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november 17, 2019

Cry for relief: Narmada Bachao Andolan leader Medha Patkar leads a rally of displaced people from the Narmada valley,demanding proper rehabilitation and compensation for them, in Bhopal on Saturday. * A.M.FARUQUI (REPORT ON PAGE 9)

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Leading from the front

The air quality of the Capitalimproved to the ‘very poor’category on Saturday, chiefl��yowing to faster winds, afterfour days of ‘severe’ pollution.

The air quality is expectedto improve further till November 19 and then deteriorate again from the next day,said governmentrun monitoring agency System of AirQuality and Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR).

Delhi’s AQI was 357 (verypoor) on Saturday, downfrom 458 (severe) on Friday,according to the 4 p.m. bulletin by the Central PollutionControl Board (CPCB),which is the average of thepast 24 hours. The suburbsof Ghaziabad (347), GreaterNoida (309), Gurugram

(360), Faridabad (358) andNoida (338) also recorded adip in pollution levels.

Ban liftedThe ban on the operation ofcoalbased units in the National Capital Region and industries in Delhi that do notuse piped natural gas waslifted as the air quality improved on Saturday. At a review meeting of the CPCBled task force on Saturday, itwas also decided that hotmix plants and stonecrushers would remain closed inthe NCR.

SAFAR said strong boundarylayer and surface windswere fl��ushing out the accumulated pollutants in the city.However, the average level ofPM 2.5 — deadly respirableparticles — was still threetimes (181.2 ug/m3) the safelimit (60ug/m3) as per In

dian standards, in Delhi andNCR at 6 p.m. on Saturday,according to the CPCB. Thesafe limit set by the WorldHealth Organization is (25ug/m3).

The contribution of stubble burning in neighbouringStates to Delhi’s pollutionwas 5% on Saturday, downfrom 10% on Friday and 25%earlier this week. It is veryless compared to the thehigh of 44% recorded earlierthis season, as per SAFAR.

“The AQI is expected toimprove to the lower end of‘very poor’ by tomorrow[November 17] and ‘poor’ category by November 18. TheSAFAR extended range forecast indicates that increasingtrend [higher levels of pollution] will start again fromNovember 20,” SAFAR said.

(With inputs from PTI)

‘Severe’ air pollution in Capital gone with the wind AQI still ‘very poor’; Delhiites to breathe better till Nov. 19

Staff Reporter

New Delhi

BURNING FIELDS A PAGE 4

Senior journalist Rajat Sharma’s 17month tenure as thepresident of the Delhi andDistrict Cricket Association(DDCA) came to an end onSaturday when he relinquished the post followingdiff��erences with some keymembers of the ApexCouncil.

Lending support to Mr.Sharma, the Cricket Advisory Committee of YashpalSharma and Sunil Valson,members of the 1983 WorldCupwinning team, and CEORavikant Chopra also resigned from their positions.

Mr. Sharma had run intofrequent confrontationswith some of his colleagueswho, in his opinion, werenot “interested” in the welfare of Delhi cricket.

“My best resources, ef

forts and energy were constantly consumed by theurge to improve Delhi cricket, help cricketers at all levels and ensure that the capital city had betterinfrastructure and facilities.It was frustrating that a lot ofApex Council members, including the offi��cebearers,couldn’t agree with me onthis basic requirement and

tracts and selection discrepancies for personalbenefi��ts is still very much active and working.”

CAC lends supportMr. Yashpal Sharma and Mr.Valson drove home thepoint that they had acceptedthe off��er to be part of theCAC with the sole aim ofbringing in transparency inselection matters. “The CACspent its entire energy in trying to safeguard the DDCAfrom vested interests, various pulls and pressuresbut it was becoming a tedious process,” said Mr.Yashpal Sharma. “We wanted to back cricketers to thehilt and decide on policieswhich keep them as priority.Most importantly, we wanted to ensure that merit aloneearned a player his place inthe team,” said Mr. Valson.

preferred to dwell on theirown vested interests,” hesaid in a statement.

‘A loud alarm bell’Promoted by the late ArunJaitley, whom he called a“friend and guide”, Mr.Sharma said he had the option of serving out the remaining two years of his tenure as DDCA presidentamicably but decidedagainst it. “I would have letdown my members and hurtmy self pride if I didn’t bringforth the real picture withinthe DDCA,” he said.

Mr. Sharma drew the attention of Delhi’s cricket fraternity by adding, “My resignation is a loud alarm bellthat will remind the members, BCCI, present andformer cricketers, media,that the deeprooted malaise of getting tenders, con

Rajat Sharma quits as Delhi cricket chiefSenior journalist says he will continue fi��ghting ‘vested interests’ as DDCA member

Vijay Lokapally

NEW DELHI

Rajat Sharma. * FILE PHOTO

A Bhopal court has asked theUnion Home Ministry to explain why it has repeatedlybeen unable to summon theDow Chemical Company toappear before it in a case relating to the Bhopal gastragedy.

The U.S.based fi��rm failedto appear before the court ofthe Additional Chief JudicialMagistrate, Bhopal, on November 13 despite being issued a showcause notice inMay. For the sixth time since2014, the court’s notices hadgone unheeded.

“We issue a showcausenotice on the Under Secretary, ISII division, the UnionHome Ministry, to appearbefore us on January 20 toexplain why it had been unable to serve summons onthe fi��rm,” said Prakash Da

mor, Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate.

The direction came in response to an applicationmoved by the Bhopal Groupfor Information and Action,a rights group working forthe survivors, providing legal assistance to the CentralBureau of Investigation inthe CBI versus Warren Anderson and others case.

Repeated remindersIn the application, RachnaDhingra, a member, claimedthat the U.S. governmenthad “wilfully ignored or obstructed all notices sent bythe Ministry of Home Affairs” to make the fi��rm appear in the court. This wasdespite reminders sent to itby the Ministry in September and October.

Anderson was the chairman of the Union Carbide

Corporation in 1984, when amethyl isocyanate leak fromits pesticide plant here killedthousands and caused diseases in lakhs. After it wasacquired by the Dow Chemical Company as a whollyowned subsidiary in 2001,the fi��rm’s assets and liabilities (civil as well as criminal)were deemed to be transferred as well.

Stating that India and theU.S. were in a Mutual LegalAssistance Treaty since2001, M.K. Chahar, UnderSecretary at the Centre,wrote to the group in September that “prompt actionsare taken by the legal cell ofthe Ministry on each requestof the service of summons”.

The request for summonswas sent to the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) on May30, the day it was receivedby the Ministry from the CBI,

wrote Mr. Chahar. In July,the U.S. government confi��rmed its receipt adding itwas “under review” by Linda McKinney, trial attorney.

The CBI, in a submissionbefore the court on November 12, claimed the Ministryhad sent reminders to theDoJ requesting “expeditioussteps for the service of summons”. However, it said, theservice report, which detailsthe progress of the service ofsummons, was still awaited.

“Mr. Anderson died a freeman as the Centre was unable to get him extraditedfrom the U.S. Now, it’s thesame situation all overagain,” said Ms. Dhingra. Alleging that the U.S. had beenviolating the treaty, she saidthe Centre had not found thecourage to call them out forthe “fear of losing out on foreign investment”.

‘Why summons not served on Dow Chemicals?’Court pulls up MHA for company’s failure to appear in Bhopal gas tragedy hearing

Sidharth Yadav

Bhopal

The Congress announced onSaturday that it would hold amega rally at the RamlilaMaidan on November 30 as aculmination of its Statelevelagitation against the policiesof the Narendra Modiled government at the Centre.

Earlier, the party had announced protests across alldistricts between November5 and 15 against the Centre’s

economic policies.However, following the

Ayodha verdict and the imposition of Section 144 of theIPC in some districts, theparty had suspended a fewprogrammes in some States.

“The agitations will becompleted before November25,” said Congress generalsecretary in charge of organisations K.C. Venugopal.

Congress to hold ‘BharatBachao’ rally on Nov. 30 Special Correspondent

New Delhi

DETAILS ON A PAGE 10

The stalemate in Maharashtra politics continued on Saturday, with the nascent alliance of Shiv Sena,Congress and NationalistCongress Party (NCP) calling off�� a meeting with Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari at the last minute,ostensibly due to othercommitments.

However, talks betweenthe three parties over government formation continued. Sources said the threeparties had formalised thecommon minimum programme, which has beenforwarded to the respectivecentral leaderships for fi��nalapprovals. After approvals,it would be released to thegeneral public for feedback.

Sena leader Sanjay Rautsaid the party remains confi��dent of installing someoneto the top post.

Sena confi��dentof CM post, willskip NDA meet special correspondent

Mumbai

DETAILS ON A PAGE 10

72% turnout in Rajasthanurban local body pollsJAIPUR

Nearly 72% voters exercised

their franchise in the

elections to 49 municipal

bodies in Rajasthan on

Saturday, with a maximum of

91.67% turnout in Nasirabad

municipality of Ajmer district.

Polling took place peacefully,

barring stray incidents of

violence which left a few

persons injured.

NORTH A PAGE 5DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

NEARBY

MAGAZINE A 12 PAGES

CLASSIFIEDS A PAGES 6 & 7

Navy MiG29K

crashes in Goa,

pilots eject safely

page 9

Om Birla convenes

allparty meeting

ahead of winter session

page 10

Chinese troops join

Hong Kong cleanup

as protesters retreat

page 12

Shami, Ashwin and

Umesh bowl India

to innings win

page 17

Saturday’s presidential election in Sri Lanka may beheaded for a tight race between hopefuls Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Sajith Premadasa, following a high voterturnout, including in thenorth and east, home to alarge population of minorityTamils and Muslims.

According to preliminaryestimates provided by theElection Commission, about80% of the eligible citizenscast their votes, comparableto the 81.52% recorded in the2015 election.

Initial trends are likely toemerge by Sunday afternoon, while offi��cial results

will be declared on Monday. Election Commission

Chairman Mahinda Deshapriya said Saturday’s pollwas the “most peaceful” presidential election in his experience, barring an incidentin which gunmen fi��red atbuses transporting Muslimsto polling stations in whatsome feared was an intimidation tactic. However, no injuries were reported and thepassengers reached thebooths on time, he told mediapersons.

Most districts in the northand east polled over 70%,and the fi��nal fi��gure could bemarginally higher than theturnout recorded in the regions in 2015, local offi��cials

told The Hindu.Though lower than the na

tional average, the votespolled in the north, the east

and the central hill country —where most Malayaha Tamilslive — could swing the fi��nalresult in the event of a near

equal divide in the southernvotes.

Mr. Rajapaksa, a formerDefence Secretary andbrother of former PresidentMahinda Rajapaksa, isknown to have considerablesupport in the southern, Sinhalamajority districts. Thebrothers are widely regardedas “heroes” who “saved” thecountry by ending the warwith the Tamil Tigers a decade ago.

Mr. Premadasa, HousingMinister, too, campaignedhard in the south, hoping todraw support from the ruralvote base, despite the angerwith his government.

High turnout signals close Sri Lankan race Preliminary estimates record close to 80% polling; minority Tamil, Muslim regions see over 70% voting

Meera Srinivasan

COLOMBO

Awaiting their turn: Voters at a polling station on the premisesof a Buddhist temple in Colombo on Saturday. * AFP

RIVALS HAPPY A PAGE 12

If it wasn’t enough that Delhi air is among the world’smost polluted, a new studyhas now shown that the city’s tap water is the most unsafe among 21 State capitals.

The national capital is atthe very bottom of the list,in a ranking based on tapwater quality released bythe Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) on Tuesday.

It is among 13 cities whereall tested samples failed tomeet the BIS norms forpiped drinking water, including Kolkata, Chennai,Bengaluru, Jaipur andLucknow.

In fact, Mumbai is the only city where all samples oftap water met all the tested

parameters under the Indian Standard 10500:2012(specifi��cation for drinkingwater) so far.

Under its fl��agship Jal Jeevan Mission, the Centreaims to provide safe pipedwater to all households by2024, with Prime MinisterNarendra Modi promising tospend over ₹��3.5 lakh croreon the scheme in his last Independence Day speech.

However, the study, conducted by the BIS for theUnion Food and ConsumerAff��airs Ministry, showedthat even in urban areas,which are connected to thepiped water network, thereis no guarantee that the water is safe for consumption.

Only Mumbai meets BIS standards

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI

Delhi has the mostunsafe tap water

CONTINUED ON A PAGE 10

The Kerala police on Saturday advised at least two women under the age of 50against trekking up to the Sabarimala Ayyappa templefrom the Pampa base camp.

The police response to thearrival of the women pilgrims at Pampa was widelyperceived as a clear indication of the Left DemocraticFront (LDF) government’s

modifi��ed stance that the lawenforcement authoritieswere under no legal compulsion to escort women to worship at the Ayyappa temple.

The women were part of a15member group of pilgrimsfrom Kakinada in AndhraPradesh.

Police advise women against visiting Sabarimala Action at Pampa base camp indicates govt. decision not to escort pilgrims


Thiruvananthapuram

New season: Pilgrims thronged the Ayyappa temple onSaturday as it opened amid tight security. * H. VIBHU POLICE TO PURSUE CASES A PAGE 8

RIFT IN NAVODHANA

SAMRAKSHANA SAMITI A PAGE 8

CONTINUED ON A PAGE 10

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DELHI THE HINDU

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CITY

DELHI Timings

Sunday, Nov. 17

RISE 06:45 SET 17:27

RISE 21:41 SET 11:00

Monday, Nov. 18

RISE 06:46 SET 17:27

RISE 22:43 SET 11:52

Tuesday, Nov. 19

RISE 06:46 SET 17:26

RISE 23:47 SET 12:40

“The production in entireManesar will come to a halt ifyour demands are not met.Be fi��rm. If the Honda management stops supplyingfood to the striking workersinside, we will make alternative arrangements. Let’s takethis fi��ght to a logical end,” astout middleaged unionleader from Napino Auto andElectronics Limited addresses the striking workers ofHonda Motorcycles andScooters India Private Limited (HMSI) on a service roadoutside Gate No.1 of the company’s plant in Manesar Sector 3 on Thursday afternoon.

While most of the workerssquat in a semicircle facinghim, the rest stand behindhim listening attentively andoccasionally bursting intoloud sloganeering, hailingthe workers’ unity and denouncing Honda management. A few others hoveraround the food and juicevendors, and a jalebiwala,just a stone’s throw away,least bothered about the now“routine” rhetoric by unionleaders for the past over oneweek. A lone water tankerparked at a distance also attracts a good number ofworkers.

It is the twelfth day of thecontractual workers’ strikein the country’s prominenttwowheeler company on Saturday, but none of sides areready to blink fi��rst, leading toan impasse. And what had

begun as a mark of resistance by a handful of contractual workers against themanagement’s diktat, askingthem to proceed on a threemonthlong leave on November 5 citing slowdown, hasnow gradually snowballedinto a fullfl��edged “workers’movement” in this automotive belt — with a real threatof a spillover.

The plant has been shutindefi��nitely and around2,500 contractual workers,including 1,800odd workersinside the plant, are holdinga roundtheclock sitin.

The trade and workers’unions have also jumped into the fray, handing overmemorandums to the district administration and expressing solidarity with thestriking workers.

“The company has retrenched around a 1,000contractual workers over thepast few months citing slowdown, with the assurance totake them back after threemonths, but it did not happen. The contractual workers held a hunger strike before Diwali on this issue andthe management assuredthat they would formulate apolicy on the matter. Butagain 200 workers were toldto go on leave on November4. The workers decided tostand their ground suspecting that they might never becalled back to work,” said apermanent worker, who hascome to the spot to expresssolidarity with the striking

workers.The permanent workers

joined ranks with the contractual employees after theplant was shut “till furtherintimation” on November 11.The workers’ Charter of Demands is also pending withthe company for around 18months now, adding to theunrest among them.

“Our demand is simple.Regularise all those whohave been working for morethan 10 years and duly compensate the retrenchedworkers. The company hasopened three new plants over the past 15 years, it is allour hard work,” said a contractual worker.

A new trendThough the automobile industrial belt — spread tillNeemrana in Rajasthanalong the National Highway48 — is no stranger tostrikes, protests and dharnas, Inqlabi Mazdoor Kendracentral committee memberShyambir Shukla, a labourrights activist, sees the emergence of a new trend withthe contractual workers taking the lead and the unionsbacking them up.

“Never before has a workers’ movement has been ledby contractual workers. Itwas always the permanentworkers and the unions taking the lead and the contractual workforce supportingthem. But the trend has reversed with this movement.It marks the beginning of the

end of individual leadershipand heralds the rise of collective leadership,” he said.

One of the reasons for thereversal of roles for the permanent and contractualworkers is the growing number and prominence of thelatter in production, and thefailure of the unions to speakfor them.

“While the salaries of permanent Honda workers haveincreased from ₹��3,000 to₹��70,000 since 2005, the contractual workers are still paid₹��15,000 per month. The unions in the automobile sectorhave mostly been acting incollusion with the management to contain the anger ofthe contractual workers, butfailed to work for their welfare,” said Mr. Shukla.

Besides, the unions toohave weakened over theyears because of dwindlingnumbers and role of permanent workers. In severalcompanies, the permanentworkers comprise only 15%20% of the workforce.

In fact, around 15 companies, mostly with activeworkers’ unions, have beenshut down in the region overthe past one year renderingthousands jobless, but no

voices were raised.On the fl��ip side, the con

tractual workers lack the legal immunity unlike the permanent workers.

Economic slowdownBellsonica Auto ComponentIndia Employees’ Union vicepresident Ajit Singh said theHonda workers strike was also the fi��rst instance wherethe protest had stemmedfrom the economic slowdown and not aimed directlyat the company’s management.

“While all other movements in the region earlier,including the Maruti hungerstrike in 2011, were directedagainst the company withthe demand to form a unionor seek implementation ofthe Charter of Demands, thepresent crisis has its roots inthe economic slowdown. Ithas more political hues to it,”said Mr. Singh.

Use of social mediaThe striking Honda workersusing social media platformsto spread word about theprotest is another highlight.Former BBC journalist Sandeep Rauzi has been runningthe protestrelated news on

his yearold YouTube channel and Facebook page“Workers Unity”, helped bya team of over a dozen former journalists.

He said their eff��orts hadhelped in lending voice tothe striking workers, especially when the mainstreammedia had chosen to stayaway from it. He laments thatnone of the major Hindinews channels had carriedthe news about the protest.

“Our social media campaign is not just putting pressure on the mainstream media to give space to thisprotest, but has also beensuccessful in creating pressure on Honda, adversely affecting its brand value worldwide. No doubt, the voice ofthe workers is now reachingthe common man directly.The six videos and live coverages of the protest over thesedays have garnered severallakh views on diff��erent platforms and reached around50 lakh people, which is ahuge number,” said Mr.Rauzi.

He added that the workersalso trolled actor Akshay Kumar, Honda’s brand ambassador, on Twitter.

Former Haryana CPM

State Secretary Inderjit Singhsaid that the current stalemate at Honda is essentiallyan equation of noholdsbarred privileged positionenjoyed by the managementand the army of desperatejobseekers at the receivingend.

“Apart from this unequalequation, the power of theState is also at the beck andcall of the company, a factendorsed by the massive police force ready to act insidethe Honda premises wherethe retrenched workers continue to hold a sitin. It is paradoxical that the BJP JJP ruling alliance has proclaimedthe formation of the Common Minimum Programme,purportedly honouring theelection promises made byboth the allies, including 75%jobs for the youth from Haryana, but is keeping a tacitsilence when the youths arebeing thrown out of jobs infl��agrant violation of laws ofnatural justice and basic tenets of human rights,” saidMr. Singh.

No responseHMSI declined to commenton the queries sent to it regarding the strike.

Honda workers’ strikeheralds emergence ofcollective leadershipThe automotive belt is no stranger to protests by workers,but this is arguably the fi��rst time that contractual employeesare taking the lead and unions are backing them

Ashok Kumar

GURUGRAM

The contractual workers of Honda Motorcycles and Scooters India Private Ltd. have been on strike since November 5. * ASHOK KUMAR

The Delhi Congress on Saturday organised a ‘HallaBol’ rally to protest againstthe BJP for “economicslowdown” and “largescale unemployment” inthe country.

Delhi Pradesh CongressCommittee (DPCC) chiefSubhash Chopra said,“The country is facing itsworst economic crisissince Independence dueto the antipeople policiesof the Narendra Modi government. Educatedyoung people have no jobsand 74% of people in the1823 age group are unableto join colleges.”

DPCC spokespersonMukesh Sharma said,“The Halla Bol agitationwill be intensifi��ed in thecoming days and will continue till November 25.”

Congressblames BJP for slowdown

Staff Reporter

New Delhi


THE HINDU DELHI

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 2019 3EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

CITY

One held for robbingman at knifepointNEW DELHI

A 30yearold man, identified

as Jawed alias Sunny, has

been arrested for allegedly

robbing a man of ₹��12 lakh at

knifepoint in north Delhi’s

Kotwali area. The police said

that the victim, Irshad

Ahmad, was on Geeta Colony

flyover when he was robbed

by two men.

IN BRIEF

‘Ek Vote, Teen Sarkar’ (OneVote, Three Governments)will be the BJP’s slogan forthe upcoming Delhi Assembly polls. The party is seekingto garner the electorate’ssupport yet again in thename of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ability for governance to return to powerin the Capital after a gap ofclose to three decades.

At public meetings, theparty has already begun propagating the benefi��ts of welfare schemes that the citizens are likely to get — in acomparatively shorter period of time — if the sameparty is in power at theCentre, the State and municipal levels of governanceand incharge of administration, according to insiders.

With eff��orts in this regardscheduled to be stepped up

over the coming days, theslogan, according to a partysource, also aims at rakingup the issue of Chief MinisterArvind Kejriwal’s “politics ofconfrontation” which, partyinsiders said it believed, hadpaid political dividends tothe Opposition party bothduring the civic elections in2017 and the Lok Sabha elections earlier this year.

“We are going to tell the

people of the Capital thathow the push of a single button in favour of the BJP canensure that not just one butthree separate governmentsworking exclusively for theirbenefi��t can stand by theirside,” Delhi BJP chief ManojTiwari said.

Hits out at CM

“Not only are the benefi��ts ofall the welfare schemes initiated by the BJPled Centrebeing prevented from trickling down by the powerhungry Chief Minister of Delhi,but also the good work andpolicies of the BJPruled civicbodies are also being rendered ineff��ective by thesame individual. The push ofone button can change allthat for the better,” Mr. Tiwari added.

The north east Delhi MPsaid, in its second term theModi government had pro

vided toilets to 13 crore houses and distributed 10 crorefree gas connections even asMr. Kejriwal had “deliberately obstructed” the Ayushman Bharat health schemeand the PMAY housingscheme in Delhi because Mr.Kejriwal, “neither works norallows others to work.”

He alleged that civic bodies, for instance, had purchased water sprinklers at acost of ₹��130 crore to controlpollution in a move, whichshould have been the prerogative of the Delhigovernment.

“But the Delhi government did not release fundsdue to the corporations. TheCentral government gave₹��120 crore to the corporations to purchase machinesto do away with the garbagemountains,which will bedone away with shortly,” headded.

BJP to play PM Modi card to woovoters in Delhi Assembly polls‘Ek vote, teen sarkar’ will be party’s slogan, pledging benefi��ts at city, civic, central level

Jatin Anand

New Delhi

Manoj Tiwari

A 40yearold rickshaw puller was allegedly stabbed todeath during an argument inouter Delhi’s Nangloi area onFriday night. The accusedhas been arrested, the policesaid.

DCP (Outer) A. Koan saidthat the victim Kanhaiya, arickshaw puller hailing fromRajasthan, was murdered byNeeraj alias Guthli (22).

The police said that

around 10.50 p.m., a PCR callwas received at Nangloi police station informing that aperson was lying injured andunconscious in Swarna Park.The police rushed to the spotbut by then the man wasshifted to Sanjay Gandhi Hospital where he was declaredbrought dead.

The police said that a caseunder Section 302 (Punishment for murder) of the Indian Penal Code was registered and an investigation

was taken up.During investigation, it

was revealed that Kanhaiyawas stabbed by Neeraj afterthe two had an argument.“Teams were formed to nabhim and he was arrested. Heis a resident of Swarna Parkarea,” the offi��cer said.

During interrogation, Neeraj allegedly told the policethat he stabbed the victimmultiple times following anargument over the victim using abusive words.

Accused stabbed victim multiple times for using abusive words

Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI

Rickshaw puller murderedfollowing argument, 1 held

A 43yearold foreign national was found dead in ahotel room in central Delhi’s Paharganj on Saturdaymorning. Police said thatshe suff��ered a cardiacarrest.

A senior police offi��cersaid that the deceased hasbeen identifi��ed as PollyAnne Tuialii of New Zealand. She had come to Indiawith her partner John Ferguson, an Australian national, on Friday. “We havebeen told that they hadchecked into the hotel onFriday and were here to getmarried,” the offi��cer said.

A hotel staff�� said that thewoman was found unconscious around 7.30 a.m.“The man came and told usthat the woman is in thewashroom and he wants touse another washroom. Weprovided him with thesame. When he went backto the room, he saw her inan unconscious state and informed us. We went andchecked after which we informed the police,” said ahotel staff��.

The woman was taken tothe hospital where she wasdeclared brought dead.

“She is suspected to havecollapsed due to cardiac arrest. Embassy has been informed and a postmortemwill be conducted,” the offi��cer said.

Foreignnational founddead at hotel

Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI

Two sisters have been arrested for their alleged involvement in cases of theft insouth Delhi, the police saidon Saturday.

DCP (South) Atul KumarThakur said that the women— Lalita (25) and her youngersister Damini (22) are fromMadhya Pradesh.

The police said that thefi��rst case was registered onNovember 5 at Kotla Mubarakpur police station inwhich the complainant reported a theft of ₹��50,000 inside a bank. The second casewas reported from a templein Chhatarpur the same dayin which the complainantstated that he withdrew₹��50,000 after which he went

to the temple and while returning, he found the moneymissing. A case was registered at Mehrauli policestation.

CCTV footage was scrutinised and two women werefound moving in a suspiciousmanner. The suspects wereidentifi��ed and surveillancewas mounted. “A tipoff�� wasreceived that the womenwere in Pushp Vihar afterwhich a trap was laid andthey were apprehended,”Mr. Thakur said, adding thatthe stolen money was recovered from them.

During interrogation,they allegedly told the policethat they visited cities duringfestival and marriage seasons and targeted people incrowded places.

Sisters arrested for theft Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI

A District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum herehas directed Indigo Airlinesto compensate a complainant by paying over ₹��1.31lakh after the passenger’sluggage went missing during a fl��ight from Dubai toDelhi.

The consumer panel alsodirected compensation ofan additional amount of₹��20,000 towards the harassment caused to the complainant apart from the compensation towards the lostbaggage.

The directions camewhen the consumer panel

was hearing a plea movedby Dubai resident SmitaRenwal, who contendedthat after reaching Delhifrom Dubai, only one of hertwo luggage arrived.

“On reaching the DelhiAirport she found that onebaggage was untraceablewhich she handed over tothe Indigo executives at thetime of checkin. On adviceof the [airline] executives, awritten complaint was givenby the complainant. It isstated that she visited Indiato attend the last rites of hergrandfather,” the consumerpanel observed while notingthe allegations made by thecomplainant.

Airline fi��ned ₹��1.3 lakh over missing luggage Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI

The Delhi police on Saturdayregistered an FIR in connection with the defacement ofthe pedestal of Swami Vivekananda statue located on Jawaharlal Nehru Universitycampus. A senior police of

fi��cer said that a case hasbeen registered under Section 3 of the Delhi Prevention of Defacement of Property Act. The case has beenlodged two days after theJNU administration fi��led acomplaint seeking actionagainst the accused.

FIR fi��led in JNU vandalism case Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI


DELHI THE HINDU


A ND-NDE

CITY

On a November morning,Charanjeet Singh, a 64yearold farmer in Pakhoke villagein Punjab’s Barnala district,was sitting outside his housereading a Punjabi newspaperwhen he noticed somethingstartling: his name had appeared in an article alongwith three other villagers in alist of FIRs fi��led by the policefor a “crime” that has become rampant across Punjabat this time of the year —stubble burning.

Behind the house, wheathad already been sown inparts of the 24 acres of hischarred fi��eld.

“Nahi jalana chahiye, parkya karen, aur koi hal Nahihai. Majboori hai (The stubble should not be burnt, butwhat else can we do, there isno other solution. I am helpless),” the sexagenarian saidsitting on a cot. Mr. Charanjeet is a fourthgenerationfarmer growing paddy in hisfi��elds.

And he is not alone.Across Barnala, more than

two dozen farmers whomThe Hindu met gave thesame reason why they burnpaddy stubble: “Majboori”.Any other method to disposeof the crop residue wouldcost the farmers thousandsof rupees per acre in theform of labour, rent and machines and transport cost. A₹��1 matchbox is the most economical solution for them toprepare their fi��eld for thenext crop.

At least 10 million metrictons of the 20 million metrictons of paddy stubble generated in Punjab every year isburnt by farmers, accordingto the State government.

Wind movementThe northwesterly wind carries the smoke from the stubble burnt in Punjab and Haryana to Delhi, contributingto the city’s air pollution in arange between 0% and 53%(in the last two years), as perthe central governmentrunmonitoring agency SAFAR(System of Air Quality andWeather Forecasting AndResearch).

The issue has become pol

itical over the years with theAAP government in Delhiblaming the Punjab, Haryanaand Uttar Pradesh governments for the pollution thecity faces and the central government also getting involved in the blame game.

The number of stubblefi��res in Punjab fi��elds between September 23 and October 13 has grown from44,845 in 2018 to 48,689 thisyear — a rise 8.5%, accordingto the Central Pollution Control Board. On the otherhand, the number of fi��recounts in Haryana in thesame period has reduced byabout 20%.

Most farmers said theycame to know from television and newspapers reportsthat stubble burning contributed to pollution in Delhi,but they did not have anyother option.

Attempts to stop burningPunjab was traditionally nota ricegrowing State. Earlier,it used to grow maize andcotton among other crops inMayJune and wheat in OctoberNovember.

“In the 1960s, the government pushed the farmers togrow rice as India had to feedmillions of people,” said Devinder Sharma, an agricultural expert.

Unlike in south India, thefarmers in Punjab do notprefer to give paddy stubble

as fodder to cattle (they feedthem wheat stubble) andthus disposing of the residuebecomes a problem, said experts.

In the 1980s, the farmersstarted using combine harvesters to cut paddy and itleft longer stubble, about 5060 cm long, in the fi��elds,compared to cutting byhand, which left behind 510cm long residue. The longerstubble led to increase inburning of stubble.

The government has started providing diff��erent machines to treat the stubble at50% subsidy to individualfarmers and 80% subsidy tofarmers’ groups.

The Supreme Court onNovember 4 termed the airpollution in DelhiNCR“worse than Emergency”and directed the governments of Punjab, Haryanaand Uttar Pradesh to immediately stop the farmers fromburning the stubble.

However, a week later,The Hindu spotted dozens ofburning fi��elds in Barnala,Punjab. Following the Supreme Court order, the Punjab government has decidedto pay ₹��2,500 per acre to allsmall and marginal farmerswho did not burn their stubble. But the process will taketime. Two other SupremeCourt directives to the governments — to collect stubble and give machines free of

cost to small and marginalfarmers — are yet to kick off��.

On November 13, as Mr.Charanjeet talked outside hishouse in Punjab, the air pollution levels breached the‘severe’ category in Delhi,forcing the authorities toshut all schools in the city forthe next two days.

‘Unhappy’ seeder Mr. Charanjeet said that hehas been burning the stubblefor the last 35 years, exceptfor 2018 when bought a‘Happy Seeder’ at a subsidised rate of ₹��1.6 lakh.

The Happy Seeder is oneof the machines the government has been pushing as asolution to stubble burning.It can be attached to a tractorand can sow the wheat seedwith the paddy stubble stillstanding in the fi��eld.

Last year, after harvesting,Mr. Charanjeet used anothermachine, ‘straw chopper’, tocut the standing stubble intosmall pieces and evenly distribute it on the fi��eld. Hethen sowed the wheat using‘Happy Seeder’.

“The crop germinationdid not happen properly andthe layer of stubble causedpest infection. I suff��ered aloss of about ₹��2 lakh lastyear,” Mr. Charanjeet said,adding, “so, I set the fi��eld onfi��re this year”. On November14 afternoon, on a side ofBarnala Road, Gurcharan

said. “The farmer will have to

fi��ll up a form after harvest,declaring that he has notburnt the stubble. Thenthere will be an inspectionby the Revenue Department.After that the form will go tothe registrar of cooperativesociety and the money willbe deposited in the farmer’sbank account,” he said.

“The farmers can get themoney immediately or itmay take up to two months,”Mr. Phoolka said.

Monetary incentive“We have been requestingthe Central government forthe last fi��ve years to provide₹��100 per quintal [of rice] toall farmers, small and big, ifthey do not burn the stubble.But they have not acceptedit. We are also asking them totake the burden of rice fromPunjab and procure maizeinstead at a fi��xed price,” Punjab Agriculture Secretary Kahan Singh Pannu told TheHindu.

“A combination of thesetwo is the only solution toprevent stubble burning.How many people can weput behind the bars,” heasked.

The farmers said that theycan treat the stubble in situby using a combination ofdiff��erent machines if they getthe incentive from the government. “We have the idea[how to treat stubble in situ],but we do not have the money,” said Mr. Charanjeet.

Asked if he is convincedthat the government wouldpay the farmers, he shookhis head and said: “Kuch Na-hi hoga. Sarkar kuch Nahikaregi (Nothing will happen.The government is not goingto do anything).”

Most farmers across Barnala said they were not sureif the government would actually pay the money.

Mr. Avtar Singh of MehalKalan said that if the government goes back on its promise, it will only worsen thesituation. “Now that the government has made the promise, if it and does not paythe farmers, they will neverbelieve the government andthe burning will go on.”

Singh, 43, and his two sonswere setting fi��re to paddystubble in parts of their 50acre fi��eld. He said he too hadtried Happy Seeder, butwasn’t happy with the machine at all.

“We have another 30acrefi��eld where we sowed wheatusing Happy Seeder amid thepaddy straws which wereabout 50cmlong. The produce was less by about twoquintal per acre,” he said.“Also, I couldn’t use the stubble from wheat for cattle asthe paddy straw got mixedwith it,” he added.

While many of the biggerfarmers, who used the machines, faced problems,smaller famers said theycould not aff��ord the machines and their runningcost.

Solutions at handIn Mehal Kalan village, thefarmers said that the government’s decision to give₹��2,500 for not burning stubble was announced throughloudspeakers at the localgurdwara.

Pointing to a fi��eld that wason fi��re, Avtar Singh, 55, whoowns a oneacre land, said:“The decision [incentive]came very late. Almost 90%of the farmers have alreadyburnt the stubble in theirfi��elds.” “Since everyone elsehas burnt the stubble, thefew who are left are not going to take care of the residueby spending their own money,” he added.

Barnala District Commissioner Tej Partap SinghPhoolka admitted that stubble burning was happeningin the district but said it wasless than last year as manyfarmers had adopted diff��erent techniques.

“We have fi��led 73 FIRs andhave issued 539 challans, butthe farmers’ associations arereally strong here and theyhave announced a dharnahere tomorrow [November15],” he said.

He said the ₹��2,500 incentive announced by the government will go a long wayin stopping stubble burning.“Next year, I feel, the burning of stubble will comedown by about 80%,” he

Burning fi��elds: farmers say they are helplessDespite a Supreme Court order against stubble burning, paddy growers are continuing with the practice in Punjab. They say they are aware of the consequences but do not have any other viable option

Nikhil M Babu

Barnala (Punjab)

Up in smoke: A farmer burns paddy stubble in Barnala district, Punjab. * SHIV KUMAR PUSHPAKAR

Talk: An evening of Bengali humorousshort stories written by ShibramChakraborty, Sanjib Chattopadhyay,Baidyanath Mukhopadhyay, will bepresented by Sampa Das, SukhanshuChatterjee and Ashim Ranjan Chakrabarty at Amaltas Hall, India HabitatCentre (IHC), 7 p.m.

Dance: Bharatnatyam Arengetram ofAnoushka Chowdhry and Jeetu, bothdisciples of Guru Rashmi Khanna atTriveni Kala Sangam, 205 TansenMarg, 6.30 p.m.

Music: IHC Morning Ragas will feature a sarangi concert by Ustad Moi

nuddin Khan from the Jaipur Gharana.Accompanied by Momin Khan on thesarangi and Ustad Amram Khan on thetabla at Amaltas Hall, India HabitatCentre (IHC), 10.30 a.m.

Music: Carnatic Music – Vocal and instrumental by various young talents atC.D. Deshmukh Auditorium, India International Centre (IIC), 10 a.m.

Screening: “Enchanted Mamallapuram”, an English documentaryfi��lm will be screened at Gulmohar Hall,India Habitat Centre (IHC), 7 p.m.(Mail your listings for this column [email protected])

DELHI TODAY

The Aam Aadmi Party(AAP) on Saturday held‘Dhoka Diwas’ across thecity, protesting against alleged frauds done by theBJP in “fooling” residentsof unauthorised coloniesin the name of registration.

AAP held protests, rallies and jan sabhas acrossdiff��erent parts of the cityand party leaders, including Cabinet Ministers, MPs,MLAs, councillors and volunteers took part in theagitation against the BJP,the party said.

Deputy Chief MinisterManish Sisodia led the‘Dhokha Diwas’ protest atSangam Vihar, Rajya SabhaMP Sanjay Singh led theprotest at Burari and Cabinet Minister Gopal Rai atBawana.

“The BJP is following thefootsteps of the Congressparty. Earlier the Congresscheated the residents ofunauthorised colonies bydistributing provisionalcertifi��cate in the name of

registration. Now, the BJPis doing the same kind offraud by initiating an online registration process. Ifthe BJP is really willing toregularise the unauthorised colonies in the Capitalthen they should immediately start proper registration process and stopthis gimmick of online registration,” said Mr. Rai.

“Today, in this DhokhaDiwas, we are reaching outto the people of unauthorised colonies and exposingthe lies of the BJP. We donot want the residents ofunauthorised colonies tobe cheated again by theBJP,” said Mr. Sisodia.

“The Aam Aadmi Partyis working for the development of the residents ofunauthorised coloniesfrom the time it came topower. Projects worthnearly ₹��6,000 crore, whichinclude laying water pipelines, sewage lines, building of roads, and other development works are goingon at the colonies,” he added.

BJP is fooling residents of illegal colonies: AAP Party observes Dhoka Diwas

Staff Reporter

New Delhi

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal took to Twitter on Saturday to appeal to Union Environment Minister PrakashJavadekar to work togetherto fi��nd a solution to the problem of air pollution.

Responding to one of theUnion Minister’s tweets demanding an apology fromMr. Kejriwal for supportingthe ‘chowkidaar chor hai’slogan against Prime Minister Narendra Modi duringthe Lok Sabha elections, theDelhi Chief Minister said itwas not the time to indulgein politicking but to tacklepollution.

Mr. Javadekar’s tweetcame in the wake of the Supreme Court rejecting petitions seeking a review of itsjudgment on the Rafale

fi��ghter aircraft deal. “@ArvindKejriwal those who supported the slogan ‘chowkidar chor hai’ should alsoapologise,” Mr. Javadekartweeted.

Responding to the UnionEnvironment Minister, Mr.Kejriwal, in Hindi, tweeted,“Sir, this is not the time to dopolitics but to curb pollutiontogether. All governmentsshould work together to provide relief to the people. TheDelhi government and the

people of Delhi are doingeverything they can do tocurb pollution. We needyour support, sir.”

Meanwhile, Delhi BJPchief Manoj Tiwari led a demonstration against the “objectionable comments andpropaganda” by Mr. Kejriwalagainst Mr. Modi at the HindiBhawan.

“The decision of the Supreme Court has proved thatRahul Gandhi and Kejriwalindulged in propagandaagainst our Prime Ministerand due to this every citizenof Delhi feels insulted. In order to cover up his failures,the Chief Minister has usedobjectionable words againand again against the PrimeMinister and hence he mustapologise to the people ofthe country and Delhi,” Mr.Tiwari alleged.

‘Not the time to do politics, mustwork together to tackle pollution’ Kejriwal replies to Javadekar’s tweet demanding apology


New Delhi

The Delhi BJP on Saturdayaccused the Aam AadmiParty (AAP) government ofsubjecting the Capital’s citizens to harassment throughthe enforcement of the oddeven scheme.

BJP Rajya Sabha MP VijayGoel has announced that hewill stage a sitin against theextension of the scheme, atJantar Mantar on Sunday.He said that Delhiites werebadly suff��ering due to increasing in pollution, whichChief Minister Arvind Kejri

wal had “completely failed”to control.

He added that even theSupreme Court had termedthe scheme “a fl��op.”

Expressing concern overincreasing pollution in thecity, Mr. Goel claimed thatthe Supreme Court had “reprimanded” the Kejriwalled government and pointedout that the oddevenscheme was “not a propersolution for controllingpollution”.

The third edition of thescheme was in place fromNovember 4 to 15.


New Delhi

Govt. harassing peoplethrough odd-even: BJP

The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has pulled upauthorities for not complying with directions to curbpollution in industrial clusters, and warned of actionagainst senior offi��cials ofrespective State PollutionControl Boards.

Taking note of a reportfurnished by the CentralPollution Control Board, theBench said: “The status report does not refer to compliance of directions for enforcement of [relevantenvironmental norms] by

prohibiting operation ofpolluting activities and assessing and recovering compensation on “polluterpays” principle, includinginterim compensation.”

While observing that inaction on the part of authorities is “at the cost of Rule ofLaw”, the Bench added thataccountability for compliance of orders needs tobe fi��xed. “On default, theTribunal will have no optionexcept to proceed againstthe chairmen and membersecretaries of the State Pollution Control Boards andpollution control commit

pansion and new activitiesby red and orange categoryof industries in critically orseverely polluted areas consistent with the spirit of theearlier orders of this tribunal and principles of environmental law to bringdown the pollution load andensure that activities do notfurther add to such load,”the Bench said.

The directions camewhen the green panel washearing a matter pertainingto remedial action to be taken for curbing pollution inalready identifi��ed pollutedindustrial clusters.

tees, by way of coercive action. Such action may include replacement ofpersons heading such PCBs/PCCs or directions for stopping their salaries till meaningful action for compliance of order of thistribunal,” the Bench said.

Consolidated reportThe green panel has also directed the apex pollutioncontrol body to furnish aconsolidated report on theaction taken reports provided by all the States.

“The CPCB may also revise its mechanism for ex

NGT warns of action against chiefs of pollution boardsGreen panel pulls up authorities for not curbing pollution in industrial clusters

Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI

In a bid to curb pollutionlevels in the Capital, DelhiDevelopment Authority(DDA) ViceChairman Tarun Kapoor on Saturdayinspected DDA projectsand other infrastructurein Dwarka.

“During the visit, theoffi��cials were directed totake steps, includingclearing debris lying onthe streets, clearing construction and demolitionwaste and prevention ofdust generation,” read astatement issued by theDelhi DevelopmentAuthority.

Offi��cials were also directed to ensure that underconstruction siteswere covered and watersprinklers were used toprevent spread of dust.

Pollution check:ViceChairmanof DDA inspectsprojects Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)on Saturday criticised the BJPover “ongoing construction”at its headquarters in Delhidespite a Supreme Court banon all such projects due tohigh level of air pollution.

“BJP headquarters construction on full swing in theheart of Delhi while SC hasbanned all construction activity across NCR till furtherorders. Hippocrates!! [sic.]”AAP chief spokesperson Saurabh Bharawaj tweeted.

AAP Minister Imran Hussain also attacked the BJP over the issue.

“Construction is the fi��fthlargest source of air pollutionin Delhi. The BJP displays itseff��orts and concerns for airpollution in Delhi yet again.Construction of BJP HQ in

full swing despite SC’s ban,”Mr. Hussain said.

AAP MP Sanjay Singhquestioned whether the BJPwas “above the SupremeCourt”. “If the SC has takenthe problem of pollution seriously and stopped all construction work, then how isconstruction work going onin the BJP offi��ce? Has the BJPpledged to increase pollutionin Delhi?” asked Mr. Singh.

Work on at BJP HQdespite ban, says AAP“This shows party’s concern for pollution’

Staff Reporter

New Delhi <> BJP headquarters

construction on full

swing in the heart of

Delhi while SC has

banned all

construction

activity across NCR

till further orders.

Hippocrates!! [sic.]

Saurabh Bharawaj

AAP chief spokesperson

CMYK

NORTHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

THE HINDU DELHI


Nearly 72% voters exercisedtheir franchise in the elections to 49 municipal bodiesin Rajasthan on Saturday,with a maximum of 91.67%turnout in Nasirabad municipality of Ajmer district.

Polling took place peacefully, barring stray incidentsof violence which left a fewpersons injured.

An inebriated persondamaged an EVM in Churu,after which the apparatuswas replaced.

The voter turnout touched80% at some places in 24 districts where the polling washeld. A total of 7,944 candidates were in the fray forelection of 2,100 ward councillors. Over 33 lakh voterswere eligible for exercisingtheir franchise, for which

3,479 polling booths were setup across the State.

The results will be declared after counting of voteson November 19, while theelection for chairpersonsand deputy chairpersons ofthe urban local bodies will beheld on November 26 and 27,

respectively.Chief Electoral Offi��cer

Shyam Singh Rajpurohit saidthe supervisors were giventhe responsibility to look after the law and order at theirallotted centres. However,the Congress and the BJPworkers clashed with each

other in Bharatpur, Banswara, Bhiwadi and Beawar.

Four injuredFour persons were injured inthe fi��ght with lathi andstones between two rivalgroups of party workers inBharatpur. Tension prevailedin Jhunjhunu after allegations of bogus voting, whilethe police dispersed twogroups hurling stones at eachother in Sikar.

Energy Minister B.D. Kallacast his vote in Bikaner,while Tourism Minister Vishvendra Singh exercised hisfranchise in Bharatpur andMinister of State for Technical Education Subhash Gargin Bharatpur. The Leader ofthe Opposition in the StateAssembly, Gulab Chand Kataria, cast his vote in Udaipur.

(With inputs from PTI)

Rajasthan urban local bodypolls peaceful, 72% turnout Stray incidents of violence reported from Bharatpur, Banswara, Bhiwadi, Beawar


JAIPUR

Physically challenged persons show their voter ID cards at apolling station in Pushkar on Saturday. * PTI

Uttar Pradesh Chief MinisterYogi Adityanath on Saturdayasked for an inquiry reporton a purported audio clip inwhich State Minister SwatiSingh allegedly threatened apolice offi��cer here.

“A report in this connection has been sought fromthe SSP, Lucknow, and willbe submitted to the Chief Minister at the earliest,” StateDGP O.P. Singh said.

In the audio clip that surfaced on social media, theMinister can be heard questioning Lucknow Cantt. Cir

cle Offi��cer Binu Singh aboutan FIR fi��led against Ansal Developers and expressing displeasure over it.

Zero tolerance?The Opposition parties, including the Samajwadi Partyand the Congress, have attacked the Adityanath government over the clip,questioning its claim of zerotolerance on corruption.

In the audio clip, Ms.Singh can be heard tellingthe CO that a ‘fake case’ hadbeen fi��led and that therewere orders from the ‘higherups’ that no case will be

registered against the Ansals. She is also apparentlysaying that the case in question is a highprofi��le one andthat the Chief Minister isaware of it. She is heard asking the CO to ‘sit with her’and resolve the matter if shewanted to continue working.

The Samajwadi Party, in atweet, said: “The matter ishigh profi��le and is under thecognizance of the Chief Minister. What inquiry will youdo? ‘Come and sit down’ isthis the zero tolerance forcorruption which the ChiefMinister is not tired of speaking about? Shame!.”

Opposition parties attack Adityanath govt. over audio clip

Press Trust of India

Lucknow

U.P. CM seeks report on Ministerthreatening police offi��cer

Stranded truck drivers cooking meals along the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway, which remained closed due to landslides, inRamban on Saturday. * PTI



Food on the go

The All India Muslim Personal Law Board on Saturday held a brainstormingsession here with diff��erent Muslim parties overthe Supreme Court verdict in the Ayodhya case,ahead of a crucial meetingto decide whether to gofor a review of the topcourt’s judgment.

The parties metAIMPLB general secretaryMaulana Wali Rahmaniand apprised him of theAyodhya issue, said Boardsecretary Zafaryab Jilani.

They said that the Supreme Court decision is“not understandable”and so there is a need togo for a review, Mr. Jilanisaid.

AIMPLB meetsMuslim parties


Lucknow

Three persons were killedand as many injured afterthe boiler of a plant exploded in Bihar’s EastChamparan district on Saturday, police said.

The incident took placewhen the boiler of theplant of an NGO at BangraNagar panchayat area exploded while workers werepreparing midday meal tobe supplied to schools, Sugauli Police Station SHORohit Kumar said.

Sugauli Circle Offi��cerGyan Prakash said the NGOwas engaged in supplyingmidday meal in government schools, after preparing the food at its centralised plant. The injuredhave been admitted to thelocal primary healthcentre, Mr. Prakash said,adding one of them was later referred to Patna Medical College and Hospital.

Three killed as

boiler explodes

in Bihar


Motihari (Bihar)

The Janata Dal (United) onSaturday announced its second list of 12 candidates including the party’s Jharkhand unit president SalkhanMurmu and a son of formerCongress leader BagunSumbarui.

Mr. Murmu has been fi��elded from Majhgaon (ST) whileVimal Kumar Sumbarui hasbeen nominated from Chaibasa (ST). Mr. Sumbarui is ason of former Bihar Ministerand Congress leader Bagun

Sumbarui, who died lastyear.

The senior Sumbarui hadalso been a member of theLok Sabha between 1977 and1989 and 2004 and 2009. Herepresented the LowerHouse from Singhbhum (ST).

The other 10 candidates ofthe JD(U) are new faces.

The JD(U) headed by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, which is contesting theAssembly elections on itsown, has so far announcedcandidates for 25 of the total81 seats.

JD(U) names 12 more candidates


Ranchi

After its NDA ally, the AllJharkhand Students’ Unionor the AJSU Party announced its candidateagainst BJP Minister AmarKumar Bauri from Chandankiyari, the BJP on Saturdayhit back with its nominee ona seat from where the AJSUParty Minister is in the fray.

Fourth listIn its fourth list of three candidates announced on Saturday, a copy of which was released to the media, the BJPnominated Mochiram Baurifrom Jugsalai (SC) seatagainst AJSU leader RamChandra Sahis, who is theWater Resources Minister inthe State.

The other two names ofthe BJP in the fourth list areSudhir Sundi ( JaganthapurST) and Reeta Devi Munda(TamarST), taking the party’s total contestants to 72for the fi��vephase polls tothe 81member JharkhandAssembly.

The AJSU Party, headedby Sudesh Mahto, has already announced 19 candidates, 15 of whom will beclashing with the BJP contestants along with others.

The 15 constituencieswhere the AJSU and the BJPcandidates will be pittedagainst each other alongwith rest of the nominees include Chandankiyari, whereMr. Mahto’s party has fi��elded former Minister UmaKant Razzak against Mr.Bauri.

The elections are scheduled between November30 and December 20 inJharkhand and counting will

take place on December 23.Ruling NDA allies — BJP

and AJSU Party — who havebeen part of all the governments of the coalition inJharkhand since it wascarved out of Bihar in 2000have not achieved seatshar

ing agreement so far despiteseveral rounds of talks between the leaders of the twoparties at diff��erent levels.

The BJP has named 72candidates so far and onlynine seats are left out of thetotal 81 Assembly segments.

BJP, AJSU candidates pittedagainst each other in Jharkhand Of the 19 AJSU Party picks, 15 will be clashing with BJP leaders

AJSU Party chief Sudesh Mahto with former Ranchi Congresspresident Pradeep Balmuchuu in Ranchi. * FILE PHOTO


RanchiFarmers, demanding better compensation for theirland acquired for a residential project here,clashed with the police onSaturday when government offi��cials visited thesite to clearencroachment.

Several injuredSeveral farmers were injured as police lathicharged the protesters,used tear gas and watercannons. Many policemen, including the Additional SP, were also injuredas the protesters threwstones at them, DistrictMagistrate Devendra Kumar Pandey said.

The farmers are demanding better compensation for their land acquiredfor the TransGanga Cityproject, an upcomingtownship near Kanpur.

Mr. Pandey, however,said the farmers have beenadequately compensated.

“There is a faction of antisocial elements who aremisleading the farmersand others for their selfi��shmotives, despite the factthat their grievances havealready been resolved,” hesaid.

Two arrestedThose who threw stonesare mostly antisocial elements, Mr. Pandey said,adding that two peoplehave been arrested in connection with the incident.

Local BJP MLA PankajGupta, who went to thespot on coming to know ofthe clash, asked offi��cials toresolve the matter.

Farmersclash withU.P. policePress Trust of India

Unnao (U.P.)

CMYK

A ND-NDE

DELHI THE HINDU


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Doctor 28/165 cm Hindu Nadar,Kadagam, Poosam, MBBS (MMC,Chennai), Now MD II Year (Anaesthe-sia) KMC Manipal. Ct: 99420 85205

Mudaliar, 32 Years, MSc., Microbiolo-gy, Sadayam, Father Doctor, Contact:044-48600640

ALIENCE INVITED for a Girl of 30Years Lawyer Looking for an AryaVyshya Groom 31−33 Years Well Edu-cated Strictly Above Middle−ClassVegetarian Family. Contact(9441274711)

ALLIANCE FOR young businesswomenM.S, [UK] based in Chennai, 27,5.4 ht, fair, Beautiful, cleanhabits. Inter−caste, F−SC[AD] M−Vellalar, Family worth − 100 Cr.Suitable alliance age below 31with clean habits preferred. IAS,IPS, IRS, IIT, IAM, CA preferred.Caste no bar. Email: [email protected]/ 98410 67393.

I.R.S OFFICER 30/163 Hindu MudaliarAsst. Commr (Customs & CE) Chennai1Lpm seeks similar Employed Groom.CNB.9840136141/[email protected]

PARENTS OF Hindu Ganiga GirlMBBS, MS (Bharani 29/158), seeks al-liance from Professionally qlfd & wellsettled groom. Ct: 9845216199

CHENNAI SETTLED 23/165 MakayiramB.E SW Engineer F−Thiyya M−Nair,Parents Govt. employed. Ct:9444219914 after 6.30pm/[email protected]

VISWAKARMA MOOLAM 26/160cm FairBDS, Working, Good family, CNB .Seeks Suitable Groom. Ct:9840513502

US CITIZEN Nair girl 45 PooyamAsst.Professor Chicago, seeks alliancefrom US settled boys caste, languagenobar. Ct: 9895824803.

EZHAVA,30, ASWATHY Nakshatra,MBA,Settled Palakkad−Kerala,wrking inBangalore,Look’n Malayali Groomwrking/settled at Bangalore.8547519633

ODIYA 36 fair slim girl,M.A.English M.A.MassComm MBA,Senior Ed-itor in an MNC,from a reputedOdiya family,looking for a well ed-ucated and established boy prefer-ably settled in Blr. Ct:9741027755

B’FUL FAIR, 31/151 graduate NIFTB’lre, with hospitality degreefrom aust. working as a chef.09443143470 [email protected]

CHRISTIAN RC 25/ 155 Convent edu-cated PG MNC Chennai fair beauti-ful seeks educated well settledgroom in Chennai below 27yrs. Ct:9840345969

CSI NADAR 38/160 Fair Ph.D SETAsst.Professor Chennai seek un-maried groom [email protected]

Nadar CSI very well to do Industrialistin Chennai looking for a Bride Groom;well educated very well to do for theirdaughter, 29 years MBA,fair, beautiful,God fearing.Send your Bio data to95000 27027

RC Christian 29/162 BE workg Corpa-te Co RC/CSI Engr Graduate Emplydsettled @Ch caste no bar.9884825317

DOCTOR MD Pentecost AD 165/26fair, Central Govt seeks professionalGroom 9444815821, 09449500580

US BASED Christian Girl MS, MBA5’7" 1985 Born Banking Profession-al from well known Chennai basedaffluent family seeks US /Canada /UK based well settled grooms. Mail: [email protected] or Call /Whatsapp− 9444084152

WANTED BRIDEGROOM for R.C Na-dar Doctor (D.M.R.D., D.N.B.) 35, di-vorcee with 8 year old child. Caste nobar. Contact: 83003 12792.

SC/AD 31/165 B.Tech. MBA seekssuitable Christian Parents Rtd,well Settled. Ct: 9840097224 /9952011937

ANY CHRISTIAN −Nadar Girl Fair.32,B.tech, M.B.A 12 Lac PA//Chennai.BLR Groom .Rajan Nadar −9629576767

CHRISTIAN /CSI/ 33/ 160cm/ Fair/M.Sc/Lecturer/Widow /Seeks Groom inChennai/Good Qualification/9600011412

CSI CHRISTIAN Nadar Girl Fair,Good Looking, 03−04−1986 born /152cm / M.Sc M.Phil , working asAssistant Professor in a ReputedWomen’s College, Mount Road, Chen-nai. Both Parents Doctors (Private), Suitable Alliance, Employed /Settled in Chennai / With CleanHabits from Same Community. Con-tact: 9841182514

CHRISTIAN NADAR Educated CulturedAffluent Parents Well Settled inChennai solicit Alliance for Daugh-ter Pious Intelligent with Merito-rious Career 29/165 M.E. EngineerISRO Trivandrum from QualifiedWell Placed Engineer ChristianNadar Groom by Parents Alone. Con-tact 9840718865

CHRISTIAN RC, DKV, 32, B.E., MBA,Govt Bank Officer 40k Seeks Suit-able Groom. Caste no Bar.Ct:9884467912

CSI PROTESTENT 25/165/ BE/ MNC60000/ Chennai/ Very fair/ Slim,seeks well qualified boy. Ct:6379397599

BORNAGAIN CSI Christian Never Mar-ried 49, P.G, Dip.N&D, Seek Groom.mail: [email protected] /9486947792

1986 born rich and affluent Iyer girl,US Educated employed in MicrosoftMinneapolis seeks suitable Iyer/ Iyen-gar. with similar background, agedifference 1 to 2 years only. Othersexcuse. Contact: 94430 [email protected]

CHARTERED ACCOUNTANT working as Fi-nancial Manager in Chennai/ 25yrs/Vellore Mudaliar/ 161cm/Miru-gashirisham/Mithuna Rasi. SeeksProfessionals below 30 yrs fromSame Community/ Subsection no bar.Ct: 9500075415

HINDU SAIVAPILLAI Age 27 BE 157cmFair Employed Chennai MNC Seekinggroom from decent PureVeg Employed-Chennai Resident. Age within [email protected] 7358374699

33 /158CM Divorcee Veg Hindu Ra-jput Hastam MBA Self Emp No IssuesSeeks Well Emp Groom CNBCt:9443521762

HINDU SC-AD 32/157 Barani,MeshamBE,Sr.SWE,Tcs,85000/pm seek SameCaste Educated Groom. 99521 47216

Kettai Viruchigam 31/160 M.D.SiddaDivorcee F-SC Adidravidar M-Brahminseeks Groom below 35. 9176141189

SAIVA VELALA Pillai Vegeterian 38/162 BE Divorcee seeks Any DegreeWell Employed Groom below 43yrsContact: 94444 73129 /044- 25507181Email: [email protected]

HINDU /VAITHIYAR /MaruthuvarAnusham 29yr 160cm Fair CA MNCRs.13 LPA CNB Contact: 7358225830

HINDU SC(AD) Girl 32, 5Ft B.Com,MBA. Middle Class. Problem inConceiving Child. Broad Minded/Pro-gressive Thinking Bridegroom. Ct:9003207421

HINDU NADAR, Educated Affluentfamily, Chithirai 25/153, Fair, BE(SSN) Software Engineering, TuticorinDistrict, Drives Car.Ct:9442279995

SC/AD HINDU/ MSC, D/B/1983 158cmVisaham, Dhulam Seek Suitable qual-ified employed 9444866276,9445755194

MUDALIAR 26, BE, divorcee fromwell settled family seeks wellqualified, rich divorcee groom up-to 33 yrs from any BC. Send BHP to9344332934

YADHAVA 25 GraphicDesigner knownfmly Ch.seeks wellqualified Yadha-va Groom India/AbroadGeetham9884858014

VANNIAR AVITTAM 25/160 MS,Working in USA, Seeks Equally Quali-fied groom below 29yrs. Caste No Bar.Cont: 9442344779

CHENNAI GIRL−TEACHER Msc,B.EdM.Phil, Yadava(Caste NoBar),16.12.82, Dhanusu,Moolam, 3rdPadam 9080988170

MUDALIAR 24 BE Rich Chennai SeeksEr/Dr/CA/Busi Affl Fmly Groom Chen-nai Geetham9884858014

Hindu Nadar 34, accomplished, goodfamily seeks same caste clean habitswell settled Groom. Contact:7598344708

MUDALIAR, 27YRS BE, MBA 164cm em-ployed in MNC Bank seeks Profes-sionally Qualified Groom India/Abroad.subsect nobar Ct.9444901994, 9444906157

SAIVA PILLAI (Kaar Kaarthar), 29/165cm, M.Sc Computerscience, Divorcee,earn Rs.50,000 p.m from fixed assetsseeks suitable Groom with clean hab-its. Contact: 9659808418

HINDU SC 28 Degree : BBA− Working.Wanted Rahu−Kedhu Groom.Chennai On-ly. Ct: 6369770853

HINDU Adidravidar (Kongu Parayar)28, BE, M.Tech, Ph.D, Seeks eductdprfnl groom. 7598988370, 8973345370

AGAMUDAYAR (RAJAKULA), 23/158cm, Uthiratathi-2, Meenam, CAfrom Madurai seeks CA/ Teacher/Proffessors/ Govt. Service Grooms be-low 30yrs. Ct: 9443148392

HINDU DKV, 24/163 cm, B.E., Swathi-Thulam, Madurai seeks Professional/Employed Groom.Ct: 9445109281

Hindu 32/152 B.E, M.S, Upper MiddleClass, Divorcee, Seeks suitable groomIndia / Abroad. Caste No Bar. Contact: 94896 95984.

THEVAR AGAMUDAIYAR, 28yrs /165cms, B.E - CSE, Anusham, Viru-chigam seeks suitable Groom. Whats-app: 94893 78378

WANTED A suitable Groom working/settled in Chennai, for a Girl of25years, Wheatish Complexioned &Height 165cm, Working. Ct:9150585554

Mudaliar Ag, Revathi 06.05.86/ACS,M.Com/CA.Final,WorkingCh,SubCaOk9940354248/ [email protected]

HINDU SC PR Kongu 1984 MBBSDCH Govt Doctor,working Govt Hospi-tal seeks suitable Groom. 9443680973

VANNIAR, 35 B.E, M.Tech, SWE seeksa suitable good family groom.9003110229 / 9789992524

HINDU NADAR Poosam Kadagam 22/153, Fair, B.Tech seeks Well EducatedEmployd/BusinessGroom.9840942228

HINDU MARAVER 27 B.com 15,000 Thu-lam Chithirai,Seeks SuitableGroom. 8104659140 / 9841274275 /9443507834

THEVAR 22/167 BA B.Ed HasthamWheatish seeks well educated empldgroom. caste Religion no bar.9941301230

HINDU NADAR B.E / 155cm/ Age 29/HR / 55,000 − 60,000 P/m / K.A.Raman Nadar what’s App 9380791999

NAIDU 34 Pooradam divorcee gradua-te unemployed seek alliance cell:9751915023 email:[email protected]

YADAV BRIDE 39 B.Sc Smart Kilpaukchennai, 1st marriage seeking suit-ble groom. 7338964190

HINDU NADAR MBBS, MD (2nd year)27yrs/170cm Pooram, Chennai seeksMedical/Non medical Professionalfrom same community Ct:9003071949

HINDU NADAR 38years Bride ME Assis-tant Professor Engg College SeeksSuitable Groom Same Caste9380281840

WANTED VANNIYAR Boy; Well educat-ed, Handsome & Caring. 27−29Yrs.Please send your details:9715206071(WA)

HINDU SC AD 35/169 M.Com, MPhil,NET MBA,Asst Prof seeks pref.Engr/govt/pvt employee with PG samecaste/ST Groom.9710318832/044-26341902

Pillai Ayilyam 30/162 ME,divorcee,NoIssue,Asst.Professor,Engg College, Chseek wellQualified,Divorcee/UnmarriedGroom.Caste No Bar. Ct: 9444342166

HINDU NADAR 29/154 BE,MBA, Sr.Consultant/ SWE/ Bengalore,Pooram, 16L/PA Seeks SuitableGroom. 9442126376

HINDU SC AD, V Fair star: Uthradam−Part 1,Rasi: Dhanusu 27 Years, BE(CS) 50K pm MNC Chennai Well edu-cated, rich family. Seeks well edu-cated affluent groom below 32years earning above 10 LPA ph9176723648

VANNIYAR GIRL 27/153 BE SWE MNC/B’lore Thiruvonam, sks good familygroom Chennai / B’lore. 9445284099.

BALIJA NAIDU Visagam 25/170 PGFrance Emp Chennai Good LookingSeeks Suitable Groom Contact:9176430985

MUDALIAR 33/164/B.E/ Divorcee(with in a Month) seeks suitableProfesnlyqualified groom.Caste nobar. 9600050102 / [email protected]

Hindu Mudaliar 27/155 Kettai B.Tech,working MNC seeks wellsettled groomProfessional Govt/Pvt Sector,CasteNo-Bar.Contact:9940009576/ 9551913101(whatsapp)/ [email protected]

HINDU NADAR 40/153cm, Ph.D,PDF, working in Pvt University in TN,seeks Groom vegetarian, Teatotaller,Ph.D Teaching / Research, MedicalDoctor. Ct: [email protected]

HINDU PILLAI BBM (IB)-MBA 24 Yrs/160 cm. Pooram-Simam. Well Settled -Having our own industry and businessin Coimbatore. Expecting well educa-ted and handsome groom. Interestedin CA Grooms. Caste No Bar. Contact:[email protected]

SENGUNDA MUDALIAR, 26/168, B.Ful,B.E, Design Engg, MNC, 30000PM,Well to do, 8056091059, 044−43483333

SAIVA PILLAI, 25/167, B.Tech, SWE,CTS, 40000PM, Well to do, Seeksany profnl,8056272922, 044−43483333

CHETTIAR, 24/158, Fair, B.E, MBA,ISRO, 30000PM, Well Settled, Seeksany prof, 9677086774, 044−43483333

ADIDRAVIDAR, 25/152, Fair, B.E,SWE, HCL, 45000PM, Well to do,Seeks any prof, 044−43483333,8056174102

GRAMANI,27, MBA,AFFLUENT family islooking for Groom from equal back-ground CNB Broker Exc 9499027719

HINDU NADAR(Tamil settled in Kera-la), Issueless Divorcee 38/160, BE/MBA, working in USA, seeks suitableHindu (CNB) groom from USA. 9500143185 / [email protected]

IYER VADAMA Koushika Anusham1994,B.Com ,CA,MNC Chennai seekswell qualified IYER Groom.Ct:9444121558

TAMIL BRAHMIN 27 BCom MBA (US)employed HSBC Qatar & 27 BCom CA(UK) employed KPMG Qatar, Twinsseeking Abroad employed Groom only.Ct:8137815505, 0097466343519 (WA)

Andhra NRI B.Tech, SWE, H1B Visa33/165 slim fair Kamma Naidu, needequivalent Groom, Caste No bar.Call:8008913979,Mail : [email protected]

SC/ Adidravidar 25/152 MBBS doingMD Bharani 12Chevvai seeks only Ta-milNadu suitable groom. 9344609846.

HINDU SC Maadhiga 28/163 B.Tech(IT)seeks Groom Govt/Reputd SW Co.Send Full Details.Contact:7397314810Mail:[email protected]

GAVARA NAIDU, 27/170, Kettai, FairGood Looking, MBBS, 2nd yr MS(GS). Seeks PG Medical Clinical stu-dying / professional Grooms. Ct :94875 12709 / 94425 02709

NAIDU 300 Cr, 26yrs, B.E, FatherIndustrialist, Elite Family, Onlydaughter − 7305810258

Balija Naidu Kettai 29 M.Tech, SWE,MNC,Chen seeks suitable Groom, Subsect NoBar. 9444835593 /9498020187

BALIJA NAIDU, January 1976, Miru-gasirisham, Midunam MCA, CTS Chen-nai First Marriage, any NaiduGroom. Ct: 9444823815, [email protected]

SATHATHA SRIVAISHNAVA TeluguSpeaking 29/152 ME Good looking do-mestically trained seeks suitablegroom subcaste nobar ct: 9442833261

GAVARA/BALIJA 28/160− BDS, MPH, do-ing Ph.D at Canada − Kirthigai, Me-sham seeks any Professional Groom− Ct:9380542399/9381006406

Intercaste Parents Hindu,Telugu,F-SC,M-Brahmin, 26/163, ME, WorkingAsst. Prof. Pvt. Engg College,Chennaiseeks Educated Employed GroomCaste/Language NoBar. 9380969751

KAMMA NAIDU 29/168 MDS Periodon-tics Divorcee Maham seeks suitablegroom from same caste. Ct:9940253521

REDDY GRADUATE 1984 born Avitamfair Bank employee (Dy.Manager) on-ly child with city property seekssuitable groom. 044−26152470/9003139460

KAMMA NAIDU, 24/168, Beautiful,B.E, SWE, AMAZON, 35000PM, Well todo family, 8056174102, 044−43483333

BALIJA NAIDU, 25/165, Fair, B.Tech, MBA, Sr.SWE, ACCENTURE,40000PM ,Well to do, 9677086774,044−43483333

REDDY, 24/170, Fair, B.E, MS, AMA-ZON, 85000$PA, Well Settled, Seeksany profl, 044−43483333, 8056174102

NAIDU,PG DOCTOR,29,AFFLUENT family,looking for equal Groom Teluguspeaking pref Broker Excuse9499027719

SMU 30 /BDS Slim Emp.Well settled3yr Son Khula seek, BDS/BE ChennaiGroom Watsapp 9841388975,9841384247

SMU/35/ M.SC Religious Family Home-ly Girl (Mutually Seprated) No Is-sue Seeks Religious ProfessionallyQualified & Well Settled Groom.(Dargha Visitors Please Excuse).Call; 98841 16604/ 99623 03929

✔ SMU SYED parents seeks suitableprofessional well settled groomwith good family values preferablysettled in abroad for theiryounger daughter 24/160, born &studied in middle east, B.E, work-ing in Bengaluru MNC. Contact9790024655/[email protected]

CHRISTIAN SC Maadhiga 42/167 Unmar-ried − Chennai, Seeking suitablegroom Ph: 09390845532

MUSLIM PG Doctor, MBBS DNB, 28fair, slim, Pious, good looking Educa-ted family, Senior Resident Doctor,Short Period KHULA. seeks Un Mar-ried Groom, Medical /Dental/ Class IOfficer. Tamil / Urdu, Ct:94435 68046

LOOKING FOR Bridegroom who isworking in US, for my daughter - 35 Y,Sunni Muslim. Send your photo toWhatsapp 9494210887.

KSHATRIYA HINDI 34/172 BCA SWBusiness 2L pm Handsome Wellsetttled in Pondy,Father Doctor, Statusfamily, seeks educated Preferably doc-tor bride in Pondy/Chennai. Caste/Lan-guage no bar. WhatsApp: 9629012248

EDUCATED LOVABLE fair girl busi-ness family for MS (Engg) 27 /5.6Executive 9444444884

RETD MIL Officer, N Indian 58,176seeks suitable person. Age, Caste,Religion no bar. Pension 10 Lac PA.Contact : 9591090253.

BTECH 37/6’/BRAHMIN, sr financialservices professional, ex−Army fm-ly, seeks an alliance with unmar-ried, well educated, career−orient-ed, cosmopolitan lady, 29 to 34,to settle in Sydney. Send bio withpic WhatsApp +61430009723 E:[email protected].

ALLIANCE INVITED for Viswakarma(GS) handsome boy, 31/172, Poorurut-tathi, fair, working in UK as Doctor,from good looking professionally quali-fied girls with good family background.Caste no bar. NRI preferred. Contact:8943432057

NAIR BOY 29 yrs, Atham, B.Tech.,Engineer Merchant Navy, applied forPR to Canada, seeks well educatedbride. 9446432025

IYENGAR TAMIL Divorcee Groom,Haritham, Avitam, Kumbam, 45/173,Sr. Mgr IT MNC Bangalore, DaughterStays Away, Seeks Issueless VegBride 9738003276

SM4 HINDU Pb Khatri I’less div1984/5’11 wkg Finance Manager onPR Canada 80,000 PA. Parents Delhiwhatsapp 9982236639

IYER DIVORCEE Boy, Vadoolam, Thiru-vonam, 45/168, Director IT MNCSeeks Iyer Graduated DivorceeBride without Issues. 9841942915.

Medical or Non Medical Bride for 28years old Nanchil Vellalar Doctor, do-ing PG in Pulmonology at Delhi. FatherOrthopaedic surgeon at Nagercoil, aff-luent with high family values. Bridesfrom Vellalar or similar caste can applyemail:[email protected]/ 9443131342

ASHTASAHASTAM, KOUSIGA, swatji,28,5.4 MNC, Chennai, seeks suit-able bride. Ph. 9790464640

VELLALAR, 29, Anusham, Engineer inPSU Hyderabad, seeks bride profes-sionally qualified/employed fromgood family. 9447051557 /[email protected].

SEEKING HEALTHY, intelligent, com-passionate and caring single women/Ex. Convent/ Widows. Around 60years without encumbrance for a seni-or citizen, Professional planter, ke-eping sound health, clean habits. Wellsettled RC Widower Kerala.6282428237 after 9 pm. Email: [email protected]

VISWAKARMA Maham 27/154 PhdResearch Asst Newyork USA, seeksworking USA or Indian Doctors, IIT wil-ling to relocate USA. Ct:7200771188.

UNMARRIED LAWYER 44/180 LL.B, MBAKerala stld. (F−Ezhava , M−Nair)Excellent back ground. [email protected]

NAIR BOY 36/179 Bharani, Audiolo-gist & Speech Pathologist, PG, wellsettled, seeks alliance from well edu-cated brides. 9745145156

RICH VISWAKARMA lawyer. 53. ker-ala. divorced. seeks bride.6238878578. [email protected]

Never married, 45yrs, Hindu, Malaya-li, Ezhuttachhan, graduate, teetotallerworking in Pvt. Co. at Ahmedabad,own house, father (late) retd. fromPSU, mother home maker, sister mar-ried, looking for an educated Hindu bri-de, Phone. 079-27435943, Email id :[email protected]

PROPOSAL INVITED for RomanCatholic AngloIndian Simple gentle-man−Groom−39/5’10, Govt employedin Qatar seeking immediate mar-riage from Simple RC Graduatebrides willing to relocate. Plscontact−+974−55577065.

CSI−NADAR / 29yrs/176cm/BE/ Busi-ness/ Wheatish/ Rich/Seeks Bride/Age 21−28/ Nadar / Fair / Not Wrkg, Southside only / Ct: 7401095056.

RC GROOM 34yrs Bank Manager− Chen-nai, Divorcee seeks any Chennai em-ployed girl. Ct:7550105368/8681871171

TAMIL MUSLIM Divorcee 33/175 Hand-some Engineer 14 Lacs per yearChennai Well−Settled Well−Educatedfamily seeks professionally quali-fied unmarried/divorced withoutchild.WhatsApp 7550260032 [email protected]

MUSLIM TAMIL 37 Innocent DivorceeAsst.Professor Working Abroad seekspreferedUnmarried Bride.9840808469

TAMIL MUSLIM MS Engineer 41 em-ployed, educated family seeks al-liance from beautiful engineergirls watsup biodata and photo to9842151247

HINDU DKV Pallan, M.E. Branch Man-ager Nationalised Bank 37 / 167cm/ seeks employed / teaching (PG) /Gov’t Servant. Ct: 9965211259

VADAKALAI BOY Nov 1982 Srivatsaminnocent divorcee M.S working inU.S seeks alliance from Brahmins.Mobile:9791069460

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0DISCLAIMER: Readers are requested toverify and make appropriate enquiries tosatisfy themselves about the veracity ofan advertisement before responding toany published in this newspaper. THGPUBLISHING PVT LTD., the Publisher &Owner of this newspaper, does not vouchfor the authenticity of any advertisementor advertiser or for any of the advertiser’sproducts and/or services. In no event canthe Owner, Publisher, Printer, Editor, Dir-ector/s, Employees of this newspaper/company be held responsible/liable inany manner whatsoever for any claimsand/or damages for advertisements inthis newspaper.

Veteran CPI(M) leader AsimDasgupta, who served asWest Bengal’s Finance Minister for nearly quarter of acentury, has said that theCentre should work togetherwith the States in combatingthe economic slowdown.

“The current economicslowdown has resulted fromthe fall in the purchasingpower of the common people,” said Mr. Dasgupta, whoserved as the State’s FinanceMinister from 1987 to 2011.

“What the governmentneeds to work on is improving the demand and not supply. The measures taken byit in the recent times, suchas announcing a corporatetax relief of ₹��1.45 lakh crore,are aimed at improving supply. How will more supplyhelp when there is no demand?” he said.

Mr. Dasgupta, who wasinstrumental in initiatingland reforms in Bengal, suggested a series of measuresthe Centre could undertaketo increase demand. One of

current ₹��9,900 crore); a 10%hike on the food subsidy of₹��1.7 lakh crore; pumping inanother ₹��40,000 crore toMNREGA (current budget₹��60,000 crore), and spending ₹��15,000 crore on anMNREGAtype programmefor the urban population.

“These measures, if youdo the maths, will cost about₹��1 lakh crore. Where will thismoney come from? It cancome from the ₹��1.45 lakhcrore that has been set asideas corporate tax relief,” Mr.Dasgupta said.

them is land reforms (fi��xinga ceiling on the amount ofland that can be held by anindividual and distributingthe excess land to the landless) because smaller lands,according to him, are betterutilised. He also called for ahike in the fair price chargedby farmers.

Irrigation sectorAmong the things that areimmediately “doable”, hesaid, is an allocation of anadditional ₹��10,000 crore tothe irrigation sector (to the

‘How will supply help when there is no demand?’

Former Bengal Finance Minister suggests measures for combating slowdown

Bishwanath Ghosh

Kolkata

The new State Coordinatorfor the exercise to updatethe National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam has

gone on leave a week afterhis appointment.

Hitesh Dev Sarma, whowas appointed on November 9 as the replacement forPrateek Hajela, went on a

monitoring the NRC exercise since Prateek Hajela, anIAS offi��cer of the AssamMeghalaya cadre, was appointed its Coordinator inOctober 2013.

month’s leave from Friday,two days before the retirement of Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi.

The Supreme Court under Mr Gogoi has been

New Assam NRC Coordinator goes on leaveSPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

GUWAHATI

Arunachal Pradesh ChiefMinister Pema Khandu onSaturday said the State government will hold a Cabinet meeting on November18 to discuss the controversial Citizenship(Amendment) Bill (CAB),which is likely to be tabledin the Winter Session ofParliament.

Mr. Khandu, participating in the National PressDay celebrations here,said the special Cabinetmeeting will deliberate onthe recommendations ofthe Consultative Committee on CAB set up by theState government.

“The committee hadconvened a number ofmeetings with politicalparties, students’ bodiesand communitybased organisations to seek theiropinion on CAB, and prepare a comprehensive report on the issue. The report has been fi��nalised,which will be discussed inthe Cabinet meeting, andthe stand of the government will be communicated to the Centre,” he said.

Mr. Khandu said theArunachal Pradesh government will never workagainst the interests of theindigenous people of theState, and ensure thattheir rights are protected.

“The Centre has madeits stand clear on the Billthat it will not aff��ect thetribal States,” he said.

ArunachalCabinet meeton Monday todiscuss CAB

press trust of india

Namsai (Arunachal Pradesh)

CMYK

A ND-NDE


DELHI THE HINDU


SOUTH

The Left Democratic Front(LDF) government’s stancethat it is under no legal obligation to escort women ofmenstruating age to Sabarimala appears to haveopened a rift in the Keralasponsored Navodhana Samrakshana Samiti (Renaissance Protection Committee).

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan formed the Samiti inthe runup to the 2019 LokSabha election, purportedlyto counter what the government perceived as a dangerous rightwing drift in society.

Samiti general secretaryand Kerala Pulayar MahaSabha (KPMS) presidentPunnala Sreekumar tookstrong exception to the government’s “modifi��ed” position.

The Supreme Court, hesaid, had not set aside itsSeptember 28, 2018, verdictupholding the right of women of all age groups to worship at the Ayyappa temple.By backing off�� from its legalobligations, the LDF government had handed its critics avictory, he said.

Mr. Sreekumar said theV.S. Achuthanandan government in 2007 and later thePinarayi Vijayan governmentin 2016 had fi��led affi��davits inthe Supreme Court statingthat age or gender should beno bar for women to worshipat Sabarimala.

The government’schanged position gravely undermines the renaissanceideal of gender equality thatled to the formation of theSamiti against the backdrop

of the mustering of reactionary forces to thwart the government’s implementationof the court’s decision, hesaid.

In stark contrast, Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana(SNDP) Yogam general secretary and Samiti chairman

Vellappally Natesan backedthe government’s latest view.Mr. Natesan interpreted theSupreme Court’s latest ruling to refer a slew of legalquestions regarding the caseto a sevenmember constitutional Bench as a “stay” onthe 2018 order.

Devaswom Board MinisterKadakampally Surendranstated on Thursday that itwas not contingent on theadministration to allow women activists at Sabarimalaunless they arrived with awarrant from the SupremeCourt for State assistance.

Kerala’s renaissance panel splitover changed Sabarimala policyWhile PulayarMaha Sabha slamsgovernment,SNDP supports itSpecial Correspondent

Thiruvananthapuram

The big moment: Devotees in the queue with their off��erings, waiting to worship Lord Ayyappaat Sabarimala on Saturday. * H. VIBHU

The Kerala government’sdecision not to allow entryof women of menstruatingage into the Ayyappa templeat Sabarimala till theSupreme Court takes a fi��nalcall on a batch of reviewpetitions may have littlebearing on the thousands ofcases registered inconnection with the violentprotests that took placeacross the State during thelast pilgrim season.

During the period fromOctober 17, 2018, to January4, 2019, the Kerala police

registered 2,012 casesspread over multiplestations as violent mobsengaged in protests againstthe State government’sdecision to implement theSupreme Court verdict tothrow open the temple towomen of menstruatingage. “We will pursue allthose cases to their logicalconclusion,” a police offi��cersaid.

Altogether 67,094persons were arraigned asaccused, out of which thepolice identifi��ed 10,561accused.

Among the accused,

nearly 63% were BharatiyaJanata Party (BJP) activists,while the Sabarimala KarmaSamithi and the RashtriyaSwayamsevak Sangh andother right wingaffi��liatedorganisations accounted fornearly 14% each.

Notwithstanding theState government’s decisionto wait for the decision ofthe sevenmember Bench,the police remain scepticalof what lies in store for thecoming pilgrimage seasonas the verdict allowing theentry of women ofmenstrual age has nottechnically been stayed.

State police to pursue all casesbooked during protest last yearM.P. Praveen

KOCHI

The Bangalore Turf Club Managing Committee held ajoint inspection of the racetrack with senior jockeys,trainers and stewards on Saturday, a day after a horsefell down leading to vandalism by punters. The report isexpected on Monday.

The fact that the jockeyshad raised concerns aboutthe track not being in its bestcondition following a mockrace on November 9 hasnow turned into a controversy, with senior members accusing the committee of criminal neglect.

“When the jockeys hadfl��agged the issue, the managing committee should haverescheduled the race till theissue was satisfactorily fi��xed.Their negligence has led to ahorse being put to sleep andthe lives of jockeys being atrisk,” said a former govern

ment representative at theBTC.

A steward told The Hindu

that the recent spells of rainhad softened the track atcertain spots and the committee had instructed theteam maintaining the trackto fi��x it. “Probably, the teamhad not done a thoroughjob,” he said, adding that

heavy rain three days beforethe race probably aff��ectedthe track further. The jockeys, in their letter to the managing mommittee, soughtanother mock race after November 9 but it was notheld. “In hindsight, we musthave held that. We will takethis as a learning experience,” he said.

Members accuse managing committee of criminal neglect

Staff Reporter

BENGALURU

Cause for concern: A fi��le photo of the Bangalore Turf Club race course. On Friday, a horse fell, leading to vandalism.

Turf Club offi��cials inspecttrack with jockeys, trainers

Ten days after the allegedmurder of a fi��veyearold girlnear Madanapalle in AndhraPradesh, a special partyformed by Superintendentof Police S. Senthil Kumar onSaturday nabbed a 25yearold youth on the outskirts ofMadanapalle in connectionwith the case.

The body of the girl, whocame to attend a weddingwith her parents at Angalluvillage of Kurabalakota mandal on November 7, wasfound behind the functionhall the next morning.

With the help of CCTV

footage, a blurry image ofthe accused was released tothe media.

The police picked upabout half a dozen suspects,with features similar to theimage of the suspect.

When the police tried toreach one of the suspects,identifi��ed as Patan Mohammad Rafi�� alias Rafi�� alias Giddu, 25, he was foundmissing.

It was found that Rafi�� wasan accused in two criminalcases, which included an attempt to rape a fi��veyearoldgirl in 2009 and an attemptto molest a 12yearold girl.With suspicion growing

against Rafi��, the police intensifi��ed the probe against him.

A lorry cleaner by profession, Rafi�� reportedly escaped to a remote locationin Chhattisgarh on the pretext of carrying a tomatoload. The police took thehelp of the lorry owner inpersuading Rafi��, who waswary of returning, to cometo Madanapalle.

After he was convincedthat he would be safe fromthe police, Rafi�� arrived onthe outskirts of Madanapalleon Saturday, only to benabbed by the special policeparty. He reportedly confessed to killing the girl.

Staff Reporter

CHITTOOR

After 10 days, lorry cleaner held oncharge of killing 5yearold in A.P.

The A.P. police on Saturdayregistered a case against aCircle Inspector (Excise andProhibition) for allegedly assaulting a woman at the Vadamalapeta mandal headquarters on Thursday last.

According to information, CI (Puttur) Mohan wascautioning roadside shopsadjacent to a wine shop notto sell water and soda bottles. An argument ensuedbetween him and a womanshopkeeper. Soon, the incident took an ugly turn, leading to the CI allegedly assaulting the woman inpublic view.

The woman reportedlytook the matter to the noticeof Nagari MLA R.K. Roja,who informed Chittoor SPSenthil Kumar about it.Soon after, the police registered a case.

Police sources confi��rmedthe incident, saying a casehad been booked under Section 509 of the IPC (intending to insult the modesty ofa woman).

The episode turned into ahot topic among the policeand excise personnel inChittoor district.

Deputy Commissioner(Excise and Prohibition) Nagalakshmi told The Hindu

that the issue would belooked into by the Excise Superintendent of Tirupatiand the Nodal Deputy Commissioner in Kurnool.

Shopkeepers along theroadside in Vadamalapetaand Puttur alleged that onthe pretext of raids, Excisepersonnel routinely harassed them and forcedthem not to sell water andsoda bottles though theirshops were located at a distance from the wine shops.

Excise CI booked forassaulting womanArgument with shopkeeper turns ugly

Staff Reporter

CHITTOOR

Emergency procedure: In an attempt to set a world record, as many as 35,000 students were given training in CardiopulmonaryResuscitation (CPR) in Kochi on Saturday. * THULASI KAKKAT



Lessons for life

Chief Justice of Indiavisits Tirumala TIRUMALA

Chief Justice of India Ranjan

Gogoi arrived here on

Saturday as part of his two

day visit to the famous

shrine. He was accompanied

by wife Rupanjali Gogoi.

Justice Gogoi’s visit to the

temple town comes a day

ahead of his demitting office.

Justice Gogoi also offered

prayers at the temple of

goddess Padmavati. On his

arrival, TTD Additional

Executive Officer A.V.

Dharma Reddy accorded him

a warm reception.

IN BRIEF

Injured loco pilot dies of cardiac arrest HYDERABAD

Loco pilot L. Chandrasekhar,

36, who was rescued from the

mangled coach of the

MultiModal Transport

System train, which rammed

another train outside the

Kacheguda railway station in

Hyderabad on Monday, died

after he suffered cardiac

arrest and sepsis on Saturday.

His condition was critical right

from the point he was rushed

to CARE Hospitals. Doctors

said he had suffered multiple

injuries in the accident, which

left 17 passengers injured.

Two wild elephantscaptured in MandyaMANDYA

In an operation that lasted

nearly four hours, Forest

Department officials on

Saturday tranquillised and

captured two wild male

elephants near Kalenahalli in

Pandavapura taluk of

Karnataka’s Mandya district.

The pachyderms had been

raiding crops in the vicinity of

Kadaba and Kalenahalli

villages in Pandavapura as

well as some villages in K.R.

Pet taluk since three days,

said Forest Department

officials. Five trained

elephants from the Dubare

elephant camp were also

used in the operation.

Two days after striking Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC)workers expressed readiness for negotiations, thecorporation said even if theyresumed duties voluntarily,it would be diffi��cult to take adecision on their continuance.

In an affi��davit submittedto the Telangana HighCourt, TSRTC’s MD incharge Sunil Sharma statedthat the workers had destabilised the State with theirstrike for over 40 days andcreated problems for themselves. Asserting that goingon strike even on ‘fl��imsygrounds’ had become atrend with workers, the MDsaid statistics establishedthat TSRTC workers went onstrike more frequently thanemployees of any other corporation or those of the go

vernment. The corporation would

be sending wrong signals ifthe doors were opened toTSRTC employees to join attheir will and wish even after they had gone on strikeat their whims and fancies,Mr. Sharma submitted.“This will aff��ect overall discipline in the industry andalso provoke and incite employees in other sectors aswell,” he said.

Claiming that the strikewas being used as a tool forthe benefi��t of a few unionleaders, Mr. Sharma said thestir was not in the interest ofthe workers. “The unionsthrough their leaders andleaders of the rival politicalparties are threatening, intimidating and trying to terrorise the authority,” Mr.Sharma asserted. The strikehad created an atmosphereof general indiscipline andinsubordination, he added.

Striking RTC staff�� madedecision diffi��cult: MD‘Workers’ strike destabilised the State’


HYDERABAD

The sixth Joint MonitoringMission ( JMM 2019) of theUnion government and theWorld Health Organizationon the Revised National Tuberculosis Control Programme (RNTCP) has laudedKerala for being right ontrack to achieve TB elimination by 2025.

However, the last mile isthe toughest and as Keralamoves on to TB elimination,the State will now have to focus better on strengtheningits diagnostic services andthe training component sothat every case in the community is picked up. Hence,more molecular diagnosticservices (CBNAAT /Genexpert machines) are needed,the JMM team, which metthe Health Minister and the

Principal Secretary here onSaturday, suggests.

The last time a JMM visited Kerala was in 2002. Thesixth JMM, comprising 24members, is visiting Keralaas part of the midyear assessment of India’s National

Strategic Plan for TB Elimination, 201725.

“The seamless integrationof the RNTCP with the State’shealth system and the manner in which every healthworker is owning the programme is something that I

have not witnessed elsewhere,” Amy Piatek, Senior TBTechnical Adviser, US Agency for International Development (USAID), and JMMteam leader, told The Hindu.

“True commitment —from programme implementers as well as administration— is what we witnessed inKerala. There are challengesahead because the last casesare the hardest to fi��nd. Whatyou need to do is continue tolook at the data on hand critically and focus on epidemiology,” Ms. Piatek added.

The JMM team felt that theState has allowed its Intermediate Reference Laboratory (IRL) in the capital(where advanced tests aredone) to languish and thatvery little has been done toimprove the technical capacity or human resource.

Kerala on track to eliminate TB by 2025 It will now have to focus on strengthening diagnostic services, say monitors

C. Maya

Thiruvananthapuram

The upswing in the price offamed Guntur red chilli(Gunturu ‘sannalu’) hascome as a pleasant surpriseto the stakeholders.

‘Teja,’a special variety, isbeing sold for ₹��20,000 aquintal, even in the AugustDecember low season whenchillies are stored in about100 cold storages in adjoining villages. The high seasonis between February andMay, when the lanes of Asia’slargest market yard in the city are crammed with trucksand autorickshaws ladenwith chillies from all overAndhra Pradesh.

During the low season,the premium varietiesstacked in cold storagescommand a high price andthose who wait for longer pe

riods are rewarded. All premium varieties, including‘Teja,’ ‘334,’ and Badiga, nowcommand an average pricein excess of ₹��170 a kg.

Trade analysts feel thatthe soaring demand for Guntur chilli is due to a range of

factors, including a spurt indemand from China, Bangladesh, Thailand and Sri Lanka, who prefer it for its pungent character.

“After many years, Gunturchilli is getting a record remunerative price. During

20142018, the price was lowas there was excess production in other countries. Butthis time, they are unable tomeet the demand,’’ saidKothuri Sudhakar, anexporter.

A.P. on topThe soaring prices are attracting farmers from neighbouring districts and exporters too have been evincinginterest in buying chilli fromGuntur. The arrivals havebeen in the region of 65 lakhquintals till date in this season, compared to 60 lakhquintals in 201819.

India is among the world’sleading producers of chilli,along with China, Pakistanand Bangladesh. AndhraPradesh accounts for morethan 65 % of the productionin the country.

Market on a roll as chilli scales new heightsAnalysts attribute price rise in A.P. to spurt in demand from overseas buyers

Bumper harvest: Andhra Pradesh accounts for more than 65%of chilli production in the country.

P. Samuel Jonathan

GUNTUR

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THE HINDU DELHI


CMYK

NATION

Weather WatchRainfall, temperature & air quality in select metros yesterday

Temperature Data: IMD, Pollution Data: CPCB, Map: INSAT/IMD (Taken at 18.00 Hrs)

Forecast for Sunday: Moderate to dense fog likely in isolatedpockets over Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, east Arunachal Pradesh, south Assam and Meghalaya.

city rain max min city rain max min

Agartala................—....30.0....18.0 Kozhikode............... 16.6....33.0....25.0

Ahmedabad...........—....32.0....20.0 Kurnool .......................—....31.0....23.0

Aizawl...................—....26.0....14.0 Lucknow......................—....29.0....15.0

Allahabad..............—....31.0....14.0 Madurai .................... 0.5....33.0....25.0

Bengaluru .............—....27.0....20.0 Mangaluru ...................—....37.0....24.0

Bhopal ..................—....29.0....15.0 Mumbai .......................—....33.0....23.0

Bhubaneswar.........—....31.0....18.0 Mysuru ........................—....29.0....21.0

Chandigarh ...........—....26.0....15.0 New Delhi ...................—....29.0....15.0

Chennai ............. 1.0....32.0....25.0 Patna ..........................—....31.0....17.0

Coimbatore ...........—....32.0....23.0 Port Blair................ 10.6....31.0....25.0

Dehradun ..............—....28.0....13.0 Puducherry ............. 10.2....32.0....23.0

Gangtok................—....17.0....11.0 Pune............................—....31.0....18.0

Goa.......................—....34.0....24.0 Raipur .........................—....30.0....18.0

Guwahati ..............—....31.0....19.0 Ranchi .........................—....27.0....13.0

Hubballi ................—....28.0....21.0 Shillong.......................—....22.0....11.0

Hyderabad ............—....30.0....20.0 Shimla.........................—....18.0......9.0

Imphal ..................—....26.0....11.0 Srinagar.......................—........ —........ —

Jaipur ...................—....29.0....17.0 Thiruvananthapuram...... 4.0....33.0....25.0

Kochi ....................—....32.0....25.0 Tiruchi.........................—....33.0....24.0

Kohima .................—....24.0....12.0 Vijayawada ..................—....31.0....23.0

Kolkata .................—....31.0....21.0 Visakhapatnam .............—....31.0....24.0

(Rainfall data in mm; temperature in Celsius)

Pollutants in the air you are breathing Yesterday

CITIES SO2 NO2 CO PM2.5 PM10 CODE

In observation made at4.00 p.m., Kanpur, UttarPradesh recorded an overallair quality index (AQI)score of 418 indicating asevere level of pollution. Incontrast, Eloor, Keralarecorded a healthy AQIscore of 37.

Ahmedabad..... 124 154 46 . 118 .116 ....*

Bengaluru ....... .13 .79 96 .....— ...85 ....*

Chennai .......... ...8 .13 33 ... 74 .....— ....*

Delhi .............. .20 112 46 . 401 .337 ....*

Hyderabad ...... ...3 .60 42 . 164 .132 ....*

Kolkata........... ...9 .66 40 . 241 .171 ....*

Lucknow ......... .10 .43 35 . 365 .....— ....*

Mumbai .......... .11 119 34 . 181 .153 ....*

Pune............... .75 .12 57 . 139 .110 ....*

Visakhapatnam ...9 .48 37 . 111 .110 ....*

Air Quality Code: * Poor * Moderate * Good (Readings indicate average AQI)

SO2: Sulphur Dioxide. Short-term exposure can harm the respiratory system,

making breathing difficult. It can affect visibility by reacting with other air

particles to form haze and stain culturally important objects such as statues

and monuments.

NO2: Nitrogen Dioxide. Aggravates respiratory illness, causes haze to form by

reacting with other air particles, causes acid rain, pollutes coastal waters.

CO: Carbon monoxide. High concentration in air reduces oxygen supply to

critical organs like the heart and brain. At very high levels, it can cause

dizziness, confusion, unconsciousness and even death.

PM2.5 & PM10: Particulate matter pollution can cause irritation of the eyes,

nose and throat, coughing, chest tightness and shortness of breath, reduced

lung function, irregular heartbeat, asthma attacks, heart attacks and premature

death in people with heart or lung disease

Hundreds of farmers, potters and fi��shermen from 178villages that were submerged by the backwaters ofthe Narmada, marched tothe offi��ce of the NarmadaValley Development Authority in Bhopal demanding rehabilitation and alternativeemployment on Saturday.

Ever since the Sardar Sarovar dam downstream wasfi��lled to the brim, the Narmada has developed an erraticcurrent and an unstablecourse, posing a challenge tofi��shermen in Madhya Pradesh.

“When the backwatersswelled, the catch dwindleddramatically. And now, several species have become extinct in the river,” says Mansarovar Verma, 53, afi��sherman of Chikhalda vil

lage in Barwani district. “We don’t want contrac

tors from outside to take over water bodies. Local fi��shermen have a traditional rightto them,” said Medha Patkar,of the Narmada Bachao Andolan, who led the rally andthen staged a dharna withthe protesters.

Fall in catch“Water has entered forests,and dead leaves are detrimental to fi��sh. Furthermore,

garbage from submerged villages has caused a largescale pollution of the river,”said Mr. Verma.

He now catches 24 kg offi��sh a day, earning only up to₹��400 a day. Three monthsago, he netted 810 kg, bringing home ₹��1,000 a day.

“We want compensationor land for the loss incurred.We don’t want to work for afi��shing contractor, who’ll setterms for us,” he said.

Earlier, a drop in the wa

ter level after the monsoongave them an opportunity tocultivate muskmelon andwatermelon on the riverbanks around the month ofJanuary. After the water levelrose, this too became impossible.

The government hasopened 32 societies for fi��shermen in Dhar, Barwani andKhargone districts, whichshare the river’s banks, todispel the fears about contractors taking over fi��shing.

Dam victims seek rehabilitationFishermen hit byrise in water levelof the Narmada

staff reporter

Bhopal

On the edge: Farmers, potters and fi��shermen displaced by the Sardar Sarovar Dam projecttaking out a rally in Bhopal on Saturday. * A.M.FARUQUI

Several villagers in Odisha’s Jagatsinghpur districton Saturday demandedscrapping of an integratedsteel, cement and captivepower plant proposed bySajjan Jindalled JSW UtkalSteel Limited.

The project is proposedto come up on land whichwas previously acquiredfor the steel project ofSouth Korean steel majorPOSCO. After the South Korean company shelved itsproject, the State government brought the entireland parcel under its landbank scheme.

“This is illegal. The Stategovernment should havereturned the land to people as no project could beset up within fi��ve years ofits acquisition. The newproject will jeopardise livelihood of locals,” said Manorama Khatua, a villager.

Odisha localsprotest againststeel plant

Staff Reporter

BHUBANESWAR

A Navy MiG29K fi��ghter jeton a routine mission crashedafter an engine failure due toa birdstrike in Goa on Saturday morning. The two pilots, Capt. M. Sheokhandand Lt. Cdr. Deepak Yadav,ejected safely.

Around noon, the aircraftencountered a fl��ock of birdsafter takeoff�� from the navalair base at Dabolim, the Navy said in a statement.

“The pilot observed that

the left engine had fl��amedout and the right one hadcaught fi��re. Attempts to recover the aircraft by following the standard operatingprocedures were unsuccessful due to the nature ofemergency,” the statementsaid.

The pilot pointed the aircraft away from populatedareas and both the pilotsejected safely, the statementsaid. There was no loss of lifeor property.

A Court of Inquiry hasbeen instituted to investigatethe cause of the accident.

The engines failedafter suff��ering abirdstrike


NEW DELHI

Close shave: The left engine of the aircraft had fl��amed outand the right engine caught fi��re. * ATISH POMBURFEKAR

Navy MiG29K crashes inGoa, pilots eject safely

The 37yearold Dalit manwho was allegedly beatenand forced to drink urinesuccumbed to his injurieson Saturday, nine days afterthe incident in Punjab’s Sangrur district.

Jagmael Singh was undergoing treatment at the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Researchin Chandigarh. He is survived by his wife, twodaughters and a minor son.

Singh is said to have hadan altercation with Rinkuand a few other persons lastmonth. The victim, in hiscomplaint, alleged that oneof the accused invited him

to his house, where he wasthrashed by him and threeothers on November 7.When he asked for water, hewas forced to drink urine,he had said.

The police arrested allthe four accused — Rinku,Amarjeet Singh, Lucky andBita— all hailing from Changaliwala village after theincident.

Earlier, a case of wrongfulconfi��nement and attempt tocommit culpable homicidehad been registered againstthe accused. After Singh’sdeath, Section 302 (murder)of the Indian Penal Code hasbeen added to the FIR, saidSangrur’s Senior SP Sandeep Garg.

Dalit man who wasforced to drink urine diesPolice have arrested four people

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

CHANDIGARH

The Odisha Hindu Religious Endowment (Amendment) Bill, 2019 tabled bythe Naveen Patnaik government in the ongoing wintersession of the State Assembly was passed on Saturday.

Several requests“There has been a requestfrom diff��erent sources, including the Govardhan Mutt,to exclude the mutt from thepurview of the Odisha HinduReligious Endowment Act,1951. It is stated that threemutts — Jyotir Mutt, DwarkaMutt and Sharada Mutt —

The Govardhan Mutt of Puri,one of the four key mutts established by Adi Shankara,the prominent Hindu saint,is all set to be kept out of theOdisha government’s administrative purview.

The Govardhan mutt isthe only such mutt currentlycontrolled by a State Act.The three others — SharadaMutt at Sringeri in Karnataka, Dwarka Mutt in Gujaratand Jyotir Mutt at Joshimathin Uttarakhand — functionautonomously.

have been kept out of theirrespective State EndowmentActs and the management ofthe said mutts has been vested with the respective Shankaracharyas,” said Pratap Jena, State Law Minster, whiletabling the bill.

Mr. Jena said that it wasexpedient to amend clausexiii of Section 3 of the OdishaHindu Religious Endowments Act, 1951 (OHRE) toexclude Govardhan Muttand endowments attachedfrom the defi��nition of religious institutions.

There are more than

18,000 Hindu public religious institutions in Odishawhich are governed by theprovisions of the OHRE Act.

The Govardhan Mutt isone of the oldest mutts of Puri.

According to the government, the position of theSankaracharya of the Gobardhan Mutt is importantbecause of his involvementwith the aff��airs of the ShreeJagannath Temple.

The Sankaracharya headsthe Mukti Mandap PanditSabha, which renders advices on religious aff��airs.

Of the four mutts set up by Adi Shankara, it is the only one governed by a State Act

Staff Reporter

BHUBANESWAR

Govardhan Mutt out of Odisha govt.’s purview

A police inspector in Bareilly district of Uttar Pradeshthreatened a law studentwith the National SecurityAct and the Gangsters Actfor tweeting against stubbleburning.

In a telephonic conversation that went viral on Friday, Surendra Singh Pachauri, SHO, Sheeshgarh,could be heard asking IshaqKhan how he dared tweetabout stubble burning with

out his permission.“Come to the police sta

tion immediately, else theNSA and Gangsters Act willbe invoked against you,” Mr.Pauchauri was heard saying.

When Mr. Khan pleadedthat he only pointed outabout pollution in his neighbourhood and that he was adiff��erentlyabled person,Mr. Pachauri said he would“correct his disability.”

SP (Rural) Sansar Singhsaid action will be takenagainst the police offi��cial.

Inspector threatensstudent for tweetSpecial Correspondent

Ghaziabad

Facing criticism by the Supreme Court, district offi��cials in western Uttar Pradesh arecracking down on farmers indulging instubble burning and factories causing pollution.

On Friday, the Mathura administrationfi��ned 288 farmers for ₹��12.42 lakhs. The Gautam Buddh Nagar administration in GreaterNoida booked 12 farmers in Dadri, just fourdays after 10 farmers were booked andfi��ned ₹��35,000 in the district. In Bulandshahr, three factories were sealed for burning tyres for generating oil.

U.P. fi��nes farmers forstubble burning


Ghaziabad

Pak. air traffi��c controllersaves JaipurMuscat planeISLAMABAD

An air traffic controller from

Pakistan saved a plane with

150 people flying from Jaipur

to Muscat. After facing

abnormal weather conditions

in Sindh area, the controller

directed the flight through

the remaining journey in

Pakistani airspace. PTI

IN BRIEF

NGT for more assistancefor mining victims’ kinGUWAHATI

The National Green Tribunal

(NGT) is expected to

recommend more

compensation to the kin of

the 15 miners who were killed

in a flooded rathole coal

mine in Meghalaya’s East

Jaintia Hills district in 2018.

The families were given ₹��3

lakh each – ₹��2 lakh from the

PM’s Relief Fund and ₹��1 lakh

from the State government.

Thieves strike at judge’shouse, steal trees REWA

A gang of five thieves struck

at the residence of Arun

Kumar Singh, a district court

judge and chopped off four

sandalwood trees from the

premises, before decamping

with the logs, police said on

Saturday. Police said Justice

Singh and his family members

were asleep when the

incident took place, adding

that the thieves cut the trees

after threatening the judge’s

police guard at gunpoint. PTI

Siblings killed as fathertries to avoid pothole COIMBATORE

Two girls were fatally run

over by a lorry after they fell

from the motorcycle their

father was riding on Saturday

morning. R. Venkatesh, their

father, was trying to avoid a

pothole in Coimbatore’s

Rathinapuri when the kids

fell from the bike. The

deceased have been

identified as V. Gayathri, 9,

and V. Keerthana, 7. While

Keerthana died on the spot,

Gayathri succumbed to her

injuries at the hospital.

CMYK

A ND-NDE


DELHI THE HINDU


NEWS

FROM PAGE ONE

While it is mandatory forbottled water manufacturers to meet quality standards, the BIS standard isvoluntary for the publicagencies which supply anddistribute piped water.

The Ministry is writing toall State governments to develop a consensus on making the standard mandatory.

The BIS standard involves48 diff��erent parameters.Samples are being testedunder 28 parameters so far,leaving out parameters related to radioactive substances and free residualchlorine.

Samples are undergoingphysical and organoleptic

tests (which identify odour,turbidity and pH levels), aswell as chemical tests andvirological, bacteriologicaland biological tests (whichidentify harmful organismsand disease carriers).

So far, only Delhi sampleshave been tested under thefi��nal category and havecome out clean in that area.The capital’s samples alsoconformed with parametersfor toxic substances andpesticide residue. However,coliform and E.Coli sampleswere found in all Delhi samples, along with excess metals such as aluminium,manganese, magnesium,ammonia and iron.

Delhi has the mostunsafe tap water

The stalemate in Maharashtra politics continued on Saturday, with the nascent alliance of Shiv Sena, Congressand Nationalist CongressParty (NCP) calling off�� ameeting with Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari at the lastminute, ostensibly due toother commitments.

However, talks betweenthe three parties over government formation continued. Sources said the threeparties had formalised thecommon minimum programme, which has been forwarded to the respectivecentral leaderships for fi��nalapprovals. After approvals, itwould be released to the general public for feedback.

Reiterating the party’s demand for the chief ministerial post, Sena leader Sanjay

Raut said the party remainsconfi��dent of installing someone to the top post. “Undoubtedly, the governmentthat we are going to form inMaharashtra will be underthe leadership of a Chief Minister of Shiv Sena,” he said.

Seating in ParliamentEarlier in the day, the ShivSena was informed that itsMPs — Mr. Raut and Anil De

sai — would have to sit withthe oppposition in Parliament as the party has partedways with the ruling NDAcoalition.

Mr. Raut on being asked ifthe Shiv Sena would attendthe NDA meeting in Delhiahead of the winter sessionof Parliament, replied in thenegative. “We will not go,” hesaid. “There is a lot of diff��erence between the old NDA

and today's NDA. Who is theconvener of NDA today? Advani ji who was one of itsfounders has either left or isinactive.”

NCP supremo Sharad Pawar has convened a meetingof his party’s core committeein Pune on Sunday. Meanwhile the BJP concluded athreeday consultation meeting with newly elected MLAsat its party offi��ce in Dadar.

Sena confi��dent of CM post, will skip NDA meet Talks continueon Maharashtragovt. formation

special correspondent

Mumbai

Wait continues: Police and media personnel await developments at the Raj Bhavan in Mumbaion Saturday. * ARUNANGSU ROY CHOWDHURY

Congress president SoniaGandhi and NationalistCongress Party leaderSharad Pawar are likely tomeet in New Delhi onSunday to discuss analliance with the Shiv Senato form a government inMaharashtra, sources said.

Sources said the draftCMP and allocation of

portfolios among the threeparties would be discussedat the meeting. “Ms. Gandhiand Mr. Pawar will meet onSunday evening to discussthe issues of governmentformation,” an NCP sourcesaid. The NCP wants theCongress to be part of thegovernment, rather thanextend support fromoutside, to ensure stability,the sources said.

Pawar likely to meet Sonia today

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

MUMBAI

The Shiv Sena alleged onSaturday that the BJP nowexuding confi��dence offorming government makesits intention of horsetrading under the guise ofPresident’s rule evident.

In its mouthpieceSaamana, the Sena also hitout at former Chief Minister

Devendra Fadnavis over hisremark that the Shiv SenaNCPCongress alliancewon’t last beyond sixmonths.

It also said that the newpolitical equation wasgiving “stomach ache toseveral people”. State BJPchief Chandrakant Patil hadon Friday said they wouldsoon form government.

BJP may do horsetrading: Sena

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Mumbai

The Congress announcedon Saturday that it wouldhold a mega rally at theRamlila Maidan on November 30 as a culmination of itsStatelevel agitation againstthe policies of the NarendraModiled government at theCentre.

Earlier, the party had announced protests across alldistricts between November5 and 15 against the Centre’seconomic policies.

However, following theAyodha verdict and the imposition of Section 144 ofthe IPC in some districts,the party had suspended afew programmes in someStates.

“Today, we decided thatthe agitations at the districtand State levels will be completed before November25,” said Congress generalsecretary in charge of organisations K.C. Venugopal.

Culmination of eff��ort“We have decided to hold amassive culminating rallyagainst the antipeople policies of the Central government on November 30 inDelhi’s Ramlila Maidan. Themeeting has decided toname it as “Bharat Bachao”[Save India] rally becausepeople are suff��ering verymuch,” he said.

The Congress held ameeting of its general secretaries, chiefs of frontal or

ganisations, departmentheads and State unit chiefson Saturday.

“The meeting was calledto discuss the agitation programme... against the Central government’s antipeople policies, especiallyeconomic slowdown, farmers’ distress, huge unemployment and other issues,”he said.

The Congress leader alsosaid the party had also discussed the worrying fi��ndingof the leaked report of theNational Sample Survey Organization (NSSO) thatpointed to lower consumerexpenditure even on food.

“Just like the unemployment data, the governmentmay not release it but the expenditure on food goingdown is really alarming,”said Mr. Venugopal. Asked ifit would be a joint programme with other Opposition parties, Congress chiefspokesperson Randeep Surjewala said “it will be a Congress programme”.

Farm distress, unemployment in focusSpecial Correspondent

New Delhi

K.C. Venugopal

Congress to hold megarally in Delhi on Nov. 30

In honour of the formerChief Election Commissioner T.N. Seshan, who passedaway on November 10, theElection Commission of India (ECI) will establish andfund a chair at the India International Institute of Democracy and Election Management (IIIDEM), CECSunil Arora said on Saturday.

Making the announcement during his address atAhmedabad’s NIRMA University, Mr. Arora said:“Shri T.N. Seshan’s enduring contribution to thecause of probity, transparency and integrity in various aspects of the electoralprocess in India has madehis name synonymous withelectoral best practicesworldwide. In his memory,thus, the ECI would establish the chair.”

The visiting chair on interdisciplinary approach toelectoral studies at theCentre for Curriculum Development, IIIDEM, from20202025, will be mentored by former CEC N. Gopalaswami, Mr. Arora said.

The programme is target

ed at young academics witha record in electoral studiesand related fi��elds, he said.The chair will be expectedto curate a nationallevel seminar on aspects of electoral studies and supervise thedesign and development ofinterdisciplinary modulesfor training at IIIDEM. Mr.Arora said the ECI’s aimwould be to make the programme fully functional bythe next academic session.

Speaking about the ECI’seff��orts, Mr. Arora said theconcept of absentee votershad recently been adoptedin the electoral process.“We have a large number ofoverseas population and weneed to devise a mechanismto facilitate their participation in the electoral process,” he said.

EC to set up T.N. Seshanchair at its instituteFormer CEC’s integrity remembered

special correspondent

NEW DELHI

T.N. Seshan

The facts from an unconnected moneylaunderingcase seem to have crept intoa recent Delhi High Court order rejecting bail to formerUnion Finance Minister P.Chidambaram in the Enforcement Directorate case regarding INX Media.

In three instances, HighCourt judge, S.K. Kait reproduced paragraphs from a Supreme Court order of November 10, 2017. TheSupreme Court order concerned the rejection of bailto Delhi lawyer Rohit Tandon in a money launderingcase.

Tandon bail caseEntire paragraphs from theSupreme Court order in theTandon bail case can befound in Justice Kait’s November 15, 2019, order in theChidambaram bail ruling.

One of these instances is aparagraph which says “it isalleged that during the period from 15.11.2016 to19.11.2016, huge cash to thetune of ₹��31.75 crore was deposited in eight bank accounts in Kotak Mahindra

Bank in the accounts of the‘Group of Companies’. Itgives details of DemandDrafts issued during15.11.2016 to 19.11.2016 fromeight bank accounts in thename of Sunil Kumar, Dinesh Kumar, Abhilasha Dubey, Madan Kumar, MadanSaini, Satya Narain Dagdiand Seema Bai on variousdates. Most of the DemandDrafts issued have sincebeen recovered”.

‘Fictitious names’The seven names mentionedin the paragraphs are allegedly fi��ctitious.

Mr. Chidambaram is expected to move the SupremeCourt shortly in appealagainst the Delhi High Courtorder.

Tandon, a Delhi based lawyer, is accused of supplying huge sums of moneythrough his associates intovarious bank accounts inDelhi. The conspiracy is alleged to have originatedpostdemonetisation. Tandon was arrested in 2016.

The INX Media case concerns the grant of FIPB approval in 200708 during Mr.Chidambaram’s tenure as Finance Minister.

Unrelated case fi��nds mentionin HC order on Chidambaram Entire paragraphs from a 2017 SC order reproduced


NEW DELHI

Legal tangle: Chidambaram is likely to move the SupremeCourt in appeal against the Delhi HC order.

A day after the Income TaxAppellate Tribunal upheldthe withdrawal of IT exemption to Young Indian,which has Congress president Sonia Gandhi and leader Rahul Gandhi as majorityshareholders, the BJP on Saturday termed the transferof shares by Associated Journals Limited (AJL) to YoungIndian as “simply corruption”.

Addressing a press conference at the BJP headquarters, Union Minister RaviShankar Prasad said the tribunal had held that YoungIndian was not eligible forIT exemption granted tocharitable organisations.

Loans written off��Observing that the NationalHerald newspaper, whichhad been started by formerPrime Minister JawaharlalNehru, had ceased publication in 2008, Mr. Prasad saidits parent company, AJL,had been loaned ₹��90 croreby the Congress. That loanwas written off�� for ₹��50 lakhwhen Young Indian took over AJL and the two Congressleaders got majority shares

in Young Indian, Mr. Prasadasserted.

“The BJP condemns thispalpable, dubious transaction of undue enrichment. Itis simply corruption,” alleged Mr. Prasad.

‘Veil lifted’“Sonia Gandhi and RahulGandhi should stop talkingabout corruption. The veilhas been lifted by theCourt’s decision... I want toask both Rahul and SoniaGandhi, will they tell the nation the truth about this entire engagement? Will theyanswer the questions of thepeople of the country?”asked the BJP leader.

Reacting to the IT tribunal’s decision and the BJP’scomments on it, Congressspokesperson Randeep Surjewala said: “What is subjudice need not be commented upon. It may looklike a setback to certainnews channels, but I can assure you the majesty of lawwill prevail.”

“The truth, out in theopen, is that Young Indian isa notforprofi��t companyand neither Mr. Modi nor hiscronies can change this inalienable truth,” he added.

AJLYoung Indian share

transfer is corruption: BJP

Congress refrains from commenting


NEW DELHI

Ahead of the winter sessionof Parliament, Lok SabhaSpeaker Om Birla on Saturday met the fl��oor leaders ofall the political parties andasked them to cooperate inensuring that the LowerHouse functions smoothly.

Leaders of the Oppositionparties said that while theywere ready to ensure smoothfunctioning of the House,the Chair should also makesure that “the House doesn’tbecome a forum only to passgovernment Bills, and issuesaff��ecting the common citizens should be allowed to beraised”.

Prime Minister NarendraModi joined the Speaker andother Opposition leaders foran informal interaction overtea but didn’t attend the formal meeting. Leader of theCongress in the Lok SabhaAdhir Ranjan Chowdhuryand DMK’s T.R. Baalu wereamong the senior Oppostionleaders who took part in themeeting.

“As the House is answerable to the people, I hope parties will raise issues of publicinterest. There should be debate in the House, and forthat it should function,” Mr.Birla told reporters. “All parties have assured me that thesession will be smooth andwill be as fruitful as the fi��rst

session of the 17th Lok Sabha,” he added.

In the winter session,there will be 20 sittings inwhich the government plansto move nearly 40 Bills, including pending ones. Prominent bills include the Citizenship Amendment Bill2019, Data Protection Bill2019, a Bill to prohibit thesale of ecigarettes and theJuvenile Justice AmendmentBill.

Opposition leaders are expected to raise the groundsituation in Jammu andKashmir ( J&K) in the threemonths after the revoking of

Article 370, the preventionof MPs from visiting J&Kwhile allowing a delegationof the European Union, theeconomic slowdown andprice rise of food items.

Discussion needed“We pointed out to the Chairhow there were no discussions under rule 193 or calling attention motion in thelast session,”said a seniorOpposition leader.

Trinamool leader SudipBandyopadhyay told theSpeaker about the West Bengal Governor running a ‘parallel administration’ and Ba

hujan Samaj Party (BSP)leader Danish Ali wanted Mr.Birla to immediately allow adiscussion on pollution innorth India.

“We are ready to cooperate in passing Bills but theChair should also allow issues related to common citizens to be raised by the Opposition parties,” Mr. Ali toldThe Hindu.

Responding to Oppositiondemands, Mr. Birla said, “Itold them that after discussing these issues in the business advisory committee, wewill try to take up as many aspossible.”

LS Speaker appeals to fl��oor leadersfor smooth functioning of HouseOpposition tells the Chair that session should not only be a forum to pass Bills

Meet and greet: Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla and leaders ofvarious parties leaving Parliament House in New Delhi on Saturday. * SANDEEP SAXENA


New Delhi

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Women police offi��cers atPampa had, as part of established security protocol,verifi��ed the identity proofsubmitted by the group.They found two womenwere under the age of 50.The police apprised them ofthe dispute over the matter.

The police later claimedthat the women had “oftheir own volition” abandoned their plan to trek tothe Sannidhanam, andthere was no compulsion onthe part of the force.

Devaswom Minister Kadakampally Surendran hadon Thursday said it was notcontingent on the government to escort women activists to the Ayyappa templeunless they arrived with awarrant for the State’s assistance from the SupremeCourt.

The government had received the legal opinion thatthe State was under no juridical requirement to proactively ensure that womenbetween the age of 10 and50 worshipped at Sabarimala in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision toform a sevenmember constitutional Bench to look into the case further.

State Police Chief Loknath Behera told reportersthat he would seek furtherlegal clarifi��cation from Advocate General C.P. Sudhakar Prasad on the issue.

Meanwhile, the State police said they were trackingthe travel plans of womenactivists, including that ofTrupti Desai who on Saturday reiterated her decisionto pray at Sabarimala onSunday.

Police advise womenagainst visiting Sabarimala

The Congress late on Saturday announced spokesperson Gourav Vallabh as theparty candidate from Jamshedpur East constituencyin the upcoming JharkhandAssembly polls.

BJP leader and incumbent Chief Minister Raghubar Das has been the sittingmember from JamshedpurEast, a constituency he hasrepresented fi��ve times.

Mr. Vallabh, who taughtat a prestigious management institute in Jamshedpur, recently shot to fameafter he challenged BJPspokesperson, Sambit Patra, to give the number ofzeros in a trillion.

The TV debate showingthe verbal duel betweenthe two spokespersonswent viral on social media.

In the Jharkhand Assembly polls, the Congresshas tied up with the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha ( JMM)as partner.

The elections to the 81Assembly seats in the Statewill begin on November 30and voting will take placein fi��ve phases, with the lastphase scheduled for December 20.

Vallabh to takeon JharkhandChief Minister


New Delhi

CMYK


THE HINDU DELHI


NEWS

India’s conversion of morethan 14,000 square km of‘wasteland’ — mostly densescrub, glacial areas, sands ormarshland — into productiveuse between 200809 and201516, and the government’s target to restore 26million hectares of wasteland and degraded land by2030 risks aff��ecting the livelihoods of pastoralists, fi��shermen and nomadic farmerswho are often dependent onthese traditional “commons”lands, caution environmental policy researchers and social activists. These ‘commons’ also act as a buff��eragainst fl��oods, droughts andpollution for a wider popula

tion, they point out.The Wastelands Atlas, pre

pared in collaboration withthe National Remote SensingCentre and released recentlyby the Land Resources Department uses satellite datato measure the extent of 23diff��erent types of wastelandsand tracks the impact of reclamation eff��orts. While14,536 sq. km of wastelandwere converted to productive use, the country saw anet conversion of 8,404 sq.km. Over half that land lies inRajasthan, where a netchange of 4,803 sq. km wasseen, with large areas ofscrub and sands brought under the plough and converted to cultivated cropland.The State also has extensive

solar parks set up in its wastelands, thus convertingthem to industrial use in theproduction of renewableenergy. Uttar Pradesh and Bihar also saw high levels ofnet conversion.

The government has beenencouraging wasteland con

version, pointing out thatwhile India has 18% of theworld’s population, it onlyhas 2.4% of the land area. “Inorder to ensure food security, there is an urgent need toimprove the productivity ofexisting cultivated lands andto bring additional land un

der plough. The wastelandswhich are unutilised andhave potential to producefood grain and provide vegetation cover may signifi��cantly contribute in this endeavour,” the department saidin the Atlas.

In a foreword, Union Mi

nister of State in the PMO Jitendra Singh suggested reclamation and aff��orestationeff��orts, infrastructure and renewable energy projects asways to convert wasteland toproductive use, apart fromconversion to cropland.Apart from governmentdriven eff��orts, simple encroachment by local residentscould also result in conversion of wastelands.

However, such conversions could impact livelihoods. Pastoral communitiesdepend on common grazingland, gatherers and nomadicfarmers depend on scrub forest and open scrubland forshifting cultivation, whilefi��shermen can make a livingoff�� waterlogged and marshyareas. These areas protectunique biodiversity resources, which could be destroyedwhen development occurs.

“The idea of a wasteland isitself a political construct,”said Kanchi Kohli, a seniorresearcher at the Centre forPolicy Research. “Many ofthese have been commonareas for centuries and to regard them as unproductive isa problem. When you classify shifting cultivation or common grazing lands as wasteland and try to convert theminto crop land, plantationsor solar parks, it is endorsinga hierarchical idea of livelihoods. Why is the pastoralistconsidered less productivethan the farmer?” she asked.

In southern India, theseareas have traditionally beencalled ‘poromboke’ landwhich is communallyowned, cannot be bought,sold or built on. In Karnataka, the gomal lands are common grazing areas. In otherregions, village forests and

pastures, or gram panchayatlands, have played a similarrole from medieval times.

“It was the East India company that fi��rst categorisedthese areas as wasteland, asthey produce no tangible revenue,” said Nityanand Jayaraman, a Chennaibased social activist. He noted thatTamil Nadu’s capital cityChennai had paid a heavyprice for converting wastelands such as the Pallikaranai marsh or the Ennorecreek backwaters, into industrial, builtup areas. “Thefl��ooding you have seen in recent seasons happened because marshland was treatedas waste rather than a valuable buff��er. The backwatersprotect inland water resources from encroaching salinityand seawater inundation, aswell as storing water for dryseasons.”

‘Wasteland conversion threatens livelihoods, ecological balance’Environmentalists say the idea of awasteland is a political construct

Priscilla Jebaraj

NEW DELHI

In the wake of widespreadcondemnation from political parties, civil society organisations and intellectuals, the Odishagovernment on Saturday admitted to having committeda mistake by describing Mahatma Gandhi’s death as ‘accidental’ in a brochure andwithdrew it.

The twopage Aama Ba-puji: Eka Jhalaka (‘Our Bapuji: A Glimpse’), broughtout by the government onthe occasion of the Mahatma’s 150th birth anniversary, says he died at the BirlaHouse in New Delhi on January 30, 1948 in ‘accidentalsequence of events’. It wascirculated in schools acrossthe State.

In a reply in the Legislative Assembly on Saturday,School and Mass EducationMinister Sameer Dash said,“the government had neith

er any intention to feed falseinformation to students norany plan to distort facts. Themistake was unintentional.We have already withdrawnthe brochure. The personwho had prepared the literature has been disengagedfrom the service. Explanation has been sought fromanother two government offi��cers”. A newly printed corrected brochure would bedistributed among studentswithin a month and the present copies junked, he said.

Odisha withdrawsbrochure on GandhijiHis death was termed ‘accidental’

Staff Reporter

BHUBANESWAR

The brochure was circulatedin schools across Odisha.

Hit by unseasonal heavysnowfall in addition to disruptions caused by politicalturmoil and the shutdownsince August 5, apple growers in Kashmir are facing acrisis that must be declareda national calamity, said adelegation of farmersgroups that visited the Valley last week. Growersshould be eligible for helpfrom the National DisasterRelief Fund, All India KisanSangharsh CoordinationCommittee leaders told reporters here on Saturday.

“Shutting down transportation and imposingcurfews at the apple harvesting season was disastrous,” said V.M. Singh,AIKSCC convenor. Transport costs were almostdoubled and losses werehuge despite a bumper harvest. Other crops like pear,cherry and grapes couldnot be marketed either.

Relief soughtfor J&K applegrowers


NEW DELHI

India must pay attention toconcerns being expressed inWashington over Jammu andKashmir, says WilliamBurns, former U.S. DeputySecretary of State and nowPresident of the Carnegie En-dowment for InternationalPeace, who has recentlyauthored a book on Ameri-can diplomacy.

You write in your book, The

Back Channel, in some detail

about the intense

engagement between India

and the U.S. over the civil

nuclear deal. How would

the relationship compare a

decade later?

■ I think both of us — Indiaand the U.S. — sometimessuff��er from the tyranny of infl��ated expectations. Dealslike the one on civil nuclearcooperation don’t happenoften, and one can’t get accustomed to that in any major power relationship.Those were tough negotiations, but born of a recogni

tion on both sides, for thefi��rst time, that we shared aninterest in each other’ssuccess.

Today, I think the challenge is the day inday outchallenge of negotiating acomplicated relationshipwith a lot of promise, but itsshare of irritants, over trade,over American policy in Afghanistan for example.

I use the analogy that managing important power relationships are a lot like riding a bicycle — if you’re notpeddling forward, it tends tofall over. I’m not suggestingwe are in danger of falling over, but we need to keep peddling on both sides.

Does trade matter more

than other issues now? Is

the current impasse on

trade bleeding into other

parts of the relationship?

■ I think inevitably whenyou irritate one another ontrade, it does bleed into other parts of the relationship,even where we are doingquite well, like on defence

cooperation. It is possible tomanage the diff��erences, andCommerce Minister PiyushGoyal has been in Washington to talk and I’m certainlyhopeful we make progress.Both sides will need to makediffi��cult choices, and weeach have our own domesticpolitical realities on dairy,agriculture etc.

There are now political

issues over the U.S.’s stand

on Jammu and Kashmir.

There have been

statements, and two

Congressional hearings on

the situation there, and

several requests by the U.S.

embassy to travel to

Srinagar have been denied.

Has the mood in

Washington changed over

this issue?

■ I think there are concernson the Hill (Congress) bothamongst Democrats and Republicans with regard toJammu and Kashmir that focus on two categories.

One, the concerns overthe potential for collisions —given the history between India and Pakistan — and second is a genuine concernabout human rights and civilliberties issues, whether it isthe suspension of civil liberties, the detention of political fi��gures, the informationblackout that existed.

This doesn’t representdoubts about the larger partnership with India, but itdoes involve anxieties aboutthe resilience of an important part of that relationship,which are shared democraticvalues.

I’d be quick to add that theU.S. lives in a glass housethese days, and we aren’t setting a great example on tolerance and respect for diversity, but I do think that anumber of geopolitical issues brought the U.S. and India together over the last twodecades, and that sense ofshared democratic values isalso important.

We are both societies that,

at our best, draw strengthsfrom the diversity of our societies, and we are eachstruggling with that. Andthat’s why you are hearingthose concerns on CapitolHill and it’s worth paying attention to them.

President Trump has

off��ered not once, but several

times to mediate between

India and Pakistan — an

off��er that was clearly

rebuff��ed in New Delhi. As a

diplomat who has worked

this relationship, what did

you think?

■ I’ve learned over thecourse of my work here thatany Indian administrationwill contain its enthusiasmover mediation, particularlyAmerican mediation, andour agency is limited.

So just throwing off�� thatidea almost impulsively canset off�� all sorts of alarm bellsthat don’t do American policy any good, and also don’thelp prospects for the relationship between India andPakistan.

There are things we cando quietly in both capitalsthat we should focus on. President Trump likes to throwout ideas like that, but it is animpractical one in this case.

‘Washington is concerned over J&K’ Sustaining shared sense of democraticvalues is crucial to India-U.S. ties, saysformer Deputy Secretary of State

Suhasini Haidar

New Delhi

William Burns

On November 7, when MPs, MLAsand functionaries of the Trinamool Congress were summoned tothe party headquarters in Kolkata,they thought they would be attending a routine meeting chairedby their leader Mamata Banerjee,the West Bengal Chief Minister.

Only on reaching the venue didthey realise that Prashant Kishor,the highprofi��le strategist hired bythe party to boost its prospects inthe 2021 Assembly elections, waswaiting to hand them their reportcards and pull up those who hadbeen found wanting.

Two meetings were held on thatday. The fi��rst, of party leaders belonging to the Scheduled Castes(SC) and Schedules Tribes (ST),lasted about two hours and wasanchored solely by Mr. Kishor,with Ms. Banerjee choosing to be aspectator. The 294seat West Bengal Assembly has 68 seats reservedfor SCs and 16 for STs, and the party had fared poorly in these regions in this year Lok Sabha election. The second meeting, of theparty’s elected representativesand offi��cebearers, lasted nearly90 minutes and was chaired byMs. Banerjee, with Mr. Kishor byher side.

‘Taken by surprise’“The MLAs were taken aback thatPrashant Kishor knew exactlywhat they had been up to. Hepulled up those who were takingthe directives of the Chief Minister— such as spending nights in villages — lightly. He also scolded thosewho were engaged in selfpropaganda rather than promoting Ms.Banerjee and her welfareschemes,” a source who was present at both the meetings said.

“This was probably the fi��rsttime an outsider addressed whatwas meant to be a party meeting.

[Mr. Kishor’s] team seemed tohave done their homework meticulously because he had precise information about the activities ofthe MLAs,” the source said, addingthat two Ministers hailing fromnorth Bengal were particularlypicked out for admonishment.

Mr. Kishor, according to thesource, asked the MLAs to give abig push to the ‘Didi Ke Bolo(Reach out to Didi)’ initiative,which he felt was losing steam because of the lack of required interest shown by them. He asked themto popularise her schemes so thatpeople could distinguish betweenthe State and Central schemes.The MLAs, the source said, wereasked to identify people who otherwise worked for the TrinamoolCongress but voted for the BJPduring elections.

Ms. Banerjee, who has beenworried ever since the BJP stagedan impressive performance in theState in the 2019 elections, alsoasked the MLAs to pull up theirsocks and warned some of themthat she was giving them one lastchance, the source said. She askedthem — according to the source —to avoid attacks on individual BJPleaders and focus on campaigningagainst the BJP government’s policies, such as the proposal for a National Register of Citizens in WestBengal.

Prashant Kishor pulls up TMCMLAs for not doing enoughHe asks them to popularise Mamata’s schemes

Bishwanath Ghosh

KOLKATA

Trinamool Congress strategistPrashant Kishor

CMYK

A ND-NDE


DELHI THE HINDU


WORLD

SUDOKU

Solution to yesterday’s Sudoku

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Former President BarackObama off��ered an unusualwarning to the Democraticprimary fi��eld on Friday evening, cautioning the candidates not to move too far tothe left in their policy proposals, even as he sought toreassure a party establishment worried about the electoral strength of their historically large primary fi��eld.

Speaking before a room ofwealthy liberal donors, Mr.Obama urged Democrats toremember the long, combative slog of his primary campaign against Hillary Clintonin 2008, arguing that the 16month battle ultimatelymade him a stronger generalelection candidate.

‘I had a robust primary’“For those who get stressedabout robust primaries, I justhave to remind you I had avery robust primary,” he toldthe group of donors and organisational leaders in Wash

ington. “I’m confi��dent that atthe end of the process wewill have a candidate that hasbeen tested.”

Yet, he also raised concerns about some of the liberal ideas being promoted bysome candidates, citinghealth care and immigrationas issues where the proposals may have gone furtherthan public opinion.

While Mr. Obama did notsingle out any specifi��c primary candidate or policy proposal, he cautioned that theuniverse of voters that couldsupport a Democratic candidate are not driven by thesame views refl��ected on “certain leftleaning Twitterfeeds” or “the activist wingof our party”.

“Even as we push the envelope and we are bold inour vision, we also have to berooted in reality,” Mr. Obamasaid. “The average Americandoesn’t think we have tocompletely tear down thesystem and remake it.”

The comments marked an

extraordinary entrance intothe primary contest by theformer President, who hasbeen careful to avoid eventhe appearance of infl��uencing the direction of the race.

His remarks off��ered an implicit critique of SenatorsBernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, who haveurged voters to embrace“political revolution” and“big, structural change,” aswell as proposals once wide

ly considered to be left to theliberal fringes of the party,including court packing anddecriminalising illegal border crossings.

Even as Mr. Obama has attempted to stay out of therace, the primary candidateshave engaged in a heated discussion over his legacy, debating whether to stick withMr. Obama’s architecture forhealth care policy or to pursue a singlepayer system

mended political organisations — only underscored theintended audience of hismessage. In recent weeks,establishmentaligned Democrats, top donors andsome strategists have expressed fears that the partylacks a strong enough candidate to defeat President Donald Trump.

Their concerns haveprompted the late emergence of two experiencedcandidates, Deval Patrick,the former Governor of Massachusetts and a close friendof Mr. Obama, and MichaelR. Bloomberg, both of whomentered the fi��eld after ninecandidates had alreadydropped out.

Those worries are not necessarily shared by voters inearly states.

“If you talk to the votersthey don’t feel the need foranother candidate,” saidKathy Sullivan, the formerchairwoman of the Democratic Party in New Hampshire. NY TIMES

and off��ering fl��ashes of directcriticism over his record onimmigration. At the sametime, former VicePresidentJoe Biden has made hisstrong support for Mr. Obama and his accomplishmentsa hallmark of his candidacy.

‘Don’t push too far’Acknowledging that candidates must “push past” hisachievements, Mr. Obamaurged his party’s candidatesnot to push too far. “I don’tthink we should be deludedinto thinking that the resistance to certain approachesto things is simply becausevoters haven’t heard a boldenough proposal and if theyhear something as bold aspossible then immediatelythat’s going to activatethem,” he said.

The fact that Mr. Obamaoff��ered his reassurances atthe annual meeting of theDemocracy Alliance — a clubof wealthy liberals who donate hundreds of thousandsof dollars a year to recom

Obama warns Democratic contenders not to lean too far leftHe implicitly targeted Sanders & Warren, who called for a ‘political revolution’, saying their ideas may not resonate with voters

Reality check: Former U.S. President Barack Obama speakingat the Obama Foundation Summit in Chicago. * AFP/FILE

Lisa Lerer

WASHINGTON

China’s People’s LiberationArmy (PLA) soldiers inshorts and tshirts made asurprising appearance insome Hong Kong streets onSaturday, briefl��y helping residents clean up debris afterantigovernment protestsblocked roads, witnessessaid.

The presence of PLAtroops on the streets, even tohelp clean up roads neartheir base, could stoke further controversy over the Chineseruled territory’s autonomous status. Saturday’scleanup followed some ofthe worst violence seen thisyear, after a police operationagainst protesters at the Chinese University of HongKong on Tuesday.

On Saturday night, police

fi��red tear gas while protesters threw petrol bombs,used slingshots, and fi��red arrows in clashes on streetsoutside the PolytechnicUniversity.

Hong Kong has beenrocked by more than fi��vemonths of demonstrationsby protesters angry at per

ceived Communist Partymeddling in the former British colony, which was guaranteed its freedoms when itreturned to Chinese rule in1997.

Beijing denies interferingand has blamed the unreston foreign infl��uences.

Earlier, hundreds of pro

China demonstrators gathered by the city’s legislatureand police headquarters,waving Chinese and HongKong fl��ags. Some held upposters reading “Police westand with you”, while others chanted “Support thepolice”.

ProChina protests haveso far attracted much smaller numbers than those angryat Beijing.

The authorities have sincelargely stayed away from atleast fi��ve university campuses that had been barricadedby thousands of studentsand activists who stockpiledpetrol bombs, catapults,bows and arrows and otherweapons. Many protestersappeared to have left thecampuses by late Saturday,though some remained behind to man barricades.

Their presence could stoke further controversy over city’s autonomous status

Reuters

HONG KONG

Civic role: Personnel from the People’s Liberation Armycleaning up a street in Hong Kong on Saturday. * AFP

Chinese soldiers help cleanHong Kong streets after protests

As voting ended on Saturday,the rival political camps ofGotabaya Rajapaksa and Sajith Premadasa in Sri Lanka’spresidential election appeared confi��dent that thehigh turnout would pushtheir candidate past the required 50% mark. A secondround of counting will be undertaken to tally preferencevotes if neither contestantsecures over half the voteshare.

“Going by the high turnout, it looks like there is avery strong antiincumbencysentiment,” said Namal Rajapaksa, legislator and nephew of Mr. Gotabaya Rajapaksa. “The fact that thewhole country, including thenorth, has voted in largenumbers shows that they all

want to be part of this democratic process. It is a veryhealthy sign,” he told TheHindu.

Cabinet Minister ManoGanesan said it was “very encouraging” to see the largenumber of voters exercisingtheir franchise.

“Sajith Premadasa is quitepopular in the south and he

has proactively reached outto the minorities across theisland in his campaign. Weare hopeful that he will win,”he said.

Mr. Premadasa is bankingheavily on the minority vote,which is widely expected togo in his favour, since prominent Tamil (northeast andhill country) and Muslim

parties have backed him thiselection. Moreover, manyTamils and Muslims are stillfearful of Mr. Rajapaksa,who is accused of warcrimes — he has denied them— and is linked to reactionary Sinhala Buddhist groupsthat have stoked antiMuslimviolence in the past.

Boycott call rejectedThe high Tamil turnout inthe north and east is alsoseen as a rejection of repeated calls for a boycott fromsome political leaders.

“It [turnout] means thatthe Tamil voter is very pragmatic and knows what isreally good for the Tamil people in the given context,”said M.A. Sumanthiran, Jaff��na district MP and spokesman of the Tamil National Alliance.

Sri Lankan presidential rivalswelcome record turnoutBoth Rajapaksa and Premadasa camps see the high numbers as good augury

Meera Srinivasan

COLOMBO

Future sealed: Election offi��cials bringing ballot boxes to thecounting centre in Colombo on Saturday. * REUTERS

Face off��: Security forces clashing with supporters of Bolivia’s former President Evo Morales, who resigned and fl��ed to Mexico, inSacaba on Saturday. Interim leader Jeanine Anez has said that Mr. Morales would have to “answer to justice” if he returns. * AP



Bolivia on the boil

Don’t recall meetingEpstein victim: Andrew NEW YORK

Britain’s Prince Andrew has

said he does not remember

meeting Virginia Roberts, one

of disgraced U.S. financier

Jeffrey Epstein’s alleged

victims, who claims she was

forced to have sex with the

royal. He has been heavily

criticised over his links to

Epstein. AFP

ELSEWHERE

German woman, whojoined IS, held on returnBERLIN

A German woman accused of

joining the Islamic State

group in Syria and marrying

an IS fighter has been

arrested on arrival in

Germany. The woman,

identified only as Nasim A.,

travelled to Syria in 2014 and

married an IS fighter. She was

detained by Kurdish forces

and held in Syria. AFP

One person was killed andothers injured in proteststhat spread on Saturdayacross Iran after a surprisedecision to impose petrolprice hikes and rationing inthe sanctionshit country.

The death on Friday occurred in the city of Sirjan,where protesters tried to seta fuel depot ablaze but werethwarted by security forces,the semioffi��cial ISNA newsagency reported.

Demonstrations broke outhours after it was announcedon Friday that the price ofpetrol would be increased by50% for the fi��rst 60 litres and300% for anything abovethat each month. The country also imposed petrol rationing, saying the move wasaimed at helping needy citizens. The measure was expected to generate 300 trillion rials ($2.55 billion) perannum, the authorities said.

“Unfortunately someonewas killed,” Sirjan’s acting

Governor Mohammad Mahmoudabadi said, adding itwas still unclear if the civilianhad been “shot or not”.

“Security forces did nothave permission to shootand were only allowed to fi��rewarning shots... which theydid,” he said.

It was a “calm gathering”exploited by some who “destroyed public property, damaged fuel stations and alsowanted to access the oil company’s main fuel depots andset fi��re to them”, he added.

Fresh demonstrationswere held on Saturday.“Some drivers protested byturning off�� their cars andcreating traffi��c jams,” hesaid. Under the scheme, drivers with fuel cards would pay15,000 rials (13 U.S. cents) alitre for the fi��rst 60 litres ofpetrol bought each month,with each additional litrecosting 30,000 rials.

President Hassan Rouhanisaid 75% of Iranians were“under pressure” and are entitled to the extra revenue.

Protests erupt in Iran over petrol price hike, one deadDemonstrations broke out after govt. announced increase in price by 50% for fi��rst 60 litres and 300% for anything above that

Agence France-Presse

Tehran

People protesting against petrol price hike on a highway inTehran, Iran, on Saturday. * REUTERS

A U.S. offi��cial testifi��ed on Friday that he overheard President Donald Trump askingabout “investigations” hehad requested from Ukraineinto domestic political rivals— placing the American president at the centre of an alleged conspiracy to extortKiev.

David Holmes said heheard a phone conversationin a Kiev restaurant in whichMr. Trump, on the other endof the line, pressed Washington’s EU Ambassador Gordon Sondland for information on Ukrainian plans toprobe former VicePresidentJoe Biden.

Details of the conversation were included in Mr.Holmes’s opening statementto impeachment investiga

tors, published by CNN.The revelation casts

doubt on a major plank ofthe Republican Party’s defence against allegations thatMr. Trump led a conspiracyto seek foreign help in the2020 U.S. election.

Republicans have statedthat the only direct evidenceis the summary of a single July 25 phone call between Mr.

Trump and his Ukrainiancounterpart Volodymyr Zelensky — which they say exonerates the U.S. leader.

Mr. Holmes, a career diplomat, said the TrumpSondland call took place a daylater, suggesting that thepressure on Ukraineamounted to a concerted effort rather than just one call.

Mr. Sondland told Mr.Trump that Ukranian President “loves your ass”, Mr.Holmes is said to have testifi��ed. “I then heard PresidentTrump ask, ‘So, he’s gonnado the investigation?’” Mr.Holmes testifi��ed, adding thatMr. Sondland replied thatMr. Zelensky “will do ‘anything you ask him to.’”

Lawmakers who emergedfrom the deposition declined to provide furtherdetails.

He allegedly pressed Sondland to seek Kiev’s plan on Biden

Agence France-Presse

Washington

Donald Trump

Trump asked about Ukraineinvestigations: Embassy staff��

A car bomb killed 19 people,13 of them civilians, in theTurkishcontrolled town ofAlBab in northern Syria onSaturday, a war monitorsaid.

The bomb, which strucka bus and taxi station in thetown, also wounded 33 people, some of them seriously,the Britainbased Syrian Observatory for Human Rightsreported.

Turkey and its Syrianproxies control several

pockets of territory on theSyrian side of the border.

There was no immediateclaim of responsibility forthe bombing but the Observatory said there had beenpersistent security incidentsin the town since its captureby Turkish troops from theIslamic State group in February 2017. The town wasone of the westernmoststrongholds of the jihadists’selfstyled “caliphate”which was fi��nally eradicatedby USbacked Kurdish forcesin eastern Syria in March.

Car bomb kills 19 innorthern Syria: monitor Agence France-Presse

Beirut

CMYK

BUSINESSEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

THE HINDU DELHI


SPIC net rises 9.86%despite drop in revenueCHENNAI

Southern Petrochemicals

Industries Corp. Ltd. (SPIC)

has posted a 9.86%

increase in standalone net

profi��t for the second quarter

ended September 2019 to

₹��12.70 crore. Revenue

dropped by 28.05% to

₹��627.63 crore due to

sluggish market conditions.

“I am confi��dent that our

performance will pick up

pace in the ensuing

quarters,” said Ashwin

Muthiah, chairman, SPIC.

Vodafone Idea plans tomonetise data centres NEW DELHI

Vodafone Idea said it was

exploring the monetisation

of data centres as part of its

debt reduction plans. Apart

from data centres, Vodafone

Idea is planning to monetise

its 11.15% stake in Indus

Towers on completion of the

Indus TowersBharti Infratel

merger, and is also exploring

monetisation of nearly 1.6

lakh km of fi��bre. “We believe

this will provide us fi��nancial

fl��exibility,” Vodafone Idea

MD & CEO Ravinder Takkar

said. PTI

A strong growth in new business, strong distributionfranchise and a sustainedshift towards highmarginsegments have made listedinsurance companies thegreen shoots in the otherwise battered fi��nancialsspace, where banks andnonbanking fi��nancial companies (NBFCs) are witnessing extreme volatility with adownward bias.

In 2019, while the Sensexhas risen nearly 12%, stocksof most listed insurancefi��rms have outperformedthe benchmark by a widemargin and have surged between 50% and 70% .

SBI Life Insurance hasbeen the best performerwith its shares gaining 68%in 2019 till date. The stocksurged from ₹��596.45 in December 2018 to the currentmarket price of ₹��1,002.10.

ICICI Prudential Life Insurance has also gained morethan 60% in 2019.

Sharp reratingMorgan Stanley, in a reportreleased on Thursday, saidthat stocks of insuranceplayers have rerated sharply due to strong new business growth and continueddiversifi��cation of earnings

towards protection and annuity products. “Insurers’increased focus on traditional nonpar savings products (annuities/guaranteedsavings) along with protection has helped drive strongvalueofnewbusiness(VNB) growth even as ULIP(unit linked insurance plan)premium growth moderated,” it said.

“We believe the mix shifttowards highermargin segments is in early stages andwill continue to drive strongVNB growth over the medium term, even as lower interest rates moderate thepace of sales of annuities/guaranteed interest rateproducts,” it added.

The global fi��nancial major believes that life insurance players have “strongdistribution franchises,good cost and persistencymetrics, and are well placedto gain market share.”

Morgan Stanley, however,added that the recent surgein stock prices has stretchedthe valuations “above meanlevels” that could imply “limited upside” in the nearterm. General InsuranceCorporation has been a laggard among listed insurancefi��rms in 2019, though ittouched its 52week high of₹��333.85 on October 31.

SBI Life Insurance surges 68% in 2019

ASHISH RUKHAIYAR

MUMBAI

Insurance stocks shinein fi��nancial sector

CESC Ltd., the fl��agship company of the RPSG Group,has called off�� its proposal onthe demerger of its powerbusiness.

The group’s power business comprises thermalpower plants in West Bengaland Maharashtra, renewable power plants in TamilNadu, Rajasthan, Gujaratand Madhya Pradesh, andpower distribution franchisees in Rajasthan and Maharashtra. It will make “necessary application to theKolkata Bench of the National Company Law Tribunal inthis regard,” the companysaid in a regulatory fi��ling.

The demerger of the power business was part of acomposite scheme of arrangement among CESC and 9other fi��rms.

The scheme was made effective from October 2017,barring the part on the demerger of the generationundertaking into HaldiaEnergy Ltd., a whollyowned subsidiary.

The CESC board at itsmeeting decided “it wouldbe prudent and in the bestinterest of the company, itsshareholders and other stakeholders to no longer pursue the said demerger,” thecompany said. The Composite Scheme of Arrangementcreated new fi��rms out ofCESC’s retail business, itsFMCG and ITES businesses.

Its generation and distribution businesses were tobe segregated under theCESC demerger scheme.The West Bengal power regulator’s nod was not available for this part of the recastproposal.

State regulator refuses nod for recast


KOLKATA

CESC calls off�� demergerof power business

For the fi��rst time in the history of the Indian Army, athirdparty fi��rm will makerucksacks for its jawans.

The private outdoor gearfi��rm Wildcraft India hasbagged an order from theMinistry of Defence to design, develop and deliver1.8 lakh units of 90litrerucksacks equipped to carry supplies for 30 days.

“Our R&D has been accredited by the Ministry ofDefence. All trials and fi��nalsampling of the product areover and the Ministry hasgiven the goahead for production of rucksacks,” saidGaurav Dublish, cofounder of Wildcraft.

Production of the gadgetthat comes with high technical specifi��cations will be

gin soon and delivery willbe completed in 12 months.

Siddharth Sood, also cofounder of Wildcraft India,said this work order camethrough a commercial tender and the companywould design the rucksackas per the specifi��cations given by the Army andthe product will beproprietary to theIndian Army.Wildcraft is expecting moresuch orders fromthe Ministry onbehalf of the Army, which hasmore than 1.4million jawans.

This is a ‘heavilyengineered’accessory meantfor jawans, who areexposed to extreme envi

ronments and climatic conditions. These high torsobags will be made out ofhigh grade nylon and willhave high resistance toabrasion. They come with alightweight alloy back

frame so that they comfortably stay on the back ofsoldiers even after they aremounted with armament.

The Indian OrdnanceFactories, an industrial organisation under the Department of Defence, currently makes such bags forthe Army.

₹��1,000cr in revenueWildcraft, which specialises in outdoor gear, clothingand footwear, said that in acouple of years, it would bea ₹��1,000crore revenuefi��rm, up from ₹��630 crorecurrently.

It had raised $11 millionfrom Sequoia Capital for a20% stake in 2013. Myntraand its parent fi��rm Flipkarthave also taken minoritystake in Wildcraft for an undisclosed sum.

Wildcraft to make rucksacks for Army It will supply 1.8 lakh units of 90litre bags that can carry supplies for 30 days

Mini Tejaswi

Bengaluru

Godrej Locks, a business unit of Godrej & Boyce Mfg. Co.Ltd., is eyeing doubledigitgrowth this year and hopesto continue the growthmomentum.

The company is also planning to sharply enhance itsexports business, a top executive said.

“We are driving international business very muscularly. We have a good footprint today with [presence]in, in and around India, theSAARC countries, the Middle East and the entire subSaharan Africa. There areplans to get into more andmore countries,” ShyamMotwani, executive VP andbusiness head, Godrej

Locks, said in an interview. The fi��rm now exports to

over 27 countries. “Currently, 34% of the revenuecomes from exports and ourplan is to take it to 25% ofour revenues,” he said.

He said the company isaiming to cater to the requirements of the Indiandiaspora living all over theworld and who understandand know the brand well.

“Over time, we will improve the share of international revenue and take it tothe desired aspiration of25% of total revenue.”

The company is also raising the share of digital locksin the product mix. FromFY15 to FY19, its digital doorlocks segment grew at aCAGR of 13%.

Godrej Locks eyes globalexpansion, export growthDigital locks’ share in product mix rises

Lalatendu Mishra

MUMBAI

Reserve Bank of India (RBI)Governor Shaktikanta Dason Saturday said corporategovernance remained thecentral concern of publicsector banks, the lack ofwhich was responsible forproblems such as high badloans, capital shortfalls andfrauds.

Speaking at the fi��rst Annual Economics Conferenceof Amrut Mody School ofManagement, AhmedabadUniversity, Mr. Das termedcorporate governance in public sector banks ‘the elephant in the room’ and said,“The role of independentboards in fostering a compliance culture by establishing the proper systems ofcontrol, audit and distinct reporting of business and risk

management has been foundwanting in some PSBs, leading to buildup of NPAs.”

On the issue of merger ofPSBs, he cautioned that theprocess needed to be executed without any disruption.

“I must, however, hastento add that the merger process has to be executed without creating any disruption

in the normal functioning ofthese banks,” he said.

The government had earlier announced the mergerof 10 public sector banks intofour, and the process is expected to completed byMarch 2020.

The RBI Governor said governance issues in privatesector banks originated from

an altogether diff��erent set ofconcerns, which were mainly related to the incentivestructure of their managements, quality of audits andcompliance, and functioningof audit and risk management committees.

‘IBC a game changer’On resolution of stressed assets, Mr. Das said despite delays in resolution in thebankruptcy process, the Insolvency and BankruptcyCode, 2016 had been a gamechanger.

“I am optimistic that theseare teething problems in anew law. The real impact ofthe IBC is to be seen in freshcases where I expect the lawto provide an effi��cient avenue to eff��ect a resolution.,”he said. In this context, hesaid various eff��orts towards

resolution of stressed assetshad resulted in nonperforming assets (NPAs) of the banking system declining for thefi��rst time in March 2019 aftera gap of seven years.

“Fresh slippages declinedand the systemlevel provision coverage ratio jumpedto 60.5% from 48.3% a yearago,” he said, adding that thecapital adequacy ratio of thebanking system had increased to 14.3%, much higher than the Basel norms,which was also due to recapitalisation of PSBs to the tuneof ₹��2.9 lakh crore in the recent period.

The RBI Governor alsohighlighted the steps takenover the years leading to thedigital paymentstoGDP ratio rising to 8.6% at endMarch 2019, from 6.7% atendMarch 2016.

Governance key concern for PSBs: Das Lack of corporate governance has led to high bad loans, capital shortfalls, frauds, says RBI Governor

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

Mumbai

Reliance Group chairmanAnil Ambani on Friday resigned as the director of thebankrupt Reliance Communications (RCom). This follows the company's reported consolidated loss of₹��30,142 crore, the secondhighest in corporate India after Vodafone Idea, whosequarterly fi��nancials cameout on Thursday.

Chhaya Virani, Ryna Karani, Manjari Kacker and Suresh Rangachar have also resigned as directors, thecompany said in a fi��ling withthe BSE on Saturday.

The company recorded ahumongous loss of ₹��30,142crore after provisioning forstatutory licence fee andspectrum usage dues, following the recent Supreme

Court order favouring theTelecom Department on calculation of adjusted gross revenues. This compares witha profi��t of ₹��1,141 crore a yearearlier.

“The resignation of Manikantan V. and appointmentof D. Vishwanath as executive director and chief fi��nancial offi��cer have been put upto the Committee of Credi

tors [COC] for their approval... Since the company isunder CIRP [Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process], the above resignationsare being put before the COCmembers for their consideration,” said the statement.

RCom had fi��led for insolvency and owes ₹��47,000crore to fi��nancial creditors.

Last month, the company’s chief fi��nancial offi��cerManikantan V. had tenderedhis resignation.

RCom had provisioned₹��25,588 crore for liability onaccount of licence and spectrum fee, leading to the massive loss. Industry biggieBharti Airtel also reported aloss of over ₹��23,000 croredue to similar provisions.

RCom’s revenue from operations in the second quarter fell by 70% to ₹��302 crore.

Anil Ambani exits RCom board Four others too resign; fi��rm records Q2 loss of ₹��30,142 crore


MUMBAI

Anil Ambani

Hind Rectifi��ers Ltd., whichmanufactures a range ofproducts for the Indian Railways and for industrial applications, is gearing up todevelop new products andtap opportunities in emerging areas of metro rail andthe overall mobility space,its CEO Suramya Nevatiasaid in an interview.

The company, which produces converters, controlelectronics, transformers,rectifi��ers, inverters and semi conductor devices, haslined up a new range of products through enhanced focus on Research & Development (R&D).

“Our main focus is IndianRailways. We want to develop technology which ismore effi��cient, low cost anddurable, which we can pro

vide to Indian Railways.Through emphasis on R&Dwe want to be a technologycompany that does manufacturing,” he said.

“Emerging areas for us iselectric locomotives; IndianRailways is planning to increase the number of unitsfrom 650 to around 1,000every year.” Apart from this,they are planning to acquireabout 4,000 more passenger coaches, which is a bigopportunity, he said.

Besides, the fi��rm is looking for large orders from theupcoming metro rail projects in the country. “Thebiggest opportunity for us isthe Mumbai Metro. Apartfrom that, we are also looking at EMUs and mono rail,”Mr. Nevatia said. The company is also in the process ofdesigning chargers for electric vehicles.

Bets on electric locomotives for IR

Lalatendu Mishra

MUMBAI

Hind Rectifi��ers to focus onopportunities in metro rail

FM holds meeting onGST simplifi��cationNEW DELHI

Finance Minister Nirmala

Sitharaman on Saturday held

a meeting with chartered

accountants, traders and

other stakeholders as part of

efforts to further simplify

Goods and Services Tax (GST)

forms and make the filling

process more user friendly.

To highlight the problems

faced by GST filers, the

stakeholders attempted to

file specific returns on a

realtime basis in the meeting

and tried to show where they

were facing difficulties. PTI

IN BRIEF


DELHI THE HINDU


CMYK

A ND-NDE

FAQ

The story so far: On August 8, the President gave hisassent to the Code on Wages, 2019, that had earlier beenapproved by Parliament. The Code, which replaces fourlaws — the Payment of Wages Act, 1936; the MinimumWages Act, 1948; the Payment of Bonus Act, 1965; andthe Equal Remuneration Act, 1976 — seeks to regulatewages and bonuses for all workers employed by anyindustry, trade, business or manufacturer. While theCode is now law, the Ministry of Labour andEmployment on November 1 published the draft rules forimplementing the provisions and sought comments fromstakeholders until December 1. Following theconsultation, the Centre will notify the rules that willcreate the mechanisms to fi��x a fl��oor wage that wouldthen undergird the minimum wages for diff��erentcategories of workers — unskilled, semiskilled, skilledand highly skilled — that the States and Centralgovernment would have to set and enforce.

Why is the Code signifi��cant?Minimum wages are accepted globally to be a vital meansto both combating poverty and, equally crucially,ensuring the vibrancy of any economy. In the aftermathof the 2008 global fi��nancial crisis and the erosion ofpurchasing power worldwide, the International LabourConference’s Global Jobs Pact of 2009 identifi��ed “theregular adjustment of wages, in consultation with thesocial partners” as a means of reducing inequality,increasing demand and contributing to economicstability.

The Code acknowledges that the aim in setting thefl��oor wage is to ensure “minimum living standards” forworkers and the draft rules incorporate criteria declaredin a landmark judgment of the Supreme Court in 1992 aswell as recommendations of the 15th Indian LabourConference. These include the net calorifi��c needs for a

working class family(defi��ned as the earningworker, spouse and twochildren or the equivalentof three adultconsumption units) set at2,700 calories per day perconsumption unit, theirannual clothingrequirements at 66 metresper family, house rentexpenses assumed at 10%of food and clothingexpenditure, as well as

expenses on children’s education, medical needs,recreation and contingencies.

The rules, similarly, cover almost the entire gamut ofwagerelated norms including the number of hours ofwork that would constitute a normal working day (set atnine hours), time interval for revision of dearnessallowance, night shifts and overtime and criteria formaking deductions. A separate chapter of the draft rulesalso deals with the payment of bonus while another laysdown the guidelines for the formation of the CentralAdvisory Board as well as its functioning.

How will it impact the economy?A lot will depend on the fi��nal fl��oor wage or wages (therecould be diff��erent fl��oor wages for diff��erent geographicalareas) that the Centre will choose to set based on itsconsultations with the Board as well as any Stategovernments it opts to consult with. While a nationalminimum wage of ₹��176 per day had been recommendedin 2017, an expert committee constituted by the LabourMinistry had in February this year recommended that a“need based national minimum wage for India” ought tobe fi��xed at ₹��375 per day (₹��9,750 per month). Additionally,the committee had mooted payment of a citycompensatory allowance averaging up to ₹��55 per day forurban workers. Earlier, in 2015, the Seventh Central PayCommission had recommended setting the minimumpay for government employees at ₹��18,000 per month.And just last month, the Delhi government set aminimum wage of ₹��14,842 per month for unskilledworkers after the Supreme Court ruled in favour of thelocal government, brushing aside the objections raisedby a plethora of employers’ associations.

The Finance Ministry’s Economic Survey, in July, hadin a chapter titled ‘Redesigning a Minimum Wage Systemin India for Inclusive Growth’ stressed the importance ofestablishing an eff��ective minimum wage system. Such astatutory national minimum wage would have multipleimpacts including helping lift wage levels and reducingwage inequality, thus furthering inclusive growth,according to the survey. For India to reap the muchtouted ‘demographic dividend’, robust wage expansionwould ultimately be essential to help buoy consumptionled economic growth.

What lies ahead?Trade unions, including the RSSaffi��liated BharatiyaMazdoor Sangh (BMS) and the All India Trade UnionCongress (AITUC), have voiced their reservations withmultiple aspects of the Code and plan to submit detailedfeedback. The points of contention include the ninehourworking day defi��nition, a lack of clarity in the rules onscope for upgradation of workers’ skill category and thelack of representation for trade unions in the wagefi��xation committee. The ultimate success of the Code willbe determined by the extent to which the minimumwage set is both fair and actually implemented so as tobenefi��t the millions of workers in the unorganisedsectors of the economy.

Fixing a minimum wage Why is it necessary? How will theprovisions of the Code on Wages,2019, be implemented?

An expert committeeconstituted by theLabour Ministry hasrecommended that a‘need based nationalminimum wage forIndia’ ought to befi��xed at ₹��375 per day(₹��9,750 per month)

Suresh Seshadri

GETTY IMAGES/ISTOCKPHOTO

The story so far: On October 30, many publicationsreported that phones of several dozen Indian journalists,lawyers and human rights activists had beencompromised using an invasive Israelidevelopedmalware called Pegasus. Messaging platform WhatsApp,through which the malware was disseminated, hasreported that 121 individuals were targeted in India alone.A lawsuit was fi��led against Israeli cyberintelligence fi��rmNSO by WhatsApp and its parent company Facebook in aU.S. court in California on October 29, accusing it of usingtheir messaging platform to despatch Pegasus forsurveillance to approximately 1,400 mobile phones anddevices worldwide. The NSO claims that it only sells thesoftware to governments but the Indian government hasdenied purchasing it and has asked WhatsApp to explainthe security breach.

Is surveillance of this kind illegal in India?Yes. First, it’s important to explain that there are legalroutes to surveillance that can be conducted by thegovernment. The laws governing this are the IndianTelegraph Act, 1885, which deals with interception ofcalls, and the Information Technology (IT) Act, 2000,which deals with interception of data. Under both laws,only the government, under certain circumstances, ispermitted to conduct surveillance, and not private actors.Moreover, hacking is expressly prohibited under the ITAct. Section 43 and Section 66 of the IT Act cover the civiland criminal off��ences of data theft and hackingrespectively. Section 66B covers punishment fordishonestly receiving stolen computer resource orcommunication. The punishment includes imprisonmentfor a term which may extend to three years.

How broad are the laws regarding legalsurveillance?The framework for understanding the checks andbalances built into these laws dates back to 1996. In 1996,the Supreme Court noted that there was a lack ofprocedural safeguards in the Indian Telegraph Act. It laiddown some guidelines that were later codifi��ed into rulesin 2007. This included a specifi��c rule that orders oninterceptions of communication should only be issued bythe Secretary in the Ministry of Home Aff��airs.

These rules were partly refl��ected in the IT (Proceduresand Safeguards for Interception, Monitoring andDecryption of Information) Rules framed in 2009 underthe IT Act. The rules state that only the competentauthority can issue an order for the interception,monitoring or decryption of any information generated,

transmitted, received or stored in any computer resource(mobile phones would count). The competent authority isonce again the Union Home Secretary or State Secretariesin charge of the Home Departments.

In December 2018, the Central government created afurore when it authorised 10 Central agencies to conductsurveillance — the Intelligence Bureau, the Central Bureauof Investigation, the National Investigation Agency, theResearch & Analysis Wing, the Directorate of SignalIntelligence, the Narcotics Control Bureau, theEnforcement Directorate, the Central Board of DirectTaxes, the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence and theDelhi Police Commissioner. In the face of criticism that itwas building a ‘surveillance state’, the governmentcountered that it was building upon the rules laid down in2009 and the agencies would still need approval from acompetent authority, usually the Union Home Secretary.The 2018 action of the Union government has beenchallenged in the Supreme Court.

What about the Supreme Court verdict on privacy?The Supreme Court in a landmark decision in August,2017 (Justice K. S. Puttaswamy (Retd.) and Anr. vs UnionOf India And Others) unanimously upheld right toprivacy as a fundamental right under Articles 14, 19 and 21of the Constitution. It is a building block and animportant component of the legal battles that are to comeover the state’s ability to conduct surveillance. But as yeta grey area remains between privacy and the state’srequirements for security.

In the same year, the government also constituted aData Protection Committee under retired Justice B.N.Srikrishna. It held public hearings across India and

submitted a draft data protection law in 2018 whichParliament is yet to enact. Experts have pointed out,however, that the draft law does not deal adequately withsurveillance reform.

Do other countries have stricter laws againstsurveillance?This continues to be a grey area around the world. Take

the U.S. for example.Electronic surveillance isconsidered a search underthe Fourth Amendmentwhich protects individualsfrom unreasonable searchand seizure. Thus thegovernment has to obtain awarrant from a court ineach case and crucially,establish probable cause tobelieve a search is justifi��ed.It also has to provide aspecifi��c time period underwhich the surveillance is tobe conducted and to

describe in particularity the conversation that is to beintercepted. There are very few exceptions, or exigentcircumstances under which the government may proceedwithout a warrant.

After the 9/11 attacks in 2001, the USA PATRIOT(Uniting and Strengthening America by ProvidingAppropriate Tools Required to Intercept and ObstructTerrorism) Act was passed. Under certain provisions inthis Act, the U.S. government used phone companies tocollect information on millions of citizens and these werepart of revelations made by the whistleblower EdwardSnowden in 2013. Many aspects of the PATRIOT Act,particularly those involving surveillance, were to lapseafter a certain time period but they were reauthorised byCongress. It’s an issue the U.S. still struggles with andseveral rights groups argue that the Act violates theConstitution.

In October 2019, the U.K.based security fi��rmComparitech did a survey of 47 countries to see wheregovernments are failing to protect privacy or are creatingsurveillance states. They found that only fi��ve countrieshad “adequate safeguards” and most are activelyconducting surveillance on citizens and sharinginformation about them. China and Russia featured as thetop two worst off��enders on the list. Number three on thelist? India, primarily the report says, because its dataprotection Bill is yet to take eff��ect and there isn’t a dataprotection authority in place.

What are the surveillance laws in India? After the WhatsApp breach, what should the way forward be and why is a data protection law not in place?

Jayant Sriram

* GETTY IMAGES/ISTOCKPHOTO

According to a UKbased security fi��rm,China and Russiafeature as the top twoworst off��enders onthe list forsurveillance oncitizens. India isnumber three on the list

The story so far: When the Babri MasjidRamJanmabhoomi dispute was at its height, in the early1990s, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and other Hinduorganisations also laid claim to two other mosques — theGyanvapi mosque in Varanasi and the Shahi Idgah inMathura. Although the radicals in the Hindu camp oftenspoke of reclaiming 3,000 mosques across the country,they threatened to start agitations only in respect to thesetwo places of worship. In this backdrop, the P.V.Narasimha Rao government enacted, in September 1991,a special law to freeze the status of places of worship asthey were on August 15, 1947. The law kept the disputedstructure at Ayodhya out of its purview, mainly because itwas the subject of prolonged litigation. It was also aimedat providing scope for a possible negotiated settlement.

What is the objective of the Act?The aim of the Act was to freeze the status of any place ofworship as it existed on August 15, 1947. It was also toprovide for the maintenance of the religious character ofsuch a place of worship as on that day. It was intended topreempt new claims by any group about the past statusof any place of worship and attempts to reclaim thestructures or the land on which they stood. It was hopedthat the legislation would help the preservation ofcommunal harmony in the long run.

“We see this Bill as a measure to provide and developour glorious traditions of love, peace and harmony,” thethenHome Minister, S.B. Chavan, said in the Lok Sabhaon September 10, 1991. “The country’s tradition of amityand harmony came under severe strain during the preIndependence period. After Independence, we have setabout healing the wounds of the past and endeavoured torestore our traditions of communal amity and goodwill totheir past glory,” he said. The Congress had promisedsuch legislation in its manifesto for the 1991 Lok Sabhaelection. The President’s address to Parliament alsocontained a reference to it.

What are its main features?The Act declares that the religious character of a place ofworship shall continue to be the same as it was on August15, 1947. It says no person shall convert any place ofworship of any religious denomination into one of adiff��erent denomination or section. It declares that allsuits, appeals or any other proceedings regardingconverting the character of a place of worship, which arepending before any court or authority on August 15, 1947,will abate as soon as the law comes into force. No furtherlegal proceedings can be instituted.

However, there is an exception to the bar on institutingfresh proceedings with regard to suits that related toconversion of status that happened after August 15, 1947.This saves legal proceedings, suits and appeals regardingchange of status that took place after the cutoff�� date.These provisions will not apply to ancient and historicalmonuments and archaeological sites and remains that arecovered by the Ancient Monuments and ArchaeologicalSites and Remains Act, 1958; a suit that has been fi��nallysettled or disposed of; and any dispute that has beensettled by the parties or conversion of any place that tookplace by acquiescence before the Act commenced. TheAct does not apply to the place of worship commonlyreferred to as Ram JanmabhoomiBabri Masjid inAyodhya. This law will have overriding eff��ect over anyother law in force, it said.

Is there any penal provision in the Act?Anyone who defi��es the bar on conversion of the status of

a place of worship is liable to be prosecuted. The Actprovides for imprisonment up to three years and a fi��nefor anyone contravening the prohibition. Those abettingor participating in a criminal conspiracy to commit thisoff��ence will also be punished to the same extent, even ifthe off��ence is not committed in consequence of suchabetment or as part of the conspiracy.

How did the Opposition react to the law then?The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) registered its strongopposition to the enactment. The BJP leadershipdenounced the Bill as another example of the “pseudo

secularism” beingpractised in the country.It saw in it an intention toappease the minorities.In Parliament, the BJPalso questionedParliament’s legislativecompetence to enact thelaw as it pertained toplaces of pilgrimages orburial grounds, whichwere under the State List.However, the Union

government said it could make use of its residuary powerunder Entry 97 of the Union List to enact this law.

Did the Supreme Court refer to this Act in itsAyodhya judgment?In its verdict, the Supreme Court commended theenactment as one that preserved the constitutional valueof secularism by not permitting the status of a place ofworship to be changed. The state has, by enacting thelaw, enforced a constitutional commitment andoperationalised its constitutional obligations to upholdthe equality of all religions and secularism, which is apart of the basic features of the Constitution. It said thePlaces of Worship Act “imposes a nonderogableobligation towards enforcing our commitment tosecularism.” The court observed that “nonretrogression

is a foundational feature of the fundamentalconstitutional principles, of which secularism is a corecomponent.”

It took note of attempts to change the character ofplaces of worship by people taking law into their ownhands, citing historical events. “Historical wrongs cannotbe remedied by the people taking the law in their ownhands. In preserving the character of places of publicworship, Parliament has mandated in no uncertain termsthat history and its wrongs shall not be used asinstruments to oppress the present and the future,” itobserved.

Was there a reference to this Act in the AllahabadHigh Court judgment on Ayodhya in 2010?Justice Dharam Veer Sharma, one of the three judges onthe Bench that decided the Ayodhya case in the HighCourt, referred to it with the following observation: “ThePlaces of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991 does notdebar those cases where declaration is sought for aperiod prior to the Act came into force or forenforcement of right which was recognized beforecoming into force of the Act.”

However, the Supreme Court criticised this view,saying it was contrary to the scheme of the law. Theconclusion of Justice Sharma is directly contrary toSection 4(2) of the Act, it noted, and rejected it as“erroneous.”

What is the present status of Gyanvapi and Idgah?A district court in Varanasi had entertained a civil suit bya temple trust claiming the site of the Gyanvapi Mosquein the holy city, but the order has been challenged in theAllahabad High Court, citing the statutory bar on suchsuits that seek to alter the places of worship. The matteris still pending.

The Shahi Idgah in proximity to the Krishna temple inMathura is the subject of an agreement between theKrishna Janmabhumi Sanstha and the Idgah Committee,under which the land belongs to the former and themanagement is with the latter.

What does the Places of Worship Act protect? Why was it enacted in 1991? Whatwas the cutoff�� date? Why was theAyodhya site left out of its ambit?

K. Venkataramanan

The objective of theAct was to freeze thestatus of any place ofworship as it existed onAugust 15, 1947, andmaintain its characteras on that day.

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