WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2019 A patently unconstitutional ...
Transcript of WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2019 A patently unconstitutional ...
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DELHI THE HINDU
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 11, 201910EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
EDITORIAL
Shadan Farasat
How a country defi��nes whocan become its citizens defi��nes what that country is,
because citizenship is really theright to have rights. For India, thechoice was inexplicably made in1950 when the Constitution wasadopted, and Part II (concerningcitizenship) provided citizenshipbased on domicile in the territoryof India. In fact, under Article 6 ofthe Constitution, migrants fromPakistani territory to Indian territory were also given citizenshiprights. Religion was conspicuousin this constitutional scheme, in itsabsence. The Constitution also recognises the power of Parliamentto make provisions with respect to“acquisition and termination of citizenship”. Pursuant to this, Parliament had enacted the Citizenship Act, 1955; again, religion isnot a relevant criteria under the1955 Act.
This position is now sought tobe changed through the proposedCitizenship Amendment Bill, 2019(CAB) that seeks to amend certainprovisions of the 1955 Act.
The obvious question on whichmuch of the debate has so far focused on is whether in a countrysuch as India, with a secular Constitution, certain religious groupscan be preferred in acquisition ofcitizenship. Especially when secularism has been declared to be a
basic feature of the Constitution ina multitude of judgments. But inaddition to this basic question, alook at the proposed CAB showsthat it is peppered with unconstitutionalities. The classifi��cation ofcountries and communities in theCAB is constitutionally suspect.
Country classifi��cationFirst to the countries. The basis ofclubbing Afghanistan, Pakistanand Bangladesh together and thereby excluding other (neighbouring) countries is unclear. A common history is not a ground asAfghanistan was never a part ofBritish India and always a separatecountry. Being a neighbour, geographically, is no ground too as Afghanistan does not share an actualland border with India. More importantly, why have countriessuch as Nepal, Bhutan and Myanmar, which share a land borderwith India, been excluded?
The reason stated in the ‘Statement of Objects and Reasons’ ofthe Bill is that these three countries constitutionally provide for a“state religion”; thus, the Bill is toprotect “religious minorities” inthese theocratic states. This reason does not hold water. Why thenis Bhutan, which is a neighbourand constitutionally a religiousstate — the offi��cial religion beingVajrayana Buddhism — excludedfrom the list? In fact, Christians inBhutan can only pray privately inside their homes. Many BhutaneseChristians in the border areas travel to India to pray in a church.Yet, they are not benefi��ciaries under CAB. Further, if religious persecution of “religious minorities”in the neighbourhood is the con
cern, then why has Sri Lanka,which is Buddhist majority andhas a history where Tamil Hindushave been persecuted, been excluded? Why is also Myanmar,which has conducted a genocideagainst Muslim Rohingyas, manyof who have been forced to take refuge in India, not been included?The CAB selection of only thesethree countries is manifestly arbitrary.
Focus on certain groups On the classifi��cation of individuals, the Bill provides benefi��ts tosuff��erers of only one kind of persecution, i.e. religious persecution.This itself is a suspect category.Undoubtedly, the world aboundsin religious persecution but itabounds equally, if not more, inpolitical persecution. If the intentis to protect victims of persecution, there is no logic to restrict itonly to religious persecution.Further, the assumption that religious persecution does not operate against coreligionists is alsofalse. Taslima Nasreen of Bangladesh is a case in point. She or similarly placed persons will not getthe benefi��t of the proposedamendment, even though she may
have personally faced more religious persecution than many Bangladeshi Hindus. Similarly, Shiasin Pakistan, a diff��erent sect of thesame religion, also face severe persecution in Pakistan. The fact thatatheists are missing from the list ofbenefi��ciaries is shocking.
Restricting the benefi��ts of “religious minority” to six religiousgroups (Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists,Jains, Parsis and Christians) isequally questionable. Ahmadiyasin Pakistan are not recognised asMuslims there and are treated asbelonging to a separate religion. Infact, because they are seen as a religion that has tried to change themeaning of Islam, they are morepersecuted than even Christiansor Hindus. If the avowed objectiveof CAB is to grant citizenship to migrants on the basis of religious persecution in their country of origin,the absence of Ahmadiyas fromthe list makes things clear.
Article 14 of the Constitution ofIndia, prevents the State from denying any “person” (as opposed tocitizen) “equality before the law”or “equal protection of the laws”within the territory of India. Fromthe serious incongruities of CAB,as explained above, it is not diffi��cult to imagine, how it will not justdeny equal protection of laws to similarly placed persons who cometo India as “illegal migrants” but infact grant citizenship to the lessdeserving at the cost of the moredeserving.
How else does one explain howa Rohingya who has saved himselffrom harm in Myanmar by crossing into India will not be entitledto be considered for citizenship,while a Hindu from Bangladesh,
who is primarily an economic migrant and who may not have notfaced any direct persecution in hislife, will be entitled to be considered apparently on the ground ofreligious persecution? Similarly,why a Tamil from Jaff��na who tooka boat to escape the atrocities inSri Lanka will continue be an “illegal migrant” and never be entitledto apply for citizenship by naturalisation? It is not diffi��cult to imaginemany other examples of this kindthat reveal the manifestly arbitrarynature of CAB. There is also the reduction in the residential requirement for naturalisation — from 11years to fi��ve. It is almost as if CABin its provisions and impact is trying to give defi��nitional illustrationsof the word “arbitrary”.
CAB is devoid of any constitutional logic, as explained above.But it does have a sinister politicallogic. By prioritising Hindus inmatters of citizenship as per law, itseeks to make India a Hindu homeland, and is the fi��rst de jure attempt to make India a Hindu Rashtra. If India is to stay a country forIndians and not for Hindu Afghans, Hindu Pakistanis and Hindu Bangladeshis and eventuallyfor Hindu Russians, Hindu Americans, CAB should not be passed inParliament. If it is, the judiciarymust call it out for what it is — a patently unconstitutional piece of legislation. Else, make no mistake, itis only the beginning and not theend of similar legal moves, which,with time, will bring an end to theConstitution as we know it.
Shadan Farasat is an advocate practising
in the Supreme Court of India. The views
expressed are personal
A patently unconstitutional piece of legislationThe Citizenship Amendment Bill, 2019 has a sinister political logic — the fi��rst de jure attempt towards a Hindu Rashtra
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“With India for their basis of operation, fortheir Fatherland and
for their Holyland… bound together by ties of a common blood andcommon culture (Hindus) can dictate their terms to the wholeworld.” These words scratched byV.D. Savarkar on the walls of a prison, and published in 1923 as abook that defi��ned Hindutva, areroughly 100 years old.
Political boundaries are artifi��cial and imagined barriers to human movement. Most violence inthe modern history of humankindemanated from attempts to enforce boundaries that purportedlyprotect citizens and eject aliens.The Holocaust and the Palestiniandispossession are two egregiousexamples. Ascribing, and claiminglegitimacy for a particular communityterritory link is a politicalproject, and Savarkar did this withremarkable clarity.
During the Second World War,he exhorted Hindus to join theBritish Army, not to fi��ght fascism,but to prepare for the civil warwith Muslims that he thought wasinevitable. Muslims and Christianscould never be loyal citizens, heargued. He wrote, “The tie of acommon Holyland has at timesproven stronger than the claims ofa Motherland… Look at the Mohammedans. Mecca to them is asterner reality than Delhi or Agra.”The idea that nation is not territorial, but cultural, was the core ofSavarkar’s treatise. Though the notion of a Holyland is emphasised,it is only “a basis of operation” todictate terms to the rest of theworld. Not all those who are resi
dents are a part of the nation, andnot all outside the territory areoutside the nation. India’s founding fathers and public opinionoverwhelmingly rejected this notion at the time of Independence,but an Islamic mirror image of itwas born into reality as Pakistan.
Rooted and trueThough a group of sedate politicalexperts were hallucinating a delink between Narendra Modi andHindutva in 2014, he was clear inhis promises and has been true tothem in government. The nonterritorial notion of citizenship andnationhood, the core of Hindutva,was reiterated in the 2014 manifesto of the Bharatiya Janata Party, foretelling the amendment to the Citizenship Act, which was passedby the Lok Sabha on December 9.“India shall remain a natural homefor persecuted Hindus and theyshall be welcome to seek refugehere,” the manifesto said. “TheNRIs [NonResident Indians], PIOs[Person of Indian origin] and professionals settled abroad are a vastreservoir to articulate the nationalinterests and aff��airs globally. Thisresource will be harnessed forstrengthening Brand India,” themanifesto foretold Mr. Modi’s diaspora politics.
Talking to the Indian diasporain London on November 13, 2015,Mr. Modi said: “Our relations arebased on the ties of our blood, noton the colour of our passports. Allthe rights of Narendra Modi has,you do too...” While the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2019 (CAB)seeks to enact as law the notion ofIndia as the home for all Hindusanywhere, the National Register ofCitizens (NRC) seeks to weed outthose who are already in the territory but are not part of the nation,as per Savarkar’s doctrine, echoedin numerous resolutions and statements of the BJP and its forebear,the Jan Sangh. For a nonMuslimexcluded from the NRC, there
could be a route to citizenshiponce CAB is law. This distinctionbetween “infi��ltrators” and “refugees” that Home Minister AmitShah made during the debate onCAB in the Lok Sabha was made byMr. Modi during the 2014 campaign. As Mr. Shah told Parliament, nobody can complain of being blindsided by the governmenton CAB — it was part of the BJP’sagenda on which it sought a mandate in 2014 and 2019.
The outlinesIf Muslims were not legitimate citizens of the nation, where wouldthey go? While he would not accept them as part of the Hindu nation, Savarkar would also not concede to the demand for a separatecountry for them and he fi��ercelyopposed the demand for Pakistan.It was left to M.S. Golwalkar of theRashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh,with whom Savarkar had a hostilerelationship, to spell out clearlywhat nonHindus were supposedto do. They “... may stay in thecountry, wholly subordinated tothe Hindu Nation, claiming nothing, deserving no privileges, farless any preferential treatment —not even citizen’s rights.” When India debates what happens to thosewho will not be able to prove theircitizenship under the NRC, andare unable to seek citizenship under CAB, this is the future envisaged for them in the Hindutva notion.
This understanding of nation
hood and citizenship is refl��ectedin the government’s move to endthe special constitutional status ofJammu and Kashmir, and demoteand divide the region into two Union Territories. Kashmiris, farfrom aspiring for autonomy andenjoying special protection oftheir cultural identity, are now reduced to seeking the restoration ofbasic citizenship rights and statehood; as and when they are allowed to speak, that is. Far fromholding a veto on Indian politics asthe BJP had accused them of fordecades, Muslims would be seeking to restore their voting rights, ifunable to meet the onerous requirement to be listed in the NRC.The shallowness and duplicity ofthe government’s claim that thescrapping of the special status ofJ&K was about uncompromisinguniformity of laws across thecountry stands exposed in CAB,that continues to provide specialprotection to the cultural rights ofseveral communities. Mr. Shah also made the reassurance duringthe debate that Article 371 whichprotects the cultural integrity ofmany regions, would “never be altered”. So, it is not a matter ofprinciple for the government thatno community shall be grantedspecial cultural rights; it is onlythat Muslims will not be allowedthat.
The U.S. and a parallelThe ongoing attempts in India toremake itself have striking parallels in the political project of U.S.President Donald Trump. In January 2017, soon after taking over,Mr. Trump ordered a religious testfor admission to the U.S. Throughan executive order he banned travellers from seven Muslimmajority countries from entry. The orderalso a had a provision, echoing theModi government’s CAB, whichwas then pending in Parliament.The President ordered to “prioritize refugee claims made by indivi
duals on the basis of religiousbased persecution, provided thatthe religion of the individual is aminority religion in the individual’s country of nationality”.This would have excluded Muslims from Muslimmajority countries — the exact intent of the CAB.The American judiciary stalled theimplementation of the order, anda third version of the travel banthat was fi��nally upheld by the U.S.Supreme Court in June 2018 didnot have the above provision. TwononMuslim countries were included in the amended list ofcountries from where travellersare banned. The U.S. SupremeCourt upheld the principle thatthere cannot be a bar on entrybased on religious categories,though it allowed the third iteration of the Presidential order tostand.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor, speaking for the minority in the 54 judgment said the Presidential order —even the revised one — was discriminatory and unconstitutional.She held that a “reasonable observer” would view the executive action “as motivated by animusagainst Muslims”, and termed themajority decision as a repetition ofthe past mistake of upholding theJapanese American internmentcamps in 1944. During the SecondWorld War, when Savarkar was recruiting future soldiers to dealwith the internal enemies, Franklin D. Roosevelt, hailed as a progressive President, was orderingthe internment of thousands ofAmerican citizens of Japanese origin. That past appears to be returning, not as a haunting nightmare as it should be, but heraldedas the promised glorious future.What makes Hindu majoritarianism more eff��ective is its doctrinaire legacy, supported by textsand enforced by a quasimilitarycadre.
Wholly subordinated to the majoritarian nation The NRCCAB combine seeks the reconstitution of Indian nationhood on the lines of V.D. Savarkar’s idea
Varghese K. George
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The citizenship doorThe CitizenshipAmendment Bill and itsgradual passage inParliament is against thenondiscriminatory normsand secular credentials ofthe Constitution. The hueand cry being raised by thepolitical Opposition andsome of us in diff��erentwalks of life teaches us onething (Editorial, “Unequal,unsecular”, December 10)We, the electorate, shouldnever give any party such amassive electoral mandateas it makes them autocraticand arrogant inimplementing their ideals,unmindful of the gravedamage that is being caused
to the nation. Now, citizenshave to look to the judiciaryas the only option to setthings right. Shalini Gerald,
Chennai
■ The CitizenshipAmendment Bill would havebeen a good piece oflegislation had it consideredonly the persecutedminorities of Pakistan andBangladesh. We areindirectly responsible fortheir plight and cannot shyaway from the responsibilityof safeguarding them. Butwhy should we grantcitizenship to refugees fromAfghanistan? They should begranted the same benefi��ts
enjoyed by refugees fromother countries. Persecutionof minorities is not aphenomenon that isprevalent only in Islamiccountries, as the governmentis trying to establish. If wegive special treatment torefugees from Afghanistan,then refugees from Sri Lankaand Myanmar too deservethe same consideration. At atime when we need toinvolve the Muslimcommunity in preventing theradicalisation of its youth,alienating them will only aidIndia’s enemies. The PrimeMinister recentlyemphasised the importanceof communal harmony, unityand peace. Pieces of
legislation such as CAB fosteranything but that.Neeraj Nandakumar,
Guruvayur, Kerala
Criminal justice systemThe deaths in an encounterlast Friday, of the fouraccused in the rape andmurder of a youngveterinarian in Hyderabad,have been viewed as aviolation of fundamentalrights (Editorial page, “Agrowing blot on the criminaljustice system”, December10). But what is of concern isthe eff��ectiveness of courttrials and the delivery ofjudgments versus thecruelty, the pain and thebarbarism that the rape
Krishna Menon is anoutstanding leader, probablynext to Nehru. Here was aperson completely devotedto the nation. As DefenceMinister, he built up manyinstitutions. He was the manbehind Nehru’s equidistantforeign policy. As a greatorator and a dazzlingdiplomat nonpareil, hewould have ensured Indiafollowed a diff��erent path.K. Rajendran,
Chennai
victim suff��ered. If India’sjustice system is against theforms of punishment seen inNorth Korea (fi��ring), SaudiArabia (beheading),Afghanistan (shot in thehead), then it should ensurejudgments that are quick.Jit Sarkar,
Kolkata
V.K. Krishna MenonAs a young voter who hadcast his vote in BombayNorth in 1962 and got toknow Indian politics, I cansay with pride that V.K.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Letters emailed to [email protected] must carry the full postal address and the full name or the name with initials.
Monday’s decision by the World AntiDoping
Agency (WADA) to ban Russia from global
sporting events for a fouryear period is argua
bly the biggest sporting crisis the country has faced till
date. The antidoping watchdog’s move will hurt Russia
the most at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games and the
2022 Beijing Winter Olympics where the nation’s fl��ag,
name and anthem will not be allowed. Russia will inev
itably approach the Court of Arbitration for Sport with
an appeal, for which it has three weeks, but if the sen
tence is upheld it could bar the nation from participa
tion in several highprofi��le global sporting events in
cluding the 2022 football World Cup in Qatar. The saga
has its roots in the scandal that erupted on the eve of
the 2016 Rio Olympics, when whistleblower reports
nailed Russia for running one of the most sophisticated
doping programmes. The allegations centred around
the active collusion of Russian antidoping experts, the
sports ministry and members of the country’s intelli
gence service in replacing dopetainted urine samples
with clean ones during the 2014 Winter Olympics in So
chi. In September 2018, as part of the resolution of that
case, Russia reluctantly agreed to open up its database
to corroborate the fi��ndings of the reports. WADA has
now ruled that the country manipulated this very data
base in order to cover up largescale violations.
However, as stiff�� as the latest sanctions seem, there is
considerable doubt among antidoping crusaders
whether the measures go far enough. Even ahead of the
Rio games, WADA had recommended that Russia be ex
pelled, but the International Olympic Committee (IOC),
under President Thomas Bach, had left the decision to
individual sports’ governing bodies, and, subsequently,
athletes who were cleared of doping were allowed to
compete as neutrals. A similar episode had played out
during the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Games, where
Russia was again banned but individual athletes com
peted. The IOC’s hand may be forced this time around
by the sheer magnitude of the fi��ndings, but there re
mains a similar possibility of Russian competitors still
participating. It may be worth noting that despite So
chi, Russia still played host to marquee events such as
the 2015 World Aquatics Championships and the 2018
FIFA World Cup and is again slated to host the swim
ming event in 2025. In a sense, both the IOC and WADA
have had to straddle the thin line between two power
ful but opposing arguments — of punishing Russia, the
country, for its misdemeanours while at the same time
preserving natural justice for athletes who are clean.
But, increasingly it feels like a situation where even
honest sportspersons may end up paying the price for
the machinations of their corrupt administrators.
Doping to winSome athletes do cheat, but when they do so
with offi��cial sanction it is an epic crisis
Instant reward, not punishment, is what people
willed for Karnataka lawmakers who defected from
the Congress and the Janata Dal (Secular) to the BJP
and sought a fresh mandate in byelections held on De
cember 5. Their defection and subsequent resignation
from the legislature led to the collapse of the Congress
JD(S) coalition government in Karnataka, paving the
way for the current Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) govern
ment in July, led by B.S. Yediyurappa. With the BJP win
ning 12 of the 15 seats to which byelections were held,
the party now has 117 MLAs and a comfortable majority
in the Assembly. The party had fallen short of a major
ity in the 2018 election that threw up a hung legislature.
The postpoll alliance of the JD(S) and the Congress was
a legitimate move to end the impasse, but it was des
tined to be unstable. The JD(S) strength was less than
half of the Congress strength, but its leader H.D. Kuma
raswamy became the Chief Minister. The BJP, particu
larly Mr. Yediyurappa, turned the resentment in the
Congress camp to his advantage. In a replay of similar
sequence of events in the past, MLAs resigned, as if on
cue. Sixteen of those MLAs were promptly admitted to
the BJP, and 13 were fi��elded as its candidates. The Chief
Minister hinted on Monday that at least 11 of the 12 win
ners would be given ministerial berths.
The Central leadership of the BJP had appeared to be
keeping an arm’slength from the developments in Kar
nataka at the beginning but it was quick to own up to
the victory on Monday, with Prime Minister Narendra
Modi himself terming it as a popular rejection of the
Congress. He accused the Congress of subverting the
2018 mandate. The BJP had won 104 seats in the 224
strong Assembly in 2018 and its majority today has
been won through a devious route. What rankles is the
fact that there is now a Karnataka model of achieving a
majority by engineering an adequate number of by
elections through highly questionable means. In the
present instance, it is legitimised by the voters but that
is no reason to overlook the undermining of democratic
processes. The BJP must be happy that its strategy suc
ceeded but it must also refl��ect on the cost to democracy
this might entail. Now that it has a clear mandate, the
BJP must focus on governance and walk the extra mile
to reassure the public on its commitment to democratic
behaviour. The State’s capital Bangalore is also a key
centre of Indian economy and political stability there
has a larger import for the country. The setback could
trigger changes in the Congress also. Party chief Dinesh
Gundu Rao and Leader of Opposition Siddaramaiah
have resigned their respective posts. The party should
refl��ect deeply on its character and strategy as an alter
native to the BJP. Political opposition without a founda
tional ideological basis cannot be the answer.
Instant rewardKarnataka gets political stability, even though
it was achieved via dubious means
To read more lettersonline, scan the QR code
corrections & clarifications:
The price of Brent oil and the % change given in the MarketWatch column (Business page, Dec. 10, 2019) were incorrect.
The Readers’ Editor’s office can be contacted by Telephone: +91-44-28418297/28576300;
E-mail:[email protected]
Viswanathan Anand has been India’storchbearer in chess. Along with tennis star Leander Paes, he has embraced sporting longevity, and bothare playing their respective sportbeyond three decades, more thaneven the great Sachin Tendulkar. Theformer World chess champion, whoturns 50 on Wednesday, has pennedMind Master along with sports writerSusan Ninan. The book, which is being released on his birthday, off��ers apeep into Anand’s sharp mind, explains how he dismantled the Russian oligarchy in chess, and revealshis perspective about the sportinglife. Having inspired a legion of chessplayers including the latest prodigy,R. Praggnanandhaa, 14, Anandshows that there is more to chessthan a Sicilian Defence. In the book,he bares his thoughts about goals,rivals, strengths, and vulnerabilitieslike being forgetful even in a sport ascerebral as chess. An excerpt:
What’s the last thing that slippedyour mind? Was it a chore, your belongings at a hotel or on a fl��ight, anappointment, or worse still, yourwedding anniversary? If it’s the last Ihope your limbs are intact.
I’m a survivor myself. I run therisk of throwing my reputation off��the cerebral pedestal with this story,which I’ve often shared at seminarsand gatherings — but I’ll do it oncemore anyway. It was January 1998,during my World Championshipmatch against Karpov in Lausanne,when threeandahalf inch fl��oppydisks were still in vogue. Every night,whatever preparation had beenworked on would be backed up,stored in fl��oppies and stowed away ina safe by Aruna. One night after putting away the disks, she turned to mewith a knowing smile and told methat the code to unlock the safe waseasy to recall, 2706. Confused, I commented, ‘That’s a silly code... Whichplayer has a rating like that?’ Live Eloratings weren’t around then and ratings were usually updated to a diff��erence of fi��ve. Aruna looked aghast.From the look in her eyes I could
sense her blood beginning to simmer. ‘It’s not anyone’s rating,’ shesaid coldly. ‘It’s our wedding anniversary!’ I had the stupidest look on myface as I tried to make sense of why Ishould be trusted to remember thisdetail. We were just into the secondyear of our marriage.
Perception of eidetic memoryComing from a chess player who isbelieved to thrive on plucking outendless moves, games and notationsfrom memory, this might sound incredulous, even blasphemous. Mostof us players can recall moves fromall the games we’ve played and yet itis also true that we can be at seawhen it comes to a fi��vepoint grocerylist. The preInternet, premobile eranow appears to be buried in a glacialpast from a Pleistocene Age. Then, itwas our spouses to whom we’d turnfor reminders on everything (thoughmaybe not the wedding anniversary!). Today, we’re a bunch ofhunched fi��gures with our thumbs onrollers, fl��itting between mobile applications and tools, gyroscopes and location data. Google reminds methere’s a fl��ight to catch, pops up directions to a restaurant I’m about tovisit, and on many days I have abirthday alarm going off��, making mechoke on my morning cereal, and Ican’t for the life of me rememberwhom I’d set it for.
Broadly, chess players tend to bethe subject of envy for their eideticmemory — or at least what’s commonly perceived as eidetic memory.This belief was debunked by theDutch psychologist and chess playerAdriaan de Groot more than half adecade ago through his experiments.He tested four categories of playersof varying strengths — Grandmaster,
Master, expert and class ‘A’ player,the last a decent chess player whoranks below expert level. De Grootshowed each of them a chessboardconfi��guration with 22 pieces from anunknown game. The subjects werethen asked to reconstruct the board,either on another board or verbally.The Grandmasters and Masters reproduced it almost eff��ortlessly andgot 93 per cent right, while the experts and class ‘A’ players struggled abit, missing a detail in a couple ofplaces, and got 72 per cent and 51 percent correct respectively. But whenthe positions were randomized, making no logical sense whatsoever, eachgroup, including the Grandmasters,placed only three or four pieces correctly. It showed that Grandmastersdidn’t look at or commit to memorythe positions of individual pieces;rather, they remembered pieces ingroups, structures or patterns.
Converting a picture into a storySo, essentially what chess playershave isn’t an inexplicably photographic memory, but contextual memory. What most of us do is converta picture into a story. The mental soliloquy in a seasoned player’s headgoes something like this: ‘Oh, thesethree pawns haven’t been moved, soWhite was basically moving these
other pawns... White has a bishophere, and I recall this bishop positionfrom my game last year. Ah, this is aNimzoIndian opening [a hypermodern opening that doesn’t involve fi��anchettoing a bishop at the start], so Iknow what the pawn structureshould look like and all I have to remember is that one pawn is out ofplace on both sides — maybe a3 anda6, or a2 and a6 — and everythingelse slots in.’ The reason the Grandmasters and Masters were able to reconstruct what they were shown thefi��rst time was because the picturemade sense to them.
An equivalent of this would beshowing the photograph of a landscape to an artist. It may have a fewstriking features, like a red boat witha name painted across it in white letters, a chapel on the bank of a river,and mountains and trees forming thebackdrop. Like the Grandmasters,the artists will recall the features ofthe photo perfectly, but if they areshown a version of it in which the details are messed up — the boat is broken, the chapel is missing and 20new objects are now visible in thebackground — they will have troublerecreating the original. Much like theGrandmasters, what these artistswould do is take in a couple of crucialelements and fi��ll in the rest of thebackground in their minds.
Personally, I favour creating summaries, or collapsing a whole lot ofpositions into a story. While doingthis, I keep the essential elements inmind. I could liken this to a situationin which you’ve lost your way and allyou know is that you need to headnorthwest. With that basic information, even without the exact addressof your destination or a set of directions, you might still fi��nd your waythere. It works in the same way as aperson recalling trivia through a story that makes the facts stick in theirhead. Who’s ever going to forgetIsaac Newton and the discovery ofgravity, for example? An apple fallingon his head while he was sitting inthe garden and the fl��ash of brilliantinsight that inspired the understanding of gravitational force is perhapsthe bestknown anecdote in the study of science. The story that goeswith the discovery makes itunforgettable.
Excerpted with permission from Hachette
India
India’s fi��rst Grandmaster says chess players don’t necessarily have a photographic memory
Chess as patterns and contextual memory
Viswanathan Anand
■ Mind Master:WinningLessons froma Champion’sLifeViswanathan
Anand with
Susan Ninan
Hachette
India
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THE HINDU DELHI
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2019 11EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
OPED
The people of Amritsar have shown wonderful tenacity of purpose and an abundantfund of spirit and perseverance in connection with the holding of the next session ofthe Indian National Congress at Amritsar.They have over come by well directed fi��rmness all obstacles in their way. They are nowstraining every nerve to make the comingCongress an unprecedented success. Theydeserve our good wishes and heartysupport.
Various attempts have been made to dissuade the people of Amritsar from fulfi��llingtheir pledge to the nation. A deplorable instance of this nature came to my notice ashort time ago. “The Civil and Military Gazette” of 31st October published a letter fromthe pen of Risaldar. S.B. Partap Singh whocertifi��es himself to be “experienced in military and civil services” and to have “ruled onnative state to the satisfaction of the Government.” He believes that “outsiders” who areresponsible for the “irreparable losses” inthe Punjab “are again arranging” to hold theCongress at Amritsar. “Punjab” writes theSardar “should be saved any how”. And thathe seems to believe can be best done byabusing the educated Indians!
A HUNDRED YEARS AGO DECEMBER 11, 1919
Preparations at Amritsar.
In its heyday in the late 1970s, Iraq was considered the luckiest Arab country as it hadboth oil and water, a relatively modern citizenry, and a Ba’athist regime which, thoughauthoritarian, was progressive and less corrupt. Ironically, since then, Iraq has enduredfour decades of near ceaseless depredationswith three ‘Mother of All Battles’, economicsanctions, occupation, and existential duelswith al Qaeda and the Islamic State (IS). Recently, it has been crippled by agitations ledby youth railing against an inapt and corruptleadership. They are frustrated because ofunemployment, decaying civic amenities,and foreign domination. On December 1, theIraqi Parliament accepted the resignation ofthe Prime Minister throwing the country intoa fresh bout of political instability.
Protests and the way aheadIraqis’ discontent is rooted in reality. In2018, Iraq’s oil exports were $91 billion, orover $6 a day for each citizen. Yet, over 41%of population lived below the poverty line of$3.2/day. Two years after the defeat of the IS,millions of internally displaced Iraqis stillawait rehabilitation. Iraqis also resent foreign hegemony, mainly by the U.S. and Iran.The attempts to burn down the Iranian consulates in Karbala and Najaf last month showpopular antipathy.
The redeeming features of the protestmovement have been its nonviolence andinclusivity, despite Iraq being a sectarian, tribal society awash with weapons. The protests have often been met with excessive forceby authorities leading to over 400 deaths.Last week, unknown gunmen massacred 22protestors and three policemen in Baghdad.
Although the agitators reject the currentpolitical system, they lack a precise alternative. They call for a revolution to dismantlethe Muhasasa system of sectbased allocation of government positions and replace itwith direct elections and meritocracy. Whilethey are resolute and united, the absence ofany hierarchy or nationwide coordinationrenders them vulnerable to manipulationand divisions. But then, these attributes alsoallow them moral high ground and focus.
Arrayed against the utopian and inexperienced youth are formidable forces: the wilypoliticoclergy nexus (and their sectarianmilitias), anarchists like al Qaeda and IS
scheming for a rerun, and renegade Ba’athists yearning for Saddam Hussein’s authoritarianism. Since the U.S. invasion in 2003,anarchic and enfeebled Iraq has been a hunting ground for various foreign powers — theU.S., Iran, Israel, Sunni Gulf powers, andTurkey — and their local proxies. With its geostrategic location, massive oil reserves andlarge Shia population, Iraq is a big prize.
Although the Prime Minister’s resignationhas broken a protracted stalemate, the prospects for an early positive resolution appeardim. The agitation could either coagulate into a more inclusive political force, or fragment along sectarian lines, or morph into amilitancy. To survive, Iraq’s ruling politicoreligious elite would need a package addressing agitators’ basic demands and mitigatingtheir distress. The new dispensation wouldneed to be sectarianlight. To make a cleanbreak from the current discredited system,Iraq will need a new electoral law or even anew Constitution. In a young democracy, itis important to create institutions sympathetic to the youth’s aspirations. The new leadership would also be under scrutiny for itsnationalism.
India’s roleFor Indians, the developments in Iraq mayappear as a distant rumble. They are not.One, Iraq is India’s largest source of crude. Aprotracted instability in Iraq would result inoil price rise. Two, with direct bilateral tradeof over $24 billion in 201819, Iraq is already alarge market for India’s exports with sizeablepotential for growth. Three, in the 197585decade, Iraq was the biggest market for India’s project exports; its postconfl��ict reconstruction requirement would be huge. Additionally, India can also help Iraq in MSMEs,skill development, healthcare, education,and improved governance.
But before all this can happen, Indiawould need to help Iraq avoid the worstcasescenario. For this, it needs to hold Iraq’shand to foster political reforms and helpcreate credible and eff��ective sociopoliticalinstitutions. Over the past 70 years, India hascreated such institutions suited for a multiethnic developing society. This makes itcompatible to partner with Iraq. Moreover,India’s millennialong civilisational ties withMesopotamia give it a tradition of goodwillwith all sections of Iraqi society. This legacyneeds to be leveraged not only to help transform Iraq, but also revitalise India’s bilateralties with this friendly country in the extended neighbourhood.
Mahesh Sachdev, a retired diplomat, was Ambassador
to Algeria, Norway and Nigeria. He heads Eco
Diplomacy and Strategies in New Delhi
Iraq’s autumn of discontent India can help Iraq create institutions which connect with the aspirations of a disgruntled youth
Mahesh Sachdev
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DATA POINT
During the course of the debate onthe Citizenship (Amendment) Bill,2019, Home Minister Amit Shah said,“If the Congress had not divided thiscountry on the basis of religion, therewould be no need to bring in this bill.It was the Congress that divided thecountry on religious lines, not us.” Itis important to note that Mr. Shah’scomments are misleading; the truthis far more complicated.
The events leading up to Partitioninvolved a bewildering array of historical characters and motives, oftenat variance with one another. Mr.Shah also overlooks the body of evidence that suggests that it is diffi��cultto infl��uence the course of history ifvarious groups are united comprehensively for or against an idea.
The idea of religious identity beingthe basis for Partition has less to dowith the Congress and more to dowith the ardent advocates of a communal notion of nationbuilding —V.D. Savarkar of the Hindu Mahasabha and Muhammad Ali Jinnah of theMuslim League. The Muslim Leaguehad a fi��rm grasp on the political valueof such an idea. Jinnah outmanoeuvred political opponents on hisway towards establishing Pakistan.
An idea that grewBy 1940, the germ of the idea, propounded initially in 1923 by Savarkar,had seized Jinnah’s imagination andwas fuelled by events on the ground.From the beginning, both M.K. Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru rejected theidea.
When World War 2 broke out towards the end of 1939, Lord Linlithgow, the then Viceroy of India, didnot receive the kind of support thathe wanted from the Congress for wareff��orts, even though there were substantial diff��erences of opinion on theway forward between Nehru andGandhi. The Congress promisedhelp, but with heavy caveats, including independence at the end of thewar. On the other hand, Jinnah wasfar more canny, less conditional, andmore tactical in extending his support. As the Congress increased pressure on the British, Jinnah, with thebacking of Bengal, Punjab and Sindh,
increased Linlithgow’s political interaction with and dependence on theMuslim League. Eventually, Jinnah(and the Hindu Mahasabha) did notsupport the Quit India Movement.
British Prime Minister WinstonChurchill, predisposed to managingsituations through divisions, saw innate merit in supporting Jinnah rather than giving into the Congress’s demands. Soon after Jinnah articulatedthe idea of Pakistan in the Lahore Resolution of 1940, the British endorsedthe essence of it, thereby pushing theidea further into the realm of reality.
Failure of the CongressIt is also a fact that the Congressfailed in persuading either Jinnah togive up his separatist dream or inconvincing the British to not help Jinnah take that path. The Quit IndiaMovement also contributed to thesteady drift between the goals of theCongress and those of the British. In1942, the Congress rejected the recommendations of the Staff��ordCripps mission that endorsed theidea of Partition. Even before Partition, the failure of talks between Jinnah and the Congress had a fallout onthe ground, helped by a parallel riseof extremist views and forces on bothsides of the political spectrum. Till aslate as 1946, the Congress remainedopposed to the idea of nations beingcarved on the basis of religiousidentities.
The various rifts came to the surface in the riots in West Bengal after apolitical fallout between Nehru andJinnah. Jinnah called for “direct action” to realise the idea of Pakistan.Thousands died as the riots began inAugust 1946. Trouble began tospread to Noakhali in West Bengaland Bihar. This was probably theturning point when Congress leaderssaw no further point fi��ghting the ideathat Jinnah had presented, the ideathat the British had assiduously foisted and aggressively worked towards.
The short answer to Mr. Shah’spostulation is it was not Congressthat caused the division along religious lines. It was the last to reluctantly go along, for want of a betteralternative, all things considered.
Congress and PartitionThe idea of a religious basis for nations came fromthe Hindu Mahasabha and the Muslim League
V. Sudarshan
FACTWISE
Government has taken up with the UnionPublic Service Commission the question ofpreparing question papers for its examinations in all the 15 languages mentioned in theEighth Schedule to the Constitution. Replying to Mr. S. S. Bhandari and other Jan Sanghmembers in Rajya Sabha today [December10, New Delhi], Mr. V. C. Shukla, Minister ofState for Home Aff��airs, said that the use of 15languages, in addition to English, had beenpermitted for two subjects in the combinedcompetitive examination conducted byUPSC this year. Mr. Shukla said UPSC hadpointed out certain diffi��culties in setting thequestion papers in all the 15 languages butthey were trying to overcome these diffi��culties. The Jan Sangh members had demandedthat Hindi should be introduced with English in question papers of UPSC competitiveexamination and for interviews. Mr. Shuklasaid it was not at present possible to indicatewhen Hindi would be permitted to be used,in addition to English, for the interviews orfor the use of all regional languages for allsubjects in UPSC examinations.
FIFTY YEARS AGO DECEMBER 11, 1969
UPSC papers in 15 languages
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FROM THE ARCHIVES
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CMYK
A ND-NDE
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DELHI THE HINDU
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NEWS
FROM PAGE ONE
The protesters in Assamblocked the movement oftrains and vehicular traffi��cforcing the cancellation ofsome trains.
“The protest this time ismore intense than the onein January. The common people have risen against ananticonstitutional Bill thatthreatens their land, language and culture,” said Lurinjyoti Gogoi, general secretary of the All AssamStudents’ Union, a constituent of NESO.
In Guwahati, a large number of people laid siege tostrategic areas chanting antiBJP and antigovernmentslogans and burning tyres.Some tried to march to Dispur, the State’s seat of power, but were prevented onthe way by the police and
paramilitary forces.Such was the anger that
the protesters prevented themovement of VIPs such asAssam’s Education MinisterSiddhartha Bhattacharyaforcing his convoy to returnto his private residence. Many staged protests outsidethe houses of the MLAs ofthe ruling BJP and Asom Gana Parishad with mobs attacking or damaging the offi��ces of these politicalparties in some semiurbanareas.
Apart from writers andintellectuals, some fi��lm personalities and singers too hitthe streets and decidedagainst taking part in anygovernment functions. Theyalso called for the boycott ofthe IndoJapan summit fromDecember 1517.
Violence mars protests against Citizenship Bill
On the Supreme Court collegium clearing the recommendees, the Union LawMinistry has to put up within three weeks the recommendations to the Prime Minister who would advise thePresident on the appointment. However, no time limit has been prescribed foraction by the Prime Ministerand the President.
The Bench directed thatthe list, which has to be vetted by Attorney GeneralK.K. Venugopal, to also include other details of the 213pending names, includingthe date when each recommendation was made by theHigh Court collegium concerned; date when the recommendation was forwarded to the collegiumafter consulting with theState government by the
Law Ministry; the time period between these twodates; the date when the collegium cleared the names;the time period, etc.
Falling appointmentsThe Bench observed in theorder that the number ofjudges appointed to theHigh Courts has steadilydipped since 2017. Judicialappointments to HighCourts have nearly halved in2019 compared to 2017 and2018.
Only 65 judges have beenappointed to High Courts in2019. It was 115 in 2017 and108 in 2018. The High Courtsare functioning at nearly50% of their sanctioned judicial strength. Of a total1,079 judges sanctioned inthe High Courts, there are410 vacancies.
SC fl��ags delay in HCjudges’ appointment
Some students and members of the Akhil BharatiyaVidyarthi Parishad (ABVP),the students wing of theRSS, have, since November7, opposed Mr. Khan’s appointment, saying he wasineligible to teach in the faculty, being a Muslim.
While they had called off��their dharna for 10 days andissued an ultimatum to thevarsity, the students resumed the protest last week,even as the faculty remained shut since the protests and due to the scheduled examinations.
“For some reasons, hecould not join there [SVDV].Incidentally, he got twomore opportunities, a totalof three opportunities.Among all three, he accepted the post he preferred themost. It is a good thing forhim,” said Mr. Pandey. TheBHU is yet to issue a statement.
The resignation came onthe day Shantilal Salvi, a Dalit assistant professor in theLiterature department ofthe SVDV, alleged that hewas attacked by a group ofstudents for supporting Mr.Khan.
Mr. Salvi has been amongthe few faculty memberswho openly spoke outagainst the treatment metedout to Mr. Khan.
An FIR was lodged at theLanka police station againstShubham Tiwary, a Ph.D.scholar, Professor Kaushalendra Pandey, Munish Mishra, an outsider, and an unknown person on charges ofcriminal assault and relevant sections of the SC/STAct.
Incidentally, some of thestudents who allegedly attacked Mr. Salvi, were alsoheading the protests againstMr. Khan, including Mr. Tiwary.
Muslim teacher at BHUswitches to Arts stream
Home Minister Amit Shah onTuesday told the Lok Sabhathat it was for the local administration of Jammu andKashmir to make an assessment on just when detainedpolitical leaders in the Valleywere to be released, and thatthe Centre was not going tointerfere in the process.
“The government has nointention to keep any leaderunder custody even for onemore day,” he said in response to a question by leader of the Congress Legislature Party in the Lok SabhaAdhir Ranjan Chowdhary onnormalcy in the State anddetention of politicalleaders.
“It is for local administration to decide when political
leaders will be released. Wedon’t want to keep anyone[leaders] in jail even for aday more than that is required. As and when the local administration feels thetime is appropriate, they willbe released. There will be nointerference from our side,”Mr. Shah said.
Taking a potshot at theCongress, Mr. Shah said thatFarooq Abdullah, formerChief Minister of Jammu andKashmir, had been in custody for six months, whereashis father, the late SheikhAbdullah, had been keptconfi��ned for 11 years by theCongress governments of
the past. “Farooq Abdullah’sfather was kept in jail for 11years by the Congress. Wedon’t want to follow themand as soon as the administration decides, they will bereleased.”
All leaders should be concerned about political leaders in the Valley. But if leaders were more worriedabout the people of Kashmir,it would send a better message, he said. Mr. Shah saidthe situation was normal.“99.5% of students of 11thclass sat for exams there, butfor Adhir Ranjanji, this is notnormalcy; seven lakh peopleavailed OPD services in Srinagar; Section 144 removedfrom everywhere. But forAdhirji, only parameter fornormalcy is political activity,” he said.
J&K administration will decideon leaders’ release: Amit ShahThere will be no interference from our side, says Union Home Minister
Special Correspondent
NEW DELHI
Making a point: Union Home Minister Amit Shah speaking inthe Lok Sabha on Tuesday. * PTI
The European Union remains “concerned” aboutthe situation in Jammu andKashmir and its position hasnot changed in the monthssince the government’s decision on Article 370, the newly appointed EU Ambassador said here on Tuesday.
Speaking to journalists,Ambassador Ugo Astuto alsosaid the EU was following thedebate in Parliament overthe Citizenship AmendmentBill and hoped that India’sconstitutional traditionswould be upheld.
“The European Union isconcerned about the situation on the ground, specifi��cally about the restrictionson fundamental freedoms,”
said Mr. Astuto, in his fi��rstpress appearance after receiving his credentials. “It iscrucial that freedom ofmovement and means ofcommunication are restoredalong with all essential services. We have urged a restoration of normalcy, while wedo understand India’s secur
ity concerns,” he added, disclosing that the issue of detentions and the Internetban had been discussed onseveral occasions by the EUHigh Representative Federica Mogherini and ExternalAff��airs Minister S.Jaishankar.
Signifi��cantly Mr. Astuto’scall for a restoration of normalcy came on a day HomeMinister Amit Shah told Parliament that the situation inJammu and Kashmir is “completely normal.”
Mr. Astuto said the EU hasnot at present put in requests to visit Jammu andKashmir to assess the situation, as the U.S. and othercountries have, and addedthat the visit of more than 20Members of the European
Parliament in October was intheir individual capacitiesand “not an expression of EUpolicy.”
Responding to questionsabout the CitizenshipAmendment Bill, which waspassed by the Lok Sabha onTuesday, Mr. Astuto said ithad not been discussed between the EU and the government yet.
“The Indian Constitutionguarantees equality beforethe law and prohibits allforms of discriminations.These are principles that weshare, the European Unionand India, and I trust thatthe outcome of discussions[on the Citizenship Amendment Bill] will be in line withthe high standards set by theConstitution,” he added.
Restore normalcy in Kashmir: EU‘It is crucial freedom of movement and means of communication are restored’
Ugo Astuto
Suhasini Haidar
NEW DELHI
Finance Minister NirmalaSitharaman informed the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday thatthe Reserve Bank of India(RBI) had not objected to theissuance of electoral bondsthrough the State Bank of India (SBI).
Replying to a supplementary during the QuestionHour on electoral bondsthrough the SBI, the FinanceMinister said that being a stakeholder, the RBI was involved in extensive consultations with the government atthe stage ofconceptualisation.
“RBI, being a stakeholder,was involved in the consultation process and during theconsultation process, theyhad certain questions to askabout the particular platform of issuance as to who is
going to issue it and also theproforma with which it is going to be issued. These consultations were recorded,but, at the end of it, as longas the bonds were going tobe issued by the SBI, they didnot have an objection. So,when said ‘indirectly’, itmeant, subject to that,” Ms.Sitharaman said.
She said the Committee of
the Central Board (CCB) ofthe RBI in its meeting heldon October 11, 2017 indirectly agreed for electoral bondsto be issued if it was done bythe SBI.
The Bank in the CCBmeeting and other internalfora would have discussedthe multiple facets of theelectoral bond schemes.
She said the proceedingsof the CCB mentioned that“the CCB supported thebank’s [RBI’s] stand on notissuing the EBs in scrip form,and observed that if the government decides to issueEB in scrip form through theSBI, the bank [RBI] shouldlet it be.” The main reasonsfor issuing EBs in bearerform are to bring in transparency to funding in the political system, she said.
The Minister said theRBI’s suggestion on issuance
of EBs in electronic (Demat)format only with the bondholders sharing a uniqueidentifi��er with the politicalparty may take away a keyfeature of the scheme, whichis to protect the identity ofthe donor from the politicalparties.
Besides, she said physicalscrips would help in popularising EBs and cover peopleof all strata of society.
Small donors may not befamiliar and comfortablewith the digital processingand would like to get a physical bond.
In reply to another supplementary, the Ministersaid the government couldnot access the information ofanonymous donors becausethe gazette notifi��cation clearly says that it had to be a matter of confi��dentiality by theissuing authority.
‘RBI didn’t stop SBI role in poll bonds’Sitharaman says the central bank was involved in the consultation process
Nirmala Sitharaman
Special Correspondent
New Delhi
India’s decision to leave theRegional ComprehensiveEconomic Partnership(RCEP) was not taken at thelast minute, Commerce andIndustry Minister PiyushGoyal told Parliament, in astatement, on Tuesday whiledefending the government’sdecision to quit the 16nationFree Trade Agreement (FTA)among the ASEAN and othercountries.
In a heated exchange withCongress leader Jairam Ramesh and other Oppositionmembers, who asked whythe government had“pressed the pause button”at the last minute, Mr. Goyaldenied that there had been asudden change in policy onthe accord, which had beennegotiated since 2012, andindicated that the previous
UPA government’s decisionto join RCEP talks had been amistake in the fi��rst place.
“Nothing happened in thepast few days,” Mr. Goyalsaid. “Other countries knewwhat direction we were going in, and that if our concerns were not met, wewould not stay in RCEP,” hesaid, adding that the fi��nal decision to pull out of the talksat the RCEP summit on November 4 was taken byPrime Minister NarendraModi. “India should not havejoined RCEP, it should have
put a pause at the beginningitself,” Mr. Goyal contendedwhen members from theCongress, Trinamool Congress, RJD, CPI and CPMsought to counter him aboutthe timing of the decision.
Sticking pointsIn his statement to the upperhouse, Mr. Goyal listed several reasons for the government’s call on RCEP, including the trade defi��cits Indiafaces with 12 of the 15 RCEPpartners it already has FTAswith, and blamed the UPA
government for not negotiating the pacts more favourably for Indian companies. Hesaid that the RCEP negotiators’ refusal to consider theservices sector in the agreement was a major factor, aswere concerns over rules oforigin, nontariff�� barriers,and the subsidy regime insome RCEP countries.
“A comparison of merchandise trade with thesecountries reveals that India’strade defi��cit has steadily increased. For example, thetrade defi��cit with ASEANfrom 201011 until 201819 increased more than 4 timesfrom $5.0 billion to $21.8 billion. In fact, the merchandise defi��cit with all the RCEPcountries increased morethan 9 times from $7.1 billionin 200304 to $65.1 billion in201314,” Mr. Goyal informedthe Rajya Sabha.
RCEP decision not last minute: Goyal India should have put a pause at the beginning itself, says Union Minister
Special Correspondent
NEW DELHI
Campaigning ended onTuesday for the thirdphase of the Jharkhand Assembly elections to be heldin 17 constituencies in eightdistricts on Thursday.
In the December 12 poll,a total of 309 candidates,including 32 women, are inthe fray. The highest number of 31 candidates arecontesting from the Ichagarh Assembly segment,while Ranchi and Kankehave 12 candidates each. Ofthe 17 seats going to poll,one is reserved for Scheduled Tribes while two arereserved for ScheduledCastes.
Jharkhand’s Chief Electoral Offi��cer Vinay Choubey said security had beenbeefed up for the smoothconduct of polling.
Campaigningfor Jharkhandpolls ends
Staff Reporter
BHUBANESWAR
The Lok Sabha on Tuesdaypassed the Constitution(One Hundred and TwentySixth Amendment) Bill,2019, which continues thereservation of seats for theScheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes for another 10years, till January 25, 2030.
Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad noted that the quota in legislatures was required to build a newpolitical leadership of thetwo communities. The Billwas passed with 352 members in favour and noneagainst. The reservation forSCs, STs and AngloIndiansgiven for the past 70 years inthe Lok Sabha and the Assemblies was due to end onJanuary 25, 2020.
The reservation for AngloIndians in the form of“nomination” is set to expireon January 25 as the Billdoes not extend the facilityto the community. The Minister, in his reply, saiddoors were not shut and thematter would be considered.
Speaking during the discussion, Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury saidthe Minister should move anamendment to the Bill to theeff��ect of extending the SC/STreservation for 10 years butshould have been more considerate of AngloIndians.
‘Quotas not enough’Stating that the admission fi��gures in the IIMs and IITs ofSC/ST communities were very low, DMK MP Kanimozhisaid, “Reservation alone
isn’t enough; this intellectual untouchability has toend.” Sougata Ray of the Trinamool questioned the fi��gures released by the Minister on the number ofAngloIndians in India.
“The Minister is seekingto take away what Dr. Ambedkar gave us. AngloIndians have contributed immensely for the country. Donot obliterate a communityof proud people,” the MPsaid. TDP MP K. Ram MohanNaidu, while supporting theBill, said that with 98% jobsin the private sector, the government must also look atextending the reservationcover. Advocating for theAngloIndian community, henoted that the governmentwas dutybound to protectthese Indians too.
MPs call for continuing nomination of AngloIndians
Special Correspondent
NEW DELHI
Lok Sabha nod for Bill extendingSC/ST quota in State legislatures
‘1.29 lakh in Assamdeclared as foreigners’NEW DELHI
As many as 1,29,009 people
were declared as foreigners
and 1,14,225 as Indian citizens
till October last by the
foreigners tribunals (FTs) in
Assam, Minister of State for
Home Affairs Nityanand Rai
told the Lok Sabha. Among
the foreigners deported this
year, four were Bangladeshi
nationals and two Afghans,
he stated, quoting
information made available
by the State government. In a
written reply to a question,
he said that no child had
been declared foreigner.
IN BRIEF
Trinamool MPs demandrecall of GovernorNEW DELHI
Trinamool members walked
out of the Rajya Sabha on
Tuesday after Zero Hour
protesting against West
Bengal Governor Jagdeep
Dhankhar for allegedly
withholding the SC and ST
legislation cleared by the
Assembly. As soon as
Chairman M. Venkaiah Naidu
announced Question Hour,
the MPs barged into the Well
demanding raising of an issue
related to the Governor. Party
MP Derek O'Brien tried to
raise the issue but the
Chairman did not allow.
J&K status alteredirreversibly: FaesalNEW DELHI
The President’s proclamation
to scrap the special status
accorded to Jammu and
Kashmir on August 5 and the
subsequent “rushing through”
of the State’s reorganisation
law by Parliament amounted
to an “irreversible” alteration
without taking the consent of
the Kashmiri people, IAS
topper-turned-J&K political
leader Shah Faesal contended
in his petition before the
Supreme Court on Tuesday.
The petition challenged the
constitutionality of the
Jammu and Kashmir
Reorganisation Act, 2019.
With two women MPs asking to speak as the discussion on the Arms (Amendment) Bill, 2019 waswrapping up on Tuesdayevening, Rajya Sabha chairperson M. Venkaiah Naiduremarked that he thoughtwomen did not need fi��rearms and that otherswould protect them.
“In my opinion, womendon’t need fi��rearms, otherswill protect you,” he said.
Though he said the timeallotted to the discussionhad fi��nished, he said, “Oneof the two women” couldspeak.
He then allowed BJP MPRoopa Ganguly to speak.She said that she had beenshooting since childhoodand that she enjoyed it.
Arms Act Bill passedA Bill amending the ArmsAct, 1959 to bring in stricterpunishments for those involved in the trade and useof illegal fi��rearms and to reduce the number of licensedfi��rearms a person couldkeep from three to two waspassed by Parliament onTuesday.
After being passed in theLok Sabha on Monday, the
Arms (Amendment) Bill,2019 was introduced by Minister of State for Home Affairs G. Kishan Reddy in theRajya Sabha on Tuesdayafternoon.
Apart from increasing thepunishments for dealing inillegal arms, the Bill makessnatching of a fi��rearm fromsecurity personnel an offence carrying a 10year tolife imprisonment term andusing fi��rearms in celebratory fi��ring punishable with upto two years in jail and/or a₹��1 lakh fi��ne.
Women don’t needfi��rearms: RS ChairmanOthers will protect them, he tells MPs
Special Correspondent
NEW DELHI
‘Rape in India’, not‘Make in India’: AdhirNew Delhi
Congress leader AdhirRanjan Chowdhury raisedthe Unnao rape case in theLok Sabha on Tuesdayduring Zero Hour, statingthat the country wasgradually moving towards“rape in India” from “makein India”. “There have beenmany incidents in the past— from Kathua to Unnao —where women/girls havebeen gangraped andkilled,” he said, highlightingthe case of the 23yearoldrape victim in Unnao, whowas recently set ablaze byfi��ve men.
DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD
In order: Rajya Sabha chairperson M. Venkaiah Naidu duringthe proceedings on Tuesday. * PTI
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THE HINDU DELHI
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2019 13EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
NEWS
In the wake of the passage ofthe Citizenship AmendmentBill (CAB) in the Lok Sabha,the U.S. International Commission on Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has expressedconcern over it and considered recommending sanctions against Home MinisterAmit Shah and other topleaders.
“If the CAB passes in bothHouses of Parliament, theUnited States governmentshould consider sanctionsagainst the Home Ministerand other principal leadership,” a December 9 statement from the USCIRF said.
The Commission, an independent and bipartisan federal government body,called the Bill’s passage“deeply troubling” .
“The CAB enshrines apathway to citizenship forimmigrants that specifi��cally
excludes Muslims, setting alegal criterion for citizenshipbased on religion. The CABis a dangerous turn in thewrong direction; it runscounter to India’s rich history of secular pluralism andthe Indian Constitution,which guarantees equalitybefore the law regardless offaith,” it said.
“In conjunction with theongoing National Register ofCitizens (NRC) process in As
sam and nationwide NRCthat the Home Ministerseeks to propose, USCIRFfears that the Indian government is creating a religioustest for Indian citizenshipthat would strip citizenshipfrom millions of Muslims,” itsaid.
Not warranted: IndiaIn response, the External Affairs Ministry said India hadthe prerogative to validateits citizenry through variouspolicies like any other country. “The statement made bythe USCIRF is neither accurate nor warranted. The Billprovides expedited consideration for Indian citizenship to persecuted religiousminorities already in Indiafrom certain contiguouscountries...,” said Ministryspokesperson Raveesh Kumar.
(With inputs fromKallol Bhattacherjee)
‘Bill sets a legal criterion for citizenship based on religion’
Sriram Lakshman
WASHINGTON
U.S. panel recommendssanctions against Amit Shah
<> If the CAB passes in
both Houses of
Parliament, the
United States
government
should consider
sanctions against
the Home Minister
and other
principal
leadership
U.S. International Commission on
Religious Freedom
The passage of the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill,2019, in the Lok Sabha onMonday has sent ripplesacross BJP ally Janata Dal(U),with party vicepresidentPrashant Kishor and national general secretary PavanVerma expressing disappointment over the party’ssupport for the Bill.
In a tweet late on Mondaynight, Mr. Kishor sought tounderscore that the Bill was“incongruous” with the constitution of the party, headed by Bihar Chief MinisterNitish Kumar, which sworeby secularism and Gandhianideals.
“Disappointed to see JDUsupporting #CAB that discriminates right of citizenship on the basis of religion.It’s incongruous with theparty’s constitution that car
ries the word secular thriceon the very fi��rst page andthe leadership that is supposedly guided by Gandhianideals,” the poll strategistturnedpolitician tweeted.
Mr. Verma too took to themicro blogging site on Tuesday to express much thesame. “I urge Shri Nitish Kumar to reconsider support tothe CAB in Rajya Sabha. TheBill is unconstitutional, discriminatory, and against theunity and harmony of the
country, apart from beingagainst the secular principles of the JD(U). Gandhijiwould have strongly disapproved of it,” he tweeted.
Party unfazedWhile the party did not comment specifi��cally on Mr.Kishor or Mr. Verma’s comments, Rajya Sabha memberand JD(U) Bihar unit chiefBashishstha Narayan Singhsaid the party was keepingto its stance of supportingthe Bill in the Rajya Sabha aswell. “There is a line the party has taken and will keep toit,” Mr. Singh told The Hin-du.
Participating in the debate on the Bill, the party’sleader in Lok Sabha, RajivRanjan alias Lalan Singh,said the JD(U) was supporting the legislation since itwas “not againstsecularism”.
JD(U) leaders slam party for
supporting Citizenship BillIt violates secular principle, say Prashant Kishor, Pavan Verma
Special Correspondent
NEW DELHI
Prashant Kishor
In a political somersault,Maharashtra Chief MinisterUddhav Thackeray announced on Tuesday thatthe Shiv Sena would opposethe Citizenship AmendmentBill in the Rajya Sabha tillthere was clarity on the queries posed by the party during the debate in the LokSabha.
On Monday, the Sena hadvoted with the governmenton the Bill.
Speaking to reporters inMumbai, Mr. Thackeray saida detailed discussion on theBill was necessary. “We needto change this notion thatone who supports the Billand the BJP is a patriot andone who opposes it is antinational. The governmentshould answer all the issuesraised on the Bill,” he said.
The change in stance of
the Shiv Sena with threemembers will not alter theequation in the Rajya Sabha.The Congress with 46 members, Trinamool (13), SP(nine), TRS (six), DMK (fi��ve),NCP (four) , RJD (four), CPI(M) (fi��ve), BSP (four), AAP(three), PDP (two) and JD(S),CPI, MDMK, IUML and Kerala Congress(M) (one each)are opposed to the Bill. Withtwo Independents and onenominated member, theyhave a total of 109.
The BJP, which is the lar
gest party in the Rajya Sabhawith 83 members, has thesupport of the AIADMK (11),BJD (seven), JD(U) (six), AkaliDal (three), TDP and YSRCongress Party (two each),and Sikkim DemocraticFront, Bodoland People’sFront, Naga People’s Front,Lok Janshakti Party, RPI,PMK and AGP (one each),along with four Independents and three nominatedmembers. Together theystand at 128.
According to sources, Sena MPs were originally instructed to abstain from voting. The decision waschanged at the last momentunder pressure from a senior Lok Sabha member ofthe party. The displeasure ofthe NCP and the Congressover the diff��erence of opinion was conveyed to Senaleader and Rajya Sabhamember Sanjay Raut.
Sena to oppose Bill in RS,
seeks clarity on queriesThe party voted for the Bill in the Lok Sabha on Monday
Special Correspondent
New Delhi/ Mumbai
Uddhav Thackeray
A day after the CitizenshipAmendment Bill (CAB) waspassed in the Lok Sabha, theCongress on Tuesday targeted the government. The party appeared to be preparingto move the top court on theissue, as the Opposition maynot have the numbers tostall the Bill’s passage in theRajya Sabha on Wednesday.
Former party chief RahulGandhi said in a tweet, “The#CAB is an attack on the Indian Constitution. Anyonewho supports it is attackingand attempting to destroythe foundation of ournation.”
Former Union FinanceMinister P. Chidambaramsaid the Supreme Courtwould now be the battleground of the contentiousBill, as “elected representatives had abdicated theirresponsibility”. “CAB is unconstitutional. Parliamentpasses a Bill that is patently
unconstitutional and thebattleground shifts to theSupreme Court,” he said in atweet.
Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadrasaid in a tweet, “Last nightat midnight, India’s trystwith bigotry and narrowminded exclusion was confi��rmed as the CAB waspassed in the Lok Sabha.Our forefathers gave their lifeblood for our freedom. Inthat freedom, is enshrinedthe right to equality, and theright to freedom of religion.”
Congress hints at movingSupreme Court on CABBill is unconstitutional, says Rahul
Special Correspondent
NEW DELHI
Rahul Gandhi
Even as the Lok Sabha debated the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019, on Monday,the Nagaland governmentextended the Inner Line Permit (ILP) system to Dimapur,the commercial hub of theState.
The decision makes itmandatory for “every nonindigenous person” who entered the district after November 21, 1979, to obtain anILP within 90 days.
The notifi��cation said nonindigenous persons living inDimapur prior to November21, 1979, would have to produce documents as evidenceto get a certifi��cate from theDeputy Commissioner forexemption from the permitsystem.
Except Dimapur, the ILPhas been applicable to therest of Nagaland. Known as
“mini India”, Dimapur district has a mixed population.
Exempt from CABNagaland, Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram, protected by the ILP requirement,have been exempted fromthe provisions of the CABalong with the whole ofMeghalaya, Mizoram and thetribal areas of Tripura andAssam as covered in theSixth Schedule of the Consti
tution. Residents of otherStates have to mandatorilyobtain an ILP to visit the protected States.
On Monday, Home Minister Amit Shah told the LokSabha that Manipur wouldbe brought under the ILPsystem, exempting it fromprovisions of the CAB. Except nontribal areas in Assam and Tripura, the entirenortheast has been exempted from the CAB.
There have been protestsacross the northeasternStates against the Bill thatnullifi��es the 1985 Assam Accord, which called for detection and deportation ofanyone who entered theState after March 24, 1971.The Bill makes the Accordredundant as it is likely to benefi��t nonMuslims amongthe over 19 lakh people excluded from the National Register of Citizens.
Nagaland brings ILP in Dimapur November 21,1979, is the cutoff�� date for peoplefrom outsideVijaita Singh
New Delhi
Rage of a region: People protesting during the 12-hour Assam bandh called by the North EastStudents’ Organisation in Guwahati on Tuesday. * RITU RAJ KONWAR
More than 720 writers, actors and activists have spoken out against both the Citizenship Amendment Billand the NPRNRC, callingthem “illconceived.”
In a statement signed byJustices P.B. Sawant (SCretd.), Hosbet Suresh(Bombay HC retd.) andB.G. Kolse Patil (exBombayHC), and Javed Akhtar,Harsh Mander, Aparna Senand Swami Agnivesh,among others, the groupsaid: “We must unequivocally reject CAB 2019 andat the same time in thesame breath, NPR/NRC.”
“For the fi��rst time thereis a statutory attempt tonot just privilege peoplesfrom some faiths but at thesame time relegate another, Muslims, to secondratestatus,” noted the group.
“...the present government appears intent oncausing huge upheavalswithin Indian society.”
720 eminentpeople fl��ayCAB, NRC
Special Correspondent
NEW DELHI
CMYK
A ND-NDE
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DELHI THE HINDU
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 11, 201914EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
WORLD
SUDOKU
Solution to puzzle 12802 Solution to yesterday’s Sudoku
DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD
The Itihasas and the Puranas are said to contain the essenceof the Vedas and the Upanishads, wherein scriptural truthsare reinforced in such a way that people are able to imbibethem and gain spiritual progress. The Bhagavata Puranaplays an important role in Kali Yuga to counter its evil domination. It is vibrant with the eff��ects of Krishna avatar whichin turn continues to have a direct bearing on the moral andvirtuous life of many by enabling them to experience Hisgreatness and remain devoted to Him. Narada, who had provided the stimulus to Valmiki to write the Ramayana, alsohad motivated Vyasa to compose the Bhagavata Purana,pointed out Sri R. Krishnamurthy Sastrigal in a discourse.
Narada advised Vyasa to expound the glories of the Lordand His incarnations with Krishna as the main theme. Vyasa, who had composed the other puranas and had also classifi��ed the Vedas into simpler versions for the benefi��t of mankind, then composed the Bhagavata Purana that stirsdevotion in those who read or listen to it. Vyasa taught it tohis son Suka and Suka narrated it to Parikshit who was under a curse to die of snake bite in seven days.
As the narratives unfold the glories and auspicious qualities of the Lord, it is also made clear that no elaborate qualifi��cations are necessary to enter into spiritual life except getting drawn to the path of bhakti. The antecedents of Naradashow that he had a chequered background but by the graceof the Lord was blessed to become one of the greatest bhaktas. The study and teaching of the Bhagavata Purana sets therecord straight about the main purpose of life, which is togain salvation through devotion. It fi��rst destroys the ignorance in people who tend to think that practice of dharma isto gain wealth and with this wealth to satisfy one’s desires.
FAITH
The path of Bhakti 4 With indignation, needing no
introduction, defames
Europeans (10)
5 Calls into question putting
back government industry
into divisions (8)
6 Initially the hero evacuates all
trapped runners expertly
from auditorium (7)
7 Dependence on fl��yer for
speech (9)
8 Dishes for South Africa boys
(6)
13 Yeomen are meat consumers?
(10)
14 Most unusual province
between two streets (9)
17 In a riot, they’d bar bowler
(5,3)
19 Charm eccentric Euro man (7)
21 Tools to remove fi��rst part
from torn slipper (6)
22 Roman god returned, idiot
broke down (4,2)
25 Prima donna’s enthusiastic
comeback (4)
15 Start to call for piece of work
(4)
16 Food that does not need to be
cooked (523)
18 Started shooting candid
editor’s passion (6,4)
20 Starts assembling petrol
industry at Samoa capital (4)
23 Crush boyfriend’s armour plate
(7)
24 Due to faction is outstanding
(5)
26 Finch to endlessly circle (6)
27 At home, doctor stern with
trainees (7)
28 Christians house worker during
appeals (11)
■ DOWN
2 Somehow sever new source of
tension (6)
3 Muslim community found in
Belgium, Malaysia (4)
(set by Anon)
■ ACROSS
1 Indifference to deformed icy
iron suit (11)
9 Schematic of Indian city in blur
(7)
10 Holiday internal to lone
asteroid (6)
11 Picture of one wizard (5)
12 Mother houses broker in shade
(7)
THE HINDU CROSSWORD 12803Log on to crossword.thehindu.com for more puzzles
U.S. President DonaldTrump is being formallycharged with abuse of powerand obstruction of Congressin the impeachment inquiryinto his dealings with Ukraine, leading House Democrats announced onTuesday.
The House Judiciary Committee will vote on the articles later this week, beforerecommending them to thefull House, the committee’schairman Jerrold Nadler saidat a press briefi��ng, where theHouse’s Democratic leadership, including Speaker Nancy Pelosi were present.
Mr. Trump is the fourthPresident in American history to face the prospect of aHouse impeachment, afterAndrew Johnson, RichardNixon (who resigned beforethe vote) and Bill Clinton.
Senate trialIf the House votes next week,and if they vote to impeachMr Trump (as a Democratcontrolled House is likely to),he will have to stand trial inthe Senate — a process thatcould commence early nextyear. Current indications are
that Mr. Trump will not beconvicted by the Senate,which is controlled byRepublicans.
Based on their impeachment inquiry of over twomonths, House Democratshave concluded that Mr.Trump conditioned a WhiteHouse meeting with Ukrainian President VolodymyrZelenksy and the release $391 million in military aid toUkraine on the Ukrainianspublicly announcing investigations into Mr. Trump’s political rival, former VicePresident Joseph Biden and hisson, Hunter. Mr. Trump hadalso wanted Ukraine to
probe a thus far unsubstantiated theory that Ukrainehad meddled in the 2016American elections.
“Our President holds theultimate public trust. Whenhe betrays that trust, andputs himself before country,he endangers the Constitution, he endangers our democracy and he endangersour national security,” Mr.Nadler said.
“It is an impeachable offence for the President to exercise the powers of his public offi��ce to obtain animproper personal benefi��twhile ignoring or injuringthe national interest. That is
exactly what presidenttrump did when he solicitedand pressured Ukraine to interfere in our 2020 presidential election,” he said, aboutthe abuse of power charge.
A 300page report byHouse Democrats last weekon their impeachment inquiry’s conclusions said that Mr.Trump tried to obstruct theprocess by trying to publiclyattack and intimidate witnesses. “President Trumpengaged in unprecedented,categorical and indiscriminate defi��ance of the impeachment inquiry,” Mr Nadler said.
“No one, not even the Pre
sident, is above the law”. House Intelligence Com
mittee Chairman AdamSchiff�� said the argument thatDemocrats should have waited for the courts to compelindividuals who had been ordered by the White Housenot to testify before the impeachment panel, was givingMr. Trump the opportunityto cheat again.
“The argument, ‘Whydon’t you just wait?’amounts to this: ‘Why don’tyou just let him cheat in onemore election? Why not lethim cheat just one moretime? Why not let him haveforeign help just one moretime?’,” Mr. Schiff�� said.
It’s witch hunt: Trump“WITCH HUNT!” Mr. Trumptweeted shortly after the Democrats’ press briefi��ng hadconcluded. The President also said that Mr Nadler’scharge that he [ Mr Trump ]pressured Ukraine to interfere in the 2020 election was“ridiculous”.
He has denied any wrongdoing and the Republicanshave argued that Democratshave been trying to overturnthe results of the 2016 presidential elections.
Trump to face two impeachment charges Democrats in the House of Representatives accuse him of abusing power and obstructing Congress
Sriram Lakshman
WASHINGTON
Impeachment roadmap: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi addressing the media in Washington. * AFP
Mass rapes, the burningalive of Muslim Rohingya families in their homes andthe killing with knives of dozens of children were described by Gambia’s legalteam as it set out its genocide case against Myanmarat the U.N.’s highest court onTuesday.
Myanmar’s leader andNobel Peace laureate AungSan Suu Kyi looked on impassively as the allegedatrocities were detailed onthe fi��rst of three days ofhearings at the InternationalCourt of Justice in TheHague. The case was instituted by Gambia against Buddhistmajority Myanmar inNovember.
“All that The Gambia asksis that you tell Myanmar tostop these senseless killings,” Gambia’s Justice Minister Abubacarr Tambadousaid in opening comments.
“To stop these acts of barbarity and brutality thathave shocked and continueto shock our collective conscience. To stop this geno
cide of its own people.”Suu Kyi is expected on
Wednesday to repeat denialsof genocide and argue thatmilitary “clearance operations” launched in August2017 were a legitimate counterterrorism response to attacks by Rohingya militants.
Detailing events at the village of Min Gyi, Gambia’s lawyer Andrew Loewensteindrew on witness accountsrecorded in a report by U.N.investigators, who estimated750 people were killedthere, including over 100children under the age of 6.
“There were dead bodies
on the fl��oor: young boysfrom our village,” Mr. Loewenstein quoted from onesurvivor’s testimony to theU.N. factfi��nding mission.
“As we entered the house,the soldiers locked the door.One soldier raped me. Hestabbed me in the back ofmy neck and in my abdomen. I was trying to save mybaby, who was only 28 daysold, but they threw him onthe ground and he died.”
At the end of Tuesday’shearing, Gambia asked thecourt to order special measures to protect the Rohingya.
Gambia’s team details mass rapes, burning alive of families
Reuters
THE HAGUE
Battle lines drawn: Aung San Suu Kyi at the start of a three-day hearing on a Rohingya genocide case at the ICJ. * AFP
Suu Kyi in ICJ to defendMyanmar in genocide case
A reshuffl��e of Hong Kong’sCabinet is not an “immediatetask”, the city’s Beijingbacked leader Carrie Lamsaid on Tuesday, as she prepared to visit the Chinesecapital for the fi��rst time sinceher government’s humiliation at local polls last month.
On Sunday, prodemocra
cy protesters participated inthe largest rally since theircandidates scored a landslide victory in the districtelections, raising furtherdoubts over how long Beijingis prepared to back Ms. Lam.
Declaring her priority wasto restore law and order aftermore than six months of often violent protests, Ms. Lamsaid at a weekly media address that she would depart
on Saturday for a regular visit to Beijing, where shewould brief offi��cials on HongKong’s biggest political crisisin decades.
With pressure mountingon her government, the Ap-ple Daily newspaper, ownedby prodemocracy publishing tycoon Jimmy Lai, reported that China was considering a Hong Kong Cabinetreshuffl��e by end of the year.
Since the protests beganuntil now, Ms. Lam hasavoided mention of the prospects of changes to her team.
“My fi��rst priority now isreally to restore law and order in Hong Kong and to ensure that Hong Kong couldcontinue to move ahead,both economically and socially,” Ms. Lam said duringher weekly address to themedia. “This is not an immediate task that I would accord a lot of attention to,”she said, when asked about apotential reshuffl��e.
Bomb defusedMeanwhile, Hong Kong police said they defused two ho
memade nail bombs discovered in the grounds of aschool, and are investigatingwhether the devices werelinked to political unrest inthe city.
“The bombs were complete, fully functional andready to be used,” seniorbomb disposal offi��cer AlickMcWhirter said.
Nails had been added tothe bombs, which used a homemade ammonium nitratebased explosive, to increasetheir destructiveness, headded.
She is scheduled to visit Beijing for thefi��rst time since humiliating poll debacle
Reuters
Agence France-Presse
HONG KONG
Cabinet reshuffl��e not an immediate task: Lam
A 42yearold gunman killedsix people on Tuesday at ahospital waiting room in theeastern Czech city of Ostrava before fl��eeing and fatallyshooting himself in thehead, police said.
It was unclear what motivated the shooting, whichhappened in the earlymorning at the outpatientclinic of the University Hospital in Ostrava.
Prime Minister Andrej Babis told reporters it was an“individual act”. “He camehome and announced hehad shot people, and that heis going to shoot himself,”
Mr. Babis said. He said theattacker’s mother was cooperating with police.
The shooter fl��ed the hospital after the attack,prompting a manhunt involving hundreds of offi��cers.He later shot himself in thehead in his car with a policehelicopter fl��ying overhead.
The shooter was identifi��ed as Ctirad Vitasek, a construction technician, by thecompany’s chairman AlesZygula.
Vitasek had been on medical leave for over a monthand was convinced he wasseriously ill and that no onewanted to cure him, Mr. Zygula said.
Gunman shoots down six,kills self in Czech hospitalPM describes it as an ‘individual act’
Reuters
OSTRAVA
Martial law in SouthernPhilippines may be liftedMANILA
President Rodrigo Duterte is
likely to lift martial law in the
southern Philippines by year’s
end, more than two years
after it was imposed to stop
the Islamic State from
gaining a foothold there. AFP
ELSEWHERE
In a sign of thaw, QatariPM attends Gulf summit RIYADH
Qatar’s PM Sheikh Abdullah
bin Nasser Al Thani attended
a Gulf Cooperation Council
summit in Saudi Arabia on
Tuesday, a first sign of thaw
in relations since the boycott
of Doha began in 2017. REUTERS
Chile’s Air Force lost radiocontact with a transportplane carrying 38 peopleon a fl��ight on Mondayevening to the country’sbase in Antarctica, andauthorities indicated several hours later that theywere not optimistic aboutthe aircraft’s fate.
The military said earlierthat it had declared an alertand activated search andrescue teams.
The C130 Hercules carried 17 crew members and21 passengers, includingthree civilians. The personnel were to check on afl��oating fuel supply lineand other equipment atthe Chilean base.
President Sebastiŕ�n Piũ�era said via Twitter that healong with his Ministers areat the Air Force headquarters monitoring developments.
On Tuesday, the AirForce said the plane hadnot been heard from inmore than seven hours andlikely would have run outof fuel around 1240 a.m.
Drake’s Passage, wherethe plane was missing, isinfamous for severe weather conditions, includingfreezing temperatures andferocious storms. But theAir Force said late on Monday that the weather wasgood when the plane began its fl��ight.
Chile militaryplane missingwith 38 aboard
Associated Press
SANTIAGO
The U.S. and Saudi Arabiaare among major pollutersshowing “hardly any signs”of reducing their greenhousegas production, a global assessment of countries’ emissions trajectories said onTuesday at United Nationsclimate talks.
The Climate Change Performance Index (CCPI) measures the emissions, renewable energy share and climatepolicies of 57 countries andthe European Union.
It found the U.S. rankslast, followed by Saudi Arabia and Australia, althoughseveral countries did reportfalls in emissions last year,largely due to an industry
wide fade out of coal.While climate perfor
mance varied greatly — evenwithin the EU, with Swedenleading the way — the reportfound that none of the countries surveyed were current
ly on a path compatible withthe Paris climate goals.
The 2015 accord saw nations agree to work towardslimiting global temperaturerises to “well below” two degrees Celsius above prein
dustrial levels. China, the world’s largest
single emitter, was found tohave taken “medium action”due to its high investment inrenewables.
India, for the fi��rst time,ranks among the top 10 inthis year’s Climate ChangePerformance Index (CCPI)presented on Tuesday at theCOP25 climate summit here.
The current levels of percapita emissions and energyuse in India, ranked 9th in the“high category”, are stillcomparatively low and,along with ambitious 2030targets, result in high ratingsfor the green house gas emissions and energy use categories, said the report releasedhere in the Spanish capital.
‘U.S., Saudi Arabia at bottom of climate class’For the fi��rst time, India ranks among the top 10 in terms of performance: CCPI
Time to act: Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, right, at theCOP25 Climate Conference in Madrid on Tuesday. * GETTY IMAGES
Agence France-Presse
Madrid
Israeli legislators submitteda Bill on Tuesday that woulddissolve Parliament andtrigger an unprecedentedthird national elections inless than a year.
Israel has been mired inpolitical deadlock formonths.
With the two largest parties, Likud and Blue andWhite, unable to form apowersharing agreementahead of a Wednesday dea
dline, lawmakers from therival sides together tabledthe Bill.
It is expected to go to avote in Parliament on Wednesday, setting the date forthe next election on March2.
“Under the exceptionalcircumstances that haveemerged, and after two adjacent election campaigns inwhich no government wasformed, the dissolution ofthe 22nd Knesset is beingproposed,” the Bill reads.
Associated Press
JERUSALEM
Israeli MPs submit Bill to dissolve Parliament
CMYK
BUSINESSEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
THE HINDU DELHI
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2019 15EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
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Coal India . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187.20. . . . . . . . -4.45
Dr Reddys Lab . . . . . . . .. . . . 2897.50. . . . . . -11.25
Eicher Motors. . . . . . . . .. 21259.20. . . . . 262.05
GAIL (India). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111.05. . . . . . . . -5.15
Grasim Ind . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 770.20. . . . . . . . . 3.90
HCL Tech. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 544.45. . . . . . . . -7.60
HDFC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2295.15. . . . . . -16.25
HDFC Bank. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1249.50. . . . . . . . . 6.55
Hero MotoCorp . . . . . .. . . . 2330.00. . . . . . -51.75
Hindalco . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199.10. . . . . . . . . 0.25
Hind Unilever . . . . . . . . .. . . . 2025.35. . . . . . . 17.20
ICICI Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 528.70. . . . . . . . . 2.20
IndusInd Bank . . . . . . . .. . . . 1411.60. . . . . . -38.40
Bharti Infratel . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 254.10. . . . . . . . -6.30
Infosys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 714.55. . . . . . . . -2.70
Indian OilCorp . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 122.55. . . . . . . . -2.95
ITC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235.60. . . . . . . . -5.85
JSW Steel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251.00. . . . . . . . -7.85
Kotak Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1662.40. . . . . . . . . 3.15
L&T . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1279.00. . . . . . . . . 3.00
M&M . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 505.75. . . . . . . . -7.90
Maruti Suzuki . . . . . . . . .. . . . 6963.65. . . . . . -31.10
Nestle India Ltd. . . . .. 14091.70. . . -140.80
NTPC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110.00. . . . . . . . -2.70
ONGC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125.20. . . . . . . . -1.10
PowerGrid Corp . . . . .. . . . . . 182.75. . . . . . . . -5.20
Reliance Ind . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1561.95. . . . . . -10.65
State Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 313.40. . . . . . . . -3.30
Sun Pharma . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 427.65. . . . . . . . . 0.65
Tata Motors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159.70. . . . . . . . -0.80
Tata Steel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 402.05. . . . . . . . -4.65
TCS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2012.85. . . . . . -47.60
Tech Mahindra . . . . . . .. . . . . . 744.95. . . . . . . . -5.40
Titan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1179.30. . . . . . . . . 1.25
UltraTech Cement. .. . . . 4038.65. . . -112.80
UPL. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 557.75. . . . . . . . -5.80
Vedanta . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140.85. . . . . . . . -1.75
Wipro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238.15. . . . . . . . -2.25
YES Bank. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50.55. . . . . . . . -5.70
Zee Entertainment . . . . . . 270.95. . . . . . -13.20
EXCHANGE RATES
Indicative direct rates in rupees a unitexcept yen at 4 p.m. on December 10
CURRENCY TT BUY TT SELL
US Dollar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 70.72. . . . . . . 71.04
Euro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 78.37. . . . . . . 78.73
British Pound. . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 93.21. . . . . . . 93.63
Japanese Yen (100) . .. . 65.15. . . . . . . 65.44
Chinese Yuan . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 10.05. . . . . . . 10.09
Swiss Franc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 71.76. . . . . . . 72.08
Singapore Dollar . . . . . . .. . 52.01. . . . . . . 52.24
Canadian Dollar. . . . . . . . .. . 53.41. . . . . . . 53.66
Malaysian Ringitt . . . . . .. . 16.98. . . . . . . 17.06
Source:Indian Bank
BULLION RATES CHENNAI
December 10 rates in rupees with pre-vious rates in parentheses
Retail Silver (1g) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46.6. . . . . . . (46.6)
22 ct gold (1 g) . .. . . . . . . . . . . . 3597. . . . . . (3605)
market watch
10-12-2019 % CHANGE
Sensex dddddddddddddddddddddd 40,240 ddddddddddddd-0.61
US Dollardddddddddddddddddddd 70.92 ddddddddddddddd0.17
Gold ddddddddddddddddddddddddddd 38,460 ddddddddddddd-0.25
Brent oil ddddddddddddddddddddd 64.03 ddddddddddddddd0.11
Vishal Sikka, former CEO ofInfosys, has been inductedin Oracle’s board of directors, the Redwood Citybased tech major said in apress release posted on itsglobal website.
Mr. Sikka, 52, who recently fl��oated his AI startup Vianai Systems, was a top executive with SAP before hejoined Infosys.
Welcoming his induction,Oracle Chairman and CTOLarry Ellison said, “Vishal isone the world’s leading experts in artifi��cial intelligenceand machine learning.These AI technologies arekey foundational elementsof the Oracle Cloud’s Autonomous Infrastructure andIntelligent Applications.
”Vishal’s expertise andexperience makes himideally suited to providestrategic vision and expertadvice to our company and
to our customers,” Mr. Ellision said.
Oracle CEO Safra Catzsaid, “The digital transformation of an enterprise isenabled by the rapid adoption of modern cloud applications and technologies.Vishal clearly understandshow Oracle’s Gen2 Cloud Infrastructure, AutonomousDatabase and Applicationscome together in the OracleCloud to help our customersdrive business value andadapt to change.’’
Oracle onboards exInfosys CEO Sikka Chairman Ellison welcomes ‘AI expert’
Special Correspondent
Bengaluru
Vishal Sikka
Hong Kongbased SkyworthGroup, which plans to invest$100 million in a manufacturing facility in Hyderabad,is upbeat on the growthprospects in the Indian television market.
“For 2020, our plan is tosell 2 million TV units,” Skyworth India Electronics Managing Director Criver Liusaid at a media interactionhere on Tuesday.
Television sales by thecompany, under the Skyworth, Metz and Coocaabrands, were 4.82 lakh unitsthis year as against about 2.5lakh in 2018.
Capacity expansionOn plans to increase the manufacturing capacity in India, he said Skyworth hadbeen making and marketingproducts in association witha local partner and wouldinvest $100 million over the
next three to fi��ve years in expanding the Hyderabad facility located near the international airport here.
The company, on completion of the expansionprogramme, would have acapacity to make four million TV units in Hyderabadand also manufacture moreproducts, including washing machines, refrigeratorsand airconditioners.
Besides manufacturingunder its brand, Skyworth isalso a third party manufacturer, he said, without sharing details regarding the existing manufacturingcapacity and on the stake inthe joint venture. To queries, he said the aim was togenerate employment formore than 5,000 people inHyderabad, over time.
He added that washingmachines would be the nextproduct line that the company would launch in Indianext year.
Skyworth bets big on TV market in India Eyes sales of 2 million units by 2020
Special Correspondent
HYDERABAD
The Indian subsidiary ofFrance’s Alstom said itplanned to double its production capacity by April2020 and increase headcount by 70% in three years,said a top offi��cial.
“We have not been aff��ected by the economic slowdown as there is increasingneed for mobility,” saidAlain Spohr, MD, India andSouth Asia, Alstom.
“We have ongoing ordersin hand for Montreal Metro,Mumbai Metro and SydneyMetro. The last batch oftrainsets for Chennai Metrowill be despatched soon.”
According to company offi��cials, the order for Montreal Metro will be complet
ed by 2021, Mumbai Metro 3by 2022, Sydney Metro by2023 and the elocomotiveorders by 2026.
Currently, Alstom Indiaexports 50% of its production. “We are happy withthe production mix of50:50. And it would stay atthis level. The indigenisation level is about 75%.
On Tuesday, the company announced the commencement of a new productionline for the manufacture ofrolling stock for MumbaiMetro Rail Corporation(MMRC) Line 3 (Aqua line)valued at €452 million.
He added Alstom had4,700 employees at its fourfacilities in India and thiswould rise to 8,000 in thenext three years.
Alstom India to doubleoutput by April 2020Company says not hit by slowdown
Special Correspondent
TADA
V. S. Sundaresan has takencharge as the executive director at the Securities andExchange Board of India(SEBI).
Prior to his promotion,Mr. Sundaresan was working as the chief generalmanager in enquiries andadjudication departmentof the regulatory body.
Mr. Sundaresan joinedthe markets regulator inthe year 1989 and hasworked in various departments while supervising investigation in various casesrelated to market manipulation, insider trading, takeover of companies, public issues, collectiveinvestment schemes andcompliance with continuous listing requirements,among others.
New ED takescharge at SEBI
SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
MUMBAI
Tata Motors Group globalwholesales in November2019, including that of Jaguar Land Rover ( JLR), declined by 15% to 89,671 units, compared withNovember 2018. Globalwholesales of Tata Motors’commercial vehicles andTata Daewoo range in November 2019 stood at31,030 units, lower by 19%.
Global wholesales of allpassenger vehicles in November 2019 stood at58,641 units, lower by 12%.
JLR’s global wholesaleswere 48,105 vehicles (includes that of CJLR (a JV ofJLR and Chery Automobiles of China, with volumes of 6,224 units), TataMotors said in a statement.
Tata Motorswholesales dip15% in Nov.
Special Correspondent
MUMBAI
State Bank of India (SBI), thecountry’s largest lender, under reported ₹��11,932 crore ofbad loans in the fi��nancialyear 201819, according to aReserve Bank of India inspection report. This haspushed the bank into lossesfor the said fi��nancial year.
According to a fi��ling withthe exchanges, SBI had reported ₹��1,72,750 crore ofgross nonperforming assetsin FY19, while according toRBI’s risk assessment report(RAR), it was ₹��1,84,682 crore.
The divergence, which isthe gap between the regulator’s assessment of net NPAand that of the bank, was also ₹��11,932 crore.
The divergence in provisions for bad loans was₹��12,036 crore.
The increase in provisionrequirement for bad loansresulted in SBI plunging into
losses for the fi��nancial year201819. After taking provisions into account, SBI posted a net loss of ₹��6,968 crorein FY19, as compared to the₹��862 crore profi��t reported
earlier. SBI said after subsequent slippage or upgradation during the current fi��nancial year, the remainingimpact on the gross NPAsduring the third quarter ofthe current fi��scal was ₹��3,143crore and for net NPAs it was₹��687 crore. The remainingimpact on provisioning during the third quarter wouldbe ₹��4,654 crore, it said.
Last month, markets regulator SEBI issued a circularmandating listed banks todisclose divergences andprovisioning within 24 hoursof receipt of the RBI’s fi��nalRisk Assessment Report(RAR). Earlier, banks used todisclose the information ondivergence along with theirannual fi��nancial statements.
SBI underreported ₹��12,000 cr.NPA, fi��nds regulator’s inspectionDivergence leaves bank with ₹��6,968 cr. loss in FY19 versus profi��t reported earlier
SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
Mumbai
Public sector lenders Bankof Baroda, Union Bank ofIndia and Bank of India, reduced their marginal costof funds based lendingrate, a day after State Bankof India (SBI) announcedsuch a reduction.
Private sector lenderHDFC Bank has reduced itsoneyear MCLR by 10 basispoints (bps) to 8.15%. Bankof Baroda reduced its oneyear MCLR by 5 bps to8.25% eff��ective Thursday.
Union Bank of India hasreduced its MCLR by 510basis points across all tenors. The oneyear MCLRnow will be 8.2% compared to 8.25%, with eff��ectfrom Wednesday.
Bank of India has cut itsoneyear MCLR to 8.2%from 8.3%.
HDFC Bank,BoB, UBI cutlending rates
SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
Mumbai
The divestment of BharatPetroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) a stateownedoil fi��rm, is likely to fetch thegovernment ₹��74,000 crore,including control premiumof 30% for its 53.29% stakein the company, but wouldalso cause a ‘notional loss’of ₹��4.46 lakh crore to thecountry, given that its market price of total assets exceeds ₹��9 lakh crore, according to Public Sector Offi��cersAssociation (PSOA).
According to the association, which has the supportof the Federation of Oil PSUOffi��cers (FOPO) and Confederation of MaharashtraCompany Offi��cers Association (COMCO), BPCL’s assetsare valued at more than ₹��9lakh crore according to thereplacement value method.
The government’s 53.29%stake is worth about ₹��5.2lakh crore, according to thecalculation presented by theassociation.
The worth of assets totals₹��7,50,730 crore — including,for example, ₹��1,76,500crore for refi��ning capacity,₹��80,000 crore for terminals, ₹��1,50,870 crore for retail outlets, ₹��11,120 crore forpipelines, ₹��22,700 crore forbrand value, ₹��46,000 crore
for the upstream businessand ₹��98,500 crore for thegas business.
The total amount will goup to ₹��9,75,980 crore if control premium of 30% — or₹��2,25,218 crore — is added.
Mukul Kumar, convenor,FOPO and COMCO, told The
Hindu, “We will write to thePrime Minister tomorrow toremind him not to sell BPCLto any private or foreignplayer. We will seek an appointment to present otheralternatives to thegovernment.”
BPCL has 24% marketshare among oil PSUs andreported net profi��t of ₹��7,132crore on a turnover of over₹��3.37 lakh crore in FY19.
‘No benefi��t to anyone’“Against the current preliminary indicative marketprice of the total assets ofBPCL of ₹��9 lakh crore (inhouse estimates), therewould be a minimum notional loss of ₹��4.46 lakhcrore to the country. Besides, the disinvestment isnot going to benefi��t thecompany or the country inany manner.
“The move will not add toproductivity, competitiveness, revenue earning potential, technology or manpower skills,” he said.
Assets worth over ₹��9 lakh crore: PSOA
Piyush Pandey
MUMBAI
Value ladder: An offi��cers’ body said that recent transactionsby peers highlighted the valuation diff��erential. * REUTERS
Notional loss in BPCLsale plan at ₹��4.5 lakh cr.
Yes Bank said it may consider $500 million investmentoff��er from the Citax Group.
“The board is willing tofavourably consider the off��er of $500 million of CitaxHoldings and Citax Investment Group and the fi��naldecision regarding allotment to follow in the nextboard meeting,” the banksaid. It said the binding off��erof $1.2 billion of Erwin SinghBraich/SPGP Holdings continues to be under discussion.
“The bank shall continueto evaluate other potentialinvestors to raise capital upto $2 billion,” it added. Lastweek, Moody’s InvestorsService downgraded the
bank’s debt instrumentsand said its funding and liquidity compared weakly toother rated private sectorpeers in India. The commonequity tier 1 ratio of 8.7% atthe end of September 2019will come under signifi��cantpressure, unless the bankcan raise new capital in thenext few quarters, it said.
Yes Bank to considerCitax’s $500 million off��erSays it is also open to other investors
SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
Mumbai
Passenger car sales dipped10.8% in November 2019compared with November2018, according to data released by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM).
Commercial vehicle salesdipped by almost 15% whiletwowheeler sales droppedby 14.3%.
The data shows that overall vehicle production — including that of passengervehicles, commercial vehicles, threewheelers, twowheelers, and quadricyles —contracted by 13.75% in theAprilNovember 2019 periodto 1.89 crore vehicles compared with the 2.19 crore units produced a year earlier.
The eightmonth period
of AprilNovember saw overall passenger vehicle (passenger cars and vans) salescontract by 17.98% compared with a year ago.
The utility vehicles segment bucked the trend, withNovember seeing a 32.7%sales growth. In AprilNovember, utility vehicle salesincreased 3.83%.
Sales of commercial vehicles contracted 14.98% inNovember 2019, while itcontracted 22.12% in theAprilNovember period.
While twowheeler salesdipped 14.27% in November2019, they registered contraction of 15.7% in AprilNovember 2019. Scooters, motorcycles and mopeds sawsales contract 15.47%,15.29% and 25.24%, respectively in AprilNovember.
Car sales dip 10.8% in Nov.
CVs shrink 15%, twowheelers fall 14.3%
Special Correspondent
NEW DELHI
Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) has signed a framework agreement withthe Abu Dhabi National OilCompany (ADNOC) to explore development of anEthylene Dichloride (EDC)facility in Ruwais.
Under the terms of theagreement, ADNOC andReliance Industries Limited will evaluate the potential creation of a facilitythat manufactures EDC adjacent to ADNOC’s integrated refi��ning and petrochemical site in Ruwais, AbuDhabi, and strengthen thecompanies’ existing relationship supporting futurecollaboration inpetrochemicals.
RIL, ADNOCmull unit inAbu Dhabi
Special Correspondent
Mumbai
All through the ‘70s and ‘80s therewere only two cuisines that dominated the Delhi restaurant scene,Indian (predominantly Mughlai)and Chinese. Of course, we had ourown version of Chinese food, whichbecame so popular and famousthat there exist IndoChinese restaurants in Manhattan and New Jersey. But we struggled with authentic Chinese restaurants.
Back in the day, there were onlythree restaurants forthe realdeal: Houseof Ming atthe TajMansingh,which stillexists withan almostun
changed menu; Tea House of theAugust Moon at the Taj Palace,which closed doors in 2009; andTaipan at the Oberoi, which hasbeen replaced by the horribly expensive, Baoshuan.
In the last decade, there havebeen only two additions to this list,China Kitchen at the Hyatt Regency(which, by the way, is introducing anew hot pot option which I’ve triedand is fantastic) and Shang Palaceat the Shangri La’sEros Hotel.
So when I heard that a new Chinese restaurant has opened at theSheraton New Delhi, which boastsof the fabulous south Indian restaurant, Dakshin, I was very excited. YiJing (Mandarin for, to change theclassic), claims to serve Chinesefood “incorporating traditionalcooking techniques… in refreshingand inventive ways”. However, despite the charming manager, Abhinav Kumar, and his colleague Teresa, the food reminded me of
Mainland China, on a bad day.The vibe: It felt as if halfway
through the project, the budgetswere cut. The designs are grand, aprivate dining room to accommodate 16 with its own bar and largebalcony, a separate hot pot sectionand a Tie Ban (iron plate, similar toteppanyaki) counter. But then thetables, the chairs and sofas allseemed poor. The red crystal chandeliers seemed cheap, but wereprobably authentic – made inChina?
Do try: The Sichuan Chilli Chicken, which was delicately fried andhad the awesome hit you get fromSichuan Pepper. The White Chocolate and Ginger Cheesecake, whichis served like an ice cream bar. Innovative and with a good balance offl��avours.
Skip: The dimsums — the skin
was too thick and the fi��llings poor.Whilst the Prawn Hargao was okay,the fi��lling in the panfried lambsticklers tasted like desi keema. Thewater chestnut and taro dumplingwas a lump of pastry with somechestnuts thrown in and wastasteless.
The Beijing Roast Duck is alsoavoidable. The meat was cold;there was no crispy skin and it feltas if the condiments and duck hadjust been thrown on to the plate.The Crispy Pork Ribs were no better — no crispiness or crunch, andpoor fl��avours. The exotic mushrooms in mala sauce was the nail inthe coffi��n so to speak. Insipid atbest. Mala sauce is meant to be anoily, spicy and almost numbingsauce. At Yi Jing it was defi��nitely notany of that. Finally, the handmadenoodles were more like a fettuccine(cooked al dente) than anythingChinese.
Go with: Someone you need totake to a fi��vestar hotel, but youdon’t want to pay fi��vestar rates.
Spacebar: 6,000 sq. ft withseating for 112
How much? ₹��4,500 for two excluding cocktails
Getting there: The fi��rst fl��oor ofthe Sheraton, Saket. Best to crossthe restaurant and enter Dakshininstead.
Still NOT ARRIVED
Delhi's struggle with authenticChinese food continues
On off��er Oriental (Clockwise fromextreme left) Chicken Char SuiDumplings; Prawn Crystal Hargao;Sichuan Braised Pork Belly; chefZheng Wei * SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
Naval Satarawala Chopra
Bollywood’s box offi��ce business(nett domestic) may have morethan doubled from 2010 to 2019 —from about ₹��1,700 crore to about₹��4,000 crore — but the biggest success story of the decade is not aHindi fi��lm. According to the box offi��ce numbers compiled by Mumbaibased media consulting fi��rm, Ormax Media, it’s the Hindi dubbedversion of the TeluguTamil bilingual Baahubali 2: The Conclusionthat has raked in the most moneyfor Bollywood. Ormax Media estimates the Hindi version’s nett domestic box offi��ce earnings to be ₹��510crore, which is ₹��135 crore morethan the second biggest earner ofthe decade Dangal.
It’s interesting to note that noneof the top 20 earners are led by female actors. Womencentric fi��lms,that too only two, feature in the listof the most liked fi��lms of the decade (based on positive Word ofMouth generated) with KanganaRanaut’s Queen perched at theninth position and Vidya Balan’sKahaani down at No. 17.
While the footfalls have beenstagnant in the ₹��2832 crore rangefor the last seven to eight years, theincrease in nett earnings for theHindi fi��lm industry has come largely because of a steady yearonyearincrease in the ticket price and amore friendly tax structure because of Goods and Services Tax(GST). “The average ticket price today is about ₹��140, compared to lessthan ₹��100 in 2010,” says ShaileshKapoor, CEO and founder of OrmaxMedia.
Star power
While Salman Khan, with almostsix fi��lms in the top 20 grossers’ list,is the top male star of the decade,
Akshay Kumar has left the othertwo Khans — SRK and Aamir — behind to occupy the number two position. Kumar is also second afterRanveer Singh in the list of the ris
ing male stars of the decade compiled on the basis of the growth intheir popularity in 20152019 asagainst 20102014.
Katrina Kaif is the female star ofthe decade followed by Deepika Padukone, Kareena Kapoor, PriyankaChopra and Alia Bhatt. Alia followed by Deepika and Kanganahead the rising female star list.
The most popular soundtrack ofthe decade is the music for Aashiqui 2 with Tum hi ho sung by ArijitSingh at number one; and Sunn raha hai na tu by Ankit Tiwari at thethird spot. The list, otherwise, hasa number of item numbers strewnall over — Munni badnaam hui (Dabangg,2010); Sheila ki jawani (TeesMaar Khan, 2010); Baby doll (Ragini MMS 2, 2014); Chikni chameli
(Agneepath, 2012);Chittiyaan kalaiyan (Roy,2015).
In vogue
What have been the bigtrends for the Hindifi��lm industry in thelast decade and whatwill be the future determinants? The ex
plosion of digital content/OTT platforms in the latter half of thedecade has meant that it’s eitherthe big budget fi��lms like Baahubaliand War, which off��er a bigscreenexperience, that have been performing well in cinemas or it’s concept fi��lms like Badhaai Ho thathave stood out. The middleoftheroad content is not getting tractionbecause the audience would ratherwatch it online later,” says Kapoor.
It’s not just the language fi��lmslike Baahubali that are setting thebenchmark for Bollywood. An important shift this decade has beenthe growth of the Hollywood business in India, which has tripledfrom 2010 to 2019. Says Kapoor: “Ithas created more exposure to international content, often in dubbed
formats, making theviewers expect a
certain qualityof production,VFX and storytelling from Indian contenttoo.”
Baahubali 2 in Hindi is the
biggest Bollywood fi��lmof the decade
In the last 10 years, Salman Khan has emerged as thebiggest male star, Katrina Kaif as best female star andTum hi ho the most popular song
Namrata Joshi
Over 10 years: (Clockwise from below) Stills fromBaahubali 2; Uri and Tees Maar Khan * SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
CMYK
A ND-NDE
SHOWCASE
Guitar duetInternationally acclaimed Australian guitar music
duo, Grigoryan Brothers, will be performing this
evening. The brothers, Slava and Leonard
Grigoryan, working professionally as a duo for 16
years, are popular for the breadth of their
repertoire embracing genres such as classical,
jazz and contemporary music.
Venue: Multipurpose Hall, IIC
Time: 6:30 p.m.
CONCERT
CanvasThe ongoing solo art show titled Mysterious
Lines by Lucknow-based Dheeraj Yadav conveys
the intensity of human emotion. Curated by
Vandana Sehgal, the artist paints his subject on a
related book and blends the physicality
metaphorically through colours and thoughts
which get inscribed.
Venue: Art Konsult Gallery, Hauz Khas Village
Time: 10:30 a.m. - 6:30 p.m.
EXHIBITION
Winter specialPlayboy Tap Bar and Kitchen, a restaurant in
Gurugram, has rolled out its new food menu for
the onset of winter. On till 15th December, the
menu offers signature dishes like Avacado
Cucumber Salad, Mezze Platter, New Orleans
Grilled Chicken Pizza, Wok Tossed Tiger Prawns,
Olive Tapenade Grilled Fish, to name a few.
Venue: Global Foyer Mall, Sector 43
Time: 12 noon - 12 midnight
FOOD
ArtIss ghat antar baag bagiche is a homage to Haku
Shah, the reticent artist who grew up imbibing
the Gandhian philosophy. Eighty works from the
archive of the late artist including paintings,
sculptures and work from the series Nitya
Gandhi/ Living Reliving Gandhi are on display.
Venue: Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, South Court
Mall, Saket 145, DLF
Time: 10-30 a.m. - 6:30 p.m.
EXHIBITION
JaazThe Piano Man Gurugram is hosting David
Bressat Quintet live tonight. The pianist and
composer David Bressat, who has been on the
jazz scene for 15 years, will play originals from
his albums. The band comprises bassist Florent
Nisse, drummer Charles Clayette, saxophonist
Eric Prost, and trumpeter Aurélien Joly.
Venue: 32nd avenue, Sector 15 Part 2
Time: 9 p.m. - 11:55 p.m.
GIG
5 EVENTS WORTH YOUR WHILE
OneCulture describes itself as a luxury co-working space
that provides amenities such as ergonomic furniture
customised to provide lumbar support and Persian wool
carpets. There’s 24/7 access, WiFi, private offices,
conference and meeting rooms, printing and stationery,
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services. With the use of tech users can benefit from self-
check-ins and app-driven booking of almost every activity.
A yoga centre, napping point, and meditation spot are also
a part of what you get.
At Eros City Square IInd fl��oor, Rosewood City Rd, Ghasola, Sector49, Gurugram; Private events ₹��499 per room per hour over theweekend, Flexible desks: 24 days in a month ₹��8,999
Co-working in health
SPACE
In Sharbari Zohra Ahmed’s Dust Beneath her Feet, Yasmine
Khan, 26-year-old proprietor of the Bombay Duck, has
created a home away from home for a vibrant cast of
characters. There is Asma who imagines she’s a character
out of Bronte novel; Patience, the good-time girl; and
Radhika, who is light on her feet and has darkness in her
mind. It is Kolkata in 1942 and the city swarms with
American soldiers. “Yasmine wanted to create an
environment for the American soldiers that was similar to
something that might have been in New York — a nightclub
with singing, dancing, food and drink,” says Sharbari.
“When the Americans started coming in, a separate
economy had to be created to entertain and house them.”
Dust Beneath her Feet tells the story of Yasmine and
Edward Lafaver, an American soldier, set against the
backdrop of momentous events. The 48-year-old author
says, “I didn’t set out to write a feminist text. I think these
women are feminists. I was focused on the characters and
their story, of this independent woman falling for this
American soldier in the twilight of
the Raj.”
The Connecticut-based writer
insists that people who have
criticised the book as looking at
feminism, race and gender through
a modern lens are misguided. “If
they knew anything about the
women who would have worked in a
club like Bombay Duck, they would
see that these women were much
more modern some women today.
They are financially independent; some had opportunities
to marry, which they deliberately turned down because it
would mean the loss of their freedom. They were well
educated, well read, politically savvy and schooled in the
art of conversation.”
Sharbari says there is no attempt to exoticise India. “I
don’t think there is anything exotic about war, famine or
deprivation, not to mention institutional bigotry and
oppression. The West has a tradition of romanticizing the
Raj but it was cataclysmic for our people. I show the women
as whole people, flawed, glorious and human.”
Describing the beginnings, Sharbari says, “Yasmine
showed up, started poking at me saying ‘I have a story’. I
couldn’t get her out of my head. I am still not sure what she
looked like. Yasmine is more of a feeling. I started writing
15 years ago. I was a very different writer then, much
younger, still idealistic… Many things happened in
between, life happened and then I started writing for
television and that was a very consuming job.”
In the process of adapting the novel into a screenplay,
Sharbari’s dream cast includes Kalki Koechlin for Patience
and Rekha as Shireen, Yasmine’s no-nonsense mum.
MINI ANTHIKAD CHHIBBER
Of all the jazz clubs
Love, loss, war and the fi��ght for freedom come together
in Sharbari Zohra Ahmed’s debut novel
PEOPLE
Contact us at [email protected]
FOOD REVIEW
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DELHI THE HINDU
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TATA ALTROZ XZ DIESEL
SPECIFICATIONS
LENGTH 3990mm
WIDTH 1755mm
HEIGHT 1523mm
WHEELBASE 2501mm
KERB WEIGHT 1150kg
ENGINE 1497cc, 4-cyl, turbo-diesel
POWER 90hp at 4000rpm
TORQUE 200Nm at 1250-3000rpm
GEARBOX 5-speed manual
TYRES 185/60 R16AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
In a nutshell, the Altroz is Tata’s answer tothe Maruti Suzuki Baleno, Hyundai i20and Honda Jazz. The Altroz not onlymarks Tata’s entry into the competitivepremium hatchback segment, but is alsothe launch vehicle for their allnew modular ALFA (Agile, Light, Flexible, Advanced) architecture that will form thebasis for a slew of new Tatas to come. TheAltroz also happens to be the fi��rst Tata toget BSVIcompliant engines — a 1.2litrenaturallyaspirated petrol and a 1.5litreturbodiesel — paired with manual gearboxes for now.
While the Altroz’s silhouette is conventional hatchback, the multiple stylisticfl��ourishes on the body work cohesively toelevate the overall look of the car. Theshark noselike front end, the blackfi��nished sleek grille, the sweptback headlights and highset fog lamps (also hometo the LED DRLs) give the Altroz its distinctive face.
Moving to the sides, the upswept windows come underlined by a black embellishment that tapers towards the rear, ineff��ect, giving the illusion of a car with asporty tippedforward stance. What issure to be a bit polarising is the placement of the rear door handles on theCpillar.
Round the back, the Altroz gets adualtone theme, with the spoiler, taillight surround and upper tail gate fi��nished in black. Buyers also have theoption of a black roof for the fulleff��ect (XZ trim only).
Each of the Altroz’s fourdoors opens to 90 degrees,and getting into the front section of the cabin is particularly easy. The Altroz’s dashhas a layered look to it,with the centre consolefeaturing turquoise backlighting. The freestanding7.0inch touchscreen is positioned atop the dashboard (inclear sight), and material quality is
good by class standards. However, thereare places where the panel gaps aren’tconsistent.
Large seats mean comfort up front iswell taken care of, while the fl��atbottomed leatherwrapped steering feelsgreat to hold. Frontal visibility is good,though the thick Apillars do create blindspots. The partdigital instrumentationalso requires some getting used to. The
squaredout dials aren’t easy enough tofollow and the digital tacho — displayedon a 7.0inch display — only highlights anengine speed range, rather than a specific rpm. The digital screen also houses aninformative multiinformation display,
and what’s nice is that it even relaysnavigation instructions from a
connected smartphone.The cabin also scoreswell on storage space
and gets plenty of cupholders — in
cluding withinthe glovebox,which also hasa compartmentto stow yourtablet — a storage bay underthe driver’sarmrest andeven an umbrella holderon each ofthe front
doors.Getting into
the back seat isnot as comfy as
it’s made out to
be. The doors open wide, but the aperture between the seat and Bpillar isn’tthe largest. The rear cabin doesn’t feel asairy or spacious as some rivals, but youreally won’t have reason to complain oneither count. There’s enough knee roomfor sixfooters to sit in comfort, and if yousit bolt upright, you will fi��nd headroomjust about adequate. The relatively highset rear seat also off��ers a fairly good viewout the windows. There is enough shoulder room to seat three abreast at theback. What also helps is the fl��at fl��oor,which will be a trait on all ALFA architecture Tata cars.
The high loading lip for the 345litreboot can make it diffi��cult to load heavyluggage, but the wellshaped boot meansyou can fi��t in plenty of stuff��. The singlepiece rear seat backrest can also be folded to increase room.
Where the Altroz lags behind the curveis in connectivity. There’s no eSIMbasedconnected tech, and even the 7.0inchscreen doesn’t work as slick as you’d likeit to. The Harman sound system does deliver fair sound quality though.
There’s much to like about the way theAltroz drives. The new platform shinesimmediately, with a great ride and handling balance. The suspension manages
to absorb the rough stuff�� at low speedswith ease, and the ride improves the faster you go, with the car feeling comfortable and surefooted at tripledigit speeds.There’s a confi��dence in the way the Altrozchanges direction too. Turnin is slick(better so on the heavier diesel) andthere’s a lovely feeling of connect at thesteering, which is light at low speeds butweights up eff��ectively as speeds increase.
Moving to the petrol engine, the unit isessentially an updated version of the Tigor’s 1.2litre, threecylinder unit featuring dual variable valve timing and a higher compression ratio. Resultantly, poweris up to 86hp while max torque is 113Nm.The fi��gures are par for the course, but overall performance does leave you wanting. Partthrottle responses are pleasantand the engine is earnest at low speeds,but it lacks the pep you get in a Baleno.The engine also doesn’t have much togive at the top end and the threecylinderthrum becomes audible as you rev harder. The 5speed gearbox isn’t the slickest, though a light clutch does make thecar easy to live with in town.
It’s the diesel that feels like the morecomplete package. The 1.5litre, fourcylinder engine is from the Nexon, albeit ina lower 90hp/200Nm state of tune. It canfeel a bit hesitant in onoff�� throttle driving, but it’s quick to settle into a rhythmtoo. The buildup of power is linear fromlow down, and there’s a mild step up closer to 1,800rpm. You’ll like the easy accessto power and the comfort with which thediesel gets to cruising speeds. Again, thisisn’t an engine to wind hard — it gets gravelly beyond 3,000rpm — but keep it in itscomfort zone and you’ll manage to rakeup the kilometres without much fuss. Apoint worth highlighting is that the dieseltest cars were running on BSVIgrade diesel brought in from Delhi. The 5speedgearbox, here too, feels its best with gentle inputs, and the clutch is light enough.
The Altroz makes an immediate impression because of the way it looks. It’sgot a show value that no other car in thisclass can match. And that counts for a lottoday. It makes for a practical family cartoo, with a cabin that off��ers enough byway of space and comfort. As an addedplus, it is also good to drive, with arguablythe best dynamics among premiumhatchbacks.
A peppier petrol engine, better refi��nement and a greater focus on connectivityare things on our wish list, and are elements that would make the Altroz easierto recommend. What’s also a questionmark for now is fuel economy. All said,the Tata Altroz has some solid positivesand has the potential to make its place inthe premium hatchback segment. Allthat’s left is for Tata to price it well. Witha price tag between ₹��58 lakh (estimated,exshowroom), the Altroz could just upset the apple cart.
First view The Altroz makes an immediate impression because of the way it looks* GAURAV THOMBRE, SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
A peppier petrolengine, morerefi��nement and agreater focus onconnectivity wouldmake the hatchbackeasier to recommend
Flight of the
ALTROZ
Nikhil Bhatia
CMYK
A ND-NDE
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THE HINDU DELHI
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2019 17EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
SHOWCASE
■ Across
1 Corpse (4)
3 Widespread
outbreak of disease
(8)
8 Twilight (4)
9 Capital city on the
Danube (8)
11 Teenage (10)
14 Uniform —
suffering from gastric
distress (6)
15 Prolonged
distressing experience
(6)
17 Railing at the side
of a balcony (10)
20 The Granite City (8)
21 Front of the leg
below the knee (4)
22 Benevolence (8)
23 Nervous (4)
■ Down
1 Easily infl��uenced (8)
2 Go into solution (8)
4 Deliver a sermon (6)
5 Debauched (10)
6 Honeybased drink
(4)
7 Symbol written on
sheet music to
indicate pitch (4)
10 Scene of uproar
and confusion (4,6)
12 Unconnected (8)
13 Third largest of the
Channel Islands (8)
16 Coercion (6)
18 Fire — bag (4)
19 Enthusiastic (4)
THE GUARDIAN QUICK CROSSWORD-13247
6
Solution will appear
in The Hindu dated
December 12, 2019.
Solution No. 13246
POOCH CAFE
HAGAR THE HORRIBLE
TIGER
PEANUTS
CALVIN AND HOBBES
PEARLS BEFORE SWINE
WUMO
CMYK
A ND-NDE
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DELHI THE HINDU
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SPORT
“It’s coming home” was thetheme song for the 2018 FIFAWorld Cup, but by the timeEngland started living up tothe tag of ‘favourites’, it hadbeen adopted as the unoffi��cial theme song for the ICCWorld Cup earlier this year.
The fans in the MaximumCity, while entering theWankhede Stadium for thedeciding rubber of the threematch T20I series betweenIndia and West Indies, couldwell be humming the samesong. Not just in anticipationof India’s series triumph buteven with multiple “home”connect the match off��ers,from both the teams.
Three Indian players —vicecaptain Rohit Sharma,middleorder dasher ShreyasIyer and the new kid on theblock Shivam Dube — areMumbaikars.
Quiet seriesWhile Dube will be keen tocontinue in the same vein after making his promotion toNo. 3 count in Thiruvananthapuram, Rohit and Shreyaswill hope to turn thingsaround on their home turf after a relatively quiet series sofar.
Thanks to the Indian Pre
mier League (IPL), though,support will not be limited tothe home team. With KieronPollard — who has spentmore years in the Mumbai Indians (MI) camp than captainRohit — leading the West Indies, there will be no dearthof support for the Caribbeancrusaders come Wednesdaynight. Pollard isn’t the lone
member in the oppositioncamp with a strong localconnect.
Lendl Simmons, the opener who repeated his WorldT20 semifi��nal heroics onSunday by anchoring a perfect chase, has been a starperformer in one of MI’s fourIPL titleruns. So has Evin Lewis, whose twin knocks so
far would have reinvigoratedinterest among IPL franchises for the auction after beingreleased by MI.
If Simmons and Lewis canstage an encore of the strongfoundation they laid on Sunday, the Men in Blue will haveto play out of their skin in order to avoid the ignominy ofconceding the series.
One of the clichés used byteams all around the world isto “focus on our own performance rather than worryabout the opposition”. Kohli’s comrades — most ofwhom preferred to take it easy with only six turning upfor Tuesday’s optional practice session — would have touse the same yardstick and
make drastic improvement intheir performance to avoidthe series from slipping away.
In an eff��ort to build thesquad with an eye on the T20World Cup, India may be giving a long rope to some of thefringe players. It has resultedin errors — not just with batand ball, but more worryingly in the fi��eld — at inopportune times.
If India is to enjoy a homerun at the Wankhede, suchbasic mistakes will have to beeliminated. Otherwise thefans will have to sing “it’scoming home” to praise Pollard instead of Kohli.The teams (from): India: ViratKohli (Capt.), Rohit Sharma,K.L. Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, ManishPandey, Rishabh Pant, ShivamDube, Washington Sundar, Ra-vindra Jadeja, Yuzvendra Cha-hal, Kuldeep Yadav, DeepakChahar, Mohammed Shami,Bhuvneshwar Kumar and SanjuSamson.
West Indies: Kieron Pollard(Capt.), Lendl Simmons, EvinLewis, Shimron Hetmyer, Bran-don King, Nicholas Pooran, Ja-son Holder, Keemo Paul, KharyPierre, Denesh Ramdin, Sher-fane Rutherford, Hayden WalshJr., Fabian Allen, Sheldon Cot-trell and Kesrick Williams.
Umpires: Nitin Menon and Nan-dan; Third umpire: C. Sham-shuddin; Fourth umpire: AnilChaudhary; Match referee: Da-vid Boon.
Match starts at 7 p.m.
Kohli’s men should get their act togetherThere will be no dearth of support for the Caribbean crusaders
Amol Karhadkar
MUMBAI
Ready to fi��re: Rohit Sharma, second from left, and Shreyas Iyer, right, will hope to turn things around on home turf. * VIVEK BENDRE
WI IN INDIA
It is among the most dominant outfi��ts in world cricketin longer formats, but whenit comes to the shortest avatar, the Men in Blue havebeen consistently inconsistent. One of the major issuesto have plagued Virat Kohliand Co. in the last 12 monthsis the inability to win whilebatting fi��rst.
As much as India’s reputed batsmen have failed toput up a formidable totalwhile batting fi��rst, as opposed to chasing down gargantuan totals, its bowlershave faltered in defendingmoderate to sizeable totals.
Vicecaptain Rohit Sharma stressed that while heprefers to assess the conditions before starting to playshots, batsmen have to execute the roles assigned tothem.
“It also depends on howyour partner is batting. It’svery, very important that
you complement yourpartner and specifi��c role hasbeen given to all our batters.We try and stick to that roleand yes at times, you need tobe diff��erent and we all areprepared to do that.
“When we need to approach diff��erently, we areprepared to do that. But thesituation should provide usto do that. My game doesn’tchange when we bat fi��rst orbowl fi��rst,” Rohit said.
Rohit was noncommittalwhether Shivam Dube’s promotion — the lefthanderbatted at No. 3 in the secondT20I — will be persistedwith.
“I don’t know if it’s goingto be a longterm plan or justfor one game, but everything depends on the composition, what are the bowlingoptions they have.
“Just to change the momentum we did that in thelast game. You never know ifit will happen in this gameor not,” Rohit said.
Amol Karhadkar
MUMBAI
‘My game doesn’t changewhen we bat or bowl fi��rst’
These are early days for Kieron Pollard as captain of theWest Indies’ whiteball cricket team.
After an undistinguishedstart, losing the Twenty20series 21 to Afghanistan inLucknow recently, the 32yearold Trinidadian led histeam to a 30 win in the ODIseries.
All along, the allrounder,who has lit up many an IPLmatch, knew that the biggerchallenge was to comeagainst India.
Pollard, presently themost popular West Indianamong fans in India, especially Mumbai, has made afi��ne impression as captain inthe two matches so far.
This was readily acknowledged by his Mumbai Indians captain Rohit Sharmahere on Tuesday.
“The West Indies playswell as a team and now is under the leadership of KieronPollard whom I know reallywell.
“As a leader I know what
he expects from his team.Pollard is a smart player.
“When it comes to MI, hehas always been part of theleadership group. He’s a very smart thinker of thegame. He has great knowledge about the game andthis helps him handle situations on the ground prettywell,” Rohit said.
West Indies coach PhilSimmons pointed out thatPollard is proactive with allplayers.
“He lets them know exactly what he wants from them.He’s been good in the sensethat they know that he’ll giveeverything for the team.That’s where he’s started,”said Simmons.
Proactive with all players, says Windies coach Simmons
G. Viswanath
Mumbai
In control: Kieron Pollard’s captaincy skills has come in forappreciation. * VIVEK BENDRE
Pollard is a smart leader: Rohit
Is Neville Cardus relevant today?That’s a question asked often. Just thefact that it is being asked is testimonyto his signifi��cance. As Alan Gibson,writer and commentator said: “Allcricket writers have been infl��uencedby Cardus, whether they admit it ornot, whether they have wished to beor not, whether they have tried to copy him or tried to avoid copying him.
Changed the course of writing“He was not a model, any more thanMacaulay, say, was a model for the aspiring historian. But just as Macaulaychanged the course of the writing ofhistory, Cardus changed the course ofthe writing of cricket. He showedwhat could be done. He dignifi��ed andilluminated the craft.”
The pioneer never loses relevance. Now, over four decades after his
death, Duncan Hamilton has writtena superb biography of this fi��ne writerwho just happened to focus on cricket and music. The Great Romantic:Cricket and the Golden Age of NevilleCardus earned Hamilton his thirdWilliam Hill Sports Book of the Yearaward. Biographer and subject arewell matched; Hamilton is the mod
ern stylist who writes with enviablefl��ow.
Cardusassessment has veered between hagiography and peremptorydismissal, getting closer to the latterthanks to increasing number of formats and instant communication.Reading cricket reports for their styleand elegance is not as popular as getting the running scores on the phone.
Here’s Cardus on leftarm spinnerWilfred Rhodes’ bowling: “Every balla decoy, a spy sent out to get the lie ofthe land; some balls simple, somecomplex, some easy, some diffi��cult;and one of them — ah! which? — themaster ball.”
What, nothing about ‘dot’ balls orstrike rates?
Well researchedHamilton’s is a modern biography:defi��nitive, well researched, sympathetic, and with a profound understanding of the times Cardus lived inand wrote about. Cardus aspired toliterature; the sport needed that ambition.
In his debunking essay, Cardusand the Aesthetic Fallacy, Derek Birley upset legions of Cardusworshippers; yet even he admitted that “Thehankering after aesthetic signifi��canceis harmless and often enjoyable.”
Hankering after signifi��cance is human, after all. No one likes to believethat what he is doing is of no importwhatever. To ensure that his work beseen as important, Cardus had to fi��rstshow that what the cricketer did wasimportant. Performer and recorder
(or critic) need each other more thaneither is willing to admit.
Witty and intelligentCardus may not have planned it thatway, but he could not have been unaware of its advantages. His playersoften came across as witty and intelligent because he was witty and intelligent. It gave heroes a new dimensionand drew into the game thousandswho might not otherwise have caredfor it.
Cardus was selftaught, worked hisway up from the slums where he wasborn to a prostitute. His fans includedBradman and Wodehouse, Pinter andBeckett. The novel of a person of thatbackground going on to receive aknighthood might have been rejectedby publishers.
As Hamilton writes, “He managedto transform himself so successfullyinto the fi��gure he wanted to be allalong — a gentleman writer — that thefi��gure he had once been all but vanished…throughout his early life, Cardus purposefully dusted over thetracks of his upbringing even whenpretending to come clean about it.”
He put words into the mouths ofhis characters that “god intended to,”said Cardus when challenged aboutsome of his quotes. This was perhapsnecessary to elevate the craft fromthe basement of sportswriting to itsattic. In his centenary year, I wrotethat Cardus was the Dickens of cricket writing, bringing to it charactersand dialogues the novelist mighthave.
Hamilton has dug much deeper.From Dickens, he says, Cardus learntprolifi��cacy. He learnt how to exploitplot; to create and develop characters. He learnt the importance of lacing his reports with humour. “No onecan understand Cardus’s approach tocricket writing without also understanding his absorption in Dickens.”
Impressionist painterCommenting on Cardus’ descriptionof fast bowler Ted McDonald, Hamilton says, “He admired him in paragraphs that were almost heartshaped with love.” Cardus was an impressionist painter — not adocumentary photographer. Anyway, as John Arlott said, Cardushadn’t made up nearly as much as hewas accused of.
The reason Cardus didn’t go toAustralia to report on the Bodylineseries was not because “I knew trouble was brewing,” but, as Hamiltonpoints out, it was because he had become infatuated with a woman andcouldn’t bear to stay away for so long.
“He had his cricket friends, hismusic friends, and his girlfriends,”said Arlott, “and he stored them indiff��erent rooms.” Hamilton’s bookprovides the key to two of thoserooms. The music room generally remains locked.
This book might lead to a Cardusrevival. Or not. Hamilton hasachieved the diffi��cult task of humanising an icon while clearing the rubbish away from the pedestal on whichhe stands.
The man who dignifi��ed and illuminated the craftNeville Cardus learnt the importance of lacing his reports with humour
BETWEEN WICKETSsuresh menon
India coach Ravi Shastri saysno one can “mess aroundwith” Mahendra Singh Dhoni if he decides to be in contention for next year’s T20World Cup but the formercaptain would “never impose himself” on the team.
“That (Dhoni) guy is a legend. The last thing he willwant is to impose himself onan Indian team, havingknown him. He is wanting totake a break but he is goingto play the IPL,” Shastri saidon the show ‘The Inspiration’ to be telecast on IndiaToday TV.
Asked if he isn’t ruling outa comeback by the 38yearold, Shastri answered, “Theamount of sport he hasplayed... if he puts himself incontention... if he feels afterthe IPL that ‘I am goodenough to play for India’,don’t mess around withthat.”
Dhoni had recently stated“don’t ask anything till January.”
National selection committee chairman M.S.K. Prasad has, however, made it
clear that the panel has“moved on” and Dhoni isaware of its intent to bloodyoungsters such as RishabhPant keeping in mind nextyear’s T20 World Cup in Aus
tralia. Dhoni was seen training with Jharkhand’s under23 team in Ranchi lastmonth, triggering a freshround of speculation on apossible comeback.
‘Don’t mess around with Dhoni’Press Trust of India
NEW DELHI
Understanding professional: Ravi Shastri says that M.S. Dhoniwill never impose himself on the Indian team.
* FILE PHOTO: R.V. MOORTHY
One of Russia’s topathletes, threetime Worldchampion high jumperMariya Lasitskene, onTuesday called sportsoffi��cials to account afterher country was bannedfor four years frominternational competition.
In her open letterpublished byChampionat.com sportswebsite, Lasitskene, alongtime critic of Russiansports offi��cials, demandedto know who has beenpunished over thecountry’s doping scandaland the fact that shecannot compete under theRussian fl��ag.
Lasitskene missed the2016 Rio Olympicsbecause of the dopingcrisis and had threatenedto leave Russia so as not tomiss the Tokyo Olympicsin 2020.
“Have we done aninternal investigation?
Who was punished?”Lasitskene asked.
In Paris, RussianPresident Vladimir Putinslammed the decision as a“politically motivated”ruling that “contradicted”the Olympic Charter.
“There is nothing toreproach the RussianOlympic Committee forand if there is no reproachtowards this committee,the country should takepart in competitionsunder its own fl��ag,” Putinsaid.
Russian star Lasitskeneslams offi��cials over banAgence France-Presse
Moscow
Lasitskene. * FILE PHOTO
India ended its South AsianGames campaign with abestever medal haul of 312and fi��nish on top for the 13thtimeinarow, in the regional multisporting event, hereon Tuesday.
India collected 174 gold,93 silver and 45 bronze after10 days of competitions tosurpass the 309 it had wonin the previous edition athome in 2016.
But the number of gold In
dia won this time was 15 lessthan the previous edition.
Sri Lanka was a distant second with 251 medals whileNepal fi��nished with 206.
On the concluding day, India added 18 medals (15 gold,2 silver and 1 bronze) withthe boxers fetching six goldand 1 silver.
Overall, the country’s pugilists won 12 gold, 3 silverand 1 bronze.
The Indian cagers fetchedboth the men’s and women’sgold by defeating Sri Lanka(10162) and host Nepal (12746) in their respective sum
mit clashes.
Mixed luckIn squash, India won goldand a silver in the women’sand men’s team eventsrespectively.Prominent medallists: Boxing:Gold: Men: Vikas Krishan(69kg), Sparsh Kumar (52kg),Narender (+91kg). Women:Pinki Rani (51kg), Sonia Lather(57kg), Manju Bamboriya(64kg). Silver: Varinder Singh(men’s 60kg).Squash: Gold: Women; Silver:men.Basketball: Gold: Men & wo-men.
Six Indian boxers emerge victorious on the fi��nal day
Press Trust of India
KATHMANDU
Champion: The triumphant squash team of Tanvi Khanna, Sanya Vats, Urwashi Joshi andSunayna Kuruvilla. * SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
India signs off�� with a recordhaul of 312 medals
SAG
Echoing the growing murmers in the Indian badmintoncircles, doubles specialist G.Jwala has questioned thecentralization of badmintonpower in the Gopichand Academy.
“He (Gopi) is the chiefcoach, chief selector, ownshis coaching academy, holdsthe posts of district association president, secretary ofTelangana association, he ispart of Khelo India, PremierBadminton League, TOPS,GoSports Foundation etc.
“It’s all on paper, not myimagination. So if there isconfl��ict of interest, ask questions,” she asked mediapersons soon after the launch ofJwala Gutta Academy of Excellence here on Tuesday.
Questioning the idea behind holding the Nationalcamps only at the Gopichand Academy in Hyderabad, Jwala said: “I have attended camps at many
places such as Bangalore, Jalandhar, and after 2006, ithas only been happening atthe Gopichand Academy.Personally, I had no problems since I live there, but itis not fair. Why camps onlyin Hyderabad?”
Raising the pitch, Jwalaasked, “tell me how manyTelugu players are there inthe Indian team? Are you trying to tell me that in last 10years India couldn’t produce
a nonTelugu player to playfor the country. Even peoplewho are nonTelugu, theyare playing for Telanganastate.”
Asked if she believed playing for Gopichand Academywas seen as a passport to getinto the Indian teams at various levels, Jwala said, “Idon’t think so.”
Responding to a questionpertaining to Gopi’s recentcomment that he had no
authority, Jwala said, “whenI read that interview, I had alaugh. How could anyone,who built the system since2006 and stays in chargeeven to this day, complain ofnot having authority?”
Presently on the junior selection panel, Jwala said: “Ican’t think of one doublesplayer with whom I want toplay today. What we need is acomplete overhaul in doubles. We need a diff��erentecosystem for doubles, that’show doubles will come up.Doubles doesn’t needs just acoach right now.
“It needs correction in theadministration of doubles.The whole system is wrongin doubles now.”
Earlier, the Jwala’s Academy of Excellence waslaunched by former UnionMinister Rajiv Pratap Rudy inthe presence of Olympic medallists Sushil Kumar and Vijender Singh, besides Jwalaand her father, Kranti.
The 55acre Academy, located about 30 minutes drivefrom the Gopichand Acade
my in Moinabad, Hyderabad,is expected to be a worldclass facility. It is expected tobegin operations in the nextcouple of months. With a tieup with Sujatha School, 100residential slots are alsoavailable.
With 14 courts under thesupervision of Dronacharyaawardee Mohammad Arif,the Academy begins operations with badminton beforeopening up other disciplines.
Mentor
Jwala said, “my role will bethat of a mentor and obviously, I want to focus moreon doubles. Since I am nottrained to coach, I will behelp the children by sharingmy experience.
“There will be a lot ofwork since I will be dealingwith parents, coaches, children and looking after everyaspect that makes my Academy diff��erent from the rest.One more thing is sure. I willpay my coaches well andlook after them.”
We need a complete overhaul in doubles: JwalaJwala’s Academy of Excellence launched
BADMINTON
Rakesh Rao
NEW DELHI
New venture: Jwala Gutta, Sushil Kumar and Vijender Singh at the launch. * SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
CMYK
A ND-NDE
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THE HINDU DELHI
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SPORT
NBA: Sony Ten 1 (SD & HD),8.30 a.m.BWF World Tour Finals:Star Sports 1 (SD & HD), 8.30a.m. & SS Select 2 (SD & HD),3 p.m.Ranji Trophy: Star Sports 2(SD & HD), 9.30 a.m.Pakistan v Sri Lanka: 1stTest, Sony ESPN (SD & HD),10 a.m.Hero I-League: DSport, 5p.m.India v West Indies: 3rdT20I, Star Sports 1 & SS Se-lect 1 (SD & HD), 7 p.m.ISL: Star Sports 2 (SD & HD),7.30 p.m.UEFA Champions League:Sony Ten 1 & 2 (SD & HD),11.30 p.m.; Sony Ten 1,2, 3,Six & ESPN (SD & HD), 1.30a.m. (Thursday).
TV PICKS
George returns to haunt PacersLOS ANGELES
Paul George returned to
haunt his former team as Los
Angeles Clippers scored a
110-99 NBA victory over
Indiana Pacers. Meanwhile,
NBA champion Toronto
Raptors was given a scare
before securing a late 93-92
victory over Chicago Bulls.The results: Milwaukee Bucksbt Orlando Magic 110-101;Boston Celtics bt ClevelandCavaliers 110-88; ChicagoBulls lost to Toronto Raptors93-92; Indiana Pacers lost toLA Clippers 110-99; HoustonRockets lost to SacramentoKings 119-118. AFP
IN BRIEF
I’m no cheat, says Reedafter penalty rowMELBOURNE
Former Masters champion
Patrick Reed denied he was a
cheat on Tuesday after being
penalised for improving his
lie, insisting his actions were
not intentional. Reed was
docked two strokes for
improper swings during the
Hero World Challenge in the
Bahamas. “... If you do
something unintentionally
that breaks the rules, it’s not
considered cheating...,” Reed
said. His Presidents Cup
teammates, including Woods,
have rallied behind him. AFP
Group A: Andhra 211 vs Vidarb-ha 268/4 in 97 overs (GaneshSatish 113 batting, Mohit Kale82).
Hyderabad 233 vs Gujarat295/9 in 83.2 overs (ManpritJuneja 94, Rujul Bhatt 65,Mehdi Hassan 4/78).
Kerala 525/9 decl. in 165overs (P. Rahul 97, Robin Uth-appa 102, Sachin Baby 155,Salman Nizar 77) vs Delhi 23/2in 12.5 overs.
Rajasthan 257 in 79.4 overs(Mahipal Lomror 60, AshokMenaria 60, Salman Khan 53,Siddarth Kaul 4/69) vs Punjab290/6 in 84 overs (GurkeeratMann 68, MandeepSingh 122, Anmol Mal-hotra 68 batting). Group B: Mumbai 431in 106.4 overs (PrithviShaw 66, Ajinkya Ra-hane 79, Shams Mulani89, Shardul Thakur 64)vs Baroda 301/9 in 69overs (Kedar Devdhar154 batting, Vishnu So-lanki 48, Shams Mulani5/99).
Himachal 120 & 182 in 38.3overs (Rishi Dhawan 53, An-kush Bains 74, Jaydev Unadkat6/51) vs Saurashtra 141 in 36.2overs (Snell Patel 42, Dhar-mendrasinh Jadeja 47, VaibhavArora 6/48) & 96/3 in 28 overs(Harvik Desai 46).
Karnataka 336 in 110.4 ov-ers (Mayank Agarwal 43, Dev-dutt Padikkal 78, Pavan Desh-pande 65, K. Gowtham 51, R.Ashwin 4/79) vs Tamil Nadu165/4 in 58 overs (AbhinavMukund 47).
Railways 253 in 85.3 overs(Arindam Ghosh 42, NavneetVirk 58, Dinesh Mor 91 n.o.,Yash Dayal 5/48) & 58/5 in 18overs vs Uttar Pradesh 175 in53.1 overs (Almas Shaukat 92n.o., Amit Mishra 4/52, Himan-shu Sangwan 4/71). Group C: Services 124 & 130/4in 45 overs vs Assam 162 in64.2 overs (Riyan Parag 66, Di-wesh Pathania 5/58).
Chhattisgarh 134 & 45/1 in
17 overs vs Odisha 215/9 in76.4 overs (Sujit Lenka 56, Pu-neet Datey 4/58).
Haryana 401 in 124.2 overs(Shubham Rohilla 142, ShivamChauhan 117, Sumit Kumar 40,Anupam Sanklecha 4/82) vsMaharashtra 88/4 in 44 overs.
Tripura 289 in 81.2 overs(Pratyush Singh 40, Milind Ku-mar 59, Harmeet Singh 56) vsJharkhand 136 in 43 overs (Vi-rat Singh 47, Rana Dutta 4/42)& 91/2 in 20 overs (Nazim Sid-diqui 40).
Jammu & Kashmir 182 &304 in 65.4 overs (Abdul Sa-mad 60, Fazil Rashid 73 n.o.,
Ram Dayal 41, Ra-hil Shah 5/74) vsUttarakhand 84 in31 overs (Mo-hammed Mudhasir5/13, Ram Dayal 4/28) & 18/3 in 9 ov-ers. Plate: Bihar 173 &61/4 in 27 overs vsPondicherry 300in 79.3 overs (S.Anand 41, S. Kar-
thik 41, Paras Dogra 70, AshithRajiv 50, Vivek Kumar 5/51,Ashutosh Aman 4/84).
Arunachal Pradesh 147 &164/6 in 45 overs (Rahul Dalal75 batting) vs Chandigarh503/2 decl. in 76 overs (ArslanKhan 233 n.o., Shivam Bhambri105, Manan Vohra 124).
Sikkim 136 & 22/2 in 8 oversvs Goa 436/6 decl. in 105.4overs (Smit Patel 53, Amit Ver-ma 113, Snehal Kauthankar134, Suyash Prabhudessai 91).
Mizoram 65 & 290 in 75.1overs (Lalhruaizela 60, K.B.Pawan 124) vs Manipur 289 in80.1 overs (ChingangbamSingh 89, Rex Singh 65, BobbyZothansanga 5/92, K. Lalh-mingmawia 4/47).
Meghalaya 285 in 96.5 ov-ers (Puneet Bisht 125, SanjayYadav 61, Imliwati Lemtur 7/53) & 89/9 in 33 overs (Imliwa-ti Lemtur 6/32) vs Nagaland136 in 45.1 overs (Sanjay Yadav9/52).
RANJI SCORES, ROUND 1, DAY 2
In making his sixth championship century, skipperSachin Baby guided Kerala toa massive fi��rst innings totalof 525 for nine declared onthe second day of its RanjiTrophy Elite Group A and Bmatch at the St. Xavier’s Stadium, Thumba, on Tuesday.
With two days remaining,Kerala further strengthenedits grip reducing Delhi to 23for two at close.
The day belonged entirelyto Kerala captain Baby as heconverted his overnight 36(in the team total of 276 forthree) into a huge centurywith a superb display of batsmanship and quietdetermination.
The start of the day was inno way promising for Keralaas Vishnu Vinod and Mohammed Azharuddeen fellrather cheaply, leaving Kerala on 310 for fi��ve after nineovers. But, Baby and SalmanNizar combined for a fi��ne156run partnership, the latter especially keeping thestrike rotating and comingup with a strokefi��lled 77(144b, 9x4, 2x6).
The ‘superstitious’ Baby,in an apparent endeavour tokeep his focus, asked thescorer to blank out his individual contribution from thescoreboard after he hadreached 75. The captain obviously did not want indivi
dual milestones to distracthim from his focus on theteam’s cause. He appreciablycut down on strokes, waitingfor chances to score, leavingthe rival bowlers in absolutefrustration.
Lunch was taken at 410 forfi��ve with Baby having dulycompleted his century off��194 balls. Finally he made hisexit after a masterly 155(274b, 13x4). The declarationcame almost 40 minutes after tea, leaving Delhi to play
out a possible 14 overs.But, as it turned out,
neither Anuj Rawat nor Kunal Chandela was able to riseto the occasion, beingcleaned up by Sandeep Warrier and Jalaj Saxena.
A huge task remains forthe rest of the Delhi batsmento avoid an abject surrender,staring at an arrears of 502runs.The scores:
Kerala — 1st innings: P. Rahullbw b Mishra 97, Jalaj Saxena c
Lalit b Baroka 32, Robin Uthap-pa c Lalit b Sangwan 102, Sa-chin Baby b Lalit 155, Vishnu Vi-nod b Shivam 5, MohammedAzharuddeen c Rawat b Baroka15, Salman Nizar c Mishra b Ba-roka 77, S.K. Monish lbw b Shi-vam 9, Sijomon Joseph (notout) 14, Sandeep Warrier c Ra-wat b Lalit 0, K.M. Asif (not out)7; Extras (nb-5, b-5, lb-2): 12.Total (for 9 wkts. decl. in 165overs): 525.
Fall of wickets: 1-68, 2-186, 3-276, 4-281, 5-310, 6-466, 7-497, 8-505, 9-507.
Delhi bowling: Sangwan 14-4-38-1, Saini 17-3-64-0, Mishra34-8-107-1, Shivam 34-5-112-2,Baroka 30-0-128-3, Rana 15-3-22-0, Lalit 21-3-47-2.
Delhi — 1st innings: Anuj Rawatb Saxena 15, Kunal Chandela cAzharuddeen b Warrier 1, DhruvShorey (batting) 6, Nitish Rana(batting) 0; Extras (lb-1): 1. To-tal (for 2 wkts. in 12.5 overs):23.
Fall of wickets: 1-15, 2-17.
Kerala bowling: Warrier 5-2-9-1, Asif 4-2-6-0, Saxena 3-0-7-1, Monish 0.5-0-0-0.
Baby puts Kerala in the driver’s seatWith two wickets down, Delhi has a huge task on handA. Vinod
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM
Single-minded focus: Sachin Baby carved out a well-constructed century to give Kerala the advantage. * SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
The return of Test cricket toPakistani soil is an emotional occasion, captain AzharAli said on Tuesday. But thatwill not come in the way ofhis team’s eff��orts to makeamends for a disastrous tourof Australia.
Pakistani players will playTest cricket at home after agap of 10 years when theytake on Sri Lanka in a twoTest series starting here onWednesday. A 2009 terrorist attack on the Sri Lankanteam had led to a freeze oncricket in Pakistan, whichhas been playing its home
matches on neutral venues.“All the players are very
emotional about this Testseries. It is great to be backto our home grounds and Ijust hope that Test cricketreturns regularly to Pakistannow, Azhar told a mediaconference.
Azhar also conceded thatthe series is a makeorbreaksituation for his team, as ithas not been playing well inTest cricket for some timenow. “It is unacceptable theway we lost in Australia. Thelast two series in South Africa and Australia have beentough for us.
“We need to turn to reverse our results and getback on the winning track,”he said.
It’s an emotionalmoment: Azhar AliTest cricket returns to Pakistan
Raring to go: Sri Lanka skipper Dimuth Karunaratne, left, andhis Pakistan counterpart Azhar Ali with the trophy. * AP
SL IN PAKISTAN
Press Trust of India
Rawalpindi
Rampage defeated TeamC.V. Rao 145136 to enterthe semifi��nals of the WinterNational bridge championships at the Netaji IndoorStadium here on Tuesday.
Rampage will meet Mah
araja, which beat BangurCement 190108 in thequarterfi��nals.
Indian RailwaysA,which got past Team Hemant Jalan 150139, willtake on Formidables, a 16363 winner over Team ArunJain, in the other semifi��nal.
Rampage meets MaharajaSPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
KOLKATA
Arsenal caretaker managerFreddie Ljungberg believesa weight has been lifted off��his players’ shoulders after athreegoal blitz in nine secondhalf minutes helpedthe team down West Ham 31on Monday to end the Gunners’ worst winless run in 42years.
Arsenal suddenly sparked
into life after Gabriel Martinelli scored his fi��rst PremierLeague goal as Nicolas Pepefi��nally started to deliver onhis club record fee by curling home a brilliant second,before crossing for PierreEmerick Aubameyang to secure all three points.
The result: West Ham 1 (Og-bonna 38) lost to Arsenal 3(Martinelli 60, Pepe 66, Auba-meyang 69).
Arsenal ends worstwinless run in 42 yearsAgence France Presse
LONDON
Football Delhi (FD) fetedsome of the best talent fromthe Capital on Monday at afunction held at the NehruMemorial Hall here. Thiswas the fi��rst time ever thatsuch an event was organisedoffi��cially with awards givenin 34 disciplines. This wason the initiative of FD president Shaji Prabhakaran.
Ayush Adhikari, who topscored for the team with sixgoals in the Santosh Trophy,was presented the bestplayer (male) award whiledefender Dalima Chibberwas adjudged the best player(female).
“I started playing footballbecause my father was also afootballer and it was my en
tire family’s dream to see medoing well in the sport. Thisaward will provide me all theinspiration needed to workharder and make both my family and India proud in thefuture,” said Ayush.
Dalima called it, “an incredible feeling to see the efforts of all the footballers being recognised. Such awardsand events motivate us. Thebest thing is even the peoplebehind the scenes are getting the recognition theydeserve.”
India’s under16 playerRudransh Singh was chosenas the best youth player(male) while National under17 vicecaptain AvekaSingh won the best youthplayer (female) award for theseason.
“With India playing theFIFA U17 women’s WorldCup, this award is a hugesource of motivation for meand I hope I can inspire many other girls to take up football. I hope to see each oneof you coming out to support us next year,” saidAveka.The awardees: Male: Bestplayer: Ayush Adhikari; Bestyouth player: Rudransh Singh;Best coach: Paritosh Sharma;Best referee: Umesh Bora; Bestclub: Garhwal Heroes; Bestclub of the decade: HindustanFC; Oldest club: Youngmen FC.
Diamond Award (ex-interna-tional players): Aziz Quraishiand Surender Kumar; GoldAward (ex intl. players): TarunRoy, Santosh Kashyap and Bhu-pinder Thakur.
Lifetime Service Awards (indi-viduals): O.P. Malhotra, SyedShaheen, N.K. Bhatia, SunilGhosh, Shanker Lal, Sharafatul-lah, N.K. Arora and JoginderSingh.
Journalist (Lifetime award):Kewal Kaushik; Football expertand commentator (LifetimeAward): Novy Kapadia; BestCollege: Zakir Hussain; Bestgroundsman: Rajesh.
Outstanding referees award:Melwyn D’Souza, Rizwan-ul-Haq, Mohammed Kamil, RaviShankar.
Female: Best player: DalimaChibber; Best youth player:Aveka Singh; Best coach: DishaMalhotra; Best referee: UshaBhainsora; Best club: HansFootball Club; Best College:Janki Devi Mahavidyala.
Ayush, Dalima adjudged the best Vijay Lokapally
NEW DELHI
Recognition: Ayush Adhikari (best male player) and DalimaChibber (best female player). * SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
IOCL and ONGC cruiseinto the finalNEW DELHI
Ramkumar Ramanathan
scored a 6-1, 6-3 win over
Udit Gogoi that helped Indian
Oil Corporation Limited
(IOCL) beat Oil India Limited
2-0, after the country’s No.1
Sumit Nagal had beaten
Chandra Shekar Mohanty 6-1,
6-1, in the semifinals of the
39th Petroleum Sports
Promotion Board (PSPB) inter
unit tennis on Tuesday.
In the other semifinal, Vishnu
Vardhan and V.M. Ranjeet
guided Oil and Natural Gas
Corporation (ONGC) to a 2-0
victory over Gas Authority of
India Limited (GAIL).
The women’s event, which
had attracted only seven
players, had a blow as the
country’s No.1 Ankita Raina
withdrew, owing to a strained
knee. In her absence,
defending champion Mahak
Jain set up a title clash
against Prerna Bhambri, who
got past Riya Bhatia, in the
individual event.The results:Men (semifinals): Indian Oilbt Oil India Limited 2-0(Sumit Nagal bt ChandraShekar Mohanty 6-1, 6-1;Ramkumar Ramanathan btUdit Gogoi 6-1, 6-3); ONGC btGas Authority of IndiaLimited 2-0 (Vishnu Vardhanbt Jitender Sharma 6-1, 6-0;VM Ranjeet bt Vijay SundarPrashant 6-2, 6-4). Women (final): Indian Oil btEngineers India Limited 2-0(Prarthana Thombare bt AartiNarayan 6-0, 6-0; Riya Bhatiabt Rima Singh 6-0, 6-0).
Dhruv, Atharva in quartersNEW DELHI
Dhruv Sunish and Atharva
Sharma defeated Tarun
Anirudh Chilakalapudi and
P.C. Vignesh 4-6, 6-4, 10-5 in
the pre-quarterfinals of the
$15,000 ITF men’s Futures
tennis tournament in Cairo.
Facundo Juarez and
Argentian’s Octavio Volpi got
the better of Iancu-Lustinian
Ghinda of Canada & Arpit
Sharma 6-3, 6-3.
Late strikes from DipandaDicka, Thoiba Singh andSergio Barboza helped hostPunjab FC beat holderChennai City FC 31 and register its fi��rst win in the ILeague on Tuesday. PedroManzi scored for CCFC.
The results:At Ludhiana: Punjab FC 3 (Di-panda Dicka 78, Thoiba Singh88, Sergio Barboza 90+1) btChennai City FC 1 (Pedro Man-ziu 85).
At Imphal: Neroca FC 1 (Bou-bacar Siaka Diarra 31) lost toEast Bengal 4 (Jaime Colado21-pen, 52-pen; Juan Mera 33,Marcus Espada 65).
Punjab bests CCFCPress Trust of India
LUDHIANA