KXIP IN IPL CLASH 14 SPORT Naxals target BJP convoy; MLA ...€¦ · Dantewada MLA triggered...

CAIT SLAMS RAHUL FORCHOR BUSINESSMEN JIBENew Delhi: Traders’ body CAITon Tuesday slammed Congresschief Rahul Gandhi for hisstatement that funds for theambitious ‘NYAY’ scheme willcome from the pockets of “chor”businessmen, and cautioned thatthe Congress may pay a heavyprice for it in the LS polls.

TERROR FUNDING CASE:MIRWAIZ GRILLED BY NIA New Delhi: Separatist leaderMirwaiz Umer Farooq was onTuesday questioned by theNational Investigation Agency forthe second consecutive day inconnection with a case related tofunding of terror groups andseparatist organisations inJammu & Kashmir, officials saidhere.

PM BIOPIC: SC DISMISSESPLEA SEEKING STAY New Delhi: The Supreme Courton Tuesday dismissed a petitionfiled by a Congress activistseeking stay on the release ofbiopic on Prime MinisterNarendra Modi saying theElection Commission would bean “appropriate” place to seekthe redressal.

CAPSULE

PNS n DANTEWADA

BJP’s lone legislator fromBastar region Bhima

Mandavi and four policemenwere killed as Maoists targeteda group of BJP leaders travel-ling in a convoy in a forestedpatch in Dantewada district onTuesday evening. The Naxalsblew up the vehicle of the 40-year-old Dantewada MLA withan IED and opened fire at theoccupants in Shyamagiri hillswhen the MLA’s convoy washeading towards Kuwakondafrom Bacheli area inDantewada.

Visuals from the blast siteshowed the mangled remains ofthe vehicle and a gaping holeon the road on which it passedbefore Naxals blew it up. TVchannels flashed grisly imagesof body parts strewn along aroad bisecting a forest and avehicle reduced to a heap ofmetal. The powerful blast lefta big crater in the middle of theroad.

The attack has beendescribed a classic case of acomplete intelligence failure.

“It was a meticulouslyplanned attack. Maoists specif-ically targeted BJP MLA’s bul-letproof vehicle when he wasrushing to Nakulnar to addressa public meeting in favour ofthe BJP candidate from Bastar,Baidu Ram Kashyap,’’Dantewada police chiefAbhishek Pallav told reportersat the blast site.

He added that the BJP leg-islator was strongly advised

against moving without fool-proof security measures.

The brutal killing of theDantewada MLA triggeredoutrage in Chhattisgarh withChief Minister Bhupesh Baghelputting off his poll campaignmid-way to chair a high-level

meet to assess the law andorder situation.

Prime Minister NarendraModi condemned the killing of“dedicated party worker”Mandavi and the police offi-cials and said the sacrifice ofthose killed will not go in vain.

“Shri Bhima Mandavi wasa dedicated karyakarta of theBJP. Diligent and courageous,he assiduously served the peo-ple of Chhattisgarh. His demiseis deeply anguishing. My con-dolences to his family. My trib-utes to the security personnel.

The sacrifices of these martyrswill not go in vain,” he tweet-ed.

Baghel, who is facing flakfor allegedly adopting softapproach to armed Maoists,said in a series of tweets, “I amdeeply disturbed by killing of

one of my MLA colleagues, Idon’t have words to express mygrief, it’s definitely a majorattack on democracy… MyGovernment is consistentlyworking to win people’s confi-dence and Naxals felt upsetabout that and this brutalattack is basically the result oftheir frustration.”

The State unit of the BJPreacted angrily to the killingand alleged that State’s newCongress regime has nexuswith Maoists. BJP nationalvice-president and formerChief Minister Raman Singhexpressed shock over death ofhis party MLA and saidMaoists were freely roaming inBastar under the new Congressregime.

“It’s a failure of StateGovernment, I see a big polit-ical conspiracy in the killingbecause Mandavi was the loneBJP MLA from Bastar, situationis very pathetic in Bastar dur-ing Congress regime,’’ Singhtold reporters in Raipur.

Naxals target BJP convoy; MLA, 4 cops killed

All condemn terror act, ‘deeply anguished’ PM vows martyrdom won’t go in vain

MOHIT KANDHARI n JAMMU

In a daring terror attack, asenior RSS leader and his

personal security officer (PSO)were shot dead from closerange outside the main gate ofoutpatient department (OPD)of Kishtwar district hospital onTuesday morning.

According to police, thepersonal security officer ofRSS leader died on the spot,while RSS leader, identified asChandrakant Sharma, was air-lifted to Government MedicalCollege Hospital in Jammuwhere he succumbed to hisgunshot injuries.

Kishtwar Superintendentof Police Shakti Kumar Pathaktold The Pioneer that after hit-ting the RSS leader the terror-ists ran away with the serviceweapon of his PSO martyred inthe attack. The PSO has beenidentified as Rajinder Kumar.

Police have launchedinvestigations in the case andis screening CCTV footages totrack down the footprints ofthe terrorists. The SP main-tained the situation is wellunder control after the impo-sition of the curfew inKishtwar and nearby areas.

Official sources revealed

that the RSS leader was hit inthe abdomen and his kidneyswere punctured by the bullets.

According to police, onTuesday morning around12.30 pm when ChandrakantSharma, working as pharma-cist, arrived in the districthospital, Kishtwar, an uniden-tified terrorist, who wasalready waiting there, openedfire at him from a close rangeand fled. Bleeding profusely,the RSS leader was carted intothe operation theatre and waslater airlifted to Jammu wherehe succumbed to his injuries.

Continued on Page 6

Ultras shoot RSSleader, his PSO atKishtwar hospital

TN RAGHUNATHA n MUMBAI

Prime Minister NarendraModi on Tuesday invoked

the Pulwama terror attack andthe subsequent Balakot airstrikes to seek votes for the BJPfrom the first-time voters in the2019 Lok Sabha polls.

Addressing a joint rallywith Shiv Sena presidentUddhav Thackeray at Ausa inLatur district in Maharashtra,Modi appealed to the millen-nial generation to make bestand memorable use of theirfirst vote in the 2019 LokSabha elections.

“I would like to tell the firsttime voters that it is a historicmoment when you vote for thefirst time. You should make aresolve to exercise your firstvoting right in a manner thatyou will remember all your lifewhen you voted for the firsttime, where did you vote, inwhich elections you voted andwhom did you vote for”.

“I would like to ask thefirst-time voters if they would

dedicate their first vote to thebrave jawans who participatedin the air strikes on terrorcamps at Balakot in Pakistan.I would also like to ask the first-time voters if they would ded-icate their first vote to thosebrave jawans who sacrificed

their lives in the Pulwama ter-ror attack,” the Prime Ministersaid, in an apparent disregardto the Election Commission’sdiktat to political parties todesist from making referencesto armed forces in their pollcampaign.

In continuation, Modiasked the first-time voters inthe country if they would ded-icate their first votes for thecause of providing pucca hous-es to the poor people in thecountry.

He asked if they woulddedicate their votes to ensureirrigation water to the fields ofthe poor and good health facil-ities for them through theModi Government’s NationalHealth Protection SchemeAyushman Bharat.

“My appeal to you first-time voters in this election isvote for the nation. You haveturned 18. The nation hasgiven you so much. The soci-ety has given you so much. Yougive vote to strengthen thenation. You vote to form astrong Government. You willbe able to say proudly that ifyou cast vote for lotus symbol(BJP) and bow (Shiv Sena),your vote will directly got to theaccount of Modi,” Modi said.

Continued on Page 6

PTI n NEW DELHI

The Congress on Tuesdaycited a “sting operation” to

allege exchange of old notespost-demonetisation for heftycommissions by people claim-ing proximity to the govern-ment and the BJP, but the rul-ing party refuted the allegationsand said it would take appro-priate legal action.

At a Press conference here,senior Congress leader KapilSibal also alleged that curren-cy notes worth thousands ofcrores were printed abroadand transported into India.

He alleged that “a team ofGovernment officials drawnfrom different departmentswere engaged in the exchangeof old notes for new postdemonetisation”.

He, however, did notauthenticate the videos heshowed at the conference andsaid these are in public domain

and the agencies concernedshould initiate a probe. Sibalalso claimed the ElectionCommission was not acting ontheir complaints.

Responding to the charges,Union Minister Ravi ShankarPrasad said in Patna that “KapilSibal has made false allegationson our (party) president (AmitShah) and we will take legalaction.”

“Demonetisation is thebiggest scam in the history ofIndia. Current notes (issuedafter the old `500/1000 noteswere demonetised inNovember 2016) were printedabroad and transported intoIndia and there can be nothingmore anti-national than this,”Sibal told reporters.

Mr Modi started his tenureby fooling us and he is endinghis five-year-tenure by trau-matising us, the Congressleader alleged.

Continued on Page 6

PNS n MEERUT

After calling the Indianarmed forces ‘Modi ji ki

sena’ and branding the MuslimLeague ‘virus’, the BJP leaderand Uttar Pradesh ChiefMinister has now sparked afresh row by stoking the ‘Ali-Bajrangbali’ debate followingMayawati’s appeal to Muslimvoters two days ago.

“Agar Congress, SP, BSP ko‘Ali’ par vishwaas hai tohhumein bhi ‘Bajrangbali’ parvishwaas hai (If the Congress,Samajwadi Party, and theBahujan Samaj Party have faithin Ali, then we too have faithin our Bajrangbali),” Yogi saidwhile addressing an electionrally in Meerut.

Yogi’s statement is seen asan attempt to polarise Hinduvoters after BSP chief Mayawatirecently appealed to Muslimsnot to divide their votes.

“People of all communitieslive in western Uttar

Pradesh…in Saharanpur,Bareilly where there is a size-able Muslim population and Iwant to ask them not to divideyour votes by voting for theCongress. Give your votes toSP-BSP and RLD alliance,” shehad said at the rally jointly heldwith the Samajwadi Party aftertwo decades in Deoband.

The Election Commission

last week issued a warning tothe UP Chief Minister over his‘Modi ji ki sena’ remark andasked him to “be careful inyour utterances in future”.

“Congress ke logatankwadiyon ko biryani khilatethe, aur Modiji ki senaatankwadiyon ko goli aur goladeti hai. Yahi antar hai.Adityanath had said.

STAFF REPORTER n NEW DELHI

The c-Vigil app waslaunched by the Election

Commission to report casesand incident where people feltthe model code of conduct wasbeing violated through illegalhoardings, hate speeches orother ways. But the people inDelhi have made a mockery ofthe app as they have beenflooding it with useless pic-tures, mostly selfies, pictures offlowers, parks and some othersnaps that have nothing to dowith poll code violations.

“The people in Delhi usingthe c-Vigil app of the ElectionCommission were sending a lotof frivolous pictures, mostlyselfies and images of flowersand parks, which had nothingto do with poll code violations,”said Ranbir Singh, Delhi ChiefElectoral Officer (CEO).

“People were sendingmostly selfies, photos of flow-ers, image of smoke billowing

out of a car, parks, fans, andother frivolous things, whichhad nothing to do with pollcode violations,” said anotherofficial.

“Such entries comprisedabout ‘90 per cent of the com-plaints’ sent through this app ininitial days, but now majorityof the complaints are genuine,”said the official.

Alarmed over the trend,the EC has urged concernedcitizens not to make mockery

of an important app. The Delhi CEO asked the

residents of the NationalCapital to use the app only toreport cases related to elections.

The c-Vigil app that waslaunched by the ElectionCommission provides a plat-form for the citizens, wherethey can send complaints andgeo-tag videos and photos ofillegal gifts, money or liquordistributed or a hate speechmade by any political partyduring polls.

The Lok Sabha polls will beconducted in seven phases thatwill begin from April 11 andcontinue till May 19. Electionsin Delhi will be held on May 12and the overall results will bedeclared on May 23.

There are over 1.41 crorevoters on Delhi’s electoral roll.Out of the total electorate sizeof 1,41,28,795, as many as77,76,415 are male and63,51,698 female, while 682belong to the third gender.

Modi addresses

joint rally with

Uddhav at Ausa

in Maha’s Latur

Govt laundered money

during DeMo: Cong; BJP

threatens to sue Sibal

New Delhi: The BJP-led NDA islikely to edge its way across themajority mark with 279 seats in acloser fight this time, an opinionpoll by Times Now-VMR justahead of the first phase of pollinghas predicted.

Times-VMR poll: BJP

just touches halfway

Baliyan threat for votes viral

UP Minister Sanjiv Baliyan’s threat to peopleto vote for the BJP went viral on Tuesday.

BJP workers in Bijnor chanted Modi, Modi...and Vande Mataram during PriyankaGandhi’s roadshow in Bijnor on Tuesday. Asmiling Priyanka responded by rainingflowers on the BJP workers.

The ECI has send a showcause notice to the makersof popular TV serials‘Bhabhiji ghar par hain’ and‘Tujhse hai raabta’ forpromoting PM Modi’sschemes ahead of the LokSabha elections.

Mangled remains of the vehicle after the BJP MLA’s convoy was attacked by Maoists in Dantewada on Tuesday PTI

Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses an election campaign rally in support ofalliance candidates at Ausa in Latur district, Maharashtra on Tuesday PTI

PM exhorts first timers to votefor Pulwama martyrs, Balakot

If Cong-SP-BSP have Ali,we have Bajrangbali: Yogi

UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath being garlanded along with other leaders at anelection rally in Bareilly on Tuesday PTI

RSS activists raise slogans during aprotest against the attack on theircadre Chandrakant Singh in Kishtwar,Jammu on Tuesday PTI

Priyanka’s flower for BJP workers!

Bhabhiji ghar par

hain in hot water

Selfies, flowers rain onpoll panel’s c-Vigil app

@TheDailyPioneer facebook.com/dailypioneerFollow us on:

www.dailypioneer.com

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AVENUES 10

THE B-SCHOOL ROUTE

OPINION 8

STOP MILKINGTHE ARMY

WORLD 13

TRUMP: EU NEEDS TO STOPTAKING ADVANTAGE OF US

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Late City Vol. 155 Issue 96*Air Surcharge Extra if Applicable

Published From DELHI LUCKNOW BHOPAL BHUBANESWAR

RANCHI RAIPUR CHANDIGARH DEHRADUN HYDERABAD VIJAYWADA

Established 1864

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

LUCKNOW, WEDNESDAY APRIL 10, 2019; PAGES 16 `3

MI TO FACE

KXIP IN IPL

CLASH

14 SPORT

}

city 02LUCKNOW | WEDNESDAY | APRIL 10, 2019

PNS n LUCKNOW

Prestige of three Union min-isters will be at stake in the

first phase election to eight par-liamentary constituencies inwestern UP that go to polls onApril 11, as caste arithmetic isin favour of the SP-BSP-RLDalliance which is ready to upsetthe applecart of the ruling BJPin Uttar Pradesh.

The three Union ministersin the fray are General(Retired) VK Singh(Ghaziabad), Mahesh Sharma(Gautam Buddha Nagar) andSatyapal Singh (Baghpat).

RLD chief Ajit Singh andhis son Jayant Chaudhary arealso fighting to sustain thelegacy of late Prime MinisterChaudhary Charan Singh andboth are in direct contest withthe BJP, with a Jat versus Jatfight in their constituencies.

Congress, which is contest-ing six seats in this region, hasnot fielded candidates againstAjit Singh in Muzaffarnagarand Jayant Chaudhary inBaghpat.

The BJP is banking on theloyalty of the upper caste vot-ers, who have traditionallysupported it. The party has

fielded four upper caste candi-dates in this phase — VKSingh, Mahesh Sharma, RaghavLakhanpal (Saharanpur) andRajendra Agarwal (Meerut).

The non-upper casteHindus are the most soughtafter vote bank for both the BJPand the opposition alliance. Inthe 2014 Lok Sabha electionand the 2017 UP Assemblypoll, a large section of this basehad shifted to the BJP. Jats andGujjars make up most of theOBC population in these con-stituencies — on an average,over 20 per cent.

According to data, theGujjars and Jats constitute 38per cent of the population inBaghpat, with the latter mak-ing up 23.8 per cent of it. Jatsalso make up 12 per cent of thepopulation in Muzaffarnagarand 10.8 per cent in Bijnor.

While the Jats are concen-trated in a few constituencies inthis region, the Gujjar popula-tion is evenly scattered —around seven per cent inKairana, 6.5 per cent inGautam Buddha Nagar, 5.5per cent each in Meerut,Saharanpur and Ghaziabad,and six per cent in Bijnor.

The Muslim vote bank,

around 38 per cent inSaharanpur, stands a chance ofgetting divided betweenCongress’ Imran Masood andalliance candidate Hazi FazlurRehman, fighting on a BSPticket. Masood was runner-upin the 2014 Lok Sabha election.

Muslims make up 32 percent of the vote bank in Bijnor,31 per cent each in Meerut andMuzaffarnagar, 26 per cent inKairana, 20 per cent inBaghpat, 18.5 per cent inGhaziabad, and roughly 14per cent in GB Nagar.

The Scheduled Castes inthe region comprise Chamar orJatav community. They rangefrom nine per cent in Kairanato nearly 17 per cent of the total20 per cent Dalits in

Saharanpur. Traditionally, thissection has voted for the BSP.But, the BJP has made a bigdent in this segment in the2014 parliamentary and 2017assembly polls.

In Baghpat andMuzaffarnagar, the Jat-OBCfactor will be the most decisiveone. Ajit Singh, a Jat by caste,is the alliance candidate fromMuzaffarnagar and will be upagainst BJP MP SanjeevBaliyan, who is a prominent Jatleader. Jayant Chaudhary isthe alliance candidate fromBaghpat and will fight againstanother Jat, Union MinisterSatyapal Singh.

In Meerut, the oppositionalliance has fielded Haji YakoobQureshi. While the sitting BJPMP can expect 25 per cent ofthe upper caste votes, the win-ning candidate will have to geta bigger chunk of OBC andDalit votes (14 per cent-plusChamar vote in this segment).

In GB Nagar andGhaziabad, the OBC-Dalitcombination will play a decisiverole as well. Although thealliance has not fielded well-known faces from these seats,the caste and political equationwill matter the most.

PNS n LUCKNOW

Campaigning for the firstphase poll in eight Lok

Sabha constituencies of UttarPradesh came to an end onTuesday. The polling is sched-uled on April 11.

With this, the high profileelectioneering also came to agrinding halt in these con-stituencies and the securitypersonnel rushed to the pollingbooths to take up their dutiesfor the polling to be heldbetween 7 am and 6 pm onThursday.

Security personnel stagedflag marches in the sensitivepockets while liquor shops wereclosed till the end of polling inthese constituencies. The con-stituencies, which have inter-state borders with Delhi,Haryana and Uttarakhand, havebeen sealed off.

Western UP will pave theway for the formation of thenext government at the Centre,when 16 constituencies will goto the polls in the first two

phases on April 11 and 18. With weather playing hide

and seek and hailstorm withrains lashing western UP in thepast 48 hours, the temperaturehas come down, much to therelief of campaigning politi-cians. On the last day of cam-paigning on Tuesday, Congressgeneral secretary in-charge ofUP east, Priyanka GandhiVadra, held roadshows inSaharanpur and Bijnor.Congress president RahulGandhi was to address joint ral-lies with his sister PriyankaGandhi Vadra on Monday forthe first phase poll, but it wascancelled due to bad weather.Priyanka had earlier held aroadshow in Ghaziabad whileCongress general secretary in-charge of UP west, JyotiradityaScindia had addressed a coupleof meetings in west UP.

Prime Minister NarendraModi sounded the poll bugle inUP with his first rally in Meeruton March 28 and it was fol-lowed by rallies at Amroha andSaharanpur on April 5. BJP

president Amit Shah held tworallies at Nagina and Bijnorbesides going for another cou-ple of rallies for the first twophases. Chief Minister YogiAdityanath also criss-crossedthe state holding several rallieson a daily basis along withother senior leaders of hisparty. Yogi held four election

meetings in Muzaffarnagar,Baghpat, Kairana and Bijnor onMonday and on Tuesday headdressed rallies at Meerutand Hapur.

The Samajwadi Party (SP)and the Bahujan Samaj Party(BSP) along with their alliancepartner Rashtriya Lok Dal(RLD) organised a joint rally at

Deoband in Saharanpur onSunday in a massive show ofunity to launch their cam-paigning. Akhilesh Yadav’s SPand Mayawati’s BSP, along withAjit Singh’s RLD are contestingthe Lok Sabha polls together inUP. Former UP Chief MinisterMayawati on Monday hadcampaigned in Meerut andGautam Buddha Nagar, whileSP chief Akhilesh Yadav hadaddressed election meetingsat Ghaziabad and Baghpat.

In the first phase, the eightseats going to polls areGhaziabad, Gautam BuddhaNagar, Baghpat, Saharanpur,Meerut, Muzaffarnagar, Bijnorand Kairana. The BJP current-ly holds all these seats, barringKairana, which it lost to the SP-RLD candidate supported byBSP in last year’s bypoll.

In the first phase,1,50,65,682 voters — 82,24,835males and 68,39,833 femalesand 1,014 third genders — willcast their votes in 16,18 boothsto decide the fate of 96 candi-dates in the fray.

PNS n LUCKNOW

In an embarrassment toBharatiya Janata Party,

Mridula Katheria, wife ofsenior leader and party candi-date from Etawah, RamShankar Katheria, has filednomination as an indepen-dent candidate with a resolve todefeat her husband and teachBJP a lesson.

After filing her nominationpapers, Mridula Katheria toldreporters at Etawah collec-torate that she was not angrywith her husband. “The BJPhad assured me ticket fromEtawah and I was makingpreparations for the last manyyears. But at the last minute myname was struck off and theticket was given to my hus-band,” she said on Tuesday.

She said the people of thisarea wanted her as BJP candi-date. “On their suggestions, Ifiled my nomination papers as anindependent candidate,” she said.

Ram Shankar Katheria,who is Chairman of NationalCommission for ScheduledCastes, is the sitting MP fromAgra but this time he has beenasked to contest election fromEtawah in place of AshokDohre. He refused to give hisreaction on his wife’s decisionto file nomination papersagainst him.

Mridula Katheria said: “Indemocracy, everybody has theright to contest election. So, Ihave filed the papers and willemerge victorious too.”

A senior BJP leader inLucknow, however, said that itappeared to be a family feud.“Do not worry, she will with-draw her nomination andactively participate in the can-vassing of her husband,” he said.

Meanwhile, sitting MPfrom Etawah, Ashok Dohre,who has been denied ticket,switched over to Congress andis contesting election on itssymbol.

PNS n LUCKNOW

In a late night meeting withparty leaders here, Bharatiya

Janata Party national presi-dent Amit Shah reviewed thepreparedness for election in theAwadh region and asked partyworkers to focus on backwardsand Dalits and also discussedcandidates for Gorakhpur andDeoria seats.

The meeting continued till3:30 in the morning and wasattended by Chief MinisterYogi Adityanath, BJP state pres-ident Mahendra Nath Pandey,party’s Lok Sabha poll in-charge and Union minister JPNadda, state general secretary(organisation) Sunil Bansaland senior leaders and in-charges of different regions.

Pandey said that AmitShah reviewed the prepared-ness of the party in 16 parlia-mentary constitutes that fall inAwadh region. The party work-ers were asked to get in touchwith the beneficiaries of differ-ent government welfareschemes with focus on Dalitsand backwards.

The 16 constituencies dis-cussed in the meeting areLucknow, Mohanlalganj, Rae

Bareli, Unnao, Sitapur,Dhaurahra, Lakhimpur Kheri,Hardoi, Mishrikh, Faizabad,Barabanki, Ambedkarnagar,Gonda, Shravasti, Beahraichand Kaiserganj. Except RaeBareli, all other seats were wonby the BJP in the 2014 election.

Pandey said Shah alsoreviewed the booth level prepa-ration and directed party work-ers to strengthen booths.

“The party national presi-dent also sought groundreports of all the constituenciesof the Awadh region anddirected the leaders to intensi-fy campaigning and co-ordi-nate with the booth-level work-ers,” Pandey said.

“Our target is to win 74seats this time and we willachieve that target,” he said.

The leaders also discussedcandidates for Gorakhpur,Deoria and some other seats tobe left for the NDA partners.

“This is a minor issue. Wehave our list ready and afterdeliberations with our allies wewill declare the candidates forGorakhpur and Deoria,” hesaid

The BJP president left forTelangana on Tuesday morn-ing.

PNS n LUCKNOW

The Congress received a shotin the arm when Bhim

Army chief ChandrashekharAzad ‘Ravan’ extended his sup-port to party candidate ImranMasood, who is contesting fromSaharanpur Lok Sabha seat.

He has appealed to mem-bers of the community to votefor the Congress candidate inSaharanpur.

The move, which can upsetthe BSP-SP-RLD alliance ,comes days after BSP supremoMayawati described BhimArmy founder as a “BJP agent”and accused him of trying todivide Dalit votes.

The BSP-SP-RLD alliancehas fielded Faizul Rehman fromSaharanpiur. Sitting BJP MP

Raghav Lakhanpal is seeking re-election from the constituency.

Meanwhile, Congress gen-eral secretary Priyanka GandhiVadra silenced BJP supporterswho were shouting `ModiModi’ during her roadshow inBijnor on Tuesday.

In return of throwing ofCongress flag and chants of‘Modi, Modi’ by BJP supporters,the Congress star campaignerthrew petals and flowers onthem, asking them to raise theslogan more louder.

However as someCongressmen scuffled andshouted `Chowkidar chor hai’,the local administration chased

away the trouble-makers beforethe situation turned ugly.

Subsequently, the roadshowpassed off peacefully withCongress supporters showering

flower petals on their leaders.Priyanka, first held a road-

show in Bijnor along withCongress candidate and MLCNaseemuddin Siddique onTuesday morning and soughtsupport for the party candidates.

Later, Priyanka went toSaharanpur, where she joinedCongress candidate ImranMasood for another roadshowfrom Gol Kothi to Qutub Sher,covering around 2 kilometres.

The Congress leader alsotouched the Kairana Lok Sabhaseat by attending a welcomeprogramme by the leadersbefore leaving for New Delhi bya chopper.

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Notice is hereby given by the undersignedfor and on behalf of LlC Housing Finance Ltd. AreaOffice, Shahnazaf road, Lucknow pursuant toCircular No. 422/Annexure-E of LIC HFL that theOriginal sale deed dated 24-04-2002 executed byJaved S/o-Shafeek Ahmad in favour of KaleemKhan S/o-Late Saleem Khan The said sale deedis registered in the office of Sub RegistrarLucknow in Book No.1, Volume 957 on pages285/302 Serial No. 2790 in respect to Plot No.8 Khasra No. 482 area 1500 sq.ft. Sitauted atBaraura Husainbari, Ward-Kanhaiyamadavpur,Lucknow has been lost by its present owner RaziyaKhatton W/o -Late Mohd. Adeel That Raziya KhattonW/o-Late Mohd. Adeel has applied for housing loanfor which has proposed the said property to be mort-gaged by depositing aforesaid Original sale deeddated 24.04.2002 with LIC HFL and as such anyperson claiming to be the said property covered bythe said document may file claim before me with-in 15 days from the date of publication of notice fail-ing which it will be presumed that the property inquestion is free from any encumbrance and anyclaim in respect thereof against the applicant asmortgagee shall be void and ineffective after thelapse of 15 days of publication of the notice.

Mahendra Mohan Mishra, Advocate Chamber : Shop No. 11 & 12, Ground Floor, Krishna Tower, NearCMO Office, Kaiserbagh, Lucknow, Mob : 9415426914, 9559985554

NOTICE

Prestige of three ministers

at stake in 1st phase poll

Shah asks UP BJP to focus on backward, Dalit voters

Katheria wife files papers asindependent candidate

Campaigning for 1st phase poll ends

Bhim Army to support Cong in Saharanpur

PGV silences BJP supporters

Poll notification for fifth phase today

Lucknow (PTI): The Election Commission on Tuesday saidthe notification for the fifth phase of Lok Sabha elections inUP covering 14 parliamentary constituencies would be issuedon Wednesday. A statement issued by the EC here said the par-liamentary constituencies going to polls in the fifth phase wereDhaurahra, Sitapur, Mohanlalganj (SC), Lucknow, Raebareli,Amethi, Banda, Fatehpur, Kaushambi, Barabanki (SC),Ayodhya (earlier known as Faizabad), Bahraich (SC), Kaisarganjand Gonda. Candidates will be able to file their nominationpapers till April 18. Scrutiny of nomination papers will be doneon April 20, while April 22 is the last date to withdraw the can-didature. Voting will be held on May 6 from 7 am to 6 pm.


PIONEER NEWS SERVICE n LUCKNOW

The stage is all set for thefiling of nominations forthe two Lok Sabha con-

stituencies of Lucknow dis-trict at Collectorate fromWednesday. District MagistrateKaushal Raj Sharma gavedetails of the preparationsmade in this regard.

“There have been twoquadrant arrangements madewith barricading — one whichis at the outer periphery ofCollectorate and the otherwhich is in the inner periphery.On both the peripheries, wewill be having the securityforces,” he said.

He said that the vehicles ofthose who were coming for fil-ing their nominations would beallowed only uptill the oldHigh Court Crossing. “Threevehicles can come up to thesecond level of barricadingwhich is just in front of theCollectorate. After that onlyfive people can come up to thenomination room. All thepremises have been providedwith CCTV coverage and noother person will be allowedinside it,” he said.

The DM said that one gateof Collectorate would be usedfor all the people who werecoming for filing the nomina-tions and the other one whichwas in front of the Revenuedepartment would be used bythe officials and the employees.

“The main gate of

Collectorate will be used onlyfor those who will come for fil-ing the nominations,” he said.He said that the channel gatewhich led to the prosecutionoffice would be used for theLucknow Lok Sabha con-stituency and the main porchgate would be used for theMohanlalganj Lok Sabha con-stituency. He said that all theplaces had been barricaded.

“The gallery which is hav-ing both the rooms of nomina-tion will also be guarded by thebarricading. Police personnelwill be deployed here. Onedeputy level officer has beenmade incharge here,” he added.

Giving further details, hesaid, “When the person enterson the right side the ADM,trans-Gomti court room will beused for the nomination

process of the Mohanlalganjconstituency and the DM’scourt room which is on the leftside will be used for theLucknow Lok Sabha con-stituency,” he added.

He said that the nomina-tion process would begin at 11am and conclude by 3 pm.“The filing of nominations willtake place on 6 days and threedays will be holidays which willinclude April 13, 14 and 17.After 3 pm on April 18 therooms will be closed and thosewho are inside them will beable to file their candidature.After April 18 we will do thescrutiny of all the nominationpapers on April 20. It will startat 11 am on April 20 and thesame day we will declare whoare the validly-nominated can-didates.

The DM said that theinvalid nomination paperswould be rejected and if all thefour nomination papers of anyperson were found invalid thenhis or her nomination wouldalso be invalid. “April 22 will bethe date of withdrawal of nom-ination papers and up to 3 pmthe candidate can withdrawthem. On April 22 eveningwe will allot the poll symbols tothe candidates and immediate-ly after that we will prepare thenomination papers and sendthe ballot papers for printing,”he said. He further said thattwo types of ballot paperswould be sent for printing.“The first will be for the EVMsand the second for the postalballot.” The District Magistratereviewed the preparations forthe filing of nominations.

Missing Dalit youth

found murdered


Amissing Dalit youth was found murdered ina mango grove located about a kilometre away

from his house in Maal on Tuesday morning. Irateresidents blocked the main road for traffic move-ment for hours and raised slogans against thepolice. Police had to work hard to control the sit-uation. The incident created a tense situation inthe locality with supporters from both the sidesthreatened one another of serious consequencesin the time to come. The deceased was identifiedas Vinod of Salehnagar of Maal and worked as acontractual employee at a bank in the locality.Vinod was married to Gayatri about a month back.

As per reports, Vinod left his house onMonday night for the police station after he wascalled by his friends, who were pursuing a case ofroad mishap, reported on Monday night in the vil-lage. “Vinod did not return home since Mondaynight. On Tuesday morning, we were told that hewas lying dead in a mango grove owned by AnoopAwasthi in the village. We reached the scene andfound Vinod lying dead in a pool of blood,”deceased’s brother Santosh said.

He added that he was told by some villagersthat Vinod was at Maal police station between8 pm and 9.30 pm on Monday and left for hishouse in Salehnagar after that. “I was told thatVinod was accompanying Sushil, Rinku andAnoop on Monday night and later disappeared,”Santosh claimed. He alleged that Sushil, Anoopand Rinku killed Vinod in connection with someold rivalry. The news of Vinod’s death flew thickand fast and several local leaders assembled atthe scene to give the issue a political colour. Soona huge number of villagers in support to thedeceased assembled at the scene. They put thecorpse on the road and blocked it as a mark ofprotest. The mob later started sloganeeringagainst the police blaming them for the poor lawand order and failing to save lives of innocents.“Every day, someone is being killed or assault-ed by goons. The cops are hapless and unable toinitiate action. Sometimes the cops do not ini-tiate action under pressure of senior officials orpolitical persons,’ they alleged. The sources inPolice department said the incident might haveserious political consequence in the time to come.“The deceased belongs to a Dalit communitywhile the accused come from upper caste.There is a long standing rivalry between them,”the sources said. Police spokesman AK Dwivedisaid a case of murder was registered against theabove named accused. “The police had alsoslapped SC/ST Act on the accused and MalihabadCO is investigating the case,” he added.

Nominations for 2 Lok Sabha

constituencies begin today

Tight securitymeasures in place

Barricades installed outside Collectorate on Tuesday for filing of nomination papers Pioneer


In a tragic incident, a two-year-old girl died after she fell

down on the ground whilegoing along with her aunt anda speeding tractor rolled overher in Sarojini Nagar onTuesday evening leading to afrenzy among commuters whoblocked the road causing thetraffic to come a standstill forhours. Gudia of Munshi Khedain Sarojini Nagar, along with hernieces Roshni (2) and Neha(13), was returning home on ascooty. When she reached nearTata Motors, the driver of a sta-tioned SUV suddenly openedthe doors. Not prepared for thesudden act of the SUV driver,Gudia got her scooty rammedinto the doors. Due to theimpact, Roshni sitting in the

middle between Gudia andNeha was thrown away and felldown on the right side of theroad. In the meantime, a trac-tor whizzed past the road androlled over Roshni crushingher to death on the spot.

Commuters assembled atthe spot out of curiosity andwhen they learnt about theincident an angry outburst fol-lowed. They blocked the roadand lunged at the tractor driverwho fled the scene sensingdanger. The mob then turned tothe SUV and on finding the dri-ver absent, they vent their ire onsome vehicle parked therethrowing stones on them. Atimely action by the policehelped in checking the publicoutrage. Police are investigatingthe case. “Gudia and Neha alsosuffered injuries and they were

provided medical care,” thepolice spokesman said.

Meanwhile, mutilated bodyof an unidentified man wasrecovered from railway tracks inGosainganj on Tuesday. Policesaid the station master of

Anoopganj informed themabout the incident. “Police failedto ascertain the identity of theman,. We are sending the detailsto different police stations toascertain the identity of thedeceased,” a spokesman said.

2-year-old girl run over by tractor

Police checking vehicles at Naka on Tuesday in view of the model code of conduct Pioneer


The wife of a jeweller wasfound hanging at her house

in Talkatora police station areaon Tuesday. Police said thewoman committed suicide andthe body was sent for autopsy.Police did not recover any sui-cide note. An investigation isunderway. As per reports, Varsha(35) of Rajajipuram was marriedto Prateek Gupta who runs hisjewellery shop in Talkatora. Thecouple had a 14-year-old sonfrom the marriage. On Tuesdaymorning, the couple had a ver-bal spat over some issue afterwhich Varsha went to her room.A little later, Prateek went to seeVarsha in the room. He foundthat the room was locked frominside and Varsha was notresponding to the calls. He gotapprehensive and peeped insidethrough a slit in the window onlyto find Varsha hanging from theceiling with a saree tied aroundher neck. “The family broke thedoors and brought Varsha downfrom the noose. Prateek andother members in family rushedVarsha to Trauma Centre ofKGMU where she died a littlelater,” the police said. Police said

prima facie it seemed to be a caseof suicide. “We did not get anycomplaint from the parents ofthe woman. It seemed thatVarsha ended her life followingthe verbal spat she had with herhusband. We are waiting for theautopsy report. If somethingfishy surfaces, the police willinvestigate the case,” the policespokesman said.

SET AFIRE A woman set herself afire in

connection with a family discordat her house in Hussainganj onTuesday afternoon. Seeing herengulfed in fire, her husbandtried to save her and he sufferedburns in the process. Both hadbeen admitted to Civil Hospitalwhere the woman’s conditionwas stated to be serious.

As per reports, Pooja Sonkarof Chitwapur Pajawan localityhad a dispute with her husbandSachin on a petty issue afterwhich she set herself afire.Sachin, who hardly had anyinkling that Pooja would take adrastic step, was petrified to seeher engulfed in flames. But hetried to save her and got both hishands burnt too. On the call ofthe residents, the police reachedthe scene and both were rushedto Civil Hospital. “Pooja was crit-ical but Sachin had simpleinjuries. The police are investi-gating the case,” the policespokesman said. He said Sachintold police that he had a verbalspat after which Pooja took thestep. “The couple had married 11years back and have two chil-dren,” he added.

Jeweller’s wife foundhanging in house


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LMRC to award

tenders for

property dev

at stations

Lucknow (PNS):Lucknow Metro RailCorporation (LMRC) will beawarding tenders in the nextfive days for over five stationsfor property development. Asenior LMRC official said itwas being done to make theprovision of food courts at thestations so that commuterscould have something to eat.

“The spaces will be allo-cated at Lekhraj, KD Singhand few other stations,” hesaid. He added that they woulddo it for a few stations to beginwith and take up more stationsin the coming days.

“We cannot begin withmany stations at one gobecause then the propertyprices will be low. If we do itin one go, we will get very lit-tle returns, therefore, we areselectively picking up five orsix locations before we followwith other locations. This way,people will realise that theseare commercial properties andthe rates will go up,” he added.


AMedical Council Of Indiateam visited KGMU’s

Respiratory and Pulmonarydepartment to assess the DMcourse being introduced for thefirst time. Meanwhile, CSIR-AMPRI (Bhopal) and KGMUjoined hands to take up jointwork to develop radiation-shielding materials useful forthe society.

“As on today, the appliancesavailable in the market are notonly costly but also contain leadwhich may be carcinogenic.CSIR-AMPRI is in the area ofadvanced material researchand processes. Both the organ-isations signed an MoU today

and the document wasexchanged. Heads of both theorganisations — KGMU Vice-Chancellor Dr MLB Bhatt andCSIR-AMPRI director AKSrivastava — were present onthe occasion. Dr Bhatt laidemphasis on the developmentof radiation-shielding materi-al which should be cost-effec-tive as well as non-hazardous.This technology is energy-sav-ing and environment-friendly,and very low energy is requiredto manufacture this new classof hybrid radiation-shieldingmaterials. The major row mate-rials required for making thismaterial is red mud which isbauxite residue generated inaluminium industry.

Lucknow (PNS): KingGeorge’s Medical Universityand Arogya Bharti organised aworkshop on Suvarna Prashan.Around 30 experts andresearchers from various disci-plines of Allopathy, Ayurvedaand Homeopathy assembled todiscuss benefits of SuvarnaPrashan on the health of chil-dren. The workshop was inau-gurated by KGMU Vice-Chancellor Dr MLB Bhatt,national organising secretary ofArogya Bharti Dr Ashok

COACHES FLAGGED OFF

The first rake of 24 coaches of thefinancial year 2019-20 was flagged offfrom MCF by general manager SuneetSharma. This will replace the existing rakeof Brahmputra Mail 14055/56 runningbetween Dibrugarh and Delhi.

BIRTH ANNIVERSARYThe Lucknow chapter of National

Academy of Sciences (NASI) celebratedthe 125th birth anniversary of ProfMeghnad Saha, an internationally

renowned astrophysicist and founder-president of NASI, at Biotech Park onTuesday. Chairman of NASI (Lucknow)and CEO of Biotech Park Pramod Tandonsaid the idea to bring scientists togetherto discuss and find solutions to the prob-lems of the country was mooted by ProfSaha and thus, the academy was estab-lished in 1930. Physicist Ajoy Ghatakfrom IIT-Delhi delivered a talk on ProfSaha and gave a brief account of his con-tributions. In addition to his theory ofthermal ionisation, he established manyscientific institutions like Institute ofNuclear Physics (now known as SahaInstitute of Nuclear Physics), PositionalAstronomy Centre, Jadavpur Campus ofIndian Association of Cultivation ofSciences and CSIR-Central Glass CeramicResearch Institute.

MEETINGGeneral manager of Union Bank of

India Lal Singh was the chief guest at a

t w o - d a yR aj b h a s h areview meet-ing onTuesday. Theaim was toreview theuse of Hindi language in day-to-day func-tioning in the previous financial year(2018-19) and also to discuss the plan tomake Hindi more popular.


Horticulture is attractingstudents for research and

entrepreneurship develop-ment evidenced by an increas-ing number of students visit-ing Central Institute forSubtropical Horticulture.Sixty-nine students of MSc(Botany and Plant Science)from Lucknow University vis-ited CISH as a part of theiracademic requirement. “Thestudents were fascinated to seedifferent laboratories of theinstitute and were excited withdozens of processed productsmade by the post-harvest divi-sion. Mushroom-growingis becoming a hobby for citydwellers and students had agood exposure to the processin limited space and resources.An appreciable number ofhealth conscious studentsshowed interest in oil-lessmango pickle,” CISH directorShailendra Rajan said. The labvisit enhanced the inquisi-tiveness of the students aboutresearch in agriculture fieldand many of them showedinterest in pursuing PhD in

the institute. “CISH is provid-ing free-of-cost laboratoryfacilities to all the universitiesin National AgricultureResearch System. Many ofthe traditional university stu-dents are also eager to pursuetheir PG and PhD pro-grammes. The visit of thestudents not only benefitedthem by getting first-hand

information, but also helpedin fulfilling the objective ofICAR to attract meritoriousstudents towards agriculturalsciences,” Rajan said. Hepointed out that exposure wasalso useful for identifying theareas in which students couldconduct research at CISH.

“CISH has scientists notonly in horticulture discipline

but also in many allied fields,including biotechnology.Some of the students want tohave specialised training onhydroponics facilities devel-oped at the institute. Someothers were interested to knowthe methods for improvingquality and increasing stora-bility of various products,”the CISH director pointed out.


Actor Yunus Khan, whowas the celebrity guest at

the International Children’sFilm Festival (ICCF) organ-ised by City MontessoriSchool, said he was happy tobe a part of the event. Yunus,who belongs to Lucknow,said he shifted to the filmindustry after he was select-ed as a fresh face at a compe-tition in Mumbai.

“I have two films in thekitty. One is a Bengali film, atypical Romeo-Juliet saga,while the other (Hindi) is

based on a mental disorder,”he said. An alumnus of LaMartiniere, Yunus said heloved to have his favouritefood, including the famouskebabs, when he was in hishometown. Actor ShahbazKhan also appreciated thefilm fest. “I think it is a greatinitiative by Mr JagdishGandhi. It shows how smallthe world is. I was telling thechildren they are lucky to bewatching 1700 films from101 countries of the world,”he said.

About his forthcomingprojects, Khan said there was

a film on male child abuseand it would be showcasedafter elections. “We havemade this film because thereare several instances offemale abuses but we hardlyfocus on male abuse. Thisfilm will highlight this sensi-tive issue,” he said.

Regarding the abrupt clo-sure of his show ‘Saleem-Anarkali’, he said somethingwent wrong between the pro-ducers and director whichlead to the unhappy ending.

Meanwhile, organiserssaid 550 educational filmswere being screened at theevent and being enjoyed bychildren coming from bothrural and urban areas. Earlier,the sixth day of ICFF beganwith ‘10 Cool Keys’ directedby Ahmad H Shaikh. Otherfilms included ‘Inside Time’,‘The Shepherd of the Stars’,‘Humari Paltan’, ‘Lesson ofJoy’, ‘Apna Shahar’, ‘Phantom’,‘The Border’, ‘Chup ChupRehti Beti’, ‘An Idea to Savethe Playground’, ‘Ravi’, ‘TheSparrow Kids’, etc.


After entering the poll frayfrom Wayanad in Kerala,

Congress president RahulGandhi will file his nominationpapers for Amethi onWednesday while his motherand United ProgressiveAlliance chairperson SoniaGandhi will file her nominationfrom Rae Bareli the next day.Rahul Gandhi, who was cam-paigning in Assam, Bihar andOdisha on Tuesday, will fly toRae Bareli after completinghis rallies in the evening andstay at the Bhue Mau guesthouse in the night.

“Rahul Gandhi is expectedto meet some selected partyleaders from Amethi and RaeBareli on Tuesday night to dis-cuss the situation in these twoconstituencies,” sources said.

UP Congress spokesmanAmarnath Agarwal said hereon Tuesday that Rahul Gandhiwould file his nominationpapers around 12:30 pm onWednesday after holding a 14-

km roadshow from Gauriganjto Amethi along with his sisterPriyanka Gandhi Vadra. Bothwill have a night halt in RaeBareli guest house and onThursday, they will join theirmother Sonia Gandhi, whenshe files her nomination papersfor Rae Bareli constituency.Sonia Gandhi could also holda brief roadshow in Rae Barelibefore filing her nominationpapers. Rahul Gandhi, who isalso contesting from Wayanadconstituency in Kerala, is pit-ted against Union TextilesMinister Smriti Irani, who iscontesting from Amethi onBharatiya Janata Party ticket.In the 2014 Lok Sabha polls,Rahul Gandhi had defeatedIrani by over one lakh vote. InRae Bareli, the BJP has fieldedan old Congressman, MLCDinesh Pratap Singh, againstSonia Gandhi making the con-test interesting. In the 2014election, Sonia Gandhi haddefeated BJP’s Ajay Agarwal byover four lakh votes. TheSamajwadi Party and the

Bahujan Samaj Party have notfielded any candidate in theCongress bastions Amethi andRae Bareli. Polling in bothAmethi and Rae Bareli con-stituencies will be held in thefifth phase on May 6. The nom-inations for this phase willcommence from April 10.Sonia Gandhi will be contest-ing the Rae Bareli Lok Sabhaswat for the fifth time. She hadwon the seat in 2004, 2006(bypolls), 2009 and 2014 afterleaving the Amethi seat for herson Rahul Gandhi. A Nehru-Gandhi family borough, RaeBareli has been represented bySonia’s mother-in-law IndiraGandhi in the fourth and fifthLok Sabha. Similarly, theAmethi seat, too, is the Nehru-Gandhi bastion, and RahulGandhi is being elected fromthe seat since 2004. Rahul’sfather Rajiv Gandhi was elect-ed from Amethi for a decadefrom 1981 to 1991 and after hisassassination, Sonia Gandhiwas elected from Amethi in1999.

BSP announces 5

more candidates

Lucknow (PNS): BahujanSamaj Party on Tuesday releasedits third list of five candidates forUttar Pradesh Lok Sabha polls.With this, the BSP hasannounced the names of its 22candidates. As per the seat-sharing formula finalised bythe SP-BSP-RLD alliance forUP, the party will contest 37seats. According to sources inthe party here, “Of the five can-didates announced, one is forreserved seat and the remainingfour for general seats.”

They are: Arshad AhmedSiddique from Dhaurahra,Nakul Dubey from Sitapur, CLVerma from Mohanlalganj(reserved), Sukhdeo Prasadfrom Fatehpur and ChandraDeo Yadav from Kaiserganj.

BSP workers had opposedthe candidature of Nakul Dubeyfrom Sitapur, saying he was anoutsider as the former UPminister, hails from Lucknow.BSP had released the names of11 candidates in its first list onMarch 22 and of six candidatesin the second list announced onApril 1. Meanwhile, Mayawatiwill again campaign in otherstates from Wednesday to seekvotes for the party candidates.


Much to the relief to thosedoing rounds of police

stations to get their complaintsrelated to cyber crime regis-tered, the Lucknow policedecided to open a cyber fraud registration cell atHazratganj Kotwali. The cellwill address the complaintscoming from anywhere in thecity. It will refer cases to thepolice station concerned ifthere is any such need.

“The special cell will dealwith all complaints related tocyber crime/ fraud and thecops manning the cell willexpedite the probe into cases,”Hazratganj CO AK Mishrasaid. He added the already

existing cyber cell will dealthose cases which were com-pletely of cyber crime nature.

“In the cyber fraud cases,usually a case of fraud is regis-tered. There is a need of regis-tration of a case under IT Actin such cases too. This way, wewill lessen the cyber crime,” hesaid. Police spokesman AKDwivedi said the cyber fraudregistration cell would entertaincomplaints from residents ofLucknow and in cases in whichfraud had taken place inLucknow. “The officials man-ning the cell will study thecomplaints and decide thecourse of action accordingly,”he said. He added that the cellwould be functional in a cou-ple of days.

CITYBRIEFS

Varshnay, Dr Ramesh Gautam,Dr Madhusudhan Deshpandeyand others. The keynote addresswas presented by Dr Hitesh Janifrom Jamnagar, Gujarat. DrBhatt pointed out that no caseof Japanese encephalitis (JE) oracute encephalitis syndrome(AES) infection had beenreported in Bharsar, Sahjanwa,Gorakhpur in 2018 post theadministration of SuvarnaPrashan.

“Bharsar was an area whichwas highly affected by JE andAES in the past. The campswere organised by SocialOutreach Cell under the guid-ance of Dr Sandeep Tiwari andAyurvedacharya AbhayNarayan Tiwari,” he said.

There was signif icantdecline in diarrhoea, typhoid,dysentery, pneumonia, fever,cough & cold and skin diseasesas reported by medical officer,PHC (Bharsar), Dr Rudra SenSingh.Dr Abhay NarayanTiwari said after the SuvarnaPrashan administration, therewas significant gain in weight ofchildren, increase in haemoglo-bin even as kids performedwell in sports activities.

Workshop on Suvarna Prashan organised

Lucknow Univ students visit CISH Cyber fraud cellto be launchedat Ganj Kotwali

KGMU signs MoU

with CSIR-AMPRIYunus Khan: Happy to be

a part of kids’ film festival

Author Hari Om Sharma presenting his book 'KaiseBanein Safal Mata-Pita’ to actor Shahbaz Khan

Rahul to file nomination papers in Amethi today

LUCKNOW | WEDNESDAY | APRIL 10, 2019 nation 05

RAJESH KUMAR n NEW DELHI

Two days after it "stronglyadvised" the Finance

Ministry to ensure that allenforcement agencies under itbe "absolutely neutral, impartialand non-discriminatory" whilecracking down on illicit moneyuse in elections, the Departmentof Revenue on Tuesday wrote tothe poll watchdog stating thatthe searches were conducted onthe basis of reliable tip-offs andasserted that its actions werealways "neutral", "impartial" and"non-discriminatory" irrespec-tive of any political affiliation.

The Election Commission(EC), for its part, summoned PCMody, chairman of the CentralBoard of Direct Taxes (CBDT)and Revenue Secretary, ABPandey, to discuss the ongoingincome tax raids amid allega-tions by the Congress that theruling BJP was using enforce-ment agencies to target it dur-ing the poll season. So far, theagencies have carried out 55raids across the country. TheIncome Tax Department,Enforcement Directorate andDirectorate of RevenueIntelligence are the executivearms of the RevenueDepartment dealing with finan-cial crimes.

In response to a letter fromVivek Batra, Director (EE) of theEC, Deputy Secretary(Headquarters andAdministration) of Departmentof Revenue, Arvind Saran saidthat it had shared "specificinformation" with the IncomeTax department about illicitmoney in the electoral process."…the department fully agreeswith the observations that thereis a need to conduct operationsruthlessly to contain this mal-practice," the letter said.

The EC's advice had comein the backdrop of the IncomeTax Department's raids inMadhya Pradesh on Sundayand in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu,and Andhra Pradesh in therecent past on Oppositionpoliticians and people con-nected to them.

On the meeting withRevenue Secretary and CBDTchairman, an EC spokespersonsaid that issues arising out of theadvisory of the ElectionCommission of India dated07.04.2019 regarding all enforce-ment actions being neutral,impartial and non-discrimina-tory and its implementationwere discussed in detail.

The CBDT said the depart-ment has also detected a trail of`20 crore suspect cash alleged-ly being moved to the "head-quarters of a major politicalparty in Delhi" from the houseof an important person wholives on Tughlaq Road, home tomany VIPs.

In its letter, the Departmentof Revenue urged the EC toadvise its field officers to take"immediate action" if they comeacross any specific informationabout the use of illicit money inthe electoral process.

"It is the responsibility of theElection Commission as also ofthe revenue agencies to checkand eventually eliminate theuse of unaccounted money inelection, we would also like tourge the Election Commissionto advise its field officersinvolved in the enforcement ofthe model code of conduct totake immediate enforcementaction at their end under the

election and other appropriatelaws, if they come across anyspecific information about theuse of illicit money in electoralprocesses. They may also, ifdeemed fit, pass on the infor-mation confidentially to IncomeTax department for taking fur-ther necessary action," Saranwrote in the letter.

The EC in its letter toRevenue Secretary had on April7 "strongly advised" the depart-ment that any action by itsenforcement agencies duringthe election time should be"neutral" and "non-discrimina-tory" and officials of the shouldbe kept in the loop about suchactions.

EC calls CBDT chairman, Revenue Secy

PNS n NEW DELHI

The CPI(M) on Tuesdaywrote to the Election

Commission on Tuesday alleg-ing violation of the poll panel'sdirective after Prime MinisterNarendra Modi at a rally inMaharashtra asked first-timevoters to dedicate their votes tothe brave men who carried outthe air strike in Pakistan'sBalakot. In the letter, the party'spolitburo member NilotpalBasu urged the EC to "strong-ly initiate" appropriate action tostop the pre-election atmos-phere from being vitiated,which is fast degeneratingtowards polarisation.

"With deep anguish, we aredrawing your attention to thelatest violation of Model Codeof Conduct (MCC) by thePrime Minister, NarendraModi. He is also violating thespecific direction of theElection Commission to refrainfrom invoking the armed forcesfor seeking votes," Basu wrote.

Addressing an electionrally in Maharashtra's Latur,Modi said, "I want to tell thefirst time voters, can you ded-icate your first vote to the thebrave men who carried out theairstrike in Pakistan's Balakot?"Can your first vote be dedi-cated to the brave martyrs ofthe Pulwama (terror attack)?"

In another development,the EC ordered the transfer ofpolice chief of West Bengal'sCooch Behar and postedanother officer in his placeahead of polling in the districton April 11.

The EC ordered the trans-fer of Superintendent of Police,Cooch Behar, Abhishek Gupta,and replaced him with AmitKumar Singh. The transferorders came ahead of thepolling in the district onThursday.

The Trinamool Congresswrote to the Chief ElectionCommissioner on the transfersaying its decision was "arbi-trary, motivated and biased".

TO DISCUSS I-T RAIDS

PNS n NEW DELHI

Vice Admiral Bimal Verma,who filed a petition in the

Armed Forces Tribunal(AFT)seeking reasons for gettingoverlooked for the Navy chief 'spost despite being the seniormost, withdrew his plea hereon Tuesday after the Tribunalasked him to first appeal beforethe Navy. If not satisfied afterexploring "internal remedies,"he can approach the Tribunal,Verma was told.

The Government onMarch 23 announced that ViceAdmiral Karambir Singh, nowheading the EasternCommand, will be the newChief after incumbent AdmiralSunil Lanba retires on May 31.Singh is the second seniormost officer and the govern-ment for the second timebypassed the tradition ofappointing the senior mostofficer for the top job. In 2016,Bipin Rawat was made theArmy Chief superseding seniormost Lt General Pravin Bakshi.

Verma, commander-in-chief of the strategically impor-tant tri-Service Andaman andNicobar Command,approached the Armed ForcesTribunal (AFT) on Monday,asking why he was overlookedas the next Navy chief despitebeing the senior-most in theline of command.

However, the officer with-drew his petition after the AFTjudges asked him to firstexplore "internal remedies" forhis grievances. The Tribunalalso said Verma should alsofirst file a statutory complaintwith the Defence Ministry asper the Navy Act, sources saidadding the judges also said itwas not an extraordinary situ-ation which warranted admis-sion before the AFT. Verma'sdaughter Rhea along withsenior counsel Ankur Chibberappeared on behalf of the Navyofficer. Incidentally, Verma isthe brother of former Navychief Nirmal Verma.

The superseded officer's

lawyers asked the judges toorder the government toaddress his concerns in a timebound manner. However, thejudges refused his request, stat-ing that they do not act asadvisers to the Government ofIndia.

While announcing Singh'sname for the top navy post, thegovernment had said the selec-tion was made following amerit-based approach. Thismeant that the tradition ofpicking the senior most for theChief 's post was ignored.

Besides Verma, the seniormost officer in the race for theNavy chief 's post, other con-tenders were Vice Chief ofNaval Staff Vice Admiral GAshok Kumar, WesternCommand chief Vice AdmiralAjit Kumar and SouthernCommand chief Vice AdmiralAnil Kumar Chawla.

On reasons for overlookingVerma, sources had said he hadhe had not commanded aschief of operationally impor-tant Western and EasternCommands and these tenuresare considered very importantfor selecting the Navy chief.

He was reportedly over-looked for these postings as hewas the principal director ofnaval operations during the2005 Naval War Room leak inNew Delhi. Several criticalcommercial and some opera-tional documents were leaked.Verma came under scrutiny butwas cleared with a "severe dis-pleasure" note. He later servedas India's naval attaché in Iranand also commanded a ship.Verma retires in Novemberthis year.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Union Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba onTuesday said the next Census of 2021

will see the use of mobile app for data col-lection and enumerators can use this facili-ty to speed up the process. A total of 33 lakhenumerators, the persons who conduct doorto door counting, would be mobilised for datacollection for which notification has alreadybeen issued, he said at a conference of cen-sus data users here. He was addressing theseminar organised by Registrar General ofIndia on the forthcoming census in 2021.

The home secretary said Census is notjust an exercise of head count but it also pro-vides invaluable socio-economic data whichforms credible basis for informed policy for-mulation and allocation of resources.Thechanging demographics and socio-economicparameters reflected by the census helps inreformulation of country's plans for the eco-nomic development and welfare schemes forits people, he said.

Gauba said the census data caters to theconstitutional requirement of delimitation ofconstituencies and reservation of seats for SCsand STs. The home secretary also urged forexercising caution while using technology fordata collection in Census 2021 and stressedthat data confidentiality should be main-tained. He asked the participants - repre-

sentatives from ministries of central and stategovernments, academic institutions andinternational organisations — to deliberateon the strategy and questionnaire for the cen-sus to maximise the benefits from this exer-cise.

Registrar General of India and CensusCommissioner Vivek Joshi said the Census2021 will be conducted in two phases.

In the first phase, house listing operationswould be conducted in any two months cho-sen by the states between April andSeptember in 2020.In the second phase, actu-al population enumeration would be doneduring February 9-28, 2021, followed by therevision round from March 1-5, 2021.InJammu and Kashmir and snow bound areasof Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand,population enumeration would be conduct-ed during September 11-30, 2020, followedby the revision round from October 1-5,2020, Joshi said.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Tuesdaysaid Prime Minister Narendra Modi is

"scared" of debating with him on corruptionissues, particularly pertaining to Rafale scam,which, according to his party, is the the biggestdefence corruption scandal of IndependentIndia.

Rahul has been repeatedly daring Modi todebate with him on issues of national security,especially the Rafale fighter jets deal, assertingthat when it happens, the truth will be out inthe open.

The BJP has, however, ridiculed theCongress chief 's idea and described him anignorant politician.

"Dear PM, Scared of debating me on cor-ruption? I can make it easier for you. Let's goopen book, so you can prepare: 1.RAFALE+Anil Ambani, 2. Nirav Modi, 3. AmitShah+Demonetisation," Rahul Gandhi tweet-ed with #Scared2Debate.

Later addressing a Press conference fol-lowing Rahul's tweet, a Congress spokesman

said PM Modi, who recently threw an enragedtantrum in a television interview on the ques-tion of Rafale scam , should accept this chal-lenge.

"Modiji who screams and scrams on theissue of Corruption must open his mouth onthe 'Loot & Scoot' of 28 Economic Offenderslike Nirav Modi, MehulChoksi, Vijay Mallya,Jatin Mehta among others who looted Rs 1 LakhCrore from our banks. Modiji must tell who inhis PMO was 'managing the money collections'during Demonetisation as shown in the videosting," said AICC spokesman Pawan Khera.

After releasing the Congress manifesto forthe Lok Sabha polls earlier this month, RahulGandhi had challenged the prime minister todebate with him on the issues of national secu-rity, corruption and foreign policy.

The Congress has also accused Modi ofhelping industrialist Anil Ambani make a prof-it of ̀ 30,000 crore by favouring him as the off-set partner in the Rafale deal.

The Government has denied any wrong-doing in the fighter jets deal. Ambani has alsorejected all allegations.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Bypoll to the Panaji Assemblyseat, which fell vacant fol-

lowing the demise of ManoharParrikar, will be held on May19. The Election Commission(EC) also announced bypolls tofour Assembly constituencies inTamil Nadu and one inKarnataka. The notification forthe six by-elections will beissued on April 22, which willstart the nomination process.

According to EC, thebypolls will be held on May 19,coinciding with the last phaseof the Lok Sabha elections.The counting will be held onMay 23, along with that of theparliamentary polls. Parrikarwas sworn-in as the Goa ChiefMinister in 2017 after he wonfrom Panaji. He had earlierbeen the defence Minister in thePrime Minister Narendra

Modi-led BJP Government.Incidentally, It will be the

second bypoll for PanajiAssembly seat since State pollsin 2017. The first one was inAugust that year after BJP MLASiddharth Kunkolienkarresigned from the House toallow Parrikar, then DefenceMinister, to become an MLA.Parrikar died of a pancreatic ail-ment on March 17.

The Assembly constituen-cies in Tamil Nadu where by-election was announced areSulur, Arevakurichi,Thiruparankundaram andOttapidaram. Kundgol inKarnataka will also go for abypoll. The bypoll was neces-sitated after KarnatakaMunicipal AdministrationMinister and three-time MLAfrom the constituency C SShivalli passed away in Marchdue to cardiac arrest.

Bypoll to seat held by

Parrikar on May 19

THE SEARCHES WERE CONDUCTED ON THE BASIS OF RELIABLETIP-OFFS AND ASSERTED THAT ITS ACTIONS WERE ALWAYS

‘NEUTRAL’, ‘IMPARTIAL’ AND ‘NON-DISCRIMINATORY’IRRESPECTIVE OF ANY POLITICAL AFFILIATION

—Revenue Dept

EC orders transfer of police chief of Bengal's Cooch Behar

Modi violated poll code, CPM writes to EC

CAN YOUR FIRST VOTE BEDEDICATED TO THE BRAVE

MARTYRS OF THE PULWAMA(TERROR ATTACK)?

—PM Modi

Vice Admiral Vermawithdraws petitionfrom tribunal

Rahul Gandhi throws open

‘book’ challenge to Modi

FROM THE SUPREME COURT

‘Census data likely to becollected using mobile app’

‘Spell out ‘ways and

means' for freeing

detained foreigners’New Delhi: The Supreme Courton Tuesday directed the AssamGovernment to apprise it of"ways and means" that can beadopted to release illegal for-eigners languishing in the State'sdetention centres for almost adecade.

Hearing a PIL filed byactivist Harsh Mander, throughadvocate Prashant Bhushan, onthe plight of foreign detenues,the court also took note of thestate's submissions that thecourt's "loaded observations"during the hearing of the casemay impact Lok Sabha polls inAssam.

It will now be heard onApril 25. A bench of ChiefJustice Ranjan Gogoi and jus-tices Deepak Gupta and SanjivKhanna decided to hear thematter after April 23, when thethree-phase polls in the stateconclude.

The plea has alleged thatprisoners are kept in detentionindefinitely because they are notIndians and are treated as "ille-gal aliens".

The apex court asked theAssam government to consultauthorities and file an affidaviton or before April 23, givingdetails of "ways and means" forreleasing over 900 illegal for-eigners who are languishing insix detention centres in thestate for nearly a decade.

It appointed senior appoint-ed Gaurav Bannerjee as amicuscuriae to assist it on the issue ofidentification and tracing illegalforeigners and their deportationto their country of origin.

The bench rejectedBhushan's submission thatBannerjee be asked to visit thedetention centres and submit areport on the living conditionthere. PTI

Petition seeking

stay on Modi

biopic dismissed

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesdaydismissed a petition filed by a Congressactivist seeking stay on the release of biopic onPrime Minister Narendra Modi saying theElection Commission would be an "appropri-ate" place to seek the redressal.

The apex court said it was not entertain-ing the petition for the stay on the release ofthe film as it was "premature" since the movieis yet to be certified by the Censor Board.

It said even if the film is released on April11, as claimed by the Congress activist, it willbe appropriate for him to seek a redressal fromthe Election Commission.

"We, therefore do not consider it fit toentertain the petition", said a bench compris-ing Chief justice Ranjan Gogoi and JusticesDeepak Gupta and Sanjiv Khanna.

The court had on Monday said that "anykind of order from the court will be possibleif the petitioner states and pleads what the filmis seeking to depict and his objections on thiscount".

The bench said the petitioner has beenunable to append the copy of the biopic andthe video clipping, which is a two minute trail-er, was not sufficient to assess that the filmwould influence or impact the upcoming gen-eral elections. PTI

CBI opposesLalu’s bail pleaNew Delhi: CBI on Tuesday vehemently opposedin the Supreme Court the bail plea of RJD supre-mo Lalu Prasad Yadav in the fodder scam casessaying that the ailing leader suddenly claimed tobe "fully fit" to undertake political activities in theupcoming Lok Sabha polls.

Yadav, who has been in hospital instead of jailfor last over eight months, has sought bail on med-ical grounds and for leading his party simultane-ously, CBI said while arguing that granting of bailto him would set "very wrong precedent" in casesinvolving "serious corruption in high offices".

Accusing Yadav of undertaking political activ-ities from a hospital in Ranchi, the probe agencysaid: "Simultaneous raising of pleas for bail on med-ical grounds and bail to guide the party and to carryout all essential responsibilities as a party presi-dent in ensuing Lok Sabha election are mutuallycontradictory and manifests that in the garb of bailon medical ground the petitioner in essence wantsto pursue his political activities which is imper-missible in law."

The bail plea of Yadav would come up for hear-ing on Wednesday before a bench headed by ChiefJustice Ranjan Gogoi.

"It is, in the most humble and respectful sub-mission of the investigating agency, a case wheregrant of bail would set a very wrong precedent incases involving a serious corruption in highoffices," CBI said. PTI

‘SSC paper leak:File case diary,status report’New Delhi: The Supreme Court onTuesday directed the CBI to file thecase diary and the status report ofthe investigation in the 2017 SSCexam paper leak case.

A bench headed by ChiefJustice Ranjan Gogoi said it willtake up the matter for hearing onApril 11.

The apex court on April 1allowed the Staff SelectionCommission (SSC) to declare theresult of a re-examination of SSCCombined Graduate Level (CGL)2017 held last year.

The top court had said thatlakhs of unemployed youths havesuffered because someone from theorganisation was corrupt.

The examination papers ofthe SSC CGL 2017 were allegedlyleaked, leading to huge protests

from job seekers for several days.Amid the protests, the SSC had

recommended a CBI probe into theallegations of paper leak.

On August 31 last year, theapex court stayed the declarationof result of the SSC CGL and CHSLExamination, in which lakhs of stu-dents had appeared, saying itseemed that the entire test and thesystem was "tainted". The apexcourt then favoured cancelling the2017 SSC examination, and hold-ing it afresh by the National TestingAgency or the CBSE "in the inter-est of students".

However, the Centre said thatthere was no need for re-exami-nation of entire paper as the leakwas "extremely localised" and thosebehind the leaks were identifiedand action was taken. PTI

Ayodhya land dispute:Nirmohi Akhara movesSC against Centre’s pleaNew Delhi: Nirmohi Akhara, one of the litigantsin the Ayodhya case, moved the Supreme Court onTuesday opposing the Centre's plea which seeks toreturn to the original owners the 67.390 acre of"non-disputed" land it had acquired around the dis-puted Ram Janambhoomi-Babri Masjid site.

The Allahabad High Court in 2010 had decid-ed that the 2.77-acre of disputed land at the sitewould be divided into three equal parts and willbe handed over to — Nirmohi Akhara, Sunni WaqfBoard, and Ram Lalla.

The Nirmohi Akhara, in its fresh plea, hasopposed the Centre's application by which it hadsought modification of the Supreme Court's 2003order so as to allow it to return to original ownersthe 67.390 acre of "non-disputed" acquired landaround the disputed site. The application has saidthat the Centre has proposed returning of acquiredland to Ram Janambhoomi Nyas (RJN) and thatthere are many temples on the acquired land andtheir rights would be affected if the land isreturned to one party. The apex court recentlyappointed mediators to find an amicable solutionto the vexatious land dispute. PTI

‘Driven out of home,women can file casefrom anywhere’New Delhi: Women can file matrimonialcases, including criminal matters pertainingto cruelty, from the place where they havetaken shelter after leaving or being driven outof their matrimonial home, the SupremeCourt said on Tuesday.

The apex court's verdict came on anappeal filed by Rupali Devi against theAllahabad High Court which dismissed herplea to file a dowry harassment case from herparents' house.

The high court order held that crueltypunishable under Section 498A of the IPC isnot a continuing offence, and thus cannotbe investigated or punished in a jurisdictionoutside the one in which the matrimonialhouse of the complainant is situated.

A bench headed by Chief Justice RanjanGogoi said the impact on the mental healthof the wife by "overt acts" by the husband orhis relatives, mental stress and trauma ofbeing driven away from the matrimonialhome cannot be ignored while understand-ing the meaning of "cruelty" in Section 498Aof the Indian Penal Code. PTI

LUCKNOW | WEDNESDAY | APRIL 10, 2019 06

SAUGAR SENGUPTA n KOLKATA

Mamata Banerjee onTuesday attacked Prime

Minister Narendra Modi call-ing him the “king (samrat) ofthe fascists” to remove whoseGovernment “is my one-pointagenda.”

The Bengal Chief Ministerwho picked up from where sheleft on Monday lambasting thesaffron brigade for “spreadingpolitics of hatred,” said Modiwho had his “baptism in poli-tics through riots and masskillings,” would have put evenAdolf Hitler to shame by his dic-tatorial ways and hateful politics.

“Even Hitler would havecommitted suicide if he werealive and seen his (Modi’s)style of politics,” Banerjee saidadding removal of the PrimeMinister from power was herone-point agenda.

“Throwing the BJP and itsliar Prime Minister out ofpower is my one point-pro-gramme,” Banerjee told aTrinamool Congress electionrally at Raiganj bordering Bihar.

The Chief Minister saidher party would play the pivotalrole in forming a Governmentin Delhi this time round. “TheCongress will not be able tomake a Government on its ownand the TMC will play a pivotal

role in forming the Governmentin Delhi. I wish success to otheranti-BJP parties like SP and BSPin UP,” she said.

Alleging that some pur-chased media houses were play-ing for the BJP she said the saf-fron outfit will “be defeated inBengal where they will get noseat, Bihar, Odisha, UP, MP,Rajasthan, Karnataka, TamilNadu, Kerala, Punjab” addingeven in “Gujarat they will be

only half successful.” So “fromwhere they will manage theirseats. It is just because of somepurchased media houses theyare making themselves rele-vant.”

Attacking the PrimeMinister for “deliveringuntruth” in his meetings andthrough his actions Banerjeesaid “when he came last timeasking for votes he called him-self a chaiwalla. But now when

much of that flavour is gone hecalls himself a chowkidar whilepeople say ‘chowkidar chor hei(watchman is thief).’”

However, “I say apart fromthat this chowkidar is also a liarwho offers promises not to deliv-er on them.” Asking the peopleto make a careful decisionBanerjee warned “if this personreturns to power he will finish allthe democratic institutions of thecountry. He will also drive awayall of us you the country. Onlyhe will live and none else. Suchis his autocratic ways.”

Daring the Prime Ministerto go ahead with his CitizenshipBill as proposed by his party inits next tenure, Banerjee said “wewill allow no NRC in Bengal. Idare them to do this here.Earlier they said that they willonly do it in parts of Assam.Now they have decided to takeit to other parts of India andthreatening to bring it in Bengal.But we will not allow them toimplement NRC here.”

The Chief Minister alsoheld another meeting at neigh-bouring Islampur which falls inRaiganj constituency. Here theTMC’s Kanhaialal Agarwal iscontesting against Congress,Deepa Dasmunshi and CPI(M)Md Salim. The BJP is also con-testing from here making it afour-cornered fight.

SAUGAR SENGUPTA n KOLKATA

In a swift and unprecedenteddecision, the Election

Commission (EC) on Tuesdaytransferred out theSuperintendent of Police (SP)of Cooch Behar AbhishekGupta barely 30 hours ahead ofthe first phase of elections.

Gupta was transferred anddivested of all election dutyafter the Opposition BJP andthe Left complained againsthim of pro-TMC bias.

The ruling outfit howeveralleged partisan conduct on thepart of the EC.

“It is strange that he wasmoved out a day afterTrinamool leader Mukul Roypublicly said that he will makethe SP suffer for his deeds,” saidsenior Bengal Minister ParthoChatterjee.

Gupta who allegedlyrefused to cooperate with theSPG during Prime MinisterNarendra Modi’s meeting onMonday was also reportedagainst by the Left for remain-ing a mute spectator to its com-rades being attacked by theTMC goons. The SP wasreplaced by AK Singh.

Meanwhile, UnionMinister and Asansol BJP can-didate Babul Supriyo was onTuesday heckled by alleged

Trinamool Congress support-ers even as he went aboutremoving anti-Narendra Modiposters — written chowkidarchor hei (watchman is a thief)— from parts of his Asansolconstituency where he wascampaigning.

Elsewhere in a relateddevelopment alleged TMCgoons beat up CPI(M) candi-date from Asansol andDiamond Harbour: GaurangoChatterjee and Fuad Halim.

Both were badly beatenup while campaigning andwere admitted to governmenthospitals in respective areas.Halim a doctor and the son of former BengalSpeaker HA Halim is contest-ing against sitting DiamondHarbour MP AbhishekBanerjee, then nephew of Chief Minister MamataBanerjee.

In both the cases therespective SPs said they hadreceived oral complaints.

“We have been sustainingphysical attacks on candidatesin local elections but if it hap-pens in parliamentary pollsthen nothing is more shamefulthan this,” CPI(M) leader Sujan Chakrabarty saiddemanding actions from theECI while the TMC denied theallegations.

Shahjahanpur: An election candidate who dressed himself as abridegroom and got atop a horse to file his nomination papersrode right into trouble. The police booked Sanyukt Vikas Partycandidate Vaidh Raj Kishan on Monday night for violating pro-hibitory orders when he tried to lead a “wedding procession” tothe collectorate to file his nomination from the ShahjahanpurLok Sabha seat, Chief Development officer Mahendra SinghTanwar Said.

“Mai rajniti ka damad hoon (I am the son-in-law of politics),”Kishan said when asked about his unusual attire. Kishan said hewas dressed as a bridegroom as it was his marriage anniversaryon Monday. He wore a sherwani, donned a turban and rode ahorse as he was accompanied by his supporters who danced toBollywood numbers.

The “wedding procession” was stopped by the police at SadarBazar area and Kishan had to dismount the horse to reach thecollectorate and file his nomination, Tanwar said.

This is not the first time when this candidate tried an unusu-al way to file his nomination papers. In 2017 Uttar PradeshAssembly elections, Kishan had arrived on a funeral bier to filehis nomination. PTI

TN RAGHUNATHA n MUMBAI

The ruling BJP suffered a set-back on Tuesday, as a flying

squad of the ElectionCommission — accompaniedby a group of MaharashtraCongress workers — “raided”an “illegal” make-shift set-upengaged in manufacturing elec-tronic propaganda material forthe party and seized materialworth Rs 6 crore.

“During its raid, theElection Commission has seized

propaganda material worth Rs6 crore from the registeredoffice premises belonging to theUnited Phosphorus Ltd (UPL)at Khar in north-west Mumbai.Major chunk of propagandamaterials are electronic cardsworth Rs 300 each which car-rying message from PrimeMinister Narendra Modi,”Maharashtra Pradesh CongressCommittee (MPCC) spokesper-son Sachin Sawant said.

After the “raid”, the EC fly-ing squad sealed the UPL

premises in the evening. Earlierin the evening, the EC alsolodged a police complaint withthe Khar police. However, theEC had not issued any officialstatement in this regard till latein the evening.

Having taken cognisance ofthe complaint, the police did apanchnama of the site andlaunched investigations intothe complaint.

Sawant claimed that theElection authorities had carriedout “surgical strikes” the BJP’s

“illegal” electronic propagandamaterial manufacturing unit.

According to Sawant, theBJP had not taken permissionfrom the Election Commissionto undertake manufacture ofsuch electronic propagandamaterials. “TheEC’s flying squadalso found pictures of defenceaircraft, Army, Air Force, sur-gical strikes and recorded clipsof voice messages of PrimeMinister Narendra Modi’sspeeches appealing people tovote for the BJP,” Sawant said.

Alluding to the ElectionCommission’s directive to polit-ical parties to desist from usingor making references armedforces in their poll campaign,Sawant said: “In a blatant vio-lation of the EC’s directive, theBJP is engaged in making lakhsof these electronic pamphlets fordistribution without the ECclearance. It looks like the BJPwould not account for in the pollexpenses to be submitted to EC.”

“The pamphlets have spe-cial chips with Modi’s poll

appeal which is played whenthe pamphlets are opened. TheBJP has engaged small childrento stick the chips on the pam-phlets by paying hefty sums tothem daily,” the Congressspokesperson said.

Sawant demanded strictaction against the UPL author-ities for allowing their premis-es to be used for such illegalpoll-related activities andagainst BJP’s national presidentAmit Shah for his alleged com-plicity in the matter.

KUMAR CHELLAPPAN n

CHENNAI

In a rare incident of its kind,one of the top bureaucrats in

Tamil Nadu has approachedthe Government of India witha plea to prosecute the coun-try’s Chief VigilanceCommissioner.

Dr Jagmohan Singh Raju(56) who holds the post ofAdditional Chief Secretary ofTamil Nadu is at the receivingend of victimisation and humil-iation unleashed at him bynone other than the ChiefVigilance Commissioner of thecountry, according to a legal

notice sent to the Governmentof India by senior lawyerPrasant Bhushan on behalf ofDr Raju.

Dr Raju has asked theDepartment of Personnel andTraining (DoPT), Ministry ofPersonnel, Public Grievancesand Pensions that action be ini-tiated for removal of the ChiefVigilance Commissioner interms of Section 6(1) of theCVC Act , 2003, including aPresidential Reference to theSupreme Court for holding aninquiry and registration of FIRagainst the CVCr under theScheduled Caste/ScheduledTribe (Prevention of Atrocities

Act) 1989 for committingatrocities. Upset over the spec-tacular performance of this IASofficer, some forces in TamilNadu or elsewhere had sentanonymous/pseudonymous let-ters to the Chief VigilanceCommission which wereinquired and found to be falseand frivolous by the Ministry ofHRD in 2013 itself.

In spite of the clearance bythe ministry, the ChiefVigilance Commissioner hasordered a re-inquiry into thecharges levelled against theofficial in the anonymous/pseudonymous letters , an acthitherto unheard of in the

annals of Indian bureaucracy.The action of the CVCr

has delayed further the empan-elment of Dr Raju as the addi-tional secretary to theGovernment of India.According to PrasanthBhushan, the lawyer repre-senting Dr Raju, the ChiefVigilance Commissioner K VChowdary has acted in a mostinappropriate manner byordering a re-inquiry into acase which was inquired andfound to be false by the con-cerned agencies of theGovernment of India.

Dr Raju, upset over thedelay in his getting empanelled

as the additional secretary tothe Government of India hadapproached the NationalCommission of ScheduledCaste (NCSC) which found toits dismay that the officer hasbecome a victim of high hand-ed behaviour by the CVCr.

The NCSC after a thoroughperusal of Dr Raju’s caseopined; “ His case is a sordidreminder of how members ofthe Scheduled Caste continue tobe discriminated against andvictimised by not only the soci-ety at large but also the gov-ernment and its instrumental-ities which are constitutionallyobligated to safeguard their

rights”. “If such a seniorScheduled Caste officer has toface discrimination and injusticeleading to impediment in hiscareer by delay in empanelment,demoralising him as well as thepetitioner having to unneces-sary bear the stigma of an offi-cer under the investigation bythe CVC, then what is therecourse of the thousands ofordinary Government servantsbelonging to the ScheduledCaste .

Injustice and discrimina-tion at the hands of the pub-lic authorities erodes the faithof the community in the sys-tem”, said the NCSC.

Tezpur: A Muslim man wasallegedly beaten up and forcedto eat pork by a group of peo-ple who were angry over his sell-ing beef in Assam, police said onTuesday. Consumption of porkis a taboo among most Muslims.The AIUDF and Jamiat Ulema’sAssam unit condemned theincident and claimed it was aconspiracy to disturb peace inthe state ahead of the Lok Sabhapolls. The victim, Shaukat Ali(48), was assaulted by a groupof locals at Madhupur weeklymarket in Biswanath district onSunday and required hospital-isation, Superintendent of PoliceRakesh Raushan said.

A video of the incidentthat has gone viral showed adazed Ali surrounded by somepeople who angrily demandedto know from him where hecame from and whether hisname figured in the contentiousNational Register of Citizensthat intends to weed out illegalmigrants. Ali, according toRaushan, was beaten up bylocals not aligned to any fun-damentalist organisation. Thealleged victim, who owns afood stall, claimed he was force-fed pork by the assailants butpolice did not confirm it.

“We have also heard aboutthat. It is a matter of investiga-tion. It is only after that has beendone that I will be able to tell,”the SP said. A man was arrested

in connection with the incidentand questioned.

Ali claimed he had beenselling beef at the market forover three decades and neverfaced such a situation.

The group also beat up 42-year-old Kamal Thapa, the con-tractor of the market, for allow-ing Ali to sell beef dishes. Cowslaughter and consumption ofbeef is not banned in the statebut the Assam CattlePreservation Act, 1950, permitsslaughter of only cattle above 14years of age after due certifica-tion by a veterinary officer.

A man was beaten to deathand three others were criticallyinjured when villagers assault-ed them on suspicion of beingcattle thieves in Biswanath dis-trict in August last year. Sunday’sincident came to light when avideo shot by one among thegroup of assailants went viral onsocial media. A case was reg-istered with the BiswanathChariali police station on thecomplaint of the victim’s broth-er Sahabuddin Ali on Mondayevening. The police superin-tendent said raids are on toapprehend others involved inthe incident. The All IndiaUnited Democratic Front(AIUDF) and the Jamiat Ulema’sAssam unit have demanded aninvestigation into the incidentand immediate arrest of the culprits. PTI

EC raids BJP’s set-up, seizes illegal poll material

Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray at anelection campaign rally in support of alliance candidates at Ausa in Latur district,Maharashtra, on Tuesday PTI

EC cracks whip,shifts Cooch BeharSP just before polls

Election candidate leads

‘wedding procession’ to

file nomination, booked

Modi fiercer fascist than Hitler: Mamata

West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjeeduring an election campaign rally at North Dinajpur district on Tuesday PTI

TN Additional Chief Secy files compliant against CVC

Muslim man beaten

up, force-fed pork in

Assam for selling beef

PM EXHORTS...Continuing his rhetoric on

national security, Modi chargedthat the Congress was speakingthe language of Pakistan whenit said that it would not abro-gate Article 370 of Constitutionand when it said it would“repeal” Armed Forces (SpecialPowers) Acts (AFSPA)inJammu & Kashmir.

Accusing the Congress andallies of nursing anti-nationalsentiments and the Congress oftaking such stands on crucialissues that suited Pakistan, thePrime Minister said: “TheCongress says it would notabrogate Article 370 ofConstitution. What theCongress is saying in its man-ifesto in this regard, Pakistanalso using the same language.The Congress says that itsGovernment would talk to sep-aratists in Kashmir. Pakistan isalso repeatedly saying the samething so that India remainstrapped in this kind of debate.The Congress is saying that itwould repeal AFSPA. EvenPakistan wants the same thingthat terrorists get a free hand inthe Valley”. Castigating theCongress for its poll promise toscrap the sedition law, Modisaid: “This (the end of seditionlaw) is what Pakistan wants sothat the people working againstIndia would get free hand to dowhatever they want to do... TheCongress says in its manifestothat come what may it wouldnot abrogate Article 370 ofConstitution. I can only say thatif Congress had brain, it wouldhave stood firmly and said itwould not allow partition. Hadthat happened, Pakistan wouldnot have been born at all.”

Charging that the Congressand its allies were working

against the country, the PrimeMinister said: “They (Congressand its allies) are after me. Theyare abusing me. They allegethat we did not shoot down anyPakistan fighter plane, believ-ing some report from some-where and exploiting it tospread canards. How manyproofs will you demand fromthe Indian Army and IndianAir Force?”

Modi said that a day afterthe Balakot air strikes, Pakistanadmitted it had two aircraftincluding one Indian aircraft,and one Indian pilot in theircustody and about the otheraircraft and its pilots, even achild knew the truth.

“They are not ready tobelieve our own defence forces.It is the time to punish thesepeople who have compromisednational security for electoralpolitics. They should be madeto lose their (election)deposits… I have put an end toall their dirty games in the pastand now all our decisions areonly in the national interest,”Modi said. Hitting out at theCongress and Sharad Pawar-ledNCP in supporting the forcesthat were pushing the cause ofseparate Prime Minister forJammu & Kashmir, Modi said:“Aare Sharadrao, aap aiselogonke saath khade ho. Peopledo not expect anything fromthe country. Lekin Sharadraoaap?”

ULTRAS SHOOT...Following the terror attack,

sporadic protests broke out inthe area. As tension mountedand stray incidents of stone-pelting were reported, theDistrict Magistrate movedswiftly to impose curfew inKishtwar town to contain law

and order situation.Army columns conducted

flag march in the sensitiveareas to contain public anger.

When contacted, DistrictMagistrate, Kishtwar, AngrezSingh Rana said, “In view of theprevailing law and order situ-ation in Kishtwar curfew hasbeen imposed in Kishtwar andsurrounding areas”. He said,Army is patrolling in the sen-sitive areas of the city. He con-firmed, “No major report ofany untoward incident wasreported from any area in thevicinity”. Paying tributes to asenior RSS leader local BJPleader said, “ChandrakantSharma was a very senior RSSleader who was active inKishtwar for last 30 years”.

They said, “Chandrakanthad earlier survived two attacksbut today he succumbed as hehad received critical injuriesafter he was shot at from a veryclose range”.

In November 2018, asenior BJP leader Anil Pariharand his brother Ajeet Pariharwere both killed by unidenti-fied gunmen while they werereturning home from theirlocal shops in Kishtwar.

Prant Sangh Chalak,Brigadier (Retd) Suchet Singh,in a Press statement said, “In aterrorist attack RSS leaderChandrakant, Prant Seh SewaPramukh, along with his per-sonal security officer (PSO) ,were targeted in which hisPSO sacrificed his life on thespot while Chandrakantreceived serious injuries”.

Brig(Retd) Suchet Singhsaid, “This terror attack is anattempt to silence the voices ofnationalist community in theState of Jammu & Kashmir”.

He appealed to the State

Government to immediatelytrack down the killers, behindthe attack, so as to keep themorale of the common mass-es high.

GOVT LAUNDERED...“He traumatised the people

of this country, he has trau-matised the poor of this coun-try, he has traumatised jour-nalists and his political oppo-nents. He has used the agenciesto target people who areopposed to him,” Sibal said.Congress chief spokespersonRandeep Surjewala said Sibalhas exposed the “stench ofcorruption that has reached thehighest echelons of the ModiGovernment”. “If this is not‘anti-national’, then what is?Will the Supreme Court showthe courage to take note andhold the corrupt accountable?”he asked. Referring to theIncome-Tax Departmentaction against Madhya PradeshChief Minister Kamal Nath’saides, the Congress leader saidthe alacrity with which theEnforcement Directorate and I-T have acted, they should alsoact fast and arrest the people inthe video and tell the countrywhat has happened.

Asked if he or his partywould seek any judicial inter-vention by moving court onthis issue, the former ministersaid there is no time left forelections and therefore thematter cannot be taken up. Hesaid the government shouldinitiate a probe into allegationsmade in the video. He accusedthe government agencies ofacting against BJP’s politicalrivals but not against those whoare close to the ruling party orthe government despite com-plaints against them.

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

LUCKNOW | WEDNESDAY | APRIL 10, 2019 07

STATE CONSTITUENCY

� ARUNACHAL

PRADESH

CANDIDATES: 12CONSTITUENCIES: 2MAIN PARTIES: BJP, Congress andPeople’s Party of Arunachal POLLING CENTRES: 2,202

� ANDHRA PRADESH

CANDIDATES: 319 arecontesting inCONSTITUENCIES: 25MAIN PARTIES: BJP,Congress, TDP,YSRC, Jana SenaPOLLING CENTRES: 45,920

� ASSAM

CANDIDATES: 41 CONSTITUENCIES: 5MAIN PARTIES: BJP,Congress and AIUDFPOLLING CENTRES: 9,574

� BIHAR

CANDIDATES: 44 CONSTITUENCIES: 4MAIN PARTIES:BJP+JDUalliance,Congress and RJD alliancePOLLING CENTRES: 7,486

� CHHATTISGARH

CANDIDATES: arecontesting in CONSTITUENCY: 1MAIN PARTIES: BJP,Congress and BSPPOLLING CENTRES: 1,878

� JAMMU &

KASHMIR

CANDIDATES:

33 CONSTITUENCIES:

2 MAIN PARTIES: PDP,Congress and JKNC alliance; andJKNPPPOLLING CENTRES: 3,489

� MAHARASHTRA

CANDIDATES: 122 CONSTITUENCIES:

7 MAIN PARTIES:

BJP and SS;Congress andNCPPOLLING CENTRES: 14,731

� MEGHALAYA

CANDIDATES: 9CONSTITUENCIES: 2MAIN

PARTIES:

BJP,Congress,NPP and UDPPOLLING CENTRES: 3167.

� MANIPUR

CANDIDATES: 8CONSTITUENCY: 1MAIN PARTIES:BJP, Congressand NPFPOLLING

CENTRES:1,300

� MIZORAM

CANDIDATES: 6CONSTITUENCY: 1MAIN PARTIES: BJP,Congress and ZPMalliance and MNFPOLLING CENTRES: 1,175

� NAGALAND

CANDIDATES: 4CONSTITUENCY: 1MAIN PARTIES:NPP and NDPPPOLLING CENTRES:2,227

� ODISHA

CANDIDATES: 26 CONSTITUENCIES: 4MAIN PARTIES:BJP, Congressand Biju Janata DalPOLLING CENTRES: 7,233

� SIKKIM

CANDIDATES: 11CONSTITUENCY: 1MAIN PARTIES: BJP,Congress, SDF,HSP, SKMPOLLING CENTRES: 567

� TELANGANA

CANDIDATES: 443CONSTITUENCIES:17MAIN PARTIES:BJP, Congress,TRS and AIMIMPOLLING CENTRES: 34,603

� TRIPURA

CANDIDATES: 13CONSTITUENCY: 1MAIN PARTIES: BJP, Congress, CPMand TMCPOLLING CENTRES: 1,679

� UTTAR PRADESH

CANDIDATES: 96CONSTITUENCIES: 8MAIN PARTIES: BJP,Congress and BSP, SPand RLD alliancePOLLING CENTRES: 16,633

� UTTARAKHAND

CANDIDATES: 52CONSTITUENCIES: 5MAIN PARTIES: BJP,Congress and BSPPOLLING CENTRES: 11,235

� BENGAL

CANDIDATES: 18 CONSTITUENCIES: 2MAIN PARTIES: BJP,Congress, TMCand Left (CPM,RSP, AIFB)POLLING CENTRES:3,844

� ANDAMAN AND

NICOBAR ISLANDS

CANDIDATES: 15CONSTITUENCY: 1MAIN PARTIES: BJP,Congress, Aam AadmiParty and TMCPOLLING CENTRES: 406

� LAKSHADWEEP

CANDIDATES: 6CONSTITUENCY: 1MAIN PARTIES: BJP,Congress andNCPPOLLING CENTRES:51

The National Election Watch and Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) have analysedthe self-sworn affidavits of 1266 out of 1279 candidates who are contesting the Lok SabhaPhase I. Out of the 1266 the candidates, 213 (17%) have declared criminal cases against

themselves. 146 candidates have records of serious criminal cases, out of which 10 have declaredcases related to murder. 401 of them are crorepati candidates.

There are 13 candidates who have not been analysed due to unavailability of their proper-ly scanned and complete affidavits.

Four candidates have declared cases related to kidnapping such kidnapping for ransom, etc.(IPC Section-364A), kidnapping or abducting in order to murder (IPC Section-364), Kidnapping, abducting or inducing woman to compel her marriage, etc. (IPC Section-366) etc,against themselves.

16 candidates have declared cases related to crime against women such as rape (IPC Section-376), assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty (IPC Section-354),husband or relative of husband of a woman subjecting her to cruelty (IPC Section-498A), etc.,against themselves. 12 candidates have declared cases related to hate speech against themselves.

NYAY is such a powerful idea. Absolutely amazing resonance in

the field. Even PM (Past Master) can’t stop talking about it

The sum of Rs 72,000 per year promised under NYAY comes to a

total of Rs 3.60 lakh over a period of five years. Now you have to

make a choice between the lie of Rs 15 lakh and the truth of Rs

3.60 lakh

RAHUL GANDHI

I want to tell the first-time voters: can your first vote be dedicated to

the ‘veer jawans’ (valiant soldiers) who carried out the air strike in

Pakistan)

This Chowkidar has changed the situation. Now if there is fear, it is

on the other side of the border. People sitting in power there are

getting different types of nightmares...

NARENDRA MODI

Andaman and Nicobar Islands Andaman and Nicobar Islands

Andhra Pradesh Aruku, Srikakulam, Vizianagaram, Visakhapatnam, Anakapalli,Kakinada, Amalapuram, Rajahmundry, Narsapuram, Eluru,Machilipatnam, Vijayawada, Guntur, Narasaraopet, Bapatla,Ongole, Nandyal, Kurnool, Anantapur, Hindupur, Kadapa,Nellore, Tirupati, Rajampet, Chittoor

Arunachal Pradesh Arunachal Pradesh West, Arunachal Pradesh East

Assam Tezpur, Kalibor, Jorhat, Dibrugarh, Lakhimpur

Bihar Aurangabad, Gaya, Nawada, Jamui

Chhattisgarh Bastar

Jammu & Kashmir Baramulla, Jammu

Lakshadweep Lakshadweep

Maharashtra Wardha, Ramtek, Nagpur, Bhandara-Gondiya, Gadchiroli-Chimur, Chandrapur, Yavatmal-Washim

Manipur Outer Manipur

Meghalaya Shillong, Tura

Mizoram Mizoram

Nagaland Nagaland

Odisha Kalahandi, Nabarangpur, Berhampur, Koraput

Sikkim Sikkim

Telangana Peddapalle, Karimnagar, Nizamabad, Zahirabad, Medak,Malkajgiri, Secunderabad, Hyderabad, Chevella,Mahbubnagar, Nagarkurnool, Nalgonda, Bhongir, Warangal,Mahabubabad, Khammam

Tripura Tripura West

Uttar Pradesh Saharanpur, Kairana, Muzaffarnagar, Bijnor, Meerut, Baghpat,Ghaziabad, Gautam Buddha Nagar

Uttarakhand Tehri Garhwal, Garhwal, Nainital-Udhamsingh Nagar, Almora, Hardwar

West Bengal Coochbehar, Alipurduars

The Congress and the BJP have built their electoral narratives onpast records versus electoral promises. While the Prime MinisterNarendra Modi-led BJP has pinned its hopes on “Phir Ek Baar

Modi Sarkar” (once again a Modi Government), on the other, Congresshas pitched its “Ab hoga Nyay” (justice will happen now) slogan — alsoa reference to Nyuntam Aay Yojana, the party’s minimum income guar-antee promise, and its key poll pitch. Both parties have also released theircampaign theme songs for the elections.

AB HOGA NYAYPHIR EK BAAR vs

QUOTE-UNQUOTE

Bijnor: Congress general secre-tary Priyanka Gandhi Vadraresponded with flowers to thechant of ‘Modi-Modi’ by a groupof BJP workers at her roadshowon the last day of campaigningat Bijnore, about 450 kilometresfrom here. According to thereports, Priyanka was holdingher roadshow in support ofCongress nomineeNaseemuddin Siddique, when afew BJP workers started chant-ing ‘Modi-Modi’.

A smiling Priyanka, whowas atop a specially designedvehicle, threw flowers towardthe saffron party workers.

Apparently not expecting sucha response from the Congressleader, the BJP workers weretaken aback.

They, however, continuedchanting ‘Modi-Modi’. Therewas also a scuffle between theCongress and BJP workers.Congress supporters in returnshouted ‘Chowkidar Chor Hai’.Police had to intervene as theyremoved BJP supporters afterquite an effort.

The Congress workers alsoraised slogans against PrimeMinister Narendra Modi and theBJP Government at the Centreand in the State. Agencies

PRIYANKA’S FLOWERresponse to ‘Modi chant’

PNS n LUCKNOW

Campaigning for the firstphase poll in eight Lok

Sabha constituencies of Uttar Pradesh came to an endon Tuesday.

The polling is scheduled onApril 11.

With this, the high profileelectioneering also came to agrinding halt in these con-stituencies and the securitypersonnel rushed to the pollingbooths to take up their dutiesfor the polling to be heldbetween 7 am and 6 pm onThursday.

Security personnel staged flag marches in the sen-sitive pockets while liquorshops were closed till the end of polling in these con-stituencies.

The constituencies, which have inter-state borderswith Delhi, Haryana andUttarakhand, have been sealed off.

Western UP will pave theway for the formation of thenext government at the Centre,when 16 constituencies will goto the polls in the first twophases on April 11 and 18.

With weather playing hideand seek and hailstorm withrains lashing western UP in thepast 48 hours, the temperaturehas come down, much to the relief of campaigningpoliticians.

CAMPAIGNING

ends for 1st phase

Paramilitary soldiers carry their luggage after disembarking from a ferry throughthe Brahmaputra ahead of first phase of elections at Nimati Ghat in Jorhat, Assam,on Tuesday AP

VK Singh, the BJP’s candidatefrom Ghaziabad who polled arecord number of votes in2014 only next to PrimeMinister Narendra Modi, had

got the party’s star speaker and UttarPradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath tocampaign for him last month. Singh is noordinary soldier. He is a former ArmyChief, who distinguished himself in officeby taking his own Government to court ona personal matter, breaking the Army’s codeof “nation first and service before self.”

On March 31, at another rally inGhaziabad, Adityanath referred to thearmed forces repeatedly to draw a contrastwith “Congress ke log”. Said he, “Congressleaders would feed biryani to terrorists butModiji’s sena only gave them goli and gola.”This graceless description of the armedforces as Prime Minister Modi’s privatearmy and crude depiction of counter-ter-rorism operations are an attempt to politi-cise our forces. The Opposition raised thered flag even as retired Generals and otherfoot soldiers of the services condemned thecrass politicisation of an apolitical institu-tion despite the Election Commission’s (EC)stricture: “Political parties/candidates/cam-paigners should desist from indulging inpropaganda involving activities of defenceforces’ (presumably military operations).”But all the EC did was to issue the ChiefMinister an advisory of caution, so tooth-less is the commission. The Chiefs of StaffCommittee of the three service Chiefsought to have condemned Adityanath’sremark. Just last month, Gen AngusCampbell, Australian Chief of DefenceStaff, intervened in an interaction betweenhis Defence Minister Christopher Pyne andsoldiers, ticking off the Minister for rais-ing a political issue.

Though Singh pretended that none ofthe Adityanath theatre happened till fourdays later, he spoke up, especially after theEC issued a notice to the Chief Minister forhis offending comment. Singh said, “Thosecalling the Indian Army Modi’s sena werenot only wrong but also traitors to thenation.” He added that he did not know thereference and context of the controversialremarks by Adityanath.

Never in the history of independentIndia has any Government milked the “mil-itary operations” of the armed forces forpolitical or electoral gains as blatantly as theruling establishment does. Prime MinisterModi inaugurates his campaign speecheswith “Mere saath bolo: Sena ki jai” sloga-neering. Further, BJP leaders have openlystated that they would exploit militaryachievements despite the EC’s ban. Afterthe surgical strikes in 2016, BJP presidentAmit Shah said that it would be used in theAssembly polls in Uttar Pradesh and otherStates — and they were. While speaking toparty workers in Mumbai last month,External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj

indicated that the Indian AirForce (IAF) strikes on terrorcamps in Pakistan would be anissue for her party in the LokSabha poll. She said that herparty would come out with twoleaflets — one containing ini-tiatives of her party for welfareof women and the other coun-tering the Opposition regard-ing Balakot air strikes.

The Government’s glorifi-cation of the armed forces is awelcome step but not when thereal motive is not their deifica-tion but that of the politicalleadership enhancing its ownimage. The Government’sclaims of caring for the soldierand the military are highlyexaggerated, merely throughsymbolism and lip-service:Rakhi-tying for soldiers inSiachen or Modi spendingDiwali with ITBP soldiers.With four defence Ministers infive years, lowest defence bud-gets since 1962, stingingrebukes on operational pre-paredness and defence mod-ernisation by the StandingCommittee of Parliament onDefence and the EstimatesCommittee by the BJP’s ownveterans, Maj Gen Khanduriand MM Joshi, no less, every-thing indicates a muddle in thehigher defence management.At a CNN18 programme last

month, Defence MinisterNirmala Sitharaman duckedawkward questions on animperfect One Rank, OnePension scheme and theGovernment blocking NonFunctional Upgrade (NFU) forthe armed forces. Defencereforms, including CDS, havenot moved an inch. Makingnational security a poll plank islike shutting the stable doorafter the horse has bolted.

Yes, Modi delivered on theNational War Memorial butmuddied the event by divinginto a diatribe against theCongress instead of restrictingthe occasion to extol the sacri-fices of the armed forces.“[email protected] have used an event of inau-guration of NWM for pettypolitics. You did not maintaindecorum”, tweeted Col AshokSingh, just one of the many offi-cers who felt the speech was inbad taste and nothing morethan an election pitch. Notedstrategic expert Brig GurmeetKanwal said: “Dear@PMOIndia. Please avoid makingpolitical speeches at a solemnoccasion.”

Systematic efforts havebeen made at politicising themilitary starting with the post-Uri surgical strikes. Brazenly,the BJP unfurled banners and

posters containing pictures ofthe Director General MilitaryOperations, Lt Gen RanbirSingh, flanked by Modi andShah in Lucknow and UttarPradesh. Modi was hailed theinvincible conqueror and so on.Former Defence MinisterManohar Parrikar, an RSSpracharak, would tell storiesabout how he infused theHanuman spirit in the Army(Yogi Adityanath has alsolikened the Army toHanuman). Lt Gen DS Hooda,now retired, the chief architectof the surgical strikes, said: “Weshould have kept the operationunder wraps and not let it getpoliticised.” The BJP hassqueezed the last drop of elec-toral juice from the surgicalstrikes in every Assembly elec-tion in 2017-18. In Karnataka,Modi targeted Nehru for shab-bily treating one of the twoCoorg military icons, botharmy Chiefs, KM Cariappaand KS Thimayya, though hegot the wrong General andmade matters worse by inject-ing politics into a class ofCoorg nobility which has beenhistorically apolitical.

The political antics overBalakot have outclassed surgi-cal strikes. Modi excelled him-self by describing the air strikesgraphically with pictures of

Abhinanadan in the back-ground till EC’s notional pro-hibitory orders. Each BJP cam-paigner is competing to outdohis own party rival in lavishingpraise on Modi’s mythical pow-ers of leadership. The BJP isdrunk on its Balakot brew,refusing to either ponder onPulwama or Balakot andbeyond. The two military oper-ations of the IAF and the Armymay win the BJP another termin Government but will dan-gerously politicise the secularand professional armed forces.

The EC must ensure itsprohibition on the use of mil-itary operations/defence activ-ities in campaign rallies is notflagrantly violated by the gov-ernment. Phrases like “shoulddesist from” are innocuous.Ahead of the Lok Sabha poll, asurvey of public opinion byLokniti and Azim PremjiUniversity indicated that theArmy is the most trusted insti-tution (88 per cent) and polit-ical parties (minus 55 per cent)Just the right time for the threeService Chiefs to make Modiwalk the talk on “Sena ki jai.”

(The writer is a retiredMajor General of the IndianArmy and founder member ofthe Defence Planning Staff, cur-rently the revamped IntegratedDefence Staff)

Every year, most Indian business publi-

cations, both magazines and newspa-

pers, rate India’s best Business schools.

The rankings are pretty predictable and even

the administrators and students of the top

ranked institutions find them to be a chore.

But for many smaller institutions, getting ranked

might mean the difference between survival

and death. A good position will draw new stu-

dents. However, the highly competitive nature

of the game — with several media houses

bending over backwards to please institutions

that advertised and institutions themselves knowing that they could ‘buy’ a bet-

ter spot — means that the college ranking system has been badly broken, par-

ticularly in the case of professional institutions. This is symptomatic of the ‘Wild

West’ nature of India’s education sector. In fact, while politicians lament the lack

of jobs for youth, which is an undeniable fact, they rarely lament the poor state

of Indian education because they themselves are knee-deep in the sector and

purveyors of substandard education. So a standardised ranking system moni-

tored by the government, the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD)

to be precise, made sense.

But going through this year’s rankings, tabulated under the National Institutional

Ranking Framework (NIRF), there are some incongruities. While it is true that

some universities do not have constituent colleges, the fact that Delhi University

is ranked 13th among universities while six of its constituent colleges are in the

top 10 colleges seems odd. The other major point that gets lost in all the hoopla

is that several new private universities that are attracting a lot of attention have

not been ranked. Also, there is the curious case of Mumbai University, one of

India’s largest universities by student body size, which is now ranked 81st in

India. Indeed a worrying sign. In rankings of professional institutions, the usual

suspects win, which is not surprising. However, while the rankings are not sur-

prising for the large part, the HRD Ministry still finds itself unable to fix the core

problems that underlie Indian tertiary education. As stated earlier, the jobs cri-

sis is real, no matter what the government says, but understanding that poor

education is responsible to a large degree should be the main priority of the day,

not one of rankings. Also, with regard to private rankings conducted by media

houses, the MHRD should insist that the methodology is suitably publicised.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) clearly

doesn’t seem to be needing a manifesto

as such, releasing it in the nick of time

to beat the Election Commission’s strictures,

and it is indeed of statistical import consider-

ing that all positions taken in it have been artic-

ulated by its leaders with some degree of con-

sistency and sameness. In that sense, the man-

ifesto is but a pallid status report of what the

party in governance did, a balance sheet in

its favour and a projection of what it needs to

do in the future to meet, in its view, the only

debt of expectation. Neither did it attempt a comparison with the vision docu-

ment of the Congress, nor did it look back on its own. If in 2014, there was the

dream of achche din and its deliverer in Narendra Modi, 2019 is about the char-

ioteer who has paved his own road. If 2014 was about possibilities, 2019 is

about concrete action. If 2014 was tentative, emphasising the social paradigm

of development, this one is hyperbolic, about the futuristic India of 2047. If 2014

was about the first among equals, 2019 is about one man, larger than life. And

after the placatory moves of sabka saath, it is a more predatory stance of the

sankalp of a One India. On its nationalist and persuasive terms, of course. The

remaining gap of conviction is anyway being made up by Modi through a per-

sonal interface at rallies and television studios.

In a way, this manifesto actually addresses the party’s Hindutva core to the

hilt without the visionary pretence of 2014. Now that polarisation has seeped

into the societal trellis, the party has come out openly with an agenda that is

frankly no longer dependent on the Ram temple. And the Pulwama-Balakot events

have built up a hypernationalist sentiment that is pegged on an idea of India under

attack. So its manifesto merely puts on paper what its leaders have been say-

ing so far, that the party, once in power, will abolish Article 370 and Article 35A

that confer special status and protect local ownership rights in Jammu and Kashmir,

the State that recent events have established as a hotbed of terrorism, especial-

ly of the exported kind. The removal of Article 35A is ostensibly to push for devel-

opment and economic opportunities through outside investment. While the party

had mentioned Article 370 in 2014 as well, it still went ahead and forged an

impossible and asymmetric alliance with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)

to work its way through governance. While that model failed, the rise in terror-

ism and the Pulwama attacks only made it easier for the BJP to argue why zero

tolerance of victimhood meant that demonstrable action be taken against Pakistan

and by extension its pawns in Kashmir. Whatever the legalities or complexities

involved later, the BJP is hoping that by generating a debate and provoking extreme

reactions from Kashmiris themselves, it can further coalesce the Hindu major-

ity which has latent anxieties about a differential status. It is the reason why despite

the massive protests and violence in the Northeast, the party has brought the

Citizenship Amendment Bill back on the agenda, simply because it honours civil-

isational contiguity and wants to emerge as a champion of the larger Indic cause

by offering to take back persecuted Hindu minorities from Islamic neighbours.

In the process, it doesn’t mind risking the wrath of its new allies there. It is for

this reason alone that the manifesto is silent on hate crimes, which have set the

ambient temperature of a deeply fractured polity. Identity has clearly submerged

livelihood issues and the manifesto just about skirts the elephant in the room

— farmers’ distress and jobs. While there is no straightforward commitment

on job numbers, a self-created trap of 2014 from which the party is yet to emerge,

it does hold out the hope of creating new opportunities in 22 sectors. It has defin-

itively pledged a “women in workforce” roadmap to encourage companies to

hire more women. Suitably vague and promising at the same time, one might

add. There are a reiteration and the right noises of doubling farm incomes by

2022, taking healthcare forward with technology, judicial reforms, ease of liv-

ing, education, science and so on. In short, a bouquet of promises and an argu-

ment why the party needs to be given five more years. This manifesto is cer-

tainly not trying to claim an intellectual high ground, just officially recording what

has been said this past year. Neither is it a template for future governance. All it

does is build a vote-catching narrative. The reality, as always, can change later.

Muscular pledge

If 2014 was about possibilities, 2019 is about action on itsterms. The BJP manifesto only talks to its core voter

The NIRF has put forth a list of top universities andcolleges in India. How seriously should students take it?

Votebank reality

Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “Alliance fears in UP” (April 8).There can be no doubt that theroad to New Delhi goes throughUttar Pradesh and the State willplay a big role in deciding whichparty should govern the countryfor the next five years.

The Kairana bypoll successprompted the two arch-rivals —Samajwadi Party (SP) andBahujan Samaj Party (BSP) — toforge an alliance in UP. Bothknow it well that Muslims aretheir core votebank. TheCongress has decided to fight theelections alone. If the Muslim votegets divided, like it happened lasttime, the BJP will stand to bene-fit. This is why BSP chiefMayawati asked the Muslimcommunity to not vote for theCongress but the SP-BSP alliance.

Bal GovindNoida

Election promise

Sir — In its election manifesto, theBharatiya Janata Party (BJP) hasmade a plethora of promises,prominent among them being the

expeditious building of the Ramtemple. It is surprising that the rul-ing party is wanting to build thetemple in a haste. This, to reap div-idends with an eye on the elections,which are just a few days away.

However, one of the laudableand highly acceptable poll-promises made by it is the resolveto annul Article 35A of theConstitution, after which out-siders will be able to own prop-

erty in Jammu & Kashmir. True,this special status has made thisborder State remain aloof. TheCongress and other allies mustsupport this move.

Further, the BJP also made amention of the Sabarimala con-troversy in its manifesto, sayingthat it will endeavour to secureConstitutional protection onissues related to faith and beliefs.The party could have solved this

matter once and for all during itscurrent term but lacked the polit-ical will to do so. Its promise nowto secure Constitutional protec-tion is nothing but opportunisticpolitics. After having fished introubled waters, the party isready now. It’s not hard for peo-ple to see through the tricksbeing played by political parties.

TK NandananChennai

Unwarranted reaction

Sir — West Bengal Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee has been cryingfoul over the transfer of police offi-cers. She has made uncharitableremarks on the ElectionCommission (EC), alleging that ithas acted at the behest of the BJP.The EC has asserted that it is wellwithin its powers to transfer andappoint officers when the modelcode of conduct is in force.Banerjee has also accused the ECof taking the decision arbitrarily.Amidst all this, she needs toexplain why she is insisting that thesame police officers continue.What is her problem when the offi-cers posted in place of the trans-ferred ones are of similar seniori-ty and from the same West Bengalcadre only? The decision to trans-fer is said to be based on “cumu-lative feedback” from one of theEC’s top officials and the specialpolice observer. If their recommen-dation for transfers does not carryweight, the very purpose ofappointing them is defeated.

KV SeetharamiahHassan

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


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op nionLUCKNOW | WEDNESDAY | APRIL 10, 2019

08

Stop milking the Army

ASHOK K MEHTA

The two military operations of the IAF and the Army may win the BJP another term in

Government but will dangerously politicise the secular and professional armed forces

Modi has been baptised in pol-itics through riots and masskillings. He is the king of fas-cists. Had Adolf Hitler beenalive, he would have commit-ted suicide.

WB Chief Minister—Mamata Banerjee

The BJP has never considered itspolitical opponents as enemies. Butwhen parties like the Congressdirectly indulge in taking the side of deshdrohis, they should be exposed.

UP Chief Minister—Yogi Adityanath

This mistake will uniteIranians and the Guards willgrow more popular in Iranand in the region … Americahas used terrorists as a toolin the region.

Iranian President—Hassan Rouhani

S O U N D B I T E

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

The impact of religion in politics

This refers to the editorial, “Alliance fears in UP” (April8). It is a matter of concern that despite we being asecular and democratic country, the fantasy of

‘Muslim vote’ continues to haunt us. The political classwill do well to see within themselves as to why the sameis not the case with other minorities, who are well inte-grated in the society and in the country’s development eventhough they are much smaller in number and in the realsense qualify as a minority.

For those who have seen both the pre and post 1947days, nothing seems to have changed. While during thepre-independence days, Muslims were wary of being sub-jugated by the majority because of the one-person, one-vote nature of democracy, post-independence, their fearseems to be the making of our political class. While it wasnatural for the Muslims to abhor a feeling of fear afterPartition, it was for our political class to allay that fear andbring them to the mainstream. Instead what we did yield-ed the exact opposite result. In our over anxiety of exhibit-

ing aggressive secularism, we extended the concept of sec-ularism from providing equal opportunities to one and allto protection of a numerically large minority from the major-ity, thus keeping Muslims in a state of fear of the major-ity and confining them to a separate block. Let us hopethat good sense prevails among the political class evennow as it is never too late.

BP SrivastavaNoida

Send your feedback to:[email protected]

A game of rankings

I am a very approachable guywhen it comes to fans. I alwaystake out time for them. I love myfans as much as they love me.But any bitter incident is notexpected.

Actor—Varun Dhawan

Path-breaking ‘accidental’ PM

CHOWKIDAR IS NOT ONLY CHOR BUT ALSO A

COWARD. I TOLD THE CHOWKIDAR TO DEBATE WITH

ME AS HE TALKS ABOUT CORRUPTION. HE FLED.

—CONGRESS PRESIDENT

RAHUL GANDHI

THEY HAVE BEEN SAYING ‘CHOWKIDAR CHOR HAI’

FOR SIX MONTHS BUT SEE WHERE BUNDLES OF

NOTE ARE BEING RECOVERED FROM.

—PRIME MINISTER

NARENDRA MODI

POINTCOUNTERPOINT

Most of us visualise PV NarasimhaRao as a frail old man but he wasa firebrand activist during hisyouth, engaging in guerrilla-typeinsurgency to topple the Nizam of

Hyderabad. The angry young man subsequentlyrose to become the Prime Minister of the world’slargest democracy. Rao’s calibre and competencecan be equated with Jawaharlal Nehru’s gold stan-dards in politics. The tale of perhaps India’s two bestPrime Ministers is contradictory yet fascinating.Nehru and Rao did not have much in commonexcept that both were intellectuals. Nehru’s intel-lectualism was shaped by Harrow, Cambridge andLincoln’s Inn; by Bernard Shaw, Russell and theFabians. He probably dreamt in English. The titleof his book, The Discovery of India, is a disarmingconfession of his need for discovering the land ofhis birth. Rao’s intellectual centre, on the other hand,was India. Unlike Nehru, his knowledge ofSanskrit was profound. He was a man of learning,a scholar, a linguist and a thinker of the first order.His roots were deep in the spiritual and religiousmatrix of India.

Rao was a man of the soil. From humble socialorigins, he rose to become the ninth PrimeMinister from 1991 to 1996. As a teenager, he waspart of the Vande Mataram movement in theHyderabad of the late 1930s. Rao was a polyglot— aside from his mother tongue, Telugu, he hadexcellent command over several other languages— nine Indian and six foreign. His political careerwas shaped by his involvement in India’s strugglefor independence. His early mentors includedNehru and Indira Gandhi. He was the most trust-ed advisor to the latter, having impressed her withhis intellectual prowess. Former Law Minister HRBharadwaj acknowledged that Indira Gandhialways depended on Rao’s intellect to navigate herGovernment’s policies and party’s machinery. Sheappointed him the country’s Foreign Minister in1980. This gave him a big break. With his penchantfor picking up languages, Rao fitted snugly into thehigh-flying world of international diplomacydespite being a teetotaller and a vegetarian. In 1986,Rao, as Human Resources Development Minister,formulated the National Policy on Education onhis newly-acquired word processor in six months.However, he was unable to push for funds to imple-ment the ambitious policy, which included theNavodaya schools.

By the summer of 1990, Rao was preparing toretire from public life and had packed his bags tomove home to Hyderabad when Rajiv Gandhi wasassassinated by LTTE sympathisers. Suddenly, cir-cumstances catapulted Rao into the country’s topjob. His ascendancy to the Prime Ministership waspolitically significant in that he was the first hold-er of this office from a non-Hindi-speakingregion, the South. Rao was supposed to collapsesoon — if not under his advancing age, then frompressure from multiple sources. Instead, he lastedthe full five-year term, turned the economyaround, brought normalcy to Punjab and stampedhis authority by virtually pushing detractors to thewall to be the real centre of power in the Congress.How did he manage this feat? What led to the trans-formation of a timid party worker more willing tofollow than lead as a decisive head of Government?How did the change of heart from a Left-leaning

protectionist to a free market champion happen?What techniques did he apply to have his way ina party that largely had little regard for him? Thishappened in a year of multiple changes and chal-lenges. India and the world were in turmoil andgrappling with change, the historical significanceof which was not immediately understood by many.

Similarly, we hold Rao in high regard for hisRight-wing, pro-capital reform measures for open-ing up the economy to liberalisation, privatisationand globalisation. But he was a fierce advocate andpractitioner of socialism when he was the ChiefMinister of Andhra Pradesh. His bold reforms forredistribution of land to the poor and downtrod-den as also his strict enforcement of the land ceil-ing Act created such a strong backlash from estab-lished big landlords that Indira Gandhi had to takehim back from State politics as a Minister in theUnion Cabinet and declare President’s rule inAndhra Pradesh for some time. So it is extremelywrong to paint Rao as a Right-wing politician justbecause he was an architect of economic reforms.

The economic crisis of 1991 was the conse-quence of a political impasse India found itself in.A series of political and economic events of 1980scame to a head around 1990-91. India was on theverge of defaulting on its external payments oblig-ations, with foreign exchange reserves dwindlingrapidly as oil prices went up, exports went downand non-resident people began withdrawing theirdeposits in foreign currency accounts in India.While this situation can, in part, be attributed tounexpected and extraneous factors like the GulfWar of 1990-91, the difficulty was almost entirelyon account of political brinkmanship and populism.The responsibility for the events that combined topush India to the brink of default must lie with RajivGandhi, VP Singh and Chandra Shekhar and it wasleft to Rao to arrest the slide and clean up the mess.The credit for understanding the seriousness of the

situation and acting in time goes to him alone. Adopted to avert the impending 1991 econom-

ic crisis, the reforms progressed furthest in the areasof opening up to foreign investment, capital mar-kets, deregulating domestic business and alteringthe trade regime. His Government’s goals were toreduce fiscal deficit, privatise the public sector andincrease investment in infrastructure. Tradereforms and changes in the regulation of foreigndirect investment were introduced to open Indiato foreign trade while stabilising external loans. Raochose Manmohan Singh for the job: An acclaimedeconomist, he played a central role in implement-ing these reforms. The impact of these changes maybe gauged from the fact that total foreign invest-ment (including foreign direct investment, port-folio investment and investment raised on inter-national capital markets) in India grew from aminuscule $132 million in 1991-92 to $5.3 billionin 1995-96. Rao began industrial policy reformswith the manufacturing sector. He slashed indus-trial licensing, leaving only 18 industries subject tolicensing. Industrial regulation was rationalised.

Rao, who held the Industry portfolio, was per-sonally responsible for dismantling the Licence Raj,as this came under the purview of the Ministry ofCommerce and Industry. For this, he is often calledthe “father of Indian economic reforms” althoughhis own party refuses to acknowledge it. He was,in fact, the author of the most radical shift in India’seconomic policy since Nehru’s famous IndustrialPolicy Resolution of 1956. Nehru’s resolution haddeclared that India would strive to establish a“socialistic pattern of society.” In 1991, Rao movedaway from that pattern to unleash private enter-prise.

Rao increased military spending and set theIndian Army on course to fight the emerging threatof terrorism and insurgencies as well as Pakistanand China’s nuclear potential. It was during his term

that terrorism in Punjab was finally decimated. Itis said that Rao was “solely responsible” for the deci-sion to hold elections in Punjab, no matter how nar-row the electorate base would be. Rao’s Governmentintroduced the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities(Prevention) Act, India’s first anti-terrorism legis-lation.

He even strengthened diplomacy, making over-tures to Western Europe, the US and China. Wayback in1992, he decided to bring into the openIndia’s relations with Israel, which had been keptcovertly active for a few years during his tenure asa Foreign Minister. Israel got to open an embassyin New Delhi. He ordered the intelligence commu-nity in 1992 to start a systematic drive to draw theinternational community’s attention to Pakistan’ssponsorship of terrorism against India and not tobe discouraged by American efforts to underminethe exercise. Rao initiated the ‘Look East policy’ withthree objectives in mind, namely to renew politi-cal contacts with the ASEAN member nations; toincrease economic interaction with SoutheastAsia in trade, investment, science and technologyand tourism; and to forge strategic and defence linkswith several countries of Southeast Asia. Hedecided to maintain distance from the Dalai Lamain order to avoid aggravating Beijing’s suspicionsand concerns and made successful overtures toTehran. The ‘cultivate Iran’ policy was pushedthrough vigorously by him. These policies paid richdividends for India in March 1994, when BenazirBhutto’s efforts to have a resolution passed by theUN Human Rights Commission in Geneva on thehuman rights situation in Jammu & Kashmir failed,with opposition by China and Iran.

In spite of significant achievements in a diffi-cult situation, the Indian electorate voted out Rao’sCongress party in the 1996 general elections. Soon,Sonia Gandhi’s coterie forced Rao to step down asparty president. Receding into forced oblivion, hedied on December 9, 2004. But the Congress insult-ed a loyalist even in his death, simply because hedidn’t figure in the dynastic paradigm of the party.It is alleged that the closest aides of Sonia Gandhiensured his body was not allowed inside the AICCbuilding and moved to Hyderabad. The grand oldparty ignored the debt it owed to the “Brihaspati(wise man) of Andhra Pradesh.” On multiple occa-sions, Sonia praised contributions of all CongressPrime Ministers except Rao in her various speech-es. Even today, the Congress leadership showsextreme reluctance to acknowledge the role playedby Rao to bail the Indian economy out of a severecrisis.

Rao was India’s first “accidental” PrimeMinister and a path-breaking one. He took chargeof the national Government and restored politicalstability; assumed leadership of the Congress, prov-ing that there was hope beyond the Nehru-Gandhidynasty; pushed through significant economicreforms; and steered India through the unchart-ed waters of the post-Cold War world. While theCongress has distanced itself from him, the cur-rent Prime Minister Narendra Modi has acknowl-edged his contribution in nation-building.

A simple man, Rao deployed Chanakya liketactics and strategies in dealing with the minoritystatus of his Government, winning over supportat times through questionable means. He was a manof simple tastes but with a complex mind.

Vinay Satpati, his biographer, has done anadmirable job of putting up the thought processof the original “accidental Prime Minister” and thegood and bad which came from that accident. Inthe end, though, the good is so overwhelming thatthe bad must take a back seat. To quote Sitapati,“His legacy lives on…his half-burnt body contin-ues to glow.” To sum up PV in a line, “he had PanditNehru’s intellectual capacity and Sardar Patel’sadministrative calibre.”

(The writer has worked closely with the latePrime Minister of India; is Editor-in-Chief ofOpinion Express and a columnist with The Pioneer)

The tragic end of the Congress’ greatest intellectual leader, PV Narasimha Rao, can nevererase the contribution he made to redefine the journey of a modern, powerful India

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

Israeli poll and

the West Bank

GWYNNE DYER

If Netanyahu includes the West Bank and the roadsthat connect it in his ‘annexation,' it will be a final landgrab that can bring the portion of that territory under

Israeli sovereignty above 50 per cent

PRASHANT TEWARI

It shouldn’t have been a surprise when Prime Minister Benjamin

Netanyahu said last week that he is going to annex all the Jewish

settlements in the occupied West Bank. After all, every other mem-

ber of his Likud Party in the Israeli Parliament (28 out of 29) had

already said they wanted to do that. Yet, it did come as a surprise.

Netanyahu had avoided saying it previously because as the head

of the Government, his statement would have made it an official

policy and according to international law, annexing conquered ter-

ritory is illegal. (Israel seized the West Bank in the 1967 war and

has occupied it ever since.) The traditional Israeli policy has been

to colonise as much of the territory as it can with Jewish settlers,

but to insist that it was all open to negotiation in a peace settle-

ment. It never meant that, of course. Around 20 per cent of the peo-

ple in the West Bank and the adjacent parts of East Jerusalem, con-

quered at the same time, are now Jewish settlers (600,000 colonists

among 2.4 million Palestinians) but they control 42 per cent of the

land. You don’t make that kind of investment if you’re really plan-

ning to give the land back to the Palestinians in the future.

But leaving the legal status of the Jewish settlements open actu-

ally enables them to go on expanding, whereas annexing the land

the settlers now hold would implicitly recognise that the rest of the

land really still belongs to the Palestinians and stop the settlers from

grabbing even more of it. Moreover, leaving the question open lets

Israel’s Western allies and supporters ignore its actions. Even Western

media dodges the issue, using slippery formula like the BBC’s famous

line, which appears in almost every piece it does about the occu-

pied territories: “The [Jewish] settlements are illegal under interna-

tional law, though Israel disputes this.” It is the exact legal and moral

equivalent of saying that “Russia’s annexation of Crimea is illegal

under international law, though Russia disputes this,” but in prac-

tice it lets the Israelis off the hook.

So why did Netanyahu change the policy now? The election,

obviously. In response to a (probably planted) question from the

audience at a rally, he said: “You are asking whether we are mov-

ing on to the next stage — the answer is yes, we will move to the

next stage. I am going to extend [Israeli] sovereignty and I don’t

distinguish between settlement blocs and the isolated settlements.”

‘And the isolated settlements’ is an interesting phrase. Ariel Sharon’s

famous exhortation in 1998 — “Everybody has to move; run and

grab as many hilltops as they can to enlarge the settlements, because

everything we take now will stay ours. Everything we don’t grab

will go to them” — had concrete effects.

“Unauthorised” Jewish settlements — often no more than a

couple of trailers, a lot of razor wire, a small arsenal of weapons

and an Israeli flag — sprang up on a lot of hilltops in the West Bank.

If Netanyahu includes them and the roads that connect them in his

“annexation”, it will be a final land grab that probably brings the por-

tion of the West Bank under Israeli sovereignty above 50 per cent.

Netanyahu is doing this now because his re-election campaign was

running into a bit of trouble. He is under indictment on corruption

charges and his Likud party, which used to be seen as hard Right,

has ended up looking “soft Right” without ever changing its poli-

cies. It’s the centre of gravity in Israeli politics that has moved, with

several Right-wing parties following an ever harder line than Likud.

Likud will never form a Government on its own; it would be doing

well to win a quarter of the 120 seats in the Knesset (parliament).

The country’s electoral system of proportional representation means

all Governments must be coalition Governments and Netanyahu’s

potential coalition partners after the election are almost all further

to the right than Likud.

To compete with them for votes during the election, and to draw

them into a new coalition afterwards, will require Netanyahu to look

ruthless and ultra-nationalist himself and he has shown no reluc-

tance to play that role. He also knows that his good friend US President

Donald Trump will give him cover internationally when he annex-

es the West Bank. Trump has already moved the US Embassy to

Jerusalem, an implicit endorsement of Israel’s annexation of the

Arab-majority east of the city after it was captured in the 1967 war.

More recently, he has formally recognised the illegal Israeli annex-

ation of the Golan Heights, a part of Syria also conquered in that

war and now a territory where Israeli settlers make up half the pop-

ulation. So would Trump also recognise an Israeli annexation of half

the West Bank? Why not? Netanyahu might as well exploit Trump’s

political strategy at home, which includes accusing the Democratic

Party of being ‘anti-Semitic’, to get US approval of Israeli expan-

sion while he is still in office. He might be gone in 19 months.

(The writer’s new book is Growing Pains: The Future of

Democracy and Work)

Change is the only constant — beit in life or business. In thisdynamic landscape, all busi-

nesses, whether small start-ups orlarge organisations, at some point oranother, need to change their strate-gies and vision and go through atransformation process to stay aliveand relevant by aligning people,processes and technology. Althoughchange has been a part of businessesfor long, it is the speed that has ren-dered transformation as an importantand integrated business function.What took radio 38 years to reach auser base of 50 million people wasachieved by television in 13 years andthe internet in just five years. Today,the challenge is speed of transforma-

tion and all organisations have to gearup to face it and come on tops.

The current business world isquite demanding for companies.Faced with a “two-speed world” —rapid growth in emerging economiesand slower growth in developedcountries — firms have to developunique strategies for each environ-ment. In addition, digitisation andglobalisation are blurring the linesbetween sectors as well as between tra-ditional competitor groups. Newtechnology is changing consumerbehaviour, empowering start-ups,making pricing more transparentand reducing product life cycles.Additionally, owing to changing costs,evolving demand and unfolding traderestrictions, companies must rethink— and continually reassess — theiroperational footprint. To survive inthis shifting environment and tokeep up with the pace, most business-es must transform — either in strat-egy, operating model, organisation,people, or processes — and this gen-erally results in the alteration of theirgrowth trajectory. For most compa-nies, it is an ongoing, adaptive process

as market conditions continue tochange.

Nokia is a prime example of ‘ser-ial’ business transformation. Havingreinvented itself several times in its150-year history, this company, whichonce dominated the mobile phoneindustry, embarked on its most rad-ical transformation till date by exitingthe business in 2014. The device busi-ness had been moving towards a dif-ficult stalemate, generating dissatisfac-tory results and requiring increasingamounts of capital, which Nokia nolonger had. When Microsoftexpressed interest in taking overNokia’s device business, it sold itsmobile business for $7.2 billion andsimultaneously orchestrated anotherdeal to buy out Siemens from theNokia Siemens Networks (NSN), a50-50 joint venture with Siemens, giv-ing Nokia 100 per cent control overthe unit and forming the cash-gener-ating core to fund the journey of thenew firm. After surviving a near-deathexperience and abandoning phones,this corporate phoenix has re-emerged as one of the world’s largesttelecom network service providers by

renewing portfolio strategy, corporateand capital structure, robust businessplans and a new management team.Its enterprise value has grown man-ifold since bottoming out in July 2012and the company has returned billionsof dollars of cash to its shareholders.

Since change is the new normalfor corporates today, how can anorganisation embark on this journey?The first critical step is to get the rightstrategic vision and be able to antic-ipate the requirements of customersand strategies to achieve them. Asound strategy is necessary for a broadrange of enterprise-wide investmentdecisions, resource allocations andperformance expectations and helpsto derive value from the transforma-tion. It also includes defining thedepth and scope of the changes andthe redesign of internal processes andstructures.

Even though there are a numberof change management models, thereis only a 30 per cent chance thatchange management in an organisa-tion is successful. In addition, employ-ee resistance is one of the major chal-lenges in change management. So is

something wrong with the employeesor the change management system?In reality, there has been no properdevelopment of the capacity of man-agers to actually implement thechange management programmes.Outsourcing of the change manage-ment process to consultants has beendetrimental to the strengthening ofthe managers’ ability to managechange and be accountable for thesame. This approach is the singlelargest determinant of the failure ofthe change management programmes.

Many large organisations are notcomfortable with any changes astheir main focus is on control ability,routinisation, stability and risk-avoid-ance. How can employees, who areused to these habits, take to changeeasily? Change and stability do not gohand -in-hand and the result will befriction and organisational fatigue.

Since we are discussing changemanagement, traditional changemanagement theories should alsolook at improving or changing them-selves.The traditional top-downapproach does not take into accountany suggestions from general

employees of the company andchange management comes from thetop. This needs to be changed toincorporate ideas of the employees.The organisational environmentshould be open to creativity anddivergent thinking. Critical feedback,that endures detection of flaws andcontinuous learning and adapta-tion, should be an integral part of theprocess. Otherwise, companies canfail big in their effort to bring aboutchange. And most importantly,change management should be acontinuous process and cannot beviewed as an intermittent project,with a beginning and an end.

In this continuously evolvingbusiness environment, change man-agement is important. Making ithappen effectively, however, needs tobe a core competence of managers andtheir role has changed from the abil-ity to complete change projects todesign the organisation in a way thatenables continuous adaptation of anever-evolving environment.

(The writer is Assistant Professor,Amity University)

Learn to thrive in changing timesIn this continuously evolving business environment, change management should be a process and must not be

viewed as an intermittent project with a beginning and an end. Only then can businesses survive

HIMA BINDU KOTA

LUCKNOW | WEDNESDAY | APRIL 10, 2019


F O R E I G N E Y E

The white paperannounced by the Britishgovernment attempts tosteer a middle course, asmost of the world does. Itis a welcome step towardsa sane regulation of theinternet. But it is importantnot to go too far.Regulating the internet isnecessary but it won’t beeasy or cheap. Too muchof this white paper lookslike an attempt to findcheap and easy solutionsto really hard questions.(The Guardian editorial)

WHITE PAPER, GREY AREAS

LUCKNOW | WEDNESDAY | APRIL 10, 2019 avenues 10

QUOTE OF THE DAY

Knowledge is power. Information

is liberating. Education is the

premise of progress, in every

society, in every family

— Kofi Annan

More than a decade and a halfago, a management degreewas a key to landing lucrative

jobs in India. The employers chasedmanagement students from IndianInstitutes of Management (IIMs) andother top private colleges to bringthem on board. However, in the lastfew years, the number of managementgraduates getting hired has declinedsignificantly.

Apart from the fact that there arenow more than 3500 managementinstitutes in India churning out lakhof MBA students every year and thesupply is more than the demand, onevery relevant reason of unemploya-bility is the lack of quality students.According to a report, only 7 per centof India’s B-schools graduates areemployable because they are not job-ready.

A majority of institutes still impartmanagement education through thetraditional curriculum. The key focusof this curriculum is on theoreticalknowledge of various subjects. So,while students pass out with a strongtheoretical foundation, they areunaware of how to deploy their con-cepts into the practical world scenar-ios. When they enter the corporatejobs, they fumble with real job chal-lenges and are unable to give the per-formance as desired by the organisa-tions.

There have been complaints fromthe industry about the lack of quali-ty students with the right job skills.Organisations are demanding man-agement graduates who have sector-specific skills and knowledge and canstep into the demands of their jobsright from the ground without requir-ing much training. They also wantcandidates who excel in not only tech-nical skills but also soft skills such asleadership, team spirit, communica-tion skills, analytical thinking, prob-lem-solving, ethics and others. Thesoft skills go a long way in ensuringthat the candidate is the right fit forthe organisation and can adapt to thechanging business needs.

Realising that there is a gapbetween the MBA education andindustry skills, B-schools are nowrevising their curriculum and coursestructure to make their studentsemployable and job-ready. Here is

what B-schools have started doing tofix the employment problems formanagement students and also, makemanagement education more relevantto the industry:

EXPERIENTIAL LEARNINGThere is certainly no better

teacher than experience. Books cangive academic wisdom, but to be ableto see how a certain fundamental orconcept works in the real world, stu-dents require hands-on training. So,B-schools are now incorporatingmore industry project assignmentsand internships and even increasingtheir duration in the curriculum sothat students can spend more timelearning practical skills.

NICHE SPECIALISATIONSWhile marketing, finance, human

resources, operations and others,have been common specialisationsthat MBA students have to choosefrom, B-schools are coming up withniche specialisations too. These nichesubjects enable students to perceivebusiness problems from a closer per-spective, enhance understanding ofthat sector and develop the requiredskill sets. Some of the innovative spe-cialisations that B-schools have comeup with are rural management, digi-tal marketing, tourism management,telecom management, family andbusiness entrepreneurship, big dataand analytics lectures from industryprofessionals

It goes without saying that indus-try professionals have proficientknowledge of corporate skills and areclosed to job market scenarios. Theyhave the latest information on what is

happening in the business world. Inaddition to their academicians astheir core faculty, B-schools are nowinviting the industry professionals andstalwarts as guest lecturers to sharetheir job experiences and give insightinto the business skills.

This change will not happenovernight, but it is definitely in theprocess. The need of the hour for B-schools is to improve their curriculumfrom time-to-time and tailor it to theindustry skills to increase the employ-ability of management students. Also,it is imperative for B-schools to joinhands with the industry to understandtheir business needs and seek theirhelp to design the curriculum.

The writer is Assistant Director, Dr DY Patil B-School

Lakhs of people graduate with an MBA every year. But their employability remains the burning issue because of thegap between education and industry skills. AMOL GAWANDE tells you how the problem can be fixed

THE B-SCHOOL ROUTE

ICAI’s contribution recognisedThe Goods and Services Tax

Network (GSTN) on the occasionof its foundation day on April, 2019felicitated The Institute of CharteredAccountants of India (ICAI) in recog-nition of its contribution and supportin development of GST ecosystem.

It was presented by Navin Kumar,chief guest, former chairman, GSTN inthe presence of Ajay Bhushan Pandey,chairman, GSTN & revenue secretary,Government of India andKrishnamurthy Subramanian, chiefeconomic advisor. CA. Prafulla PChhajed, president, ICAI, CA. AtulGupta, vice-president, ICAI and CA.Sushil K Goyal, Chairman, GST &Indirect Taxes Committee received

the recognition on behalf of ICAI.The dignitaries discussed the work-

ing of GSTN along with the major focusareas like — linking of E-way Bill withGST Invoices and its data mining andothers. The ICAI has been regularlyproviding its support to GSTN by pro-viding suggestions on various GSTforms.

The Kalinga Institute of IndustrialTechnology (KIIT) Deemed to be

University, Bhubaneswar is among ahandful of Indian universities to enterWorld University Impact Rankings2019 of the Times Higher Education(THE).

The first edition of the TimesHigher Education World UniversityImpact Rankings 2019 was released onApril 3, 2019 and includes more than450 universities from 76 countries. Therankings assess universities against theUnited Nations’ SustainableDevelopment Goals (SDGs).

KIIT Deemed to be university is theonly self-financing university from east-

ern India and Odisha to enter this pres-tigious global university ranking thataims to measure an institution’s impacton society based on its success in meet-ing the UN’s Sustainable DevelopmentGoals (SDGs). Last year, it had achievedan impressive rank in The Times HigherEducation World University Rankings2019 also which assesses research-intensive universities from 86 countriesacross all of their core missions.

According to the ranking report,KIIT has been rated high on sustainabledevelopment parameters such asreduced inequalities (SDG 10), peace,justice and strong institutions (SDG 16),partnership for goals (SDG 17) and

Quality Education (SDG 4). SustainableDevelopment Goals, adopted by the UNin 2016, provide a framework for devel-oping the world in a sustainable way. Interms of other parameters, KIIT has got101-200 position with respect toReduced Inequalities; 201+ in Peace,Justice and Strong Institutions and301+ in Quality Education. Overall it hasgot 301+ position globally in impactrankings.

Staff, students and well wishers ofboth KIIT & KISS profoundly thankedand expressed gratitude to the Founderof KIIT & KISS for his vision to carryout the mission of SDG, reducinginequalities since the inception of KIIT.

KIIT enter world university impact rankings

MSC PROGRAMMEThe Archaeolog y

Department within theFaculty of Arts andHumanities at the UK-basedUniversity of Southampton isinviting applications forSeptember 2019 intake of itsMSc Business and HeritageManagement programme.

Duration: One yearEligiblity : Bachelors

degree awarded by a recog-nised university or an equiv-alent professional qualifica-tion approved by the univer-sity with an overall qualifi-cation of at least 60 per cent;IELTS 6.5 overall, with min-imum of 6.5 in reading andwriting, 6.0 in listening andspeaking, or an equivalentstandard in other qualifica-t ions approved by theUniversity; students whohave achieved 70 per cent inEnglish in Class XII fromCBSE or CISCE may beexempted from additionalEnglish language require-ments.

Last date to apply: Earlyapplications by April 30,2019.

MEDICAL LAB TECHCradle Inst itute of

Paramedical Sciences invitesapplications for its certificatecourse in Medical LabTechnology.

The programme aims toprovide efficient and bal-anced training in laboratorymedicine. This course offerschallenging career in a hos-pital, minor emergency cen-ters, private laboratory, blooddonor centers, doctor’s officeor clinics.

Duration: One yearEligiblity : Minimum

qualification for securingadmission to certificate pro-gramme is Class XII passedfrom any recognised board.

How to apply: The appli-cation forms and brochuremay be obtained from admis-sion office of Cradle Instituteof Paramedical Sciences, 988,

Kapashera, New Delhi.Last date to apply: April

15, 2019.

MECHANICAL ENGINEERINGManav R achna

International Institute ofResearch and Studies invitesapplications for its BTech —Mechanical Engineering inassociation with JBM.

Duration: Four yearsEligiblity: Pass in Class

XII examination with at least65 per cent marks in aggre-gate in five subjects includingPhysics, Mathematics &English as compulsory sub-jects along with one of thefollowing subject: Chemistry,Biotechnology, ComputerScience, Biolog y, Bio-Technology and one subjectwith the highest score out ofthe remaining subjects.

How to apply: Log on tomanavrachna.edu.in.

Last date to apply: April17, 2019.

APPLIED SCIENCESManav R achna

International Institute ofResearch and Studies invitesapplications for its AppliedSciences programme.

Duration: Four yearsE ligiblity : For BSc

Candidates having passedClass XII examination fromany recognised board with 50per cent or more marks inaggregate of three Sciencesubjects Physics, Chemistry,Math and English. For MSccandidates having passedwith 50 per cent or moremarks in relevant subject.

How to apply: Log on tomanavrachna.edu.in.

Last date to apply: April17, 2019.

Has it ever occurred to you howthe big game players know or

predict what you would need evenbefore you searched for it yourself?In today’s day & age, the needs &expectations of customers are seeingan unprecedented high because ofthe myriad options that one isexposed to. It is through theseoptions that organisations across theworld are learning and understand-ing the massive amounts of data thatpotential customers leave behind. Beit online, or through retail, extensiveamounts of behavioural data of con-sumers are being captured to devel-op algorithms & models that canhelp in shaping business perfor-mance with effective distribution ofservices and products.

Predictive Analytics is the prac-tice of drawing patterns to determinefuture trends and outcomes throughextracting viable information fromexisting data sets. PredictiveAnalytics utilises chronicled infor-mation to anticipate future occasions.Regularly recorded information isutilised to construct a scientificmodel that analyses critical pat-terns. The model is then utilised oncurrent information to foresee whatwill occur straightaway or to proposesteps to make for ideal results. Usednormally to conjecture future prob-abilities, Predictive Analytics utilis-es various methods that include thelikes of data mining, measurable dis-

playing and AI to enable experts topredict future business targets.

Driven by the big data metrics,predictive analytics is quickly becom-ing imperative for numerous busi-nesses and organisations, as they cansaddle through colossal amounts ofdata to give the business a morepragmatic vision of where and howto focus.

With expanding challenges, var-ious sectors are looking for an edgein bringing items and administra-tions to swarmed markets. The mostnotable ones include:nConsumer behaviour: PredictiveAnalytics are utilised to decide clientreactions or buys. Online retailers areutilising huge amounts of informa-tion they accumulate on the conductof their clients to modify their coststo predict what will engage their cus-tomers the most.

nModifying operations: PredictiveAnalytics is empowering organisa-tions to work all the more profi-ciently. A few organisations haveprofited by predictive models bydetermining stock and overseeingassets. This can be widely usedacross the clothing, hospitality andairline industry where inventorymanagement is the biggest challengeat hand.nHealthcare: In healthcare, modelsassociating manifestations and med-ications to results are seeing moreextensive use by suppliers. By usingpattern-detection algorithms, health-care professionals can identify, givefeedback and help patients before-hand.nAnticipate cyber threats:Combining numerous examinationstrategies can improve design dis-covery and avoid criminal conduct

in the digital front. By analysingsocial event data on past assaults anddistinguishing an advanced uniquemark to avoid future invasions canhelp in developing a viable methodto counteract information threats.nAutomobile: At a time whereelectric self-driving cars are thefuture, predictive analytics can helpin futuristic automobile innovation.By breaking down sensor informa-tion from associated vehicles, auto-mobile manufacturers can designbased on predictive calculations.nAviation: Predictive Analytics canhelp the aviation industry by mon-itoring the motor wellbeing of airlinecarriers. To improve the carriers’ up-time and diminish upkeep costs,organisations can utilise predictivemodels to anticipate subsystem exe-cution for oil, fuel, lift-off, mechan-ical wellbeing, and controls.

Predictive modelling forms thefuture of business strategies with itsextensive use of mathematical andcomputational methods. An iterativeprocess that makes one test a data setand validate its results for a futuris-tic time frame. Owing to the direneed of accuracy in forecasting,organisations of the future will lookat individuals with a hands-on exper-tise in predictive analytics making itthe specialisation of tomorrow.

The writer is Director, Kirloskar Institute ofAdvanced Management Studies, Pune

Grow your businessThe JEE (Main) 2019 (April

Session) Paper — I for thoseaspiring for BE/BTech was held onApril 8, 2019. NTA has successful-ly conducted the JEE Main —Paper 2 on April 7 for which aroundone lakh students have appeared.This is the first day out of the fourdays for April session of JEE Main2019 Paper — 1 to be held on April8 ,9, 10 & 12, 2019.

The reporting time for stu-dents was 7:30 am however theexam started at 9:30 am.

Reactions from Students aboutJEE Main Paper — I held on April8, 2019 (forenoon session) :nThere were no changes in the pat-tern of Paper — I of JEE (Main)compared to previous years orJanuary session. Questions coveredalmost all chapters from the threesubjects Physics, Chemistry andMathematics. The spread of ques-tions was from almost all chaptersfrom Class XI and XII.nThe paper had three parts :

nPart—I: Physics with 30 ques-tions, marking scheme (+4 for cor-rect response, -1 for incorrectresponse, 0 if not attempted)

nPart—II: Chemistry with 30questions, marking scheme (+4 forcorrect response , -1 for incorrectresponse, 0 if not attempted)

nPart—III: Mathematics with30 questions, marking scheme (+4for correct response, -1 for incorrectresponse, 0 if not attempted)nAll questions were of multiplechoice with single correct answer

objective type.The level of difficult as per feedbackfrom students:

nMathematics: Easy to mod-erate level. Our students reportedquestions were easy. No questionasked from MathematicalInduction.

nPhysics: Tougher comparedto Mathematics and Chemistry.But it was of moderate level. Somestudents felt Class XI had moreweightage in the paper.

nChemistry: Easy. Some ques-tions were directly from NCERTand were fact based. No tricksinvolved as such in any question.

One question on assertion reason-ing was asked.nOverall the paper was of easy tomoderate level as per students.nAs compared to last year, this yearpaper was of easy to moderate levelas per students. More focus washowever given to NCERT.nAs compared to January sessionthe paper was almost of similar levelas per students. Physics was rela-tively tougher.nNo errors were reported from stu-dents as such.nThe students left the exam hall at12:30 pm.

The writer is Expert, FIITJEE

Analysing JEE Main-1RAMESH BATLISH says that JEE Main Paper-I was easy to moderate

REALISING THAT THEREIS A GAP BETWEEN THEMBA EDUCATION ANDINDUSTRY SKILLS, B-SCHOOLS ARE NOW

REVISING THEIRCURRICULUM AND

COURSE STRUCTURE TOMAKE THEIR STUDENTS

EMPLOYABLE ANDJOB-READY

Predictive modelling is now being inculcated in the curriculum. DR AMIT K SINHA tellsyou how it proves beneficial for the businesses

VIT has added yet anotherfeather to its cap by secur-

ing first rank among privateinstitutions in the country inthe Atal Ranking of Institutionson Innovation Achievements(ARIIA 2019) awarded by theMinistry of Human ResourceDevelopment.

VIT Chancellor Dr GViswanathan received theaward from President of IndiaRam Nath Kovind during theaward ceremony and release ofNational Institutional RankingFramework (NIRF) on April 8,2019 at New Delhi. In the

NIRF ranking, in engineeringInstitutions category VITsecured 18th rank including allthe IITs, NITs and leading uni-versities. In the Universityranking category, VIT bagged19th rank among all universi-ties in India.

VIT awarded No 1 position

VIT chancellor Dr G Viswanathan receivesaward from President Ram Nath Kovind

Scholarships are gateways to your dreamuniversities to study your dream subject.Tuition fee being waved, be it full or

partial is definitely beneficial to any studentwith all the opportunities remaining intact. Ifyou can crack the application process, youcan fly off to that coveted academic careerwithout the financial burden and focus onyour growth without the thoughts of loans ordebts. While you may hear that it is quitedifficult to secure one, but in reality, itdepends on how you are going about things.A few things done right can get you ascholarship without multiple applications.

Those are exactly what you learn in topMBA colleges in Delhi-NCR. Tricks to land ascholarship for a doctorate degree abroad or

learning a new language.

Here are surefire techniques that you canfollow to win a scholarship and end youraspirant days. Follow them closely and youare sure to succeed.

nFilter the scholarships that are meantfor you: The sheer number of options canoverwhelm anyone and the general trend isto go for the popular names. Remember, notall scholarships can suit your educationalneeds and you must take your time to filterthe right ones. Look at what facilities you willget after you receive the grant, what can youtake away from the time spent, do you reallywant the experience, and so on. This way,you can eliminate a few unnecessary optionsand focus on the correct paths.

nStart small and then move up theladder: Most students from the best

management colleges in Delhi NCR aim forthe top scholarship opportunities throughinternational entrance examinations like GREor TOEFL. You may also walk down the samepath but there’s no harm in starting small.The big exams are quite competitive andoften you may have to take multiple tries.Smaller scholarships are easier to land andcan give you the required confidence to crackthe big one. So, get a grant for a summertraining somewhere or travel allowance tovolunteer abroad and then go on to take yourshot at GRE.

nReally put effort in your essays: Most

of the scholarship applications now inviteessays to filter their candidates. You have aspecific number of words to present yourcase and show your interest. This is what willdecide whether you are making the cutamong all the other applicants. So, reallywork hard behind it. Instead of using genericstatements, use anecdotes to establish yourcandidature and talk about how a particularlife event inspired you to take up the subject.Smart work will win you the situation andhelp you to stand out.

n Identify the pattern and prepareaccordingly: No two scholarship exam or

application will be the same. You must judgeparameters like the question pattern, the typeof competition, the difficulty level each yearand much more.

These will help you to form an ideaabout the task at hand and avoid wastingtime behind meaningless activities. Forinstance, if scoring a 55 out of 100 will getyou through, preparing to score an 80 is awaste of resources. You can use the savedtime for something valuable like building anadded skill to put in your CV.

nCheck and recheck your application:Most applications get disqualified at the firststage itself due to poorly edited content. Youdo not want one typing error to jeopardise allthe efforts that you had put in. Thoroughlyproofread every line of both your application

and resume. You can also bring in an extraset of eyes to help you out. It happens that agrammatical error that you may have skippedyour friend can identify it. Experts alsosuggest editing in a print copy rather thanthe digital form as it is easier to catchmistakes with pen and paper. In short, doeverything to eliminate errors and send aflawless application.

Show the evaluators your desire to landthe scholarship. Make them feel your interestwith whatever resources you have at hand.The best of MBA colleges in Delhi NCRregion have events and workshops to teachyou such tricks that can help you land anyscholarship on earth.

The writer is Dr. Kulneet Suri, Senior Director atInstitute of Management Studies, Noida

LUCKNOW | WEDNESDAY | APRIL 10, 2019 avenues 11

M I N D I T

IndianInstitute of Arts

and Designis offeringscholarships tho thosewho are enrolled in or

have been accepted for admission to the undergrad-uate/postgraduate -level programmes at IIAD.

The objective of this scholarship is to providefinancial aid to meritorious students who are willingto make their career in fashion and design.

Eligibility: UG level — The applicant must havecleared Class 12, with a minimum of 70% aggregatein any discipline from CBSE/ ISC/ IB or any otherequivalent board are considered eligible to apply.

PG level — The applicant must have clearedtheir Undergraduate Examination (or equivalent)with a minimum of 60% aggregate in any disciplinefrom any recognised Institute or University are con-sidered eligible to apply.

Besides the academic performance in 10+2/graduation, the final selection to avail scholarship,will also depend on performance in the IIADEntrance Tests process. For more info, visithttp://iiad.edu.in

How to apply: For Off-Line Applications (PaperForms) — Fill in the UG/PG Application Form;Download the scholarship form here; Fill in andcomplete all details. Make sure to enter your applica-tion form number on the scholarship form; Send theapplication form along with the Scholarship Form, tothe following address: The Admissions Department,Indian Institute of Art & Design, B-26 Okhla Phase 1New Delhi —110020 India

For Online Application: Download the scholar-ship form. Mention the application number on theform. Fill in all the details. Email the form [email protected]

Required Documents: Attested copies of Class10th Certificate and Mark sheet.

Attested copies of Class XII Certificate and Marksheet (if available). Attested copies of senior sec-ondary or equivalent Degree / Certificate. Attestedcopies of the proof of permanent address

For PG: Self-attested copies of Undergraduatedegree or equivalent degree/Certificate.

Self-attested copies of previous Year’s/Semester'smark sheets.

Speech pathology and audiology are alliedhealth careers. The professionals are quali-fied by special training, education, skills

and experience to provide healthcare service.However, the practitioners are not physicians butare called speech pathologists and audiologistsand work with people who have speech disordersdue to problems like cleft palate or other medicalconditions.

The job involves examining and cleaning theear canal, fitting hearing aids, counseling onadjusting to hearing loss and training on the useof hearing instruments. To practice one need tohave Bachelors/Masters degree in Audiology andbe registered with Indian Speech and HearingAssociation or Rehabilitation Council of India. Afew more colleges to study:nJM Institute of Speech and Hearing, Patna.Course: Diploma in Hearing, Language andSpeechnMedical Trust Institute of Medical Sciences,Kochi. Course: Diploma in Hearing, Language andSpeechnAli Yavar Jung National Institute for theHearing Handicapped, Mumbai. Courses: MScHearing, Language and Speech, Diploma inHearing, Language and SpeechnManipal University: School of Allied HealthSciences, Manipal. Course: MSc Speech andHearingnAll India Institute of Speech and Hearing,Mysore. Course: MSc Speech and HearingnPost Graduate Institute of Medical Educationand Research: College of Nursing, Chandigarh.Course: MSc Speech and HearingnSamvad College of Speech and Hearing,

Bengaluru. Course:Master in Audiology

and SpeechLanguagePathology

STUDY CENTRES WEB DEVELOPMENT AT MEDHIRA ITSOLUTIONSLocation: Delhi, Ghaziabad, NoidaStipend: `6,500 per monthLink: internshala.com/i/412727Application deadline: April 19, 2019

HUMAN RESOURCES AT MOBITINOLocation: Noida Stipend: `5,000-`10,000 per monthLink: internshala.com/i/412726Application deadline: April 19,2019

SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETINGAT ALL FRIENDS STUDIOLocation: Delhi, GurgaonStipend: `8,000-`12,000 permonthLink: internshala.com/i/412728Application deadline: April 19, 2019

TELECALLING AT NOMADICDESTINATIONSLocation: Gurugram, Greater Noida,NoidaStipend: `10,000-`15,000 per monthLink: internshala.com/i/412729Application deadline: April 18, 2019

GRAPHIC DESIGN AT DICHROIC LABSLocation: BengaluruStipend: `5,000 per monthLink: internshala.com/i/412730Application deadline: April 19, 2019

BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT AT HIGHMOUNTAINSLocation: BengaluruStipend: `18,000 per monthLink: internshala.com/i/412731Application deadline: April 19, 2019

BLOGGING AT UKTI LANGUAGE SERVICESLocation: Work From HomeStipend: `3,000 per monthLink: internshala.com/i/412732Application deadline: April 19, 2019

The Global Indian InternationalSchool (GIIS), Noida, organisedan after school orientation

programme for its students andparents. Three new programmeshave been introduced in the campuskeeping in mind that how suchinteractions in a positiveenvironment can help learn theskills they will need for college andbeyond.

Launched under the Nine Gemsmodel these programmes willprovide a platform for the studentsto cultivate new skills and enhancethe inherent ones along with goalsetting and making them futureready.

As a part of the programme,GIIS Noida collaborated with TheGolf Revolution team to trainstudents into the likes of the sport.

Junior Science Olympiad (JSO) isconsidered to be the mostcoveted competition for

students having affinity towardsscientific education and for thosevying for a career in scientificresearch.

Meant for students of ClassesVIII, IX and Xand those belowthe age of 15years, JSO isconducted everyyear which is

divided into 5 stages.The FIITJEE Punjabi Bagh

(Delhi) Centre, is conducting apreparatory boot camp called CampOlympia for the students who havequalified Indian National JuniorScience Olympiad (INJSO).

The camp is a 15-day fullyresidential boot camp aiming toequip students with the theoreticaland practical skills on Physics,Chemistry and Biology by expertfaculties of FIITJEE Punjabi BaghCentre and scientists.

Building on a commoncommitment to prepare thenext generation of industry

leaders, Sommet Educationinstitutions Glion Institute of HigherEducation and Les Roches GlobalHospitality Education launched apartnership with InterContinentalHotels Group.

Through this partnership, IHGwill participate in the curriculumdevelopment across SommetEducation’s portfolio of bachelor’sand master’s degree programmesby providing case studies for

business projects and key notespeakers during the courses and forgraduation ceremonies.

In addition, IHG will increaseits recruitment efforts at both Glionand Les Roches, giving studentsand graduates access to internshipsand job opportunities across itsportfolio of brands with more than5,600 hotels in more than 100countries.

The partnership is a testamentof Sommet Education to furtherstrengthen its relationship withleading hospitality organisations.

The ApeejayInstitute ofMass

Communication(AIMC)successfully

concluded the 4thedition of its annualshowcase — BrandCase Study at itsDwarka campus.

This was an

opportunity for thestudents to push theirboundaries in terms ofthinking skills to comeup with holisticintegrated marketingcommunicationsstrategies andcampaigns forselected brands undercertain hypotheticalsituations.

Anuj Dayal,executive director,corporatecommunication,DMRC, applauded thecampaign presentedfor Delhi Metro andsaid: “I am thrilled tosee the campaign thatthe AIMC studentshave created forDMRC.” T

he NIIT University (NU),organised a DoctoralSymposium to provide a

common platform for doctoralstudents to share and discuss theirdoctoral research work with eminentscientists, engineers andtechnologists from industry,academia and research labs.

At the symposium, PhDstudents from renowned institutionslike IITs, NITs, IIITs, BITS, SouthAsian University, etc. presented theirdoctoral research in the niche areasof Artificial Intelligence, Internet ofThings, Data Science, InformationSecurity, etc. This is the secondedition of Doctoral Symposium at NUand it attracted a large number ofresearchers. NU organised the firstDoctoral Symposium in the area ofComputer Science in 2017.

HOLISTIC DEVELOPMENT BOOT-CAMP FOR JUNIOR SCIENCE OLYMPIAD

DEVELOPING GLOBAL HOSPITALITY TALENT

PATH-BREAKING IDEAS

DOCTORAL SYMPOSIUM

IN BRIEF

The online gaming is upsurging asone of the most rapidly growingindustries in the world, particularly

in India. With an increase in the num-ber of games which are solely based onthe skillset of a particular player, moreand more people are engaging in suchgaming. This digital gaming sector inIndia is estimated to be worth $1.1 bil-lion by the year 2020 and will continueto flourish at a mind-boggling pace. Inaddition to such drastic developments,the country now boasts a huge inclina-tion towards start-ups and entrepre-neurship in the online gaming market.

Such revolutionary games are takingonline gaming to another level of tech-nical interaction. Some big game devel-opers who began humbly have now notonly created a huge fan base for them-selves less but they have even shaped skillbased gaming in India for the better.

Gamers who have a knack for onlinegaming (sport, fighting, poker) andwould love to earn some money out ofit, various games are waiting for you all.Here are some of the key points.

The prospect of money throughsimple games: With simple gamesincluding poker, rummy, trivia quizzes,sports and other Real Money Games(RMG), a lot of online players have beenbenefitted financially. They get their pay-ments either through Paytm wallet or bybank transfer. Such money-relatedprospects have successfully venturedthe popularity of such games in India.

Completely reliable start-ups: Manyentrepreneurs are aiming to bridge thegap between games and cash prizesthrough its online platform. Just like this,other developers like as Moon Frog,99Games, PlaySimple and Mech Mochanot only estimated the potential numberof players, but also implemented theirstrategy excellently.

Smartphone frenzy at its peak: In2019, almost every household owns aSmartphone which is the major reasonfor digital gaming and its proliferation.Fervent players are thereby leading to atwo-fold progress in technical arena.

Widen your gaming horizons: Suchgames have gained huge acclaim in thegaming sphere owing to their exemplarymoney earning capabilities.

Mingle with super players: Withcreative minds coming together on a sin-gle database, there is a huge chance thatyou will come across more-establishedand talented players. The impetus is toearn real cash along with top-notch gam-ing experience.

Entertainment at its par: With a ris-ing youth population, India is evolvingas the hub of mobile gaming and onlineface-offs. In cohesion with the huge mar-ket size, the extent of fervor is alsoincreasing in these online gaming plat-forms. Fun is an indispensable part ofthese applications and is eventuallyresponsible for this gaming outburst.

In today’s digitally active era, earn-ing quick money is highly lucrative forobvious reasons. People sure do spend alot of time gaming online, so using it toearn some real cash is not a bad idea afterall! But experience players would knowthat skills also have a major role to playwhen it comes to winning. Through theireasily retrievable smartphones, the play-ers can expect their financial as well as'fun'ancial goals being fulfilled. However,they must incline on improving theirskills as per the requirement of the gamesas luck is not a good option to rely on.

‘Acess to Internet keyto online gaming’Revolutionary games are taking onlinegaming to another level and henceeven shaping skill based gaming forthe better, says HARSHA SACHDEVA

Harsha SachdevaCo- Founder Funnearn

Moving in the direction tofulfill its promise of cre-ating a healthy and well-

educated workforce. From givingrelaxation to small businesses inlogistics sector to file GST once inthree months to allocating `64,587 crores for improvement ofrail transport, the Government isworking in favour of the industry.This is to support the ease ofdoing business in India, alongsidecreating job opportunities foryouths, in which logistics indus-try is important.

The ongoing significant pub-lic and private investments in thetransport and warehousing facil-ities have opened ways forMSMEs to reduce the overheadexpenses and focus on improvingthe supply chain efficiency.Rightly pointed out in Teamlease’sreport Indian Logistics Revolution-Big Bets, Big Jobs, public invest-ments and steady evolution of thesector, spurred by snowballingdemands, will continue to drivethe growth of `14,19,000 crorelogistics sector at CAGR of 10.5%.The major impact can be seen inroad freight, rail freight, airfreight, warehousing, packaging,and courier services and the cre-ation of nearly 3 million new jobsis anticipated. With this, employ-ment numbers in the logistics sec-tor may increase up to 13.9 mil-

lion by 2022, which are 10.9presently.

THE EVOLVING INDUSTRYLogistics is backbone of the

nation’s economy but used to beconsidered low-skilled industryearlier. Therefore it remained thelast career choice for many. Theconsequences of which were thelack of well-trained talent andinnovation. The business had toface endless struggles to sourceand retain the right talent for theright job. Thanks to the latest dig-ital technologies and MSMEswho have joined the forces tostreamline and organise theunderdeveloped industry thatlogistics has today become anattractive career path.

The outdated pen and paperprocesses for documentation arereplaced by new modes like E-waybills, the traditional word-of-mouth promotion and marketingis now supported by digital mar-keting. The logistics and supplychain has come a long way con-tributing 13% to India’s GDP. It isslowly getting digitalised spear-heading the emergence of newjobs and transformation of thetraditional ones.

THE NEW ERAIn coming few years, there

will be an enormous shift in

demand management betweentransportation modes. Newnational waterways being built, aplethora of sophisticated 3PL and4PL players revolutionising thewarehousing sub-sector, increas-ing consumption and consumermaturity is providing a big fillipto the packaging sub-sector, lead-ing to more job creation. AsIndian logistics industry is nowadopting the digital technologiesand harnessing its potential, clear-ly evident from the digitalisationof export and import transactions

and popular use of electronic tag-ging technology, there is a recur-rent demand of skilled talents.

Every business today is inneed of well-trained and qualifiedprofessionals who can managetheir inventory and warehouses,keep tracks of accounts, and han-dle the customs and regulatorycompliance, and other processesdepending on the skills availabil-ity. The professionals in thissphere continually strive to ensurethat goods and services are deliv-ered to consumers on time and inproper condition under mini-mum costs to achieve the highlevels of customer satisfaction.The focus is on providing the bestservice to customers and increas-es the supply of goods in the mar-ket. For this, the market playersrequire a large number of trainedmanpower.

Looking at the presentemployment status, over a lakh ofincremental jobs are expected inwarehousing alone.

RISE OF NEW JOB ROLESThe job roles like consign-

ment booking assistant, e-docu-mentation assistant, courier deliv-ery executive, warehouse packer,inventory clerk, logistics and dis-tribution manager, supply chainanalyst, supply chain coordinator,supply chain manager are born

out of the need to stay attuned tothe evolving industry scenario andtech adoption on a large scale. Asintegrated logistics is the newtrend, talents working in the sec-tor bag high compensation pack-ages that vary from skills, expe-rience, and knowledge. In orderto retain them and encourageadding value and innovation inthe business, companies alsoensure the stress-free workingconditions and complete safety toachieve higher employee pro-ductivity and efficiency.

RE-ENGINEERING SKILLSWith tech-oriented logistics

gaining momentum, various uni-versities and private educationalinstitutions offer degree, diploma,and certificate programmes inlogistics and management. Toget jobs, a bachelor or masterdegree or any professional diplo-ma course in Logistics and SupplyChain Management that creditthem with the essential knowledgeand skills of the field or respon-sibility. Even the Government iskeen to equip the youths with theoptimal skill-set and empower theexisting employees in the logisticsand supply chain managementsector through the specialisedtraining centres.

The writer is CEO-founder, CogentTransware Solutions

Fast-pacedtechnologicalchanges have

forced industriesto streamline and

organise theunderdevelopedlogistic industry

making it anattractive option

today, saysSANDEEPSHARMA

THE LOGISTICS ANDSUPPLY CHAIN HASCOME A LONG WAYCONTRIBUTING 13%TO INDIA’S GDP. IT IS

SLOWLY GETTINGDIGITALISED

SPEARHEADING THEEMERGENCE OF NEW

JOBS ANDTRANSFORMING THETRADITIONAL ONES

THE LOGICAL PATH

money 12LUCKNOW | WEDNESDAY | APRIL 10, 2019

BUSINESS TAKES

JLR OPENS BOOKING FOR LOCALLY PRODUCED RANGE ROVER VELARNew Delhi: Jaguar Land Rover India (JLR) on Tuesday said it has commenced

bookings for locally manufactured Range Rover Velar which is priced at `72.47lakh (ex-showroom). The model comes with both petrol and diesel powertrains,priced similarly at `72.47 lakh. “We continue to focus on providing the best ofBritish design, luxury and technology at highly competitive prices and we are surethat local manufacturing of the Range Rover Velar will make it even more desir-able,” JLR India president & managing director Rohit Suri said in a statement.The local manufacturing of the model also reaffirms the company’s commitmentto the Indian market, he added. Deliveries of the model will begin early next month.JLR currently produces XE, XF, XJ,F-Pace, Discovery Sport and Range RoverEvoque locally.

NCLAT MAY ASK ARCELORMITTAL TO DEPOSIT `42,000 CR BIDAMOUNT FOR ACQUIRING ESSAR STEEL

New Delhi: The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal Tuesdaysaid it may direct global steel major ArcelorMittal to deposit Rs 42,000crore bid amount for acquiring Essar Steel in separate accounts duringnext hearing on April 23. A two-member bench headed by chairmanJustice S J Mukhopadhaya said that ArcelorMittal may have to depositthe money in a separate account either before the NCLAT or NCLTAhmedabad-bench. The bench also asked ArcelorMittal to file an affi-davit before it, detailing the steps to be taken for implementation of theresolution plan of debt ridden Essar Steel. “ArcelorMittal India, successfulresolution applicant, would file an affidavit for implementation of plan,”the bench said. It further said: “The Appellate Tribunal may direct thesuccessful resolution applicant to deposit money in one or anotheraccount in next date of hearing”. The bench also said that original planapproved by NCLT Ahmedabad has to be implemented. The bench alsodirected the operational creditors and financial creditors of Essar Steelto file a chart next week, detailing their claims approved by resolutionprofessional and CoC. “Financial creditors and operational creditors areallowed to file one page affidavit giving details of their claims approvedby RP and its percentage,” it said. Moreover, it has also asked the GujaratState Tax department to file an affidavit over its claims The NCLAT washearing a batch of petitions filed by operational creditors, Gujarat StateTax department and others. ArcelorMittal’s resolution proposal providesfinancial creditors `41,987 crore out of their total dues of `49,395 crore.Operational creditors, under the plan, would get just Rs 214 crore againstthe outstanding of `4,976 crore and are contesting before the NCLAT.Essar Steel owns a 10-million-tonne steel mill at Hazira in Gujarat. Thiswas was among the first 12 cases selected by the Reserve Bank of Indiato be resolved under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code(IBC).

Sensex surges over 200 points

PTI n MUMBAI

The benchmark SensexTuesday climbed nearly

239 points to close at 38,939.22amid hopes of a robust earn-ings season and positive cuesfrom global peers.

Besides, sustained buyingin banking and auto stockstowards the fag-end of the ses-sion also pushed the marketsup, brokers said.

After swinging over 350points, the 30-share Sensexindex settled 238.69 points, or0.62 per cent, higher at38,939.22.

In similar movement, thebroader NSE Nifty rose 67.45points, or 0.58 per cent, to11,671.95.

“Market gained after arange bound movement onexpectation of a turnaround inearnings growth led byQ4FY19 results starting thisweek while positive global

peers aided the market,” VinodNair, Head of Research, GeojitFinancial Services, said.

After a highly volatile ses-sion, the market surgedtowards the fag-end of thetrade with BSE bankex, auto,realty and metal indices gain-ing up to 1.40 per cent.

Yes Bank was the biggestgainer in the Sensex pack,climbing 4.08 per cent, fol-lowed by Tata Motors, ICICIBank, Bajaj Auto, Coal India,Hero MotoCorp, HCL Tech,Vedanta, Sun Pharma, AxisBank, Maruti, ITC, IndusIndBank, TCS, HUL and SBI, ris-ing up to 2.67 per cent.

“Banks outperformed asoutlook improved led byreduction in stressed assets,repo rate and pick up in cred-it growth. But valuation is ona premium level while start ofthe first phase of polling maybring volatility in the market,”Nair said.

On the other hand, AsianPaints, Infosys, Bharti Airtel,Bajaj Finance and ONGC werethe losers, shedding up to 3.54per cent.

Foreign institutionalinvestors (FIIs) purchased Rs329.60 crore Monday, whiledomestic institutional investors(DIIs) sold equities to the tuneof Rs 623.81 crore, provision-al data available with stockexchanges showed.

“The mood of domesticinvestors remains fairly cau-tious ahead of elections,although March has witnesseda return of domestic equityinflows. Post a favourableelection outcome, we continueto expect the inflows into equi-ties by domestic investors topick up markedly,” said SunilSharma, Chief InvestmentOfficer, Sanctum WealthManagement.

In Asia, Korea’s Kospi rose0.13 per cent, Japan’s Nikkei

inched up 0.19 per cent andHong Kong’s Hang Senggained 0.27 per cent, whileShanghai Composite Index fell0.16 per cent.

In Europe, Frankfurt’sDAX was up 0.18 per cent,Paris CAC 40 rose 0.35 percent, and London’s FTSEgained 0.30 per cent in earlydeals.

The benchmark Brentcrude futures were trading0.13 per cent higher at USD71.19 per barrel.“Crude oilhas been on a rise due to theconflicts in Libya which threat-ened to disrupt supply, amidUS sanctions on Venezuelaand Iran. Higher oil prices con-tinues to be a Achilles heel forthe Indian markets,” HemangJani, Head - Advisory,Sharekhan by BNP Paribas,said.

Meanwhile, the rupeeappreciated 25 paise to 69.41against the US dollar intra-day

BSNL collects record `6,500 cr in revenue from enterprise divisionPTI n NEW DELHI

State-owned telecom firm BSNL has col-lected a record revenue of `6,500 crore

from enterprise segment, making it suffi-ciently funded, which will help in meeting itsvarious requirement.

“We have collected `6,500 crore fromenterprise segment for 2018-19. This ishighest ever that BSNL has collected with 91enterprise making payment. On average,annual collection used to be from 50-60enterprises,” BSNL CMD AnupamShrivastava told PTI.

When asked if this will help BSNL tomake salary payments, he said that financially,the company is in comfortable position andit has seen revenue stabilising in other seg-ments as well.

“Even in consumer and mobility segmentrevenue has stabilised and we have seenslightly increase in it. Worst is behind us. Weare looking for revival only. In my five years,I have realised that BSNL has so much withit that this organisation should never faceproblem,” Shrivastava said.

BSNL has been ailing because of high rev-enue-to-wage ratio as a large number of gov-ernment employees were transferred by thetelecom department to the telecom PSU.

“We are sitting on gold mine. Departmentof Public Enterprise has declared that BSNLhas networth of `83,000 crore which ishumongous. If we start working on assetmonetisation, we will be able to resolve mostof our issues,” Shrivastava said.

Despite being a loss-making telecomfirm, BSNL has the lowest debt of `14,000crore among all telecom operators. The company has been operating in the high-ly competitive telecom market without hav-ing spectrum for 4G services.

Direct tax mop-up may fall short of `50,000 cr PTI n NEW DELHI

The government is esti-mated to have witnessed

a shortfall of Rs 50,000 crorein direct tax collection tar-get of Rs 12 lakh crore for2018-19, a senior financem i n i s t r y of f i c i a l s a i dTuesday.

The shortfall in direct

tax mop-up coupled withlower GST realisation mayhave implications on fiscaldeficit, which the govern-ment has pegged at 3.4 percent of the GDP.

“Direct tax collectionfor 2018-19 is around Rs11.5 lakh crore...,” the offi-cial said.

The government had

revised the direct tax col-lection target upwards to Rs12 lakh crore from the orig-inal Budget Estimate of Rs11.5 lakh crore for 2018-19.It was expecting higher col-lect ions from corporatetaxes.

he revision was madeduring the interim Budgetfor 2019-20 in February.

The target for GST col-lection was revised down-wards to Rs 6.44 lakh crorefrom the Budget Estimate ofRs 7.44 lakh crore.

The GST mop-up is alsoestimated to have missed therevised target. The GSTCouncil had reduced taxrates on several items dur-ing 2018-19.

Script Open High Low LTPSUZLON 6.67 6.78 6.56 6.71JPASSOCIAT 5.85 5.85 5.62 5.80RPOWER 10.25 10.29 9.62 9.89IBREALEST 96.70 109.55 94.75 108.10DHFL 162.00 168.90 154.10 167.35IBULHSGFIN 853.10 858.00 822.00 831.60YESBANK 262.00 271.95 258.85 270.60STRTECH 215.55 215.55 189.00 208.10TATAMOTORS 200.40 207.55 198.05 206.00DLF 186.00 188.90 183.50 187.55RELIANCE 1330.90 1340.00 1321.60 1335.35JETAIRWAYS 264.95 270.35 261.50 267.65RELCAPITAL 187.70 189.40 177.50 187.30ASHOKLEY 87.90 92.05 86.30 91.45SBIN 313.55 315.95 308.10 315.15ASIANPAINT 1470.00 1474.10 1439.70 1443.50WIPRO 264.00 274.80 263.90 273.45RELINFRA 133.00 133.90 126.60 130.45PCJEWELLER 91.65 93.85 89.15 91.10JAICORPLTD 125.75 128.70 122.50 124.45ZEEL 406.10 412.50 405.00 410.80INFY* 770.00 773.65 758.30 759.85AXISBANK 754.05 766.05 750.60 763.55TATASTEEL 550.05 553.90 540.50 551.80WOCKPHARMA 442.50 446.10 432.80 443.50ITI 101.00 106.85 101.00 103.25PNB 93.50 94.70 91.75 94.30MARUTI 7125.00 7238.00 7089.05 7218.35ICICIBANK 387.10 398.35 387.10 396.90IOC 149.25 155.75 149.00 155.15SPICEJET 96.35 96.40 93.00 95.35LAKSHVILAS 97.35 97.35 92.50 92.50TCS 2074.70 2096.10 2057.00 2088.10BANKBARODA 130.55 132.65 127.90 132.00FSL 49.40 51.85 48.90 51.30BHARTIARTL 358.60 361.15 341.60 351.60IDEA 17.40 17.70 16.70 16.90JINDALSTEL 184.00 184.50 175.70 183.45CANBK 274.00 287.95 272.35 286.30BAJFINANCE 3020.00 3051.00 2978.00 3014.20VEDL 187.45 190.90 184.30 190.15GODREJPROP 929.90 929.90 885.60 908.45SUNPHARMA 458.00 471.40 455.55 469.75LUPIN 792.00 810.95 791.00 809.25RBLBANK 658.80 666.90 651.90 665.70BANKINDIA 99.00 102.70 97.55 102.15HINDPETRO 249.55 257.80 247.45 256.25HCLTECH 1098.70 1128.50 1097.00 1118.55MGL 1012.00 1021.05 1005.05 1016.55CIPLA 526.90 533.50 525.60 531.60JUSTDIAL 592.80 598.20 581.05 594.25TATAPOWER 72.00 73.00 70.80 72.50SOUTHBANK 17.35 17.45 16.85 17.20LT 1375.00 1386.30 1366.60 1374.80TECHM 790.90 797.40 785.00 788.95KOTAKBANK 1342.00 1346.90 1323.00 1342.15BIOCON 607.85 622.40 604.50 619.50NBCC 62.80 62.80 60.25 61.40DELTACORP 268.00 269.00 259.00 261.55M&M 668.00 669.80 660.60 666.60ITC 292.55 296.70 292.40 296.35NCC 105.15 105.65 101.30 103.85IBVENTURES 343.40 343.40 333.90 337.25BPCL 347.00 357.45 345.25 356.10HDFC 2054.00 2070.00 2040.00 2068.00SAIL 58.95 59.10 57.25 58.90ICICIGI 1041.60 1078.10 1041.60 1071.15NTPC 135.00 136.35 134.95 135.85BHEL 72.95 73.10 71.15 71.75BEML 969.70 974.65 948.00 968.20MERCK 3828.95 3990.00 3812.00 3952.10DMART 1484.00 1488.30 1460.00 1482.20BOMDYEING 137.90 137.90 133.65 136.35SUNTV 632.00 632.00 606.30 612.70HEROMOTOCO 2598.00 2635.00 2568.00 2626.55RECLTD 151.00 153.90 149.70 153.35L&TFH 148.75 149.00 145.25 147.85FORCEMOT 1808.00 1840.00 1781.20 1802.85INDUSINDBK 1757.00 1772.40 1731.00 1768.15EDELWEISS 191.25 191.90 185.50 186.00TITAN 1104.10 1107.60 1092.80 1099.10SBILIFE 619.90 628.60 614.65 619.60GRAPHITE 451.10 451.10 441.25 446.85TATAMTRDVR 96.15 100.20 94.95 99.20FEDERALBNK 97.05 98.65 95.40 98.20UNIONBANK 92.95 95.00 91.15 94.65ONGC 158.70 158.90 157.15 157.55ANDHRABANK 29.55 29.90 28.60 29.35COALINDIA 233.30 239.00 232.30 238.25INDIGO 1409.00 1409.15 1384.40 1390.70SRTRANSFIN 1238.40 1257.85 1220.50 1226.05HEG 2062.05 2062.05 2027.40 2040.30BEL 95.35 96.80 93.30 95.95PERSISTENT* 630.00 647.75 612.35 622.65RCOM 2.96 2.96 2.96 2.96IDBI 44.20 44.35 43.30 43.85ESCORTS 760.00 779.90 752.50 774.70HDFCBANK 2290.00 2299.65 2268.40 2290.00NATIONALUM 55.65 57.20 55.25 56.50MRPL 70.05 71.10 69.45 70.10HEXAWARE 352.80 356.60 349.40 351.60CHENNPETRO 248.00 256.65 246.10 253.60IRB 142.00 142.30 135.75 140.75MOTHERSUMI 151.50 151.85 147.65 150.90HINDUNILVR 1669.95 1682.00 1663.90 1678.70BAJAJ-AUTO 2858.00 2930.00 2841.00 2918.50HINDALCO 215.00 217.70 211.60 216.75LINDEINDIA 485.00 514.95 485.00 510.35

MINDTREE 950.05 969.75 950.05 959.80UJJIVAN 320.50 327.80 315.25 325.20TATACHEM 613.00 613.00 603.85 607.95RAIN 104.70 104.70 99.25 101.05IDFCFIRSTB 54.05 54.90 53.60 54.70EICHERMOT 20849.95 21193.75 20394.50 20987.65ABCAPITAL 98.00 98.55 96.70 97.15ADANIPOWER 50.25 50.50 49.25 50.00SIEMENS 1140.90 1157.55 1134.95 1153.65JSWSTEEL 290.65 293.10 285.70 291.85CUMMINSIND 711.00 745.00 709.15 739.35PFC 119.20 121.05 117.20 120.60BRITANNIA 2995.90 2995.90 2948.55 2973.85CENTURYTEX 898.25 900.20 872.00 890.00JUBILANT 699.00 701.00 680.40 681.70ULTRACEMCO 4160.00 4173.10 4110.00 4164.65DABUR 403.00 404.90 400.20 403.45NIITTECH 1301.50 1305.00 1285.40 1298.20MANAPPURAM 118.75 120.50 116.90 119.85INDIACEM 108.90 109.00 105.65 108.60INDIANB 268.10 273.80 262.90 271.65AUROPHARMA 784.00 788.95 772.45 784.95TORNTPHARM 1800.00 1872.05 1800.00 1865.00COROMANDEL 455.65 457.00 435.00 442.85CGPOWER 38.80 39.35 38.10 39.15PARAGMILK 246.75 257.20 246.10 251.20CANFINHOME 362.45 363.00 348.55 354.75JISLJALEQS 55.90 57.00 55.10 56.55SUNTECK 485.75 492.30 473.00 484.35STAR 491.25 493.85 482.95 491.70INTELLECT 222.20 230.30 222.20 228.90KTKBANK 135.20 135.65 130.95 135.05DISHTV 38.15 38.50 37.20 37.85BAJAJFINSV 7370.00 7409.00 7277.95 7382.85SPARC 182.25 184.10 180.65 183.10CEATLTD 1100.00 1100.00 1075.45 1093.55ALBK 52.50 53.60 51.50 53.25PIDILITIND 1275.00 1278.75 1263.95 1273.15FORTIS 136.95 136.95 134.80 135.70PVR 1681.00 1687.45 1658.05 1682.70VIPIND 465.20 470.30 452.90 466.25RAYMOND 796.00 796.00 775.30 782.70

HDFCLIFE 385.50 387.25 378.70 381.20SCI 35.40 36.10 34.85 35.00SUVEN 270.00 272.85 266.40 268.65APOLLOTYRE 219.50 219.55 214.50 215.95GMRINFRA 18.35 18.85 18.10 18.75SHANKARA 483.40 500.95 483.15 486.85GSFC 103.65 104.45 101.20 104.05PETRONET 237.00 241.00 235.55 240.00GODREJCP 670.70 670.70 663.55 664.75ADANIPORTS 381.00 381.05 373.35 379.75ORIENTBANK 108.85 110.90 107.25 110.40LTI 1639.55 1668.00 1635.15 1661.85BANDHANBNK 547.10 557.65 537.50 551.95ACC 1639.10 1658.65 1620.50 1653.90GRASIM 836.55 848.50 828.80 844.85FRETAIL 439.45 439.50 425.65 429.50LTTS 1585.00 1600.00 1563.05 1586.70PEL 2649.05 2655.00 2620.75 2633.90EXIDEIND 217.05 218.80 214.40 218.00NAUKRI 1855.00 1908.00 1826.05 1890.75OMAXE 212.00 213.55 211.60 212.00TATAELXSI 964.05 968.40 953.00 964.65GNFC 323.90 326.50 319.00 322.70JUBLFOOD 1430.00 1435.00 1406.20 1428.85IPCALAB 959.90 959.90 919.05 935.15IGL 315.50 316.65 308.90 310.55PNBHOUSING 890.00 909.00 882.60 892.50EQUITAS 133.00 133.00 129.00 131.90LICHSGFIN 550.00 550.50 541.95 549.50M&MFIN 410.15 415.65 406.00 413.80ISEC 230.20 233.50 226.30 227.05BATAINDIA 1390.10 1415.00 1383.65 1400.35INFIBEAM 41.25 42.15 40.85 41.45MANPASAND 117.00 119.00 112.05 114.25GAIL 340.25 344.80 336.45 343.70DIVISLAB 1695.40 1717.75 1686.00 1715.00AEGISLOG 207.60 216.60 206.10 211.05CHAMBLFERT 162.60 163.50 161.85 162.25HFCL 21.85 22.40 21.85 22.05MCX 765.80 774.00 761.70 765.35

RAJESHEXPO 678.00 678.00 661.50 667.10CADILAHC 342.80 344.85 339.50 342.05TNPL 210.05 222.30 210.05 214.85HAVELLS 763.00 764.60 752.50 761.95INDHOTEL 158.00 158.00 150.40 152.35AMBUJACEM 225.55 228.00 222.00 227.15RADICO 393.00 393.00 380.45 382.35POWERGRID 198.50 199.05 197.00 198.35MUTHOOTFIN 612.25 615.65 602.05 613.75CHOLAFIN 1466.85 1492.15 1450.65 1481.30GRUH 285.45 288.00 280.40 283.85GUJGAS 158.00 158.00 151.60 155.50BALKRISIND 977.25 980.00 961.20 973.25SYNDIBANK 41.80 42.85 41.00 42.65DBL 616.10 620.00 605.00 616.25BLISSGVS 176.10 178.40 175.60 177.70AVANTI 396.70 399.05 394.00 395.85UPL 945.10 948.00 931.10 946.40COCHINSHIP 393.55 408.15 391.60 402.65NOCIL 143.50 144.70 140.90 141.35MOTILALOFS 686.20 695.75 668.45 675.70ALKEM 1749.95 1771.50 1722.60 1738.30VOLTAS 618.00 618.00 607.55 609.30TVSMOTOR 481.20 483.95 474.55 481.90BAJAJCON 325.55 326.05 313.00 319.85DCBBANK 197.15 198.00 194.35 197.10GESHIP 287.45 300.00 287.45 298.15MARICO 363.15 363.15 354.35 356.55BAJAJELEC 529.00 555.00 529.00 545.20NMDC 105.45 105.80 103.90 104.50BHARATFORG 503.20 508.60 499.40 506.90PHILIPCARB 169.70 169.70 167.00 167.65DCMSHRIRAM 408.85 408.90 403.00 406.35PAGEIND 24013.90 24748.40 23789.55 24568.75REPCOHOME 451.10 457.95 439.70 454.55MEGH 61.30 61.50 59.55 60.15RCF 60.80 60.90 59.55 59.95WESTLIFE 419.00 419.00 402.60 410.25ADVENZYMES 194.00 196.50 191.10 192.70ABFRL 214.45 219.75 210.20 217.60IBULISL 360.00 360.50 348.00 351.30QUESS 726.10 732.80 713.15 720.60CASTROLIND 169.65 169.70 166.25 166.85TRIDENT 68.00 68.00 66.60 67.00IDFC 46.70 47.05 45.45 46.85AMARAJABAT 680.00 683.00 673.00 675.35SOBHA 507.00 511.00 494.00 498.30COFFEEDAY 281.50 281.50 274.45 277.15ABB 1400.00 1414.90 1381.40 1408.40TV18BRDCST 35.25 36.05 34.80 35.80OIL 179.50 179.95 177.60 178.50GLENMARK 642.40 643.25 635.15 639.95SKFINDIA 2059.95 2074.00 2021.80 2056.20CONCOR 515.55 520.65 506.05 519.20VENKYS 2142.45 2162.60 2126.55 2148.30CROMPTON 226.00 226.35 221.30 223.85APOLLOHOSP 1238.60 1262.55 1226.90 1258.25COLPAL 1219.90 1235.50 1216.50 1230.95OBEROIRLTY 539.00 544.90 525.75 541.35FCONSUMER 45.10 45.10 44.00 44.20AARTIIND 1643.00 1646.45 1616.75 1636.05HINDCOPPER 50.10 50.50 49.50 49.90IFCI 12.94 13.04 12.80 12.96VGUARD 221.20 222.05 217.00 218.15UBL 1411.80 1429.00 1395.95 1424.05HSIL 276.00 280.15 272.00 274.25MPHASIS 973.00 991.40 968.30 983.65WELCORP 143.40 143.95 137.50 139.15GRANULES 112.00 113.30 110.80 112.90WELSPUNIND 58.25 58.25 57.15 57.45TATAGLOBAL 211.80 211.80 208.10 210.60WABAG 317.95 320.05 308.10 311.05HIMATSEIDE 216.20 221.90 211.25 219.25JMFINANCIL 88.60 90.90 87.75 89.50KSCL 477.00 477.15 464.40 471.35RNAM 199.00 199.55 193.50 197.40JSWENERGY 70.55 72.70 70.50 72.20FINCABLES 493.00 493.00 481.40 485.20MAXINDIA 69.30 72.20 69.25 70.45NESTLEIND 10881.00 10881.00 10735.00 10788.05PRESTIGE 258.00 270.00 252.75 267.20SONATSOFTW 344.40 346.15 333.60 339.35DRREDDY 2754.00 2760.00 2737.20 2753.35AJANTPHARM 1021.60 1025.30 1009.75 1017.70JKTYRE 91.35 92.30 90.55 91.90BERGEPAINT 328.00 328.40 322.00 326.10IEX 161.60 162.35 157.00 159.35REDINGTON 98.50 100.40 97.75 98.75SWANENERGY 114.00 114.00 108.25 110.80PIIND 1025.00 1025.00 1003.20 1008.05ADANITRANS 218.95 225.95 217.50 222.25MAGMA 122.00 123.20 117.10 119.15JSLHISAR 90.90 91.35 88.90 90.35MRF 59074.05 59074.05 57590.00 57702.80KEC 292.40 292.40 285.05 286.30ENDURANCE 1165.95 1171.65 1157.00 1168.30ICICIPRULI 365.00 365.20 359.45 362.25HINDZINC 284.05 286.10 281.00 285.05ENGINERSIN 119.25 119.40 117.25 117.85J&KBANK 59.80 60.10 58.00 59.80KAJARIACER 613.40 626.95 603.45 613.55TORNTPOWER 259.35 260.65 256.80 258.40RAMCOCEM 760.35 760.35 745.00 752.35MFSL 427.20 430.35 421.50 424.10TATACOMM 593.35 595.95 580.60 582.05SRF 2470.00 2472.20 2451.00 2466.70KEI 415.00 415.00 402.00 404.60JINDALSAW 83.55 83.60 82.50 83.20GODREJIND 531.05 533.25 526.50 530.15

GODREJAGRO 513.05 513.75 505.00 507.60HEIDELBERG 182.00 182.00 176.00 177.00CYIENT* 604.00 604.80 595.90 599.60BHARATFIN 1098.00 1112.00 1089.30 1107.90BAJAJHLDNG 3325.60 3339.00 3275.00 3281.65TAKE 142.00 146.35 141.25 143.65NATCOPHARM* 566.50 568.60 563.10 564.00CENTRALBK 35.00 35.00 33.90 34.65SHK 159.00 161.60 156.10 160.00KANSAINER 454.85 458.00 447.40 453.00TEAMLEASE 2997.75 3040.00 2933.35 2951.75SUDARSCHEM 372.80 372.80 361.40 363.75GDL 139.55 140.00 136.20 138.95MOIL 160.55 161.10 158.70 159.15ADANIGREEN 38.00 38.00 36.20 36.90ALLCARGO 109.45 112.60 109.25 112.20OFSS 3566.05 3609.00 3547.50 3569.00GODFRYPHLP 1117.00 1117.00 1100.00 1103.90SYNGENE 578.05 579.80 570.60 576.25INOXLEISUR 320.00 321.00 310.90 314.80AIAENG 1709.00 1789.00 1709.00 1768.15MINDAIND 347.80 351.80 343.00 346.00MMTC 28.05 28.20 27.75 27.95TATACOFFEE 90.60 92.20 90.50 91.20CENTURYPLY 206.10 206.10 201.55 203.00RALLIS 161.40 161.50 156.60 158.00DEEPAKNI 272.00 274.75 268.50 270.80CARBORUNIV 385.00 385.75 379.00 381.45EIHOTEL 197.80 197.80 192.55 194.25GET&D 272.35 281.95 268.20 279.15DCAL 228.30 231.45 228.30 230.60ASHOKA 131.70 133.45 130.35 131.65PRSMJOHNSN 93.95 95.15 92.50 94.35NHPC 24.15 24.40 24.15 24.20CORPBANK 28.85 28.85 27.00 28.15SHOPERSTOP 440.05 442.85 432.25 439.85INDOSTAR 410.05 413.95 399.00 405.35TATAMETALI 648.05 660.00 648.05 657.35ZENSARTECH 229.00 239.00 229.00 234.00NAVKARCORP 37.80 37.95 36.95 37.10JKLAKSHMI 349.20 355.00 339.05 348.65RELAXO 850.00 850.00 828.00 844.95UFLEX 237.75 249.00 231.75 240.55ISGEC 570.35 579.90 552.00 554.80KRBL 331.20 335.00 326.00 330.50HSCL 115.75 116.20 115.00 115.75EVEREADY 185.45 186.90 184.50 185.65HERITGFOOD 532.00 541.50 522.00 527.05PNCINFRA 150.10 152.25 146.30 151.25GUJALKALI 484.45 488.50 481.00 486.30GPPL 97.50 98.65 96.70 97.40JAMNAAUTO 59.20 59.75 58.85 59.40BBTC 1276.25 1295.00 1271.15 1285.45HUDCO 44.80 45.10 44.60 44.75PTC 75.20 75.30 73.80 74.10TIMKEN 577.00 593.95 570.00 582.95EMAMILTD 409.55 410.00 401.30 403.65BOSCHLTD 17950.00 17993.95 17750.35 17876.90GICRE 254.00 254.50 250.55 251.45MAHINDCIE 221.00 224.60 220.60 223.05SREINFRA 29.00 29.30 28.25 29.25GREAVESCOT 145.75 147.30 144.90 146.20GUJFLUORO 1064.15 1080.05 1051.00 1073.80GICHSGFIN 269.25 269.25 261.50 263.35CUB 200.00 201.60 197.50 200.35AUBANK 585.00 588.50 579.00 584.55FLFL 476.60 484.00 462.00 468.35BALMLAWRIE 183.25 184.35 181.30 182.00TRENT 343.60 350.00 340.75 347.60BIRLACORPN 525.00 525.00 498.50 505.85GSPL 178.25 182.00 178.05 179.85GHCL 240.70 244.15 240.25 241.55INFRATEL 316.15 316.45 312.60 315.10SUPREMEIND 1138.50 1145.00 1131.10 1135.45JYOTHYLAB 196.35 196.35 188.60 189.60GREENPLY 172.10 173.90 168.35 170.70UCOBANK 18.80 19.00 18.70 18.90NAVINFLUOR 725.05 732.00 717.45 721.55GILLETTE 6801.00 6999.00 6788.15 6963.45JSL 41.00 41.00 39.50 40.15DEEPAKFERT 131.00 135.35 131.00 133.50ASAHIINDIA 247.00 254.50 243.65 250.30DBCORP 195.00 197.95 190.40 194.95FDC 168.00 169.45 165.00 168.00LALPATHLAB 1030.00 1030.00 1010.00 1017.00FORBESCO 2331.00 2434.95 2331.00 2417.10ESSELPRO 118.45 119.55 116.00 118.50SHREECEM 18750.00 19036.20 18557.20 18956.55THYROCARE 526.55 542.35 523.00 524.60NIACL 190.80 191.65 187.05 187.85EIDPARRY 207.20 207.60 205.20 206.20VINATIORGA 1720.00 1734.05 1720.00 1725.65BLUESTARCO 693.00 694.15 682.00 685.10CAPPL 397.95 397.95 381.00 382.60BDL 293.50 294.85 290.00 293.45NLCINDIA 67.90 68.25 67.65 68.05NETWORK18 35.00 35.40 34.55 35.05GEPIL 841.50 854.00 838.60 850.40SYMPHONY 1352.00 1372.60 1346.40 1352.00PFIZER 3296.00 3296.00 3240.55 3251.50GLAXO 1324.00 1324.00 1295.00 1296.05KPRMILL 572.65 577.40 565.00 568.40SOMANYCERA 452.10 456.70 435.00 441.20WHIRLPOOL 1450.00 1464.00 1438.00 1453.00CRISIL 1465.50 1476.15 1440.00 1448.25MAHABANK 14.25 14.36 13.95 14.19KNRCON 251.30 251.65 246.25 247.30SCHNEIDER 105.45 105.45 102.65 103.75THOMASCOOK 248.25 251.10 248.00 250.70

ASTRAZEN 1967.75 1972.00 1945.65 1963.60JBCHEPHARM 343.60 356.95 340.20 352.55TTKPRESTIG 8469.05 8534.80 8420.15 8462.45HAL 706.30 714.95 706.25 712.70IOB 15.00 15.03 14.66 14.82ECLERX 1126.15 1132.50 1126.00 1130.05KALPATPOWR 476.35 477.50 467.15 471.05LEMONTREE 78.50 79.45 78.30 78.70BASF 1381.15 1412.70 1374.85 1394.10BAYERCROP 4266.00 4319.00 4255.20 4277.30IFBIND 883.85 897.85 858.40 877.45GRINDWELL 574.90 579.50 568.05 578.15TVTODAY 311.00 319.90 308.10 316.60JAGRAN 120.25 120.25 117.55 118.45ABBOTINDIA 7328.30 7358.25 7230.00 7283.30VBL 871.50 882.00 871.50 879.25ORIENTCEM 97.55 98.10 94.75 95.85ITDC 273.30 279.80 273.30 278.00MHRIL 235.00 237.15 232.00 232.70APLAPOLLO 1461.15 1500.00 1436.40 1499.85SANOFI 5868.50 5912.50 5825.05 5871.20SUNDRMFAST 572.30 574.25 567.00 570.15ATUL 3509.95 3522.00 3478.75 3499.25LUXIND 1353.00 1357.10 1322.05 1337.70FINOLEXIND 491.00 492.00 485.00 485.65ASTRAL 1195.70 1201.40 1179.00 1197.10SHILPAMED 338.95 339.80 331.35 332.45PGHH 10691.15 10776.90 10620.65 10704.45TATAINVEST 857.15 863.00 855.10 857.153MINDIA 23811.90 23825.00 23300.00 23374.45JCHAC 1959.00 2071.95 1915.00 2041.95MAHSCOOTER 3595.35 3618.95 3557.40 3578.35GSKCONS 7035.00 7077.50 6995.10 7070.30TIINDIA 391.00 391.00 380.00 383.55WABCOINDIA 6293.35 6345.95 6291.10 6329.20SUNCLAYLTD 2802.00 2890.00 2750.00 2793.60NBVENTURES 103.50 103.60 102.75 103.15THERMAX 972.90 985.00 968.85 973.80GAYAPROJ 167.55 171.95 161.00 166.85ITDCEM 124.70 126.00 122.10 122.70LAURUSLABS 402.00 404.00 398.00 401.45APLLTD 536.85 545.00 533.50 541.00MAHLIFE 372.45 373.20 370.05 371.90GMDCLTD 79.20 79.75 79.05 79.40UNITEDBNK 10.91 11.28 10.91 11.05NILKAMAL 1390.05 1404.25 1390.05 1397.90MAHLOG 517.50 519.55 515.45 517.55TVSSRICHAK 2218.80 2270.00 2190.00 2200.00NH 215.00 220.45 214.50 218.00NAVNETEDUL 110.10 110.85 109.80 110.50AKZOINDIA 1808.25 1811.00 1787.00 1792.25CERA 2874.70 2888.90 2841.00 2875.60SUPRAJIT 239.00 239.00 233.00 234.55CENTRUM 34.55 34.55 33.70 34.05INOXWIND 68.35 68.95 67.70 68.60NESCO 475.55 479.05 467.85 470.10SJVN 24.20 24.20 24.05 24.15TIMETECHNO 95.65 97.25 95.30 95.60JKCEMENT 853.75 865.60 849.10 860.60GALAXYSURF 990.00 1005.00 977.65 985.45TEJASNET 171.60 174.15 171.05 172.10ERIS 630.75 640.00 629.45 632.20SOLARINDS 1062.70 1068.40 1040.25 1044.95BLUEDART 3329.40 3329.40 3262.75 3282.95SHARDACROP 386.00 390.30 386.00 388.00VMART 2580.00 2580.00 2542.00 2559.00LAXMIMACH 6044.10 6098.55 6005.90 6085.90MONSANTO 2542.35 2588.90 2542.00 2585.30GULFOILLUB 865.30 881.95 865.30 873.85CCL 281.80 282.65 276.00 279.95SHRIRAMCIT 1749.10 1749.10 1696.00 1720.10SUPPETRO 221.75 223.60 219.75 221.30MINDACORP 136.00 136.00 132.50 133.55KIOCL 142.50 142.50 138.00 138.60ZYDUSWELL 1295.00 1315.50 1295.00 1307.30LAOPALA 205.40 207.40 201.20 207.30TRITURBINE 109.80 111.00 108.40 108.90APARINDS 702.00 702.00 670.00 671.85SADBHAV 243.65 245.40 243.15 245.05VTL 1086.35 1097.50 1071.85 1093.05HONAUT 23075.00 23300.00 23075.00 23277.60RATNAMANI 900.00 900.00 889.10 895.00HATSUN 764.60 764.60 756.00 760.65ASTERDM 153.40 153.40 153.00 153.00CARERATING 988.00 989.95 985.20 987.30SIS 850.00 855.00 834.00 839.70PHOENIXLTD 647.55 661.00 642.90 653.30SCHAEFFLER 5468.85 5468.85 5420.00 5441.50DHANUKA 394.90 397.45 392.30 393.95SFL 1355.00 1355.00 1346.00 1353.95STARCEMENT 98.15 98.80 98.00 98.70CHOLAHLDNG 492.00 499.95 485.25 488.25ELGIEQUIP 252.50 252.50 248.60 249.55

NIFTY 50

SCRIP OPEN HIgh LOW LTP CHANGENIFTY 50 11612.05 11683.90 11569.70 11671.95 67.45YESBANK 261.90 272.00 258.70 271.75 11.70WIPRO 263.50 275.00 263.35 274.75 11.05TATAMOTORS 200.00 207.60 198.15 207.00 6.45COALINDIA 233.00 239.50 232.30 239.25 6.30ICICIBANK 387.40 398.35 387.15 397.15 10.05BAJAJ-AUTO 2860.00 2929.85 2838.00 2920.00 66.65IOC 149.00 156.00 148.80 155.30 3.25HCLTECH 1096.35 1128.85 1096.20 1118.00 21.65VEDL 186.90 190.95 184.10 190.00 3.35HEROMOTOCO 2590.00 2631.95 2568.80 2631.00 44.15ZEEL 406.95 412.40 404.60 411.50 6.75AXISBANK 755.00 766.00 751.00 765.55 10.95MARUTI 7134.00 7235.00 7080.00 7230.00 100.55EICHERMOT 20699.00 21024.00 20355.00 20900.00 287.35SUNPHARMA 457.25 472.40 454.80 468.80 6.35BPCL 346.50 357.40 345.05 355.60 4.60HINDALCO 214.45 217.85 211.60 217.15 2.70CIPLA 526.25 534.50 525.40 531.50 6.10ITC 292.50 296.70 292.25 296.00 3.25INDUSINDBK 1758.00 1772.40 1730.25 1768.00 17.00HINDUNILVR 1668.80 1683.90 1662.25 1681.00 16.10TATASTEEL 551.00 555.00 540.25 553.60 4.55TCS 2070.00 2098.00 2057.65 2087.45 16.70RELIANCE 1328.90 1340.70 1321.00 1338.00 8.75HDFC 2062.50 2073.00 2039.15 2067.00 12.10SBIN 313.95 315.70 308.10 314.60 1.80JSWSTEEL 290.95 293.00 285.65 292.00 1.60NTPC 135.50 136.45 135.05 136.25 0.70BAJAJFINSV 7340.00 7400.00 7272.00 7371.00 23.75GAIL 343.00 345.00 336.10 343.00 1.10GRASIM 837.00 849.10 829.00 843.00 2.55ADANIPORTS 379.75 381.60 373.00 380.85 0.95M&M 667.80 669.80 660.45 668.10 1.10TECHM 790.35 797.70 787.30 788.00 0.85LT 1375.90 1387.00 1366.00 1374.55 0.90KOTAKBANK 1339.95 1347.15 1322.10 1344.00 0.75HDFCBANK 2296.60 2303.00 2267.00 2290.00 0.60POWERGRID 198.95 199.35 197.05 198.25 -0.10BRITANNIA 2973.10 2988.75 2942.50 2967.85 -3.65ULTRACEMCO 4154.00 4174.65 4107.45 4157.60 -9.25ONGC 158.60 158.90 157.05 157.75 -0.35INFRATEL 316.10 318.50 312.50 315.05 -1.05TITAN 1109.00 1109.95 1091.50 1099.85 -4.55DRREDDY 2764.00 2765.95 2736.90 2751.55 -12.15BAJFINANCE 3016.55 3049.10 2979.45 3010.60 -13.50UPL 943.50 945.85 930.00 940.70 -6.10INFY 770.00 773.00 758.20 760.80 -6.45BHARTIARTL 358.55 361.00 341.50 350.80 -4.15ASIANPAINT 1464.70 1474.90 1437.20 1449.80 -46.55IBULHSGFIN 855.00 858.95 821.35 831.95 -27.40

SE 500B

NIFTY NEXT 50

SCRIP OPEN HIgh LOW LTP CHANGENIFTY NEXT 50 28068.25 28177.25 27885.10 28146.45 107.15ASHOKLEY 87.30 92.80 86.20 92.05 4.80PAGEIND 24100.05 24720.00 23800.00 24590.00 613.95ICICIGI 1042.20 1079.00 1035.65 1075.00 25.90HDFCAMC 1533.00 1560.00 1515.00 1560.00 34.70LUPIN 795.00 813.40 790.20 810.15 17.50BANDHANBNK 548.00 559.00 536.10 559.00 12.00BIOCON 607.00 619.90 603.55 619.05 12.35MCDOWELL-N 533.00 546.00 532.10 544.15 10.60DIVISLAB 1693.00 1719.75 1685.25 1715.75 31.30BANKBARODA 130.40 132.65 127.75 132.30 2.30DLF 186.00 189.50 183.40 187.60 3.00ABB 1391.20 1416.00 1379.35 1415.00 19.00COLPAL 1225.90 1234.80 1216.00 1234.80 14.90HINDPETRO 248.50 258.00 247.05 255.70 2.90MOTHERSUMI 150.50 151.70 147.45 151.70 1.60PETRONET 236.50 241.30 235.50 240.00 2.35DABUR 402.00 404.55 400.00 404.15 3.05SIEMENS 1145.10 1158.00 1134.20 1154.00 8.65UBL 1416.75 1430.00 1396.45 1423.50 10.35ACC 1639.00 1658.45 1620.00 1651.00 10.60HINDZINC 284.10 286.25 280.65 285.60 1.65AMBUJACEM 225.60 227.95 221.80 226.55 0.95SHREECEM 18886.95 19021.70 18508.00 18900.00 74.60DMART 1484.00 1497.00 1459.00 1486.70 4.85GODREJCP 665.00 666.60 663.00 665.10 2.15PGHH 10730.00 10850.00 10535.00 10750.00 30.65CONCOR 516.00 522.00 506.40 518.00 1.45AUROPHARMA 783.90 789.00 771.90 784.00 1.90SBILIFE 629.50 629.50 615.00 621.00 1.20SAIL 59.00 59.10 57.25 58.95 -0.05OFSS 3562.00 3608.75 3543.10 3565.90 -3.30NIACL 190.35 192.00 187.00 190.05 -0.30ICICIPRULI 366.00 366.05 359.45 363.90 -0.65PEL 2647.80 2659.50 2617.40 2636.30 -6.30CADILAHC 342.50 344.50 339.05 341.50 -0.95HAVELLS 764.10 764.75 752.00 760.70 -3.40PIDILITIND 1278.55 1278.90 1263.65 1276.50 -8.45L&TFH 149.40 149.40 145.10 147.80 -1.00MARICO 360.00 360.00 354.10 356.50 -2.85BOSCHLTD 18014.95 18015.00 17729.95 17849.90 -145.05BHEL 73.00 73.15 71.10 72.00 -0.60GICRE 254.80 254.80 250.30 251.70 -2.30BAJAJHLDNG 3316.95 3356.00 3270.90 3285.00 -32.40NHPC 24.40 24.50 24.15 24.15 -0.25HDFCLIFE 386.00 386.35 378.60 380.90 -4.50NMDC 105.60 105.90 103.85 104.50 -1.30IDEA 17.50 17.70 16.80 17.05 -0.25INDIGO 1401.65 1411.25 1382.35 1391.00 -22.15SRTRANSFIN 1247.50 1257.70 1217.60 1220.95 -20.80MRF 59199.00 59350.00 57500.00 57700.00 -1221.30

world 13LUCKNOW | WEDNESDAY | APRIL 10, 2019

Globe TrottingGigi tears up while championing Rohingya women

Dubai: The 23-year-old supermodel, who is regularly spotted on catwalks aroundthe world, was recognized for her work as a UNICEF ambassador. At Variety‘sPower of Women event in New York, Hadid spoke alongside fellow hon-orees Bette Midler, Taraji P. Henson, Kacey Musgraves and ChristianeAmanpour about her 2018 visit to Bangladesh and the power of socialmedia.The model told the audience, including her sister Bella, abouther visit to a refugee camp hosting Rohingya refugees, the major-ity-Muslim ethnic group fleeing Myanmar, in August. “Even withtheir lives in limbo, these women and girls had such desire to domore, to be more, and to get educated to better their lives,” she said.“When we asked them how UNICEF could help in different ways,and most importantly, what they wanted us to tell the world aboutthem, what it really boiled down to was that they want an iden-tity.”At the end of the trip I went home, and they were still there,”Hadid said, holding back tears. “Yes, we can donate. Yes, we canhelp them, and every donation really genuinely does save livesand help people. I saw it,” she added. “But that’s not what theywanted us to tell the world. They are human beings like all ofus. What they would do for a citizenship, for an identity, to beable to scroll and type and have a voice in that sense.” BellaHadid was at the event to support her older sister. The model,who is regularly posts on social media and has even takenonline trolls to task in the past, stressed the importance ofthe “gift of identity.” “We can get so stuck in our own heads,and our own worlds can feel very overwhelming at times,but most of us have the true gift of identity, and the powerto express ourselves, the power to speak out for those whocannot for themselves, and the power to uplift one anoth-er,” she said.“I feel resentment towards social media at times,but as I documented my trip with UNICEF, I understood thetrue value — someone is listening. Be a voice for someone, sup-port someone, encourage someone, tell someone how they inspireyou. We cannot let the negative comments, the bad energy and falseassumptions of us keep us from doing the good we know we can dowith our platforms.”

US ‘leader of world terrorism’: Rouhani

PTI n BEIJING

Iranian President HassanRouhani on Tuesday accused

the US of being the real “leaderof world terrorism”, hittingback after Washington black-listed Iran’s RevolutionaryGuards as a terrorist organisa-tion. Tehran was quick toretaliate on Monday by declar-ing US troops “terrorists” fol-lowing Washington’s move,which was welcomed by Iran’sregional arch-rivals Israel andSaudi Arabia. It was the firsttime that Washington hasbranded part of a foreign gov-ernment a terrorist group,meaning that anyone who dealswith the Islamic RevolutionaryGuard Corps could face prisonin the United States.

“Who are you to label rev-olutionary institutions as ter-rorists?” an angry Rouhanidemanded in a speech broad-cast live by state television.Rouhani hailed the Guards forfighting terrorism since theircreation in 1979, and accusedUS forces of having alwaysbeen involved with terroristgroups or acts of terrorism.

“You want to use terroristgroups as tools against thenations of the region... you arethe leader of world terrorism.

“Who is propagating andencouraging terrorism intoday’s world? Who wanted touse ISIS (the Islamic Stategroup) as a tool?” Rouhaniasked, saying that the US is“hiding” the leaders of thejihadist organisation.

The Revolutionary Guardsare the ideological arm of the

country’s military and deeplyembedded in Iranian politicaland economic life. Iran’ssupreme leader Ayatollah AliKhamenei praised the Guardson their National Day, sayingthey were at the “forefront’ ofdefending the country and itsinterests, according to his offi-cial website.

He lashed out at US offi-cials, saying: “Their vice anddeceit will return boomerangon them, leading the enemiesof the Islamic Republic such as(US President Donald) Trumpand those around him at the

US ruling apparatus to godown the drain.”

To support his accusations,Rouhani cited the downing ofIran Air Flight 655 in July 1988by missiles fired from the USnaval ship the USS Vincennes.

“You have done everythingimaginable. Which force was itthat shot down our civil airlinerin the waters of the PersianGulf?” he said, adding that itwas aimed at intimidating Iran.“You wanted to tell the Iraniannation that we do not have anyred lines, you wanted to say thatwe also kill children, you want-

ed to say that we also killwomen,” Rouhani said, con-cluding that the US was trans-mitting “a message of terrorismin the whole world.”

The US move comes ontop of Trump’s decision lastyear to pull the United Statesout of an international dealwith Iran that was meant to liftcrippling economic sanctionsin return for curbs on itsnuclear programme.Washington had been encour-aged to blacklist the Guards byTrump’s allies Saudi Arabiaand Israel, which both cheered

the declaration.“The US deci-sion (follows) the kingdom’srepeated demands to the inter-national community to addressthe issue of Iranian-backedterrorism,” the official SaudiPress Agency quoted a foreignministry source as saying onTuesday.

The source welcomed theUS move as a “practical andserious step” in curbing whatthe kingdom describes asIranian meddling in the region.The US decision came hoursbefore an Israeli election inwhich Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu faces aclose race for re-election.In astatement, Netanyahu thankedhis “dear friend” Trump who hesaid had responded to a“request of mine”.

In a statement carried bythe Iranian official news agencyIRNA, the Supreme NationalSecurity Council declared theUnited States a “state sponsorof terrorism” and its forces inthe region “terrorgroups”.Quickly adapting tothe decision, the semi-officialFars News Agency, close toultra-conservatives, describedthe US casualties in the latestsuicide bombing on a militaryconvoy in Afghanistan as “ter-rorists.”

In a report on the attack,Fars said Tuesday: “Americanarmy terrorists killed inAfghanistan.” NATOannounced on Monday that asuicide car bomb on a convoyin Iran’s eastern neighbour hadkilled three US troops and amilitary contractor andwounded three more.

Iranian lawmakers convene withchants of ‘Death to America’AFP n TEHRAN

Iranian lawmakers dressed inparamilitary uniforms chant-

ed “Death to America” as theyconvened Tuesday for an opensession of parliament after theWhite House designated Iran’sRevolutionary Guard a foreignterrorist organization. PresidentHassan Rouhani declared thatthe force’s popularity wouldonly surge in the wake of thedesignation, saying guard mem-bers would be dearer “than anyother time in the hearts ofIranian nation.” Supreme LeaderAyatollah Ali Khamenei praisedthe guard and said America’s“evil designs would not harm”the force.

The move by Washingtonon Monday was an unprece-dented declaration against aforeign government entity —one that could prompt retalia-tion and make it harder forAmericans to work with allies inthe region who have contactwith members and affiliates ofthe Iranian Revolutionary GuardCorps, or IRGC.

It marks the first time theUnited States has designated anentire entity of another govern-ment as a terrorist organization,placing a powerful and expan-sive armed force with vast eco-nomic resources that answersonly to Iran’s supreme leader inthe same category as al-Qaidaand the Islamic State group.Iran’s rival, Saudi Arabia, wel-comed the U.S. decision,describing it as a “serious andpractical step to combat terror-

ism.” A Foreign Ministry officialsaid the designation “translatesSaudi Arabia’s repeated demandsfor the international communi-ty to confront terrorism sup-ported by Iran.”

Within hours of the Trumpadministration’s declaration,Iran’s Supreme National SecurityCouncil responded by desig-nating the U.S. CentralCommand, also known asCENTCOM, and all its forces asterrorist, and labeling the U.S. a“supporter of terrorism.” InTehran on Tuesday, many of thelawmakers wore the uniform ofthe guard in a show of supportas they convened for a parlia-ment session marking theNational Day of theRevolutionary Guard, whichfollows the lunar calendar. Thisyear it coincides with the April9 holiday known as Nuclear Day.

Parliament Speaker AliLarijani denounced the U.S.decision as the “climax of stu-pidity and ignorance.” TheSupreme National SecurityCouncil’s spokesman, KeivanKhosravi, said that going for-ward, “any unusual move byAmerican forces in the regionwill be perceived as the behav-iour by a terrorist group.”

He did not elaborate.Iranian newspapers carriedreports of the U.S. move alongwith bellicose commentary ontheir front pages.

The Guard-affiliated Javandaily said any attack onRevolutionary Guard bases andfacilities will be “recognized asa right” for Iran to respond. The

hard-line Kayhan newspapersaid it gave Iranians “permission”to kill American military per-sonnel.

State-owned IRAN dailywent a step further, saying theU.S. move was a “designation ofthe entire Iranian nation” as ter-rorist. The pro-reform Sharghdaily described it as “the lastcard” of President DonaldTrump against Iran. Trump lastyear pulled America out of the2015 nuclear deal between Iranand world powers and re-imposed sanctions on the coun-try, mainly targeting Iran’s vitaloil sector.

Marking Nuclear Day,Rouhani unveiled dozens of“achievements” in nuclear tech-nology, something he does everyyear. This time he touted thebeginning of an installation of achain of advanced centrifuges atthe uranium enrichment facili-ty in the central town of Natanzas well as an addition at theFordo underground facility.

He called the RevolutionaryGuard a “devoted” force thatfought militant groups in Iran aswell as in Iraq and Syria.

The guard has foughtIslamic State group’s militants,who view Shiites as heretics, inSyria and has assisted SyrianPresident Bashar Assad’s gov-ernment forces.The U.S.,Rouhani said, is the “head ofglobal terrorism” and Trump’ssanctions have only inspiredIran to make more strides innew missiles and weapons tech-nology. America will not be ableto “block Iran’s progress,” he said.

In this Aug. 22, 2013 photo, a female member of the Iranian Basij paramilitary militia, affiliated to the Revolutionary Guard,receives bullets during a training session in Tehran, Iran. On Monday, April 8, 2019, the Trump administration designated Iran’sRevolutionary Guard a “foreign terrorist organization” in an unprecedented move against a national armed force. Iran’sRevolutionary Guard Corps went from being a domestic security force with origins in the 1979 Islamic Revolution to atransnational fighting force. AP

US moves to putnew tariffs on billionsworth of EU importsAP n LONDON

The United States wants to puttariffs on USD 11.2 billion

worth of EU goods — from air-planes to Gouda cheese to olives— to offset what it says areunfair European subsidies forplane maker Airbus. While thesize of the tariffs is small com-pared with the hundreds of bil-lions the US and China are tax-ing in their trade war, it suggestsa breakdown in talks with theEuropean Union over trade at atime when the economy is alreadyslowing sharply.

The US and EU have beennegotiating since last year abouthow to avoid tariffs that PresidentDonald Trump has wanted toimpose to reduce a trade deficitwith countries like Germany.The US Trade Representative’soffice released late Monday a listof EU products it would tax inanticipation of a ruling by theWorld Trade Organization thissummer.

The US had in 2004 com-plained to the WTO, which setsthe rules for trade and settles dis-putes, that the EU was providingunfair support to Airbus. TheWTO ruled in May last year thatthe EU had in fact provided someillegal subsidies to Airbus, hurt-ing US manufacturer Boeing.The US expects the WTO will saythis summer that it can take coun-termeasures to offset the EUsubsidies. It will now start a con-sultation with industry represen-

tatives on the list of EU goods itwants to tax so that it can have aready list.“This case has been inlitigation for 14 years, and thetime has come for action,” said USTrade Representative RobertLighthizer.

The move, while nominallyfollowing international traderules, appears to also reflect USfrustration at the slow pace oftalks on trade with the EU.Trump in June last year imposedtariffs of 25% on steel imports and10% on imported aluminumfrom the EU. The EU respondedwith tariffs on about 2.8 billioneuros’ worth ($3.4 billion) of U.S.steel, agricultural and other prod-ucts, from Harley Davidson bikesto orange juice.

The US and EU have sinceJuly been in talks to scale back thetariffs, with Trump holding outthe bigger threat of slapping tar-iffs on European cars — a hugeindustry in the region — shouldthe negotiations not yield a result.U.S. officials have repeatedlyexpressed frustration at the slowpace of the talks. The USannouncement also comes just asBoeing is facing broad challengesover the global grounding of its737 Max commercial jet amidconcerns that technical prob-lems could have contributed totwo crashes in five months. In aseparate case, the WTO has alsoruled that Boeing got a smallamount of illegal support fromthe state of Washington worthsome SUD 100 million a year.

AFP n WASHINGTON

President Donald Trumpsaid Tuesday the European

Union has been taking advan-tage of the US for years, vow-ing to impose tariffs on USD 11billion of products from the 28-nation bloc. “The World TradeOrganization finds that theEuropean Union subsidies toAirbus has adversely impactedthe United States, which willnow put Tariffs on USD 11Billion of EU products!” Trumptweeted.

“The EU has taken advan-tage of the U.S. on trade formany years. It will soon stop!”

Trump: EU needs to stoptaking advantage of the US

Islamabad (PTI): Pakistan’stop investigative agency hasapproached the IslamabadHigh Court (IHC) to seek thecancellation of the bail of LeToperations commander ZakiurRehman Lakhvi, the master-mind of the 2008 Mumbai ter-ror attack.

The Federal InvestigationAgency (FIA) has filed anappeal in the IHC seeking can-cellation of the post-arrest bailof Lakhvi.

Hearing the appeal, a divi-sion bench of the IHC onTuesday asked authorities toprovide the record of theMumbai attack case in twoweeks. The record of the caseis currently with an Islamabad-

based Anti-Terrorism Court(ATC) which was holding trialof Lakhavi and other accusedarrested in the case.

Seven LeT suspects -Lakhvi, Abdul Wajid, Mazhar

Iqbal, Hamad Amin Sadiq,Shahid Jamil Riaz, JamilAhmed and Younis Anjum -are facing charges of abetmentto murder, attempted murder,planning and executing theMumbai attack since 2009.

The ATC on December18, 2014, granted the post-arrest bail to Lakhvi and sethim free. Lakhvi has been liv-ing in an undisclosed locationsince then. The FIA in itsappeal argued that it hasenough evidence againstLakhavi and his post-arrestbail should be cancelled so thathe can be re-arrested andprobed. “In the present case,the learned trial judge (of ATC)after the terrorist attack in

Islamabad courts (of March2013) refused to visit Adiala Jailfor a long time due to securityreasons,” the FIA said in itsappeal against the ATC judge’sorder, Dawn reported.

“Even the prosecutors ofthis case have been receivingthreats through cell phonesduring the proceedings whichwere duly conveyed to theconcerned authorities. The wit-nesses are also not secured, andreluctant to depose against theaccused persons in the givensituation,” it added.

The court after hearingthe argument from the FIA andLakhvi’s lawyer ordered to pro-vide the record of the case intwo weeks.

Algeria MPs elect first new

president in 20 Yrs: State TV

Algiers (AFP): Lawmakersnamed the speaker of the upperhouse as Algeria’s first newpresident in two decadesTuesday, state television report-ed, after the resignation ofAbdelaziz Bouteflika follow-ing mass protests.

The election of AbdelkaderBensalah as interim presidentfollows constitutional rules butgoes against the demands ofdemonstrators, who havepushed for him and other toppoliticians to stand down. “Iwant to work towards fulfillingthe interests of the people,”Bensalah told parliament on

taking up the 90-day interimpresidency. “It’s a great respon-sibility that the constitutiondemands of me.” Oppositionparties refused to backBensalah’s election and boy-cotted the session, as hundredsof students protested against

him in Algiers.“ResignBensalah!” they chanted outsidethe main post office, which hasbecome the focal point of weeksof mass protests in the capital.

Ahead of the parliamentarysession, an editorial in pro-gov-ernment daily El Moudjahid onTuesday suggested Bensalahshould step aside from thepresidential post.

He is not only “not tolerat-ed by the citizen movement,which demands his immediatedeparture, but also by the oppo-sition” and various politicalgroups in both houses of par-liament, the newspaper said.

Pak’s FIA seeks cancellation of Lakhvi’s bail

Lahore (PTI): An account-ability court Tuesday indictedPakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) chief andOpposition Leader in theNational Assembly ShehbazSharif on charges he misusedhis authority while he was thechief minister of Punjabprovince. Shehbaz’s sonHamza, the Opposition Leaderin Punjab Assembly, was alsoindicted by the court in theRamzan Sugar Mills case. BothShehbaz and Hamza pleadednot guilty to the charges framedagainst them, which involve themisuse of their authority andthe illegal use of public funds.During the brief hearing, JudgeNajamul Hassan asked theNational Accountability Bureau(NAB) prosecutor what exact-ly the Ramzan Sugar Millscase is, to which special pros-ecutor Waris Ali Janjua repliedthat public funds were used fora nullah for the mills, of whichHamza is a director.

According to the account-ability watchdog, the funds forthe nullah - which come toabout Rs 20 crores - had beenreleased by then Punjab chiefminister Shehbaz. Shehbaz, 63,served as the chief minister of

the politically crucial Punjabprovince from 2013 to 2018. Hebecame PML-N president afterhis elder brother Nawaz Sharifwas barred from holding thetop party position and publicposts. “God knows, in last 10years being the chief ministerof Punjab, a province of over100 million people, I havesaved the country billions ofrupees. I had nothing to dowith this bridge, no money waswrongfully used,” Shehbaz toldthe court.

The court subsequentlyindicted both, father and son,before moving onto hearing theAshiyana Housing scam case.Judge Hassan adjourned thehearing till April 23. Shehbazhas already been indicted alongwith nine others in the AshianaHousing scam case.

UN chief calls for immediatehalt to Libya fightingUnited Nations (AFP): UNSecretary-General AntonioGuterres on Monday stronglycondemned the military esca-lation near Tripoli and calledfor an immediate halt to thefighting in Libya. The appealfollowed an air attack by theforces of commander KhalifaHaftar on the Mitiga airporteast of the capital.

Guterres “urges the imme-diate halt of all military oper-ations in order to de-escalate

the situation and prevent an all-out conflict,” said a UN state-ment. He “strongly condemnsthe military escalation andongoing fighting in and around

Tripoli, including the aerialattack today by a LibyanNational Army (LNA) aircraftagainst Mitiga airport.” The airstrike shut down Tripoli’s onlyfunctioning airport as fightingraged around the capital andthousands fled.

Haftar’s self-styled LNAclaimed Monday’s air strikeagainst the airport, with aspokesman saying the attacktargeted a MiG-23 militaryplane and a helicopter.

PTI n NEW YORK

Dogs can use their highlyevolved sense of smell to

pick out human blood sam-ples with cancer with almost97 per cent accuracy, accord-ing a a study that may lead toinexpensive and non-inva-sive screening approaches forthe deadly disease. Dogshave smell receptors 10,000times more accurate thanhumans’, making them high-ly sensitive to odours we can’t

perceive, said researchers whopresented the study at theAmerican Society forBiochemistry and MolecularBiology annual meeting inFlorida, US.“Although there iscurrently no cure for cancer,

early detection offers the besthope of sur vival ,” saidHeather Junqueira, leadresearcher at the US-basedhealthcare companyBioScentDx. “A highly sensi-tive test for detecting cancercould potentially save thou-sands of lives and change theway the disease is treated,”Junqueira said in a statement.

The researchers used aform of clicker training toteach four beagles to distin-guish between normal blood

serum and samples frompatients with malignant lungcancer. Although one beaglewas unmotivated to perform,the other three dogs correct-ly identified lung cancer sam-ples 96.7 per cent of the timeand normal samples 97.5 percent of the time.

“This work is very excit-ing because it paves the wayfor further research alongtwo paths, both of whichcould lead to new cancer-detection tools ,” said

Junqueira. “One is usingcanine scent detection as ascreening method for cancers,and the other would be todetermine the biologic com-pounds the dogs detect andthen design cancer-screen-ing tests based on those com-pounds,” she said.

BioScentDx plans to usecanine scent detection todevelop a non-invasive way ofscreening for cancer andother life-threatening dis-eases.

Dogs may accurately sniff out cancer in blood: Study

Pakistan court indictsPML-N chief, his sonin corruption case

LUCKNOW | WEDNESDAY | APRIL 10, 2019

14

}RUNS 279 David Warner (SRH)

WICKETS 11 Kagiso Rabada (DC)

6S 268

4S 644{LEADERBOARD

We will rectify our mistakes, andhopefully, we will bounce back in the next games.— SANDEEP SHARMA

Up Next

PTI n MUMBAI

Revenge will be on theirmind when Mumbai

Indians lock horns with KingsXI Punjab, the hosts looking tostretch their winning run in theIndian Premier League here onWednesday.

The previous encounterbetween the two teams inMohali had ended in a compre-hensive eight-wicket win forKings XI, but home condi-tions at the Wankhede Stadiumare expected to favour MI.

MI enter the match high onconfidence following successivevictories over holders ChennaiSuper Kings and last edition'sfinalists Sunrisers Hyderabad.

Significantly both thesevictories came mostly becauseof MI's all-round bowlingstrength as the bowlers defend-ed totals successfully.

MI are also blessed withsplendid batting firepower inthe end overs from West IndianKieron Pollard and HardikPandya.

Kings XI, who too havebeen given a shot-in-the-armby their six-wicket victoryMonday night over Sunrisers,need to chip away at the top ofthe MI batting as well as ensure

that the big-striking Pollardand Hardik don't take away thegame like they did when carv-ing 45 runs in the last two overs

against CSK to turn the gamearound.

MI don't even have anyonein the top-20 run scorers' listthis season, an indication of thedepth in their batting, andhave a superior fast bowlingattack bolstered by the inclu-sion of West Indian pacer,Alzarri Joseph, who blew awaySunrisers with his record-breaking haul of 6/12 inHyderabad in their previousgame.

The hosts have a formida-ble pace attack with JaspritBumrah and left-arm JasonBehrendorff also there, alongwith Joseph and Hardik, toutilise the bounce and carry onthe Wankhede track.

Kings XI, third on thetable with eight points, havebeen top heavy in batting withK L Rahul and MayankAgarwal leading the way with200-plus aggregates and theindomitable Gayle too not farbehind.

In bowling, skipperRavichandran Ashwin (7 wick-ets) has done well in five out ofsix games that the team hasplayed and has got good sup-port from the likes of SamCurran, Mohammed Shamiand Murugan Ashwin.

LAST YEAR’S MATCHES

* Mumbai Indians beatKings XI Punjab by 3 runs atMumbai

*Mumbai Indians beat KingsXI Punjab by six wickets atIndore

FOR THE RECORD

* Rohit Sharma who hit 395fours in 173 innings of 178matches for Deccan Chargersand Mumbai Indians needsfive fours to become theseventh batsman to hit 400 ormore fours in IPL.

* Lokesh Rahul has madethree fifties in last fourmatches in this IPL. He madean unbeaten 71 in last matchwhich was his 100th inTwenty-20 cricket.

FAISEL FEATURES

Live on Star Sports 1& 2

MUMBAI

MI vs KXIP

WEDNESDAY | 8:00 PM

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MI 12

KXIP 11

PTI n MOHALI

Kings XI Punjab skipper RavichandranAshwin has said his side has a lot of

scope for improvement after they encoun-tered yet another "too close" game in theongoing Indian Premier League.

K L Rahul (71 not out) and MayankAgarwal (55) struck fluent half-cen-turies to guide Kings XI Punjab to a six-wicket win over Sunrisers Hyderabad ina nail-bitting contest here.

Chasing 151 for a win, Kings XI werecoasting at 132 for one before three quickwickets took the game to the wire.

"Too close for comfort. We have hadreally close games, the biggest positive forme is there is scope for improvement,"Ashwin said at the post-match presenta-tion ceremony.

"It will be really harsh to say that weconceded 100 runs in the last 10 overs.The plans were held very well upon. Thereis enough ability to work on it."

Ashwin backed Mujeeb Ur Rahman,saying the Afghan spinner was an assetwho can be used upfront.

"Mujeeb knows Mohali very well andas a spinner you need to know the lengthsand speeds to bowl at. Sometimes the fig-

ures don't do justice, but I think Mujeebbowled well today.

"You do use spinners with the newball and Mujeeb has done it all his life forAfghanistan. And it was a good match-up between (Jonny) Bairstow andMujeeb," he said.

The Sunrisers skipper BhuvneshwarKumar said he was happy with hisbowlers efforts, especially with the dewplaying a major factor in the secondinnings.

"Of course it is hard but I am prettyhappy with the way we bowled with thedew around. It is a bit difficult with york-ers and slower balls, but given the dew,we executed our plans pretty well," he said.

"The yorker is something you can'tbowl and the bowling plans depend onthe length of the boundaries. When wecame to bowl we kept the dew factor outof our minds and all we wanted to do wasstretch it to the last over."

Man-of-the-match Rahul said hewas happy to get his form back after anordinary start to this year's IPL.

"I didn't start off the way I wanted toin the first couple of games. I am justenjoying my batting and happy to end upon the winning side," he said.

PTI n MOHALI

Sunrisers Hyderabad's David Warnerwas extra cautious while

Ravichandran Ashwin operated in theIPL Monday night, deliberately drag-ging his bat inside the safe zone to avoidbecoming a victim of 'Mankading'.

The incident happened during theIPL match between SunrisersHyderabad and Kings XI Punjab here.

Warner was seen taking precautionby staying inside the crease duringAshwin's over.

Warner, who was at the non-strik-er's end, kept dragging his bat inside thesafe zone to ensure that he does notbecome Ashwin's 'Mankad' victim.

The Australian's antics was quick-ly picked up by the cameras andreplayed on the big screen.

The clip of the incident was lateruploaded by the official IPL website -- iplt20.Com.

Earlier in the tournament, off-spin-

ner Ashwin had dismissed RajasthanRoyals' Jos Buttler without giving hima prior warning and that had attracteda lot of criticism from across the crick-et fraternity. As per the rules, a bowleris within his right to dismiss a batsmanwho leaves the crease before the ball isbeing released. But the practice has beengenerally deemed as against the "spir-it of the game."

IANS n MELBOURNE

Star Australian pacer Mitchell Starc is taking legalroute to get $1.53 million of his Indian Premier

League (IPL) contract paid out after he failed to playany game for his franchise Kolkata Knight Riders(KKR), according to a report in the Sydney MorningHerald.

Starc was injured in last year's ill-fated Test seriesagainst South Africa.

According to the report, Starc filed a lawsuit inthe Victorian County Court last week against theinsurers of his lucrative deal to play for KKR.

Starc was one of the most sought-after Australianplayers at the 2018 IPL auction, snapped up for a pricetag bettered only by Chris Lynn.

The left-arm quick, however, failed to bowl a ballduring the cash-rich T20 meet as he broke down withinjury in the preceding series against South Africa,which was marred by the ball-tampering saga thatled to bans for Steven Smith, David Warner andCameron Bancroft.

Starc, who is represented by Mills Oakleylawyers, is suing a syndicate of Lloyd's of London, theinsurance market where coverage can be bought forunique circumstances, the report added.

The writ states Starc paid a premium of $97,920to be covered between February 27 and March 31 in2018, when the tournament ended.

Going by Starc, he started feeling pain in his rightcalf while bowling during the second Test in PortElizabeth.

"While bowling on uneven footmarks on a wornwicket, the plaintiff suffered a sudden onset of painin his right calf. The pain worsened over the next fewbowling sessions and during the next Test match," thewrit said.

PTI n CHENNAI

Aclinical Chennai SuperKings maintained theirunbeaten run at home

with a seven-wicket thrashingof Kolkata Knight Riders in theIndian Premier League here onTuesday.

The hosts put up a top-class bowling effort yet againafter winning the toss, limitingKKR to 108 for nine despite anunbeaten 50 off 44 balls fromthe dangerous Andre Russell.

With the dew making bat-ting easier in the second half ofthe match, CSK chased downa rather comfortable target in17.2 overs.

With an emphatic win,CSK are back at the top of the

table with five victories fromsix games while KKR sufferedtheir second loss in six match-es and will be hoping thatTuesday’s performance wasjust a blip in otherwise apromising campaign so far.

Shane Watson (17 off 9)smashed two fours and a sixearly on in the run chase beforefalling to a soft dismissal offspinner Sunil Narine.

Suresh Raina (14) too didnot cash in on the opportuni-ty to make a big score and per-ished in an attempt to hitNarine out of the park, leavingCSK at 35 for two in fiveovers.

Since the asking rate wasnot an issue, Faf du Plessis (43not out off 45) and Ambati

Rayudu (21) went about theirjob with little difficulty. TheSouth African, who scored 54in his first game of the seasonhere on Saturday, played anoth-er solid innings to take theteam home.

Earlier, a lot depended onthe in-form Russell after apoor show from the KKR bat-ting unit. He played the onlyway he knows, going for bigshots, and succeeded to a cer-tain extent to finish with fivefours and three sixes.

The under-rated DeepakChahar, who returned withimpressive figures of three for20 from four overs, rattled theKKR top-order with earlystrikes, including that of thebig-hitting Chris Lynn as the

visitors struggled to 29 forfour in the powerplay.

Harbhajan Singh (2/15),Imran Tahir (2/21) andRavindra Jadeja (1/17) put thebrakes on the KKR batting witha disciplined effort.

KKR were under pressurefrom the word go as Lynnand Sunil Narine fell withinthe space of five balls. First,Chahar trapped Lynn leg-before wicket for a duck inthe first over, as the Aussiemissed a pull off a deliverythat kept low.

In the next over, Harbhajantossed one up to Narine, whoattempted a big shot, only toskew it to the point regionwhere Chahar took a goodcatch running backwards.

Nitish Rana (0) becameChahar’s second victim, takensmartly by Rayudu. RobinUthappa (11, 9 balls, 2X4)played a couple of good shots,before perishing to a pull whichlanded in the safe hands ofKedar Jadhav at deep-squareleg.

A lot was expected of skip-per Dinesh Karthik but heflattered to deceive, hammer-ing a shot off Tahir straight intothe hands of Harbhajan atmid-wicket, to be dismissed for19 to leave KKR in trouble at44 for five.

That KKR’s 50 came uponly in the 12th over, indicat-ing how much their batsmenstruggled to come to gripswith the surface at Chepauk.

PTI n MUMBAI

Young Mumbai Indians bats-man Ishan Kishan hopes to

meet the high expectations histeam has from him, havingreplaced veteran Yuvraj Singh inthe previous game.

"He's such a big player andthe fact that I am playing in hisplace raises expectations fromothers. Playing under such pres-sure will help me in the longterm," said Kishan here ahead ofWednesday's IPL match againstKings XI Punjab.

Kishan batted at numberfour in place of Yuvraj who hadmanaged to tally 98 runs in thefirst four games. He was run outfor 17 against SunrisersHyderabad on Saturday.

Asked whether he was nowsure of his place, Kishan said, "Wehave so many good players in theteam. All, including seniors, haveto be on toes and my focus is thatwhenever I get opportunity I givemy 100 per cent."

The Jharkhand player wascandid in saying that although hewould love to keep wickets too forMI instead of playing just as apure batsman he knew that SouthAfrican Quinton de Kock wasMI's first choice.

"Obviously, I would like toplay as wicket-keeper-batsmanbut with de Kock in the team, Ihave to wait for my chance. I amkeen to learn from him. I havebeen able to learn a lot by seeinghis fitness level and dedication.He's a very good player with goodhand eye co-ordination with thebat, a thorough professional."

Kishan disagreed with thenotion that he had fallen behindin the race for the wicket keep-er's slot for India behind hisdeputy in the Under 19 WorldCup, Rishabh Pant, who hasalready played in Tests and is inthe running to make the squadfor the upcoming World Cup.

"I don't feel I have fallenbehind. My focus is on improv-ing my cricket."

PTI n SINGAPORE

India's Parupalli Kashyap andMugdha Agrey qualified for

the main draw of the men andwomen singles competitions atthe Singapore Open badmintontournament here on Tuesday.

Kashyap, a 2014 GlasgowCommonwealth Games goldmedallist, defeated Japan's YuIgarashi 15-21, 21-16, 22-20 inthe final round of the qualifi-cation to seal his place in themain draw.

Kashyap, who is married toLondon Olympics Bronzemedallist Saina Nehwal, hadearlier defeated Malaysia's JuneWei Cheam 21-5, 14-21, 21-17in his first qualification round.

Kashyap will take onDenmark's Rasmus Gemke inthe opening round of the mensingles event on Wednesday.

Besides Kashyap, youngMugdha also made it to the

main draw of the women's sin-gles event with a come-from-behind 16-21 21-14 21-15 winover Lauren Lam of USA in thequalification round.

Mughda will playThailand's PornpaweeChochuwong in her openinground encounter Wednesday.

Elsewhere, it was curtainsfor men's doubles pair of ArjunMR and Shlok Ramachandranin the opening round after theylost 11-21 18-21 against sixthseeds Kim Astrup and AndersSkaarup Rasmussen ofDenmark.

The other Indian men'sdoubles pair in action onTuesday — NarendranBalasubramannian Geetha andRaphel Sharon — failed toqualify for the main draw afterlosing 15-21 14-21 againstlocal pair of Danny BawaChrisnanta and Loh KeanHean.

Mumbai Indian players celebrate after taking a wicket IPL

MI eye revenge on KXIP

Starc cries

foul over IPL

contract payment

Mitchell Starc in a file picture

‘Our win was too close for comfort’

R Ashwin in action during the match IPL

With Ashwin operating,Warner shows how toavoid Mankading

CSK UNBEATEN AT HOME

Kashyap enters maindraw of Singapore Open

‘Handling pressure of expectations will help me’

Ishan Kishan in action during the match IPL

sport 15LUCKNOW | WEDNESDAY | APRIL 10, 2019

AFP ■ MANCHESTER

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer enjoyeda charmed life as interimManchester United manag-

er but Barcelona's visit to OldTrafford on Wednesday will showhim the scale of the task he faces asthe new full-time boss.

The Norwegian was rewardedwith a three-year deal after dramat-ically reviving United's fortunessince taking caretaker charge inDecember, lifting them back intocontention for a top-four place andtransforming the mood at the club.

The highlight of his reign so farwas a dramatic 3-1 away victoryover Paris Saint-Germain in the last16 in the Champions League, whichenabled United to overturn a 2-0first-leg defeat to reach the quarter-finals on away goals.

Solskjaer has given his creativeplayers licence to attack, with PaulPogba and Marcus Rashford let offthe leash to devastating effect.

But some of the gloss has comeoff in recent weeks, with threedefeats in four matches badly dent-ing United's chances of qualifyingfor next season's ChampionsLeague and dumping them out ofthe FA Cup.

Solskjaer, who famously scoredthe winning goal for United againstBayern Munich in the 1999Champions League final inBarcelona, was upbeat afterdrawing the Spanish league lead-ers in the quarter-finals lastmonth, before he was con-firmed as the new long-termboss.

"We want these gamesagainst the biggest clubs and the

biggest teams. We had the finalagainst them in 2009 and 2011(both of which Barca won)and the semi-final in 2008when Scholesy (Paul Scholes)scored," Solskjaer said.

"It's these games our fans

and this club crave. We are lookingforward to this one."

Worryingly for Solskjaer,though, some of United's familiarfailings under Jose Mourinho havereturned to haunt them in theweeks since the draw was made.

POOR RUNThey were unfortunate to lose

at Arsenal but appeared short ofinspiration in losing twice to Wolvesin the FA Cup and Premier League,while even Solskjaer admitted theydid not deserve their solitary win

since he was given the permanentjob as Watford enjoyed the better ofthe chances in a 2-1 defeat at OldTrafford.

Solskjaer had a free ride whenhe took over from Mourinho, withmorale at a low ebb and the club 11

points off the top four.Despite recent hiccups, he has

had notable success in his short timeat the club and ultimately has hissights set higher than finishing inthe top four.

"You've got to aim high," he toldESPN. "You cannot aim too low atthis club. You've got to aim to wintitles.

"When I came back here as themanager I thought a lot about whatmakes a winning team. What doesit really take to win on the biggeststage? I'm not one to sit back, reston my laurels."

The 46-year-old will probablybe forgiven if United fall shortagainst a Lionel Messi-inspiredBarcelona.

But if he fails to reverse themini-slump and United suffer aheavy defeat to the Spanish cham-pions there is a danger the seasoncould peter out and momentumcould be lost.

Questions will be asked as towhether United were too quick toput their trust in a likeable leaderand whether Solskjaer has the pro-file needed to bring in the top-levelrecruits that United need, particu-larly in defence, to become seriousPremier League and European chal-lengers again.

But he will lead his team out atOld Trafford on Wednesday for theirfirst Champions League quarter-final since 2014 with the samenever-say-die attitude he had as aplayer.

"We've got a chance, it's going tobe a tough one. We've got a moun-tain to climb, but we've climbed afew mountains before," saidSolskjaer.

AFP ■

In the wake of Ajax's stunningvictory against holders Real

Madrid in the Champions Leaguelast 16, the headlines across Europewere mainly about the new gold-en generation emerging inAmsterdam.

The club of Johan Cruyff, andof Louis van Gaal's side that liftedthe trophy in 1995, are into theirfirst Champions League quarter-final since 2003 with a team packedwith products of their famed youthsystem.

Midfielder Frenkie de Jong,aged 21 and headed for Barcelonaat the end of the season, and 19-year-old defender Matthijs de Ligtare the brightest young stars in aside that triumphed 4-1 at theSantiago Bernabeu.

However, the most decisiveplayer in this Champions Leaguecampaign for Ajax -- which con-tinues into Wednesday's quarter-final first leg against Juventus -- isa grizzled veteran by comparison.

Dusan Tadic, at 30, was theoldest member of coach Erik tenHag's line-up in Madrid, with thesole exception of 32-year-old DaneLasse Schoene.

The Serbian internationalattacker scored one of their goalsin Spain, and now has nine alto-gether in a continental campaignthat started with a second qualify-ing-round win over Sturm Graz.

The goal apart, Tadic's displayin Madrid will be best rememberedfor that moment in the first halfwhen he escaped Casemiro with asensational turn.

"As time goes by we will realisewhat we did, but now we just wantto enjoy our football and thesethings will come. It's really special,"said Tadic after that match.

Formerly of Groningen and FCTwente, Tadic came back to theNetherlands in an 11.4 million-euro (£10 million) move fromPremier League strugglersSouthampton last year.

‘BIG FISH IN A SMALL POND'His signing, and that of Daley

Blind, the defender rejoining fromManchester United, highlightedpart of the strategy at the JohanCruyff Arena.

The club's decision-makers,with former players Edwin van derSar and Marc Overmars nowrespectively chief executive andtechnical director, needed experi-ence to surround the youngsters.

The main goal for Ajax wasreclaiming the Dutch title, lastwon in 2014. Ten Hag's team arelevel with PSV Eindhoven at thetop of the table with five gamesleft, having recently beaten their

rivals 3-1 in Amsterdam. They areinto the Dutch Cup final, too.

Tadic has scored 20 leaguegoals, and has added nine assists— those figures make him themost decisive player in theNetherlands since Luis Suarezwith Ajax in 2009/10.

"When he signed, he wasexpected to be the replacement ofHakim Ziyech, but with theMoroccan playmaker still at theclub, the two have struck up apartnership that knows no boundsin terms of creativity," says MichielJongsma, a journalist and an edi-tor with sports analysts Opta,covering the Dutch league.

"It seems like he had settledfor being a big fish in a smallerpond by returning to theEredivisie, but with rumoursswirling that AC Milan andManchester City are interested, hishead might be turned," addsJongsma of Tadic.

Another star turn againstJuventus will only increase thechances of big-money offers com-ing in.

Van der Sar insists Ajax wouldnot need to sell anyway, althoughthe numbers are revealing — theclub's accounts for last year, with-out a European run, showed rev-enue of 92 million euros ($104m).

If Tadic continues his currentform, anything is possible.

PTI ■ NEW DELHI

The Indian football team will be play-ing in the invitational King's Cup in

Thailand in June.All matches will be held at the Chang

Arena, Buriram, which has a seatingcapacity of 36000.

Besides India and hosts Thailand, theother teams in the competition areVietnam and Curacao. As per April 2019FIFA rankings, India are ranked 101, withThailand at 114, Vietnam at 98, andCuracao at 82.

The King's Cup is a FIFA-sanctionedinternational 'A' tournament being organ-ised by the Football Association ofThailand since 1968. India's previous par-ticipation in the King's Cup was in 1977.

Two matches will be held on June 5,the winners of whom qualify for the final.The two others teams would be playingthe play-off for the third spot.

This is the first time in 18 years thatthe Blue Tigers will be playing in a FIFARanking tournament, the last being theMerdeka Tournament in Kuala Lumpurin 2001.

Kushal Das, General Secretary, AIFFsaid the King's Cup is the perfect platformfor the new coach to "understand thenucleus of the team".

"The new national coach will be onboard by mid-week of May. With the FIFA2022 World Cup Qualifiers scheduled tokick off in September, the King's Cup willhelp the team get in proper shape for thetough challenges ahead," he stated.

"I am extremely thankful to the

Thailand FA for sending us an invitationto play in the tournament."

The 2018 edition of the King's Cupwas won by Slovakia when they beatThailand 3-2 in a thriller in the final,while Gabon beat UAE 1-0 to clinch the3rd place.

PTI ■ NEW DELHI

Former England manager Sven-GoranEriksson headlines a list of 35 names short-

listed for the post of the Indian football teamcoach, which also includes the highly success-ful ex-Bengaluru FC manager Albert Roca.

The much-travelled Sven-Goran, a Swede,and Spaniard Roca apart, Tommy Taylor(England), Hakan Ericson (Sweden), TomislavSivic (Serbia), Lee Clark (England) and LucasAlcaraz Gonzalez (Spain) are some of the othercandidates shortlisted for the coveted post.

Sven-Goran, who was in charge of Englandfor five years until 2006, had last monthexpressed his interest regarding the job to theAll India Football Federation (AIFF).

The Indian team's spirited showings inrecent times had a ripple effect with the posi-tion of the men's coach attracting over 250applications, an unprecedented number thatalso includes some well-known names fromEurope.

The post has been left vacant since StephenConstantine resigned after the Indian team'sfailure to make the knockout round of the AFCAsian Cup.

"The federation has received over 250applications. 125 were selected after that and outof which 80 qualified as per the AIFF's require-ments. After that, around 35-40 names, basedon various criteria, have been forwarded to thetechnical committee. Seven to eight will becalled for the final interviews, following whichthe appointment will be made," an AIFF offi-cial said on the condition of anonymity.

PTI ■ MANDALAY

The Indian women's footballteam on Tuesday missed out an

opportunity to qualify for thethird round of the 2020 Olympicqualifiers after it was held to a 3-3 draw by Myanmar here.

The Maymol Rocky-coachedside, with an average age of 21,needed a win to top Group A of theOlympic qualifiers Round 2 butsquandered the lead twice to playout a draw and bow out of the com-petition at the Mandalar ThiriStadium here.

India and Myanmar got sevenpoints each from three matches butthe home team advanced to thethird round on the basis of supe-rior goal difference (plus 8 ascompared to plus 4 of India).

Only one team qualifies forthird round from each group.

Sandhiya Ranganathan gaveIndia an early lead in the 10thminute but Myanmar's hat-trickwoman Win Tun found theequaliser in the 17th minute. Tunscored again in the 21st minute butSanju cancelled it out in the 32ndminute.

Ratanbala Devi gave India thelead with a 64th minute strike butTun levelled it yet again in the 72ndminute to complete her hat-trick.

The Indian women, ranked62nd in the world, displayed theirattacking intent early on against

Myanmar, ranked 42nd in theFIFA ladder.

Sanju came close to handingIndia the lead as early as in the sec-ond minute when her shot fromclose range, off a Dangmei Gracecross, went out for a corner.

The Indian women had towait eight minutes more beforesurging into the lead. In the 10thminute, Ratanbala burst out on theright flank and released a low crossfor Sandhiya, who made no mis-take to finish from inside the box.

The lead, however, was short-lived as Myanmar scored two goalsin five minutes. First, Tun headedhome in the 17th minute and fourminutes later, scored following aspot Kick.

Myanmar goalkeeper MayNwe fluffed her lines and made a

howler of a clearance that fell toRatanbala, who chested it down forSanju and she made no mistake inburying the chance into the backof the net. Both teams headed tothe interval at 2-2.

In the second half, Myanmardominated the opening minutes,forcing the Indian defence to shutthe opponents with some astutedefending.

India could have sealed thematch in their favour in the 76thminute when Sanju ran clear of thedefensive line, but the Myanmarcustodian made a world-class savefrom close range to tip the Indian'sshot over the bar.

A minute later, Dangmei Graceburst through but this time the cus-todian put her body on the line toshield the ball.

IANS ■ KOLKATA

Sathiyan Gnanasekaran wants tobe among the top 15 players in

the world by the end of this year,but to achieve that, India's topranked paddler knows all too wellthat he has to work on his fitnessto brave the grind in the comingmonths.

"I am looking at top 15 by theend of 2019 if I can continue thisform. I am knocking on the doorof top 20," the World No 28Sathiyan said.

"I need to step up my fitnesslevels as well to match up to thegruelling schedule ahead. That issomething I need to work on if Ihave to get into the top 15," the 26-year old said.

Sathiyan booked a berth at theWorld Cup after finishing sixth inthe ITTF-ATTU Asian Cup held inYokohama last week.

The left-hander stunned WorldNo 14 Chun Ting Wong of HongKong in positions 5-8 match beforelosing to 17-year-old Lin Yun-Ju ofChinese Taipei, who notched up a11-4, 11-8, 11-8, 14-12 win to fin-ish fifth.

"It was a tiring tournament,

playing such high quality matches.All the matches were like playingsemi final and final. I will watch thevideos and comeback with bettershow when I meet him (Yun-Ju)next time," Sathiyan said.

The next few months will begruelling for Sathiyan with theWorld Table TennisChampionships, seven Pro Tours(China, Japan, Korea, Hong Kong,Australia, Bulgaria and the CzechRepublic), Ultimate Table TennisLeague and the CommonwealthChampionships all lined up beforethe World Cup, which is slated tobe held in China from Oct 18 to 20.

Manchester United players practice during a training session ahead of their match against Barcelona ManchesterUnited

Indian football team players pose for a photo IndianFootballTeam

G Sathiyan plays a shot FilePicture

DESPITE RECENTHICCUPS, HE HAS

HAD NOTABLESUCCESS IN HISSHORT TIME ATTHE CLUB AND

ULTIMATELY HASHIS SIGHTS SETHIGHER THAN

FINISHING IN THETOP FOUR

Cristianostands betweenAjax & history

AIFF shortlists 35for coach's job

Indian football team to

play in King's Cup in June

Sathiyan aimsto be in top 15

Indian Eves bow out of Olympic qualifiers

MESSI CHALLENGE FOR MANCHESTERAfter losing against Wolves in his first game as full time Utd manager, Ole Gunnar faces in-form Barcelona in crunch CL tie

TADIC HAS SCORED20 LEAGUE GOALS,

AND HAS ADDED NINEASSISTS — THOSEFIGURES MAKE HIMTHE MOST DECISIVE

PLAYER IN THENETHERLANDS SINCELUIS SUAREZ WITH

AJAX IN 2009/10

Indian team player challenge for the ball IndianFootballTeam

16LUCKNOW | WEDNESDAY | APRIL 10, 2019the pioneer

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