Rahul’s tweetreveals a new Congress underhim. “Perhaps for him, life isone continuing joke for himand looking for opportunitiesto post pictures that remindhim of his favourite Pidi (hispet dog),” he said.

Rahul was also trolled onTwitter with a number of peo-ple posting pictures about theCongress while poking fun athim and the party. He was alsotargeted by new young BJP MPTejasvi Surya who said that it’ssad that Rahul still hasn’t learnthis lessons. “Ok. He still hasn’tlearnt his lessons. In one go, hehas insulted our Army, braveJawans, the incredible dog unit,Yoga tradition & our country.I feel really sad for all the youngCongress workers (if there areany left) that they have to dealwith this man as their leader,”said Surya in a tweet.

New Delhi: The Supreme Courton Friday refused to extend theschedule of counselling for fill-ing up as many as 603 vacantseats in post-graduate medicaland dental courses in deemeduniversities and private colleges.A vacation Bench of justicesDeepak Gupta and Surya Kantdisposed of a plea by theEducation Promotion Society ofIndia, a registered group of over1,300 educational institutions ofthe country, seeking to extendthe counselling to facilitateadmission on vacant seats.

The top court had earliersaid that the question is notwhether it has power to do it butwhether it should allow thedeemed universities and collegesto fill up their vacant seats bymaking an exception to the setschedule of admissions. PTI

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The Supreme Court onFriday agreed to hear a plea

seeking CBI probe into therecent murder of Uttar PradeshBar Council president Darvesh Singh Yadav, who wasshot dead in the Agra courtpremises.

The plea, filed by advocateIndu Kaul, was listed before avacation Bench of justicesDeepka Gupta and Surya Kantwho agreed to hear it nextTuesday saying that it was a“serious matter”.

Yadav, who was the firstwoman president of the BarCouncil, was shot thrice byanother lawyer ManishSharma, who had been herlong-time acquaintance.

The petition, which seeksdirection to the Bar Council ofIndia for formulation of socialsecurity measures for ladyadvocates, listed out differentincidents of sexual harassmentagainst women lawyers in dif-ferent court premises, including Delhi High Courtand trial courts.

The plea said safety ofwomen lawyers in courtpremises and at chamberblocks should be “paramount”

or else incidents like thesecould be “discouraging” fornew female entrants in thelegal profession.

“The chamber blocks inthe court premises have nopolice person deployed. Maleand female restrooms whichhave common wall are oftenfound poorly lit which again makes it vulnerable for ladyadvocates when they use thefacility,” it said.

The plea also sought adirection to the Delhi BarCouncil for disbursing the sumof Rs 50 lakh received fromAAP Government towardssocial security measure andasked for a direction to the UP Bar Council to payYadav’s family a compensa-tion of Rs 25 lakh.

It claimed that the BarCouncil of India instead of pay-ing compensation to thedeceased from its ownAdvocate Welfare Fund col-lected from lawyers across the country, is issuing apress release for collection of funds.

The plea said that Yadav’smurder by one of her male col-leagues would withhold ladyadvocates from contesting elec-tions of bar associations.

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The Supreme Court onFriday extended its earlier

order till July 10, restraining thePuducherry Government fromimplementing any Cabinetdecisions having financialimplications.

A vacation Bench of jus-tices Deepak Gupta and SuryaKant said the issue requires tobe heard at length and thereforeit is listing the plea before a reg-ular Bench.

Puducherry Governmenttold the apex court that it hastaken three Cabinet decisions,which include distribution offree rice to all ration card hold-ers, renaming a department andauctioning of a sick factory.

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal,appearing for the Puducherry

Government, said out of thethree decisions taken, free dis-tribution of rice to all ration cardholders can be allowed as thescheme has been running forthe past ten years.

Solicitor General TusharMehta, appearing for LieutenantGovernor Kiran Bedi, said thescheme cannot be allowed as itwill be a modification of the ear-lier order and has a huge finan-cial implication.

He said earlier free rice wasdistributed to only BPL (below

poverty line) card holders butnow the PuducherryGovernment has a populistmove and wants to give freerice to all ration card holders.

The top court had on June4 directed the PuducherryGovernment, led by ChiefMinister V Narayanasamy whois at loggerheads with Bedi, notto implement any decision, hav-ing financial implications, thatmay be taken at the Cabinetmeeting of in the June 7.

The application filed by theCentre and Bedi had sought adirection for restoring the sit-uation prevailing before theApril 30 Madras High Courtverdict which held that the LG“cannot interfere” in the day-to-day affairs of the electedGovernment in the UnionTerritory.

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Sugarcane arrears to farmerstouched yearly Rs 19,000

crore as on June 18 of the ongo-ing marketing year endingSeptember with maximumamount owed by sugar mills inUttar Pradesh. According to thegovernment data mills in UttarPradesh owe the maximumamount at Rs 11,082 crore, fol-lowed by Karnataka (Rs 1,704crore) and Maharashtra (Rs1,338 crore).

As per data, Punjab millersare yet to pay Rs 989 crore tosugarcane farmers, while thosein Gujarat and Bihar have anoutstanding of Rs 965 crore andRs 923 crore, respectively.

“Payment of cane price tosugarcane growing farmers bythe sugar mills is a continuousprocess. However, on account ofsurplus sugar production, dur-ing the previous sugar seasons,the sugar prices remaineddepressed which adverselyaffected the liquidity of thesugar mills resulting in accu-mulation of cane price arrearsof the farmers,” Food MinisterRam Vilas Paswan said in awritten reply to the Rajya Sabha.

According to the data, thetotal dues of sugarcane farmersas on June 18 of the ongoing2018-19 marketing year(October-September) stood atRs 18,958 crore.

Paswan highlighted that anumber of steps have beentaken in the last one year toboost the liquidity position ofsugar mills so that they couldclear their cane arrears.

According to industrybody ISMA, the country’s sugaroutput during the 2017-18marketing year was a record32.5 million tonnes. In 2018-19,it estimates the production tosurpass the last year’s level.

New Delhi: Lok Sabha SpeakerOm Birla on Friday said he willwork to draw from best parlia-mentary customs from acrossthe world and asked membersto refrain from practices suchas trooping into the Well of theHouse to register their protests.Speaking to reporters, Birlasaid his basic priority is toenhance the House’s dignity andadvised members to abide byrules and regulation.

He said he hoped to engagewith parliamentary proceed-ings in other democracies inthe world and draw from theirbest practices to conduct LokSabha in a better way. Heobserved that he might havebeen strict in his conduct onFriday by repeatedly askingmembers to refrain from inter-rupting those allowed by theChair to speak.

“Why should ‘zindabad-murdabad’ slogans be raised (in)the Well or placard be broughtin the Well? Those interested in

doing so have the freedom to doso outside,” he said.

He, though, assuredOpposition members — whosenumbers have shrunk further inthe 17th Lok Sabha — that hewould not be guided by numerical strength in givingopportunity to MPs.

“Every member representshis constituency and I want hisor her voice to be heard,” he said,noting that he allowed divisionof votes as demanded byOpposition members on theintroduction Of Triple TalaqBill in the House on Friday.

To a question as to why heallowed the Bill’s introductionas the convention has been thatthe motion of thanks to thePresident’s address is the firstmatter to be taken up, Birla saidrules take precedence overconventions. The businessadvisory committee, which hasmembers from different par-ties, took a call on the issue andhe went by it, he added. PNS

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Terming the DelhiGovernment’s move to give

free rides to women in Metroan “election gimmick”, DelhiMetro’s principal adviser Dr ESreedharan has hit out at theArvind Kejriwal dispensationasking if it was flush withmoney then should assist theDelhi Metro to procure moretrains and construct more linesso that the present overcrowd-ing is eased.

He said allowing free trav-el to women will lead to furtherovercrowding and mishapseven as he appealed the DelhiGovernment not to destroy anefficient and successful publictransport system such as DelhiMetro for electoral gains.“Everybody knows this is anelection gimmick to win votesof women in the next Assemblyelection,” he said.

He said the DelhiGovernment has not onlydelayed giving approval ofMetro phase IV corridors bytwo years but also never comeforward to introduce last mileconnectivity with bus services.

In a response to DelhiDeputy Chief Minister ManishSisodia, Dr Sreedharan alsoelaborated the reasons that whythe move will prove to be cata-strophic for not only DelhiMetro but Metros in other citieswithout enhancing women’security in any manner.

Earlier, Sisodia had written

a letter to Sreedharan, after hehad written to the PrimeMinister against the AAPGovernment’s move.

Sisodia had said the DelhiMetro has already been run-ning in losses and theGovernment’s proposal to payfor the women commutersshould make the Metro railauthorities happy. “Sir, yourstand appears to be a result ofmisunderstanding about theDelhi Government’s proposal.You will appreciate that aftercompletion of Phase-III of theDMRC, its services weredesigned to have a capacity ofdaily ridership of four million,”Sisodia said in his letter.

The 87-year oldSreedharan, former managingdirector of Delhi Metro andnow principal adviser to theDelhi and Lucknow Metros,had in his letter to PMNarendra Modi said the DelhiMetro is running on huge debtand will set a bad precedent forother Metros which are carry-ing huge debts as well. He citedthat metro construction isoccurring at a very slow pacedue to fund constraints.“Therefore, it may not be easyto attract loans the next time ifMetros turn into a debt trap,”the letter read. He furthercommented that no country inthe world offers free metrotravel only for women.

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chhattisgarh 03RAIPUR | SATURDAY | JUNE 22, 2019

(L to R) Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel performing Yoga in New Delhi during his official visit on Friday. State BJP Chief Vikram Usendi performing Yoga at government high school Bhanupratappur, Kanker district. Excise Minister Kawasi Lakhmaperforming Yoga in Sukma. Sports and Youth Welfare Minister Umesh Patel performing Yoga in Raigarh district headquarter.

STAFF REPORTER nRAIPUR

The Navratna Companyand India’s largest iron

ore producer, the NMDCLimited joined world-widecelebration of 5thInternational Yoga day onFriday at head office and inall its production projectsviz., Kirandul, Bacheli,Donimalai , Panna andregional offices.

The event was held withsynergy and enthusiasm inpromoting healthy Indiaand to create a greater levelof consciousness for yoga

for good health amongemployees and their familymembers, the NMDC saidin a press communiqué.

Sandeep Tula, Director

(Personnel) motivated theemployees by his active par-ticipation in yoga exercisesspreading a message that“yoga and Meditation helps

to live a stress free healthylife and these should bepracticed as a part of ourlife”.

V.V.S. Sreenivas, CVO,

NMDC also participatedactively in the yoga session.

It is pertinent to men-tion that NMDC has alwaysbeen a fore running organi-sation towards pursuing thegovernment initiatives andprogrammes such asSwachha Bharat, Make InIndia, CashlessTransactions, Digital Indiaand Skilled India etc.

The company, in associ-ation with VivekanandaKendra Kanyakumari,organised a practicaldemonstration of commonprotocols of yoga at KhanijBhawan Building, where in

yoga teacher G.Srinivas,head, Vivekananda YogaAnusandhan Samsthan,Hyderabad along with twotrainers Ku. Sravanthi andSurendra demonstratedAsanas and Pranayamwhich was followed byemployees. Employeesactively practiced YogaAasanas and PranayamKriya.

Similarly with muchenthusiasm the yoga ses-sions were organized in allNMDC projects and outsta-tion offices where employ-ees, their families and localpeople also took part.


Chief Minister BhupeshBaghel took into

account the grievance oftribal students of Bastarand Sarguja, who have notreceived scholarships forlast two years and orderedimmediate clearance ofthe backlog.

As a quick action onChief Minister's instruc-tions, Rs 51.20 lakh havebeen sanctioned from

Bastar and SargujaDevelopment Authoritiesfor providing scholarshipsto these students, a gov-ernment communiquésaid.

Member Secretary ofBastar DevelopmentAuthority and BastarCommissioner sanctioneda total 35.20 lakh for 22girl students of 2nd and3rd year at JNM Training.The amount has beenallotted to Joint DirectorHealth Services, Bastar

Division.Likewise, Member

Secretary of SargujaDevelopment Authorityand CommissionerSarguja sanctioned Rs 16lakh as scholarship for 10tribal students of 2nd and3rd year for JNM trainingin private training centres,and the amount for schol-arship has been allotted toJoint Director HealthServices Sarguja Divisionfor distribution.

It is noteworthy that in

2016 under ECSPP pro-gramme of EuropeanCommission, these stu-dents from ScheduledTribes were given admis-sion in private nursing col-leges.

But due to financialirregularities, this projectwas closed and the thengovernment had stoppedproviding scholarships tothe students, despite thefact that the EuropeanCommission had alreadysanctioned the funds to the

then state government. Thestudents had to face majordifficulties due to the dis-continuation of scholar-ships. Their families had tomortgage their propertiesto fund the training ofthese students.

Chief Minister Baghelhas taken this problem ofstudents seriously, and hassanctioned necessaryamount from develop-ment authorities con-cerned as scholarships forthese students.

NMDC celebrates 5th International Yoga Day

STAFF REPORTER n RAIPUR

Bank of Baroda, RaipurRegion organised a Yoga

camp on the eve of InternationalYoga Day at Goyal IndustrialEstate, Raipur.

In the camp Yoga trainingwas given to staff members ofRaipur city branches. A valuedCustomer of the bank CA RatilalPatel trained the staff members,the bank said in a press release.In the event Ranjit KumarMondal, Regional Head,

Satyaranjan Mahapatra, DeputyRegional Head, Branch Headsand other staff members werepresent. The International YogaDay was celebrated on June 21.

BoB employeesget Yoga training

Tribal students get scholarships after2 years following CM’s intervention


The International Yoga Daywas celebrated at IIM

Raipur on Friday with greatfervour and enthusiasm.

Students, staff and facultymembers all gathered togeth-er in the sprawling new cam-pus at Atalnagar to com-memorate the day of goodhealth and well-being,according to a press releaseissued by the IIM.

Director of IIM Raipur,

Professor Bharat Bhasker ini-tiated the celebrations alongwith the faculty andrenowned yoga instructorShambhu Gupta.

The marquee event com-menced at 6:15am withProfessor Bhasker’s address.He enlightened studentsabout the necessity of goodhealth and good lifestylepractices in this dynamic andever demanding world. Hestated that yoga is a pricelesswealth of knowledge that

India has shared with the restof the world and encouragedthe students to consistentlypractice the art of yoga thuspromoting a healthy lifestyle.

His address was followedby a speech by the yogainstructor Shambhu Guptawho enumerated the variousbenefits of yoga. His speechclearly outlined how yoga isnot just about the body butalso involves the mind and thesoul. He also shared hisknowledge about different

Asanas and Pranayamas alongwith their respective benefits.

The knowledge sharingsession was followed by thecommon yoga protocolwhich started with a yogicprayer and a small speechabout origin and history ofyoga. Various yogasans likeSadilaja, ChaalanKriyas,Yogaasana, Kapaalabhati,Pranayama and Dhyana wereperformed by the IIM Raipurfraternity under supervisionof Gupta.


Asserting that state gov-ernments have been fac-

ing financial crunch due toconstant increase in theirshare for funding centrally-sponsored schemes,Chhattisgarh Chief MinisterBhupesh Baghel on Fridaydemanded that the Centreshould provide greater finan-cial support for implementa-tion of key governmentschemes and decrease themonetary burden on states.

He was speaking at thepre-budget meeting organ-ised by the Ministry ofFinance in New Delhi. UnionFinance Minister NirmalaSitharaman chaired the meet-ing, attended by finance min-isters of several states.

Referring to centrally-

sponsored schemes such as‘Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan’,Pradhan Mantri HousingScheme, integrated childdevelopment scheme etc., thechief minister said the centralgovernment should changethe central funding patternand release more funds for

effective implementation ofsuch schemes, according to acommuniqué from the stategovernment.

Talking about the Rs 4433 crore Bastar plan scheme,he said that the state has sofar received just Rs 306 croreand demanded that remain-

ing amount be disbursed atthe earliest to ensure pro-posed development in infra-structure, health, education,agriculture, irrigation, drink-ing water and cleanliness.

On ‘Saubhagya scheme’,the chief minister said thatthe Centre should providerelaxation in criteria ofincluding villages havingpopulation of more than 100in the scheme. ‘Majru-tolas’(small villages) having a pop-ulation of just 50 should alsobe included in the schemeand provided free electricityconnection, he added.

In the meeting, he alsodemanded inclusion of farm-ers, being benefitted underthe Recognition of ForestRights Act, in the ‘PradhanMantri Kisan Nidhi Yojana’and said that these farmers

should be given Rs 12 thou-sand instead of Rs 6 thousandas financial support everyyear. He added that morethan 80 lakh tonne of paddyhave been procured inChhattisgarh in 2018 Kharifseason after MSP of paddyhas been increased to Rs 2500per quintal.

He also urged that theshare of 24 lakh tonne ricetaken in the central poolthrough FCI should beincreased. He informed thatChhattisgarh has been plan-ning to provide 35 kg rice perration card under food for allscheme to ensure food secu-rity to all the families andurged the Centre to disbursea lump sum payment on timefor the expenses.

Referring to ‘Narwa,Garwa, Ghurwa, Baadi’

scheme, he said funds underMNREGA, national agricul-ture development, nationallivestock development etchave been utilized for thescheme and demanded thatthe state should be givenadditional grant for theseschemes. He also demandedadditional fund for welfareschemes of scheduled casteand scheduled tribes andPradhan Mantri Gram SadakYojana.

The chief minister alsodemanded approval for con-struction of international cargoterminal at Raipur airport andinland transport grant forindustrial activities. He alsourged the Centre to open cam-pus of ‘Kendriya AdiwaasiVishwavidyalay’ Amarkantakin Bastar and opening of UGCoffice in Raipur.

Don’t put financial burden ofcentral schemes on states: CM


The overwhelming partic-ipation of people in yoga

demonstration held at mul-tiple locations ofChhattisgarh on the occa-sion of fifth InternationalYoga Day, earned a place inthe Golden Book of WorldRecords.

Representative ofGolden Book of WorldRecord Alok Kumar handedover the provisional certifi-cate of the new world recordof Chhattisgarh to RaipurMayor Pramod Dubey.

On instructions ofChief Minister BhupeshBaghel, group yoga demon-stration programmes wereheld in all the district head-quarters, schools, colleges,urban bodies and gram pan-chayats of the state, whereinnearly 60 lakh people prac-ticed yoga under the guid-ance of expert yoga instruc-tors.

In the main event held atSardar Balbeer Singh JunejaIndoor Stadium of capitalcity Raipur, nearly 600 peo-ple including school stu-dents, public representativesand senior officials partici-

pated in the group yogademonstration session.Raipur Mayor was the chiefguest of the programme.

Yoga camps were alsoorganised in all the districtheadquarters of the state.

In the programme heldat Durg district, MinisterTamradhwaj Sahu partici-pated as chief guest. InKawardha district, MinisterMohammad Akbar was thechief guest, Minister KawasiLakhma in Sukma, MinisterUmesh Patel in Raigarh,MLA Shailesh Pandey inBilaspur, MLA VinodChandrakar in

Mahasamund, MLA GulabKamro in Gariaband, MLAShishupal Sori in Kanker,MLA Mohan Markam inJagdalpur, MLA ChandanKashyap in Narayanpur,MLA Brahaspati Singh inBalrampur, MLA DrLakshmi Dhruv inDhamtari, MLA AshishKumar Chhabra inBemetara, MLA. AmbikaSinghdeo in Koriya, MLANarayan Prasad Chandel inJanjgir, and President JilaPanchayat DevchandMatlam attended the eventheld in Kondagaon as chiefguest.

Chhattisgarh creates record in yoga participation

STAFF REPORTER n KORBA

Following Chief MinisterBhupesh Baghel’s instruction

for organising mobile medicalhealth check up camps in vil-lages, the facility was now intro-duced in Korba after it was initi-ated in Bastar region onWednesday.

A medical team comprisingdoctors and paramedics organ-ised a health check-up camp atrural weekly markets in variousvillages of Korba on Friday.

Mayor, Korba, Renu Agrawalflagged off 10 health check up

mobile vans on Wednesday inpresence of district collector,Kiran Kaushal.

With start of this facility in

Korba, it became second districtafter Bastar to take medical serv-ices closer to villagers.

Kaushal informed on thisoccasion that Chhattisgarh gov-ernment launched this pilot proj-ect in Dantewada of Bastarregion to provide mobile medicalfacilities in haat-bazaars.

Now this facility will be pro-vided in weekly haat bazaars ineach and every block of the dis-trict and apart from pathologyservices, doctors will also con-duct health checkups and willprovide necessary medicines toneedy villagers.

Medical mobile checkup camps now in Korba

IIM Raipur celebrates Intl Yoga Day


Chief Minister BhupeshBaghel will directly

address the grievances anddemands of common peo-ple of the state from July 3onwards under 'Bhent-Mulakat' programme. Theprogramme will be held atofficial residence of theChief Minister on everyWednesday.

In this programme,common people will beable to meet the ChiefMinister directly to sharetheir grievances anddemands. Official sourcesinformed that the pro-

gramme would be held inRaipur-based residence ofChief Minister on everyWednesday from 11 amfrom July 3.

Baghel to interactwith common peoplein ‘Bhent-Mulakat'First 'Bhent-Mulakat' programme

will be held on July 3

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Prime Minister NarendraModi on Friday said that

the art and science of yoganeeds to be passed on fromcities to villages so that poorpeople could also be benefittedwith the ancient system ofbeing healthy without spendingmuch on medicines for theirhealth. While addressing about40,000 people at Prabhat TaraGround in Ranchi on Friday onthe fifth edition of internationalYoga Day the PM emphasizedon importance of Yoga in day-to-day life of an individual inkeeping healthy and peacefulbody and mind.

Modi said, “I wanted totake Yoga an integral part of thelives of the poor. Yoga is a pre-ventive measure to keep an

individual healthy. Diseasesmake a poor person poorer. Iwant to take Yoga from cities tovillages, to the jungles to thepoor and the Adivasi (tribals),so that they learn the art ofremaining healthy at the sametime cutting their expenses onmedicines.”

The PM said that despiteYoga being an ancient art ofexercise gifted to the World byIndia has still to reach to vil-lages, asking the people tomake Yoga a motto for peace,harmony and progress.

Jharkhand’s Capital Ranchithis year was selected from fivecities to host the mega event.The Prime Minister on thisoccasion also shared his emo-tional attachment with Ranchiat the same time revealing whyRanchi’s was chosen for such a

mega event.He said, “Though I am

emotionally attached withRanchi, but there are threeother reasons behind Ranchiwas chosen for Yoga Day func-tion. Firstly, the State is richwith flora and fauna and Yogais directly linked with nature.Secondly, World’s biggest healthcare Ayushman Yojana waslaunched from Ranchi onSeptember 23 last year coin-ciding with birth anniversary ofPandit Deendayal Upadhyaya.Yoga plays an important role inmaking Indians Ayushman(longevity). And the third rea-son is that from land of Ranchiwe will make Yoga a motto ineveryone’s life.” The PM saidthat this year Yoga Day themeis ‘Yoga for Heart’ as heart dis-ease has become a challenge

with even youngsters facingheart problems.

The PM, on the occasion,urged Rikhia Yoga Ashram(Deoghar) and Yogda Ashram(Ranchi) to include ‘Yoga forHeart’ as theme in their regu-lar yoga training programme.

The PM said Yoga is an ageold exercise practice being anintegral part of Indian culture.Jhakhand’s Chau Dance hasseveral forms of Yoga. Modi onthe occasion emphasized ofshifting from illness to wellnessand in this endeavor Yoga canplay an important role. Hesaid, “Yoga is not done onlywhen you are working out inopen ground, mat, but Yoga isdiscipline, devotion and dedi-cation and an individual has tofollow the Yoga rules lifelong.”

When a section of people

are opposing Yoga claiming itagainst a particular religionespecially the Surya Namaskar,the PM said, “Yoga is above age,colour, caste, creed, religion,rich and poor. Yoga is foreveryone and everyone is forYoga.”

The PM along withGovernor Droupadi Murmu,Chief Minister Raghubar Das,Ayush Minister Shripad YessoNaik and health ministerRamchandra Chandravanshiand large number of govern-ment officials performed morethan 13 asanas (Yoga postures)lasting for more than 45 min-utes.

The PM said that largenumbers of youths are turningup towards Yoga and the UnionGovernment for promotion ofYoga has instituted awards for

contribution in Yoga.This year Prime Minister’s

Awards for OutstandingContribution for Promotionand Development of Yoga -2019 have been conferred toSwami Rajarshi Muni of LifeMission, Gujarat, AntoniettaRozzi of Italy, Bihar School ofYoga, Munger and Japan YogaNiketan. The selection wasdone after considering 79 nom-inations received under differ-ent categories.

The Prime Minister thanksthe World community for cel-ebrating International YogaDay. International Day of Yogais celebrated on June 21 sinceits inception in 2015. An inter-national day for Yoga wasdeclared unanimously by theUnited Nations GeneralAssembly in 2015.

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From Page 1While Ahluwalia is an MP

from the State, Singh and Ramare former police officersbesides being MP from UttarPradesh and Jharkhand respec-tively.

Bhatpara comes under theBarrackpore parliamentaryconstituency where BJP strong-man Arjun Singh defeated sit-ting TMC MP Dinesh Trivedi.Barrackpore has witnessed atleast half-a-dozen politicalmurders in the past fortnight.

Bhatpara has been a TMCstronghold till Arjun Singhwas with that party. But afterhis joining the saffron outfit,the Bengal ruling outfit hasbeen finding it difficult toretain its base in the area.

While the police remainedtightlipped on the Friday’s vio-

lence, the Governor directedthe administration to immedi-ately pull back the situation andbring normalcy in the area. “Itis the duty of the administra-tion to bring peace in the areaand they are expected to do itimmediately,” the Governorsaid adding “there is a need tobring peace not only inBhatpara but in the entireState.”

Reacting to the situationArjun Singh attacked ChiefMinister Mamata Banerjee forcreating disturbance in thearea to teach the locals a lessonfor voting for the BJP. StateMinister JP Mullick, however,said, “Arjun Singh is a local donand is creating trouble.”

Various regions of Bengalhad been witnessing intermit-tent clashes between the sup-

porters of the BJP and theTMC. Bhatpara, Coochbeharand Birbhum have seen maxi-mum violence in the aftermathof the general elections that sawthe BJP winning 18 out of 42seats.

The TMC won 22 seatswhile the Congress won 2.

“The people were takingpart in the funeral processionof the two victims of Thursday’sfiring when an infuriated mobof locals and BJP supportersstarted pelting stones, wieldingrods and sticks at the RapidAction Force,” forcing thepolice to retaliate firing tear gasshells to disperse the violentmob, locals said.

At least 16 people werearrested for violating Section144 after Friday’s violencepolice said.

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From Page 1A Bill to abolished it could

not get passage in the UpperHouse early this year as theCongress and other Oppositionparties objected to its “stringentprovisions” which includesarrest of the husband divorcinghis wife by way of triple talaq.

The Supreme Court hasalready declared instant talaqunlawful.

Now the Muslim Women(Protection of Rights onMarriage) Bill 2019 became thefirst legislation to be tabled inParliament by the NarendraModi dispensation in its secondterm, which replaces the ordi-nance that was promulgated bythe Modi-Government inFebruary, 2019, to enforce legalprovisions against the tripletalaq. With the dissolution of the16th Lok Sabha last month, theprevious bill had lapsed as it waspending in the Rajya Sabha.

Introducing the bill in theLok Sabha, Union LawMinister Ravi Shankar Prasadsaid the legislation was a mustfor gender equality and justice.

All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen (AIMIM)Asaduddin Owaisi who hadsought division from SpeakerOm Birla on the bill took aswipe at the BJP for not beingso kind and affectionate toHindu women in Kerala in theSabrimala temple entry con-troversy. While Supreme theCourt has allowed entry ofwomen in the kerala temple,BJP insists that the traditions(which do not permit women’sentry to the temple) should notbe tampered with.

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Acontract labourer waskilled and another person

sustained burn wounds, whena fire broke out on board anunder-construction warship"Vishakapatnam" at MazagaonDock Ship Builders Limited(MDL) here on Friday evening.

The fire broke out on board"Vishakapatam" (Yardno12704) at around 4 pm, dur-ing grinding operations in atank.

The MDL officialsdescribed the fire as "minor".The blaze was brought undercontrol at around 7 pm.

"One contractor suc-cumbed possibly due toasphyxia and burn wounds,while another suffered minorburns," a senior MDL officialsaid.

The MDL has, meanwhile,constituted a committee to gointo the cause and circum-stances leading to the fire.

Sources at the State-run J JHospital identified deceased

contract labourer as oneBajendra Kumar (23) who, thedoctors there said, was broughtdead. Another person is beingtreated for burn wounds at thesame hospital.

Initial reports had said thatthe fire was confined to the sec-ond and third deck of the ship.

Soon after it received firstcall at around 5.44 pm, theMumbai Fire Brigade rushedeight fire engines, seven jambowater tankers and one rescuevan to the spot. The fireBrigade personnel battled withthe blaze for nearly three hoursbefore they brought it undercontrol.

Shortly after the fire broke,a thick cloud of smoke engulfedthe MDL premises, making thefire extinushing operation dif-ficult for the blaze fighters.

"Tremendous heat andsmoke is being encounteredwhile fire fighting still able tostop spread of fire by Mumbaifire brigade firemen usingbreathing apparatus," an eye-witness said.

New Delhi: The Supreme Courton Friday refused to extend theschedule of counselling for fill-ing up as many as 603 vacantseats in post-graduate medicaland dental courses in deemeduniversities and private colleges.A vacation Bench of justicesDeepak Gupta and Surya Kantdisposed of a plea by theEducation Promotion Society ofIndia, a registered group of over1,300 educational institutions ofthe country.

The SC had earlier saidthat the question is not whetherit has power to do it but whetherit should allow the deemed uni-versities and colleges to fill uptheir vacant seats by making anexception to the set schedule ofadmissions. PTI

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The Supreme Court onFriday agreed to hear a plea

seeking CBI probe into themurder of Uttar Pradesh BarCouncil president Darvesh Singh Yadav, who wasshot dead on the Agra courtpremises. The plea, filed byadvocate Indu Kaul, was listedbefore a vacation Bench ofjustices Deepka Gupta andSurya Kant who agreed to hearit next Tuesday saying that itwas a “serious matter”.

Yadav, who was the firstwoman president of the BarCouncil, was shot thrice byanother lawyer ManishSharma, who had been herlong-time acquaintance.

�'�� '$)� ��*+�$� ��,�� (��#�� New Delhi: The Supreme

Court extended its earlier ordertill July 10, restraining thePuducherry Government fromimplementing any Cabinetdecisions having financial

implications. A vacation Benchof justices Deepak Gupta andSurya Kant said the issuerequires to be heard at lengthand therefore it is listing theplea before a regular Bench.PTI

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New Delhi: Sugarcane arrearsto farmers touched yearly�19,000 crore as on June 18 ofthe ongoing marketing yearending September with maxi-mum amount owed by sugarmills in UP. According to thegovernment data mills in UPowe the maximum amount at�11,082 crore, followed byKarnataka (�1,704 crore) andMaharashtra (�1,338 crore).

As per data, Punjab millersare yet to pay Rs 989 crore tosugarcane farmers, while thosein Gujarat and Bihar have anoutstanding of Rs 965 crore andRs 923 crore, respectively.

“Payment of cane price tosugarcane growing farmers bythe sugar mills is a continuousprocess. However, on account ofsurplus sugar production, dur-ing the previous sugar seasons,the sugar prices remaineddepressed which adverselyaffected the liquidity of thesugar mills resulting in accu-mulation of cane price arrearsof the farmers,” Food MinisterRam Vilas Paswan said.

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Union Home Minister AmitShah on Friday said that

Yoga is acting like anAmbassador of India which isattracting the whole worldtowards Yoga and the country’sold age culture.

“As a result of the effortsmade by Prime MinisterNarendra Modi, Yoga got recog-nition at international level andtoday it is being performedsimultaneously in about 200countries,” Shah said whilespeaking as a chief guest at thestate level function of 5thInternational Yoga Day celebra-tions at Mela Ground in Rohtak.

On the occasion, Shahlauded Chief MinisterManohar Lal for the setting upof Yog Parishad aimed at thepromotion of Yoga in the state.Earlier, Shah and Manohar Lalperformed Yoga along withthe people present at the venue.

Highlighting the impor-tance of Yoga in day to day life,Shah said that Yoga is a prac-tice which not only ensuresphysical and mental develop-ment of an individual but alsoprovides enough strength toperform work with ease.

He said that foreigninvaders rule the country forlong and since then Yoga wasmeant to be practiced only bysaints and gurus. Though sev-eral progammes were orga-nized from time to time in thecountry for the promotion ofYoga, it got recognition atinternational level in the year2014, when Narendra Modibecame the PM of country withthe massive support of people,the Union Minister said.

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PNS: Choas ensued at the statelevel function to mark theInternational Yoga Day inRohtak on Friday as peoplelooted yoga mats as soon as theprogramme came to an end.

People picked up fightswith each other to get theirhands on yoga mats at thevenue, from where UnionHome Minister Amit Shah andChief Minister ML Khattarhad performed yoga.

A video of the incidentwent viral on Friday.

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President Donald Trumpdeclared Thursday that

“Iran made a very big mistake”by shooting down a U.S.Surveillance drone over theStrait of Hormuz and gatheredtop national security officials atthe White House to discussoptions.

Asked earlier in the dayabout a U.S. Response to theattack, the president said point-edly, “You’ll soon find out.” Buthe also suggested that shootingdown the drone was a foolisherror rather than an inten-tional escalation of the tensionsthat have led to rising fears ofopen military conflict.

“I find it hard to believe itwas intentional, if you want toknow the truth,” Trump said atthe White House.

“I think that it could havebeen somebody who was looseand stupid that did it.” OnCapitol Hill, leaders urged cau-tion to avoid escalation, andsome lawmakers insisted theWhite House must consultwith Congress before takingany actions. Secretary of StateMike Pompeo and nationalsecurity adviser John Boltonhave advocated hardline poli-cies against Iran, but Rep.Adam Schiff, the chairman ofthe House intelligence com-

mittee, said “the president cer-tainly was listening” when con-gressional leaders at the meet-

ing urged him to be cautiousand not escalate the alreadytense situation.

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Iran’s state television broad-cast images Friday of what it

said was debris from a downedUS drone recovered inside itsterritorial waters.

The television broadcasta short clip of a RevolutionaryGuards general answeringquestions in front of some ofthe debris he said had beenrecovered after Thursday’s mis-sile strike. “The debris wasfloating. We recovered it fromthe sea inside our territorialwaters,” said the general, whomthe television did not identify.

He said other parts of thewreckage had sunk.

The television said thefootage was shot at aRevolutionary Guards base,

without specifying where.The downing of the drone

— which Washington insistswas over international watersbut Tehran says was within itsairspace — has seen tensions

between the two countriesspike further after a series ofattacks on tankers the US hasblamed on Iran.

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The US said on Friday Iranhas no right to respond to

diplomacy “with military force”,a day after Tehran shot downa US reconnaissance droneover the Strait of Hormuz.

“Our diplomacy does notgive Iran the right to respondwith military force,” BrianHook, the US special repre-sentative on Iran, told reportersin Saudi Arabia.

“Iran needs to meet diplo-macy with diplomacy, not mil-itary force.”

The downing of the drone

— which Washington insistswas over international watersbut Tehran says was within itsairspace — has seen tensionsbetween the two countriesspike further after a series ofattacks on tankers the US andits staunch ally, Saudi Arabia,have blamed on Iran.

Tehran denies having beenbehind the attacks but has fre-quently threatened in the pastto block the vital sea lanes intoand out of the Gulf.

“Iran is responsible forescalating tensions in theregion. They continue to rejectdiplomatic overtures to deesca-late tensions,” Hook said.

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Some of the world’s leadingcarriers including British

Airways, Qantas and SingaporeAirlines on Friday suspendedflights over the Strait of Hormuz,as Iran-US tensions flare overthe downing of a drone.

The suspensions came afterthe Federal AviationAdministration in the UnitedStates issued a Notice to Airmen

(NOTAM) “prohibiting US-registered aircraft from oper-ating over the Persian Gulf andGulf of Oman”. The NOTAMwas in response to “heightenedmilitary activities and increasedpolitical tensions that mightplace commercial flights atrisk”, an FAA statement said, asTehran and Washingtonengaged in a war of words overThursday’s missile strike on thedrone.

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Thousands of protesters con-verged on Hong Kong’s

police headquarters Friday,demanding the resignation ofthe city’s pro-Beijing leader andthe release of demonstratorsarrested during the territory’sworst political crisis in decades.

The latest protest comesafter the government refused tomeet the demands of demon-strators who have marched intheir millions to oppose a billthat would allow extraditions tothe Chinese mainland.

Opposition groups, afterputting on the biggest politicalrallies in Hong Kong’s history,have called for the completewithdrawal of the extraditionlegislation and for city leaderCarrie Lam to step down.

But the movement has alsomorphed into a wider expres-sion of public anger at Lam andparty leaders in Beijing afteryears of sliding political free-doms.

Throughout Friday the pre-

dominantly young, leaderlessprotesters used spontaneity andmovement to up pressure onauthorities, deploying peacefulcivil disobedience.

After meeting at HongKong’s main government com-plex before rush hour, hun-dreds of black-clad protesters -- many wearing face masks andshouting anti-government slo-gans -- temporarily blocked amajor city artery.

They then marched in thesearing heat to the police head-quarters, many chanting “releasethe righteous” and “shame onpolice thugs” -- references tothose detained during violencelast week between demonstra-tors and the police. Some usedunfurled umbrellas to blockCCTV cameras outside thepolice headquarters.

Opposition groups havedemanded an investigation intoallegations of police brutality andthe release of those detainedduring the clashes, in additionto Lam’s ouster and a cancella-tion of the extradition bill.

Rights group AmnestyInternational said it had verifiedmultiple instances of policeviolence that breached inter-national laws and standards onthe use of force.

Some protesters removedmetal barricades and re-arranged them in an apparentbid to fortify their positionsoutside the police headquarters,as officials closed the gate to thefacility’s main driveway.

Police held back from anyresponse and a senior officertold reporters a negotiatingteam would be sent to speakwith the demonstrators.

Separately, a smaller groupof protesters briefly blockedentrances to the city’s near-by immigration and rev-enue departments.

“We need to flow likewater”, to be able to retreatand regroup and adapt,said protester Chris, ref-erencing a famous quotefrom martial arts superstarand Hong Kong legendBruce Lee.

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The EU’s leaders Fridayfired a Brexit warning

to whoever wins the bat-tle to become the nextBritish prime minister,insisting the existingdivorce deal will not bechanged.

Hot favourite BorisJohnson faces foreignminister Jeremy Hunt ina run-off vote to decidewho takes on the trickytask of piloting the coun-try’s departure from theEU.

Both say they want torenegotiate the deal thatoutgoing PM TheresaMay struck with Brusselsafter two years of painfulnegotiation -- a dealwhich British lawmakershave rejected three times.

At a leaders’ summitin Brussels, EuropeanCouncil President DonaldTusk said the bloc wouldremain “very precise andalso patient” despite thehigh political dramaunfolding in Westminster.

“Maybe the process ofBrexit will be even moreexciting than beforebecause of some person-nel decisions in London,but nothing has changedwhen it comes to ourposition,” Tusk toldreporters.

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As it settles down to govern, thenew Government at the Centreneeds to deal with the criticalissue of population growth. Yetanother indication of the press-

ing need for this is provided by the reporttitled, ‘World Population Prospects 2019:Highlights’, published by the United NationsDepartment of Economic and Social Affairs,which says that India’s population — nowstanding at 1.37 billion — will overtake China’s— now 1.43 billion — by 2027. Things are notgoing to stop there. According to the report,the country’s population is expected to riseby 273 million between 2019 and 2050.Subsequent increases are likely to take the totalto the peak of 1.65 billion in 2059, followingwhich there will be decline with the popula-tion stabilising around 1.5 billion by the endof the century, when it will continue to havethe world’s largest population followed byChina’s, projected at 1.1 billion.

Some people hold that an alarmist viewof population rise is uncalled for. The annu-al population growth rate, which was 2.2 percent in 1981, has declined significantly to 1.2per cent in the 2010-2019 period. Besides, theconsequences of increasing population are notentirely negative. Among other things, itmeans an increasing availability of labourforce, the numerical decline of which nowposes serious problems in several countriesleading to the recruitment of foreign migrantlabour and the consequent social and racialtensions. India, one can argue, is in a partic-ularly advantageous situation in this context.According to the United Nations PopulationFund’s (erstwhile United Nations Fund forPopulation Activities) report titled, ‘State ofWorld Population, 2019’, two-thirds of India’spopulation is in the working age group of 15-64 years, which means that there will be nomanpower shortage in the foreseeable future.

Such arguments, however, have to betaken with caution. While the rate of popu-lation growth may be declining, a populationof 1.65 billion will make the task of theremoval of poverty much more difficultbesides posing serious problems in provid-ing food, healthcare, transportation andensuring waste management and access tosanitation. Employment will be a major issueconsidering that 12 million people are join-ing the country’s workforce every year.

It is not just a question of numbers butof uneven increase and density of population.Some parts of India are recording much high-er rates of population growth than others.Unfortunately, these parts are also econom-ically the least developed, with the result thatincreasing population will accelerate therate of migration. Also, both inter-State andintra-State migration will continue to increasegiven the widening scope of employment inthe service sector catering to the consump-tion needs of the growing middle class. Theprocess will be compounded by globalwarming causing migration from coastal areasof the country, swallowed by advancing sea

water and the huge tracts, stretch-ing over States, which willbecome too hot for human lifeand work. Inherent in the entireprocess is the very real danger ofthe migrants being viewed as out-siders threatening the livelihoodsand patterns of social relations ofthe locals. One has already wit-nessed this phenomenon in theform of attacks on taxi driversfrom Bihar and Uttar Pradesh inparts of Maharashtra and, earli-er, on South Indians.

As, if not more, serious willbe the consequence of a migra-tion-accelerated increase in thedensity of population, which, 345per square kilometre in 2005, isset to rise to 504 per square kilo-metre in 2050, causing enormousproblems of over-crowding andtensions. The problem is alreadyacute given the nature of humans.According to Desmond Morris inhis incisive work, The HumanZoo, the urban civilisation is onlya few thousand years old, whilehumans have evolved as tribalhunters “not for a few centuries,but for a million hard years.”Speaking in evolutionary terms“this dramatic change [from arural tribal way of living to anurban one] has been almostinstantaneous…” Humans have“adopted brilliantly” to theirextraordinary new condition,”but have not had time to changebiologically, to evolve into a newgenetically civilised species.” Deep

inside, they remain a tribalhunter.

There is insufficient spacehere to describe Morris’ detailedstudy of how humans have con-tinued trying to adjust and theconsequences thereof. Suffice itto say that critical problemsremain and failure to find solu-tions may cause the extinction ofhumans as a species. I havedwelt on the matter because of itscritical importance and the factthat the challenges facing humanswill be all the greater given thesimultaneous, massive increase inurbanisation. According to theGlobal Commission on theEconomy and Climate’s NewClimate Economy Reportreleased in September 2014,India’s urban population, whichincreased from 217 million to 377million over the last two decades,is expected to reach 600 million,or 40 per cent of the populationby 2031.

In addition to the problemsassociated with a general increasein population mentioned above,such a massive rise in urban pop-ulation would cause problemsrelating to urban traffic as well aswaste management. Besides,there will be a pollution-causeddecline in green cover followingthe felling of trees for construct-ing buildings and concentratedgreenhouse gas emissions fromsurrounding industries and useof air conditioners. Of course,

there will continue to be other,generally applicable causes likeenergy generation, vehicularemission of greenhouse gases andthe burning of post-harvest plantstubble. There is hardly any needto dwell at length on the conse-quences of pollution. Accordingto the New Climate EconomyReport cited above, urban pollu-tion caused 620,000 prematuredeaths in India in 2010, markinga six-fold increase from 2001. Itcites “recent estimates” as show-ing that environment degrada-tion caused by sprawling citieswas reducing India’s GDP by 5.7per cent or about $80 billion!

Furthermore, an article pub-lished in The Lancet, one of theoldest and most respected med-ical journals in the world, statesthat 1.24 million deaths in Indiain 2017 — 12.5 per cent of thetotal — were attributable to airpollution, including 0·67 millionfrom pollution caused by ambi-ent particulate matter and 0·48million by household air. Ofthese deaths attributable to airpollution, 51·4 per cent were inpeople younger than 70 years.

The question, with apologiesto TS Eliot, is: After such knowl-edge, what action? Not much hasbeen done so far. India will be inserious trouble if the issue of pop-ulation increase is not addressedfar more seriously than hitherto.

(The author is ConsultingEditor, The Pioneer)

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Sir — This refers to the editorial,“An idea at best” (June 20). It looksthat the notion of “one nation, onepoll” is getting off the drawingboard. Prime Minister NarendraModi is serious about pursuingthe idea of simultaneous LokSabha and Assembly poll and ismaking all efforts to warm up thecitizens to this idea.

The rationale for simultane-ous elections is that it will cutdown the humongous expendi-ture on elections. It will also facil-itate governance, without longand repeated spells of ModelCode of Conduct holding theGovernment’s functioninghostage to polls and free thepolice and security forces,deployed during elections, to geton with their day job.

On the face of it, the reasonsappear compelling. In fact, theidea itself is nearly as old asmodern India. In 1951-52, thefirst general election to the LokSabha was held simultaneouslywith all State Assemblies. Thispractice continued till the gener-al election of 1967, but was dis-rupted due to premature dissolu-tion of some State Legislative

Assemblies in 1968. Lok Sabhaitself dissolved prematurely in1970. Since then, elections wereheld separately.

Simultaneous election maycall for prolonging or shorteningthe tenure of State or the CentralGovernment as and whenrequired, thus leading to a resul-tant turmoil which will beunmanageable with our currentpolitical system.

Unity in diversity should bethe aim. For a vast country likeIndia, with diverse cultures andwide differences in State-wisedevelopments, regional senti-ment prevails in State electionsand that should be respected.

A strong Central Governmentis welcome but it should not havetotal control on the finances tosubdue alternate views of gover-nance at the regional level. If the

proposed idea is implemented,State issues will be sidelined. It willweaken India’s federal structure.The priorities of State and Centrallevel governance are differentand can be best addressed by thefederal structure of the countryand not by imposing “from thetop” or a presidential form ofadministration.

JS AcharyaHyderabad

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Sir — This refers to the editorial,“Water woes” (June 20). Unlikewhat is being claimed by TamilNadu Chief Minister Edappadi KPalaniswami, the water crisis inChennai is for real. It was shockingto know that Palaniswami wasunaware of the fact that the waterpumps in many residential coloniesran dry a year ago. Instead of par-rying issues, the State Governmentmust sweep into action before it’stoo late. Catchment areas to themain reservoirs should be clearedof encroachments. All drinkingwater lakes should be desilted andthe channelling of sewage intowater bodies should be stopped.

While poor monsoon playedtruant, the human factor in themaking of the crisis cannot bedenied. Encroachments, pollutionand the gross neglect of waterbodies and reckless exploration ofgroundwater have all contributed tothe current crisis. Not just theState Government but the citizensmust also get their act together.

PadmanabhanVia email

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In India, antagonistic cultural differences aresharply etched on to our political conscious-ness. The frequent attacks on the commu-

nities from the North-East in Delhi, theBiharis in Mumbai and the suspicion withwhich the Kashmiris are held occasionally —to enumerate a few — offer a massive challengeto Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ambitiousquest for sabka vishwas (everyone’s trust).

While it is true that “unity in diversity” haslong been the guiding leitmotif of our policieson culture, education and federalism, but hasit been successful in mending the fractureswhich plague the Indian society today? As theargument runs, acts of acceptance precede over-tures of trust, and acceptance is premised upontrue recognition.

The Prime Minister’s project entails, in nosmall part, a sympathetic appreciation of cul-tural specificities, which animate politics in reli-gious and ethnic minorities. Observing a‘Kashmir week’ or a month-long North-Easterncultural festival in Government-aided institu-tions across the country will, undoubtedly, reapfar greater dividends. However, although wehave a Ministry for Culture and a constellationof affiliated research institutes, libraries,archives and cultural bodies, yet India lacks anational cultural policy which can create con-ditions necessary for trans-regional/ethnicempathy. Such a policy, led by the Ministry ofCulture and the Ministry of Human ResourceDevelopment in particular, can create an envi-ronment for mutual recognition, enhancepeople-to-people contact and dif fuse mistrust.

A national cultural policy implies a plannedapproach to Government-aided cultural activ-ities, keeping in perspective broader goalswhich have been debated among the citizensand identified through consensus. The absenceof such a policy in the country contrasts sharplywith global trends. Virtually every country,including the most diverse ones, have a well-defined cultural outlook.

To comprehend this absence, we need tounderstand the general suspicion with whichterms such as culture, policy, national andGovernment are held in contemporary India.Particularly so when they appear together ina sentence. In his book, Notes Towards theDefinition of Culture (1943), the American-British poet, TS Eliot, describes culture as con-stituted by a set of organic “basic structures”,which get transmitted hereditarily and cannotbe fabricated.

Unfortunately, in most intellectual discours-es, culture is viewed as a disruptive interven-tion, which is either fictive or imaginary.Academic fervour is expended on hyphenatedconcepts such as sub-cultures and anti-culturesamong other things. Trends in both socialmedia and universities suggest that manymaintain a safe distance from everything “cul-tural” or “national”, except when invited to cri-tique it. It is feared that advocacy of a nation-al cultural policy is anchored to conservatism,parochialism and majoritarianism.

But did India always lack a national cultur-al outlook? To answer this question, one need

not go any further than the SahityaAkademi, India’s cultural avant garde.Established in 1954, the Akademiseeks to celebrate those elements,which are organic to India, howevervariegated their expressions might be.“Indian literature is one, but writtenin many languages”, its motto pro-claims.

Bodies like the Indian Council ofCultural Relations (1950), the SangeetNatak Akademi (1953) and theNational School of Drama (1959),some of which were instituted by par-liamentary resolutions mooted byIndia’s first Education Minister,Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, reflectedthe Government’s official culturaloutlook with aplomb.

To the founding fathers, it wasclear that promoting elements “organ-ic” to our national identity has to bean integral part of nation-building.The establishment of the IndianCouncil of Historical Research(ICHR) during the Indira Gandhiregime in 1972 stressed the need tointroduce national perspectives inhistorical research, too.

The objectives of ICHR, compiledin March 1972 by the Ministry ofEducation and Social Welfare, ear-mark the need to provide “nationaldirection to an objective and rationalpresentation and interpretation ofhistory” as one of its priorities.

It is, therefore, ironical that in thepast few decades, the loudest opposi-

tion to a policy framework on culturehas come from academicians andscholars, who have been at the helmof affairs in the institutions mentionedabove.

In 2008, an 18-member commit-tee was constituted to draft a policyfor modernisation and coordinationamong Government-aided culturalinstitutions. As expected, most of themembers abstained from the meetingsand the proposal was dismissed with-out a fair trial.

Noted scholar Kapila Vatsyayanwas among the dissenters. In 1972, asthe deputy education advisor to theGovernment, she had drafted a reportfor UNESCO titled, ‘Some Aspects ofCultural Policy in India’. Arguingafter Gandhi, the report makes anexplicit plea for cultural policy tounderscore “fundamental consan-guinity and unity of approach to lifein India in spite of the seeming het-erogeneity.”

This warrants a rhetorical ques-tion: Why and since when did the ideaof a national cultural outlook becomea forbidden subject? Our experienceof whatever modicum of planning,which has been made to bear uponcultural activities in India, contradictstheir oft-expressed fear. All the afore-mentioned bodies, without an excep-tion, have promoted India’s culturalplurality in all its richness.

The ICHR, too, as stipulated in itsMemorandum of Association, has

been striving to promote “popular lit-erature” and support research in“neglected and new” areas. Further,the apprehension that cultural policymay be a garb for promoting unscien-tific appropriation of the past remainsunsubstantiated, too. Many of theseinstitutions have triggered modernmovements in arts, literature andresearch.

But our cultural institutions areplagued by sheer lack of coordination.This often results in effort-duplicationand resource wastage. A nationalpolicy on culture would lead togreater alignment between institu-tions, funding agencies and culturalgoals. Through concerted institu-tional efforts and periodic revision offocus areas, retrieval and promotionof diversity will become much moreeffective.

Further, institutional support forlocal cultural groups to engage withregionally diverse art forms and abody like the National CulturalCoordination Committee (NCCC)for greater cultural exchange acrossregions would be extremely useful.

It is about time that the Ministryof Culture furnishes a policy draft fordebate. This will go a long way insecuring a truly integrated society; onewhich is not restricted to the code oftolerance but based on the ethics of trust.

(The writer teaches English at theUniversity of Delhi)

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Even after almost 40 years, thepatriotic fervour of Haqeeqat(1964) in ‘Kar chale hum fida

jano tan sathiyo/Ab tumhare hawalewatan sathiyo...’ has the potential ofgiving one goose pimples, if notmoist eyes. Many among the cur-rent generation, who may not haveseen the film but only heard thisfamous composition of Kaifi Azmi,immortalised by music maestroMadan Mohan, are moved equally.Affectionately known as Madanbhaiya in the film industry, hedied at a very young age in 1975when he was at the top of his career.His 95th birth anniversary will becelebrated on June 25.

Music directors of yesteryears

have been known to be choosyabout films but nevertheless, con-tinued to work hard and almostalways had a good tune ready to fitthe lyrics and the situation.

Madan Mohan, it is under-stood, had a large collection of suchmusical scores in his bank, whichcould not be used due to his prema-ture death. This memorable musicwas well-preserved by SanjeevKohli, his son, and was used in YashChopra’s Veer-Zaara. The film wenton to win the award for the bestmusical score of 2005.

That the listing for the awardshowed the winner to be MadanMohan, even 30 years after he hadleft us, was the ultimate tribute.Earlier, he had received the nation-al award for the best musical scorefor Dastak in 1970. Later, theGovernment of India had alsoissued a postage stamp in his honour.

An immensely talented musicalmind, Madan Mohan could not fitin the Army as an officer and leftafter the World War II to join theAll India Radio (AIR). His first

posting was at Lucknow, where hegot an opportunity to make someinfluential contacts. His position atAIR did not give him much but hewas able to learn and was greatlyinspired by Ustad Ali Akbar Khanand Begum Akhtar — both masterexponents of thumri and ghazal.Ultimately, it was the magneticpull of the film world which madehim resign from AIR and took himto Bombay (now Mumbai).

Popularly known as the ghazalking of his times, he was always ableto bring out the best from LataMangeshkar. Unko ye shikaayat haiki hum kuch nahi kehte... and Yunhasraton ke dagh..., both from thefilm Adalat (1958) and rendered byLata, remain unsurpassable asghazals go even today.

Lata had a special bond withhim and in spite of Madan Mohanhaving passed away more than 40years ago, she still rates songs shedid with him among some of herbest like Aap ki nazron ne samjha...from Anpadh (1962) and Bairanneend na aaye...from ChachaZindabad (1959). Not far behind are

Woh Kaun Thi? (1964) with haunt-ing melodies like Naina barserimjhim rimjhim... and Lag ja galese... besides Woh bhooli dastan lophir yaad... from Sanjog (1961).

The success of the mysterywoman theme in Woh Kaun Thi?was carried forward by director RajKhosla, again with Madan Mohanand Sadhana, in Mera Saaya (1966)having refreshing and hit melodieslike Naino me badra chhaye... andJhumka gira re Bareli ke bazaarmein... An interesting fact aboutMera Saaya, which also brings outthe perfectionist in Madan Mohan,is that Lata, being extremely busy,could not complete recording theJhumka song though the shootingfor the same had already beenscheduled. In the circumstances,while Sadhna performed and lip-synced, the singing was actuallydone by Madan Mohan, whichwas, of course, later replaced byLata’s original.

In fact, Madan Mohan hadstarted his career in the film worldas a playback singer under musiccomposer Ghulam Haider and had

even recorded a duet with Lata.Otherwise, a very non-descript

film, Dekh Kabira Roya (1957) hadseven compositions, each one a gemfrom Madan Mohan. For therecord, in this film, six playbacksingers were used — each one fora different mood and some of thecompositions were among his best. These included Kaun aaya mereman ke dware... in classical form byManna Dey, Humse aaya na gaya...by Talat Mahmood, Ashkon se terihamane tasvir banaai hai... by AshaBhosle and Tu pyar kare yathukraye... by Lata.

An extremely sensitive person,he could easily convey the depth ofemotions through his musical notes.Sometimes even through a back-ground score, as in the case ofMausam (1976) towards the climax,when Sharmila Tagore and SanjeevKumar were giving their best.Though the film was released afterMadan Mohan passed away, it wasacclaimed widely.

But it was not always the clas-sical base that Madan Mohan suc-ceeded at; his versatility was made

eloquent by Geeta Dutt in Ae dilmujhe bata de, tu kis pe aa gayahai... from Bhai-Bhai (1956), whichpaired Ashok Kumar and KishoreKumar for the first time and againin the Kishore starrer Man-Mauji(1962) where Zaroorat hai ek shri-mati ki... topped the charts formonths.

Earlier, he had successfullytried his hand at piano in MemSahib (1956), where the on-screenserenading of Meena Kumari byShammi Kapoor in Kehta hai diltum ho mere liye... along with Dil dilse milakar dekho... were immense-ly popular as also Ye nayi nayi preethai, tu hi to mera meet hai... besidesother songs of the Dev Anand-star-rer Pocket Maar (1957).

It is true that Madan Mohanhardly produced any foot-tappingmusic, which would have broughthim commercial success, but still,he would never compromise on thequality of music which was alwaysa connoisseur’s delight.

(The writer is a retired DelhiPolice Commissioner and formerUttarakhand Governor)

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State-run SBI on Friday saidEtihad Airways had sought

waiver of open offer and assur-ance of flying slots for take overof Jet Airways, but the lendersto the debt-ridden carrier hadno authority to accommodatethe relaxations sought.

State Bank of India (SBI)chairman Rajnish Kumar hadThursday defended the lenders’decision to take Jet Airways forbankruptcy saying “it was theirlast effort to find a resolution”for the grounded airline andalso did not rule out the possi-bility of liquidation. Earlier thisweek, SBI-led consortium of 26lenders had decided to seek res-olution under IBC as they hadreceived only a conditional bid.

In a filing to stockexchanges Friday, SBI saidfinancial position of JetAirways (lndia) Limited (JAL)being weak, lenders were con-tinuously trying for viable res-

olution for last one year onaccount of operational losses.

Ln this regard, it addedreputed consultants — SBI-CAPS, McKinsey — wereroped in as process advi-sors/advisors. Lt was alsodecided to initiate a biddingprocess to bring in newinvestors, SBI said.

As part of the bid process,Expression of lnterest (Eol) forinvestment in Jet Airways wassought from interested partici-pants. Etihad, NIIF, TPG Capitaland Indigo Partners hadexpressed their interest on April10,2019. The bidding processclosed on May 10, 2019.

Subsequent to the closure ofthe bidding, as no binding bidswere received, discussions wereheld with Etihad (EY) and otherprospective investors to find away for infusion of funds, it said.

“EY had sought certainrelaxations viz. Waiver of openoffer, assurance of flying slotsetc. As the lenders did not haveany authority to accommo-date some of the relaxationssought by EY, it was not con-sidered feasible to negotiate onthe conditions laid by EY,” theSBI told exchanges.

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Shares of Jet Air wayszoomed 15.5 per cent on

Friday, continuing the previ-ous day’s sharp rally.

The scr ip witnessedchoppy trading, touching ahigh of �79.75 and a low of�39.10 during the day on theBSE. Intra-day, the scripjumped 24.60 per cent despitea weak opening. It finallyclosed at �72.45, up 13.20 percent. At the NSE, shares ofthe airline climbed 15.51 percent to close at �72.60.

Shares of Jet Airways hadwitnessed an unprecedentedrally Thursday, bouncingback sharply after days ofmassive declines to close theday over 122 per cent higher.The airline had stopped fly-ing on April 17 and banksvoted for bankruptcy on June 17.

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The rupee dived 14 paise toclose at 69.58 against the

US dollar Friday, pressured byfirming crude oil prices amidintensifying geopolitical ten-sions in the Gulf region.

A broad sell-off in thedomestic equity markets alsokept sentiment at a low ebb,forex traders said.

At the interbank foreignexchange (forex) market, thedomestic currency openedsharply lower at 69.75 againstthe dollar. However, it recoupedsome losses to finish at 69.58,registering a fall of 14 paise.

The rupee had settled at69.44 against the US dollarThursday.

“Overnight surge in crudeoil prices have weighed onIndian rupee as it weakened themost among Asian currencies.The geopolitical risks fromescalation of US-Iran tensionpushed crude oil price higher.

“In near-term, rupee ishaving resistance around 69.03and support at 70.01, the 100days simple moving average,”said V K Sharma, Head —PCG and Capital MarketStrategy, HDFC Securities.

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Government think-tank NitiAayog has asked conven-

tional two- and three-wheelermakers to suggest within twoweeks concrete steps towardstransition to electric mobilitykeeping in mind 2025 deadline,according to sources.

At a meeting of the manu-facturers and start-up electricvehicle (EV) makers called byNiti Aayog on Friday, theindustry was cautioned that ifthey do not take steps toaddress pollution issues, courtswill step in.

The meeting was attended

by top officials of major two-wheeler manufacturers, includ-ing Bajaj Auto ManagingDirector Rajiv Bajaj, TVS MotorCo Chairman Venu Srinivasan,Honda Motorcycle and ScooterIndia (HMSI) President & CEOMinoru Kato along with SIAMDirector-General VishnuMathur, and AutomotiveComponent ManufacturersAssociation of India (ACMA)Director General Vinnie Mehta,among others. Niti Aayog Vice-Chairman Rajiv Kumar andCEO Amitabh Kant represent-ed the think-tank.

“Without a policy and roadmap, transition to EVs cannot

happen. Policies cannot be keptfuzzy. With 14 of 15 most-pol-luted cities are in India, if stepsare not taken up by the gov-ernment and industry, thenIndian court’s would step in,” asenior Government official said.

The Niti Aayog hasplanned transitioning to fullEVs for three-whelers by 2023and two-wheelers with anengine capacity less than 150 ccby 2025.

The official further saidIndia has already missed elec-tronics revolution and semi-conductor revolution, thereforeit should not miss the electricmobility revolution.

If established players donot do, the official further saidstart-ups will do. It has hap-pened in China already.Theofficial, however, said the gov-ernment does not want tothrust it upon the industry.

According to sources, therewas a clear divide in the indus-try between conventional man-ufacturers such as Bajaj Auto,Hero MotoCorp, HMSI andTVS on one side and start-upslike Revolt Intellicorp, AtherEnergy, Kinetic Green Energyand Power Solutions and TorkMotors on the other, who wantadoption of EVs to happen faster.

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World oil prices spikedmore than six percent

Thursday on President DonaldTrump warning Iran made “avery big mistake” after it boast-ed of downing a US spy drone.

The developments acceler-ated day-on-day gains in US oilbenchmark WTI in late NewYork morning trading.

Europe’s Brent Crude roseby nearly five percent at onepoint, before both contractspulled back somewhat.

Iran shot down the dronenear the Strait of Hormuz, amajor choke point for worldcrude shipments, spurringmarket fears of a confrontationthat could badly constrain supplies.

Further solid support foroil prices, as for global stockmarkets, also came from the USFederal Reserve signalling itcould soon cut interest rates,while the dollar and USTreasury yields fell.

The Bank of England, leav-ing key interest rates unchanged,warned against the rising dan-ger of a no-deal Brexit, whichanalysts took as a sign that it,too, seems ready to take a moreaccommodating stance.

Iran’s RevolutionaryGuards said Thursday they

shot down a US “spy drone”which violated Iranian air-space near the Strait ofHormuz, in the latest incidentto stoke tension in the area. TheUS later confirmed a US sur-veillance drone designed forhigh-altitude missions wasbrought down by Iranianforces, but insisted it was ininternational airspace.

“This will only stoke ten-sions in the region and produceshort-term support for oilprices,” said analyst Neil Wilsonat trading site Markets.Com.Crude had ended slightly downWednesday despite a drop inUS inventories — indicating apick-up in demand — andnews that OPEC and other pro-ducers led by Russia had agreeda date to discuss further caps.

The drone incident comesamid worsening tensionsbetween Iran and the UnitedStates.

The US has accused Iran ofbeing behind a series of oper-ations against oil tankers inhighly sensitive Gulf waters,including two tanker attacks inthe Gulf of Oman last week.

Tehran has denied involve-ment. It has floated the possi-bility Washington could be theauthor of the attacks, using theoperation to justify forceagainst Iran.

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IL&FS Investment Managerssaid on Friday that audit

firm BSR & Associates LLP hasresigned as the statutory audi-tors of the company.

"We hereby inform thatBSE & Associates have resignedas the statutory auditors of thecompany," it said in a regula-tory filing.

The announcement hascome a day after BSR &Associates, a KPMG groupassociate, resigned as statutoryauditor of IL&FS FinancialServices (IFIN). BSR &Associates in a letter to IL&FSInvestment Managers has saidthat it has re-evaluated theclient continuation of the com-pany, according to the filing.

"As a part of this re-evalu-ation, the firm has consideredrecent development, includ-ing actions and investigationsinitiated by various regulatoryauthorities in relation toInfrastructure Leasing &Financial Services (IL&FS) andits affiliated companies," BSR &Associates said in the resigna-tion letter to the company.

BSR & Associatesexpressed its inability to con-tinue as the statutory auditors

of the company with "imme-diate effect" and said the auditfirm would help in transition toalleviate any inconvenience toIL&FS Investment Managers.

On Thursday, IL&FSFinancial Services (IFIN) hadannounced that the KPMGassociate audit firm quit as thestatutory auditor of the com-pany. BSR & Associates hadmentioned that it would con-tinue to defend itself in theNCLT on petitions filed by theMCA regarding banning auditfirms for five years.

"We confirm that BSR &Associates LLP has resigned asauditors of IL&FS FinancialServices (IFIN) on June 19,2019. We had received a noticedated May 13, 2019 from theboard of directors of IFINseeking an explanation on ourremoval as auditors," IFIN saidin a statement a day earlier.

Unfolding of the IL&FS debtcrisis and alleged fraud has trig-gered action from multiple agen-cies including the Ministry ofCorporate Affairs as well as themarket regulator Sebi to probeon the role of a number of indi-viduals, top management people,ratings agencies as well as auditfirms in the matter that came tolight from September 2018.

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In a major political develop-ment in Karnataka, former

Prime Minister and JD(S)supremo HD Devegowda hasfirmly said the State wouldwitness a mid-term poll.Addressing the media inBengaluru on Friday after hisYoga session JD(S) chief Gowdasaid there was no doubt therewould be mid-term polls to theState Assembly.

Gowda said he did notknow how long the Congress-JD(S) Government, headed byhis son HD Kumaraswamy,would continue and it was inthe hands of the senior coalitionpartner. "There is no doubt thatthere will be mid-term polls.They (Congress) had said theywill give support to us for fiveyears. I am watching all thedevelopments and their behav-iour. Our people are intelligentenough. We need not have toteach them," he said.

As his remarks sent alarmbells ringing in the shaky coali-tion, Gowda backtracked andsaid he was only referring to theGrama Panchayat and localbody elections.

Even though he denied hisstatement on midterm poll,political pundits feel that itwas a threat to Congress andthis development is seen as his

political rival Siddaramaiahwho is supposedly told congressleadership that it was better tocome out of the coalition.

Recently former ChiefMinister Siddaramaiah hadconveyed to party presidentRahul Gandhi that the alliancewas causing damage to thegrand old party and it becameclear in the recent Lok Sabhapolls' outcome.

This is seen as an outcomeof the drubbing by the BJP inthe recent elections and conse-quent tension the coalition isfacing in the State.

The BJP had decimatedthe Congress and JD(S) by win-ning 25 of the 28 Lok Sabhaseats and leaving only one seateach to the two alliance part-ners. The BJP-backed inde-pendent candidate had won theMandya seat.

Meanwhile, Siddaramaiahtweeted, "The news about merecommending INC IndiaPresident Shri Rahul Gandhi to

break coalition ties are baselessand is nothing but a figment ofimagination." "Speculative jour-nalism is sending wrong signalsto the people of Karnataka andwill disturb the smooth func-tioning of our Govt,"Siddaramaiah said.

He reiterated in his tweetthat he has no doubts that theGovernment will function forthe next four years and won-dered why others have doubtsabout it.

Gowda also said he hasstarted the exercise of strength-ening the party by conductingvarious meetings with the lead-ers.

"We will continue doingour work... these programmeswill go on. I don't know howlong this Government will stay.It is in the hands of Congressleaders and not Kumaraswamy,"the JD(S) supremo said. He alsoreminded the Congress leadersagain that it was they who hadapproached the JD(S) to formthe Government withKumaraswamy as the ChiefMinister.

The Janata Dal-Secularpatriarch Gowda said that theKarnataka coalition was theidea of UPA chairperson SoniaGandhi and senior Congressleader Ghulam Nabi Azad, andit was the Congress whichapproached JD(S) for a post-

poll arrangement after failing tosecure an absolute majority inthe Karnataka Assembly elec-tion in May 2018.

Gowda said it was Congresswanted to form a coalitionGovernment in Karnataka andmake Kumaraswamy as theChief Minister.

"I was not after the forma-tion of the coalitionGovernment. It is they(Congress) who came to us. Idon't know whether theyagreed for it or the Delhi highcommand directed them to doso," he added.

"We had got eight seats inthe seat-sharing arrangementwith the Congress. I told RahulGandhi that if you think you donot want a particular seat thengive us the one you had lost. DidI ask for Tumkur? No.Siddaramaiah had told me. Hesaid he did it for Mysuru (to winMysuru seat). They have open-ly said that I am responsible forthe defeat in Tumkur andMysuru. Leave it now," he said.

Karnataka Chief MinisterHD Kumaraswamy also wentinto a damage control modeand said his Government wassafe. He asserted that his fatherhas been misunderstood."What he has said is that be pre-pared for the urban local bodyelections. Deve Gowda has notsaid that the assembly election

will take place. He has given aclarification also. There is noquestion of mid-term polls.

The Government will con-tinue for the next four years," hesaid. He also said theGovernment would focus onrectifying the mistakes.

Meanwhile, BJP said theywere against midterm polls inthe State. BJP state president BS Yeddyurappa said there wasno need for the mid-term polland people would not like it.He asserted the BJP would notlet it happen and, if required, itwould form the Government.

"I want to make it clear thatwe will not let the mid- termpoll to happen. We are 105(MLAs). If they have the capa-bility, then let them continue orelse, let them go. We will runthe Government. People willnot accept election within a yearand there is no need for it,"Yeddyurappa said.

Deputy Chief Minister GParameshwara said he did notknow in what context Gowdasaid so but he insisted that theGovernment would continue.

"Small discrepancies, dis-cord and differences of opin-ion surface when we run acoalition Government... Thecoalition dharma calls for tak-ing everybody along ignoringthe differences," Parameshwaratold reporters.

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Chief Minister KalvakuntlaChandrasekhar Rao, on

Friday, formally dedicated theKaleshwaram lift irrigationproject to the nation.

The prestigious project,constructed to cater to theneeds of entire Telangana, wascommissioned in the pres-ence of Maharashtra ChiefMinister Devendra Fadnavisand AP Chief Minister YSJagan Mohan Reddy. Governorof AP and Telangana, ESLNarsimhan, was also presenton the historic occasion.

The project was commis-sioned to provide an irrigationpotential upto the level of 45lakh acres in the State. TheMedigadda barrage was inau-gurated at 11.23 am and thepump house was switched onat 1.07 pm. The pumpingprocess in the pump housecommenced at 1.15 pm.

In the morning, the ChiefMinister commenced the pro-ject commissioning processby offering prayers to theGodavari Maratha after inau-gurating the Medigadda bar-rage near Medigadda. FromMedigadda, the Chief Ministerproceeded to Kannepalliwhere a “Jalasankalpa Yagya”was performed by the ChiefMinister couple with 40 Veda

Pandits. The Yagya has preceded all

the proceedings of the dedi-cation of the project and aMaha Krathu was also per-formed to invite the VarunaDeva for filling the rivers andstreams of the region. TheKannepalli pump house wasinaugurated by the GovernorESL Narsimhan , while thepumps of the projects wereswitched on by the ChiefMinisters of neighbouringStates — Fadnavis andJaganmohan Reddy.

The Chief Minister, as perhis sentiment, has switched onthe sixth pumpset of the pro-ject and all the dignitariesand guests were briefed aboutthe speciality and distinctnature of the project by KCRduring the dedication process.The Kannepalli pump houseplaque was inaugurated byKCR and all the guests,accompanied by the ChiefMinister, visited theKaleshwara Muktheeshwaratemple subsequent to the com-missioning of the project.

The Chief Minister, priorto this, had given detailedinformation about the impor-tance of the Kaleshwaram Liftirrigation project to the dig-nitaries and a comprehensiveexport was projected in a doc-umentary which was viewed

by the guests at the project site. Minister Errabelli Dayakar

Rao and his wife UshaDayakar Rao also performedthe puja at the premises.Ministers Eetela Rajender,Prashanth Reddy, MLCRajeshwar Reddy and otherdignitaries were also presenton the occasion.

The historic event, wit-nessed by the locals in largenumbers, received warmingresponse as their ethnicdesideratum of viewing waterflows from the down stream tothe upper parts was practical-ly witnessed. All the pumphouses at Sundilla, Annarambarrage, Nandimedaram andKannepalli were set into forceon the occasion.

The Annaram barrage wasinaugurated by MinisterNiranjan Reddy, while theAnnaram pumphouse wasdedicated by Home MinisterMahamud Ali. The pump-houses and barrages inSundilla were inaugurated byMinister Koppula Eeshwar,while the Medaram pump-house was inaugurated by theMinister Malla Reddy.Minister Jagadeeshwar Reddyinaugurated the Lakshmipurpumphouse. Chief Secretary ofthe Government SK Joshi andother dignitaries graced theoccasion.

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Aday after their parliamen-tary colleagues made a

move towards the BJP, fiveTelugu Desam Party (TDP)MPs on Friday met VicePresident and Rajya SabhaChairman M Venkaiah Naiduto challenge their defectionand merger at the legislatureparty level.

The TDP MPs led byJayadev Galla asserted that thatthe merger of the defected TDPMPs could take place only at theorganisational level but not atthe level of legislature party.

"Yesterday four RajyaSabha members of the TDPhad given a letter saying thatthey are merging the legislatureparty in Rajya Sabha and sincethey have 2/3rd majority, itshould be accepted withoutany disqualification. Havinggone through the law what wenow understand is, merger of

a political party has to takeplace at only organisationallevel. It cannot take place at leg-islature party level. Since TDP& BJP have not merged at theorganisational level this is nota legal merger," Galla said aftermeeting the Vice President.

The TDP said the fourMPs, who have joined the BJP,have "no authority nor arethey empowered to merger theTDP with the BJP".

Four of its six Rajya Sabhamembers of the TDP , includ-ing party chief N ChandrababuNaidu's close confidants YSChowdary and CM Rameshhad on Thursday joined BJPhere in presence of the party'sworking president J P Nadda.

The four TDP RS MPshad also met Vice Presidentand Rajya Sabha Chairmanand submitted a resolution,saying they have decided tomerge TDP parliamentaryparty in Rajya Sabha with BJP

under paragraph 4 of the TenthSchedule to the Constitution.

With the four TDP MPsmerging with the BJP, the tallyof the ruling party will go upfrom 71 to 75 in the Rajya Sabha.After joining the BJP Chowdarysaid: "The mood of the nationwas clear in recent elections."

Incidentally, Income Tax(IT) department had raided res-idential and official premises ofChowdary and Ramesh last yearover allegations of tax evasionand money laundering. Bothhad then claimed innocence.

When asked about cases offinancial fraud against him,Chowdary reportedly said, "CBIand ED have examined me fora case which belongs to a thirdparty. These are not direct casesagainst me. I have never doneany kind of fraud, forgery,cheating in my entire life. Aninvestigation is going on, whichcan go against anyone, doesn'tmean I have done something."

Lucknow : BSP supremoMayawati on Friday ridiculedthe BJP for "engineering defec-tion" of four TDP MPs in theRajya Sabha, saying "every-thing is fair in BJP brand ofpolitics".

"Yesterday when thePresident was giving assur-ances to the country on thebehalf of the government, theBJP on the same day engi-neered defection of four TDPMPs," she tweeted.

In a boost to the BJP, fourof the six TDP MPs in theRajya Sabha joined the partyon Thursday and sought

merger of the TDP LegislatureParty with it in the UpperHouse.

Mayawati said the BJP hadearlier dubbed two of theseMPs as "corrupt", but nowafter joining their party, thelawmakers have become"doodh ka dhula" (pure).

"It is clear that everythingis fair in BJP brand of politicsand nothing is wrong," sheremarked.

The breakaway TeluguDesam Party (TDP) factionincludes Y S Chowdary, C MRamesh, Garikapati MohanRao and T G Venkatesh. PTI

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Patna: Taking a cue from itsalliance partner Congress andthe Samajwadi Party withwhich it has close ties, LaluPrasad's Rashtriya Janata Dalhas restrained its leaders fromtaking part in panel discussionson news channels "until furtherorders".

According to a communi-cation issued by RJD nationalgeneral secretary Alok Mehta,dated June 20, "as per directionsof national president LaluPrasad and Leader of theOpposition in the StateAssembly Tejashwi Prasad

Yadav, all are informed thatuntil further orders, no legisla-tor, MP or any other leader shalltake part in panel discussions."

"It may also be noted thatthe current list of RJDspokespersons stands annulledand a new list will be preparedand released in due course", thecommunication added.

"In the meantime, if anyperson associated with theparty does take part in a paneldiscussion his or her views shallbe deemed to be personal andnot that of the party", it added.

Notably, immediately after

its poor show in the Lok Sabhapolls, Akhilesh Yadav-ledSamajwadi Party had cancelledthe posts of all its spokesper-sons and restrained all its lead-ers from appearing in paneldiscussions. A similar movewas made by the Congress afew days later.

The RJD, which had ruledBihar for a decade and a halfand still has the largest numberof MLAs in the state, haddrawn a blank in the LokSabha polls, putting up itsworst- ever performance sinceformation in 1997. PTI

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Kochi: A Kerala cadre IASofficer, known for his staunchstand against corruption, onFriday said he would fightlegally against the reportedmove of the State Governmentto terminate him from the ser-vice.

Raju Narayana Swamy, acivil service examination topperof the 1991 batch, was reactingto reports in a section of themedia that the Government hasrecommended to the Centre toterminate him from the service.

The additional chief secre-tary rank official still has 10more years to retire.

The Kerala Government

has not officially reacted to themedia reports.

The reported move by theGovernment came at a timewhen he was engaged in alegal battle against the CentralGovernment's decision to repa-triate him from the post ofchairman of CoconutDevelopment Board to his par-ent cadre, the Government ofKerala.

The Kerala High Court hasstayed the order to repatriateSwamy from the post of chair-man of the board.

"I have no official infor-mation about the decision toterminate me from the service.

I came to know about itfrom media reports. (If it istrue), it is very sad. I ampained," Swamy toldreporters here.

The officer said thereported decision to terminatehim from service was takenwithout a prior notice.

According to the reports,the State Government gave therecommendation to the centralGovernment on the groundthat Swamy has not comeback to the parent cadre threemonths after he was repatri-ated from the service. PTI

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Court on Friday acquitted threealleged Maoist activists, 14years after they were sentencedto life imprisonment by a trialcourt on sedition charges.

One of the three died dur-ing pendency of their appealwhich was filed in 2006.

A division bench compris-ing Justice Sanjib Banerjee andJustice Suvra Ghosh declaredthe three persons not guilty ofsedition and other charges onwhich they were convicted.

Sushil Roy, PatitpabanHaldar and Santosh Debnathwere arrested from Jhargram inthe then Maoist-affectedJangalmahal area of WestBengal in 2005 on the chargethat they were inciting peopleto hold armed struggle to over-throw the elected governmentin the state, their lawyerAmartya Ghosh said.

Though Maoist literatureand some other materials wererecovered from them, no armswere seized, he said.

The petitioners' lawyer sub-mitted before the division benchthat they were falsely implicat-ed on sedition charges and theArms Act by the police whoclaimed to have seized gelatinsticks and ammunition for .303rifles from a rented apartmentin Hooghly district. PTI

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Guwahati: Chinese Armytroops and civilians for the firsttime participated in a joint Yogasession with Indian army per-sonnel along the Indo-Chinaborder in the Eastern border onFriday.

Altogether 70 Chinese armypersonnel and 30 civilians par-ticipated in the joint yoga ses-sions at Nathu-La in Sikkim andat Bumla and Wacha-Damai inArunachal Pradesh, a defencespokesperson Lt ColHarshwardhan Pande said.

Participation of Chinesearmy personnel in such an event

during border personnel meet-ings will go a long way in pro-moting peace and tranquilityalong the borders, he said.

The event was oragnised asa part of India's fifthInternational Yoga Day celebra-tions. Meanwhile, EasternCommand with an aim to pro-mote better mental and physicalhealth of people on the theme'Yoga for Heart' organised vari-ous events where a large num-ber of troops, their families andlocal citizens participated in farflung areas of the East andNorth Eastern region. PTI

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Aizawl: A local court on Fridayordered that eight Rohingyagirls, who were rescued by theMizoram Police from Dungtlangvillage in Champhai district,should be sent to a protectionhome in Aizawl, police said.

Champai district is locatednear the Mizoram-Myanmarborder.

The court instructed thepolice and the Child WelfareCommittee (CWC) in the dis-trict to choose a women pro-tection home, which would beable to accommodate theRohingya girls, reported to bevictims of human trafficking.

"The girls were allegedlyabducted from a Rohingyarefugee camp in Bangladeshand brought to Mizoram to besent to Myanmar," police said.

These Rohingya girls wererescued from Dungtkang villagein Mizoram on Monday.According to police, the girlswere being taken to Myanmarfrom Bangladesh via India.

In April, eight Rohingyawomen, who were trying toenter Mizoram without anytravel documents, were detainedby the state police at theMizoram-Assam border.

They had claimed that they

were from the Kutupalongrefugee camp in Bangladesh'sSabulara.

The women also told policethat some people abducted themfrom a market in Bangladesh onApril 19 and brought them toSilchar in Assam. They havebeen kept in a Social WelfareDepartment-run protectionhome for women. "We have nochoice but to keep them in pro-tection homes as they (Rohingyawomen) were victims, not crim-inals," the Deputy InspectorGeneral of Police of NorthernRange, Lalbiakthanga Khiangte,said. PTI

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General Bipin Rawat, Chief ofArmy Staff (COAS) accom-

panied by Lt Gen Ranbir Singh,Army Commander, NorthernCommand on Friday visitedtroops on the Line of Control toreview prevailing situation andoperational readiness of theunits of White Knight Corps.

The need to remain pre-pared for strong retribution, ifenemy provokes, was also rein-forced by COAS during his

interaction with the troops. He, further, exhorted all

ranks on the need to remain vig-ilant to counter the nefariousdesigns of the enemy and anti- national elements.

The COAS was briefed andupdated by Lt Gen ParamjitSingh, General OfficerCommanding, White KnightCorps and commanders onground.

The COAS reviewed themission readiness of units,response mechanism to cease

fire violations, measures adopt-ed to deal with Pakistan prox-ies, counter infiltration pos-ture and preparation to dealwith violent actions on the Lineof Control.

Ministry of DefenceSpokesman in Jammu said, "theCOAS was also briefed on strat-egy to deal with inimical ele-ments who are attempting torevive terrorism South of PirPanjal, misguiding youth andattempts to radicalise the inno-cent youth.

Kochi: The Kerala High Courton Friday took up a PublicInterest Litigation on its own

over the suicide of an NRI busi-nessman, which it described as"painful", and issued notice tothe government, asking for anexplanation by July 15.

The court initiated pro-ceedings based on newsreports.

The 49-year-old Nigeria-returned businessman SajanParayil, who had spent aboutRs 16 crore for an auditorium,hanged himself at his homeTuesday after the Anthoormunicipality refused to grantthe certificate for his project.

Initiating the PIL againstthe municipality secretary, thedistrict town planner and thesecretary to the state govern-ment's local self government,a division bench comprisingChief Justice Hrishikesh Royand Justice A K JayasankaranNambiar termed as "painful"the news about the suicide ofthe businessman.

The court also said the"lethargic attitude" of author-ities led to the incident. PTI

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Barbeque days are here again with the sunout for a good fortnight from today andthe temperatures forecasted to peak to 25

degrees Celsius on match day, much to thedelight of locals, the ICC and the cricket loversin general.

In cricketing terms, this gives an uninter-rupted run to the India-Afghanistan match atthe picturesque Aegis Bowl here on Saturdayafter three days of intermittent but intenseshowers soaking up the delightfully greenground encased by a textbook perfect wood-ed area in the north and an 18-hole up anddown golf course in the East.

The picnic basket weather will come inhandy for a well-set India to take on the belea-guered Afghans who have, till now, lost all thefive matches they have played against otherteams and were most recently mauled byEngland’s captain Eoin Morgan with his recordbreaking 17 sixes.

Their star bowler Rashid Khan is yet torecover from the ignominious figures of 110runs for no wickets and the skipper has beenholding his head in exasperation trying to steeraway queries on his boys being involved in aManchester bar brawl, the removal of AsgharAfghan as skipper just before the World Cupand coach Phil Simmons’ tweet suggesting therewere eleventh-hour selection misdemeanourswhich marred the team’s prospect.

Add to that the destruction the team hasgone through at the hands of its much morearrived rivals and there is very little that canbring these newbies of cricket into earnest play-ing form, especially against a team like Indiawhere stalwarts of the game have been goingabout their business with ease and determina-tion. As Afghan skipper Gulbadin admitted dis-armingly at his pre-match Press conference “itwill be a big learning experience.”

India, hit by the injuries of Shikhar Dhawanwho is out of the tournament and BhuvneshwarKumar who is struggling to return with a ham-string stiffness, are in a good space with thechant of having “ticked all the boxes” in the run-up to every game. The Men in Blue will be usingthe game to build up a score to boost their runrate in case permutations come into the gamefor the semi-final berth later in the tournament,so to expect a run fest on Saturday would notbe charged with over optimism, what with thebrown hard pitch giving come-hither winks tothe bat.

Rohit Sharma, in continued platinum formand two centuries in the pocket, KL Rahul outto prove the cement in him, and a classy ViratKohli to follow, the opening reflects the brightsun in the blue skies above. The middlemen areequally set in variety — Hardik the destructor,Shankar the all-rounder and Dhoni the finish-er, all with their eye in and mind on escalatemode.

Add to that Indian quicks sitting on rapid-

ly lionised reputations further magnified withaccuracy, strategy, respect and pace, and theAfghans have quite a tough job at hand. Moreso, with Mohammed Shami, in for an injuredBhuvneshwar Kumar, being “a changed man”high on fitness, ambition and pace, raring to

go as his skipper Kohli put it the other day.Concerns around Vijay Shankar’s toe injury

which he picked up at nets to a Bumrah york-er have been fielded away by the player him-self but the inclusion of the brassy and daunt-less Rishabh Pant, against a comparatively eas-

ier opponent, could give the young lad somematch practice on the big stage.

All in all, a good day in offing for the tour-nament’s Go Team which sports self-belief asa major tool to success and has worked againstany no down day in the tournament.

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His team not performing tostandards set in the Asia

Cup is just one of the manyproblems Afghanistan skipperGulbadin Naib faces in thistournament. Right from starplayers like super spinnerRashid Khan tweeting againstthe sacking of Asghar Afghanas skipper for the World Cupsquad, to wicket-keeperMohammad Shahzad alleginghe was sent back for an injuryhe never suffered, to team-mates getting involved in aManchester bar brawl withfans filming them, to coachPhil Simmons saying he willtell all after the tournament isover — the blues seem to begetting darker in mood by theday for the proud Afghans.

Though “no comments”seems to be the only way outfor Naib at Press conferencesfrom ticklish off-field issues, hesports a disarming simplicity inadmitting that the main aim ofhis team is to at least play theentire 50 overs, learn from thebiggies on the big stage as suchexposure is rare, and thenhope to build from there withtheir cricket board managingto stitch up a bilateral awayseries or two with the bigteams.

Now that is easier wishedfor than done as the FTPs ofmost major teams are packedto capacity and can rarely givewindows to minnows unlessotherwise mandated by theICC. Even Bangladesh got veryfew matches in their longstruggling years before theybecame a Test playing nationand despite many bilateralsnow under their belt, they arejust about coming out of their

callowness.Afghans by nature and

descent are known to be proudstraight mongers, so the maul-ing against England, especial-ly of their star bowler RashidKhan who returned wicketlessafter giving away 110 runs,especially to the bat of amarauding Eoin Morgan, willhaunt the team and the bowlerfor a long time and can bewashed away only with theirnext good performance.

“We played bad games butwe learned a lot. Afghanistanis a growing team in worldcricket and it’s a proudmoment that we’re in top 10teams now," he said, addingthat "we’re learning, and it's avery good experience for us."

Indeed, playing cricket andlearning well despite killingstrife all around, and in acountry where the sport isdangerously looked downupon by extremists, Afghancricket has come a long way. AtAsia Cup, the team of motelyworkers played their heartsout defeating all the other sub-continental teams, includingPakistan, India and Sri Lanka.

But the implosions cametoo soon and too near to theWorld Cup preparations. Firstthe Afghan cricket board'sCEO got sacked for yet to beexplained reasons and the newguy in, the former statisticianof the team, was not a seniors'man. The 11th-hour replace-ment of settled-in skipper

Asghar Afghan by GulbadinNaib created a rift in the teamand posed major problems ofhandling players like Rashid onthe rolls.

"If you look at my country,everything was not well for somany years, but it is not so forthe past four or five years.We're doing well in every partof Afghanistan. We are here. Itis not like any athletic tourna-ment. It's the high-rankingcricket tournament. It's aWorld Cup. We have targetedsome teams here. There was agood chance for us to beatthem," Naib pointed out.

He feels it is not lack of tal-ent but because his boys arenot performing to their opti-mum and that 's whereAfghanistan is getting extin-

guished. "We didn't play goodcricket. It's not our level ofcricket. If you look at theEngland match, we did wellwith a lot of things, especiallywe batted 50 overs. This is agood point," he asserted.

As compared to their bigbrother neighbour in Pakistan,the team is just about gettingembroiled in complex issueswhich are ready to snowballonce they return from a tour-nament where performanceswere officially admitted to beway below the expected mark.Selection blunders, administra-tion politics, unexplained axingof fit players and a coach whorefuses to renew his contractdue to all the above-men-tioned, Afghan cricket is tooyoung to be waylaid from sin-gular pursuit of climbing theladders of the game.

They have the talent, theyhave the temperament andthey have IPL sweethearts inthe likes of Rashid Khan, theirsuperstar spinner who manystalwarts of the game havecalled the best in the business.

"If we look at Rashid Khan,it's happened to every player. Incricket, you have a phase ofgood days and also have baddays. Rashid had a bad dayagainst England. That's one ofthe bad days. Rashid is not aneasy bowler. We can't play himin the nets. He's one of thestrongest mind players. Helearns quickly from mistakes.I saw him today and he's total-ly different. He doesn't thinkabout the other day. He's justfocusing on the present whichis the best thing about Rashid,"Naib, whose captaincy Khanhas publicly gone against, says.

It is only a matter of timebefore Afghanistan grows into

the game to be a team to reck-on with. But in that interreg-num, it is crucial that its crick-et administration does notlose focus or plummet intodirty games and politics tostymie the journey. The needof the hour, as Naib said, wasto get more playing days in theinternational calendars ofestablished teams.

"We want to improve ourexperience. We should playagainst good teams like India,Australia, South Africa andPakistan. Maybe Afghanistanwill lose those matches or wewill be struggling, but one dayAfghanistan will be different,"he promises.

His Board, he says, hasbeen working hard at breach-ing the jam-packed toursschedules of these teams.They're trying to arrange goodmatches and series. "Theschedule of top eight teams isvery tight. But our Board is try-ing to arrange for the series,especially against Pakistan andIndia," Naib said.

The Afghans, for now, areon a learning curve, beingcoached by a series of playersand former administrators ofthe game, India's former teammanager Lalchand Rajputbeing one of them. He hassince moved to Zimbabwe, yetanother team which fell victimsto its nation's politics. Currentcoach Phil Simmons, now soobviously on his way out, sawthe talent but has been cor-nered and disenchanted by allthe gathering madness in themethod. Certainly, thePushtoons do not need it.Much like their politics andgeopolitical compulsions, theircricket too is imploding, sadly,much too close to birth.

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�You’re in a tough position.Do you have to use that to inspire thegroup?

We still have a possible chance to qual-ify for the semifinals, but we’ve just got totake it game by game. This encounter withNew Zealand is important. We all knowwhat's at stake and we just have to play ourgame.�Have you had to get tough with theplayers?

It’s a situation where you’ve had to betough. We’ve had a few frank discussionswithin the dressing room to find ways inwhich we can improve on. I think all teamswould get themselves in that situation atsome point. But, yeah, we've had somegood discussions over the last couple ofdays. And today is just a day to deliver.�How does Old Trafford suit your side?

It’s just a situation where we’ve just gotto play smarter cricket. We’ve just got toseize the crucial moments in the game. Idon’t think we’ve done that well enoughhere in this tournament so far. I don’t thinkthe ground pretty much would hamper, andI think it’s a little bit better. We’ve got tobe a little bit clearer as to our plans, makesure we make adjustments on any given dayif our plan A doesn’t work.�There was talk about clay target shoot-ing. Is that right?

We had a team event. We wanted to getthe guys together — a team bonding ses-sion. �There’s commentary around your teamgiving up. What's your take?

The only thing we can do is come andplay a solid game of cricket today againstNew Zealand. There’s been enough talkgoing around for quite some time. Andwe’ve just got to play cricket now. We’vedone enough talking as a group. It’s just amatter for us to deliver.�How much does that practice matchwin against NZ matter?

It just shows what we can produce. It’sa situation where we’ve just got to pull onthose resources, remember the things thatwe did in that game. It just shows that whenwe’re at our best what we can produce. Theguys just need to be clear, need to be calmand just execute their plans.� Is everybody fit?

We’ve still got a few niggles within thegroup. We’re trying to manage niggles thebest we possibly can. One guy who prob-ably may be definitely out today is Russell.I don’t think he’s fit enough to go today. Buteverybody else should be good to go.� Is Russell any worse off than he was acouple of days ago, or just precautionary?

His situation is that he’s got a chronicinjury. Some days are better than some.Probably just hasn’t pulled up as how hewould like for this game. And I don’t thinkit’s a situation where he’s going to gothrough the game today.� In the last game, the five pace theory

didn't work too much. Do you plan tobring a spinner?

We’ll see. Traditionally here it spins. It’ssomething that we’ve got back in ourminds. It could be a possibility that Ashleycomes back into the side. But as a groupwe’ll get together, try to decide what’s thebest combination suited for today’s game.�What would you say are the vulnera-bilities of the New Zealand side?

I don’t want to talk about them. Wehave enough on our plate, we have to man-age our own men. Once we play solid crick-et, we can definitely beat NZ. We’ve shownthat we can beat NZ, as early as — as recentas the warmup game. We’ve just got to focuson what we need to do.

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Their campaign deflated after earlypromise, the West Indies face a do-or-

die battle against a confident-looking NewZealand in a crucial World Cup tie hereat Old Trafford today.

The Windies started their World Cupcampaign with a bang, demolishingPakistan by seven wickets.

But since then, things have gonefrom bad to worse for the Caribbeans andthey have suffered three defeats (againstAustralia, England and Bangladesh) whilethe game against South Africa was washedout.

The West Indies are currently lyingseventh in the 10-team standings with justthree points in their kitty and they can’tafford any further loss to stay in the mixfor a semifinal spot.

The West Indies would be smartingfrom a string of losses against Bangladesh,including the defeat in their last WorldCup game despite posting a big total.

The West Indies posted a huge 321 foreight against the South Asians, a targetwhich the Tigers chased down in 41.3overs with seven wickets in hand.

Barring Chris Gayle, the West Indies’batting has started clicking but the per-formance of their bowlers would be amajor cause of concern for skipper JasonHolder.

While Evin Lewis, Shai Hope,Shimron Hetmyer and Holder have beenholding the fort with the bat, Gayle andAndre Russell have let down the teambadly.

On the bowling front, all the WestIndian bowlers looked ordinary andleaked runs against Bangladesh.

And the likes of Sheldon Cottrell,Shannon Gabriel and Oshane Thomasneed to pull up their socks before it is toolate.

The Kiwis, on the other hand, are sit-ting pretty at the second spot with ninepoints, which includes four wins out of

five games withthe matchagainst Indiabeing washedout.

NZ have sofar defeated SL,B a n g l a d e s h ,Afghanistan andSouth Africa buttheir real teststarts now asafter WestIndies, they willhave three toughe n c o u n t e r sagainst Pakistan,Australia and

England.In their last match against South Africa,

skipper Kane Williamson played a match-winning knock of 106 not out to guide NewZealand home in a tense final over finishwhile chasing a modest 242-run target.

Colin de Grandhomme, who made 60off 47 besides bowling an economical spellof 1/33, also played a vital role along sideWilliamson in that victory.

But with tough matches in the offing,Williamson would look for bigger contri-butions from the likes of Martin Guptill,Colin Munro, Ross Taylor and TomLatham.

��C��ENew Zealand: Kane Williamson (Captain),Tom Blundell, Trent Boult, Colin deGrandhomme, Lockie Ferguson, MartinGuptill, Matt Henry, Tom Latham, ColinMunro, James Neesham, Henry Nicholls,Mitchell Santner, Ish Sodhi, Tim Southee.West Indies: Jason Holder (Captain),Fabian Allen, Carlos Brathwaite, DarrenBravo, Sheldon Cottrell, Shannon Gabriel,Chris Gayle, Shimron Hetmyer, ShaiHope, Evin Lewis, Ashley Nurse, NicholasPooran, Kemar Roach, Andre Russell,Oshane Thomas.

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�What is the condition ofyour toe and will you be ableto play tomorrow?

I’ve got a lot better. And yeshopefully (I will play).�Were you surprised that theBumrah delivery at nets land-ed on your toes?

When you play someonelike Bumrah, you always expectthat. Still, sometimes we domiss that.�Are there any areas thatyou think need improvement?How do you guard againstcomplacency?

Being a professional, it’simportant to keep improvingand get better every day. Thatis the only thing every individ-ual thinks of. If we can keepgetting better, we can set bet-ter standards in every game.�Afghanistan have not hadthe best tournament so far.Their previous performancein the Asia Cup against India,Pakistan and SL was good.

How is the conversation in thechanging room?

It’s not about against whomwe’re playing. It’s about how weplay as individuals. We alwayslook to get better, even inpractice sessions. That is ouronly motive. It doesn’t matteragainst whom we’re playing. It’sjust about how we play. �Does it really feel like you’replaying the World Cup theway things are going?

It feels great to representthe country. World Cup is spe-cial because it happens once infour years, so for every individ-ual it’s special. The first impor-tant thing is representing thecountry. That feeling willalways be there.�This time last week youhadn’t played in the WorldCup. Now you’ve got a gameunder your belt, you’ve gotruns, you’ve got a couple ofwickets. Has that settled youmentally?

It gives any player confi-dence because that is really

needed. Last game gave mesome confidence, especiallyplaying against Pakistan, mak-ing my debut against them. Itwas a very special thing for me,performing under pressure andcoming out good. The teamwinning and at the end of theday that felt good.�How do you think yourbowling has evolved?I always look to get better in allthree aspects of the game. Iknow I can keep getting better.I know I can bowl a lot betterthan what I am bowling now.Whenever I get to a practicesession, I make sure I improve.I have a good chat with mybowling coach and try and getbetter.�Going in in the death overs,after Hardik Pandya’s powerhitting… does it create a pres-sure on you to replicate that?

The pressure will always beto deliver. I’ve played down theorder. I’ve got experience play-ing at Nos 6, 7. It’s not abouttaking that extra pressure. It’s

about taking extra responsibil-ity and delivering it at theright time for the team.�The way that England dealtwith Rashid Khan, any plansto replicate the attack?

Every day is different andevery wicket is too. You cannottake things for granted. Sotomorrow (Saturday) might bea different scenario where wemight have to target him, or wemight have to play him off.Adapting ourselves to situa-tions as quickly as we can is key.�You’ve been with Rashid inthe Sunrisers team. What is itthat you have to watch out forwhen it comes to him?

He’s one of the best bowlersin limited overs. Having playedwith him for a couple of years,it’s very important for me topick things from him, likewhenever I bat against him inthe nets, I try and pick his vari-ations. Anyone can go for runs.It is about how we come backstrong. How I play against himtoday will be the key.

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Jofra Archer moved joint top ofthe World Cup bowling charts asEngland restricted Sri Lanka to

232-9 in a group match atHeadingley on Friday.

The fast bowler took 3-52 — hisfifth three-wicket haul in six match-es this World Cup — to joinAustralia's Mitchell Starc on 15wickets.

Fellow quick Mark Wood fol-lowed up with 3-40.

Sri Lanka's total representedsomething of a recovery after a col-lapse to three for two.

Angelo Mathews' painstaking 85not out helped them bat their full 50overs after Avishka Fernandorevived the innings with a dashing49 in his first match of the WorldCup.

"We started off brilliantly to gettwo early wickets and then spinnerscontrolled it in the middle," Woodsaid.

"They didn't get away from usat all. Angelo Mathews played wellbut we restricted them. It was a greatteam performance.

"I'm in the form of my careerand have got to keep this formgoing."

Sri Lanka captain DimuthKarunaratne won the toss anddecided to bat under sunny skies —a welcome sight at a World Cupmarred by washouts.

But the skipper fell for onewhen, off the last ball of the secondover, he edged Archer to wicket-keeper Jos Buttler.

And two balls later, withoutanother run on the board, KusalPerera slashed Chris Woakes tothird man where Moeen Ali, in his100th one-day international, held a

safe catch. But number three bats-man Fernando, in just his seventhmatch at this level, hit 14 runs offone Archer.

And off the penultimate deliv-ery off the 10-over powerplay,Fernando hooked Archer for a sixout of the ground that saw theumpires call for a replacement ball.

Fernando fell in similar fashionto Perera, with a loose uppercut, thistime off Wood, caught by AdilRashid at third man.

It was the end of a 39-ballinnings featuring two sixes and sixfours, with Sri Lanka now 62-3 inthe 13th over.

Former captain Mathews lookedbadly out of touch during an 84-ballfifty — the slowest of the tourna-ment so far — with Sri Lanka man-aging just six boundaries in totalfrom the 11th to 40th overs.

Sri Lanka's fourth-wicket part-nership of 71 ended when KusalMendis (46) slogged Rashid to

England captain Eoin Morgan atshort midwicket. And 133 for fourbecame 133 for five when next ballleg-spinner Rashid, on his Yorkshirehome ground, caught and bowledJeevan Mendis for a duck afterdeceiving the batsman with a well-flighted delivery. Mathews, showingsome belated aggression, hookedArcher's first ball of the last over forsix.

England, third in the table, willgo ahead of leaders Australia if theydefeat Sri Lanka, currently sixth in the

standings.The top four sides at the end of

the 10-team round-robin group stagewill qualify for the semi-finals.

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Two goals from KojiMiyoshi helped Japan

secure a hard-earned point ina 2-2 draw with Uruguay atthe Copa America onThursday.

Miyoshi twice fired Japaninto the lead only for Uruguayto level through a controver-sial penalty from Luis Suarezand a second-half header fromJose Gimenez.

The draw means Japanhave an outside chance ofreaching the quarter-finalsfrom Group C, with one gameremaining against Ecuador.

Uruguay, who trouncedEcuador in their openinggame, missed the chance tomake certain of their place in

the last eight against a Japanteam who had been trounced4-0 by Chile in their openinggame.

Japan had been let downby poor finishing in theirdefeat to Chile, but were a dif-ferent proposition at the Arenado Gremio as coach HajimeMoriyasu range the changes inhis starting line-up.

Former Leicester Citystriker Shinji Okazaki startedalongside Hiroki Abe up frontas Moriyasu relegated AyaseUeda and Takefusa Kubo tothe bench.

Miyoshi meanwhile pro-vided attacking thrust in anew-look Japanese midfield.Abe created a half-chance on10 minutes but Okazaki wasunable to control his attempt-

ed header and flashed hiseffort high and wide.

Uruguay meanwhilealways looked threateninggoing forward, with the strike-force of Edinson Cavani andLuis Suarez causing problemsfor the Japanese back four.

Cavani almost created theopening goal for Suarez in the12th minute, working a one-two with Diego Godin beforecrossing for Suarez.

The Barcelona star howev-er could only direct his chanceat goalkeeper Eiji Kawashima,who gathered safely.

Naomichi Ueda then hada half-chance for Japan at theother end but his glancingheader from a free-kick waseasily saved.

With Uruguay's defencelooking uncharacteristicallyvulnerable, Japan took thelead on 25 minutes when along diagonal pass from GakuShibasaki sent Miyoshi racingclear.

The 22-year-oldYokohama F. Marinos mid-fielder still had plenty to do,but ghosted to the bylinebefore smashing into the roofof the net from a tight angle.

But Japan's joy was short-lived as Uruguay were gifted anequaliser with a VAR-assistedpenalty four minutes later.

There appeared to be noquestion of a foul after Cavaniand Ueda came together in thepenalty area with theUruguayan striker stretchingto reach a pass.

But VAR ruled that Uedahad fouled Cavani promptingColombian referee AndresRojas to point to the spot.

Suarez stepped up to con-vert and Uruguay were level.

Cavani almost gaveUruguay the lead in the 36thminute with 25-yard rocketthat crashed off the bar butJapan reached the break level.

The second half sawUruguay gradually get on topbut yet another incisive breakfrom Japan led to Miyoshigrabbing his second to make it2-1 in the 59th minute.

Again though Uruguaywere quick to respond,Gimenez heading in NicolasLodeiro's cross in the 66thminute to make it 2-2.

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Former world number oneAndy Murray made a victo-

rious return after what hedescribed as “life-changing”hip surgery at a raucousQueen's on Thursday.

The three-time GrandSlam champion partneredSpain's Feliciano Lopez to a 7-6 (7/5) 6-3 victory in his firstcompetitive match in fivemonths.

Playing on a packed centrecourt including his wife Kim,Murray showed little fear instretching himself despite beingoff the circuit since January.

His friend Lopez did notshow any sign either of beingburdened by the allegationsmade against him of match-fix-ing in the Spanish media,which he strongly denied onWednesday.

Murray said afterwards hewould be playing doubles atWimbledon with FrenchmanPierre-Hugues Herbert.

Murray said he had learnedquite a bit from the match.

"I expected to be the worstplayer on the court and to notfeel particularly good on thecourt which you know was

probably the case in the firstset," he said.

"I started to play better inthe second and have zero dis-comfort in my hip which

would not have been the caselast year, I would have beenaching and throbbing."

Murray, who will take tothe court again on Friday as he

and Lopez play the last matchon centre court against yet tobe decided opponents, said areturn to singles remains awhile away.

"I feel optimistic aboutthe future," said Murray,although he would be makinghistory as no player hasreturned to singles afterundergoing such an operationbefore.

"I don't know how long itwill take to get to that level, butyou know, hopefully not toolong."

Murray, who said he hadtried to find a mixed doublespartner for Wimbledon, saidthat he had been concerned atsome parts of the match.

"The court can get quiteslippery and when I was out-side the doubles alley I felt abit uncomfortable at times," hesaid.

He told the BBC immedi-ately after the match that hefelt the nerves.

"I felt quite relaxed in thebuild-up, but we said as wewere walking on to the courtthat we were starting to feel abit nervous," he said.

"But you need those but-terflies."

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Title contenders India will start asoverwhelming favourites against

lower-ranked Chile in the semifinalsof the women's FIH Series Finalshockey tournament here today.

The ninth ranked Indians areunbeaten so far in the tournament,having registered comfortable winsover Uruguay (4-1), Poland (5-0) andFiji (11-0).

And going by their world rank-ings and current form, India areexpected to win hands down againstworld No 16 Chile.

India are just one win away fromsecuring their place in the finalround of Tokyo Olympic qualifiersto be held later this year with two topspots up for grabs from here.

And achieving that goal should-n’t be much of a problem for theIndians. In all their pool matches,India plenty of scoring opportunitiesbut conversion rate is an area whichis of a little concern for chief coachSjoerd Marijne.

“We want to perform at thehighest level possible and I believethere is still room for improvement,”Marijne had said.

“Our conversion rate can defi-nitely be higher and if that happensit will be easier for us to win match-es.”

Chile, on the hand, finished sec-ond in their pool and had to gothrough the cross-overs to seal theirplace in the last-four round.

Chile defeated Mexico 7-0, hostsJapan 3-1 before being stunned byworld No25 Russia 2-5.

But in the cross-overs, Chileedged past Uruguay 5-2 to set up alast-four encounter against India.

In the other semifinal, Russiawill take on world No 14 Japan.

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Telugu Titans will takeon U Mumba in the

opening game of the sev-enth season of the ProKabaddi League (PKL)on July 20, the organ-isers announced onFriday.

The game willbe played atGachibowli Stadium inHyderabad, PKL organ-isers Mashal Sports PvtLtd said in a statement.

Current championsBengaluru Bulls take onthree-time championsPatna Pirates in the sec-ond game of openingday.

According to theorganisers, each team willplay every other teamtwice, and the top six willmake it to the playoffs.Total 12 teams are in thefray and would be vyingfor the title. They also

announced that TeluguTitans would be returningto their base ofHyderabad, whileBengaluru Bulls andJaipur Pink Pantherswould be returning to

Bengaluru andJaipur respective-ly.

The matcheswould start at

7.30 pm.The seventh season

will see new coaches taketo the mat- Anup Kumarfor Puneri Paltan andRakesh Kumar forHaryana Steelers.

Among the notableplayers, Siddharth Desai,who had a fabulous runwith U Mumba, would belooking to recreate themagic with Telugu Titans.

The Mumbai leg ofthe event will be heldfrom July 27 to August 2.The final will be held onOctober 19.

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